happy halloween
Posted: October 31, 2009 Filed under: fashion | Tags: halloween, retro blue beehive wig Leave a comment »
very cool blue retro beehive wig spotted in a window in a downtown storefront where a friend and i traveled the other night to take a hula hoop class. these are times i wish i got excited over halloween again. cuz i’d love to don a wig like this. but halloween just doesn’t do it for me anymore. so now i just take pictures of wigs. good enough.
vintage cross stitch
Posted: October 30, 2009 Filed under: thrifting | Tags: vintage cross stitch on linen Leave a comment »i couldn’t NOT buy this either:
now this thing is OLD. and it looks like a LOT of time and effort went into making it. i couldn’t very well leave it behind in the thrift store.
“the fire burns bright.
the coffee is brewed.
the toast is all brown.
the chicken is stewed.”
i wonder what pissed off the chicken.
PBNs
Posted: October 29, 2009 Filed under: decor, thrifting | Tags: vintage paint-by-numbers Leave a comment »
yah sure, the vintage paint-by-numbers were fun to collect a couple years ago. and what works well for me is i’ve got a lot of them without frames, making them very lightweight and therefore easy to hang in my apartment. (to review, i’m not allowed to poke holes in my walls with nails to hang art, and in turn my decor suffers greatly. the 3M™ sticky hooks and velcro fasteners hang lightweight art items and so this is what i’m forced to use.)
and so my paint-by-number collection amassed.
nudie paint-by-number in my bedroom
and it got to the point where i just wouldn’t buy them anymore when i’d spot them in a thrift store. buh-lieve you me, i’ve got gobs more of these in my storage unit.
but i almost couldn’t NOT buy a vintage paint-by-number WITH BLACK VELVET i spotted the other day. it’s the cutest little cottage in the woods on a snowy day and all the trees are black velvet. i would take a version of this in real life, complete with black velvet trees. and i would serve black velvet whiskey to all my guests who visited me in my black velvet forest.
or not.
in action:
yah, i know. a few too many paint-by-numbers. overdone. and i actually own REAL art to hang. and don’t think i haven’t tried hanging real art with those 3M sticky hooks. and don’t think i haven’t jumped outta my skin when one crashed and burned and knocked over a tall plant stand at 3:00 in the morning. and don’t think i didn’t shed a tear when an oversized cool clock i’d owned for years was sprawled across the kitchen floor in pieces upon coming home from work. the humidity can wreak havoc with a 3M sticky hook.
such is my life in a non-holed plaster walled apartment.
legs
Posted: October 28, 2009 Filed under: decor, thrifting | Tags: andreas tuck, danish teak dining room table, hans wegner, risky business Leave a comment »these legs:
go with this table top:
…that i spied in goodwill for $30. i actually walked away from it last night because i didn’t have a way to transport it, and quite frankly, i don’t really need a kitchen/dining room table. but it called out to me. “kim, are you crazy?!?!? get back here. get back here and buy me and danish oil me up. cuz i’m worth soooooooooo much more than 30 bucks, you FOOL.” so i went back last night and paid for it.
and today i drove my old illegal, unregistered jeep whose battery won’t hold a charge so i can’t turn the engine off once it’s jumpstarted and who didn’t have a speck of gas in the gas tank so in the rain last night i bought a gas can at the hardware store and brought 2 gallons of gas home with me and then jumpstarted the jeep in the rain and illegally drove to a gas station where i could put a little more gas in her so she’d be all ready to go illegally this morning. in the rain. all for the sake of a smokin’ great deal on what i believe but can’t be sure is a wegner danish teak dining room table produced by andreas tuck.
any gal would do this, right?
off the floor
Posted: October 26, 2009 Filed under: decor, thrifting | Tags: dwell pillowcases, mattress off floor, mid-century bed frame 1 Comment »
it’s a miracle of sorts. pathetic girl that i am have never slept with my mattress off the floor. over the summer i bought a mid-century modern headboard and footboard (for just over $20,) but needed the rails to put the thing together. and of course that didn’t happen right away. i put the headboard against the wall behind my mattress and boxspring as a start, but let’s face it, that’s still cheating. the mattress is still on the floor.
so i went to some discount furniture store and for 26 bucks i was able to get a set of bed rails and get myself up off the floor. it’s really quite something. it looks and feels strange to me now, but i gotta tell ya, i’m sleeping really well.
unfortunately, i can’t actually SEE the headboard anymore now that it’s off the floor. i think i have to fashion some sort of slat system, remove the boxspring altogether and make it more of a platform style look.
and c’mon now. if it took me THIS long to get a bed off the floor, it’ll take me another 20 years or so to figure out a slat system.
stress
Posted: October 25, 2009 Filed under: crafts | Tags: applique, crafting, embroidery, felt, linen 1 Comment »i’ve been under all kinds of dumb stress lately and i’ve found the way to relieve that stress is by hand stitching little embroidery stitches onto little pieces of felt. appliqué, if you will. there’s a meditative quality to it. 
that is a LOT of stitching.
that is a LOT of stress.
small teak frame
Posted: October 24, 2009 Filed under: crafts, thrifting | Tags: embroidery, felt, itty bitty mini quilt, linen, thrifted teak frame Leave a comment »i pick up cheap teak frames any time i can when i’m in goodwill. you never can be quite sure when a teak frame will come in handy. and since i’ve been crafting of late, i figured i would make an itty bitty mini wall hanging to go in a small teak frame i had hanging around.
but ya know – when it comes right down to it, when you make an itty bitty mini quilt, it turns out you’re really just making a coaster.
and when you start framing coasters, all of a sudden that just seems sort of dumb.
fall
Posted: October 23, 2009 Filed under: cocktails, thrifting | Tags: fall, hot apple cider with tuaca 1 Comment »
fall is here indeed. and with the fall temperatures comes a need for a warmer cocktail. hot apple cider bought fresh from a local orchard with tuaca and a cinnamon stick in a wicked fancy glass that i immediately busted after washing. i tell ya, it’s a good thing i buy these things at thrift stores cuz i’d be devastated if i paid full price for them and only used ‘em once. i have spares, thank goodness. but this is also the downside of thrift store shopping. sometimes you get these one-of-a-kind beauties and they can’t be easily replaced. but at least i’m using them. i’ve been known to buy something and save it, never use it. at least i’ve got this pretty glass documented as used before its quick demise.
bright
Posted: October 22, 2009 Filed under: thrifting | Tags: mod flowers, vintage needlepoint Leave a comment »some might say gaudy.
i say awesome.
thrifted mod flowers needlepoint for 49¢. (!)
hoop
Posted: October 21, 2009 Filed under: fashion, fitness | Tags: beginner's bruises, hula hoop, retro poncho 3 Comments »see this thing right here.
yah, that’s right. it’s a hula hoop.
and it’s kicking my BUTT. i think the craze has finally made its way to the east coast. i’ve been trying to teach myself cool moves by watching videos on my computer and so far i’ve managed to smack myself in the nose and ears and shins and forearms more times than i’d like to admit. not to mention i’ve accidentally flung this thing against the wall a time or two. haven’t broken anything yet but am pretty sure i need to take this thing outdoors into wide open spaces.
how cute is that retro poncho?
