Repurposed Vintage Milk Bottle Carrier Chandelier

That post title just rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it? But that is exactly what I have to share with you today, my Repurposed Vintage Milk Bottle Carrier Chandelier!

This is definitely a "look for less" story. A few months ago, I pinned a chandelier I found on shadesoflight.com knowing full well that I would never pay the $999 price tag. See below.

But I didn't forget about it either. It inspired me to hunt online for a vintage bottle carrier of my own to transform into a custom-made light for less.

I ended up winning this beauty on eBay back in early February for $37 +$12.50 for shipping (it's dang heavy!) for a grand total of $49.50.



With my inspiration photo and my newly won rusty, metal carrier in hand, I enlisted the the help of my trusty friend Joe, who just happens to be an electrician, to execute my master plan.

I'm not up on all the technical/electrical lingo here, but from here all I know is that that he welded some things, wired some other things, added the chain and spray painted the rest for a total supply cost of around $80 including light bulbs.

That's right, we have an every-bit-as-good-if-not-better, chandelier for a grand total of $130. That's a savings of $869 if you are keeping track.

Of course, I did not let Joe's talents go unnoticed, but even with our token of appreciation to him, we still created a wonderful light for less than 1/4 of the retail price found online. Thanks, Joe, for helping bring my vision to light! I couldn't be more pleased; here are the results:

Vintage Milk Bottle Carrier

I got a special delivery today! It's the muse for my next DIY project for our new home.  A vintage milk bottle carrier!

I can't wait until this project comes to light ;-)

The Claire Project

If we are friends on Facebook, if you follow me on flickr, or you ever click on the top bar of my blog, you might be familiar with our weekly photos of Claire.

Now, I can't take credit for this fabulous fabric idea, which I borrowed from Young House Love's Clara Project (right down to a similar name for our baby girl!), but I will take the credit for wrangling our wiggly baby weekly and getting some ok shots along the way.

Each week (Thursday mornings for the first 14 weeks and now Saturday mornings since I have been back to work), I dress Claire in a short-sleeve white onesie, lay some fabric out and get to work. I try to do this in the morning so that the sun is coming through our windows just right. For a while, I laid the fabric on the couch cushion, but now that she is bigger I lay it on the floor over our area rug. Also, I highly recommend doing this after a feeding. In my experience, full belly = happy baby.

Most weeks I use one yard of fabric, usually bought on-sale from JoAnn, but sometimes I throw in a pretty printed sheet, baby blanket or other type of fabric object I find around the house. Basically, if you are handy with a camera and with Photoshop, you can achieve the same thing by following this handy YHL tutorial.

So here are the results this far:

And here are close-ups of a few milestone weeks along the way...

Week One:


Week Six:


Week Twelve:


And today, Week Seventeen:

It's really fun to click back and forth through the photos so far to see how much Claire has changed, especially from the first to the last.

At the year's end, I plan to do a few things.

1. Make a blurb book documenting Claire's first year.

2. Print all 52 images and display them at her 1st birthday party. Maybe like this:

3. Also, I plan to either learn to sew, or commission my sewing sisters, to create a few things out of the fabric, such as this pillow I found on pinterest:

Or maybe even a quilt, like Sherry made from YHL:

35 weeks to go! Only time will tell how our Claire Project project ends up for us.

No-Sew Fabric Project

I love fabrics. One small problem, I don't know how to sew. But I won't let that stop me :-)

Here's a sneak peak of something I'm working on for the nursery...

Six "Fat Quarters" of brightly covered fabric:

Teamed with Six Embroidery Hoops...ta-da!:

I'm thinking that these *might* one day contain the letters of our little one's name.

Although we are not sharing names before birth (mostly because we don't plan to make a final decision until then!) I do have a little clue. Right now our top boy and top girl name both contain 6 letters and they share 4 of the same letters.

Any guesses?

Diaper Bag Reveal

It's here! My diaper bag from 1154 Lill Studio has arrived!

If you remember, my coworkers threw me a baby shower last month where I got to design my own custom diaper bag and I'm really excited about the results. I went a little pattern crazy, but I think it's very "me" and turned out well.

So without further ado...

Here is the front of the bag:

The back:

Close-up of front pockets:

Big Back Pocket:

Side Pocket:

Top Zipper and Black Waterproof Inside Lining:

Adjustable Strap with Tiny Hook:

At my side:

I can't wait to put it to good use in just 6 weeks or so!

Baby Bag Party

I recently received an invite from my colleagues, who are hosting a very creative baby shower for me that's truly right up my alley. In the near future, we will be going to 1154 Lill Studio where I will get to create my very own, custom diaper bag!

Here is the super-cute invite:

This past summer I took my sister to 1154 Lill Studio for her birthday, and we each made a Grace clutch that I just love. Here is mine:

This time I'll get to create a even bigger, better baby bag so I'm just giddy. From the looks of it online, I think the Susan looks like a great option.

And although I will definitely want to check out the look and feel of all the fabrics in person, I already put together an idea online of the direction I might go with my bag. This one uses: Soho Grey, Sea Spray and Olive Zebra.

I can't wait until I get to celebrate with my generous coworkers and to create something all of my own to tote around the necessities for Baby C.

Exploring Chicago - Devon Avenue

I know I left you hanging after Andersonville, so without further ado I will present to you our second stop in the Exploring Chicago Photography Course...

Devon Avenue:

Devon Avenue was originally known as Church Road, but it was renamed in the 1880s by Edgewater developer John Lewis Cochran after Devon station on the Main Line north of Philadelphia. The street has been settled by many immigrant groups, which is perhaps most evident between Kedzie and Ridge Avenues in West Ridge, Chicago. Here, one traveling eastward will encounter, in succession, an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, a Russian American neighborhood, an Indian American neighborhood, a Pakistani American neighborhood, and a Bangladeshi American neighborhood. Portions of Devon in this area have been renamed in honor of Golda Meir, Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The main area we walked, was the "Little India" portion of Devon Avenue. Here are the photos from my afternoon there. First we have the food...















And then we have the fashion and decor...









And next, a little Indian-American pop culture...





And last but not least, we had lunch for the day at Tiffin, which was delicious:

Overall, this was an area not very far from my home in terms of miles, but it seemed like a world away. There were times on Devon that I saw such unfamiliar things that I forgot I was in Chicago, or even America. This is one of the many reasons that I love this course, and love Chicago as a whole. It's a big city made up of many tiny neighborhoods, each with their unique cultures and identities.

In this post we got a taste of South Asian culture in Chicago, and in my next post I'll take you to the Eastern European areas as we explore the neighborhood of Ukranian Village.