More Fabric Love

Instead of sewing the @#$%* roman blind last night I browsed the internet for fabric for J's room {my 15 year old snake loving daughter} She is harassing me to finish her room. 

D {the 16 year old} has given up on that one. 

J wants fabric with a vintage vibe, Amy Butlerish. 

I bought several yards of this fabric from Tonic Living:

This fabric will be made into a roman blind. 

I know, shoot me.

 And a few pillows on her bed. 

If you can recall I bought two of these chairs. 

Only one is re-covered. 

The other one sits in the corner of my dining room painted white with its original orange velour seat. 

After browsing Premier Prints, I came across this:

Perfect!

I even emailed Tonic Living to see if they can get this one in since they carry Premier Print fabrics! {Will save me duty charges - if not, I will send it to my US mailbox}

After more time wasting browsing...

I did find this fabric and want to use it somewhere in my house. 

Maybe I can convince J to let me use it in her room?

Isn't it fabulous?

What I am most EXCITED about is my special "So Canadian, eh?' guest this Sunday. She is the mastermind behind a fabulous home decor brand. There is a hint in this post as to who it is!

Come back Sunday to see you were right!

XO Barbara

My Trip to Anthropologie

Vancouver finally got an Anthropologie! 

Yesterday I met my friend, Carol from The Design Pages, at Anthropologie. 

{I think I can call her a friend, after a few thrift store jaunts we have jumped to meeting for lunch. She is far better talented than I, but she doesn't let on how brilliant she is} 

A visit to Anthropologie is quite a trek as I live in the suburbs, and anyone from the Vancouver area knows that with all the new highway/bridge building the traffic can really stink. Nonetheless, I was excited to hit Anthropologie. 

After living in a Virginia suburbs of Washington DC for a few years, where all the exciting stores {and outlets} were, it was a bit of a shock coming back here. The closest Pottery Barn {we only have one here on the west} is all the way in Vancouver. You Americans don't know how lucky you are, a Pottery Barn in every major mall, as well as Williams and Sonoma,  Crate and Barrel, West Elm, and the list can go on. Let's not even get into the topic of a Target in almost every town.  We Canadians, let me re-word that, we Vancouverites are deprived of a decent selection of furniture and inspirational stores to shop at!

So we get excited when a new store pops up, even though it is a 45 minute drive away {at least for me, Carol, lucky her, lives closer}

Here are a few pics I snapped up while at the store. 

The sad part of this story is put two DIY gals into an Anthropologie and they just end walking around saying, "I could make that!"

Like this lamp shade...

 A great DIY project, dictionary pages torn and decoupaged on a lamp shade.

 Loving the owl cookies jar, so retro. I am seeing my elementary school friend Alison's 70's kitchen with funky owl wallpaper and yellow appliances.

Anthropologie has a delicious selection of knobs.

One of my favourites was this owl knob. Wouldn't it look fantastic in a nursery?

These were shower curtains, about $120 each. Uhmm, totally could make that.

Or you could use this idea for drapes in a girl's room.

We loved these dishes, the poetry didn't make sense, but was a fabulous idea. My daughter is taking ceramics, maybe I can convince her to make me something like this?

Carol resisted buying something while I couldn't, these came home with me:

A pretty turquoise knob for my daughter's room to add a bit of bling to her desk.

Being a caffeine addict, I love a great coffee cup. Coffee tastes better in a fabulous mug, no?

The rain is back, a great excuse to finish my never-ending sewing pile.

One project is finished though, which comes with a long overdue tutorial. 

A store bought drapery panel makeover!

If I can get a decent photo of the whole project with all this grey weather, I will have it up tomorrow!

What is the weather like where you are? Dreary as it is in Vancouver?

XO Barbara

The Tale of Two Tables

*This blog post is brought to you buy two thrifting pals, who never leave a thrift shop empty handed! 

If you want to read the other half of the story you can read it here.

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, where the rain falls freely, giant trees tower above, snow covered peaks loom and the ocean waves crash upon the shore...

Two blogging and thrifting pals, Barbara from hodge:podge and Carol from The Design Pages, were on the hunt for an end table for their lovely daughters. While on one of their thriftting excursions they hunted high and low for the perfect table, one that had good "bones".  But alas, they came away without finding that perfect table {but they found other treasures, that is a another story for another day}

Sniff....

The one friend decided to search Craigslist to see what she could find. One stormy evening she stumbled across a bedroom set that had the perfect pair of end tables. She emailed the seller and asked if they would be willing to separate the set. The seller said "yes". Quickly,  the ever-so-excited-friend emailed the other friend a link and asked if she was interested. $50 bucks for the pair! 

"Why yes!!!" she said, "how perfect!"

The thrifty gals took their tables home and worked their magic on them, transforming them from their 70's lacquered horror to glamourous side tables fit for their princesses.

They went from this:

To this:

Carol  painted her table with a glossy black paint and silver leafed the top and handles to create a table fit for a queen.

Want to know her costs? And how she did it? Visit her blog to find out more.

Want to know how I worked my magic? 

My costs:

Table: $25

Paint: 1 quart Behr indoor latex in satin finish, $18

{colour matched to Benjamin Moore's Spectra Blue}

Primer: Benjamin Moore's oil-based primer, already had on hand {cost $18}

Sealant: Diamond Finish Sealant in satin by Varathane, already had on hand {$14}

Handles were left as-is

Total cost: $34

How I did it:

Using a power sander I sanded the surface of the table as the finish was quite damaged. Then I painted on a coat of oil-based primer with a foam roller for a nice smooth finish and using a foam brush for the crevices. Next, I painted the table with 2 coats of the Behr paint, using a foam roller and good quality paint brush.  Finally, using a foam brush I painted on 3 coats of the Varathane sealant.

Screw back on the handles and 

voila!

And this table lived happily ever after.

The End

xo Barbara

Sneak Peek

I am off today to Victoria, British Columbia for J's soccer tournament.

{source}

 So while the paint is curing this weekend on my recent thrift store find... 

{ for "behind-the-scenes" peeks you can follow my Facebook page}

I am giving you a sneak peek of a LONG overdue project that is finally finished.

Quick overview.

Found this:

Removed a gazillion nails and staples...

Found straw as the stuffing..

Stapled on this:

And hammered in these:

Have a wonderful weekend!

Make sure you come back Sunday for my latest crazy talented "So Canadian, eh?"!

XO Barbara

End Table Reveal

This is the day you have all been waiting for with bated breath, the reveal of my latest painting endeavour.

Da-da-da-da.......

A little leg....

Let's look at the before:

From 25 bucks....

to 

lookin' like a million!

The headboard is the second diamond tufted headboard I made. Want to make one for yourself?

 You can follow the step-by-step here.

The bedding is changing and I am not sure about the shade/lamp combo, it has bothered me for a while. Can't quite put my finger on what is wrong.

Still need to do the final touches on the room 

{and finish the other daughter's room as well , he-he, that one has been taking me - gulp- almost a year}.

One a side note: 

J, who loves her new end table celebrated her 15th birthday yesterday.

Yup, my baby girl is 15!

{yes, that is my son in his plaid shirt- plaid pj combo, such a stylin' guy}

More exciting news: 

I have THREE superstar Canadian designers who have agreed to participate in my "So Canadian, eh?" series!

Stay tuned!

XO Barbara


linking to: The Shabby Nest
Funky Junk Interiors

{fabulous finds and my weekend}

Last week I quickly popped into Homesense to see if they still had a gorgeous lamp I spotted a week before. On my way to the lamp aisle I found a fantastic piece of art that would be perfect in J's room.

Not only did the lamp match perfectly to the art, it matched perfectly to the paint colour we are going to paint her end table, my latest Craigslist find. 

For only $39.99 each, I couldn't leave them behind.

 It is all coming together nicely!

I found these end tables on Craigslist for $25 each. One is going to Carol from The Design Pages!
The details on the tables are gorgeous and they will look fabulous in the colour we chose.

After re-painting her dresser and desk last week, the room is coming together. Still need to source out hardware for the dresser and desk but am going to visit Lee Valley Tools this week to choose.

My weekend consisted of this:

working on on my arm chair, removing a gazillion nails. Under the lovely vinyl was another layer of dusty old fabric. My hands ached from prying all the nails, it has taken me 2 weeks of prying nightly to remove all the little nails.

See all that dust flying?

And the upper part is stuffed with straw! Wonder how old this chair is?
The new fabric is half stapled on, this project is slowly coming along as I am learning along the way {plus other painting projects keep getting in the way}

With the husband and kids home this week for spring break, I hope I can tackle my to-do list
without interruption. Hmmm....we'll see about that.


What is on your to-do list?


XO Barbara

{guest room: fabric}

I have had an overwhelming interest in the fabric I am using in my games room. Several of you asked where I bought it and do I know the manufacturer? I bought my fabric at Fabricland, a Canadian fabric store, for 50% off at $7 / meter.

Now that has me thinking, do I dare share, or should I keep all of this lovely fabric to myself?

Well, you will be happy to know that after some soul searching I have decided to share ;)

 I searched a few online fabric stores to find the fabric and found the same fabric but with a different coloured background at L&S Fabrics, unfortunately they don't carry it with the cream background like mine.

After reading Little House blog yesterday, Lindsay posted a link to an online fabric store called HouseFabric.com where I found my fabric in the exact colour and for a fantastic price as well!

The fabric is called Lucy Eden and it sells for $12.95/yd.

They also carry it in red, called Lucy Cardin.

Hello gorgeous!

 Now I am off to track down more of Lucy Eden for my games rooms. Since I love this fabric, I could use some more to possibly dress up some Ikea drapes.

xo Barbara

{monday, monday}

I had a great weekend, how about you? 

Mine was full of friends, family, furniture and fabric!

On Friday I meant to hop into a local fabric store  just to buy drapery lining and more self-covering buttons {working on the second headboard}, they were out of buttons and instead I left with an armful of fabric. Couldn't help myself - 50% off. My only wish is for at least one of the two local fabric stores {one touts itself as an interiors specialty store} to carry on-trend fabric, getting tired of seeing toile.

My Friday improved when I checked my inbox to find an email from a known website that wants one of my projects. Can't say more until it is a done deal but I was elated nonetheless.

I think they found me because of this:

featured my daughter's room in her Stonington Gray post, which subsequently got posted on Benjamin Moore's Facebook page. Amazing the power of the internet and twitter.

Thanks Abbe!

On Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting up again with Nancy from Marcus Design and Victoria from Design Ties for lunch. I was privileged to get a tour of Nancy's house, which in my opinion is "so Nancy", stunning and classy. She is such a sweet and amazing person.

Marcus Design

Did you know that Nancy and I have almost led similar lives? We went to the same elementary school and high school, the same university, majored in the sciences, lived in the same neighbourhood, have the same passions, both started blogs about the same time and love design, the only difference is we are a decade apart. 


Another funny coincidence, we both won a prize from Kelly at Jax Does Design's bribery giveaways!

We still comment on what an eerie coincidence it is. 

 Nancy and I got a tour of Victoria's beautiful historical home, that is perched on a hill overlooking the Fraser River in New Westminster. She and her husband have done such amazing work on the house. Her kitchen, gorgeous! 

Edin Design

Victoria also gave Nancy and I a tour of her historical neighbourhood FULL of amazing beautiful historical homes, some in shameful disrepair while others lovingly restored. 

We then hit a non-descript grill, enjoyed lunch and great conversation. We spent most of our 5 hours together talking non-stop. The conversation flowed easily. What a pleasure it is to find two talented women with a passion for all things design and art related AND can understand the world of blogging. 

Source

After lunch we hit some fantastic antique/junk shops. Mostly overpriced, as they are in a prime location. Victoria mentioned that many movies are filmed on that street which is reflected in the prices. That didn't deter me from scoring a deal though! I got this chair for $50! 

So to add to my list of projects I am planning on re-upholstering this beauty. Not sure if I should paint the wood, if so I tend to steer towards black, maybe I'll go outside the comfort zone and paint it white!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend - now onto a new week. What projects are you working on? Or are you feeling panicked like me, feeling that Christmas is taking over blog land and that I am somehow already behind?

~Fabulous Find: Dining Room Table~

I have been on a blog hiatus for a bit - busy working, gardening, chaperoning another track trip to the US,

 and

shopping!

Which brings me to another fabulous find! 

We have been on the look-out for a larger dining room table for a few years but found paying over $1500 for a table a bit hard to swallow. I had been scouring Craigslist and hadn't found what I was looking for. I stumbled across an ad last week for a wholesale/custom furniture builder who was clearing out inventory. This past fall I saw the ad and helped my sister buy a table, 6 chairs and a gorgeous sideboard for about $1200. All the furniture is made from a solid Brazilian hardwood. Regretfully I hadn't purchased a table in the fall and was kicking myself until his ad popped up again in the local paper. He only had 2 left and the one I really liked had a few dings but for $400 I could live with them! It is a 7 foot long table and with 2 extensions extends to 9 feet. We now can have family and friends over to eat without bumping elbows. 


What I love is that I can move our "old" dining table, which is an old library desk from the 20's, into the kitchen and FINALLY be rid of the cheap Ikea table that my kids have had fun engraving with their pencils. I love it when one new furniture addition helps re-decorate 2 spaces.

Our old table - now in the kitchen.

Yahoo - this old baby is out the door! (Oh and I am still looking for kitchen chairs and think I found the "ones" - at Target)

New table - sorry for the grainy photos, I didn't take the time to edit them.

Aren't those sexy legs?

Now I need more chairs and need to re-paint the sideboard. I am thinking of  painting it white along with the bookcases you can see in the photos. There is way too much black/dark wood in this room and in combination with the room facing north it gets little direct light, I need to lighten things up. Or I just might actually make slipcovers for the chairs. 

Just more things to add to the to-do list! 


I have yet another fabulous find to share that I found for the daughter's room - I was in a real shopping mode last week.