another gorgeous sofa

i’m in love. if only it weren’t $4545. ouch.

credenza: before and after

before…

after…

we had a couple snafu’s along the way.  matt took the doors off so that we could adhere the fabric more easily; however, getting the doors back on was very challenging, and sadly after all of the shoving and forcing, the doors are now unusable.  even so, this credenza cost us a total of $30 with the primer, paint and fabric, and it’s better than what we had before.  it’s not perfect, but we like it and it does the job!  we’ve still got to figure out how to hide the ugly cords underneath.   eye sore.

couch and credenza

Here is the couch mentioned in my last blog, with the addition of my little man sitting atop.  He crawled on it while the cushions were still off, and I thought it was too cute not to photograph.

The couch ended up in our back room, which is a bit disappointing.  I wanted it to be front and center, but I couldn’t argue with the fact that it is not the best tv-viewing sofa.

Check out this beauty!  Sexy right?  This lovely credenza came from an Allstate vault, and we just happen to be in desperate need of a tv console.  Something to hide all the junk, you know?  And since we are on a budget, we decided to try to turn this baby into something we can live with.  I forgot to snap a picture before putting the first coat of primer on the top, but you can still get a pretty good idea of the ugliness factor.  I’ll post pics of the final product soon. 

antique couch

antique sofas are beautiful.  so much character and craftsmanship is embedded in their designs.

we have an antique couch and chair given to us from matt’s aunt theresa, who had gotten them from her parents. both are products of the 1940’s.  this is the closest image i could find of mine:

mine has  natural tweed upholstery and the wood trim is lighter.  i really love this sofa, and want to highlight it the best way possible in our new home, but i’m having difficulty placing it.  it’s not the most comfortable couch in the world, but it looks best in the room that has the tv in it.  what to do?

shower curtain dilemma

since we are moving and will now have TWO bathrooms, i get to pick out a new shower curtain!  the only problem is that i can’t figure out which direction to go…  the curtain will be for the hall bath, which will also be the bath noah will use.   as it will be pulling double duty for guests too though, do i go kiddish or guestish?  i’ve been looking for kiddy bathroom gear, and it’s a little tough, i have to say.  my choices seem to be frogs or sponge bob, neither of which i’m a huge fan.  my favorite shower curtains come from anthropologie, and i’m severely leaning this direction, even though they aren’t exactly meant for little boys.  what does a little boy care about a shower curtain anyway, right?  right?!

here’s the curtain we’ve had for years now.  i love it just as much now as i did the day i spent a small fortune on it.and here are the two i’m considering for the new bath.  thoughts/opinions?

have i mentioned that i get to move to a house in a few days?  i’m so excited i can’t stand it.

it’s been fun knowing you

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goodbye beautiful loft…it’s been a blast. (loft shown above is sadly not a picture of our actual loft…if it were, we would not be moving!)

matt and i have finally found a beautiful old house in the city that has just about everything we were hoping to find, so we will moving in about a week.  with all of the moving activities and preparation, my blog updates will slow for a while, but with a new space and new inspiration, i’ll be back at it as soon as i’m settled.

we’ve called fashion square lofts our home for three years now, and as fun as it has been, it’s time to move on.  with no doors, no storage, no outdoor space, and cement floors, it is simply not the easiest place for a young family to live.  my one year old needs a play area, and floors to fall down on (that won’t knock him unconscious), and grass to roll in.  we will treasure our time spent here in downtown st. louis though.

one day we’ll look back on the time when we were in our twenties, amidst our growing careers, having dinners street-side, and going out for gellato or a chai whenever the mood hit.  we’ll remember walks down to the arch or over to the current festival taking place across the street.  we’ll remember wasabi’s sushi eating contests and fashion shows that shut down our block. i’ll remember meeting shanna on the corner for city walks with our strollers in tow and taking teagan out for a walk late at night amidst the partiers and beggers. we’ll remember the jazz musician who used to play outside our windows on weekend nights. we’ll remember dragging our suitcases down washington to jump the metro to the airport.  we’ll remember the craziness that ensued after the cards won the world series in ‘06, and walking a few blocks  to catch the blues play every winter, and standing outside the stadium trying to get a glimpse of obama pitch the opener at the all-star game.    yes, this place has been good to us, but it’s time to move on.  city loft living has been energizing for our souls, but i have a feeling that an old turn-of-the-century house will hit us in all the right places too.  peace out fashion square.

bedroom lust

there are so many beautiful possibilities for bedrooms.  how does one choose?source

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what makes your bedroom special?

love this!

feed your soul: the free art project is offering these adorable down-loadable prints, for free!  can’t beat free.

another great idea i found while purusing blogs today is this brilliant embroidery hoop project.  i think i may just have to use it somewhere in my house…perhaps noah’s new room. (we’re moving from our beloved loft to a house!!!)

you also must check out the indie underground festival this weekend.  i’ve never been before, but it sounds super cool! by the way, i found out about this from craftzine.  woo-hoo craftzine!

don’t you just love great ideas?

fabric find

(photo credit: calico corners)

a lot of the time it’s tough to find modern, beautiful fabrics.  and really, what i make, what i’d like to make, and things i like and buy are appealing to me because of the fabric choice that is used in the product.  isn’t that why we all choose a certain pillow or blanket or outfit?  (you can thank me later for delivering this wealth of knowledge!)

anyway, i was searching for fabrics online just now, and i found this sent-from-heaven blog that highlights some of the best fabric finds on etsy. now i have to decide which to get and what to make with it!  i love cute fabrics!

o’fallon fall festival flop

ok, ok…i know the title indicates a pretty negative take on this past weekend, but the truth must be told!  albeit, i’ve only done one other festival, but in my extreme lack of festival experience, i’m pretty sure this one rates low on the totum pole.

i’ll start with the positive:

• day 2 was crisp, but bright and sunny
• long lost friend, kim, watched my booth several times so i could have little breaks, and she even brought me dinner on the first night
• received several other arts and crafts festival invites
• had a professional advertizing photographer want to photograph my stuff
• had one wholesale offer
• people of like-minded style had really positive reactions to my products and displays

now on to the not so positive, but kind of hilarious:

• my booth faced a parking lot.
• the first night of the festival, there was no light provided for the vendors.  all of our booths were literally in the dark after the sun went down. i later found out that this was the first year they had ‘tried’ it on a friday night. i assume they’ll have that kink worked out next year. (although, i certainly won’t be there to find out!)
• my booth was in-between two vendors who were also selling baby products at very different price points. (and although her style was quite different, my neighbor stayed busy selling $1-$5 items.)
• there was very low traffic compared to my previous festival.
• my canopy and furniture were literally sinking into the mud pit i had to set up in.  oh, i was also on a hill, so everything was leaning back, and it just continued to lean further and further back because the ground was so stinkin’ soft.
• in relation to the mud hole, i had to buy an ugly blue tarp to put down on the ground.  pretty green grass would have been much more inviting!
• i heard passer-byers say things like, “well that’s a fancy one,” “no, we don’t need all that,” and “that’s buy stuff kind of stuff.” these comments were oddly encouraging to me, as they communicated what i was thinking; which was that most people came to this festival to get their kids’ faces painted and to find holiday wreaths and to eat funnel cakes, not to shop.

i have learned some small lessons through this.  first of all, i need to ask better questions before these festivals:  “what’s the traffic like?”  “where will my booth be located?” “how many vendors are there?” “will vendors selling similar products be dispersed?”  i also learned to never do a one day festival.  there is just entirely too much work that goes into the set up for a one day shot.  i also confirmed that it was much more fun to do the festival with a friend.  someone to dish with during the lulls, to help with the checking out process, to help with the set up and break down, and to man the booth for potty and food breaks.

although the day and a half of the o’fallon fall festival was a little bit of a disaster, when people were in my booth, appreciating my items, i felt such a sense of joy, much like at the first festival; so that’s what i will focus on and use to keep me energized. thanks to those of you who visited me and supported me in thoughts and prayers!

here are some pictures of the set-up.

i will be working on getting all my products on etsy in the next couple of days.

love love!