Mar3

You’ve Got Mail

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Missey

Collections are dangerous things. They can push you precariously close to hoarding status, as well as bankruptcy, especially if you choose to collect something like Faberge eggs! Holidays and birthdays are dangerous territory also, when your well-meaning friends and relatives give you items that they’re just sure “will be great in your collection!” but that you NEVER would have purchased yourself, collector or no. It can be dicey!

I’ve been pretty lucky and careful in my collecting life. I can usually tell when it gets to the tipping point of buying for quantity versus quality of the collection, and I can rein myself in, in most cases. One of those cases is my vintage mailbox collection.

Snail mail has always been a love of mine, starting back when it was just known as “mail.” I love the look of stamps and postmarks and most things postal (except “going postal,” of course, to which I am opposed). Years ago, just because it was cool looking, I bought a glass mailbox that has “Visual Mail” embossed on the front. Little did I know it was a collection seed!

Most of my collection today resides in my small entryway, hanging on corrugated metal (another love of mine) within a homemade frame. Yesterday, I finally got my entryway painted and am no longer ashamed to post pictures of it! Behold!

Here are a few closeups of my favorite bits and pieces:

The quail were thrift store finds, and they are salt and pepper shakers. I think they single-handedly created the blood pressure problem in this country, because they are huge! They could each hold about half of a salt container! Perhaps we could just say they’re efficient, because you’d only have to refill them once a year. Maybe you could even develop an annual family ritual – The Filling of the Quail.

I love the designs on the feathers and of course the plumes on their heads are awesome!

I have a few other mailboxes that may end up on a different wall. One of my favorites was a gift from my parents, which was a homemade job that reads “We Shoot Every Third Salesman. The Second One Just Left.” Ha! A simple No Soliciting sign would have sufficed!

Well, thanks for stopping by! I hope your Spring is happy, healthy, and productive.

Feb3

I’ll Get the Chair for This

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Missey

I’ll Get the Chair for This

Can you keep a secret? I mean, really, like not tell ANYONE? Cuz it looks like I may have committed a crime and I have to get it off my chest. Can I trust you?

Oh geez, put the phone down, I’m just talking about a design crime. And no jury in the world would convict me after it sees the evidence! I’ll leave it up to you.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present to you Exhibit One:

An unassuming chair that had seen better days, but with fine lines and a proud lineage.

Suspecting a design icon in the rough, Ms. Palooza purchased this chair for the (what should probably also be criminal!) low price of $7.00 and spirited it away to a location she refers to as Craft Purgatory. Ominous, no?

Her internet research turned up a very similar specimen, designated as a Saarinen office chair by Knoll.

However, the chair in her possession bore a brand name of Virco and had only four casters, not five. Additionally, when Ms. Palooza viciously tore into the chair with a screwdriver and pliers, this is what she found:

The chair literally fell apart in her hands and spewed ancient upholstery foam debris (see second picture above) throughout her house. After a halfhearted attempt at DIY upholstery, Ms. Palooza had it professionally reupholstered and now it looks like this!

Here endeth the Perry Mason (yes, I am 67 years old) bit.

So I bought this chair at a thrift store and it was disgusting. I tell myself it’s a Saarinen knockoff so I can sleep at night, but I know there are design purists out there who are probably crying, “Sacrilege!” In any case, I think it looks great! i’d love to hear what you think, even if it involves design prison!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dec30

Keepin’ it Clean

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Missey

Keepin’ it Clean

In my opinion, ANY en suite laundry room is a GOOD laundry room. And in light of some of the damp, freezing, ammonia-scented places I’ve done laundry in my life, even my “before” laundry room was pretty dang good!

But a bunch of “before” pictures does not a good RedoPalooza post make! And I wasn’t terribly fond of the exposed shelf as the only storage in the room – it seems to be a junk magnet, and once I do a few loads, it’s a lint-covered-junk magnet! So I whipped out my paintbrush, picked up a few thrift store art pieces, and had a handyman install a couple cabinets, and now my laundry room is a happier place.

How about those wood finials on the shelf? Those are more thrift store bargains – TWENTY BUCKS for the WHOLE SET! I almost fell over when I saw those price tags and then I elbowed a couple people in the face on my way to the register to make them MINE. I regularly toy with the idea of painting them each a different, bright, glossy color, but for right now, I think they look good in their natural state.

This is looking to the left in the room. The two signs were resale bargains (of course). The top one says “Believe in today – Your life is Now,” and the bottom one says “Hope for Tomorrow and Make Things Happen.” Maybe the set originally had one about the past, too, but I’ll just keep looking forward!

On the right side of the room is this piece I made from an old travel calendar. I just love all the colors in it and travel-themed stuff has long been a favorite of mine. PS – Betcha didn’t know there’s an electrical panel behind it! Mmm hmm – Camoflauge!!!

And just inside the door you’ll find one of the best purchases I’ve ever made – the litter box end table! It is so handy for setting laundry baskets on, and it keeps the kitty box out of sight and the odor to a minimum. I think I got mine here, but just search “litter box end table” and you’ll find all kinds of options. Warning – they’re not cheap! But this one is well-made and I’ve never regretted buying it.

I’ll leave you with a little tip if you’re redoing a laundry room. When you install a shelf over your top-load washer, make sure you leave enough room for the top to open all the way! I ended up scooting both my washer & dryer a little ways out from the wall ’cause I don’t want to worry about holding open the washer while I’m stuffing in my dirty duds. After the adventure of installing the shelf where it is now, I preferred to lose a few inches of floor space rather than take it down and reinstall it.

So that’s the latest development at the Redo HQ – I’d love to hear what you think! Happy New Year to everyone!

Dec25

Making the Season Bright(er)

Posted on December 25, 2011 by Missey

Making the Season Bright(er)

I’m using my Christmas break to finish a few of the 1.7 million unfinished projects I have around the house. So today my eye fell upon the brass lamp that gave me so much trouble a few months ago.

This time, I decided to, like, get some directions on how to cover the lampshade right! These were the ones that worked best for me. As I read the instructions, I was thinking, “It can’t be that easy.” But it was! I used a fairly forgiving spray adhesive, and here’s the result!

If you decide to cover a lampshade yourself, here are a couple tips:

The directions on the link say to make a paper pattern. If you do this before you shop for fabric, you’ll know exactly how much you’ll need.
It does take a fair bit of fabric, especially if the angle from the top to bottom of your shade is wide. However, you will have a decent amount leftover, so you could make a matching accessory for your room!
I actually didn’t make a pattern (I didn’t have big enough paper) – I just drew right on the fabric. This worked out okay but I should have erased the pencil marks after I cut it out! Oops!
After you’ve stuck the fabric to the shade, you may want to go around the top & bottom with scissors and even out the parts you’ll fold over.

And no matter what you celebrate, I hope you are all warm, happy, fed, loved, and peaceful today and every day! Thanks for stopping by and best wishes from RedoPalooza!

Dec17

Basket Case

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Missey

Basket Case

Long story, but I was originally going to use this shopping basket as a jewelry display. Yeahhhhhhhh………..that didn’t work out. But I had this big empty space above my cabinets and I was THIS CLOSE to reverting to my 1980′s roots and filling it with a fake plant! Luckily, I waited to do that long enough that I eventually had a brainstorm to put my cool vintage shopping basket up there.

It’s really hard to get a good picture of something that consists mostly of space….

So there it was, all empty and stuff. For a long time. I always felt bad because it’s such a cool thing! I mean, check out this brand badge:

And when I took it down to work some magic on it, I noticed that the previous owner had taped her name and address to the handle of the basket! And she was a Show-Me-Stater, like myself!

So cute! Hazel, if you’re a reader of RedoPalooza and you want your basket back, get in touch! Of course, I’ll have to see photo ID in order to relinquish this beauty.

So I had an idea to make it look like I had just taken this basket shopping in 1943 and wouldn’t you know it, on a thrifting trip shortly thereafter, I came upon some delightful faux fruit and veggies! I brought them home and set them on my counter. Well, today was the day. The day I got SICK OF HAVING THEM ON MY COUNTER! So I also had an empty cereal box and I decided to fix it up with a printed copy of a vintage cereal box. Look – it still says SUGAR Frosted Flakes! Then I took some cardboard and glued some fabric to it and lined the inside of the basket. I wasn’t about to do any SEWING for this “just to look at” project!

SO! Awesome vintage shopping basket + fake fruit + faux vintage cereal box + imitation fabric basket liner =

And here they are in their new habitat, above my pantry cabinet.

I’m not completely pleased with the whole montage. I wish I had a mesh bag for the fruits and veggies to go in but I guess I’ll have to wait until the next time I use up a bag of onions! And I didn’t realize how high up the whole arrangement would be and it’s kind of hard to see from the floor. But that’s the beauty of redoing stuff – I get to decide when it’s finished or just keep tweaking it until I’m happy. We’ll see where it goes from here!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’re all having a wonderful holiday season!

Dec13

Daydream Believer

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Missey

Daydream Believer

When I need a mindless websurfing target, Craigslist is a favorite. I like to pretend that I have an enormous climate-controlled workshop, an endless supply of cash, and an insanely popular brick-and-mortar shop, and I consider the transformations I would perform on the listings under the Furniture For Sale section. Make no mistake – some of the listings make me daydream about a large bucket to heave into. But some of them are real gems, real cheap!

Before we go any further, though, I have a warrant to serve from the Grammar Police. The following seem to be frequent infractions on Craigslist, so I want to warn any of my fellow officers to gird your loins before you go a-surfing.

It’s WROUGHT iron, people! Not ROD iron, or worse, ROT iron!

They’re called DRAWERS, not DRAWS!

The other side of that coin: it’s a chest OF drawers, not a CHESTER DRAWERS!

I could go on for pages, but I’ll spare you any further tirade. It’s my personal burden to bear . . . .

On to the furniture! Here are a few examples from the Las Vegas craigslist website and what I dream of doing to them (that sounds naughty!):

This headboard is just begging for some paint. I think you’ll find that’s a common thread in all my Craigslist daydreams. Seriously, though, can’t you imagine glossy white paint on this? Or a gorgeous turquoise (I don’t care if it is played out)? Lime green, hot pink, glossy black – any of these would be gorgeous on these curves. Not all at the same time, though; we’re going for hip and cool, not insomnia-inducing.

This set would also receive some latex loving. I think it would be great in a deep gray, with a bright, funky fabric on the chair. I would try painting or Rub-and-Buffing the current drawer handles silver. Sigh…I’m imagining penning a note to Mr. Darcy at this little number.

Oops, I went a little Pride and Prejudice on ya for a second!

I’m not usually a fan of brass-type beds, but this one has just enough spunk for me. I would (of course) paint it, but first I would find a funky-cool quilt that would go on it and choose one of the colors in the quilt to use on it. Something Garnet Hill-ish or Anthropologie would do nicely. Like a quilt with aqua, orange, hot pink, and lime green, and paint this headboard glossy orange. Yes!

This chair is just unusual enough to have me intrigued. First I would do a little research on it to see if I could live with myself after painting it. If it’s a rare or significant piece, I would probably leave it as is and just put it up for sale in my (imaginary) resale shop. However, if it’s a post-acid trip creation from 1973, I would paint it glossy white or aqua with a bright fabric on the seat; I’m sure Amy Butler has a design that would work well! Are you sensing a theme? “Paint, apply bright fabric, rinse, repeat.”

The detail on this headboard would look AWESOME with a cool paint job. Maybe bright yellow…? I know a lot of people use distressing and/or wax or glazes to highlight details like this, and I think that looks good if done sparingly. I have yet to try it myself, but if I had that workshop, who knows what techniques I’d try!

The beauty of this chair is that it looks to be in great shape and would also be a cinch to upholster. A cinch, I tell you! Plus, this style of chair would fit in almost any but the most modern of rooms. Even without any tweaking it could play a respectable supporting role in an eclectic living room or bedroom, but I’ve got this giant workshop and nothing but cash and time on my hands, right? A girl can dream….

See previous brass/wrought iron bed. Oooo, how about painting it a bright coral color?

Okay, up until now, the items I’ve shown were below $100 each, which makes them steals in my book. The next photo is kind of a red herring because it’s not only way out of that price range at $400, it’s also not something I would come NEAR with a paintbrush! Feast your eyes on this baby:

Do you hear angels singing? I sure do. Heavy heavy SIGH. Gorgeous.

Well, I hope you don’t think I cheated by not actually (re)DOING anything for today’s blog post, but I just wanted to share my Craigslist lust (Craigslust?) with you guys! These pictures all came from posts on Las Vegas Craigslist, and I’ll be glad to forward the links to anyone interested. If you buy the yellow chair, can I come over and soak in its aura?

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Nov14

Green with Amy

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Missey

Green with Amy

One of my favorite ways to start a project is with a piece that’s already not hideous. Don’t get me wrong – it’s fun to take a crime against humanity and attempt a reformation on it. I mean, there’s nowhere to go but up in those cases, and if I screw it up, I haven’t committed some mortal decor sin. But the ante is upped when I come across a little item like this set of shelves, that is already pretty cute by itself:

But I couldn’t leave well enough alone, now could I? What kind of blog would this be if I didn’t do anything to gems such as this? It would be a shopping blog. And frankly, I can’t muster up much more than “Look what I bought!” when it comes to writing about shopping, so lucky for all of us, I went to town on this bad boy!

I’ve been painting by hand lately and I’m kind of liking it. Please don’t tell spray paint that I’m seeing paint in a can on the side, but we’ve got something special, I think. I feel more connected to pieces that I paint by hand, and I don’t look like a doorknob, standing in my garage in my spray painting getup for all the world to see. Spray painting getup = flannel pants, sweatshirt, slippers, crazy morning hair, and mask. I think it’s the reason I don’t know any of my neighbors…!

At any rate, I painted these shelves “Gilded Pesto” by Valspar and then introduced them to Amy Butler in the form of scrapbook paper. Of course, our friend Mod Podge came to the party, sealing the paper on the back of each shelf. Et voila!

And then we had a couple knickknacks get in on the action: my little Asian guy who is a salt shaker without his mate (I wonder if he was seeing Cayenne on the side and Black Pepper ditched him!), and a singing bowl. If you’ve never seen or heard a singing bowl, I highly recommend them. I love to just close my eyes, strike the bowl, and listen to the ringing, which will go on what seems like forever. It’s very soothing! And decorative!

I like to think I improved upon an already cute little set of shelves. They didn’t need much help and easily could have gone other design directions (shabby chic, anyone? Or shabby “sheik,” as I saw it referred to recently?!), but I am of the opinion that adding Amy Butler to a project is always a step in the right direction!

Thanks for stopping by!

Oct22

Faux Federalist

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Missey

Faux Federalist

It’s almost Halloween and everywhere you turn people are wearing disguises and becoming someone they’re not. Like this cabinet – it was so thoroughly disguised that everyone thought it was a forgettable, pseudo-Federalist tchotchke holder and passed it by.

But Halloween is only one day a year and eventually the disguise has to come off!

Okay, enough of the metaphor. I thought this cabinet was boring, so I ripped off the embellishment on the top, painted the cabinet, Mod Podged fabric on the back, and installed a glass knob from Hobby Lobby. I like it a lot more and I hope you do, too!

I also hope your Halloween costume is better than a boring thrift-store cabinet…!

Linked up at:

Oct8

Fall in Reverse

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Missey

Fall in Reverse

There was a time in my life when I would have given up in the middle of this project. I wasn’t really feeling it, it was kind of driving me crazy, and I was tired! BUT I have finally learned to listen to that voice inside that knew what this could be, so I pressed on. Here’s where I started:

I think they may be vintage Ikea pieces, but I’m not sure. I say that like they’re so hoity-toity or something – “ohh, dahhhling, I luuuv your new Ikea pieces! Will you hang them next to your Picasso?” But I didn’t care if they WERE fine art, I was going to pimp them out! I seem to be on a paint chip roll lately, so I went with it. And here’s what happened!

They’re going to hang in my new office at work and the paint chips match the colors in my new fabric panels and the clock in the previous post. People at work are going to think I have stock in Valspar or something. Hmmm, now that I think of it, that may not be such a bad idea!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

I’m linking this project up at:
and

Sep25

Half Past Aquamarine

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Missey

Half Past Aquamarine

Okay, I can’t claim the idea for this, but I did do all the figuring, geometry (!), and cutting to make it happen, so I’m proud to share it with you.

The population of my office at work recently dropped from 2 to 1 people, and the number of upholstery-worthy panels grew from zero to two, so I’m changing things up a bit. And by “changing things up” I mean decorating that which has never been decorated before! I covered the panels with the fabric shown below, which served as inspiration for the color palette of the clock. I think this fun pattern will be so much nicer to look at than the mauvey-gray commercial grade weave that’s underneath!

Tomorrow is installation day – if I can, I’ll snap a pic to share later. I hope you like my “chromatic clock”! Thanks for stopping by!

I’m linking up to