Earlier this week I did some advance scouting for the Randolph Street Market over on the Krrb blog. Krrb, a fresh approach to green, neighborly living, has teamed up to do some cross-promotions with ...
A slick new piece by Liz. This credenza came into the back door of the shop a few weeks ago, and Liz had designs on it. She chose a gray and gold combination to bring it up to high style speed. The b...
Back from last week’s fabric hunt at Ikea to reupholster this Eastlake love seat. I know it still doesn’t look like much more than a mess, but progress has been made, namely a fresh coat ...
This week I’m working on this found Eastlake loveseat, but there’s really nothing to see here, scavengers. With its stuffing now hanging out, it’s on its way to something new, but n...
This week, Liz revived a homeless coffee table with a cool looking metallic finish. She did the quick change process using foil transfer, an inexpensive product that turned out to go on easy and look...
With big reasons to celebrate our 1st birthday at the resale shop this month, we wanted to let the local public know of our accomplishments and invite them to celebrate, too. It came together with th...
We’re kicking off Earth Week with DIY Terrariums! These mini landscapes are an easy way to add life to any space. They’re low-mantainance and can be planted in almost any container availa...
Here are some of the decorative pillows Liz and I have made over the last few months. These are all remade from garments that were ill-fitting, dated, maybe frayed along the edges but lively just the...
A new item for the tech museum at the resale shop. Over the past year, we’ve exhibited specimens ranging from Instamatics to Westbend clock radios in all their plastic glory and button configur...
“Cleaning out our storage locker, do you want a few pieces for makeover?” some friends called an a Sunday. The world is too full of stuff in storage lockers, I remember thinking. So what ...
Think fast and name anybody you know who hasn’t flipped an item on Ebay, Craigslist, Etsy or someplace online. I can’t think of a soul. Online marketplace prices are higher, it makes perf...
From art history studies, (see slide #1645, the Pantheon) we know the doric column shape has been around since circa 500 B.C. in Greek and Roman civ. But to me, the design of this found floor lamp s...
Wow is this boring—-tearing up little strips of paper and gluing them onto a vertical surface. Hats off to the artists who came before me and persevered. Boring I’m reusing craft paper lu...
This past week I’ve been super busy, and I never use words like that together, so you know it’s very true. When last we met, I was making plans to give a natural look to a pole of a floor...
Making a video about your place of business is one of those processes that help you discover, in mere heartbeats, how to do it better next time. The taping went extremely quickly, and I’d hoped...
If your goal is to build community at your local shop, obviously you’ve got to recruit partners. I’ve found the friendly local media invaluable in helping build community online and withi...
When your creative idea doesn’t translate into a common language of materials, that’s the clue: Keep thinking. You’re not there yet. I was focused on metal or wire to change this di...
Without their shades, most floor lamps are just a pole, like this one, which I placed in front of my oven to lend interest for the photo. It was a donation to the thrift shop but stayed in the backro...
Purists, rest assured that this was no fine specimen of Mid-Century modern form and function. This was a third cousin twice removed and forever resigned to the back row for family pics at holidays an...
A friend, an artist, died last week. In sharing memories, a word that was often used to describe her was mindful. It’s a reminder for all of us to consciously live our aesthetics. Her work thr...
If you pay a visit to Seattle, it’s best to postpone the low-carb diet til you get back. Seattle is full of luscious, tempting baked goods. For every corner and side street coffee shop, there&...
Here’s how two sweaters became a throw rug. The wool sweaters were the same cable style, different colors. I started by cutting them apart, then sewing them into a striped runner. Next, I add...
Did you know your dog can be a carrier for wool-eating moth larvae? I do now. And I have a stack of sweaters ready for recycling into something greater than the sum of their holes. So many talente...
I’m excited about this….from Cheetos to a wallet! Hope you can drop in next Thursday afternoon. See more about Erika and her brilliant ideas on her blog here. Then, see tons of great sewi...
Catching up on some design TV today, I watched Nate Berkus’ show on creating a sexy bedroom. I’ll play along, I thought, because I love my bedroom. It’s where I think, work, lounge,...
Does my blog have a mission? Do my readers know it? Buzzing around the web, I ran across this question and took a minute to consider it. I have a tag line that I hope guides readers first thing: New ...
This week I set a $10 limit to find a likely makeover candidate at the thrift store. I searched the Unique Thrift on Howard and Western in hopes of finding something interesting. Slim pickings in th...
Skipping through the discards of life, why are we compelled along the way to pick up one random scrap of paper and not another? Is it the color of the paper that makes us take notice, or the slant o...
The weather in Chicago is as volatile as the stock market. Day one: backyard season. Day two: sledding. I used 5 shades of Rustoleum to refresh these file drawers this week, which leads us to the que...
What’s a good color mid-century modern color combo? It come to mind instantly when I think of spray painting these card catalog drawers. I spied them in a random pile of stuff nobody wants, but...
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