Textiles and Glass

Remember the heavy curtains we put up in the Perkins living room?  A brown set layered with a steel-grey set?  So dark... so heavy... remember those?

Well, my bff World Market went and had a sale and lo and behold, the shower curtain I have in the dining room was on for $17.  So, I picked up another!  Just one because I knew I'd never actually close the giant living room window curtains...

I carefully cut the curtain in half.  Check out my scrumptious Fiskars sewing shears.  Did you know Fiskars have been around since 1649?  I have no idea if this is true.  I just read it in their wiki.

I own an iron yet we are notoriously wrinkly because...I don't iron.  Except my hair.  Fun fact - my flat iron makes a FAB hemming iron, because you can press both sides at once.

Lalala I pinned and hemmed the unfinished side of Panel 2.  The fabric is wrong-side-up here, btw.  

As the French say... voila!  Looks soooooooooooo much better... bright and airy... 

Wait!  What's that you say?  Where did I get the lamp on the left?  Here's a hint: the shade used to be in the bedroom on the one nightstand's lamp, and the lamp itself... was the old red base!!  I took off the red beads and strung about 8 zillion green beads onto green thread (tied to green bias tape).  Let's just say I have a lot of sewing/beading/crafting supplies.  Only one cat, though.

The extra dangles at the top (and also on the bottom of each strand) are from a bracelet I made yeeeears ago.  I didn't like it.  Beady beady...10 hours later (no joke):

Got out my trusty hot glue gun...

And made myself a little hula skirt:

Isn't that special?

Don't worry, the bedroom isn't too upset I stole the lampshade.  I mean, the lamp IS naked right now.  However, last weekend was tax-free weekend here in SC, so... :)


Shower curtains in the great room, flat irons for sewing... how do you think outside the box?

Loot

The other day, my friend Tom called and said he bought me some items at an auction.  This is Tom!code for "I bought several rooms at an auction and you can come take your pick of what you want in exchange for some light manual labor."  We have a great relationship.  :)

So, at 10am today, I headed down to this dusty, grimy, buggy place full of metal, wood, and everything in between.  Yikes.  It was a rather terrifying at times and absolutely hilarious in others.  I'm headed back tomorrow because I need to work off the goods I claimed...

I'm on a mirror kick and got a bunch of large wall mirrors to spruce up.  The tall one in the back and the oval one toward the front have the hardware to use on a stand, so I think I'll make something for them so we have a floor mirror in each of the bedrooms... 

I grabbed a few more picture frames... even though I just got four at Goodwill yesterday.  Yes, that's my bff the Valspar silver spraypaint - I used it on yesterday's frames and they look awesome (I'll post pictures as soon as I settle on where to hang them).  :)

There were lots of sewing notions and I found a brand new tin of German straight pins, plus enough bias tape to go around the block at least twice.

 These are metal bins that I plan to hang on pegboard (via S hooks) for a recycling station in the garage.  I kind of like the yellow, although I may paint them eventually.

These are sturdy wooden magazine racks.  I need to figure out how to incorporate them into one of my favorite Pins, although one needs to be devoted to my Martha Stewart Living and Real Simple magazine collections.

I was looking for a table upon which I can keep my sewing machine and instead I found several sewing machine tables!  This table was in the best condition; the included machine is modern-ish, yet worn.  I'll dig it out later and see how it works.  :)  Otherwise, I am hoping mine can go in (or just on top).  :)

Jackpot!!!  I found one of these bedposts earlier in the morning and spent the rest of the day keeping my eyes peeled for the rest.  The headboard was attached yet very un-salvageable, so Tom cut the pieces down so I can use them in a new construction.  Super excited.  The piece of wood behind is a veneered piece that has great potential.  We found several wood rails that I may be able to adapt...

 I'm still on a hunt for a lamp to go with the shade in the bedroom... maybe this one?

I grabbed this table to go as a grill station on the patio... it just needs a little TLC (the missing side is somewhere in Tom's car, perhaps?)...more picture frames on top.

I found some other odds and ends (spray paint, paint brushes, some metal baskets/organizers, etc)... and finally this slightly rusty gem from the 1930s:

 Do you like to go to auctions?  What sort of gems have you discovered?