We moved in a few days ago.

We’re surrounded by boxes, there’s no art on the walls, and we can’t find the garbage can but I can tell you we haven’t been this happy in a long time. We knew the old apartment was dragging us down (really, how many times can the NYPD, FDNY, and EMT visit your Landlord before you simply don’t sleep anymore?) but we weren’t fully aware of the degree till we GOT OUT.

We’re headed to the hardware store today to get lumber and shelving and other stuff.

I AM SO HAPPY!

I even did a little project last night. I haven’t done a project in a long time, that old apartment sucked the light/life/love/lolipops right out of me.

I bought this table a few years ago for something like $10. I’ve been meaning to recover it. That white fabric wasn’t doing it any favors. At first I thought I’d play it safe with the ticking, but I’m ready for something BOLD.

I bought this Waverly fabric at Calico Corners (outlet) for $12. I pulled out the nail head trim (pro tip, collect the nails in a twee mug), trimmed the fabric, reused the nail heads…

Party with the staple gun!

I’m not too worried about messing up the fabric but I may get a piece of glass for the top.

More posts soon, I gotta find that darn garbage can!

I’ve always loved Pottery Barn’s office furniture line but it was a bit out of my budget. Besides, you know I’m an outlet/flea market kind of girl. Eventually I’d find it, right? As if heaven itself was shining down on me, the Pottery Barn Outlet had 2 of their wonderful Bedford file cabinets on the floor. Not only were they discounted, they were on clearance for an additional 30% off. I scooped them up. This is exactly why I insisted that we buy a hatchback.

Unfortunately they didn’t have the matching top for the desk so I improvised with a white mdf top from Home Depot. I added ribbon and upholstery tacks to the trim too.

The awesome brass shelving is from the Brimfield antiques market. I scored the set of 4 for $30 back in May. Plank of wood from Home Depot cut down to size, gold tone screws, VOILA.

Rough breakdown of expenses:

Pottery Barn File Cabinets $83 each = $166
Upholstery tacks = $4
White mdf top = $27
Wood for shelves = $12
Brass shelves = $30
Gold tone screws = $3
Steelcase chair (purchased a few years ago) = $50
Chair fabric (I recovered) = $1 from a bargain bin
TOTAL: $293

I still have a bunch of detail work to do. There’s a picture hanger up on the wall, the ribbon trim needs to be spot-glued in a few areas, the file cabinets need to be labeled, and I need to hang 2 paintings.

The devil is in the details.

Sam and I were married on March 5th, 2011. I guess being engaged for 7 years (he says 8 years) was silly but I just couldn’t wrap my head around the enormous expense and all that itchy taffeta. Everytime I started working on the wedding I got distracted or bored. What can I say? Anyway, I found my wedding plannin’ groove in December when Sam got very sick. His parents were leaving on a 4 month trip around the world and I truly understood that it was my job (for realz!) to make important decisions in case he got sick again (he spent a very scary month in the ICU a few years ago). Sam is fine now and it got my butt in gear. Other than the wine bill, we kept expenses very low.

I made the centerpieces, and my bouquet, and the table numbers, and the bunting. And, I’m nuts. My total flower budget was $70. I scoured flea markets for the vintage blue Ball canning jars. The table number thingees were made out of items from flea markets and Agway (will do a full blog post on them later, super fun project!). We had lots of party favors, I went a bit over budget on them but I couldn’t help myself. Since it was early March we thought it might be a bit chilly so we put a blue pashmina on every chair. Of course this ensured us that the day would be unseasonably warm (and my hair went FLOP within 30 minutes).  I used 3 vendors on Etsy for the invitations, thank you tags on the pashminas, and stickers on the seed packets (to honor my Dad). Vintage travel tags were used for the seating cards. I cheated and used clear labels and a nice calligraphy font. The other big party favor was a Pucker Pack – a muslin bag with wax lips, mustaches,  Burt’s Bees lip balm and other silly items. I found an incredible sale on line for the lip balm (45 cents each!).

With the help of the world’s greatest friends, sisters, and waiters at Gascogne, we got the place set up and rolling in about 30 minutes.

Did I mention that Eddie Izzard‘s make up artist did my face up all fancy? I even wore fake eyelashes (so much fun!). She wanted to dye my eyelashes but I declined. Later she told me that Eddie lets her dye his lashes. I’m a fool! I should have totally done it.

The Joyce Theater in NYC is beautiful (and near the restaurant) so we dashed over there for some pics. Love the lights!

Here’s Mom showing off the flowers on her table. I bought (and borrowed) lots of vintage Ball canning jars to hold the hydrangeas.

We brought old ornate frames to use as picture props and after a few cocktails, the pashmina shawls became head wear. You know how it is…

More party favors! The pucker pack had wax lips/mustaches, Burt’s Bees lip balm and silly plastic jewelry. I also made up envelopes with Poppy seeds to honor my Dad’s memory. I hope everyone planted their White Cloud poppy seeds!

My very simple bouquet. It took all of 5 minutes to put together. Plaid ribbon, floral tape, the locket with a picture of my Dad and Grandmother and a big handful of flowers…voila!

More silliness with the frames, wax lips/mustaches and crazy sunglasses. Unless I have kids, these brats are picking my rest home. I am so screwed. 

This is Josh and Katherine. Josh married us! A few weeks before the ceremony he obtained the necessary paperwork at the Church O’ Something Or Other. Since we were having a simple ceremony, having a friend perform the marriage was extra special. Josh was all business while he read the vows – whereas Sam and I were giggling and making cross-eyes at each other.

We had a quick photo shoot at Grand Central. I love the warm yellow light in this picture – and the chandeliers!

Yes, Beyonce – I put a ring on it. 

The ceremony and luncheon was at a French restaurant in Chelsea. Cheese! Bread! Champagne! Yummers!

One of the tables – just seconds before it was covered in wine glasses, digital cameras and yummy treats. I believe this was “the party table” where most of the madness started. Love these people!

There was A LOT of wine. The heat and my floppy hair couldn’t keep me down.  All that bunting behind us? I made that in one night. Something like 140 fabric triangles. Sewn. Madness! Complete madness! 

Really, A LOT of wine…

When you do something like this the most important thing to remember is that you must walk away for at least 60 seconds. Go potty. Wash your hands. Get a cold drink. Why? So the cat can find a comfortable spot to help you. Thanks, Penny!

Sandwich pretty fabric, then 2 layers of batting, staple gun around it and neatly fold corners. Voila! Cute little ironing board.

Apologies for the *hot flash*…

The yellow fabric around the sides is from my trip to Paris in October with Laura.

I used masking tape to mark my sewing lines. It’s simplistic – but I’m still new to the game.

As usual, Penny & Tucker helped!

It has a gingham silk backing which you might remember from this post. Gotta love those Calico Corners sales!

Anyhoo…all done and I think Mom loved it. I gave it a test run the other night while watching Doc Hollywood on tv. Super warm and snugly.

Tomorrow? We bake famous cookies!

Fear not, it will eventually get done. Well, most of it anyway.

WARNING:

Some of these pictures may not be suitable for those of you with heart problems,

high blood pressure or hemoglobin issues.

THE KITCHEN, THEN.

THE KITCHEN, NOW.

A LITTLE MORE NOW (just to shake off that ivy…eek!).

THE LIVING ROOM, THEN.

THE LIVING ROOM, NOW.

A LITTLE MORE KITCHEN TRAUMA, THEN.

AND, NOW.

It was a lot of work. That’s why I get nutty when my schidt gets moved around. What can I say? I’m me.

He’s the world’s best handyman. Really, world’s best. Adore this man and would be lost without him. I mentioned him once on Apartment Therapy and was bombarded with requests for his number. Really, he’s that awesome. Raul was over today helping me right a bunch of wrongs.

Broken dishwasher. Boom. Fixed. Now I know how to fix the OTHER broken dishwasher. Yes, I have a collection of broken dishwashers…don’t ask.

Rehung the projector. Yay, movies on the big screen!

Installed the chandeliers I spray painted black in my home office. Goodbye fug nip light.

Installed the chandelier I found in Sally’s (for $20!) a few months ago in our super tiny dining room/nook.

Carried out the old tv. Goodbye Bertha!

Fixed the vacuum cleaner.

Chopped out a sample of our living room ceiling so we can test it before we rip the Mutha out.

Want to see the chandelier that was super-fug brass and is now black and rockin’?

I need to pick up more of the groovy round bulbs this weekend, I only had 4. Oops. Also, can’t wait to drape something ghoulish from this light at Halloween.

The $20 wonder from the Salvation Army? There she is…

I was literally squealing when Raul was done. Am so in love with the scale of the fixture – perfect for the dining room/nook. Especially love the way the light hits the ceiling. I need to get up there and spot paint around both fixtures and fix some of the black paint that was nicked off while it sat in the garage waiting for Raul…but not tomorrow. Tomorrow is for flea marketing!

 Here’s Lynsey sporting her fancy new bag…

The bags I started last night feature blue ticking-like material that I picked up in LA, some orange quilting fabric and a provence-style pattern from a cotton napkin I nabbed a long time ago at Sally’s. So deeply happy with this color palette!

Of course when I pulled all the fabric out, Penny felt the overwhelming need to flop on them. Apparently she’s read Talas’ notes about proper fabric testing.

Buttons. Late yesterday I remembered the tin of buttons I had bought at the flea market in Pennsylvania. There was a button party! Jubilee? Revival? Extravaganza? OK, fine, I’ll let it go.

I kinda fell hard for the big plastic buttons. Red! Green! Yellow! Yay! Of course, anything that’s tortoiseshell or pearlescent is fair game too.

The buttonholer is still being problematic, I might hit one of the local shops and rent some time on a better machine to just plow through all the holes.

Next up? I need to start work on some masculine-looking bags. Navy blue and plaid? What will men use them for? I’m thinking *license & registration*. Hah!

While I was making the bags….Penny kept trying to FLOSS HER TEETH with my string. Grabbed my camera is fast as I could…

Moving along…

Here are pictures of the process I use to make these bags. You can see these pictures MUCH bigger if you go to my Flickr account. Lots of people make these bags so I’m sure someone out there has a better explanation – and certainly better photography than me. Still, you asked…so here tis.

First and foremost…always use fabric that’s been through at least one wash/dry cycle. If you don’t, you’ll have a big mess on your hands if/when you ever want to wash your creation. Trust me on this one!

1. Pick out 2 cotton fabrics. It doesn’t matter what size, so long as they are trimmed down to the same size. The first bag I did started out as 2 pieces of cotton, roughly 12 inches x 20 inches each. You really just need a nice sized rectangle. Place the fabrics side to side on fusible interacing and attach/iron them. Fusible interfacing is about $1 a yard and it stabilzes the fabric and gives it some heft and structure. LOVE this stuff. See picture 1.

2. Fold the patterns towards each other so the pretty sides are kissing, know what I mean? Then, square off the corners so that you have 2 pieces of fabric that perfectly match each other in size/angles. Stick a pin in the middle so they don’t get wonky on you. See picture 2.

3. Using your hand, fold up one of the ends to see where you’d like to roughly have your bag fold up and the top fold down. Eyeball It, as my Mom & Dad would say. See picture 3.

4. You can do 2 different types of tops for the fold down portion, pointed triangle or rounded corners. I prefer the rounded corners. For the pointed triangle: Use a ruler and a pencil and make 3 dots. A dot on each side where you want the top to fold down and the 3rd dot at the top exactly in the middle. Then cut a straight line from the left dot to the top dot and another straight line from the right dot to the top dot. Making sort of like a roof line. If instead you want to do the rounded corners, use a drinking glass or something similar and draw the curve on one side of the fusible interfacing. You can later follow that line with your sewing machine to make nice matching curves. See picture 4.

5. Make sure to stick a few pins in your fabric sandwich so that it stays where it should. Ready to sew! Sew THREE sides only. Specifically, sew the left & right sides and the top, NOT the bottom. When you’re done sewing the 3 sides, turn it right-side out to see your pretty fabric. At this point it should look like a really pathetic puppet or a pot holder that will burn your fingers. Use your finger to push the edges. You could also take a quick press to them with the iron at this point, I didn’t. Lazy…

6. Time to attack your bottom! Using your index fingers, fold IN the bottom fabric and make a fake little hem, pin it to hold the fabric and then neatly sew straight across the bottom. See pictures above.

7. Decide which fabric is the interior and which is the exterior of your bag and fold up a portion of it. Top stitch around the whole bag. Keep this as neat as possible and go slow since you’re stitching through many layers! In the example below, the Amy Butler fabric is the exterior of my bag and the white muslin fabric (formerly a curtain!) is my interior.

That’s pretty much…it! You can now decide how you want the flap to stay closed…

You can either fold it in, sew in a button hole/button, use snaps or velcro. Whatever you’d like.

As far as sizes, like I said before, you can make the bags any size. I’ve made more than a dozen so far and they are all different sizes. Some will fit jewelry, others will fit things like dvd’s, books…a laptop, etc.

Hope this is helpful. If you make any bags please send me pictures! I would LOVE to see them.

Or, umm, not. If you’re a fan of Cathrineholm you’ll understand. I scored not one but TWO pieces this weekend at two different Salvation Army locations. I made that small little gerbil-like squeal that one makes when they find a treasure but wants to keep it on the *down low*.  So very excited! Look around your Grandmother’s house, if she has any of this enamelware with lotus leaf stuff, toss it in your purse and mail it to me! Kidding.

Check out the Flickr group. Gorgeous.

I also managed to find a large glass dome. I have been wanting one of these since, well…

Honestly?

Since I saw the one Ozzy Osborne had on his reality show.

He had an enormous glass dome covering his plate of cheese and I swooned (for the dome!).

The nightstand is killing me. The paint on the top is not smooth and lacquer-like. It’s actually kinda rough and matte. Sigh. Whatever. Uncle! I put a stencil on it and painted a sparrow. Later I dotted it with gold metallic paint to make it look a little aged and worn. The gold flecks on the bird and the drawer handle make it look like it was meant to hang with the Draper dresser. Need to get a glass top for this.

I finished stabilizing the Dorothy Draper (real/faux) dresser and spot painted some of the rougher spots. Slowly putting stuff in there. I want to make large color photocopies of the Draper fabric to line the interior and of course a glass topper.

What did you do this weekend? Any great scores or discoveries?