The Look for Less: Orange Side Table

To top off the nursery we needed something small near the rocker on which to set a book, a glass of water, etc.

I had been eyeing this Martini Side Table from West Elm for a while, but I wasn't sure about the $129 price tag:

After a little searching, I found this Sally Stool in melon, online at Target for only $49.99. I think it seems a little more "kid friendly" as well:

Better, yet I added it to the baby registry and used my 10% registry completion coupon to order it, which included free shipping. I hope it works out when it arrives!

West Elm Sale

I thought I would share a great sale going on at west elm.

New items were just added this week to the sale, including the white overlapping-squares daybed we have been holding out for. So I added it to the shopping cart as soon as I saw that it was $110 less!

To make it even better, they are currently offering an additional EXTRA 20% off any sale item using promo code: 20MORE

So we ordered our daybed, and we went with just the frame and plan to order a cheaper mattress from overstock.com to avoid hefty shipping charges.

Regular Price: $459
Sale Price: $349.99
Additional 20% off Price: -$70.00, $279.99

Total Savings of: 179.01 (before shipping or tax) :-)

Hopefully someone else can put this promo code to good use.

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 :-)

Telephone Bench Makeover Revealed

A few weekends ago, I ventured to the suburbs and came back with some contraband spray paint (since spray paint is not sold in the Chicago City Limits) in order to finally makeover my telephone bench! I bought primer, clear gloss and yellow, green and aqua blue spray paint.

After much debate I decided that the yellow looked best with the yard of green printed fabric I had picked out, so I went with that. Here is the fabric:

Here is the "before" photo:

And now to the dirty work. First, I removed the seat and sanded the bench with the electric sander:

Next, I primed it:

And finally, I sprayed it yellow and also with a clear gloss:

I also tore the disgusting green vinyl off of the seat, added some new batting and reupholstered it with the new fabric:

And ta-da! My new and improved Telephone Bench:

And here is where it currently rests in our entryway!

I found my telephone bench!

I posted back in February about my hunt for a vintage telephone bench to make-over and after multiple craigslist searches for "Telephone Table", "Telephone Bench" and "Gossip Bench" I either came up short, or found pieces that were $100+. I couldn't bring myself to spend that on something that I am going to sand, paint and upholster myself. I also went out two weekends in a row to various local antique stores and re-sale places and never found anything either. But recently my luck changed...

On Sunday, Dave and I headed down to the southside of Chicago, no not for Chicago's infamous South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade, but to pick up the telephone bench I found on Craigslist for only $45. Woo-hoo.

Here are the pics:

I like that it has a full bench, as opposed to a single seat, and while it lacks the drawer I had hoped for, I do like the crisscross detail on the seat back. Not too ornate, but still eye-catching.

So now I need to sand it with my new electric sander and then... choose the paint color! This is going to be a hard one. I want it to be bold, but not an eyesore. I did buy one yard of green patterned fabric and one yard of orange patterned fabric for the seat, but I'm torn on the wood color. Right now I'm leaning towards a deep aubergine or eggplant color, and I think it would look nice with either fabric choice. But I also like the idea of having an aqua color with the orange fabric Or an orange piece with the green fabric.

Any suggestions?

Mellow Yellow's Mini-Makeover & Reveal

I posted last week about the yellow Ikea HEMNES Linen Cabinet that we purchased and could not wait to put together, and now it's time for the big reveal.

It came is two boxes with three full bags of hardware and a huge book of instructions. Yikes! I usually love putting things together, but I'm not gonna lie, this was pretty daunting.

Luckily, Dave took the reigns and did all the construction.

One thing I was not bargaining for, was the circus tent striped yellow drawers and back of the dresser. So I bought some cute green and white floral contact paper/shelf liner from the Home Depot and am really happy with the results.

Before:

After:

Before and After for the back:

Louie loves it!

And now the bedroom before:

And after:

View of the bed so you can see how it coordinates:

More views:

Ta-da!

Mellow Yellow Linen Cabinet

I know I have written about our lovely loft and it's lack of closet-space or storage before, so I have been on the search for a linen cabinet to house our towels and sheets in style. For the life of me, I cannot remember which of the hundreds of home decor blog posts I found this on last night, but it immediately caught my eye and I drug the photo to my laptop's desktop for later review.

Isn't it pretty?

So I set out to do an extensive google search for a place to purchase a similar gem and luck was on my side. I typed in "Yellow Linen Cabinet" and to my surprise the very first thing to pop up was this very cabinet at Ikea!

I present to you the HEMNES Linen Cabinet in yellow:

Wait! It gets better... My wonderful husband, Dave, is working in the burbs at a client this week right across the street from an Ikea and he offered to pick it up for me/us tonight! Isn't he great ;-) And due to Ikea's super cool online feature, I was actually able to check for him if the item was in stock at our store and exactly how many they had left (7). Uber-convenient when it's midnight and you are online shopping. I can't wait to see it.

The room I am putting it in, our guest bedroom/office, is currently covered in a not-so-subtle bird theme in browns and aqua blues/greens, so I think this will add a nice "pop" of sunshine. I also am thinking that I might change out the hardware and buy some cute drawer knobs at anthropologie just to spice it up a bit.

So far I like this Granita Knob in teal:

And this Rosy Knob in kelly green or aqua:

I'll see how the cabinet looks when it gets home tonight and go from there!

Kitschy Kool: Volume 7: Telephone Tables/Benches

Recently, I have been really interested in finding a vintage telephone bench/telephone table and taking on a little refurbishing project all my own. After scouring the net for the perfect entryway bench piece (and falling short), I decided that a custom piece, like a revamped vintage telephone table, would be an unexpected addition to our entryway area.

I gained some inspiration from a few old entries I found on design blogs, like these "before" and "after" features from Design Sponge.

virginia's telephone bench

before:

after:

Amazing what some sanding and a little spray paint can do!

Next is breanne and dan's telephone bench

before:

after:

Wow, right?

And last but not least, there is this cute little number I found on Quest Twenty Eight:

before:

after:

What a transformation!

So now I am on the hunt for the perfect tattered table to take out my creativity on. I found one post on craigslist so far, and it's affordable but I'm not sure it is the one ...

It's nice and has tons of potential, but ideally I'd like it to have a small drawer, and maybe less ornate detail on top. What do you think?

Mad props to any fellow blogger that can help me find a listing for the perfect table! Chicago-land area or St. Louis area (maybe even Milwaukee for the right find) only please, since I need to be able to pick drive it up in our new SUV!