Diamonds in the closet

We finally got around to painting the inside of Emery and Ohlin's closet.   After removing the doors, my husband painted the inside gray, and then I got to work stenciling.  I used an  old album cover to make my triangle template.  Since the record cover is 12x12, it was really simple to make a perfect triangle.  Don't worry, no great album covers were injured during the painting of this closet. ;)  I chose to paint my triangles in a pattern, so after I chose my five colors, I wrote a letter to mark each space (exactly like paint-by-number).  This is what the closet looked like after I was finished with the stenciling and taping off my first color:

In order to make this project low cost (FREE) I used leftover paint from other projects.  I ended up using chalkboard paint for the black triangles, and when I pulled off the painter's tape, the paint came off of the wall! Grrrrr.  Oh well, nothing a little touch up can't fix. 

I love it!! It reminds me of the facets on jewels, and it makes the yellow chevron curtains look really tied into the space.  Now Emery's dresser has a cool backdrop and we can open up the room for our little reading nook.

                  His dresser fits perfectly, and he seems pretty thrilled.  What a ham!

Joy to the world

  My brother and his lovely wife just had their first child, a baby girl, on February 10th.  I am so happy for the two of them, and was eager to meet the little sweetie.  I woke up the next morning, ready to drive up North for a visit, only to find mother nature had a sick sense of humor and had coated the roads with snow and ice.  Colorado in February, go figure.  Fortunately, this last Saturday, I was able to head up and meet my niece.  For the sake of my blog, I will call her "Joy", which is her middle name. 

Me holding "Joy" for the first time.

"Joy" (8 days) meets cousin Elowyn (8 months).  Hello, future friend.

Grandma and the proud papa gaze adoringly at "Joy."  What a wonderful addition to our family, welcome to the world baby girl!

Starburst cookies

On Thursday, I attended the Modernism Historic Study presentation.  We are extremely lucky to have had a historic context study of our city from 1940-82.  The presentation was a little light on photographs for my taste, but really interesting.  I could literally spend hours looking at photographs of important mid-century homes, businesses, churches, signs, etc.  We have some pretty amazing examples here, so maybe when things start to "green up" I'll drive around and catologue some of my favorites.  My husband was one of the presenters and asked me if I'd mind making some cookies to serve as refreshments.  Sure, darling, how many were you thinking? Not many...there should only be around 100 people.  Excuse me, what?
Luckily, I have some fabulous friends, my very own little Betty Crockettes who helped me cut out, bake, and decorate, all while wrangling some adorable pint-sized cookie monsters.

I bought my starburst cookie cutter on ebay, just for the occasion.

We made frosting in pink and turquoise, it seemed really appropriate!

We made about 120 cookies when all was said and done.  It was the first time I got to legitimately wear my apron.  Good times! :)

Light it up

          My living room was built without an overhead light.  This requires that we fill the room up with lamps, but that can get pricey.  I found an odd little table lamp with an interesting shape at the thrift store for $2.50.  I'm always up for a challenge, so I scooped the little bugger up and headed off to find some hot pink spray paint.  Much to my dismay, there really wasn't a pink bold enough to satisfy my need, so I settled on a color called raspberry from Krylon. I taped off all the electrical components and used a coat of spray primer, followed by two coats of raspberry.  I completely forgot to get a before pic, but the lamp had a brown ceramic drip glaze like this one:

Here is a picture of my lamp after:

Next I took a plain white square (or parallelogram) lampshade from Target and covered it in fabric by Paula Prass called Zinnia Path.  If you are using a solid or repeating patterned fabric you can lay the shade down directly on the fabric and use it as a template, flipping it as you go, for one solid fabric piece.  
 Because the fabric I chose, has a clear "top" and "bottom" in the pattern, I chose instead to cut four individual pieces for each side of my shade.

I used spray adhesive to cover the lampshade and then add each fabric section, one at a time, allowing time for each side to dry.  Simply smooth out any air bubbles, until the fabric lies flat.  (warning, you're fingers are about to get really sticky!) Next, I took turquoise ribbon that was 7/8" wide and applied  one section at a time to each corner, to cover the seams.

When applying the ribbon to the top or bottom, you will be folding it over the edge. It is helpful to use clips to hold the ribbon down as the glue dries.

Here is a picture of my finished lamp:

Retro luggage advertisements

Am I the only one who loves old advertisements? 

I love this ad from Samsonite.  She looks pretty ecstatic to be packing that bag!

Wouldn't it be lovely if the plane dropped you off at your actual destination instead of the crowded, germ-filled airport?

Hmmm, this seems like a really flawed advertising campaign idea.  Your luggage shall be lost and never heard from again.  People will ponder for decades what became of your Amelia Earhart Air-Lite Luggage.  Sorry, too soon? 

I decided I wanted to join in the fun.  Here is my best impersonation of a mod-stewardess (not flight attendant, mind you). 

Intergalactic space stewardess?

                                                                    Bon voyage!

Starstruck

I was lucky enough to grow up in a house with a lot of it's original mid-century features intact.  Besides the pink and black kitchen, the house had both a starburst doorbell and doorknob!  For Christmas this year, my mom got me my very own atomic star "bling". What do you think?

Sputnik was launched in 1957, but the starburst pattern was present in design features starting much earlier.  It was an era obsessed with space travel, high velocity machines, glass and neon, which inspired "Googie" style architecture.  Futuristic visions for the atomic age, had us all "reaching for the stars." 

 I found a similar door knob back plate at an antique store, but am still on the look out for a knob that will fit inside.  If you have any insight or resources about where I should look, please let me know.

From top left to right:

Sputnik light fixture, Star Glow dishware, children's Atomic Energy Lab toy, Franciscan Ware's beloved "Starburst" pattern (1954), aqua Pyrex, 1950s bark cloth fabric, Taylor and Smith dishware, and Nelson clock.

                                                                         

Hello Lover!

Perhaps, I'm sentimental.  Just as everyone is switching to electronic readers, and bookstores are becoming obsolete, I'm figuring out how to build wall bookcases.  Just as everyone is ditching their landline phones and hooking themselves into the digital age with smart phones and apps that make vocabulary, rudimentary knowledge and directional sense irrelevant, I'm pining over retro phones.  Phones with rotaries, no caller ID, antiquities really.  I can see, in the not too distant future, these things will be hazy memories, we reminisce fondly over...remember, when we had books made of paper? Remember the smell?  The sound the pages would make as we turned them, the spine cracking?  Remember phones? The feel of the serpentine cord wrapped around your finger as you paced the floor, tethered to the wall?  Why do I find myself missing them already?

I love this white phone from the 1930s.  Check out that earpiece!

This black Bakelite phone from the 1940s reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock, Dial M for modernism, anyone?

Then there was the Ericofon, designed by Ericcson phone company out of Sweden.  The first year of production was the same year my house was built, 1954!  Check out this amazing advertisement I found in a 1959 issue of Homes and Gardens magazine:

Now check out all the candy colored varieties:

Also from the 50s-60s came the beloved princess phone.  It was available in many colors, but my favorite is the pink, COME ON, it's called the princess phone!  This phone required a separate ringer and additional wiring so that it could light up in the dark.

Lastly, there was the "donut" or "purse phone." Popular in the 70s, it seems like a more stylized descendant of the princess phone.  Made by Western Electric Sculptura, these can be found in both rotary and touch tone.