Turq, Blue and Green Inspirations....

My last post was about the daughters bedroom as it is now, this post is all about the inspiration I've collected for the re-do!

Here's the iron bed I bought at Brimfield (excuse horrid garage surroundings!)

And here are a few of my vintage fabrics that we want to use in some way. I'm pretty obsessed with Marimekko or most Finnish textiles....and I love this mix....

Also these pillows...

this one is for sale in my etsy shop....

and this one I made out of a vintage Vera silk scarf

I am in LOVE with this magnetic bulletin board made from old ceiling tiles from this etsy seller http://www.etsy.com/shop/JoyFrameworks, how great would this be over a desk?!

This etsy seller http://www.etsy.com/shop/MarcoLaGrenouille has some amazing photos, particularly this one

And this etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/talkingsquid sells the coolest rugs made from recycled t shirts, like this one......maybe if we ditch the flokati...?

Pink is SO 5 years ago....

My daughter is now 9 and has declared her bedroom to be a)too girly and b)too juvenile(her word!). I have to say that I agree with her, it was painted 5 years ago to her specifications and I get a saccharin headache when I'm in there. Or feel as though Pepto-Bismol is running through my bloodstream.

Soooo, now she wants a turquoise and blue room. I love the idea but I also want to inject some greens too, and there are pieces in there that I absolutely adore that arent necessarily the easiest fit into our plans, such as this chair.....

that I dismantled and lacqured and laquered and repaired and recushioned and reupholstered with home-made ribbon and necktie fabric for the seat, no less, and vintage fabric for the back. I think it would still fit into a turq and blue room, opinions anyone?

I also love this...

that I bought at Brimfield about 6 years ago. Yes, it could use a nicer cord disguise, but it WILL be a good fit.

And this Saarinen tulip chair! I could re-cover the seat....



...since it swivels I think it'd be a cool desk chair, and a new desk is part of her room re-do deal.

At Brimfield back in May I bought her an awesome old iron bed, in the most amazing shade of aqua, so the twin beds will be gone, which I dont mind because they were never the greatest beds, but I suppose sadly a double size bed means that the comforters I made for her

will go too, unless I can figure out a way to combine the two of them to make into a double size. But then, would these work against the turq/blue/green theme?! The thing is, I love these, they were a LABOR of love, I made them, (they took forever) using lots of her old t-shirts and swimsuits, etc, from when she was a toddler on......plus some very cool vintage fabrics from my collection.....Arrrggghhh!!!! Decisions, decisions!

Oh and the flokati rug, gotta say I love that too, although something tells me it may just confuse me even further. I have this idea about painting the floor white.....because I think I also want to paint the room trim and perhaps even the ceiling in a NOT white color.....and one wall may be a wallpaper. Oh well that's for another post.

Any thoughts would be appreciated! More later as this project progresses......

Ethereal

Ohhhhhhh.... I have no words. Jakob Wagner is a German photographer I happened upon here; http://www.behance.net/JakobWagner and I am in awe of his work. I very much want one or several of his ethereal and moody series of photographs called "Vertical Woods" in my home in a big way, I mean as THE only piece on the wall....I could lose myself gazing upon these for hours.

The Gilded Age?

I recently began to follow (and become addicted to) this blog: http://www.coolhunting.com/ . I became introduced to it when I thought I was going to have a 15 seconds of fame interlude on it, as some of thier crew videoed a customer making a purchase from me at the last Brimfield. But, such is my life, it seems the transaction never made the cut....

Anyhow most everyone who knows me realizes I have a bit of a "thing" for chairs. Pairs, especially. And these, featured a few days ago on the above captioned blog, immediately caught my eye and strangely tugged at my heartstrings. I certainly a love a chair that can so quickly conjure up such vivid childhood memories as this pair.....

These folding lawn chairs, gilded in 28 karat gold leaf with brass hardware, from http://refinedsugarstudio.com/ remind me of hot southern summer evenings long ago in my grandmother's back garden, us kids chasing and capturing lightning bugs in jars while parents, grandparents and various oldsters languished in mesh-lathed folding chairs just like these - well, not quite; thiers were that aluminum stuff that after a few days out in the blazing sun and rain felt like chalk, nothing like these must feel...... I don't know that I love the gold thing, a bit too decadent and flashy for at least MY taste(and pocketbook)! Maybe a really nice aluminum, not the kind from the 70's, and I'd love them in some sort of hemp mesh!

Mad for....Ikat!

I've actually ALWAYS been crazy about ikats. It seems that I am finally not alone!

The process of weaving ikat is a truly ancient method that uses a resist dye process similar to tie dye(also a favorite of mine!) on either the warp or weft fibers. The dye is
applied prior to the thread being woven to create the final fabric pattern or design, sometimes a "resist" is used to keep portions of the thread from being dyed. It's a long process but the end product can yield a wonderfully symmetric fabric that is fascinating in it's intricacy.

Here are two petite golden chairs with a lovely Uzbek ikat silk/cotton fabric I've had for years, just waiting for the right time to use it. Great in a bedroom, or as occasional chairs for living, dining, or pretty on a sunporch for idly sitting dreaming of what to do with all those other ikats I've stowed away......

For sale right now at Three Ladies Antiques here in West Hartford.

finding beauty in little color....

Unlike what I've been making and designing as of late (TONS of color!) these 4 chairs I've just finished and posted on etsy are very neutral. But I love the way they turned out. Maybe I just needed to calm my visual senses.....

Revived Etsy

Per much advice, I've revived my etsy shop from dormancy. Here are a few items I've posted for sale, and I'll be trying to post more, and not just pillows, in the next week. The address: Ok8e.etsy.com!

Natural linen and felt pillows;

Vintage ribbon with linen and mitered wool and linen pillows;

...and the pillows are for sale, not the chairs!


French Metro pillow, fishermans sweater pillows, velvet and linen stripe pillows...

Oh and a few "rescued" chairs too!

Brimfield

I've been going to Brimfield for YEARS and adore tramping through all those fields in search of treasure. This was the first time I actually SOLD there. I was in the New England Motel field. It was quite a different experience, all good...I didnt even mind the crazy early hours (on opening day I had to leave my house at 3:30)! The only downside was frustration at not being free to wander at will. Anyhow, I learned a lot, met some great people, sold a lot, and had a lotta fun. I even took my 9 year old daughter as my "assistant" on opening day. She jumped for joy at being allowed to miss school! (and I know she learned more there in that one day than she would have in class!)

A few items I had in my tent....

A pretty neat little hexagonal wicker chaise set from (I think) the early 70's (love it with my italian linen and french ticking pillows)

This cool old sign I found waaaay out in Western Connecticut that I really DIDN'T want to sell, (it made me happy to look at and it was such a conversation piece in my basement), but a girl can only have SO many bagel signs.....

A LOT of throw pillows, here's a whole array in greens and blues.....

And vintage fabric belts......

and there was more....vintage clothing and accessories, tons of vintage textiles, an assortment of my "rescued" chairs, my Ok8e kids and ladies vintage fabric skirts and tops(I pretty much sold out my whole inventory - it's back to work for me!) All in all I can't wait to go back in September and do it again!

Bye bye...

...to my last 2 lucite chairs. Sold em at Brimfield. I loved them in my living room all winter but it was time to move them along. The woman who bought them was pretty thrilled and loved the suzani upholstery! I have to say they were in great condition for thier age; just minimal crazing and a few scratches here and there. I snatched up a new pair while there - Saarinen tulip style but don't know if they are "real" or not. The bases are quite heavy and substantial, so maybe....? They certainly arent in as good condition as the other 4 I had. I researched and bought some Novus 1/2/3 polish and scratch remover, so far it's done wonders on one!

......figured it was about time....

...it having been 9 months and all since my last (and first) post, to actually WRITE something else on my blog. I now and then get asked if I blog, and told that I SHOULD blog, but....I guess my tendency towards rampant disorganization coupled with problematic time management has made it difficult to prioritize. I guess I also worried that I'd be writing into some sort of "black hole," i.e. WHO is gonna read this stuff?! But lately I've found myself browsing around a lot of blogs and come to find that there are some really talented, interesting people out there, maybe just like me, who started with a small seedling that branched out into a world wide network of like-minded individuals sharing ideas and thoughts. So here goes. Hey, it's spring! And hey, a girl's gotta start (um, ok, start OVER) somewhere....

more later about what's been up with me.....