Vintage Botanical Artwork Love

I spend a lot of quality time on the couch,

as one does in winter.

When (+ if) I look away from my TV, phone or bozoputer,

I see this:

Disclaimer:

G.O. is preparing his signature Calico Beans dish to pass

for a Super Bowl party later today,

which explains the slight mess

+ the reason my utensils are askew.

Omigosh!  Those plastic ones don’t go there!  BAD Kay!

This explains why I’ll never be one of the popular kids

on Instagram (@redbirdkay52 – please follow me),

but I digress.

He is also throwing away all our non-stick pots + pans

after watching this documentary

on the horrors of DuPont + Teflon,

The Devil We Know.

Yikes!  Sorry I missed it.

Back to the pressing issue at hand,

which is the artwork in our kitchen.

We recently hung those bowl prints,

which I ordered from a forgotten catalog, years ago.

They’re great, but me being me,

I already wish to hang them elsewhere**

+ to replace them with my dream artwork,

the botanical print.

**Which, need I say it, drives G.O. crazy.

Oops.

  Since that’s not as important as my happiness is,

off I dashed to shop for said botanical prints on etsy,

where I was immediately attracted to these vintage pull-down charts

from the shop, Mighty Vintage in Berlin.

Violets – $414.59

How much do we love the way the vibrant colors

POP against the black backgrounds?

Sunflowers – $272.45

Cherries – $355.37

Since we live in Illinois,

something corn-related might be kind of fun,

like this chart from the shop Wild Strawberry Retro from the UK.

Maize – $162.27

Okay.  Ouch.

Hundreds of dollars is a tad more than I wished to spend,

so I continued to shop – this time for reproductions.

I think I found it!

What’s not to love!? – via OlgaBegakArt from Austria.

Tomatoes – 13″ x 19″ $56.86

The illustration style is deliciously vintage,

+ the colors are fantastic!

What do you think?

Stay tuned!

Powder Room Highs + Lows

I recently shared the story of our powder room’s paneled walls,

which involved a lot of masking tape + a lot of poly molding from Home Depot.

Soon enough, everything was given a coat of medium gray paint:

Flagstone by Pittsburgh Paints.

Check out the awesome before + after!

I know!  How great!

 All that molding gave the newly created room instant age!

Here it is, before — that space was once a short hallway:

I love how the carrera marble hexagon floor tiles

coordinate with the Flagstone paint!

The carrera marble is repeated in the vanity top from Pottery Barn,

which I think has been discontinued:

I chose the New York widespread faucet

from Signature Hardware, $259.95:

Who remembers the wonderful Martha Stewart Everyday at K-Mart?

I loved everything — from home decor items, like this enamel soap dish,

to garden goods + holiday collections!

The striped mug is an oldie Ralph Lauren pattern, Farmstead Ticking,

found online at Replacements, Ltd.

It’s not currently available, but I love this adorable candlestick, $11.95:

Hurry!  There are only 4 left!

Back to the powder room!

Our mirror started its life paired with a beautiful dresser,

which we refurbished + sold.

I briefly considered painting it

but couldn’t bear to cover that pretty wood grain!

Our pretty porcelain light fixture

was discontinued from Pottery Barn, + I found it on eBay.

Don’t you love the vintage-style cloth-covered cord?

Speaking of vintage, I hung these blue transfer ware plates

above the sweetest blue shelf that I found in an etsy shop:

But wait.  We need to talk.

I am on the fence about those plates.

I love them, but they just don’t look that great here.

But look at the plates I hung in our main bath!

I couldn’t love them more!

I can’t believe I did this,

but I guess I assumed that if I loved plates in the main bath,

I’d love them in my powder room, too!

I don’t.

I don’t know what, if anything, to hang there.

If only Joanna Gaines made house calls!

I mean, how in the world am I going to find a designer

who speaks my design language,

way out here in the middle of nowhere?

Well, check this out.

My friend, Claudia, told me about this thing called Havenly.

It’s an online source of interior designers + decorators.

You can read about how it works on their website.

I think I am going to take their design style quiz, later today.

How much fun will that be?

As always, stay tuned!

We even painted some unfinished wood switch + outlet plate covers from Menards:

See you next time!

 

$3 Garage Sale Happiness

It’s Thursday, which means one thing in my little world:

GARAGE SALES!

You never know what treasure you’ll find!

Just last week I enthusiastically bought this homemade magazine rack:

SURPRISE!

 As you can no doubt tell, I shan’t be using it to hold mags.

Instead, I plan to use it to display some of my beloved platters.

Exhibit A:

 4 of my ironstone platters on our most recent past kitchen wall:

For our current kitchen, I wanted to do something like this,

on the end of our island:

atticmag.com

eclecticallyvintage.com

Normally, I would just ask G.O. to make me something.

He’s so talented!  But he’s just so busy!

Instead, I have been searching for one to buy, for months.

I liked this from an etsy seller,

Apple Tree Woodcrafts:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/232695125/walI

$146

Since I hoped to find something more affordable,

my plate rack project was put on the back burner for a while.

Then, last Thursday — this:

HA!  Yes!  $3!

When I spied it, I knew it would be perfect for my plate rack hopes + dreams!

I couldn’t buy it FAST enough!

The bottom portion will have to go away so that it fits our island like a glove.

No worries, though — I know that super talented G.O. will be able to do that.

The dowels have to go, as well, but that’s not much of a problem (not for Greg!)

So.  Other than those few tweaks to make it perfect,

I must also decide what color to paint it.

The color must complement + contrast

with both the dark wood island + my light-colored platters.

Right now, I’m thinking this blue:

Chambray by Pittsburgh Paints

 I think I shall distress said blue,

as our kitchen is skewing a tad too “new”.

Stay tuned!

Vintage Accesories For The Powder Room

So.  Today we re-measured the kitchen for cabs.

Yay.

This means that I shall spend the rest of the day sketching.

But first, let’s go back to our powder room.

My goal for it is that the room looks old,

as if it was original to our Dutch colonial.

I think my design looks old enough,

but I need to be choosy about the remaining accessories.

First up, the mirror.

Here’s one from Pottery Barn that I like.

It’s the Kensington Pivot Rectangular mirror @ $179.

It does look somewhat vintage,

but we’re opting for this, instead:

It came with a garage sale dresser for which we paid a mere $75.

Look at the beautiful natural wood grain:

So.  It not only looks more vintage than the PB one,

it’s a lot less expensive.

I like that.

Now let’s move to the shelf portion of my powder room design.

Once again, from Pottery Barn — their Sussex shelf.

$47 – $55 on sale, with free shipping.

While it would  look perfectly lovely,

I preferred something genuinely old.

Off to etsy, where I always have good luck!

Here’s what I chose:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LititzCarriageHouse?ref=l2-about-shopname

With shipping, I paid a mere $33.

G.O. kindly held it in place for me this a.m.

Does he like it?  Well, no, but I have faith that he will, eventually,

once the room is all tricked out + finished.

* * *

Let’s have a look-see at yet another vintage bathroom necessity

that I found (on etsy, again!) months ago.

It’s a darling, old porcelain towel bar.

Here ’tis, held in place on the side of our vanity:

OR, we might opt for hanging it on the wall, to the left of the vanity.

The only accessory that remains is the over-the-sink light fixture.

You  probably won’t be surprised

that I’ve got something vintage planned there, as well.

Stay tuned!

Range Hood Hopes + Dreams

Lately I’ve been having the most fun,

planning the range hood for our Dutch colonial kitchen.

In our current hacienda, we have one of these restaurant-style hoods from IKEA:

At the time  (6 or 7 years ago — I can’t remember),

 I thought this was so daring + cutting edge!  HA!

I was too scared to spring it on  share my plans with G.O.

so I waited until we were IN the kitchen dept. at IKEA, ordering cabs!

Cue: his “I’m displeased” face.

Poor G.O.!

Thankfully for me, the IKEA girlie was on my side

+ talked him down from the ledge

persuaded him that it would look cool!

* * * *

But please.  While I do amuse myself with this anecdote,

I’m also rolling my eyes just a bit,

as I am no longer burdened by fear!

I just point to the bozoputer + show G.O. what I want,

 wait for him to loudly veto my idea (as is his way),

+ then proceed as planned.

People.  He’s going to end up liking it.  Trust me.

 * * * *

But I digress again.

Re: range hoods!

I’d be so bored if we had the same range hood in the Dutch colonial,

so it’s OUT with the stainless steel + the restaurant styling,

+ onward to plan B!

Here’s plan B:

That range hood is my interpretation of this:

houzz.com

Notice that it’s just a plain Jane box that’s been trimmed out

in a Shaker style, similar to the IKEA cabs we’ll be using:

Winning!

What’s cool is G.O. can make this for practically free!

Here’s another, this time with a slightly slanted front face:

houzz.com

Nobody loves a glossy bead board kitchen ceiling more than I do.

(Riddle me this: HOW can I persuade G.O. that we ‘need’ a vintage stove?)

* * * *

But I digress yet again.  Back to the range hoods.

My plans include tricking things out just a tad,

with some small brackets + a shelf, just like this:

YUM!

Okay, so now I’m majorly obsessing about blue transfer ware platters.

onekingslane.com

Excuse me while I head to etsy + madly search for said-same.

Seriously.  You can find almost anything on etsy.  Check it out!

Stay tuned!

Blue + White Plate Morale Boost

Yesterdee I complained about coming down with the winter blues.

While this a.m. seems a tad brighter, I could still use a pick-me-up.

Cue: Pinterest . . .

. . . search for  ‘blue + white plates’,

+ here you have it.

http://www.thehandmadehome.net/

Could I love something more?

I really doubt it.

Next . . . onward to etsy for another “blue + white plate” search, + voila.

$5 from https://www.etsy.com/shop/LoRiBeu!

That’s a pretty sizable morale boost for $5 (plus $4.95 shipping!)

What have you done to try + chase away your winter blues?

SHOPPING + MAGAZINES, ONLINE!

I just realized there are just 22 more days until Christmas!

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?!

I’m spending my days sewing like the wind,

making pillows as fast as I can

for the galleries + shops that sell them for me.

Like this, for them:

Co-op 28 Handmade + Vintage
1728 N. Vermont
Los Angeles, CA

https://www.facebook.com/Coop28handmade

* * * * *

Meanwhile, I steal a few moments at the bozoputer when I can,

as I’m trying to handle Christmas online.

Look at the old-fashioned gift stickers I ordered from an etsy seller,

MollysScrapbooks:

Christmas

Everyday

www.etsy.com/shop/MollysScrapbooks

People.  I am mad about their slightly industrial, retro office style — aren’t you?

My plans include using these with some kraft paper gift wrap

+ lots of red + white baker’s twine:

Speaking of etsy + baker’s twine, I also ordered some small cookie bags:

www.etsy.com/shop/thebakersconfections

I know!  How adorable!

Maybe we’ll bake Snickerdoodles

from my 60’s 4-H cookbook.

Stay tuned!  I could possibly take some photos + share the recipe!

You’ll thank me.

* * * *

Back to shopping.

Here we have the swell banner-style return address labels

I ordered for our Christmas cards, from another etsy shop,

PumpedOnPaper:

www.etsy.com/shop/pumpedonpaper

Aren’t they wonderful?  They wrap from the front to the back of the envelope!

Genius!

For our monogram, I asked for OK, which is kind of our ‘trademark’.

Get it?  Ole Olson + Kay?

* * * *

Last but not least, I ordered myself an early Christmas gift yesterday,

+ the UPS boy dropped it off at our porch just this afternoon!

Hey, look!  More baker’s twine!

Barr-Co.
apothecary candle
K. Hall Designs
St. Louis, MO

http://www.khalldesigns.com/products/barr-co/

Of course, I wanted this candle because of its vintage apothecary style,

+ because they’re made in my beloved St. Louis.

The good news is that the scent I ordered — their new Fir-Grapefruit — is beyond divine!

In fact, the November ’13 issue of  Lonny magazine named it their SEASON’S BEST SCENT!

http://www.lonny.com/magazine/November+2013/PKNA7_-nAsm/1

You have heard of Lonny magazine, haven’t you?

It’s online.  It’s free.  It’s the BEST THING, EVER!

Go there now + thank me later.

http://www.lonny.com/magazine/December+January+2014/G4ACFTKNUUI/1

You’re welcome!

 

Etsy Shopping

The HVAC (heating + air conditioning) guys are at our Dutch colonial today,

so that’s pretty exciting, I’d say.

Our errant enclosed front porch was finally demolished

just the other day . . .

. . . which is even more exciting (to me!)

I’ve snapped plenty of “after” photos

but need G.O.’s assistance with downloading

in order to share with the class.

Soon!

Meanwhile, just this a.m., I had a bright idea

to do a little vintage shopping on etsy, for our house.

Iprefervintage shop on etsy

I love this milk glass towel bar!

I’m thinking one of the bathrooms or our kitchen island.

Our kitchen island
will end up in the approximate location
of this 2×4.

Speaking of our kitchen island,

I want to hang some sort of rack on the side of it,

for cookbooks + platters + such.

No luck finding anything on etsy today,

but I did see some cool hymnal racks on Pinterest:

Pinterest

While not house-related, here’s another etsy purchase I made this a.m.:

thependantemporium shop on etsy

My sister is an accounting professor at the University of Texas at Austin,

+ her birthday’s August 13th.

Fingers crossed she’ll like it + wear it!

Stay tuned!

Huge Vintage Casters

Today’s to-do list includes heading to etsy + choosing something like these . . .

DestinationsVintage on etsy

. . . so that I can turn this . . .

. . . into this!

Source unknown

And now, for something totally off-topic, here’s a corner of our garden:

I recall fretting over our choice of the dark brown stain for the fence.

I can’t believe how unsure I was, because I love it so much now!

Not only is it striking in spring/summer . . .

. . . it looks fantastic in the snow!

For our Dutch colonial,

I think we’ll stain our fence the same dark gray

we’re using on our garden shed!

Garden shed
color inspiration — Remodelista.com  

 

Etsy Shopping Spree

I love etsy!

It’s an online site where people can sell their handmade + vintage stuff.

Trust me, it rocks, + you need to go to there, now.

www.etsy.com

I opened my own etsy shop a few years ago

+ sell my own hand-stenciled pillows:

www.etsy.com/shop/redbirdvintagehome

 When it comes to etsy, I think I like buying even more than selling!!

Just this morning I bought this awesome letterpress card for my grandlad’s April birthday:

Man vs. George Design on etsy

I know!!  Isn’t it cool?  I’m a huge fan of letterpress anything + numbers!

    Here’s hoping my grandlad will be somewhat impressed (no pun intended).

He’s actually been antiquing with us a few times.

He asked for + received the following:

a compass

a vintage metal toy airplane to hang from the ceiling in his room.

(HIS idea — honest!)

Since we’ve got ourselves a budding antiquer,

I think I’ll order this book for one of his birthday gifts:

And yes, I am ‘THAT grandma’!

And yes, I am Facebook friends with Mike Wolfe!

BUT, once again, I digress.

My etsy shopping spree continued!

Since we’ll be moving soon-ish, I ordered us this custom-made rubber stamp:

  I asked the etsy seller if I could have an ‘OK’ monogram . . .

 . . . which is my ‘kooky fun’ thing to do with G.O.’s name + mine.

Get it?  O + K?

But wait!

I ordered yet another custom rubber stamp from an etsy seller, MJ’s art stamps.

They call this their ‘newspaper typewriter’ design.

Within hours of my request, they sent me a couple proofs:

I love it — it’s simple, rustic, vintage-style + looks handmade . . .

. . . which I think is a good match for my pillowmaking business.

When my stamp arrives, I shall stamp some of these red tags with black ink:

Artecrafts on etsy

 I’ll add a little baker’s twine just because it’s cool + comes in the correct color:

And voila!  I think I’ll have a unique, eye-catching business card!

Thanks for tagging along with me on my etsy shopping spree.

How about you?  Do you shop there?