A Table with Potential

Laminate coffee table

I found this coffee table at the thrift store this week and loved the lines of it, but wasn't impressed with the laminate top. The thrift store was have a 50% off cash and carry furniture sale, so I decided to spend the $15 and try to work some magic.

I had a coupon for 50% off at Joanns fabric, and even though they don't carry the highest grade foam, I was able to get 56'' of 24'' wide, 2'' foam for $25. I also purchased a nice think batting that was already on sale, so about $5 went into that.

Little helper

Also on the materials list was this nice gray wool army blanket that was thrifted from savers, for $5. This is the only picture I snapped of the blanket before it was put into use. This also explains why I have a hard time getting any projects done lately. There is always someone wanting to "help", and believe it or not, it always makes the project harder.
When using vintage material for a project it is always important to thoroughly examine the fabric. Wool army blanket are great for re purposing, but make sure there are no moth holes. The blanket I found was in amazing shape, no holes, no stains.

It was pretty easy after that. I just detached the laminate top, cut the foam to size using an electric knife, wrapped the foam with my batting and used a staple gun to attach. I then cut the wool blanket to size and then placed it on the foam and batting upside down, pinned the corners and the used my sewing machine to sew the corners that I had pinned.

Once the sewing was done, I flipped it right side out, stretched it back over the foam and stapled it in place.

There you go. A table with potential. In all this project cost about $55 to complete, and that is including the cost of the table. It was a easy project, that anyone could complete. It gave new life to this piece of furniture that had an undesirable laminate top, but beautiful Pearsall-esque walnut legs.

A few things to spice up the kitchen

Our kitchen has gotten a few new additions rounded up from the thrifts.

"Blow Up'' bowl

This great "Blow Up'' bowl designed by Alessi was found NWT, and when I decided to keep it, I snipped the tags and it has a permanent spot in the center of our kitchen table.

Eric Magnussen Vacuum Jug

I also scored a pair of Stelton vacuun jugs designed by Eric Magnussen and made in Denmark. This designed was first introduced in 1977 and was awarded the ID-prize by the Danish Society of industrial design.

Vintage Heath Ceramics covered Casserole dishes

This pair of large covered Heath Ceramics casserole dishes were a bit of a surprise. I found one on a shelf at the Goodwill, exicted with my lucky find, I turned to corner to find a second matching one! I believe this is the largest size that was made and I've grown quite attached to the pair

Digsmed cutting board



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And last but not least, I found this huge 27'' Digsmed cutting board over the weekend at a church rummage sale, for the bargin price of 75 cents! It's missing a magnet and most likely came with a knife, but I can't seem to find a picture of one with a knife online.
So, a few new things to spice up the kitchen.( I thought I would slide this post in, without making mention of not blogging for two months)
Has anyone else being finding things in themes lately?

A Pillow Collection Obsession

I'm not sure how or why it started, but now I can't stop. You'll find me digging through those piles of dingy old pillows at all of the local thrift stores just so that I can add to my collection.
These shaggy pillows are vintage, 100% cotton, made in India and a  woven addiction. The patterns are all different , the sizes vary, and there is even a blanket thrown in for good measure.

They give our house that much needed opium-den vibe, something that every middle class family of 4 should be after.
This last photo shows a couple of new additions to what is now looking like a living room with a girl decorating it. I'm not a big pink girl myself, but when the woven pink and gray pillow was found at a thrift store while digging through the before mentioned pile o' pillows, I couldn't leave it behind.

So, this little pillow moving around the living room, being the only pink in the house. Until one day I walked into a thrift store and the large pink art piece called to me. I spotted it as soon as I walked through the door and its like I couldn't get to the back of the store fast enough to throw it in my cart.

I'm not sure if its made of heavy paper or metal, its framed behind glass in a white wooden frame and then set on top of a beige matte within a ever so classy gold fame. At first the gold frame really bother me, but now I feel if I changed it, the piece would loose some of its 1980s appeal.

And last but not least this huge chunk of rock is Halite, formed from sea salt from what I understand, and came to live with us by way of Craigslists' free section. I think it was the final piece needed to give our living room that sort of bohemian vibe it has going for it at the moment.

Table Scape

I was inspired to create a " table scape" this morning since I picked up some new to me vintage cloth napkins. We have two sets of dishes that are in constant use, one set of brown drip glaze and a set of turquoise melamine.
The air plant terrarium was picked up recently at a thrift store as was the glass Luminarc decanter with the wooden stopper, shown in the first photo. The bright acid green and matte black bowl in by Krenit and really makes the green of the napkins pop.
It was fun setting this up since right now the table top has to be completely empty or our toddler pulls everything down.

One of the missing pieces...



Vintage Nessen Lamp Shades



This pair of vintage lamp shades were thrifted a couple of months ago, and I recognized them as what I believe to be Walter Von Nessen shades. They were made to sit on top of a glass diffuser instead of sitting on top of a harp and using a finial. I searched all over the thrift storing thinking I would find the missing lamps, and with no luck I decided to still bring them home. It gives me a reason to thrift in a way. When you have something to look for, its a great excuse to scour the thrifts, instead of admitting that I'm going out to blow money on things I don't really need.

So the search was on.

I found this guy out at a thrift store that I usually don't frequent. It is a Nessen lamp, but is really no help to me. It requires a different style of shade that unfortunately I don't have just laying around. The brass is a little too shiny for my taste, but I thought I could possibly sell this one and switch it out for a style I could use, since then it's been sitting in my basement.

The search continues.

I then stopped at the thrift store closest to me, that I probably spend the most time at and found exactly the Nessen lamp I had been looking for.(kind of)

Here is a Walter Von Nessen swing arm lamp with a glass diffuser missing a beautiful linen shade. It is brass, but has a great patina, not the shiny brass of the floor lamp.



Perfect Fit



View From Above

Now I don't want to sound like a complainer, I think this lamp is gorgeous just the way it is. I am happy to return these two lost souls together and I am a step closer to my goal. But this lamp is now somewhat lonely without being part of a matched pair. The first Nessen lamp I found is brushed nickle (?) and has more of a drum shade, not quite so tapered.

The First Nessen Lamp To Come Live With Me

And to be honest I like the brushed nickle lamp a little bit more that the brass lamps. But I believe that at some point I will run into another swing arm lamp with a glass diffuser in need of a shade, especially since this style of lamp only has the shade sitting on top and not attached. I'm sure it's quite common for these to get separated.
And that my friends is only one reason I drag myself to the thrift store day after day, in hopes of finding the other missing piece.

It's still kind of hard to talk about...

I found this pretty Ben Seibel "Orb" bookend at the thrifts this week, and sadly it was all by itself. We searched high and low, and even asked an employee, who said there was a pair when they were put out. They were priced individually and at $1.29 a piece, it still kind of hurts my heart. When I told my husband how sad I was to miss out on the other one, he said imagine how sad the other guy would be to find out his new " catfish sinker" is an expensive bookend. We both had a good laugh, and then I got really sad again imagining a big hairy guy in cammo stand in the isle at the Salvation Army, yelling to his wife,"we're going juggin' tonight sweetie, found the weight we've been need'n"

Where did the last month go?

canvas saucer chairs

giving the new chair a test drive

I purchased this pair of canvas saucer chairs at an online auction that Rothchilds was having. I had heard that everything from the store was being sold online auction style, and decided to take some time to check out what they had to offer. There were lots of beautiful pieces with the starting price next to nothing. So while I enjoyed a few cold beers, I decided to bid on a few items. With the prices so low I got a little carried away and before I knew it, I had bid on a handful of items I didn't really need.
The next morning I decided that I wouldn't get carried away with the bidding, and whatever I won would be done on one bid.
The end result was  this great pair of chairs that I once admired out in front of Rothchilds. They are like a butterfly chair frame where the canvas is suspended, and the frame joints are welded. They seem to not be as common as the butterfly chairs and the only other one I could find online attributed it to Hardoy.
The slings aren't in great shape and required some repair before they could be used, I decided before I spent the time making new slings I would just use some drop cloth canvas to patch the damage. It worked well, I just used patches underneath and used the zigzag stitch on my sewing machine.
When I went to pick up the chairs on the designated day, the first thing I saw when I walked through the doors at Rothchilds was a huge gorgeous coffee table, that of course had been purchased by someone else, by auction. It literally stopped me in my tracks, and even though it wasn't for sale I had to stop and run my hands over it. Gorgeous. I hadn't noticed it online, and I'm sure by the photo you weren't able to tell the size of this beauty.
I grabbed my chairs and headed home. Three days later, my table shows up on craigslist. I recognized it due to the seller using the photo from the auction. My heart skipped a beat. No way. When I saw the table at Rothchilds I was sure that it sold outside of my price range and that's most likely why I didn't notice it at the auction. The table on craigslist was listed far below what I would have considered a fair price, so I made the call and hoped for the best.

Table in our entryway

This is the table in our entryway, and its hard to tell from the photo the size. I believe its 52'' in diameter. Its a big table. After I did a little research, It believe its made by the Tomlinson company and composed of butternut and pecan wood. It is top with fitted glass and has dovetail accents.

Table in place

This photo shows the table in one of our living areas, and the nice thing about it being so large, is that I can put my hot coffee in the center of it, and he can't reach it. Which is huge for me right now, because our littlest is in to EVERYTHING.

Sorry this photo is so grainy, the new table is also shown with the boys' rockers'. The baby received a wide-mount rocker base from Santa( Santa has great taste in modern design) so now both kids have side shell rockers.

There are plenty more new additions to the home since the last time I posted, so stay tuned.

What did everyone else get for Christmas?