Archive for the ‘DIY’ Category

Black is back

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

I love spray paint. Especially glossy spray paint.

I have this black Bertoia side chair that I use as a desk chair. I bought it years ago from a cracked out lady at a “prop” warehouse in Los Angeles. I followed a mysterious Craigslist ad to a downtown warehouse FILLED with crap. For $30 I walked away with the chair and left the scabby, twitchy “prop” crew to sort through their stacks of junk.

Needless to say…the chair has seen better days. I decided to touch up its peeling matte black paint job with something a little sexy and glossy. And since my thrifted butterfly chair frame had also seen better days, I threw it in to get a touch up.

Here they are ready to get painted.
*Don’t make fun of my weedy dirty backyard. I know its HORRIBLE. Give me some money and I’ll fix it.

– I ran some sandpaper over the frames to knock off any bits of flaking paint or rust.
– Hosed them down to get all the dust and crap off.
– Let them air dry a bit.
– Then wiped them down with a clean towel.

You can imagine that right? I forgot to take pictures.

-Then I sprayed them with Rust-Oleum Professional High Performance Enamel in a glossy black finish.

All in all its a super duper simple DIY.

Here is the rusty bit BEFORE and the glossy bit AFTER.
I know. Super exciting.

All done. Painting something black more black isn’t really a huge AFTER reveal…they look much nicer in person than they did before.

The best option would be to have them powder coated – which is mucho $$$. Spray painting is a quick and easy DIY solution to touch up something vintage that has seen better days. Maybe if you fall in a big bag of money you could have them stripped and powder coated later.

I’ve been using a small sheepskin as a chair pad for the Bertoia chair. I need something a little more cushy as my bottom feels a bit like swiss cheese sitting on it for long hours in front of the computer. I also soaked the butterfly chair cover in bleach to try and get some of the stains out and lighten it up a bit. It worked OK, but it is still pretty torn and stained. I still dream of a brown leather sling

For about $6 it turned out awesome.

DIY

Thursday, May 14th, 2009


(via Eichler Homes in Sacramento)
*I hope to be this amazingly stylish when I grow up.

Many thanks again to everyone for their support in the Rejuvenation contest. (VOTE VOTE VOTE). You guys helped more than DOUBLE the votes in just over a day, which is just amazing. Voting ends May 31 – so we have time to totally destroy Charity Beth L’s, Real Houswives of OC’s cluttered kitchen.

Tikimama of Atomic Tea Party did a great post in support of me and ye old bricky house as well as Gretchen of Eichler Homes in Sacramento entries in the contest.

I decided to check out Gretchen’s blog and found out that she is the lucky owner of not just one great mid century house but also an amazing Eichler. One of her great discoveries was a bunch of slides of the old owners (as seen above with the gorgeous Mrs. H in pearls) in the home with all their awesome decor. Now these folks had style!

Well I spotted a really great DIY that is so simple and great looking that any mid century lover could appreciate it.


(via Eichler Homes in Sacramento)

Shazzaaammm!Link
Look at this awesome vintage console…but what is so awesome about it (besides ALL the accessories)? The whole thing is constructed of two long planks of wood painted black and some cement pavers stacked in between the shelves and on the floor. It looks like they made the height a perfect fit for their collection of encyclopedias.

This is like the easiest thing in the world to make and costs almost nothing. Yet the utilitarian materials and elegant proportions keep it from looking too dorm chic and totally worthy of gracing a lovely Eichler.


(via Eichler Homes in Sacramento)

It is accessorized with so much style – its hard to tell the decade at all. Crafty. I think this might be well adapted to a nice low media console, with all those unsightly electronics placed artfully on shelves. I mean you could have multiple levels, wrap around corners, build it tall…the possibilities are exciting.

I think a trip to Home Depot might be in order very soon to copy this great look.

Ace Hotel

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

OK Ace Hotel, Palm Springs. Your cool.

Whatever.

I’m copying your built-in shelves in the lobby because they are just that awesome and budget friendly. So suck it.