Tripod Lamp ~ Restoration Hardware & Pottery Barn Beware!

Have any of you seen the Restoration Hardware Source Book?  It has some really provocative home furnishing photos...I highly recommend it.

The minute I heard they were coming out with their own furniture line I went to their website and ordered the catalog.  This catalog is 600+ pages of vintage inspired, rustic, neutral, dreamy goodness...all shot in a moody, masculine and yet somewhat ethereal fashion. 

Oh the power of staging, lighting and good photography.

I have to admit ~ there aren't too many items in this catalog that I would turn down.  I would definitely have to pair them with some light and bright walls, textiles and accessories though.  I'm just not totally sold on the dark, somewhat gloomy, altogether masculine look they have going on. 

Here is one of the pieces that caught my eye:

"A REPRODUCTION OF A BRITISH SURVEYOR'S TRIPOD , CRAFTED OF WOOD WITH SOLID CAST BRASS ACCENTS."

TABLE LAMP $350
FLOOR LAMP $1175


I don't know about you, but that's waaaaaaay out of my budget.  Ha.  I have not paid $1000 for ANY piece of furniture...not one thing. 

Then, we found a Spotlight Floor Lamp in Pottery Barn's January catalog, priced at a mere $599.

Okay, I know that I'm giving myself away as a cheapskate  seriously thrifty person now.

You probably already know we like to shop thrift stores, yard sales, junk stores and flea markets.  Every so often we head out with a mental list of things we are hoping to come across.  I had my chandelier shades on my mental list for months before I finally found 6 matching shades for 99 cents each.  Wasn't really confident I would ever find them.  That's how I felt about finding a wooden tripod also.  So, I just about fainted when Scott casually walked up with a wooden tripod in his hands and said, "Hey, look what I found...".

 YEP.  Serious.

He found an old, wooden, tripod easel with extendable legs for a whopping $3.99 at our local GW store.  Sometimes it seems like the stars align in our favor!  At this point our fellow GW shoppers were gawking at us...I do believe I might have let out a little squeal.  I actually grabbed Scott and hugged him (he didn't complain) and told him how completely fabulous he was.  I'm pretty sure he was thinking, "Wow, I guess Sherry really wanted an old, wooden, tripod easel."  Sometimes Scott just doesn't share my vision.  It's not his fault...he's a visual person...I just needed to show him. 

When we got home, I grabbed my 20 pound Restoration Hardware catalog and flipped through until I found the picture of the tripod lamp (see the pictures above).  Scott was impressed.  Well, actually he said the price on those lamps was "ridiculous"!  But he quickly ran down to a place in town that has a bunch of "junk" for sale ~ for next to nothing ~ and picked up this beauty for a buck:

It was dismantled in a flash so he could use the parts for our tripod lamp.  Once he's got it, he's unstoppable.

Alex helping drill the hole for the lamp workings.

Scott getting it all put together.

It's not as "chunky" or fitted with "solid cast brass" but it definitely has the right vibe about it.

The lampshade came from GW also...it was $2.99.  It appears brand new...it had a small smudge on it.  It isn't quite the right size or shape but it will do until we can get the perfect one.

The new lamp fixtures are a rusty brass and the tripod metal is a matte nickel color...also slightly rusty.  Hey, I heard it's okay to mix your metals now...if you do it correctly.  I wonder if rusty brass and rusty nickel can go together?  I might have to put a darker stain finish on the wood to get it looking just the way I want.  We decided to live with it for a couple of days to see what we thought would look the best.  Should we spray all the metal pieces a uniform metallic finish?  What would you do?

Turned out pretty nice for a $3.99 lamp, $2.99 shade, approximately $3.00 in miscellaneous hardware, and a $1 junk lamp.



Looks pretty smashing here in my craft room...  ;)
1.

 What outlandishly expensive item would you recreate if you could?

Sherry

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Guest Post ~ Meet My Mom!!!

I thought it would be fun to introduce you to the lady that helped shape me into who I am today.  She is a shining star, a cheerful presence, a faithful servant, a force to be reckoned with.   Really, she is the sweetest, most creative, talented person I know.   She paints, she makes signs, sews show shirts, creates quilts (people are standing in line to receive their own)!  She has an amazing vegetable garden, and flower beds that leave me envious. Not to mention, she raises her own chickens and turkeys. She trail rides her horse, Penny, and sometimes even rides in competitions!  She loves to ride ATV's with my dad, and helps with an equestrian 4-H club. She enjoys life!  I only hope that I can continue to live my life to the fullest, as well as she does, when I am her age. Today she is sharing one of her upcycle projects. This is a favorite of mine too, because she takes something that would be thrown away, and creates something unique and useful. Not to mention pretty darn cute. I have several of these beauties myself and we use them for shopping, travelling and all kinds of things.  I like to keep a couple in my car for whatever need arises. 

Meet My Mom:

Gladys

"My wonderful daughter asked me to write a guest post for her blogspot and it makes me so proud to take part in her creative endeavors. This "girl" can do anything she sets her hand to do and in my mind, she is perfect. Well, what mother doesn't think that of her own daughter?! Her husband isn't so bad, either!

Anyway, I was flattered to be asked to do this. The subject of my blog is the animal feed bags that I make into grocery totes.





Empty Feed Bags

One day I was looking for something to transport some personal items on a trip we were taking, and I couldn't find anything that just fit the vitamin containers that my husband and I take with us wherever we go. They say necessity is the mother of invention, so when my eyes fell onto the polyvinyl dog food bag that my husband had just emptied into the dog food bin, a light came on in my head! I could refashion the bag the right size so the containers would just fit and be easier to carry to the car. It worked so well that I decided I could make grocery totes and stop bringing home the umpteen plastic bags every time I went grocery shopping. I had a ready supply of horse feed bags from my other beautiful daughter who raises horses, and dog and cat feed bags because they also have three dogs and I don't know how many cats! I get sunflower seed bags from friends and pig feed bags from a neighbor.

I have cut, sewn, made mistakes and finally figured out a way to make the bags so that the pictures of dogs, cats, birds, horses, or whatever creature the feed was for would show. At first, in order to be sure the totes were sturdy enough to carry the groceries, I was sewing the carry handles all the way to the bottom. This would usually obscure the picture and I wasn't satisfied. Then one day I was in one of my favorite stores looking for sewing notions and my eyes fell upon plastic curtain grommets. They come in two sizes and several colors. They snap together easily and the handles are sewn into the holes they create. They looked lovely, but they add to the cost of making the totes.

My beautiful daughter recently turned me onto Pinterest and boy, was that a fun thing! I am so proud of all the people, young and old, who are busy little beavers creating, recycling, learning almost lost skills that our mothers and fathers knew. And guess what!? I am learning new things, myself! One day I was reading a young ladies blog about making fabric totes and saw the way she was putting on the handles and low and behold, her method would work for the grocery totes I am making with just a little change! So, now I can make them with the grommets, which some people love, and without, to save money.


I am always on the lookout for feed bags with colorful animals. Making totes keeps all that polyvinyl out of the landfill and lets us come home without all those plastic bags. I am trying to get my hands on some cute bunny feed bags that I know are out there somewhere and the pink show feed bags from my neighbor who raises prize pigs are really nice. I have some chicken feed bags that are not that attractive in orange, but maybe when they are turned into grocery totes, they will be just the ticket for someone who likes orange."

So, without further Adieu, here are just some of my mother's upcycled feed bags:

 If you are interested in ordering a bag, or have any questions regarding their use, please contact Gladys at  her Etsy shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/GladiolaSmiles

And you can follow GladiolaSmiles in Blogland at:
http://www.gladiolasmiles.blogspot.com/

Thanks So Much for stopping by!

Sherry

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Rustic HomeMade Chalkboard

We are the last minute gift making King and Queen!!!

We have been working on this chalkboard for awhile now so it wasn't completely last minute. It took some trial and error. We wanted to make our own chalkboard paint as we had heard about it working well for others.

I did an Internet search and found that there were a couple of different "recipes" out there.

1. Paint and Plaster of Paris

     or

2. Paint and Unsanded Grout (one cup paint and 2 TBSP grout)

We already had paint and unsanded grout on hand so that was our recipe of choice.

We mixed our ingredients well (or so I thought), taped off our surface and started painting.


It was a bit chunky even after all of the mixing and squishing that I had done. I really had nothing to compare it to so I trudged on. 
Maybe it takes an electric mixer to get this concoction to smooth out?

Maybe it will settle down once it has been applied to the surface and dries?

After the first coat dried it was still rough and some of the little chunky areas would "burst" and have a spot of whitish grout showing through.  

Grrrrr. Really? Will this work after all...or will we be down at True Value buying a can of spray chalkboard paint?

My Calm and Collected Partner sanded it down again and we started over. (This man really balances me. You don't even know.)

He put some grout into an empty spice container.  Then he brushed the paint onto the surface, sprinkled the grout over the wet paint, and brushed the surface again. Wallah!

Once we had the chalkboard surface figured out, I stained the "frame" of the chalkboard.  This was done with a small piece of towel that had been saved in our rag bin and some Minwax stain.

Then we added some simple hooks for keys and a bucket to store chalk and an eraser in...or whatever little things need to be stored.  I added the personalization by printing our friends last name and wedding year with my trusty white Pen-Touch paint pen. 

Scott poly'd the frame and we called it good.  This was meant to appear somewhat rustic and home-made.  We don't really want our projects to look "perfect" or appear to be factory machined and finished.  There is something to be said for well-aged, patinae'd, or distressed looking items.  Whether they have achieved that look naturally through age, or by someones hand.  It adds personality and character if you ask me.  :)

Our finished chalkboard was created using only the items we had on hand (including:  unfinished wood cabinet door, black semi-gloss paint, unsanded grout, Minwax wood stain, painters tape, empty spice jar, towel remnant, paintbrush, sandpaper, drill, mini hooks, silver metal bucket, and a metal hanger for back).

Here she is:

And if your last name is Johnson, and you are Treasured Friends of ours, then this is your official unveiling.  Merry Christmas!!!  Come by and get your chalkboard today...we love you!

All Our Love and Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas and Superb 2012!!!

Scott and Sherry

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Upcycled Radio Cabinet

Is it Happy Hour yet?

Just kidding!  I shouldn't drink when I'm DIYing!

But check this out...

This old 1930's Sears Roebuck, AM Radio Console was sitting in some guys shop, just rotting away.  His lease on the shop was ending that day and he had to clear everything out pronto ~ that's how we became the lucky new owners of this beauty.  The radio workings were pretty much trashed and pieces were dropping and hanging off of it.  That didn't matter, because we could see the hidden potential it contained.  Mr. Clean cleaned out the old, broken radio parts.  And dust and spiderwebs and bug skeletons.  Eeeek!  Then he got out his handy little hand sander and went to town.  Right there in the middle of my craft room!!!

Taking his time and going with the grain of the wood.  He really does nice work...just wish it wasn't inside the house!

  

At the very first sun break he was sent packing to the back deck, because somebody was getting a bit tired of all the sawdust on every surface in the house.  Don't worry about him out there...he needed some fresh air ( and probably a break from my constant chatter and helpful suggestions )!

He had to get out some special scrapers to get into all of the little grooves and detailed wooden pieces on the front.  I always leave those kinds of details to him.  ;)  He's better at details than I am.

He wears that mask well, doesn't he?

Some of the wood trim was lifting up, but he had a fix for that too.  A touch of wood glue and some heavy objects to hold it down where the clamps couldn't reach.

They really did some gorgeous woodworking back in the day.  Fine AMERICAN craftsmanship.  This baby was built to last.

Gonn Iggulden's  'Dangerous Book For Boys'  was utilized for this tough task.  We knew that book would come in handy when it showed up under the Christmas tree a couple years ago.

Some scrap pieces of wood were cut to fit inside to create some shelving.   

(And here's a wonderfully blurry picture just in case you wanted to feel dizzy.)

More trim was added for specialty storage (you'll see).

He added back some of the vintage charm with the old knobs and the cracking, buckling radio dial.  Oh, how I wish the radio components could have been salvaged.  Some things are just not meant to be. 
Sigh...

Here she is in her restored glory ~

Sporting some of her new friends...

Showing off her sexy curves and classy lines.  Her hardware giving off that well-aged, but still hot, vibe.  Oh yeah.

And when she turns around ~ you see what she really has to offer!!!

Cocktail Anyone???

Built in stemware hangers, wine bottle storage and plenty of room for all of the extra bar accessories and beverages.

Sadly, the front panel with the radio dials broke.  It was old, brittle and cracked already so it didn't take much.   That left Scott with a little challenge ~ trying to figure out how to fill the void that was left behind.  He finally decided on a little chalkboard for personal messages.  Makes it more fun and gives it some personality.  It could say "WELCOME" if you are having an open house, or "FREE REFILLS" for a girls night..."HELP YOURSELF" would be kinda nice at an intimate gathering of friends or family.  Maybe "WINE TASTING HERE" for a cheese and wine party.  The possibilities are endless. 

I thought this message was kinda fun myself:

Please take a moment to leave us some comment love.  My Handy Man would be especially thrilled to hear from you since this is his first solo project here on P3 ~ so leave a few words of encouragement for him if you have time.  And Thank You for stopping by to check out what we've been up to.  It really means a lot ~ to both of us.  :)

Don't forget to click on that follow button on the left sidebar and like us on Facebook so you can see all of our upcycles, makeovers, DIY projects and tutorials (if you can call them that). 

Goodnight Friends!

Sherry

This project has been featured at:

Also Sharing At:

http://www.soyouthinkyourecrafty.com/im-crafty-no-49-upcycling/

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