Making old things New

I bought two of these chairs at $5 a piece at Beehive Thrift in Northeast Philly.  They had some markings on them, names written most likely by the children who owned them.  I love wooden chairs, and I love wooden folding chairs even more.. so these were a steal.  I was going to sand them down and re-finish them with a nice wood stain… but instead I decided to go bold and paint them neon green, inspired by Lois’ freshly painted outdoor table and chairs.

I went to home depot and selected my color of choice.  I was instructed to get “paint and primer in one” exterior paint, because that would cover the best, and also hold up the best for people to sit on.  Normally paint is made for walls mainly, not for objects to sit on, so I was alittle worried that it would not hold very well.  Floor paint would be the best, but they only come in gallon sizes and I only needed alittle bucket.

I had to put on about 3 coats and then touch up different areas.  I admit, it’s not the best paint job, but I only had one sized brush and tried my best.

Then I decided to garnish them up a bit by adding cushions.  I bought these “denim” (not really denim, they just look denim) cushions from ikea for $5.99/piece.  I’m unsure if I’m going to keep them as they are, or cover them with a different fabric.  I had high hopes to cover them with neat vintage floral patterns, but I have yet to get my hands on any.

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Beehive Thrift

Last week I had a doctors apt in the northeast, and had about an hour to kill after having lunch with my mother. I decided to check out a thrift store I’d not been to yet. I had my doubts; being in the heart of northeast philadelphia, in not a great section of town = I really didn’t think they would have any sort of selection. I was surprised when I found baskets full of vintage kitchenware for really cheap prices! There were a lot more that I wanted to get (and might go back for) but didn’t see the logic in buying a bunch of outdated kitchen utensils. The things I did pick up, however, are very useful and will be added assets to our humble apartment. The small butter knives, I’ll admit, were not needed, and purely bought out of sheer want of the objects at hand. I think when it comes time for me to have a set of utensils of my own, I’d prefer them to be of this sort, not necessarily matching by any means, but of the like. why? because I want to.


.25 cents each


.25 cents


.75 cents


.50 cents


$1 each

I did rummage through the clothes for a minute, but the store was very small, and there was not much of anything really. A few things I picked up I thought were overpriced, but mostly I felt that most everything was very modestly priced. They have another store across the street with only furniture. I did not have the time to browse over there, but I will return to look I’m sure.

Circle Thirft, Super Thrift, Spring cleaning and decorating


artwork: $1.99, super thrift


shoes: $3, circle thrift


shoes: $3.99, super thrift


dragonfly metal hooks: $2/each, circle thrift, glass carafe: $1, super thrift


milk glass bowl: $1, circle thrift

Today I went to a couple thrift stores with Lois, and made off with some awesome shoes! New shoes are so unbelievably expensive, so I was pretty psyched when I found these two pairs. Everything else I got was decorative, which I normally don’t go for, but had a feeling of “springtime” in me; the kind of feeling that makes you want to start projects and make your house all nice.

So there you have it. I rearranged a corner of my very small room so that I have better access to the sewing machine and fabrics. I also made a bag of stuff to donate next time I go to the thrift store. Next I need to go through all the crap in the basement and figure out what I want to hold on to and what I want to get rid of. After that I have some bike projects, and I’m looking forward to a possible internship this summer. This year is looking good.

Working on it.

Maintaining a healthy body and exercise, along with eating well, goes hand in hand with maintaining a healthy earth (what I usually blog about when I’m talking about recycling, thrifting, etc). I own a car now, but I much prefer to bike places.

Along with being a great mode of transportation, I found that I don’t ever get to go on leisure rides. I usually ride to the bank, the lab, the store, appointments, other places i need to get to, usually dodging traffic and rushing to get somewhere. I forget sometimes how nice it is to just ride as an exercise, as pleasure, for fun. Lois [link] and I have been going on bi-weekly rides. I am aware of how “bi-weekly” means both “every two weeks” and “twice a week.” I’m using it now in the “twice a week” sense of the word. I look forward to this ride every day that I’m not actually doing it. We usually do some combination of the loop (MLK drive-Kelly drive), as well as bike up to the art museum to start (about a 2 mile ride from our houses). All in all, we’re doing a minimum of 12 miles total, and takes alittle over an hour. It’s awesome. And to show how awesome it is, here are some pictures of us being awesome on our awesome bike ride.

Not much, but a few great finds

Jenna and I went to a few thrift stores yesterday (Impact and New Life) in her search for work-appropriate clothes. I really didn’t need anything, but I went along for the sport of it.

The few things I did find, however, were amazing! I’ve been really wanting a huge thick flannel men’s shirt to make into a jacket for myself and found just that!

how awesome is that?! Today I went at it on the sewing machine and made it into a jacket. I’m not the greatest at sewing on the machine, but I made it work.

Unfortunately I have no picture of the finished product because you cant really see the difference on the hanger, and I can’t take a picture of myself wearing it with my giant camera (its just too hard and heavy).

I also scored this awesome locket to replace the last one I had. I love how simple and sleek it is. I will probably wear both of these items every day until spring.

Silhouette Profiles

Amanda and I are making these for artshop. This one is Theo, the little baby that I nanny. His birthday is in a few days, and this is his present from me.

To make this I took a photo of Theo’s profile. Then I imported it onto my computer, brought it into Photoshop and outlined his face. I deleted the background and filled in his silhouette. Then I smoothed out the edges (I had to give him a fake neck because he was wearing a hoodie and it wasn’t visible). I made an oval around him, and selected a background color (yellow), then printed it onto photo paper and framed it with this adorable ikea frame.

These will be available for purchase at Artshop:

Art Shop 2009
Featuring 60+ Artists Displaying and Selling Their Work
Opening 6-10pm Friday, December 4th
with free food, drink & music
& Continuing 11am-4pm on Saturday, December 5th
at F&N Gallery, 2007 Frankford Ave. Phila Pa 19125

more on the studio

my friend, meg of paper stampede made this paper mache bison head for our studio. i love it. the shelf underneath was found by my sister at a yard sale and she painted it white.

our closet

past clients/friends Diana and Ryan constructed this equipment closet for us last weekend. It’s amazing.

new additions to note are our shelves:

these are made from trash picked closet doors, and ikea shelf brackets.

our chalkboard wall, painted by cassidy and dustin

our showcase of wedding work

and custom molding around our front door, cut and installed by me!

Donated by Audrey, found at yard sales

A few months ago I visited my sister in state college. She is a much more avid thrifter than I. Some of her finds and her home design has been featured on various sites including Design Sponge. Sometimes, she gives me some of these great finds of hers. Since we now have a nice big new studio, she sent me home with various items that would deem useful for our space. The above photos are some of the items, plus, she gave us an awesome end-table (pictured in previous post showing meeting area of our studio), and other bowls, lamps, etc.

Also, now that I’m in the big space, I’m able to take “proper” photographs of my finds. Behold the micro-studio! Soon, I will have a permanent table-top area in which to photograph small objects in. Yessssss.

Thanks Audrey for helping us out with awesome second hand items!

Cool kids toys

I absolutely loathe kid’s toys that light up, make noise, and are extremely obnoxious in both sight and sound. And its really hard to find anything that doesn’t do that, especially in thrift stores. However, I came across this adorable wind chime. Since I dont have any kids, i figured I’d probably give it away as a gift. But actually, I think I’ve grown quite fond of it, and don’t want to give it up.