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 Vintage Bazaar: This Sunday

A head's up to all my Chicago friends, that the Vintage Bazaar is popping up tomorrow just around the corner from my lovely abode.

You'll find me, and lots of vintage-loving others, in Logan Square at the historic Congress Theater (2135 N. Milwaukee Ave.) tomorrow, Sunday 9/18 sometime between the hours of 11-6.

Happy thrifting!

Vintage Bazaar & Letterpress Love

Despite the nasty, rainy weather in Chicago this weekend, my sisters and I headed to the Vintage Bazaar on Saturday in Pilsen to see what we could find.

One vendor had a bucket full of wooden letterpress blocks that was calling my name.

$5 later I walked away with inky hands and a unique way to display my baby girl's name on a nursery shelf:

Vintage Changing Table

Claire has a little piece of my childhood in her nursery... my 30 year-old changing table.

This is the before, circa 1981:

I was so excited that the print on the table actually coordinated with the bright, citrusy colors and jungle animals that pop up in our nursery.

My Dad was nice enough to paint the wicker white for us, to match our motif, and here are the results:

She is not a fan of diaper changes, but she sure likes hanging out on there once the diaper change is done, so I thinks it's a hit :-)

Vintage Bazaar Today

Today is The Vintage Bazaar!

The Vintage Bazaar is a modern, pop-up flea market based in Chicago, Illinois. Produced by Katherine Raz and Libby Alexander, this flea has vintage oddments, collectibles, & more all for sale at thrifty prices.

Basically, it's like a swap meet without the socks & overstock + there will be beer & pie.

Popping up TODAY Sunday, 8/22 from 12-7pm at Congress Theater, 2135 N. Milwaukee.

Last time I found some great things, but we learned our lesson and will get there EARLY this time to make sure we have first look at all the goods.

Can't wait to see what we find :-)

My New Obsession: American Pickers on History

I spent the weekend at home for Father's Day where my dad introduced me to a great show called, American Pickers on History. All along I thought the History channel was only for war buffs and archeology enthusiasts, but this show totally changed my tune. The show is somewhat reminiscent of an old favorite of mine, Antiques Roadshow on PBS, but about ten times more interesting.

American Pickers features, Mike & Frank, the ultimate drifting duo who forage through forgotten fields and beat-up barns in small towns across the country searching for antique artifacts and Americana that they can spruce up and re-sell.

Sometimes they turn a big profit and sometimes they buy a dud, but the stories they hear & the people they meet along the way make the journey entertaining no matter what kind of profit they turn.

Watching them also reminded me of my journey to Indiana for my library card catalog. The place I arrived at to get my goods, seems like a place that Mike & Frank could of had so much fun rummaging through and they probably would have come home with some things that I would have never known were of any value.

This is the episode that got me hooked, and I was dying to know where in "Northern Illinois" they found that old opera house with all of the cool posters. Any ideas Chicagoans?

New episodes of American Pickers are on Monday nights at 9/8c. Speaking of which, a new episode is on RIGHT NOW so I better let you go :-)

Check it out! Oh, and thanks dad!

Vintage Bits and Brooches

Yesterday, I did a quick sweep of the vendors at the Do It Your Own D*mn Self sale here in Logan Square in Chicago and came home with an unexpected stash of vintage brooches and costume jewelry! I got such a steal on a small lot of "vintage bits" and I also splurged for two other pieces, but altogether I spent $16 for a fun little collection.

{THE STEAL}

This little box of "vintage bits" was marked 2 for $1, but when I started digging through and grabbing nine or ten of the pieces, the kind seller said, "You can have the whole box for $2." Well, ok! I'll take it! So I got about 20 pieces of unique, mismatched vintage costume jewelry for less than a tall latte.

{THE SPLURGE}

Since I was on a high from my mega-steal, I apparently left my negotiating skills in the dust as I headed to the next vendor who had a few much larger vintage brooches on display. I immediately gravitated towards two, beautiful enamel floral brooches and was quoted $6 for one and $8 for the other. They were much larger, and in good condition, so I too-willingly forked over $14 for the two.

White, Green and Gold Vintage Enamel & Rhinestone Floral Brooch - $6

Pink and Yellow Vintage Enamel Floral Brooch - $8

Here's the entire stash:

So what do I plan to do with it all? Well, I said I went there to get inspired and indeed I did. I never expected to come back with what I did, I thought it was more likely for me to find paper or fabric, but now I have a few ideas for how to use vintage costume jewelry. The idea I'm most excited about is the possibility of putting together a brooch bouquet!

I found some nice inspiration pics on wedding blogs and floral sites, like Ruffled, Offbeat Bride, and Fantasy Floral Designs with their entire blog dedicated to brooch bouquets. However, since I am already married, I'd rather create individual stems to keep in a vase around the house or to add in here and there to fresh flower bouquets at home. I'm thinking all I need is some green floral wire and tape. I probably do need a few more pieces though for a full display, unless I just do a few in some bud vases. Hmm... I'll let you know how this pans out!

Link Love from Fine Diving

Well what a fun surprise! Diana over at Fine Diving in Chicago featured my Card Catalog in her Six Degrees of Card Catalog post today.

First of all, thanks for linking to me! Second of all, what a truly small world!

This is the seller that I bought my vintage chandelier from last month at the Vintage Bazaar. Remember how I had to leave her my address so that she could mail me some of the beads that had fallen off so that I could restring them? Ends up her daughter's boyfriend lives in my building, saw me on the elevator with it when I was bringing it home that day (I briefly recall this encounter) and they all later put 2-and-2 together to figure out that I had just purchased it from his girlfriend's mom! Talk about far less than six degrees of separation.

So now we are blog-buddies :-) Gotta love the blogosphere. If you don't follow her blog, you should. She features great before & afters of the "tossed & found".

The Ultimate Junk Drawer

Now that our library card catalog is in its place, it's time to reveal my list for what will soon fill all 60 of its drawers! I started by just thinking of all the little things that are usually strewn throughout our home and in random junk drawers and 60 items came to mind quite easily. In fact, I had to do a bit of editing to get it down to size, but here it is...

My List of Labels for our Library Card Catalog:

1. Batteries
2. Bills

3. Buttons
4. Calculator
5. Camera

6. Candles – Taper

7. Candles – Tea lights

8. Change

9. Chapstick

10. Checks

11. Coupons

12. Crayons

13. Envelopes
14. Fabric
15. First Aid

16. Flashlights

17. Gift Cards
18. Glue
19. Greeting Cards

20. Gum

21. Hair Ties
22. Hole Punches

23. iPod

24. Keys
25. Light Bulbs
26. Lighters

27. Lint Roller

28. Little Debbie Snacks (inside joke, they're Dave's guilty pleasure)
29. Louie (the dog's medicine, vet info, etc.)
30. Markers
31. Matches

32. Measuring Tapes

33. Menus
34. Nail Clippers, Files & Polish

35. Needles & Thread
36. Paint

37. Paper
38. Paper Clips
39. Passports
40. Pens
 & Pencils

41. Playing Cards

42. Post-it Notes

43. Receipts
44. Recipes
45. Ribbon
46. Rubberbands
47. Rulers

48. Safety Pins

49. Scissors

50. Stamps – Ink
51. Stamps - Postage
52. Stapler

53. Stationary
54. Stickers
55. String

56. Tacks
57. Tape
58. Tools
59. Twist Ties
60. Wine

I am already giddy just thinking about how much nicer it will be to find each of these things in one place and in alphabetical order none-the-less. Now I just need to find a font and paper I like, make the labels and load up the drawers!

A Vintage Library Card Catalog: Part Two

On Sunday, my sister and I woke up early and drove from Chicago to the middle of Indiana on the quest to pick up my Library Card Catalog!

It was raining most of the way there, but other than that and a mild hangover from the night before we were in good spirits. My GPS didn't fail us and we got there about 30 minutes sooner than google maps had predicted (even after stopping for breakfast, gas and of course Combos along the way), so everything was going pretty smoothly.

The man who was selling me the cabinet owned one of those concrete lawn ornaments places, which sat across the street from the volunteer fire department and down the street from the tiniest little post office you've ever seen. (I did forget my camera so I only had my iPhone to document the experience.)

When we pulled in he had a garage full of antique goodies, but right in front was my card catalog. Yay! But just then, disaster almost struck. The original item description clearly stated that the width of the piece was 42" and I carefully measured that our SUV would fit that with maybe an inch to spare. When I got there he told me that instead it was at least 43 inches and wasn't sure it would fit!!

At this point, I thought my sister was going to kill me, but I was NOT about to leave Indiana empty-handed! He realized that for the posting he had measured the width of the body but not the top and the trim which added at least another inch to it. So we thought fast and the nice man grabbed some tools and gently removed both the top and the trim for me so that it fit without a centimeter to spare on the sides.

Talk about a PERFECT, nearly disastrous fit. But it fit. And it was now all mine.

Fast forward four hours and after just one unexpected detour through Gary, Indiana due to a road closure (where were you then, GPS??) we were home. Home is where my lovely husband and I had the fun task of unloading this 400 lb mammoth. We started by taking out ALL 60 drawers so that it was light enough for two to carry and then we carried it up piece by piece.

Once we reassembled it, all I had to do is grab our drill and screw the top back on and then use some wood glue to reattach the trim. We also had to remove 2 of our 3 floating shelves to make this fit. We will probably removed the third one eventually, but that would require some repainting so its staying for now.

I also quickly styled it with my vintage typewriter bag and an owl candle to highlight the pull-out trays, but that could change soon...

It still could use a thorough vacuuming on the inside with a shop vac, but our vacuum cleaner just broke last week. There were a few cob webs and bits n' pieces of lint and paper from libraries past, but otherwise it looks great. Dave thought it smelled "old", but I took some lemon-scented Pledge to it and that did the trick.

A few Fun Facts:

• This Card Catalog was used in the library at Indiana University. Pretty cool to know its origin!

• Its tag reads, Remington Rand Library Bureau Division, which from what I can tell means it was made sometime between 1927 and 1976. I guess that means it's somewhere between an antique and just being "retro".

• It has 60 drawers and is made of oak. One drawer was missing but the seller gave me an extra drawer (on top of cabinet in photos above) that he had acquired and all I have to eventually do is sand it down a bit to fit.

• Many of the handles are slightly different shapes & sizes (see above), but they are all the same brass finish so I like that it has some charm in that respect.
• I also thought I might sand it down and refinish it, but at this point I also like the more naturally distressed look of the different shades of medium to dark finish.

So what's next? Filling it up of course! In order to pass the time on our road trip, my sister and I started to compile an alphabetical list of household items that I could put in the drawers so we have a nice head start. Stay tuned for my list & labeling post in the near-future!

A Vintage Library Card Catalog: Part One

Library Card Catalogs have been popping up in a plethora of blog postings over the last year and it makes me uber-envious each and every time I see one. Check out some of the posts I am referencing here, there, and everywhere. This one posted on Small Notebook (pictured below) has been my ultimate inspiration pic:

I finally decided I had to have one and set out on an epic journey to make one mine. Here's a little tale about online searching, online bidding and finally online auction winning!

After spending a month or two scouring Craigslist for a suitable, card catalog from a local seller and coming up short (and after being offered to partake in a few too many pyramid schemes), I decided to hop on over to eBay and see if anyone in Illinois or a bordering state was listing anything interesting.

At first I was discouraged that everything I found was either $1000 or 5 states away, but then it happened. I found one listed a few hours south of me for a starting bid of just $50! I spent my weekend attached to my iPhone tracking a back & forth bidding war (in between March Madness games), for this 72-drawer gem.

I went to bed dreaming of the mini u-haul I would rent for my mini road trip to go pick up my vintage treasure. But my bubble burst when I realized another bidder or two also had the same goal in mind. Thus, my max bid slowly crept up to $316 just to ensure I'd walk away a winner. It seemed to work and it was staying well under $300 until this afternoon. Tonight as the auction closed I was still winning it at $301 until, the final seconds. I watched the countdown: 3 sec , 2 sec, 1 sec and then... I lost! And lost big. Somehow the price jacked up to $540 in the final second. I was upset, but I also felt better that I hadn't lost by just a few dollars and that it truly sold for a dollar amount that I was not willing to pay.

So then I did what any grown woman would do. I sulked at my desk for a minute, turned my frown upside down, and took a gander at the "similar items" eBay suggested as my consolation prize.

And there it was. Another library card catalog that never came up in my own searches because they named it a "Library File Card Cabinet". p.s. eBay, you really need to work on your taxonomy/search vocabulary because I found this to be a frequent problem, but I digress...

To top it off this new one had a "Buy it Now" option of just $300 AND a "Make an Offer" option that I was very excited to try out. Before I left work for the night, I took a shot at offering $200 for this 60-drawer solid oak beacon of hope and left knowing the seller had 48 hours to accept or decline my offer.

Low and behold, just two hours later...IT WAS ALL MINE! And for much less than the one that got away just a few hours ago. Moral of the story...everything happens for a reason!

Stay tuned for "A Vintage Card Catalog: Part Two" where I will hopefully chronicle my road trip to pick up my winnings (with photos) and "Part Three" where I fix it up to display it proudly in our loft :-)

Last Weekend's Vintage Bazaar Finds

Last weekend I went to The Vintage Bazaar in Chicago with my sister and her friend Allyson and had a great time.

First, we had brunch at Cafe Selmarie where I started the day off right with a vanilla latte while we waited for our table. Once seated, I ordered a delicious chilaquiles casserole and a refreshing mimosa. They also have a wonderful pastry case but we had stuffed ourselves silly, and had to take a pass.

Next, we headed over to the bazaar around 1pm to find a line around the block!

The staffers said that they grossly underestimated the turnout of the "pop-up flea market" and they were basically doing "one-in one-out" so that it was not overcrowded inside. We were very antsy as we inched closer and closer to the door and felt tortured as we watched others walk out with their new-found treasure. But then it was finally our turn!

My first stop was at two neighboring booths right near the entrance, where I snatched a large, white milkglass vase from vendor 'Pretty. Quirky.' for $7.

And then I spotted this cool vintage chandelier from vendor 'Fine Diving' for just $25.

It had suffered a bit of bazaar wear-and-tear -- one of the strings of the beads had fallen off and scattered underneath their display -- but the nice seller offered to take my address down and mail me the remaining beads to re-string... and this week she did just that.

Also, I poked around online a little and found the post where she featured the before and after of my new kitschy chandelier here. I love knowing a little history about about my new piece.

Today I went to the Home Depot and bought a 3 foot chain and a few more materials with the hopes of hanging it in the area over our TV. Now I just need to borrow a VERY tall ladder :-)

My last find was this random little container that I thought would be a nice addition to my "bird room", aka the guest bedroom.

At first I added it to a bedside table...

...but then I moved it to the guest bathroom where I might even use it as a soap dish.

Here is my loot again, altogether.

I can't wait for another one of these bazaars to pop-up sometime. It has also given me some great new blogs/vendors to follow and a hankering to go thrifting again sometime very soon!