If you’re like me, and constantly in a state of updating and changing your house or apartment, you need a list. A written list, in my opinion, not something on your phone or computer but a real life sheet of paper with ink markings on it. This is the start of mine. I realized that I would walk through the house in the midst of cleaning up and think, “hey, Megan, you really need a new lamp in here,” or “damn, did the dog eat all of the f*&%ing dishtowels?” And then I would go to the thrift store or Ikea or Target or Urban or wherever and completely forget that the dog did, indeed, eat all of the f*&%ing dishtowels.
Now I have my handy little loose leaf paper list and I can write all over it and cross stuff off and doodle and use different pens and pencils and use it ’til it starts to disintegrate. Yay.
I am so happy that the work week is drawing to a close. Looking forward to lots of relaxing, thrift store shopping, writing in this here blog and another place, too… More to come on that soon!
Urban alleyways are starting to fill with castoffs this time of month. Folks are moving on and moving out and some are too busy or too lazy to try to sell their junk (well, junk is a loaded word) on craigslist, which means more for you and me on the cheap. I love my perfect entryway table found in the alley and its tiny price tag: $3.29 for a can of spray paint. There is little more satisfying, to me, than finding a match made in Heaven in a back alley.
Or, you could take the easy way out at the thrift store and find a set of gorgeous chairs that just need a little TLC, like Kate did a few months ago.
So, alley or thrift store, after you’ve lugged that chipping brown sideboard home, what comes next? I vote for spray painting. I’ve tried using regular old paint and it just hasn’t yielded the same results. With spray paint, all you need to do is sand, wipe with a cloth and aim. Take the hardware off first, and let it dry overnight if you can. I’m usually so excited to get my project into the room it was meant for that I get paint all over my walls. Try to be more patient than me if you can!
How about you? Tell me some good stories of painting with a plain can of Benjamin Moore. During this time of year I would actually prefer it since it’s not exactly great weather for spray painting on the back porch and these photos have me jonesing to transform something, anything in my house with paint.
I’ve not been around much this week! I have a teensy cold and I’m trying to rest so I can be ready for the vacation I have coming up in a few weeks… Any of you traveling soon? Where ya headed?
My first job was at a co-op. I had… um, gotten into… um… a little trouble as a teen and was referred to the co-op by my counselor at the Holton Youth Center in Milwaukee. Outpost Natural Foods hired me at fifteen years old with zero work experience, a nose piercing, dark lip-liner and baggy jeans. They were a godsend. After two years as a cashier and customer service representative helping to sign shoppers up to become owners of the co-op I had tons of confidence and a knack for fighting off colds with homeopathic remedies.
More recently, and without dark lip-liner, I’ve taken to visiting The Riverwest Co-op on my visits to Milwaukee. Their motto? Food for People, Not For Profit. Housed in a tiny storefront, packed to the brim with foodstuffs, produce and even a cafe, it’s something I’ve wished for in Chicago for years.
Looks like I got my wish with the recently opened Dill Pickle Co-op.
While the price points were more comprabable to Whole Foods than Trader Joe’s and their membership program is a little more expensive that I would like, Dill Pickle is definitely providing a good service. It is unfortunate that a community owned grocery store’s prices must be so much higher than those of large corporations; makes it hard for even a middle-class family to shop there these days. Still, the cost for bulk items is reasonable and once the growing pains are done, we may be able to see some of the prices come down.
Does your neighborhood have a co-op? Where is it? Worth the visit?
A lot of people ask me what they should look for when they start thrifting. “Look for it all!” That tends to be my quick answer. I forget that some people don’t like the general yuckiness of some thrift shops, even though my experience shows that the nasiter the store, the better the find. One thing I can suggest to the nervous thrifter is to have what you want to buy in mind before you set out. Maybe start with candleholders, lamps or picture frames. Or… planters!
Head to a thrift store and see what they have. Think outside the box when choosing your vessels. I love using brightly colored bowls or even old cooking pots for your outdoor plants to live in.
I’m pretty sure both of these were less than $5. More are on my thrift list for this week– I think I need to add some friends to the thirty plants scattered around the house already. Spring is around the corner and quite a few of these babies will be back to living on the porch which means empty surfaces with which to place them upon.
If you don’t feel like digging in the trenches, check out what Etsy has to offer in this department.
I recently came into a new computer with the latest version of Photoshop installed and just finished my first lesson with Okunola aka husband dearest. These are a few photos of my heart day gift to him- a surprise brunch complete with bacon. It was fun to put all of my thrifted dishware to good use. Remember, this and this? There’s something supremely satisfying in knowing you found a good deal on something beautiful.
Happy Monday evening! Four days left of the work week to go.
Let’s take a look-see at some homework I stole from mirrormirror this morning.
Paola is taking Decor8’s Blogging Your Way class and one of the assignments was to make a physical inspiration board to sum her blog. I loved hers so much that I decided to do my own.
I used three different fabrics in different areas of the board, mostly cause I love pattern and partly so I get my ass in gear and start sewing again. The kitchen in this photo is from an old issue of ReadyMade. All of the cabinets are made from discarded materials and it was one of the first do-it-yourself kitchens I saw in a magazine that I fell head over heels in love with. I still haven’t seen anything like it since.
I love street art, outsider art, self-taught artists and DIY art projects. Fine art is amazing and inspiring and equally loved, but as an unschooler, the former appeals to me more personally.
Della Wells’ art is all over my home. My dad has been gifting me her work for years and she is my absolute favorite Milwaukee artist. This little card was stolen from the catch all bulletin board in my front room. It’s more at home here.
Making the collage led me to two questions:
One. How many boxes of mementos do you have? How many containers are stuffed into your closet-where-things-go-to-die right now with photos, ticket stubs, love letters, ribbon, wrapping paper, notecards, receipts, coins, paint sample card thingies, magazine pages, etc.? I am embarrassed to answer this. I still have a receipt from the first time Okunola and I ordered take-out food together. It was Thai.
Two. Have you ever made an inspiration board? Or maybe a scrapbook? Where is it? Do you reference it?
I’m thinking of taking all of the stuff in my boxes, sorting them out, and continuing to craft little collages to hang around the house. I ran out of space on this board; there are so many more things that I want to be visually available all the time. What use are the objects I keep if they’re hidden away?
So, spill it. Where’s all your precious junk hidden? What are you gonna do with it?
a pretty watering can, 
a milk glass planter, 
a good basket for planting, 
a gorgeous yellow planter, 
an egg basket as planter?, 
another object to reupurpose, 
loving the texture on this cream planter, 
how do you feel about green?, 
