Retro Chair Rehab

I have been on the hunt for an amazing desk chair since we put that awesome green one in this room. I wanted to replace the plain ol' black one. Friday, I snatched this one up for $20!

Look at those lines- quick someone get me a typewriter, a steno pad, and one of those pen necklaces Joan wears.

Here it is when we came home. This yellow & orange tweed was a little worse for it's wear, and I was pretty sure there was no foam in the seat. 

So I deconstructed the chair. Removed screws and fabric. Under the back rest, was a beautiful, pristine leather. Under the seat, the upholstery was taped on, and the seat was coated in really old, dry rotted, nasty, foam powder. I scraped it off outside with a mask on (just in case it was toxic). Then I added foam to the back rest and two pieces to the seat. 

Then it got a layer of the awesome orange herringbone fabric. 

It pretty much has made my weekend, I just know I will love it forever!!

Vintage Stain Removal

Before you grab the harsh mysterious chemical stain remover, maybe you could try one of these old remedies. If not, they're at least interesting. 

This is an excerpt from the 1924 Good Housekeeping Book on The Business of Housekeeping.

Iron Rust- Apply lemon and salt and hold spot over steam. 

Fruit- Hold stained portion taught over a bowl and pour boiling water on it from a height so that it will strike the fabric with force. 

Coffee and Tea-  Spread the train over a bowl and cover the spot with a paste of borax and cold water. Then pour on it boiling water from a height.

Chocolate- Apply a paste of borax and cold water, then pour boiling water from a height. 

Grass- Wash a stain in cold water without soap. Another method is to rub it with molasses, let stand a few minutes and wash out in warm water. 

Ink- Ink is the most difficult of all stains because one must first identify the variety o ink. For that reason, the commercial eradicators, which may be purchased, we believe the best choice. 

Mildew- This is a living plant which will not grow if light and air can reach the fabric. It may be removed while very fresh with cold water.

Vaseline- Wash a fresh stain with turpentine. Then stain can not be removed after it has been boiled. 

Wagon grease- Rub the stain with lard, keeping a cloth beneath it. Then wash with warm water and soap. 

Hope you find these helpful, especially when removing wagon grease, what a pain that is! 

Billy & Me

I found this sweet poem in the vintage copy of Counting Rhymes I bought at a garage sale last weekend. I thought it was very sweet for Billy (WD) and Me. 

This will be very cute hanging in a child's room some day.

History of Paint By Numbers

Once Upon a Time, a man named Dan Robbins had a brilliant idea: to create a kit where everyone could be an artist. He thought of his childhood days of painting and remembered how Michelangelo had numbered sections of his paintings so his students could help him. Dan went running to his boss, Max Klein at Palmer Paint Company, who wasn't so sure the idea was a hit. See, there was already a paint by numbers product by Picture Craft Company, on the market for soldiers, but these painting's images were a mystery until they were painted. 

Picture Craft Co.'s paintings needed some help to appeal to more people, and they asked Klein to help. The original kits included a rolled canvas, a palate, and oil paints in tiny capsules. The kits were assembled, but Picture Craft Co. didn't show up with the money. With a warehouse full of painting kits, Palmer Paint Company called Dan Robbins in and asked him to help. Dan created Abstract No.1,

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 but Palmer's Paint Co. thought it was too ugly to sell, so the first CraftMaster kit was  “The Fishermen”. 

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The roan to success was a bumps including the first kits sold to K-mart (Kresge) had the paints for kit A in kit B and vice versa. They tried making personalized paint by number kits, but miscalculated how much production would cost. Ultimately the canvas and oil paints prevented them from ever turning a profit. In 1955 Palmer Paint Company filed for bankruptsy and CraftMasters was bought by Donofrio brothers, who had produced the containers the CraftMaster's paint was packaged in. Upon taking over, CraftMaster Paint by Numbers were printed in light blue on board and sold with acrylic paint.

So why was it so popular in the 1950s? There was a post-war philosophy that having a hobby made life worth living. Hobbies implied you had time for leisure. Many celebrities including Frank Sinatra took up painting (by numbers) and Paint by Numbers by J. Edgar Hoover and Nelson Rockefeller hung in the West Wing alongside original pieces. 

Vintage Modern Room Reveal

This room was styled for a very cool, 15 year old girl. She wanted the room to have a vintage modern feel. She began collecting a few antiques when her great grandmother passed away, and these special pieces were the inspiration for the room. 

(We started with the blue quilt, the fan, the rooster canisters, the green floral chair, and the cat door stop.)

 We spent a few weeks this summer scouring antique shops to find unique pieces for the room. 

We replaced the knobs on her existing furniture with these from Anthropologie. We really focused on finding unique, quirky, and interesting pieces for her room.

 Her family loves to travel, so a vignette of vintage postcards from locations they visited was installed over her bed. 

 She is an artist and photographer, so I was able to pick most of these cameras up for her while I was on vacation. Two came from her grandparents after they saw her collection (how special!) Honestly, it was a little hard for me to part with this collection, especially since many of them still work. 

 We knew we wanted to find glove molds to display her jewelry. The window seat cushion was recovered with an antique table cloth. I made the pillows, some from old barkcloth. 

 We weren't able to paint the room, so the yellow, stationary curtains add a much needed pop of color. An eclectic combination of pillows helps the room look relaxed and inviting. 

 The chair fabric was original, but we painted the arms and legs to give it a modern look. We painted brass lamps for the bedside and the table to match the red, floating shelf.

I made this pinch pleat shower curtain for her bathroom to tie the rooms together. She painted the carrot seed pack on the right.

Here are a few before shots:

My Record Player

Enjoying hanging out with my hubs, listening to some new vinyl. 

Happy Sunday!

Great Garage Sale Day

A surprise garage sale made my day this morning! 

This great yellow, chinoiserie lamp for $3! 

 Old books to style shelves with for a quarter!

 I was especially excited about some of these 50s & 60s children's books. I LOVE their illustrations!

$1 for the illustrated Golden Dictionary (1969 ed.)

Set of Childcraft Encyclopedias 1968 for $10. 

 But the highlight of illustrations for me was in the Counting Rhymes book! Original copyright 1959, this 1985 printing is in perfect condition! You will be seeing some of these images framed in my home some day.  

total spent:

$21.75

man! you've gotta love a good garage sale!!

Oh Deer!

 Look at the new babies I got for my birthday!

They're teeny tiny salt shakers... LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!

Hand Embroidery Tutorial

I have a new obsession hobby, hand embroidering. You know I am a sucker for anything retro, and this lost art makes me think of times gone by. It all started with a little pin on my Summer "to-do" board. I have made this summer with my girls (the girls I keep during the summer) very focused on teaching them about all the random things I love. We are 3 very artsy-crafty girls. 

So the younger girl (8) and I were looking at my Pinterest board, and she said she would like to learn to hand embroider, and since I knew nothing about it, we googled some instructions, gave it a try, and it was love at first stitch! 

Our first project was the kitten (above) on a pillowcase. The 8 year old completed this whole kitten by HERSELF on our first day! 

SO YOU WILL NEED:

 Find yourself an adorable pattern to motivate you by googling "vintage embroidery pattern" or visit French-Knots.

(other pattern via doe-c-doe )

Scissors - magical [Mark-B-Gone] pen - embroidery hoop (any color will do) - needle with a BIG eye [chenille needle*] - embroidery thread/floss or regular thread (in lots of happy colors) - fabric (sheets, cotton quilting fabric, and flannel have all worked well for me so far.)

*this is a chenille needle (found on the embroidery/cross stitch aisle), it makes threading embroidery thread easier. 

You can buy fancy iron-on transfer patterns, but they cost big bucks, and you can only iron them on once - but I won't judge you if you want to try those. But I printed out my pattern (re-traced with sharpie if it wasn't dark,) then pinned it under the fabric, and I used my magic pen to trace the lines. If you are having trouble seeing through the fabric, you can ask your lovely assistant to hold it up against a window for you (during the day of course.)

It's time to pick your first thread color and thread your needle. There are 2 ways to thread your needle. Each will look the same, so it is totally just a preference. 

 Option 1 is for embroidery thread/floss. Tie a knot on one end and thread the other end through the eye (all 6 strands.) You will have a loose end, so make sure not to pull your needle off the thread when you pull your needle through the fabric. (Maybe not the best choice for children or beginners - you might want to quit if you have to re-thread your needle 60,000,000 times.)
Option 2 uses three thread strands tied together at the ends so the needle is in the middle of the big loop. You can use half of a piece of embroidery thread (see below) OR just three pieces of regular thread cut to the same length.

You should be able to separate the 6 thread strands that make up one piece of embroidery floss. They twist together, so be careful not to tangle them when you are separating them. You should be able to pull 1,2,&3 away from 4,5,&6 while keeping each group of threads connected. 

WOO HOO - now that your needle is threaded (honestly the hardest part), you are ready to begin embroidering!! We will be using the back stitch which creates a straight, connected line.

1. Start in a corner of the beginning of a line. Your first stitch will be 1 stitch width from the end. 

Insert your needle from the bottom, where you would like the end of your first stitch to be. Pull your thread through, locking your knot under the fabric.
2. Traveling backwards, push your needle through the starting point of your line to the back of the fabric.
3. Pull tight but don't pucker the fabric. ! Affirm yourself because you have just proven YOU CAN DO THIS!!

4. Skip over the the ending point of your next stitch on the line, and bring your needle through from the bottom to the top. (If your needle is not coming through where you intend, don't pull it through. Keep poking gently until you find the right placement - this may take a few tries.) 
5. Your stitches will now begin connecting by putting needle through the first stitch. Push your needle through the hole created by the end of your first stitch.
6. Pull Tight!

7,8,9.... repeat these same steps. You may need to make your stitches smaller to go around curves. If a pattern has dashes that are small like this bunny, you can treat them like single stitches.

You may want to be mindful of the direction you stitch to conserve thread. Working in one continuous line (or almost continuous) around the pattern in one direction will keep you from wasting thread jumping around.

Here is the A-DOE-RABLE deer I finished this morning!

If kitschy animals aren't your thing... here are some other examples of what you could use hand embroidery to do. 

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The EASIEST Way to Hang a Grid Vignette

I added this photo to my houzz.com Ideabook a while back and planned to use the idea to display a client's vintage postcard collection from her travels. 

Ava Lane via Kailey J. Flynn Photography @ houzz.com

But does the thought of obsessively measuring for hours atop a ladder seem intimidating?

I learned this little trick when I was in Art school. If you create an installation piece- meaning it matters how the art is hung, this would be standard procedure. 

Start with a big piece of paper- butcher paper, kraft paper, wrapping paper or tape pieces of printer paper together. Your big paper needs to be larger than the whole vignette. 

Lay the paper down on the floor, then arrange your pieces. Measure and level on the ground until you are satisfied with your arrangement (these are 2" apart.) 

Trace the top and corners of each frame onto the paper. 

 Level, then tape or pin the paper to the wall where you want your grid vignette to hang. 

 IF your frames have a ledge for hanging inside (like these ikea ones do) Push two push pins through the paper into the wall on the top line of each frame. 

(Your vignette will hang 1/8 of an inch higher  if you do this, so if that bothers you adjust the big piece of paper- trust me it is easier to pin through the lines.)

IF your frames hang from a wire or hanger you should measure the hook location on the frame and add it to your drawing (like is it half way across?). 

Once all the pins are in place begin removing them. Then remove the paper from the wall. If your frames are to heavy to hang by push pins, nail in the holes marked by the push pins. These little 4x6 aluminum Ikea  frames were very lightweight and could hang from push pins, so i just pit the pushpins back in the wall. 

Hang your Frames and scoot as necessary to make sure your lines are even. 

*If any frames are askew, it is probably just the angle of the nail/pin. Try adjusting the angle before considering a new hole.  

**If you plan on nailing the frames and do not have any push pins, you can nail through the paper, then gently rip the paper off the wall leaving the nails intact. I do not recommend this with push pins though because they will fly everywhere.