Custom Made Pillows

I'm going to tell you the story of how a piece of fabric I had been hiding away for years turned into two lovely pillows that I now enjoy every day!

Over the past month I have found myself frequenting RefreshEase, an extremely cute second-hand store, in Logan Square. When I realized they made custom pillows, I took this fabric I found a few years ago to the lovely owner, Pasha.

She helped me decide the size, shape, and material for the backs of my pillows. A few days later they were ready for display in my home. One was made to fit on this rocking chair which has a small hole in the seat, and the other just for lounging!

Aside from lovely pillows, RefreshEase has an amazing, ever-changing selection of men's and women's apparel, shoes, and accessories (plus, if you live in the Logan Square area you get 10% off!) Unlike most resale shops, they don't take donations or consignment, but Pasha hand selects all of the garments that will be featured in the store (so you know it's going to be good!) She also "upcycles" unwanted garments into adorable head bands and bow ties. RefreshEase also offers a free personal shopping service called "RefreshEase Rack," which I plan to be taking advantage of in the near future!

A few weeks ago I found this oversized tote, which I can't wait to take to the beach... and last week I got a pair of 7 For All Mankind denim shorts. They are the perfect fit and length and I imagine I will be wearing them the entire summer. Thanks, Instagram, for making my shorts and myself look cooler than we actually are!

DIY repurposed herb planters

Over the course of the past week my friend Aaron and I (you can check him out here!) have been transforming tea tins into herb planters. These are a few that he had previously made in action.

To get started you will need:

• Tea tins, we chose to use Tazo's full leaf tins
• Drill
• Screws, we used wood screws because they seem to work better
• Screwdriver
• Strong Stik, available at Home Depot

The first thing you'll do is drill eight holes into the bottom of your tea tin. One in each corner where you will later add screws and four in the center for drainage.

    

Next, use your handy-dandy screwdriver to add screws to each corner of your tin. We eyeballed ours but left roughly an inch of the screws out so they could act as feet to attach the drip tray.

 

Once your screws are in place, use the strong stik to reinforce the them. We left ours to dry overnight but the glue should be solid within 90 minutes.

Dab a bit of strong stik on the end of each screw and gently set the tin on top of the lid to create a drip tray. Play the waiting game for a bit longer and ta-da, your planters are all done!!

Now it’s time to get creative and decorate your new indoor garden!! For our tins we started by taping off the top and bottom, then we gave each tin a few coats of Krylon Chalkboard paint (be sure not to spray too close or you will get some weird drippage!)

Let dry, remove tape, and chalk it up!!

A big thank you to Aaron for sharing this project with me, helping me make my own, and manning the drill the majority of the time!

Weekend thrifting

I know it's only Thursday... but I'm considering today and tomorrow my weekend since I'll be working (lame) the actual one.

The good news is, everything is unpacked! It took two weeks, but I've said goodbye to the boxes and it's a relief. The bad news... while I love our spacious digs, we have a lot of open space to fill. With this in mind I headed to The Salvation Army to try and find some inexpensive furniture. I fell in love with an end table (which I am going to pick up later today) but other than that I found few smaller items that I think will fit in around here.

Love this glass bottle and matching stopper. I was just talking about how I wanted some of these... first piece in my soon to be collection?!

Simple serving tray in great condition and a yellow "coffee" jar!

So, what's next? Well... my friend Aaron recently made an herb planter out of a repurposed tea tin and then made this fantastic timelapse video (isn't watching something grow magical?) This week he has been helping me to create my own and tomorrow we are painting and putting the finishing touches on the tins. I'm excited to share the finished product with everyone!

Ombre' love

We haz interwebs again! Hooray!

I did manage to make good use of my time without it though.... TA-DA!

Everywhere I look I see this ombre' trend... like here, here, and here! (Can't wait to make a couple of those embroidery samplers!) I even noticed new ombre' decor walking past Urban Outfitters the other day. It's all over the place, and I love it.

Our washroom was in need of a little color so we picked out an aqua colored bathmat and some matching hand towels... then I decided to take it a little further with some fun, ombre', open storage!

I had two old milk crates laying around, picked up some spray paint last time I left town (can't buy it in Chicago, what a pain) then spent some time painting!

After making sure all the dust as dirt was off the crates, I gave them a quick coat of primer. Using a Krylon gloss paint color, Global Blue, I painted the a little more than the bottom third of the crates. The nozzles on these cans were perfect for my project (so many tiny spaces) because they rotate around so you can paint at any angle! I let my first color dry for a few hours then moved on to Blue Ocean Breeze. After going through the same process I moved on to plain ol' white.

I let everything dry overnight and then gave it a quick wipe down with a damp rag. Zip-ties are a simple solution for holding it together, and after being trimmed and painted they are pretty much invisible. 

I'm quite happy with how it turned out and really glad I was able to repurpose the milk crates which were previously an eyesore! I will say that next time I paint plastic I'll be sure to get this product instead (my bad) which doesn't require the coat of primer and bonds to the surface better.

Anyways, I found out a ton of kids live in our new neighborhood...

...which means the ice cream truck frequently roams the streets. I'm truly looking forward to a summer full of waffle cones. Yum!

Flea Market Fun

The past few days have been a blur... but we did it! I'm actually writing this post from "The Blakewood" (our old apartment where three of our good friends are now living) because the internet isn't up at the new place. But anyways, I wanted to give everyone a quick recap of the week.

This past wednesday I met my parents roughly half way from their home in Indiana at a flea market my mom sells at weekly. My plan was to pick up a few chairs that I had at home, but I ended up walking around the flea market and finding some great stuff...

...like this vintage globe that lights up! One of the vendors was packing up and this beauty was one of the last items left on the table. He gave me a huge discount, and I couldn't say no! I also found a rug for the kitchen and some other utensils that we were in desperate need of.

Also, can we just talk about how cute my mom is?!

My mom, Joy, and my aunt, Cheryl started a company called 2 Sister's Glass Garden. They create glass topiaries out of found glass and build solar sticks for them sit them on. I think they are precious, but unfortunately I don't have a yard to display them in... wamp, wamp.

Although I wasn't able to take home one of the topiaries, my momma did give me this beautiful necklace that she cut out of a plate!

She has always been such a crafty and clever woman. Growing up there was always some kind of project or craft going on in my house, so I have always been submersed in a DIY environment. I've watched her build ponds and patios, create stained glass pieces, etch glass, and so much more... but most importantly she always managed to turn our house into a beautiful home. I'm getting a bit sentimental writing this, but she inspires me so much!

Anyways, like I said, we did it! I can't wait to start finding a home for everything... though it may be tough to locate things when I find boxes labeled like this-

Wish me luck!

Owl love you forever

Only three days left before we move in and I would say we're about three-quarters of the way there... phew! I've had a hard time getting motivated these past few days (the beautiful weather is a bit distracting) but the majority of our stuff is either packed or already in the new pad. Ryan's parents were kind enough to give us a couch and loveseat which we moved in just a little bit ago. After some tricky maneuvering, three flights of stairs and one busted head (freak potted plant accident)... we have some serious seating!

To be honest, the only thing I've really dedicated extra time to the past few days is cleaning up a mirror I found at a thrift store a few years ago.

When I found this piece I couldn't believe someone hadn't snatched it up yet, (I may, or may not have been on an owl buying spree at that time) but I never gave it the tlc that it deserved. The time has come for these perched pretties to shine! Armed with glass and wood cleaner, towels, q-tips and the Pet Sounds album by The Beach Boys, (which I listened to twice during this process) I went to town on every nook and cranny. Looks good, eh?

Big news

First things first... I am making a vow to never let my tupperware cabinet, or any cabinet for that matter, look like this again! Yikes, right? But I must say I had fun doing some late night kitchen sorting with my roommate Jason a few nights ago.

As I mentioned before, our kitchen is going to be yellow... so you can imagine my excitement when I inherited these dainty little shot glasses (unfortunately the matching booze wasn't included, but I'll take what I can get!) I also got a few platters, a set of plates and some mugs- thanks for the generosity, roomie!

Another great find hiding in the back of the cabinets... these porcelain "brass" handled mugs. I believe I picked them up around the holiday season two years ago from sbux (thank you holiday discount) but I have never managed to put them into use... What is wrong with me?!

Anyways, the big news is... I JUST GOT THE KEYS!!

I did a walkthrough this morning with the maintenance dude, and while there are a few issues to attend to, (broken door on medicine cabinet, tiny and semi-gross shower head in the corner of the bath and the switch in the main bedroom does nothing) he said they will all be fixed during the next week before we fully move in. Whew! I wasn't looking forward to using that shower but I think an update will change my perspective...

Lastly, I've decided that I want to share some things besides all the "stuff" I'm doing with my apartment. One of these is our ever-growing record collection. Over the past few months I've started to solely use the record player in our dining room if I want to listen to music at home. It's so refreshing! I plan to take this habit with me so it seems like a great idea to start sharing some of my favorite music with you...

The sun is shining, the windows are open and Fragile, by Yes is the perfect soundtrack to the day. Early 70's progressive rock- I love you. At about eight and a half minutes 'Roundabout' isn't the longest track on this album, but it sure is my favorite! At a close second is 'Long Distance Runaround' - but really the whole album flows so well, why am I picking favorites?