Archive for the ‘inspiration’ Category

Savvy investments

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

I was googling around trying to find a tutorial on how to DIY some cushions to start the process of fixing up my little thrifty mid century lounge chair and stumbled on some funny guides about mid century furniture.

The website Poetic*Home has an assortment of vintage guides, DIY idea, flea market inspiration, and fun little tutorials like:

The Savvy Guide to Buying Mid-Century Modern Antique Furniture

How to Tell if Your Mid-Century Modern Furniture is Faking It

(Poetic*Home also has a little vintage store on Etsy.)

Of course I love me some vintage mid century furniture and I’m always trying to fix up the pieces I find thrifting. It can be difficult to know exactly what to do (or not to do) when your trying to DIY a furniture restoration.

Here is a little guide with some basic ideas at House Beautiful called Midcentury Furniture Restoration and Care.

Which answered the question of what those cushions should be made of :

Q: What are cushions usually made of?

A: You don’t see much down filling on modern furniture. The typical filling is foam with a Dacron wrap. On occasion we’ll make a down cushion with a foam core, to raise the comfort level, but without spoiling the crisp look.

The orange cushions are really flat and saggy and it seems that I will need to make some new ones or add foam or whatever Dacron is. Also the webbing on the seat is all stretched and horrible and needs to be replaced. the DIY network had a nice little Upholstery Repair tutorial.

STRAPPY! This part makes me the most nervous.

I also need to find some fabric for when I make my new poofy foam cushions. Dream source is Knoll Textiles. Yummy.

My choices would be:

Classic Boucle Smoke (at $51 a yard –that’s a little out of my range)

Extreme Velvet ($40 bucks a yard and flameproof to the extreme!)

Mariner ($29 – not to shabby)

All in all, I really want the Classic Boucle! Anyone know of a good source for something similar?

Blagging

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

I’m blagging (which I guess means lagging on my blog) recently. Home repairs are few and far between, no thrift store shopping has been happening, and overall I’m at a stalemate with the exterior colors of the house – or better yet – anything that involves an actual decision about the house. My inspiration is waning…as well as my bank account.

I’m not sure why, but I feel a little bored by the Brick House (and its only been 6 months) and I want a new (old) house with loads of charm and fantastic details – like a beautiful Victorian, Craftsman, or an old Brownstone. Sadly, here in California my little mid century house is pretty much what I can afford – and even this boring little place needs a lot more elbow grease.

So I’ve been cheating on the Brick House and stalking Door Sixteen and ooohhhing and aaahhhing over all the charm and details in her house. I love love love the neutrals and black and white palette shes got going, and feel the need to class up my abode a bit with a more edited and streamlined color scheme.


via desire to inspire

All I know is that I NEED one of these hanging rattan chair things on my front porch. Like RIGHT now.


via Domino

Oh, and shelves. Lots of shelves…

Links to things I will copy…

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

Instead of completing the currently started and then stalemated house projects, I’ve been looking around for some inspiration and tutorials for new projects to begin and then give up on…

Hungarian Bookshelves!

Corey over at Baltimore Rowhouse built these amazing Hungarian Shelves. Just be dammed you talented bastard, flaunting your skills, making me jealous.



Where have these been all my life ? I LOVE them. I want to build a set in my living room on the far wall by the front door and then paint them shiny white. Afterwards I can finally pull all my books out of their boxes in the guest bedroom and make them all prettified. I’ve got bric-a-brac galore that needs a home…

Another steal worthy idea and project….

Horizontal Fence!

Jim over at Moderncraft made this fence. Damn you Mr. Cool Fence Jim, making me feel all bad about my house.



WOW! I’m in love with horizontal slat fences – especially with those sexy modern house numbers. Sign me up to replace the two front fences that flank the Brick House with something like that.

DAMN…now I’m itching to start a few projects. Time, tools, know how, and money are in short supply – but by the power of Grey Skull I will make it so!