vintage find: umbrella stand

Sometimes great vintage finds don't need to be relegated to thrift stores and yard sales. I popped into a local interiors shop Iconi last weekend and walked out with this awesome zinc and brass umbrella stand for under $50. I had been looking for one of these for my entry for a long, long time, years actually. Trolling garage sales, thrifts, Ebay and Etsy never lead me to anything special enough with the right price. When I spotted this little number locally, I thought for sure it would have a 3 digit price, so I was delighted when the tag read $48.

Now, can we talk about the elephant in the room? That golf umbrella, ugh. Functionally it is amazing, it has a 5 foot wingspan, 2 tiers and keeps your whole body (and your buddy's) dry. Stylistically it is...not so good. At one point in my life I owned several beautiful long handled umbrellas, my dad went through an umbrella-gifting phase while I was in college. Sadly, one by one, they've all been left in shops, restaurants, libraries or loaned away. I've rounded up some fun umbrellas for my wish list, along with some other great stands below:

I'm really into florals lately, I don't know what's come over me, I've never been an overly flowery girl

Clockwise from top left:

-The muted colors of this floral are so this moment $63.99, Amazon

-This purple and yellow vintage floral could go granny quick. Pair it with a kelly green rain coat and it's fresh again. $26, The American Homemaker, Etsy

-This colorful vintage pagoda style umbrella is so fun, I love its shape. $48, Atty's Vintage, Etsy

-And now for my favorite, I really love everything about this one, except perhaps the price: $134, Umbrellas.net

I really couldn't find many good umbrella stands online. Are these soon-to-be bygones? Nevertheless, here's 4 I did find:

-The cutest ceramic owl from two's company through Amazon, $119

-I'm not sure what this is really supposed to be (it has a lid) but the size would be perfect and I love the not-shiny gold color and diamond wire pattern, $139, Antiquarianone, Etsy

-Viva la Umbrellastand! Okay, viva is probably not the right word for this asian themed stand but wow, that color really screams "here I am!" Nobody would ever forget their umbrella at your place with this flasher in your entry. It really is the prettiest shade of green, but might be harder to work into your decor: $89.60, Ebay

-This is really what I thought I wanted: a white ceramic stand with a little something special in terms of texture. I still like this option but I'm so much happier with what I ended up with. $38.88, Ceramics by Alice, Etsy.
Clockwise from top left:

This ruffly black umbrella is from Amazon, $42.99

I dig the clear dome shaped umbrella, especially this one with the blue trim. It would look so special with a printed slicker. Price not listed, Caccessories.

I once spotted a fancy lady coming out of Neimen Marcus in Chicago in a tomato red trench with a sky blue umbrella. That pairing has stuck with me for probably 10 years, though I have yet to recreate it. Add this sassy red pagoda umbrella to a light blue coat and the color combo is yours, at a nice price, $27 from Amazon.

I've seen this red and white show stopper around the net a lot, but I couldn't leave it out, it's so pretty: Bella Umbrella Pagoda, $129, Umbrellas.net.

start with art: a map inspired big boy room

This edition of "start with art" is inspired by a soon-to-be-three year old boy giving up his nursery for the newest member of the family. The former guest room needs an upgrade to suit this rambunctious colorful boy. What better place to start than with the art, I love the colors of the World Map in Aqua by These are Things, $99. The rest of the items are sourced below

Clockwise from the top:

-Small globe, $27, Chirp, Etsy The one shown is sold out. Here is another.

-Map, $99, These are things

-Owl night light, $49, Fruitfly Pie, Etsy

-Orange Pattern Pillowcases $68/2, Anthropologie

Turquoise Sheet set, $54, Urban Outfitters

Map Pillow, $55, My Bearded Pigeon, Etsy

White Duvet, $103, West Elm

Orange Blanket (for the foot of bed) $98, Garnet Hill

Suitcase Set, $25, Land of Nod

Flor Tiles, total of 18, $216, Flor

Armchair, $199, Ikea

Yellow/White striped fabric for window treatments, $6/yard, Fabric.com

Pillow for armchair, $75, Plum Cushion on Etsy

Overhead light, $59, CB2

Dresser Lamp, $35, Land of Nod

Orange Dresser (image for inspiration) Sydney Barton Painted Furniture

a year's worth of cards, and some other goals

Happy New Year!

It's been a while but I'm back in business, this year at a slower pace. No, not slow as in...not posting for 7 months, slow as in...posting once per week. That's my goal, let's see if it sticks.

One goal that did stick was making a year's worth of cards. I've been working on this project for a week now and I'm pretty much done. A major January purge/de-stash has ensued and sadly my Gocco and supplies have got to go. I wanted to make the most of the little beauty before I said goodbye so I printed up about 150 cards with the most important sentiments: happy birthday, thank you, congratulations, sympathy, etc etc. I left most of the cards empty with just the printed words but the birthday cards I actually finished up, addressed, stamped, enclosed and put in queue. I didn't actually write anything in them yet, I thought that would be a bit tacky, especially for the birthdays that are 11-12 months from now, but that part's easy. I'm usually late mailing birthday cards, if I get to it at all so I'm feeling great about being on top of it this year. I put together exactly 37 birthday cards for my closest friends and family, with a few leftovers for anyone I may have forgotten. Here's a little sampling:

It's hard for me to come up with designs that aren't too girly but I think I've got a few here. I still need to make one more round of cards before the Gocco goes bye-bye, but I'm happy to have gotten so much use out of it. I'm not going to list greeting cards to my Etsy store but if you're interested in any we can work it out another way.

Other intentions for the new year involve:

1) Organizing and de-cluttering (of course.)

2) Redoing my dining room--not a total redo, just painting the walls and reupholstering/refinishing the table and chairs set.

2) Panting all the trim in the house. It's time.

3) Improving photography. I think this one will forever be on the list.

4) Refinishing our deck. This might be one for the pro's, we'll see.

5) Continuing to improve with meal planning.

6) Devise and start to implement a new plan for Art Wall by the end of January.

my 2011 intentions, how am I doing?

Since we are one month away from being half done with 2011, I wanted to go through my year's intentions I think I'm doing pretty well...

1) Finish curtains for my girl's room, check

2) Answer my phone more, I'm doing much, much better with this and now I don't need to return nearly as many phone calls, what a bonus!

3) Weekly meal planning was going really well until the boy came along. It's on hold for now.

4) I did have a baby boy, a pretty cute one, I might add.

5) My painting projects are on-going. I did finish Polly's doors, her side table, the entryway and basement. I have yet to do her closet and rocking chair.

6) I've been lousy at tracking spending. I only did it one month and I think it depressed me too much. Maybe I'll resume it, but probably not.

7) I didn't really do much to enjoy the winter. Maybe next year.

8) I am listening to more music and enjoying it thoroughly.

9) So far I have printed out about a year and a half's worth of pictures. Only 9.5 more to go! It was pretty easy, actually, I just highlighted the images I wanted in iPhoto, then uploaded them to flickr as private, then chose to print them through snapfish (the two are linked.) So far, they are in order in a photobox.

10) I've been doing a good job of using the supplies that I have. Tucker's thank you cards were made out of old supplies and I'm doing his announcements using old A6 envelopes.

11) Photography progress: I bought and am reading Nicole's Photo 101 book, and it has been a great refresher and motivator. I want to take one of her classes, too, once I have a bit more time hands-free.

12) Party? Not yet. Still got 7 months for that one.

Images:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

I'm back, and my newest craigslist find

I'm baaaaaaack. For now, anyway. I had forgotten how hard it is to do anything with a newborn. This little guy is not a fan of being put down so my hands are tied approximately 15 hours per day. Fun!

I've discovered a great one-handed past time (via Marcy Davy of All Things Grow) called Craigs Easy. It allows you to search Craigslist in pictures vs. clicking on every link. If you haven't tried it yet, do it now. The image above is a screenshot of the site in action.

I had basically given up on Craigslist out of lack of time and patience unless I had something really specific I was looking for, but this new little discovery helped me find this new chair for my girl's room for $150.00. It is pretty much the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in and the upholstery is in perfect shape. I'm not sure how long it will stay in her room, though. My favorite part of the chair is the back, and it's not showcased (or even seen) in its current home.

I really liked the green chair I had in her room before, but it is 1/2 of a pair of chairs (also a craigslist find.) I've signed up for the next MATC upholstery class so I plan on finishing up the 2nd chair and putting them together in the living room. I really like pairs of chairs together.

I've got a few other little things going on but my boy is up now so I'll pop back later. Have a great Friday!

a son is born

If you haven't guessed it yet, my hiatus over the past few weeks is due to the birth of my boy, Tucker. He's perfectly healthy and we are so happy. We've been in adjustment mode so far and will probably continue in this gear for at least a few more weeks.

I'll be back with more frequent posts once the dust settles.