Monday, February 28, 2011

Sunny Day

There's something about sunlight shining through white curtains that makes me think of soft summer days. And by association, that means warmth. My favourite.

White curtians glowing in the sunshine.

The yellow bedroom wall gets an extra kick of colour from the sun.

Even though it's not all that warm outside today the wonderful sunshine makes daydreaming of summer days completely possible. And I swear I've seen some spring bulbs poking their heads through the ground, so spring is officially on its way. This makes me very, very excited!!!

Friday, February 25, 2011

This Week at Relish Vintage

Here are this week's additions to Relish Vintage. Now, a couple of these sold right away (which is awesome!) so they're no longer on the shop website, but I've included the photos here because they were just too cool not to share!


Vintage Mid-Century Pendant Light (sold)

Upcycled Wooden Kitchen Table (sold)

I've also documented my work on the upcycled stuff, which you can check out here for the Dining Table, and here for the kitchen table.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Project #2 Finished!

My second project from last week is now finally done! Here are a few pics of the whole work in progress...

Stage #1 - Had to recruit my boyfriend to help me get the table into the house - it weighs a ton! And notice the gross maple-coloured stain on the tabletop? It's gotta go.

Stage #2 - Sand down the whole thing (except the pedestal base, which was still in good condition). This is harder than it sounds, as I haven't splurged on an electric sander so I'm still doing this all by hand. My forearms are still aching.

Stage #3 - Start staining the tabletop.

Stage #4 - Finish off with a coat of urethane. (I'm saving the pain of illustrating the fact that I had to sand down the whole tabletop AGAIN after staining it. Ugh!)

A lovely closeup of the yummy wood grain NOT in a gross maple-coloured stain. Yes!

And a shot of Bertha posing with the table.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Beautiful Things...

Not too much to report today because I'm hard at work here in my dining room/workshop so that I'll have another project to reveal tomorrow. But in the meantime, I've attached a link to a lovely Treasury List that has been created on Etsy and that features one of Relish Vintage's items...

This is my Vintage Turquoise Glass Pitcher featured in the treasury, but check out the Treasury List, called London Color to see some more of this lovely collection.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Project #1 Finished!

Well last week I mentioned that I had a few projects on the go - I was foolishly optimistic enough to think I'd actually have them finished last week. Yeah right! But I have now finished one of the three that I had on the go, so now I can share it with you....

Stage 1 - Beginning: freshly salvaged. I haven't started a thing yet.

Stage 2 - I finally got the whole thing sanded down, and have just put the first coat of lime green paint on the legs and apron.

Stage 3 - Four coats of paint later (and just look how beautiful that green is!), the legs and apron are finally finished, the table is reassembled, and I'm about to start staining the top.

Stage 4 - Finished! Three coats of stain and three coats of urethane later, this kitchen table is finished, and looking amazing!!!

Just one more look at how beautifully that walnut stain takes to the wood.....

Monday, February 21, 2011

Family Day!

Happy Family Day to everyone! I hope you all slept in late and are doing a whole lot of nothing today.


We slept in really late and then ate a big breakfast. My boyfriend Ilya, our dog Bertha and our cat Atticus are being entertained by video games right now. I'm stealing a couple of hours to do some work on a table, and then we're looking forward to a whole bunch of movies and eating dinner in front of the TV. I love it when we both have a day off!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Bread?

I was feeling ambitious today and decided to make a loaf of sunflower flaxseed homemade bread. Everything was going well, the dough smelled really good, and then I went out for lunch with my boyfriend's mom while the dough was rising. I also left my dog at home. Terrible oversight.


I think you can guess where this is going. Bertha (my pooch) ate the whole bowl of dough! Of course my first thought was that she was going to explode, but I've been assured by the vet that she'll be fine. And at least I discovered that she only ate 1/2 of the dough - the other half she tried to hide by somehow wrapping it up in her dog blanket and leaving it on my bed. Awesome. Good thing she's so damn cute!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Moving Stuff

Exciting furniture re-arranging news: a dresser that I had refinished using Japanese paper has finally found a new home, so now I have a new dresser! Well not new, but new to the bedroom. That's one of the great things about re-arranging furniture, right?




This dresser used to be in the dining room, but I have to say it looks super great in the bedroom with those yellow walls. And now I have the perfect excuse to shop for a new table or something to use in the dining room to replace it. Yes!

Monday, February 14, 2011

To Do

Whoops, Monday seems to have slipped by a little too quickly for my liking.....

But I've been hard at work - I have three new projects I've just started...




Have I ever mentioned that my dining room doubles as my workshop? Pretty messy, but oh well.

The two tables are going to get an awesome makeover - I'm really not a fan of that blond-looking finish on the wood. Just wait till I get at them! And the dresser is pretty beat up, so will get a fresh coat of paint and new hardware. It's going to look so good! But man, do I ever hate sanding! Have to seriously think about investing in an electric sander.

My goal is to have these all finished by the end of this week, but that sounds ambitious, even to me, so we'll see how that goes. Wish me luck, and I'll keep you posted!

Oh yeah, and happy Valentine's Day!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

This Week at Relish Vintage

There are some super-cool new things in Relish Vintage this week, and the shop is now all organized into sections. (Makes me feel very organized!) Have a look......





Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Re-invention of Thrift

Today's post is about the reinvention of thrift store and second-hand items. There are so many great finds at thrift stores and flea markets that just get passed over, but with a little love and attention, they can be turned into some seriously stunning scores!

I scored this sideboard for $30!! All it needed was a fresh coat of paint, and now it is just the coolest. The wooden frame on the wall is actually from a sidewalk sale. It was falling apart, but a coat of white spraypaint, and voila! And those lamps are original 1970s from my grandparents' basement. Serious score, and lovely with new lampshades.

I got this chair at my neighbour's garage sale (thanks Lindsay!), spray-painted it blue and covered the seat in a scrap of fabric I had. It's one of my favourites.

And this cute little plant stand was all rusty when I discovered it. Gotta love that spray paint!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Project for a Tuesday

I finally snapped. You know those ugly wooden little desktop drawer units from Ikea that everyone had in college? Well we've had one for about 7 years, and it drives me completely crazy. Completely. Crazy.

I've wanted to get rid of it (like, watch it burn for my satisfaction), but it's full of all kinds of odds and ends (some important, some not so much) that just don't have another home.

So this morning I finally tackled it. It's still here, but I've covered it in handmade paper to make it pretty to look at, and a little bit camouflaged so you can't tell what it is right away. Here is my progress....

As usual, I forgot to take the "before" photo, but you can see from the drawers in this photo what the unit looked like. (Charming? Um, no.) So we're diving straight into Step 2, where I've already covered the shell of the unit in a green patterned paper.

Step 3, which is a long one, involved covering the faces of all the drawers, and making all the corners neat and tidy. A bit painstaking, but works well with coffee and listening to the morning CBC.

And see how lovely this paper is that is going on the drawer fronts?!!

Ta Da!! A beautifully camouflaged ungly wooden drawer unit! Now it's actually interesting to look at. I now have no excuse not to tidy up the bedroom. Damn.

Until tomorrow....  Have a lovely afternoon!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Vintage Chic....Part 2

I've got so much second-hand vintage stuff around the house that I thought I'd continue my post from last week about Vintage Chic. I want to give you all some more ideas about how amazingly well these items work in a home. They all have signs of having been loved in a previous life, which makes them wonderfully worn-in and cozy, and able to fit seamlessly into any style of home.

I found this little lamp at a second-hand warehouse - all it needed was a new bright-pink shade, and voila!

I found this table while shopping online on kijiji - all the knots in the wood, and the visible grain, and the worn-in surface give the whole room a lovely warm, textured, comfortable feeling.

This is one of a pair of side tables - they weigh a ton (solid wood) and were made right here in Ontario!

I found this cute little side table at a yard sale while walking down the street one day - pefect! And it's yellow. I mean, come on, how could I pass that up?

I found this dresser at a thrift store. It has really unusual original drawer pulls, and the stamp in the top drawer says it was made in Hanover, Ontario. Isn't it cool to actually know where something was made?

Thursday, February 3, 2011

This Week at Relish Vintage

I've been finding some more great things to list on Relish Vintage this week, including some great prints and paintings that will be listed over the next couple of weeks, so keep your eye on the shop!

For now, here are some of my favourites from this week's listings....




So here's to happy shopping, and I hope everyone has a great weekend!


Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Whoa

Wow, it snowed way more last night than I realized! I slept in way too late this morning, but still, when I woke up and took my dog for a walk, most of the sidewalks still had no footprints at all. And the snow drifts were huge! Just walking down the street turned out to be a workout. Good day to play in the snow!

Look, no footprints!

You can't really tell in this photo, but the snow drifts are up to mid-calf! That's a lot for just one snowfall. (this camera is not too happy taking pictures of snow - it always comes out blue)

I hope at least some of you got a snow day today. Enjoy!