trash collector

The saying goes that "one man's trash is another man's treasure". Looking around my home, I'd have to say that's true for me. With the exception of the couch that Carl purchased from IKEA and some other finds, most are craigslist, hand-me-down or sidewalk treasures. 


Here's a peek at some tossed out treasures having a second life in our home...

The neighbors put this out on trash day...mainly because of the broken glass, but it was also in need of a good sanding and some new stain and polyurethane. A little elbow grease, and a good excuse for Carl to buy some power tools, and now it's the perfect place to stash all our books, doodling pads and other pretties. [note to self to clean out the fireplace already...]

This dresser was a hot, brown mess when I saved it from the next dump run. The drawers are still a bit wobbly, but the new coat of white paint turned it from icky brown to our shiny new bar. 


Even our dining table was once destined for the landfill. Little did I know it was a Drexel Heritage Profile set that I saw online through a dealer for about $6500. I've been dying to re-upholster those chairs, but they've been on the back-burner forever. This summer. Pinky swear.

What found treasures are in your home?

xo,

chelsea

KiddoCraft - money magnets

Here's a fun little DIY craft project I put together with the kiddos on a rainy weekend. It's a great way to display and use coins picked up from foreign travels and for holding up those reports cards and art pieces on the fridge.

What You'll Need:

• Pair of Scissors
• Magnet - we used the roll variety but the small dots work too. If you go with the magnet dots, you'll need some strong adhesive as well. I wouldn't recommend Super Glue for a kid project, but any craft store should have the right glue to get the job done.
• Money!! I had some coins collected from our trips to London, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The Scandinavian coins have some very cool and graphic looking minting on them.

(looks like Sutter snuck a dime in there too!) 

1. Begin by cutting your magnet strip into sizes small enough to fit on the back of your money. Sutter was super precise about getting them all the right size!

2. Decide which side you want facing out, flip it over and stick your magnet strip to the back! 

3. Voila! Money Magnets. Something fun and pretty to look at in just a matter of moments.

This was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy as the kids like to say.

What's your go-to rainy day craft?

xo,

chelsea

Fancy Friday - 3.25.2011

Happy Friday everyone! I, for one, am extremely happy it's Friday. Not for any particular reason other than I'm excited to relax and create this weekend. I'm not sure how most people are, but it takes me some time to get in my creative groove - but then once I'm there I feel like things really flow. Now I see why people in creative jobs come up with amazing things. Carl says the same is true for coding. You need the music right, the mood right, food at the ready and a solid chunk of time. In any case, I'm hoping to "find the zone" this weekend.






Here's some things I fancied this week...

Some great around-the-house uses for vodka, if you're not drinking it that is.

Peach and mint never seemed so good together. I've been obsessing ever since I saw this pairing.

I made this pretty garland today and I love the way it turned out. Simple but sweet.

Thank goodness for Google Translate! Now I can read Annaleena's Hem without dragging Carl in the room to translate. Her home is beautiful and chic and her DIYs are perfection.

This Pantone magnet DIY is fun and cheery. Perfect for spring's colorblocking madness.

A fun ode to brown-baggin' it for lunch.

Is anyone else as obsessed with Pinterest as I am? Find me here.

Besides my get-creative plans for this weekend, I'm also excited for Spring Cleaning! Is that weird - that I look forward to cleaning? It's calming for me and always makes me feel like it's easier to get through the week with an organized (if not full to the brim) home. Plus, spring is time for changing things up around the house and making things feel shiny and new!

What are you up to?

XO,

Chelsea

a friday DIY: painterly shirt

I've said it before, I'm addicted to stripes. I've never met a stripe I didn't like.

Feeling inspired by some of the painterly stripes I've seen out there, I set out to make a DIY version. I'd never worked with fabric paint before (those neon puffy paints from the 90s don't count), so this was a fun experiment.

the summery inspiration from J Crew

DIY Painterly Stripe T

materials needed:
plain t-shirt
fabric paint - make sure you pick the right paint for your fabric
paint brush
ruler or straight edge
tailors chalk
some sort of dropcloth

1. make sure you start with a clean, washed t-shirt. I had an old tar-jay T-shirt that I knew was clean already.
2. Lay out your dropcloth.  You may find it easier to work if you have the dropcloth taped down. I didn't because I'm deathly afraid of ruining the hardwood floors. My landlord put the fear in me when we moved in.
3. Slide a piece of cardboard or paper bag inside the shirt. You don't want to paint through to the other side!

4. Using the tailors chalk and your ruler, make lines to your desired width. I went for about 3/4 " lines with about an inch between each stripe. I wanted some extra space between my stripes so I went wider but you could certainly make your stripes bigger or smaller to get whatever effect you prefer!

5. Start painting!! I was extremely surprised by how quickly the fabric absorbed. The first line was definitely a bit more saturated then I had planned but I started to get the hang of it by about the third line. If I was smart, I would've painted a few lines on some scrap fabric first, but I have zero patience so I just went for it!

6. Wait for the front to dry. Mine took about an hour to dry to the touch.
7. Flip your shirt over and repeat the process on the back.
8. Once both sides are dry, follow your paint manufacturers' instructions for setting the paint. Mine called for ironing for 3 minutes on the reverse side. I decided to keep my cardboard inside while I ironed and I'm glad I did because some excess paint absorbed into it.

9. Turn your shirt back to right side out and you've now got a fun, painted T-shirt that you did yourself for a fraction of the $70 price tag.

I really like the way this turned out. The blue was quite a bit brighter than what the bottle and sample in the store showed. Next time, I think I would like to experimenting with mixing some of the colors to come up with something more custom. I also think this could be awesome with darker T-shirts and lighter colors or some metallics on top.

What do you think?

XO,

Chelsea