The Vintage Dollhouse

I'm so sad this blog has sat still for so long.  I actually have a lot to share, but not a lot of time for documenting so I'll just do what I can, when I can.  I'm honestly not sure I can remember how to insert and re-size the pictures correctly but here goes.

This post is about a dollhouse I made over for my girl's Christmas present.  It's one of 2 dollhouses my dad made for my older sisters when they were little.  Of course, I didn't take a before picture, but just envision a dirty white old dollhouse, still charming but in need of love.

Most of the furniture was re-used from the old set.  A lot of it I painted and generally updated.  I used a "fat quarter" of darling Liberty of London printed fabric for the window treatments and bedding.  The prints are so cute and the scale was perfect.  I did buy a new kitchen set with appliances and a dinette set (do people still say that? dinette?)  Anyway...that purple chair/ottoman, side table and couch were handmade by my mom.  I never stop being impressed by her skills.  I spent a month updating this piece and my mom and dad spent a few weeks building/making/sewing everything pretty much from scratch (times two.)  Impressed.

The living room is my favorite.  Like I said, my mom made that couch, chair and ottoman.  I re-covered the couch in the liberty print and re-painted the fire place (which she also made, I think) with chalkboard paint.  The framed print is just a fabric scrap and I also made the matching drapes.  The rugs in the house are grasscloth cut to fit and trimmed in ribbon.  Yep, this family of orphans went custom.  The only "people" are 2 babies, one school-aged child and a teenager.  The mom and dad were headless.  Not a fun thing to see on Christmas morning so I left them out.

I wanted to paint a few of the back walls, besides the attic playroom which went pale coral pink, all the walls are currently white.  I planned to do the kitchen turquoise and the bathroom in the same bright coral pink from the front door and shutters.  The roof and chimneys were originally red but I re-painted them in the dark grey chalkboard paint.  I think I planned to draw on scalloped shingles but I forgot about that until just now while I was typing this.

Forgive some of the photography.  These rooms were super hard to shoot.  This room needs some paint on the wall,  but I love the color the little curtains and picture added.  The rug is made from Polly's old roman shades from her nursery.  This liberty fabric was my favorite from the group.

The navy curtains and bedding are original to the home, circa 1970 with a simple addition of some new liberty accents.  The bed is pretty messed-up, it has no legs.  I was going to try to use screws instead and paint them white but I ran out of time.  I should have painted the wardrobe a fun bright color but didn't work that out in the planning phase.  This is the second custom grasscloth rug.

This young lady is the oldest child in the house.  She's the responsible older sister.  She reads the paper and eats cake for breakfast.  How cute is that ruffled curtain?  I made that, and my mom made the chairs and upholstered them.

Ha, the scale is a bit off between the cradle and the twin beds.  The cradle is actually bigger than the beds.  Oh well.  The curtains in this room look a lot like Liberty but they are actually original.  I added the little orange ball-trim.  I always wanted an attic playroom as a kid.  Something about them just seemed magical to me, I don't know.  These kids got one and it's pretty cute, too.

Looking at these, I'm reminded of all the things I planned to do but didn't but I still think it turned out pretty cute.  I try hard not to over-parent when she plays with it.  I only cringe a little when she moves everything around, but I do always clean it up back to the way I like it when she's done.  Merry Christmas, Poll doll.  P.S. Happy March!

polaroid transfer

I really love the dreamy vintage look of polaroid transfer prints.  I ordered my Daylab 200 on Ebay years ago after taking a class at Paper Source in Evanston, Illinois, and have decided that it's time to pass on this piece of historical technology as I organize and prepare for a big neighborhood garage sale.  Since I knew the Daylab was leaving me, I decided to give it one last go and had fun making some prints from old family slides.  I kept a few and gave some as gifts to family members, truly one-of-a-kind gifts.  You can find polaroid transfers for sale on Etsy, but they are not always originals, sometimes they are prints of originals, which don't have the same luster as the real thing, in my opinion.  I also found this shop which will make a polaroid transfer print for you if you send in a slide, how cool.  

Come by the neighborhood garage sale on Saturday June 16th if you're interested, the set will be priced at $75 which is a steal from what I paid for the Daylab, the base, brayer and some watercolor paper.  If it doesn't go, I'll list to Etsy.

doctored up old paintings and lauren moffatt

Did any of you check out the April issue of Lucky Magazine featuring clothing designer Lauren Moffatt's home? I received this magazine in the mail in March and I haven't stopped thinking about Miss Moffat's "doctored" paintings, aren't they darling?  She hit it on the mark with the colors and I love that she took something discarded and dated and made it fresh and so, so pretty.  I have a lot of oldish original painted art in my home but I already like it all for different reasons so I was scared to try this with anything I already owned.

I found this diamond in the rough at St. Vinnie's on Saturday.  I really liked the flowers, I think they're magnolias, but the black/red background was not doing it for me, and the leaves looked a little forest-y, so I decided to try my hand at customizing it to suit my tastes.  It was under $10 so if I flubbed it up, it would just go right back to St. Vinnies and I could call it a double donation.  I've been obsessing over the pinkish/orangish melon/coral color for the past year or so, and I've been wanting to incorporate it more into my home so I mixed up some acrylic paint and went to town.

It's definitely a step in the right direction but I'm not totally sure about it yet.  My husband is on board, he likes the color, but it might be a little too "crazy lady" I think I may need to tone it down. I also might make the leaves more chartreuse, since that color works better with the coral than this forest-y greenery.  This image from Martha Stewart might work as an inspiration.  I painted the entire black background white first before the coral, I was afraid of painting directly on the dark.  Even with those 2 steps, the whole project only took about an hour.  The different shades of coral are actually a happy accident, I kept running out of paint and each time I re-mixed it, a new and different shade appeared, but I like the depth it adds. 

Oh and by the way, I really love Lauren Moffatt's line.  Check out her presentation for Fashion Week, it's not a runway show but an installation of sorts called The Old School for Wayward Girls.  Look closely and you can see some of the paintings from Lauren's home hanging on the wall.  This video was made by Jeff Hendricks.  I was introduced to this brand in 2004 and have noticed over the last 8 years that her brand has a suuuuuuuper strong point of view, it's very vintage, pretty, detailed and feminine, with lots of muted colors and also bright colors paired with beiges and creams and pretty little prints, oh and lots of gold details like buttons and zippers.  If you're interested in her collection, you can find it on her website, and also a cutie-pie feature on her at home with her daughter Stella on the Glow here.

newly painted dining room and upholstered shield back chairs

What have I been doing for the past three months?  Painting my dining room...with an artist's brush, just  a few tiny strokes per day.  Actually, I've been working out of the home since the beginning of February but I did paint my dining room during my hiatus.  I am in absolute love with the color.  It's called Deep Sea Depths by Benjamin Moore.  I had it color matched to Sherwin Williams Duration paint because I like it and I get a family employee discount there.  My husband actually did most of the painting, it was his birthday present to me.  He's a really great cutter-inner, much more patient than I am.  Here's what it looked like before.

I've also been working on my dining room chairs.  I bought them just a little over a year ago, I actually have two sets of shield-back chairs for a total of 11.  I have 6 completed and plan to finish at least 2 more to flank the buffet.  I'm not sure if I'll keep going after that or not, they're labor intensive, and I'm not convinced it's really worth all that work for the (very seldom) occasion that I have more than 8 people seated 'round my table.   I may go into more detail about how I upholstered them (inspired by a Pure Design episode) if anyone is curious.  I didn't take process photos but I could with the next few.

The balloon centerpiece and chinese lanterns are left over from a birthday dinner I threw for a few friends last weekend.  Hosting the celebration was what helped me get in gear to finish up the chairs and paint, I work well with under pressure.  Now I need a new deadline for my next round of to-do's.  Anyone have a birthday or any other special occasion coming up?

vintage find: umbrella stand

Sometimes great vintage finds don't need to be relegated to thrift stores and yard sales. I popped into a local interiors shop Iconi last weekend and walked out with this awesome zinc and brass umbrella stand for under $50. I had been looking for one of these for my entry for a long, long time, years actually. Trolling garage sales, thrifts, Ebay and Etsy never lead me to anything special enough with the right price. When I spotted this little number locally, I thought for sure it would have a 3 digit price, so I was delighted when the tag read $48.

Now, can we talk about the elephant in the room? That golf umbrella, ugh. Functionally it is amazing, it has a 5 foot wingspan, 2 tiers and keeps your whole body (and your buddy's) dry. Stylistically it is...not so good. At one point in my life I owned several beautiful long handled umbrellas, my dad went through an umbrella-gifting phase while I was in college. Sadly, one by one, they've all been left in shops, restaurants, libraries or loaned away. I've rounded up some fun umbrellas for my wish list, along with some other great stands below:

I'm really into florals lately, I don't know what's come over me, I've never been an overly flowery girl

Clockwise from top left:

-The muted colors of this floral are so this moment $63.99, Amazon

-This purple and yellow vintage floral could go granny quick. Pair it with a kelly green rain coat and it's fresh again. $26, The American Homemaker, Etsy

-This colorful vintage pagoda style umbrella is so fun, I love its shape. $48, Atty's Vintage, Etsy

-And now for my favorite, I really love everything about this one, except perhaps the price: $134, Umbrellas.net

I really couldn't find many good umbrella stands online. Are these soon-to-be bygones? Nevertheless, here's 4 I did find:

-The cutest ceramic owl from two's company through Amazon, $119

-I'm not sure what this is really supposed to be (it has a lid) but the size would be perfect and I love the not-shiny gold color and diamond wire pattern, $139, Antiquarianone, Etsy

-Viva la Umbrellastand! Okay, viva is probably not the right word for this asian themed stand but wow, that color really screams "here I am!" Nobody would ever forget their umbrella at your place with this flasher in your entry. It really is the prettiest shade of green, but might be harder to work into your decor: $89.60, Ebay

-This is really what I thought I wanted: a white ceramic stand with a little something special in terms of texture. I still like this option but I'm so much happier with what I ended up with. $38.88, Ceramics by Alice, Etsy.
Clockwise from top left:

This ruffly black umbrella is from Amazon, $42.99

I dig the clear dome shaped umbrella, especially this one with the blue trim. It would look so special with a printed slicker. Price not listed, Caccessories.

I once spotted a fancy lady coming out of Neimen Marcus in Chicago in a tomato red trench with a sky blue umbrella. That pairing has stuck with me for probably 10 years, though I have yet to recreate it. Add this sassy red pagoda umbrella to a light blue coat and the color combo is yours, at a nice price, $27 from Amazon.

I've seen this red and white show stopper around the net a lot, but I couldn't leave it out, it's so pretty: Bella Umbrella Pagoda, $129, Umbrellas.net.

a year's worth of cards, and some other goals

Happy New Year!

It's been a while but I'm back in business, this year at a slower pace. No, not slow as in...not posting for 7 months, slow as in...posting once per week. That's my goal, let's see if it sticks.

One goal that did stick was making a year's worth of cards. I've been working on this project for a week now and I'm pretty much done. A major January purge/de-stash has ensued and sadly my Gocco and supplies have got to go. I wanted to make the most of the little beauty before I said goodbye so I printed up about 150 cards with the most important sentiments: happy birthday, thank you, congratulations, sympathy, etc etc. I left most of the cards empty with just the printed words but the birthday cards I actually finished up, addressed, stamped, enclosed and put in queue. I didn't actually write anything in them yet, I thought that would be a bit tacky, especially for the birthdays that are 11-12 months from now, but that part's easy. I'm usually late mailing birthday cards, if I get to it at all so I'm feeling great about being on top of it this year. I put together exactly 37 birthday cards for my closest friends and family, with a few leftovers for anyone I may have forgotten. Here's a little sampling:

It's hard for me to come up with designs that aren't too girly but I think I've got a few here. I still need to make one more round of cards before the Gocco goes bye-bye, but I'm happy to have gotten so much use out of it. I'm not going to list greeting cards to my Etsy store but if you're interested in any we can work it out another way.

Other intentions for the new year involve:

1) Organizing and de-cluttering (of course.)

2) Redoing my dining room--not a total redo, just painting the walls and reupholstering/refinishing the table and chairs set.

2) Panting all the trim in the house. It's time.

3) Improving photography. I think this one will forever be on the list.

4) Refinishing our deck. This might be one for the pro's, we'll see.

5) Continuing to improve with meal planning.

6) Devise and start to implement a new plan for Art Wall by the end of January.

my 2011 intentions, how am I doing?

Since we are one month away from being half done with 2011, I wanted to go through my year's intentions I think I'm doing pretty well...

1) Finish curtains for my girl's room, check

2) Answer my phone more, I'm doing much, much better with this and now I don't need to return nearly as many phone calls, what a bonus!

3) Weekly meal planning was going really well until the boy came along. It's on hold for now.

4) I did have a baby boy, a pretty cute one, I might add.

5) My painting projects are on-going. I did finish Polly's doors, her side table, the entryway and basement. I have yet to do her closet and rocking chair.

6) I've been lousy at tracking spending. I only did it one month and I think it depressed me too much. Maybe I'll resume it, but probably not.

7) I didn't really do much to enjoy the winter. Maybe next year.

8) I am listening to more music and enjoying it thoroughly.

9) So far I have printed out about a year and a half's worth of pictures. Only 9.5 more to go! It was pretty easy, actually, I just highlighted the images I wanted in iPhoto, then uploaded them to flickr as private, then chose to print them through snapfish (the two are linked.) So far, they are in order in a photobox.

10) I've been doing a good job of using the supplies that I have. Tucker's thank you cards were made out of old supplies and I'm doing his announcements using old A6 envelopes.

11) Photography progress: I bought and am reading Nicole's Photo 101 book, and it has been a great refresher and motivator. I want to take one of her classes, too, once I have a bit more time hands-free.

12) Party? Not yet. Still got 7 months for that one.

Images:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

I'm back, and my newest craigslist find

I'm baaaaaaack. For now, anyway. I had forgotten how hard it is to do anything with a newborn. This little guy is not a fan of being put down so my hands are tied approximately 15 hours per day. Fun!

I've discovered a great one-handed past time (via Marcy Davy of All Things Grow) called Craigs Easy. It allows you to search Craigslist in pictures vs. clicking on every link. If you haven't tried it yet, do it now. The image above is a screenshot of the site in action.

I had basically given up on Craigslist out of lack of time and patience unless I had something really specific I was looking for, but this new little discovery helped me find this new chair for my girl's room for $150.00. It is pretty much the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in and the upholstery is in perfect shape. I'm not sure how long it will stay in her room, though. My favorite part of the chair is the back, and it's not showcased (or even seen) in its current home.

I really liked the green chair I had in her room before, but it is 1/2 of a pair of chairs (also a craigslist find.) I've signed up for the next MATC upholstery class so I plan on finishing up the 2nd chair and putting them together in the living room. I really like pairs of chairs together.

I've got a few other little things going on but my boy is up now so I'll pop back later. Have a great Friday!

a son is born

If you haven't guessed it yet, my hiatus over the past few weeks is due to the birth of my boy, Tucker. He's perfectly healthy and we are so happy. We've been in adjustment mode so far and will probably continue in this gear for at least a few more weeks.

I'll be back with more frequent posts once the dust settles.

start with art: michelle armas

This edition of "Start with Art" is dedicated to...me. I've been thinking about redoing my dining room for a bit now. Not a total re-do but a freshening up. I've got way too much yellow going on right now and I'm over the terra cotta walls. I bought a new dining room set super cheap on Craig's. Actually, rewinding a bit, I bought a set of 5 shield-back chairs at a local antique store for $125. My plan was to buy 2 arm chairs to supplement the side chairs, but I found a set of 6 matching shield-back chairs and an oval table during my search for $250, which was less than I thought the 2 chairs would be. Needless to say, I now have 11 chairs and a table to refinish/rework. My normal limit of furniture I allow myself to keep en queue is one. Unfortunately, I already had one piece waiting before any of this craziness so now there's a total of 13 pieces in my basement waiting for love.

But don't fear, I have a plan.

-I've been pining after Michelle Armas's pieces for some time now and I've decided to use this piece as inspiration for the room. The colors are absolutely perfect. In real life, I will probably buy one of her prints, I'm not sure a $1400 painting is in my future but a girl can dream.

-The brown bambooish drapes, the light fixture, buffet, rug and mirror are here to stay.

-The current table and chairs are up for grabs.

-I've already found someone to sand and paint the chairs white for a reasonable price with a 10-day turn-around.

-My spring/summer project will be the table and upholstery.

-I'm thinking either the Imperial Trellis, Chiang Mai Dragon or a simple green/cream houndstooth fabric for the chairs.

-The brown and pink pillows will go on the bench I have in the room.

-I'm undecided about the walls still. (paint/wallpaper/stencil)

I think that covers everything. Anyone wanna buy a dining set?

the updated nursery

I just realized last night that a post I wrote last Monday about taking a blogging break to nest-up was never published, further proving the point that I needed to take said break. A friend of mine that was due to have her baby the day after me gave birth a week ago, which really made me feel like it was time to knock some things off my list while I still could. It was a good week.

I didn't really have to change that much in the nursery, all the bigger items stayed. It was fun to dress these shelves for a boy using stuff we had around the house already. That baseball mitt, I thought was my husband's, but he informed me it was from the 1940's or something like that and he couldn't remember how or when he got it. The chalk board belonged to his mom (it was a double hinged one that was falling apart.) You might notice it says "T" but don't start guessing yet, we really don't have a name picked out.

The tricycle photograph is by Sweet Eventide. It's in an Ikea Ribba frame, with a professional mat. The little bookshelves (inspired by this post) are Bevkam spice racks ($3.99 each) from Ikea. I used two here, one on the side of the glider and one on the changing table to house creams and wipes and such.

The bunting was left over from when this was my girl's nursery. I had to flip the pink/girly fabrics that were showing so that the assortment was more boyish. Ryan still thinks there's too many flowers on it but oh well. My mom helped me make the shades out of some sheets we were using in the former guest room. They're the "Max" pattern from Serena and Lily. She made the crib skirt out of the same material.

It's a bit hard to see the mobile in any of these photos, here's a closer shot. The wooden nursery rhyme-themed pieces were part of my baby mobile from the '70's. I updated it with a new, more modern mobile base.

The egg lamp was my biggest purchase for the room. It's more of a nightlight and casts a dreamy glow over the room at night.

The spice rack again, attached to the changing table.

I used a lot of art in the room from the Art Wall website. This little assortment features the other half of my MIL's chalk board, dressed with one of the nursery rhyme mobile parts and Shanna Murray's words. Next to that is an original by Papersparrow. There are two prints in the nursery by Gretchenmist. The photo is a limited edition metallic print by Jen Zahigian of Roadside Photographs. I made the embroidery piece with a sample Hable fabric.

The second Gretchenmist print connects the two little art clusters nicely. The "Small Mighty" photograph is the second Sweet Eventide piece in the room. The tree stump piece is a Gocco print by The Littlest Flower. The banana pinewood derby was made by my husband as a kid. I'm not sure who took the photo, someone with a nice lens (thank you.) The second embroidery piece/clock was also made by me. Most of the artwork was mounted using a Xyron onto wood painting panels, an easy and inexpensive option for framing. Tutorial to follow.