Chevron Stool with Poms

This past winter I took an upholstery class with my friend, Heather (the sister-in-law of last weeks Twinsie, Ariel).

Heather, being a complete go-getter, re-upholstered a legit, full sized arm chair. I, on the other hand, did this measley, weasley little stool.

This stool was a $2 garage sale find that I picked up two years ago with the intention of reupholstering, even though at the time I had no reupholstering skills. I don't really consider my lack of skills when I buy things.

Me, hard at work. Heather, harder at work.

 I have to admit, my teacher helped me with A LOT of this, and there is no way I could do this again on my own in the future. No way.

Who's obsessed with poms? I am, I am! Check out my "Put a Pom on It" Pinterest board.

The stool currently resides in our hallway. It would have made a good time-out chair, but it's a little too cheerful for that. Plus, I don't want any tantrums being thrown on it.

So if you consider only the cost of materials this would have been about $20. 

And look what I came across on Pinterest... my stools mama. It's the Ziggy chair from Urban Outfitters.

Goodwill: DIY Project #7

So I've totally jumped on the fabric hoop bandwagon and I ain't jumpin' off any time soon. I went from 2 (thanks to Mama's Happy Stuff) to 5 when I made some more using thrifted fabric from Goodwill. There's a whole entire archway I could cover if someone doesn't stop me!

Check out my  full post about these DIY fabric hoops over at the Goodwill Industries of Akron blog.

And if you follow me on instagram you already know this, but if not, looksie here, my kitchen cabinets are WHITE!!! More to come one that!

Twinsie Tuesday: David & Ariel

On May 15th I opened up my daily Cup of Zup email, read the joke of the day, laughed at the Zup Overflow, scanned the celebrity birthdays and BOOM, there was my friend Joyce's husband, Ariel! Cup of Zup accidentally had him listed as some David Krumholtz guy from the show NUMB3ERS.

David Krumholtz and my friend's husband, Ariel. 

Ok, so it wasn't really Ariel. BUT, crazy close, right!?! I've met Ariel a few times when he's come to Cleveland with  Joyce and he's such a great guy and extremely supportive of Joyce and her incredible passion for yoga. She is an instructor in NYC and has recently co-founded Breathe Repeat, a website and blog providing Resources for the Modern Yogi. Check it out!! You'll  get a kick out of her recent post, How Chaturanga Saved My Face.

White Hutch with a Pop of Color

If you follow me on Pinterest you'll notice that a lot of my pins have the description "white with a pop of color." Kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms, porches, furniture, outfits, even wedding cakes! I just can't get enough. So, in an attempt to drown out the awfulness that radiates from my oak kitchen cabinets, I bought this off Craigslist with the plan to paint it white. All white! Muhahah.

Since this was quite a big piece and I wanted to make sure it got done right, I opted to buy the Official Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and Wax from Metheny Weir in Shaker Heights. I went with the color Pure White and used the clear wax to seal it. Here are the results:

Let me start out by saying that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the results. However, during the painting process I was a little bit frustrated. As you probably know, ASCP can be applied to most any surface without having to sand or prime. Yep, just slap it right on and go to town! Based on other blogs I had read about ASCP, I was expecting to only need one, maybe two coats. But after one coat, the paint looked very streaky:

So, I added a second coat. But the steaks were still very visible. So, I added a THIRD coat, but still I could see some streaks.

At this point I was disappointed. Annoyed. Frustrated. Quite frankly, I was ready to give up on my dreams of a white kitchen and suffer in the dungeon of oak cabinets for the rest of my life.

But then I snapped out of it. I would save this hutch. I MUST save this hutch and get one step closer to my "white with a pop of color" dreams!

I dragged (drug?) all the pieces outside and began to sand the paint down to give it a distressed look. WARNING: This step was extremely messy/dusty, and I encourage you to wear a mask and gloves... even if it means frightening your four year old as you peer in the side door.

Once I began sanding I understood why people LOVE Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. It sands off so easily and naturally giving it a really true distressed look. AND, after sanding, the streaks were becoming less noticeable. Phew.

Once the sanding was complete I wiped everything down and applied a very thin coat of the Annie Sloan clear wax. WOWZERS this stuff is amazing!! 

After applying, not only were the streaks barely noticeable, but the entire hutch felt baby smooth! I let the whole thing dry overnight and then started to fill it with my favorite Somethings!

1| "Live Simply" print by Katie Daisy in my painted Goodwill Frame

2| Thrifted white lotus bowls and turquoise Fire King bowl

1 | Thrifted vintage tin with a succulent

2 | Vintage Copper Mirro Timer from a resale shop

3 | Colorful books collected from thrift stores

1 | Yellow McCoy Planter from an antique store

2 | Turquoise McCoy Planter from estate sale

3 | White hobnail milkglass vase - a gift from my mother in law

1 | Turquoise patterned plate from Goodwill

2 | Collection of thrifted white and milk glass bowls

1 | Collection of vintage aprons
2 | Wire basket from Home Goods

1 | Glass vase upcycle -- coated the inside with yellow paint

2 | Metal scoops from an estate sale

3 | Collection of turquoise bowls

1 | Turquoise dotted bowl from Goodwill

2 | Turquoise McCoy Planter from a garage sale

3 | Turquoise Amish Country Butterprint Pyrex dish from a garage sale 

1 | Vintage metal truck from a resale shop

2 | Turquoise pyrex from estate sale

1 | Floral and paisley mugs from Marshalls (or TJ Maxx?) - $4.99 ea. Must buy more! Love these. 

1 | Vintage McCalls cookbook from estate sale

2 | Patterned cup from Goodwill

3 | Yellow McCoy planter from garage sale

1 | Metal scoop measuring spoons from estate sale

2 | White measuring spoons from World Market - $2.99

3 | Mini metal whisks from Goodwill

1| Colorful fabric Rooster from Michaels

2 | Vintage scale from an estate sale

1 | Vintage globe from a resale shop for only $4!!! 

And there you have it, my very own "white with a pop of color" hutch!

After two months of having this hutch in my kitchen, and LOVING it's glorious whiteness, we've finally made the plunge... BUH BYE oak kitchen cabinets!!!!!! Oh, and despite being a "DIY'er" I hired a professional to tackle this one!

Keith from Esoteric Painting making my dreams come true!!

Linking up with {Boogieboard Cottage, Mod Vintage Life, CRAFT, Homemaker on a Dime, Making the World Cuter, Coastal Charm, Not Just a Housewife, VMG206, Our Home Away from Home,

My Very First Flea, The Cleveland Flea

I've always had some junk in my trunk...

...but never in THREE trunks!! 

Thanks to D and my Dad I was able to bring a lot of inventory. A LOT. But to me, more is better! Just like the little girl says in this AT&T commercial "More is better than less because if stuff is not less, if there's more less stuff then you might, you might want to have some more and your parents just don't let you because there's only a little bit. We want more, we want more like you really like it you want more."

True 'dat sista! We want more, so more it is!

  

One of my favorite sales of the day was to this awesome Rollergirl! She made my day when she bought these vintage wooden roller skates. And then she rocked my world when she put them on and went for a spin. 

THANK YOU friends & fam for coming out. It was a coooold day, but I think a few of you specifically the ones pictured below holding red solo cups stayed warm by taking advantage of the kegs over at the Market Garden Brewery Booth.

And the craziest moment of the day?? See the cute girl pictured above (bottom row, farthest picture to the right with the glasses on)? Well I totally loved her outfit, and of course thought that she looked familiar (no surprise there, I think everyone looks familiar!). So I started chatting with her and her friend to find out where they were from and see if I could figure out how I knew her. As soon as she said what high school she went to it hit me...

She was D's PROM DATE!!!!!!! How crazy is that!! Amanda, if you're reading this, hey girl!! 

The Cleveland Flea was an AWESOME first flea vendor experience. I met some great people, became friends with some of the other fellow thrift-loving vendors, bought some cool treasures, and sold quite a bit of stuff (an entire car load to be exact!) I will most definitely be back!

Goodwill: DIY Project #6

I want everything in our house to be white. Our bedroom furniture, our kitchen cabinets, our couches... Until that happens, I will be spraypainting everything else that crosses my path. Including this $10 lamp from Goodwill. Click on over to Goodwill Akron Blog and see some more pics and a tutorial on how I transformed lampshade.

Twinsie Tuesday: Tina & Michelle

This is my first season watching The Voice and I'm really into it. I just finished watching last night's episode on DVR and loved Vedo, Amber Carrington, Sara Simmons, and of course, Michelle Chamuel. Her performance of True Colors made me cry... and also made me realize that she looks a lot like Tina Fey!

The Cleveland Flea

Yippee! Yippee! Yippee! (clicking my feet together midair) I got accepted as a vendor for the next Cleveland Flea!!! (pelvic thrust, raising the roof, and a booty pop! and some over the shoulder fist pumping.)

Stephanie, the Cleveland Flea coordinator extraordinaire, is exploding with creativity and ideas. This weekend she put on a photoshoot and had a few cute local ladies curate and model collections they put together using vintage clothes and wares from the different flea vendors.... including some STBF treasures!

Some behind the scenes photos via Instagram (helloparfait, sarabot216, ohjocelynn, thepeddletheory)

1 | All the ladies: Sara, Zoe, Jocelynn, Stephanie, Allie and Christine
2 | Stephanie staging the STBF gold tea cart
3 | Allie rockin' her black vintage dress
4 | Me being the best photo assistant eva! I was reflecting light on Sara like nobody's business... and my arms are super sore now.
5 | STBF green kid's chair... on the wall. Why not!? Reminds me of Life as a Thrifter's awesome nursery.
6 | Christine's shot with the green chair
7 | Jocelynn in her nerd chic. That's an STBF red marquee letter on the chalkboard.
8 | Anna styling Zoe in her vintage nautical. See that flag on the stool... yep, STBF.

Hopefully you'll see the pictures from this shoot, courtesy of Suzuran Photography, pop up in some local publications promoting the Cleveland Flea.

The next Flea (my first-ever as a vendor!!) is on Saturday May 11th from 10-4 at the corner of E. 64th and St. Clair. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see you there!!

For more info visit The Cleveland Flea on Facebook or at www.TheClevelandFlea.com.

Photo Friday: Because I love you, that's why!

1 | Mini Moccasins. I die.
2 | Vintage toddler Lacoste Vest. I die, again.
3 | Turquoise pattern plate. You had me at Turquoise.
4 | Not-so-mini-moccasin boots. Or they might be slippers. Don't care. Wearin' em outside.

1 | Two smiling faces at 7:30am. It's a miracle.
2 | Happy (and sticky) haircut.
3 | My barista.
4 | Twinsies...for 5 minutes. Then breakfast happened.

1 | Based on the title, I assume it was a best seller.
2 | Based on the blurb on the back, I know it was a best seller. Know why? Because I love you, that's why! 

Wrap & Write

I've officially decided to no longer give birthday cards. Not so much because I'm a scrooge, but more so because I spend an abnormal amount of time at the drugstore reading every. single. card. until I find the perfect one. Huge time suck. Secondly, I completely LOCK UP when it comes to writing a message in cards. I overthink every word and then get antsy and end up writing a lame message and sort of want to thrown the card out and start over. And lastly, probably the most truthful reason (and ok, maybe a little scrooge-like), cards are expensive!!

So, in lieu of cards, I am going to start writing directly on my wrapping paper.  Not so much like this...

But a little more like this:

All it took was a roll of brown butcher paper that I already had on hand (but in case you're wondering, it's like $10 for a 700 mile roll from Home Depot) and a white Sharpie Poster Paint marker.

For a hot minute I thought about designing something in Illustrator and then tracing it onto the paper, but then remembered I had a napping child that was about to wake up in 2.5 seconds. So, I went the hand-written route, with really straight, totally not wavy, dotted lines.

It even doubled as a photo booth!