basement sale

long ago, in a land far, far away {or a few years ago, one town over from where i live now}, i started an etsy shop. it was mostly created to sell personal vintage belongings or otherwise curated vintage finds. i sold a whopping three items. then my dream of getting pregnant came true, and my shop fell by the wayside. so all those vintage things i owned and planned to sell sat in my basement, waiting for me and my camera to photograph them in pretty ways and make them more desirable out on the world wide web to etsy and/or vintage enthusiasts everywhere.

then life set in. isaac arrived. sleep was no longer ample. i became that tired mom who was lucky if i ever even washed the floor... let alone posted something of value online for selling, or even just peeked into a box on a shelf in that very distant basement two floors down where the vintage goods lay dormant.

that's why i started to expect that i'd never do the etsy thing again. but then, i never thought we'd buy a house, either. and here we are. so never say never.

now we have a new basement that is all to ourselves {no sharing with other tenants or landlords} and we can organize just exactly how we want to. and we can do so at our own pace.

so when i happened to be down in that basement a couple weeks ago, i decided then would be a good time to organize my etsy, garage sale, and craft/diy piles. picture countless bins, boxes, bags {and any other containers that start with 'b' that you can think of to keep that alliteration going}.

then something really cool happened.

i went shopping... in my own basement. {i'm thinking nate berkus or some other designer would be so proud!} i picked out a few fabulous free finds for myself. {how's that for alliteration? five in a row!} it was like hitting the jackpot!... one that had been there all along.

here's the thing. i have no idea why i tucked these few items away to sell for my shop when i first found them, instead of displaying them in my own home. i think it is likely because i realized i had no room for new things in my former home, even though i loved the style and they would have fit perfectly among the rest of my interior decor. or... maybe i was so desperate for some extra cash at the time that i was willing to part with them.

whatever the reason, now that we are in the new house and the architecture of this one is unmistakably mid-century modern, i did away with the eclectic feel of our last home, which was a mix of mostly mid-century modern style with a few other interior styles and periods mixed in.

wanting this new house to have a definitive, simple mid-century style and mood, i've weeded out most other styles. anything that got the boot now sits in those etsy or garage sale piles mentioned above, though they once held a place of esteem on some shelf or table-top in our living spaces.

blah blah blah. the whole point i am trying to get to is that i rescued some mid-century pieces that i would swoon over if i saw them on etsy in someone else's shop today. and then i'd probably scoff at the price and say something like, "they want what for that?"

but on this little shopping spree, i didn't have to pay a dime!.. not even shipping. unless you count the cost of wear and tear on my knees from walking up the basement stairs to plant them in my new living spaces.

anyway, would you like to see what i got at this awesome vintage basement sale?

what's that? you say "yes"? okay, then. here are three of my finds {i've yet to photograph the others}...

hmmm... as i add these photos in, i'm realizing my finds have a "come in twos" theme. the cool part about these all is that i forgot that i ever owned them. i don't even recall my finding them in a store and picking them up for my shop {except for a slight recollection of the bird find}. but that made it fun to re-discover these all over. it was like finding treasures for the first time!

i'm excited to incorporate them into my new place and its growing decor! they're slightly kitschy, but i'm one who believes there's room for a little kitsch in our lives, as it brings a sense of whimsy to our surroundings.

i'm not quite sure what kind of wood was used for the carving of the two birds. possibly teak? i hope so, because that would make them even more quintessential mid-century modern. whatever wood was used, the very tip of the beak has been broken off of both birds. i find that somewhat disappointing, but i'm hoping there is a way i can restore the beaks with some type of repair substance. if so, it wouldn't take much.

i like that these look like a mama bird with her child. sweet. 

i've got plans for them to live on some shelf in my office {the room in our house which is the farthest from finished!... meaning it will be a while before i can get pictures of them on display... thus the makeshift backdrop display i created, which will also serve as my "studio" for photographing actual etsy items... the few i didn't take back *wink*}.

as for the mugs, i'm not sure how old they actually are. something tells me they are newer. but they look vintage and appropriate for the mid-century era. in fact, they remind a little bit of recently found set of dishes with huge mid-century flare that i am swooning for {and hoping to purchase at some point}. i think it would be fun to find some complementary saucers and paint some sort of similar vintage design on my mugs...

painting them may render them useless, of course. but that's okay. i've been known to have an item or two in my collection of dishes that are just for show.

these carafes, however, i could see getting a lot of use out of.


again, i'm not sure how old these actually are. but i think there is a chance that they are from the middle of the century. if so, they are in great condition. they will come in handy soon when the weather warms up and i start making more salads... some incentive to start the vegetable garden i've always wanted to have!

well, there's my etsy save for today. like i said, i confiscated a couple more things, too. but those will probably blend into the landscape of my regular room-makeover photos... if i ever get to them.

tomorrow we paint the wall in the living room that surounds the fireplace. and if we're really feeling adventurous, we'll paint the soffits above the kitchen cabinets, too! then, maybe i can start getting around to some of those makeover photos. i'm one of those people that doesn't like to reveal in stages, but rather once the entire room is done. but realistically, there is not a single room in the house that will be truly done for quite some time. so i'm going to have to learn to let go and just ease up with that comfort level. if i can manage that, i expect there will soon start to be some room re-do posts around here. finally!

today's commute to work {and play} + some photo cards {so it's sort of like two posts in one}

i found it sort of ironic that today's project life 365 challenge was "daily_commute", because mr. b. stayed home today. so it happens that both our commutes look like this today... a walk up and down the hall from room to room. thus my shot of a view from the end of our hall where the bedrooms are, looking down toward the dining room on the other end. it was taken at about 10:00 this morning. YES!... we slept in!

normal tuesdays would have mr. b. getting up at 5:00 am to get ready for work and the twenty-minute commute that gets him there, and they'd have me typically in the scene pictured above. but today is a rare, though quickly trending, treat. his hours have been getting cut on-and-off as of late. thirty-hour weeks when they're slow. back up to forty hours if the work load picks up again.

it's not so grand for the bank account. but it's a big blessing in disguise in regards to getting some work done around the house, because it means an extra day off. saturdays and sundays slip away much too fast and sometimes get filled up with activity outside the home {like last weekend when our entire sunday was spent with friends and family at brunch and dinner out and house-warming visits in between}.

so we cherish his extra days off because, as is evident by the unpacked box in the hallway and the not-yet-hung artwork and framed photos leaning against the walls, we still have lots of settling in to do.

in fact, this very hallway is the one spot we've picked to work on today. our project is to tackle the hall closet {see door knob in shot above}, painting white the inside walls and covering the shelves in hopes of transforming what was once a terribly dark, mint-ish green color to bright white like a linen closet should be.

just like the landscape outside that is currently getting covered in what will end up being around ten inches of snow, this closet is getting a major white-wash. so how appropriate that the photo prompt for today should be commute-related. my every-day is waking up and walking down that hall to make my coffee for the day, then trekking from room to room to work on things that need to be done. sometimes that entails chasing isaac down the hall when he's trying to get away from me or running towards me after hearing key words like "diaper change" or "bath-time".

but today, this hallway is not merely the "roadway" that gets me to work. it's also the destination.

before the painting began, we emptied the shelves and removed them, opening up the tiny room to something quite enticing to a little toddler boy... a little fort or secret hide-away. it even has two step-like shelves built into the floor, so isaac felt compelled to climb and use them as a reading nook while dada got the paint tray ready.










didn't i tell you? awful green, no? couldn't wait to get that thing painted over with layers as bright as our snowy lawn.

* * * * *

speaking of the white-wash outside, it's the reason mr. b. chose this tuesday for his day off. {how nice that they at least get to pick which day they want to take off when hours are cut!}

last week, when we got a significant snowfall, i got the car stuck on three different up-hill streets in our neighborhood, including ours. our front-wheel drive is no good in this weather. terrible handling... the worst of any car we've ever owned. i am so glad that he is able to be home safe with us today and not having to deal with his normal drive in what would be a most abnormal, long and potentially dangerous commute.

anyway, in celebration of the beautiful snow that it coming down so swiftly outside, i thought i'd re-add a few of my favorite shots from my photo-walk post a few days back, but this time with quotes i found about snow or winter. i've been working on these for some potential photo-cards that i've been asked to make for a friend's boutique. these are rough drafts, as some of the typography will likely change. but it's a start...

















no winter quote on this one. just a quote i love...





this next one obviously won't be a card. i just wanted to make a "moving picture" and thought i'd add it too.

in case it's difficult to read, the above quote says "there is a privacy about it which no other season gives you. in spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself." ~ruth stout

here are a few more photoless quotes i thought worth including because they made me smile.

~

"to shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring."

~w.j. vogel

"i was just thinking, if it is really religion with these nudist colonies, they sure must turn atheists in the wintertime."

~will rogers

"winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat."

~unknown

"winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home."

~edith sitwell
{yes!... i quite agree!}

~

well, as long as i'm at it, i thought i'd also post my favorite photos of the two friends i went on that photo-walk with.

carrie's...   

amy's...

we now all have our photos from the walk added to a group pool on flickr.

it was so much fun to see their shots... many that looked much like mine {because we all had the same idea}, but many that were so different too. those were the shots i'd see and think "why didn't i think of that?" that's what makes this fun!

finally, i am adding a shot they each took of me as i was photographing that day. i've converted both to black and white, but loved each of them even when they were still color.




i so loved the way carrie's shot is composed. and i'm smitten with the way amy caught sun flare in the background of her shot. two really great shots that i'm really honored to be a part of! it's fun to see what you look like while taking pictures... a rare window to a view we never really see as photographers. so i was glad they took these. we all had fun with shooting each other shooting that day.

* * * * *

well, now it's 5:00 pm, and the shelves are done... almost. everything is painted. but it wasn't all work and no play. i took time out here and there to do this post {which i started shortly after i shot my "daily commute" photo}. and then there's isaac...




pretty much all he did today was play. his starring role?... the lamp that came alive.

with that, i better get back to work before the boss hubby fires me! i've still got three more shelves to cover with contact paper. then i'll finally have a place for all our blankets and sheets and such. hooray!

but before i go, would you like to see the {almost} finished product?...

a much-improved transformation, wouldn't you say?

from house to heart

this was going to be a post about my new butterfly chair... or rather, a post about my enthusiasm and excitement over getting it as a house-warming gift from mr. b. yesterday.

oddly enough, i didn't even take it out of the box until this morning, even though it came home with mr. b. last night. but not for lack of giddiness or anything like that. i just had other things that i was working on... i.e. getting the kitchen finally unpacked now that the cabinet interiors are completely cleaned {what a nightmare that was} and painted. i really needed to free up some counter space so we could start having normal meals again.

lest i digress even further, though, i'll spare you from the boring details of what i'm doing in the house lately. anyway, even this morning, one might think finding the butterfly chair and freeing it from its folded up state in its cocoon of a box would be the first thing i would do. but craving coffee won over my desire to finally see my chair. i wanted to be fully alert to take in all that i could while i admired my latest seating addition.

anyone who knows me well or has been to my home {or recently helped us move *cough*} knows my strange obsession with chairs. i can't help it. i just really like them. so many different kinds from so many different times and places. i think this love for chairs might be in part because i so enjoy shopping at vintage or thrift stores, and most of the time, i only find what i call "loner chairs"... chairs that have become separated from their original mate or dining set of six... or whatever the case be. it's hard not to take home these old abandoned gems.

and to me, vintage chairs have far more character than most chairs made today. so i sort of ended up collecting them. i've even been known to rescue some from sides of roads... as they sat awaiting their impending dumpster doom.

if i don't happen to find my chairs used, i still tend to get seating that looks vintage, even if a new piece.

such is the case with my new butterfly chair. i've had my eye on this style chair for a while... ever since i saw these patio beauties on one of my favorite blogs. she originally blogged about the butterfly chair here and here. {oh, how i'd love to have this cowhide cover!... but i'll settle for the camel-colored version i have, which came with its base from world market.} 

anyway, i know my chair isn't an expensive vintage piece with a nice sleek base like the base one would find on an original 1938 jorge ferrari-hardo butterfly chair. but i love it anyway. and knowing the hubby got it half price with an extra 15% off is even better {'cause i can tell you right now that an original would cost just a tad more}.

well, that's about all i have to say about that.

here's where my post takes a turn...

coffee consumed, i was on to bigger and better things... camera in one hand, scissors for busting open the taped box in the other. it wasn't long {maybe three or four steps into my mission} that i learned i had a little 3-foot tag-along.

not surprising. he pretty much tags along wherever i go, whatever i do. so i let him observe at a safely-away-from-the-scissors distance.

once open and assembled, it became very clear to me that i had an inspector for a son. of course, just curiosity-driven, he walked around the entire chair and looked at every aspect of it that he could. but i got a chuckle out of it, because he looked like an actual quality-control furniture inspector... like he was on the assembly line, making sure everything was up to par with this chair... well, all except for the wearing-nothing-but-a-diaper part. or, maybe not. maybe furniture inspectors only wear diapers on the job. i honestly don't know.

all i know is that it passed inspection. so some climbing was in order. he just had to be the first cat to try out this sweet new landing pad.

and he was it for a bit of a surprise...

not quite the upright support that he was used to from all the other chairs he has tried out in the short year he's been climbing/testing the furniture. limbs were flailing. slipping and sliding down into hard-to-get-up-from positions was inevitable.

but no matter. he had a blast anyway...

as did i, watching him.

it was actually quite comical... watching him try to maneuver around in that chair. as awkward as it was, i couldn't help but think it was made just for him.

and when he wasn't wiggling, he'd sit quite still and take advantage of the funny position he found himself in... using his very high-up knees as a perch to balance his car on.

he tried that scene out for a while. when it became old hat and he was ready to get out of the chair, it proved to be difficult... for him. 

for me, it proved to be hilarious. i could have helped him out. but i'm mean like that. it was way more fun to watch him struggle.

i think he gave in when he realized he wasn't in such a bad place, and there was really no reason to leave quite yet. so he sank back in and enjoyed his stay for a while.

that was when i realized that my photos for this post were less about the house-warming gift i got and more about the heart-warming gift he is.

but i'm guessing if you were to ask him, he'd say it wasn't about either.

i think he'd say it was about the fun there was to be had.

just a hunch.