Archive for the ‘den’ Category

DIY NEON TABLE

Friday, October 5th, 2012

I made a new coffee table for the den and so can you! You know, if you want to or whatever. I don’t care! It’s your coffee and a place to put it, homeslice.

The den has always been my nemesis in terms of awkward layout, weird wainscoting and overall browntown-ness and remained so despite a year living with that gorgeous tulip table. Sometimes marble isn’t able to solve all your problems, so when I ran across this wood slab top on Craigslist I thought, hey, why not throw in some more brown to browntown and maybe – just maybe – add a touch of neon pizazz to fix this mess of a room.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED 

– Table Top (I found this slab on Craigslist – eBay is a great source or THIS might work for you, but any top can work)
Hairpin Legs (Logan from OneFortyThree made these ones – oh, and check out his shop too)
Florescent Spray Paint
ScotchBlue Painter’s Tape
3M Advanced Abrasives Sandpaper (I used the 150 and 220 grit)
3M TEKK Protection Saftey Gear (gloves, mask, ect.)
Orange Glo Spray Cleaner
Howard Feed & Wax
Cordless Drill
– Tape Measure
– Screws (length and type best suited for your table top)
– Rags

HOW TO DIY 

1. My wood slab had some surface scratches and vintage grim that needed to be ‘refreshed’, so I started hand-sanding with the rougher 150 grit sandpaper to knock down the majority of the damage and finished up with the very fine 220 grit for a nice smooth finish.

*Tip Corner: Depending on how rough your wood is or if it has any sort of lacquer or stain finish, you might prefer using a power sander to expedite the sanding process. Wear some eye protection and a mask if power sanding off any kind of preexisting finish, ’cause seriously who knows what it is or if you should ingest it (you really probably shouldn’t FYI). Anyways, my wood was in pretty good shape and didn’t need a ton of sanding to look and feel good.

2. After sanding, go ahead and remove all the dust and icky stuff with some Orange Glo Spray and a clean rag in order to prep the wood for the final buff.

3. Sometimes when refinishing wood I’ll use Danish Oil to restore and treat the wood and then buff it, but this slab was already in pretty good shape and didn’t really need it, so I finished up by buffing on some Howard Feed & Wax (aka my favorite thing ever).

*Tip Corner: After years of gross oil hands turning into gross oily hobo hair (when I inevitably touched my hair with my oily hands) I finally threw on some gloves and avoided the whole situation. Now I am an adult. An adult doing things safely or something.

4. After the top was all finished up I flipped it over and roughly placed the hairpin legs to eyeball where they should go.

5. Once placement was decided, I taped off the legs at 4″ to prep them for the neon spray paint.

*Tip Corner: I taped the legs all the way down in order to avoid any over-spray. Why? Because I’m a messy and lazy spray painter, duh.

6. I threw on some gloves to avoid that messy nozzle spray paint finger thing that always happens and then gave each leg a few coats of paint. Also, go ahead and wear a mask and some eye protection for extra safety – you know, if you go all willy-nilly and spray paint crazy and want to protect stuff like your health. SAFETY.

*FYI, florescent spray paint seems thinner than normal paint and ended up taking more coats than I expected.

7. I screwed on the legs and then pulled off the tape.

BOOM. Done.

Easy-peasy custom neon fun times.

I’m super happy with how the coffee table turned out and really enjoy this little florescent touch to what has always been browntown central. Now if that lame wainscoting would just disappear without me having to do anything…

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This post is a collaboration with 3MDIY. To learn more about safety and preparation, visit 3MDIY.com

LIGHTING

Monday, May 14th, 2012

Besides fiber art, I’ve also been quietly hoarding a bunch of lighting ever since the dining room chandelier moved onward to a better home. None of the lighting I’ve stumbled on has been perfect and I haven’t been able to find my dream brutalist chandelier – really the closest thing I have found was this Tom Greene for Monteverdi-Young beast of a brass thing that popped up on Craigslist for a very unbrutal price.

On the other side of chandelier spectrum is that shiny 70’s bit of vintage Lightolier chrome which came into my life late one night when I stumbled upon a very neglected and oddly described eBay auction. So? Score.

Oh, these old things?

Yeah. We’ll get to those in a bit.

Anyway, while out and about in Orange County I stumbled on a little vintage shop and left with my very own Auro Glowbal. Yes sir THAT Auro Glowbal. Don’t worry I’ve never heard of it either, but it looks to be a handmade cotton version of those cheap paper lanterns and turned out to be a nice stand-in for the Akari light sculptures that haunt my daydreams.

Bumling to the Sciolari to the Greene.

Name dropping is what I do best and annoys my friends and loved ones much more than you’d expect. Or maybe as much as you’d expect. I can be pretty unbearable.

The Bumling I’ve had for awhile, but the Sciolari is a new acquisition from a little trade I did with Ellen over at Amsterdam Modern. I imagine it will end up in one of the bedrooms? Maybe? I don’t know.

No, I haven’t forgotten the Nelsons.

I swear.

Anyways, we installed the Auro ball thing in the den, but Mr. Lightolier, Mr. Sciolari and Mr. Bumling are all still floating around totally homeless. It feels impossible to decide where they should go.

I have a raging case of decision fatigue.

But at least the glowbal was installed after sitting on the floor for months…and it looks like there’s only this image as proof since someone forgot to take after pictures. That someone being me.

I failed. I’m a failure.

Good thing I overuse instagram.

OK. So, lamps. Once. Twice. Three, no, four times a Nelson.

I was out in LA working with Laure on some photo shoots during the day and then cruising Craigslist at night, per the norm, when I stumbled on a listing for a crap ton of huge bubble lamps. I emailed them, they emailed back, I was so happy and then realized I couldn’t pick them up while doing awesome photo shoot stuff, so I begged Summer to grab them and promised to split the lamp haul between us. The end.

OK, these things are HUGE and I have four and perhaps I dove into this adventure without much of a plan. With nothing to lose I tried out something that initially felt nuts; I tried the saucer.

The Nelson bubble lamp over the dining table thing feels like it might be the biggest cliche around. Classic design icon? For sure. Ubiquitous lighting choice for mid century interiors? Sure.

Despite this obvious snobbery, these lights beefy scale made me curious about how one might look hung up in the dining room. I loosely strung one up (without fully installing) and stepped back to find that, well, I…sort of…liked it.

Now everything I believe in is in shambles.

I can’t decide if this super size saucer works or if a more unusual lighting choice is a better fit. Does large scale forgive ubiquity? Is this becoming a classic design convention? I’m not sure, but it feels kind of nice?

Hold on. There’s one last factor to consider – no big deal – just forgot to mention the amazing custom built dining table coming soon. Boom.

Everything. Shambles.

So this sucker is going to get a little test run until the new table comes and then we’ll see if it should be installed for real. Who knows! The only certainty is that I change my mind constantly.

HANG IT ALL

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

The circus of color that was our old Hang-It-All? So 2009.

And now?

Welcome to the den, slightly different Hang-It-All, now featuring more walnut balls and black frame style of which can be procured from that classic modern design supplier: SimplyBenches.com

DUH.

I mean, did I even have to say it? It really is the one site that can only be described as the single most important source for hip stuff. Like hip ass benches.

Frankly though, Simply Benches Dot Com flagrantly offers way more than simply benches for sale. Just look at that knock off Hang-It-All I bought from them. Filthy lies. LIES.

Also, I cannot recommend using this particular Hang-It-All as a bench.

Or maybe I could? Who knows. You should try everything once.

Anyone recall all that internet hubbub when Herman Miller released a licensed and limited edition walnut + black Hang-It-All? Not really? Whatever. Here’s a refresher from DWR’s site:

“In August 2010, Herman Miller, Inc. introduced a limited edition Hang-It-All in walnut with a black frame. This special item brings a sophisticated twist to the classic multi-colored version, and it will be in production for only a few months, ending in early 2011”.

I couldn’t afford the official limited edition back in 2010 which sold out and then subsequently missed every sale and FAB event thereafter, but hey, thanks to a hot tip from my friend Maya, this particular puppy has been working out for me just fine. I can actually hang all my stuff and be a ‘sophisticated’ lady with my dirty little knock off.

Win win.