Hey, a project that didn’t take me four months to do!
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Category: Home Decor
Bulletin Board Mod
In the further chronicles of me not being able to get anything done in a timely manner: I finished this project over Christmas. And started it around Thanksgiving. And now you get to see it.
Anyway. I had this old boring bulletin board:
(Sorry about the crappy cell phone pictures. I did this all at my parents’ place because they have a sewing machine and more space and stuff).
And I had an old reversible robe thing that had already had pieces cut out of it. But the fabric was pretty and soft and I wanted to use it. Thus, it’s now the colors of my office area.
The fabric, cut out and ironed:
Laid out on the board:
Sewing! I can sew a straight line! (Look, this is an accomplishment for some people, alright? Just because you’re handy and have been sewing since you could count to three, doesn’t mean all of us have.)
The pocket cut down and ironed:
And sewn in place:
Detail:
I admit, I had my mom help with some of the sewing. A straight line is about as far as I can go. I don’t want to try for parallel lines.
The whole thing stapled to the board:
(I went back and trimmed it later).
Lots of staples for the corner, bunching it and pulling it tight so the corner is smooth:
Front view:
Next I had to figure out how to hang it to the wall. Or rather, ask my dad. Because Dad knows everything. Previously I had just screwed it in. I wanted something that looked a little nicer, so my dad found some brass grommets and copper channels (no idea what they were for). This mostly involved me standing around watching him work as he fiddled with it. Because while Dad knows everything, he’s also not so great of a teacher. It ended up like this:
Detail:
And the back:
And finally:
Yay! And now I don’t have to go digging through the giant pile of shit on my desk to find my bills. Or try to remember if I put them on the table… or maybe the sideboard… or the coffee table…
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Week 4 & 5 – Projects
Week 3 – Shopping
I didn’t do much the third week, so this’ll be a short entry.
First was actually something my awesome dad did. I didn’t show you a picture, but my closet is very small, narrow, and not really enough to store all my various junk and my clothes. Therefore, Dad did this:
As you saw before, there’s a little room between the main room and the bathroom. On one side of that is the door to the main room, on the other is the closet (I’m standing in the bathroom to take the picture). Originally I was just going to put up two clothes rods, but there were no studs available, so Dad built a free-standing thing that was then secured to the wall. So this is my ‘dressing room’. (It has clothes on it now).
Next, I finally got a microwave.
Yeah, that was terribly exciting, but incredibly necessary.
I also got a sideboard to hold my table linens, bathroom supplies, and whatever else ends up in there. I got it from a great vintage shop in Ventura called Attaboy Vintage. Two of my awesome coworkers helped me get in my place.
Apparently at one point it was painted white, and then stripped before Attaboy got it. You can still see white paint in the crevices, as well as inside behind the drawers. They only refinished the top. I’ve oiled it and it looks really nice now (although it could probably use more oil). I should probably get a piece of glass for the top (it’s got some scratches and a gouge, but it looks nice).
That’s it for the week. Next week will be light as well. Things are slowing down. I’ll have to get on making some other content for the site!
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Arranging – Week 2
I’m going to get right into it. This week involved a lot of unpacking, picking up packages from the post office, rearranging, organizing, and a trip to Ikea! Thanks to my mom for the copious amounts of help.
A hint of things to come:
New thing #1: 1950s pole lamp! A gift from my parents.
It’s brighter now, since I’ve put new fluorescent bulbs in. It bathes the whole room in a warm red glow. It’s made of four sections of metal tubing. I ended up having to take a section out because complete it was too tall for my ceiling. Once I put it up on the bench it was just about perfect (here it’s got some fabric folded underneath. I’ve since gotten a wooden stand that I still need to paint black.)
Since we’re in the main room, let’s continue there.
As you can see I moved my dress form up onto the bench. The dress form was originally bought to display kimono, and now that my kimono wardrobe is here I can do that! (And I have now). Also new are my folding kitchen chairs. I only have three, and they need some work, but they’re comfortable.
But what’s that piece hiding behind the coffee table?
If you know Mid-century stuff at all, you probably recognize the manufacturer. It’s Heywood-Wakefield. I couldn’t find a stamp on this piece, so it’s conceivable it’s not. I think I’ve posted about it on Facebook. Anyway, I got it for $100. Someone had started to strip it and gave up when they couldn’t figure out how to get the shelves out (it’s not that hard, but you have to take the pegs out). Dad and I refinished it using reproduction stain (we both stripped it, he did all the staining). Unfortunately I only had three original pegs, so they aren’t the same. But doesn’t it look awesome? I may use the extra stain on the kitchen chairs when I get to fixing them up.
Other main room details:
Detail of the bookcase all cleaned up.
With stuff in it (and dust in front). Yes, I’ve got a wide range of decades there. A Megabloks ice dragon, a tiger from GI Joe Sigma 6, a Sky BAT from the same line (you can hardly see him) all from about 2007. A Thundercats bank (now full of money) and below it, the Tongue-a-saurus. A norfin troll from around 1990 and a Radix Adventures ogre from around 2005.
The top of my coffee table. Under the glass is a furoshiki (Japanese wrapping cloth) that we got from one of our Japanese exchange students when I was a kid. I’m thinking of replacing it with another one, but I’m not sure I have any more that are the right size.
Slightly better pictures of the front of my desk.
It needs to be cleaned and oiled and it’s even more cluttered now. But I’m getting there. On the right is a file drawer. On the left is two drawers.
That pretty much covers the main room. Why don’t we move the the bathroom real quick?
You can see my new 1950s trash can.
Isn’t it cool?
Two not Mid-century things.
The wash cloth was a gift from my parents (with towels, obviously). It’s about the only pink thing I have in the bathroom so far. As far as the towel rack, I originally wanted a 1950s tension rod one, but I couldn’t find one for less than $100 (except for the first one I saw, which I let get away). This one is from Ikea and folds up compactly, so it works quite well.
I know you all want to see the cool medicine cabinet, so here it is.
The door is really heavy duty. Look at that hinge on top! The glass shelves are supposedly adjustable, but it’s been painted too many times and I can’t get the brackets out (bummer). And as you can see, it has the slit for old razor blades! (The cup is just there because it’s cool. Yes, that’s my bathroom cup. It came with some bento box stuff my sister gave me one Christmas. You can’t see it, but the manufacturer is ‘Lube Sheep.’ I am not kidding.)
There’s one new thing in the dressing area.
1950s nightstand. At first I thought it might be Heywood-Wakefield, but it’s not. It was apparently made in Japan, from reclaimed wood. The underside of one of the drawers has a stamp from a shipping crate or something (I don’t remember exactly.) There was another one that was in worse shape.
Why is the Lego Batman shirt there? What does that have to do with the 50s? Well, Lego Batman is awesome. The 1950s are awesome. Therefore it’s totally relevant.
This is getting really long and I still have a bunch of kitchen pictures to show, so I’m going to split that off to a different post.
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Kitchen – Week 2
All right, if I did that much in the apartment, what did I do to the kitchen? Well, Mom and I took a trip to Ikea (as you already saw in the bathroom). That combined with some stuff from Target, my stuff, and my mom’s organizing skills led to this:
(Click to see bigger)
Commentary:
Obviously, the wooden kitchen cart is new. It folds. I haven’t need it to fold yet, but it can. It was also somewhat of a pain to assemble, but only because I was by myself. The trashcan is from Target. We switched the dishes and pantry items. Pantry stuff is in the cabinets in turquoise baskets from Target. You can’t see it, but because the lip of my sink is so high, I stick a saucer under the end of the drainer so it’ll actually drain. And I have a bad tendency to let dishes pile up before I wash them, so the glasses go on a towel on the counter.
The rails and stuff are a combination of Bygel and Grundtal from Ikea. Nice. My silverware is all mismatched stuff from thrift stores. I love it. The knife bar is also from Ikea and I’ve since moved the steak knives to a drawer so you can get to the outlet more easily. I mean to paint the wood bar teal, but I want to paint those baskets too. But I can’t find a spray paint in the right color, so I’m not sure what I’m going to do.
I have a lot of colanders and strainers. I’m not entirely sure how that happened. I also need to get a few more Pyrex casseroles in middle sizes. That cardboard box in the cabinets has been replaced. My extra dishes (and I have a lot) are in the dead space in the corner. I don’t know when I got the Ritz and Saltine tins. The Ritz one is full. And there’s the cork for the ‘cookie’ jar on the stove.
I only have one of those cherry blossom mugs. I love it. And I’ll probably never fill the teal salt and pepper shakers because they’re huge. I put the salt in one of the blue ones, and I have a pepper grinder so I’m not using the other one. What else starts with P and S that I could put in the teal ones?
Those red tins can also be found in yellow. They’re really awesome for crackers and cereal, because they really do keep it crisp. You do have to bake the knob often though. It doesn’t really turn ‘pink’ over time. It’s the color they are now. When they’re baked they’re bright blue.
Things I still need to do in the kitchen? Besides fill the few holes, get out my Swanky Swigs (I have the wildlife ones. I’m sorry I can’t find an informative link.) I have another Bygel bar to get up, and I need to get a basket for it like the one holding the salt and pepper shakers. And the general reorganizing, cleaning, etc.
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Moving In – Week 1
Now it’s time to see some of my actual stuff. I’m only taking pictures at the end of the week, so we’ve skipped over the piles and piles of boxes, the furniture in really strange spots, and other such amusements.
First, some details I didn’t photograph the previous week:
The closet / dressing room door. I need to find an appropriate skeleton key.
Isn’t that drain cute? It looks like a daisy.
And on to the meat of the post: Read more
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Moving – Week 0
I’ve actually been there almost two weeks now, but I’m doing this in order, dammit! =^_^=
So, I moved into my first apartment completely by myself, completely from the beginning. It’s in Ventura in an building that was apparently built in 1907 (according to the sign that I still need to get a picture of).
I looked at another apartment in the building that had a lot of cute mid-century touches (like black and white checkerboard linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom, and peach tile in the bathroom). But I couldn’t afford that one. I got one that is half below ground and very private, except for the laundry room right next door (which is cool). It doesn’t have the same cute touches, but it’s nice. So, to the tour!
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I'm alternately known as Silvercat, Silver, and Silver Tyger. Check out the categories for regular features.
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