Vintage Window Headboard

After stripping all the rattan off my nightstand and dresser set, I was faced with the dilemma of what to do about the matching headboard. If I removed the rattan, there would be nothing left but a rickety frame.

Luckily, it was about this time that my friend's apartment building decided to replace all their vintage panes with something more energy efficient. They left about a dozen of these gorgeous, perfectly intact windows out with the garbage - totally up for grabs. I snagged a couple of them and hung them lengthwise over my bed.



They're the perfect width for a queen-sized mattress, and are way more visually appealing than a web of rattan circa 1998. AND they were totally free! Everybody wins (and by everybody, I mean me)!

But How Would You Thread the Needle?

Perusing the aisles at Joann's today, I noticed there have been some significant improvements in the clear thread market.



Now that's some transparent thread!

Craft Night: Easter Edition

After a long Craft Night hiatus, Lisa and Adele came over on Friday to take part in some Easter-themed crafty fun-having. Of course you know that when it comes to decorating eggs, food coloring tablets and vinegar are a little simple for my tastes. Instead I broke out the Dremel and got to drilling.



It took a little cajoling, but I managed to convince my friends to blow the contents out of the eggs. Tip: it helps if you insert a bamboo skewer in the drilled hole, and wiggle it around to break up the yolk.



Once our eggshells were prepared, we settled in with a little paint, glitter, pipe-cleaners and creativity. You can tell by Lisa's enthusiastic expression that she was having a blast.



The finished product:


Clockwise from the top: Adele's Nolan Tuxedo Egg, My Glitter Egg, and Lisa's "I'm Not That Into This" Egg.

My New Couch!

After searching high and low for a retro-style sofa that was both attractive and affordable, I finally ordered my new couch from Macy's way back in January. Last week I finally welcomed it into my home. Check it out!



Gorgeous, right? I heartily recommend Macy's for furniture of quality and style, at a reasonable price.

Vintage Chair Before & After

After downsizing my living room furnishings from a couch and a love seat to a couch and an overstuffed chair, I found myself in need of some supplementary seating. I picked up a vintage Danish Modern chair at my favorite flea market for a bargain $75! Of course, at that price you know it required some TLC. The wood was dingy brown and the original 1970 fabric was worn and dirty. Observe:



With a little help from my wood-refinishing-zealot friend Adele, we stripped the old stain and varnish off and resealed with a lovely warm pecan color. As a nice contrast to the rich wood tone (and a much-needed neutral addition to my room), I chose a cream chenille fabric for the seat and back. I tried to maintain the chair's original charm by repeating the 5 1/2" squares of fabric that comprise the seat cushion, but vetoed the tufting.



I'm so happy with the way it turned out, this is totally my new favorite piece of furniture!

An Old Bracelet is New Again

Like most girls (women) my age, I have a drawer full of jewelry that I once loved and lived in, that has now become a bit passé. Remember this Tiffany bracelet that was so popular about seven years ago? No one is wearing them anymore, but it's nice heavy silver, and charm bracelets are so in right now! So I decided to give mine a new life.

Of course, I don't have a bunch of charms lying around, but I did have a surplus of foreign coins from various trips, just gathering dust in a closet.



Using the jewelry attachment on my fancy new Dremel, I buffed the coins to give them a little shine.



Then I laid everything out, making sure the size distribution seemed right. I decided to mix my metals, so I'd be able to wear the bracelet with a variety of other accessories. Then I let the drilling and linking commence! Word to the wise, stick with the Dremel for drilling holes in the coins - I broke two bits when I tried to use my regular wood drill.



Ta da! An old bracelet is new again. Special thanks to my hand model, Jen!

Parasol Lighting Fixture

Part of the problem with rental apartments is that there is a limit to what you can customize. For instance, my landlady has a very unfortunate (for me) aversion to painting. However, I've found that one of the easiest and most effective ways to change a room is by updating the lighting fixtures.

I wanted a bright but diffused light in my bedroom that wouldn't blind me in the mornings. This parasol casts a lovely glow, and was incredibly easy to hang. And not including the trip to Chinatown, it only cost about $5!



I merely sawed off the bamboo handle to about 6 inches long, and drilled a screw into the newly cut end. Then I inserted the screw into the hole that was left when I removed the existing glass bowl-style shade.



Bada Bing! Done!