Rude Osolnik

This is another thrift score from our outing on Monday. I picked them up at this little shop on the North side, we had never been there before, and not really sure if its worth going back to. This is the first thing that caught my eye as soon as we walked in I grabbed them, saw that they were hand signed on the back, the price was $3, and the wood grain was beautiful.

I kind of forgot about them, and when going through our bags when we got home I did a little google search, and it didn't take long to find that Rude Osolnik is considered "The Master" wood turner of North America. He has permanent exhibits at many museums. He died in 2001, I believe and he is most well known for his turned wood bowls and vases.

So, If you would like to own a pair of your own please feel free to bid on mine on ebay!

Free Range

Our chickens, Lola, Cecilia, Rita and Prudence enjoying their morning on the outside.

salad servers and wooden scoop

The wooden scoop came from an estate sale last week and the salad servers I thrifted today. Marked made in Denmark, 50 cents.

slow and steady wins the race

Just a little update.

(You can also see the new gray trim of my bedroom.)

finished ottoman and chair guts

Two posts in one day! Crazy. The first photo is of the ottoman I reupholstered, of course I didn't think to take a picture until I had already unpeeled the layers. But, this poor ottoman had seen some things. At some point they straps/webbing had given out. The previous owners had wedged a metal rod underneath to support the piece of wood they were using to replace webbing. The original foam had dry-rotted, so to keep the ottoman in use they then placed a thin piece of foam on top and used another piece of fabric to cover and used a combination of nails and thumb tacks to secure.

I had already wiped the wood legs down with danish oil, and then after the layers were removed I used jute webbing in a basket weave pattern attached with a staple gun. I then used 3'' foam and a nice layer of batting to bring back the cush. For you that haven't had to buy new foam you may not know how expensive it really is. The foam I used from Joanne's fabric is 24'' wide and cost $49.99 a yard. My ottoman is 24'' by 21'', so this means that the one cut they give you at the fabric store was perfect for my project, I just bought exactly 21''. So, a little over half a yard and I had a 50% off coupon, I got my new foam for about $13. Good deal.

I then just put the felt on upside down pinned my corners, stitched with my sewing machine, stapled in place, used upholstery nails on the corners to insure no shifting. I covered 4 matching buttons, used a large upholstery needle to pull them through, tied them underneath with some scrap felt in the knot so they won't pull through. That's it, pretty easy project.
The last picture is of the matching chair that I started to take apart last night. There is one more chair that goes with this set, it has a lower back, and is considered the Mrs. chair. They all belong to the same set as the couch I just finished. I know it doesn't seem too imaginative to be using gray felt again, but I change and move my house around so much that I've found to stand the test of time, neutral is they way to go. Everything else can change around your major pieces without ever having to change your furniture.

bedroom inspiration

I am still slowly tinkering around at transforming our master bedroom from a kids playroom back to where adults sleep.

The first photo I believe is from AT, and I loved the trim color around the windows. I wish we had some exposed brick, but that can be a later project.
The second photo came from the brick house archives, and I believe she used it as inspiration for her DIY handles on her bookcases. We have two crawlspace doors in our bedroom that I want to make a pair of these handles for, and stain walnut.
The third picture is a window treatment that I have been looking for, for a couple of weeks now. I have seen it many places, but when you start to look for the picture it can't be found. I finally found the picture via Doorsixteen. I'm thinking unbleached and gauzy, but with two hooks on either corner of my windows and may be just two grommets on either corner of window panel.
The last photo is from D16 also, and I like the box spring cover. Our mattress and box spring is on the floor(since I sold our bed frame)and I have already covered it in unbleached burlap.

Things are starting to come along. I am also working on reupholstering a set of chairs and an ottoman for the bedroom. I finished the ottoman this weekend and I will try to post a pic later today.

Urban Eggs

Our hens finally started laying, and I have to say I feel like a proud mom. We are all very excited to have fresh eggs waiting for us in their nesting box everyday. We have the 4 hens, and right now we are getting between 2-3 eggs a day, and they are delicious.

Almost finished...

The sofa is almost finished, its hard to find time to work on it, with a three year old running around the house and wanting to help, or claiming that the tools that I'm using are actually his tools. The sofa is so large, and by far the biggest upholstery project I've done, and I have had to work on it in place. I have yet to do the back panel of the sofa, but that should be straight forward.

As you can see in the last picture, the previous owners used a 2x4 to support the right leg. That issue will also need to be addressed, but since it is solid I haven't been in as big of a rush to deal with that issue.

We have also had some other things going on around the house. We decided it was time to take the master bedroom back over, and my husband built a loft bed for Baby J in his new room. When I feel these projects have been completed, I will also post photos of our once again master bedroom, and Baby J's bed up in the air.