A light fixture for our parlor

There is no overhead light in our parlor, though it looks like there was at one time. We could use flashlights at night or pack the room full of Craigslist table lamps, but a beautiful piece of ceiling jewelry sounds more elegant. The rooms that do have non-ceiling-fan overhead lights have brass fixtures; either aged antique ones or shiny yellow brass that was stylish in the '80s. So we're going with brass. In the form of a drum pendant, to contrast the fixture in the entry. We did look at some antique fixtures, but they were outside our budget.

These new lights were all contenders, but some were too small, too expensive, not enough bulbs, or a different finish than the picture. We ordered #2 without seeing a floor model, yikes! I called around a bit but couldn't locate one. Fingers crossed.

If you're in the market for a large drum pendant, try these:
1. Five Light Chandelier
2. ELK Lighting Preston Drum Pendant (at Joss & Main now for a big discount!)
3. Hinkley Zelda 3-Light Drum Pendant
4. Large Cosmo Pendant
5. Quorum French Damask Vintage Pewter Pendant Light, multiple sizes
6. Five Lights Iron Pendant

When the room has both furniture and light, I'll share a picture.

Craigslist goodies

My house needs lamps. Lots of lamps. After some shopping, I learned that boring lamps are expensive, and interesting lamps are REALLY expensive, at least compared to what I'd imagined a lamp should cost. Small lights for cute little bedrooms can be reasonable, but if you want something that doesn't look dinky next to a sofa, they can get pricey. So I bought these on Craigslist.

There's a mid-century pair to go on either side of our bed. They're quite large and impressive. And I got this chubby pink glass item for the guest room because it looks happy.


The parlor needed a couple seats opposite the pretty settee, so I snagged two of these generously sized, fairly new (guessing) chairs. I want to paint and reupholster them in something fun. I'd planned to try it myself, but then began dreaming about how wonderful it would be to have it done for me. I got two quotes, and both were identical: $275 a chair, plus fabric. Right. So I'm thinking I'll do it myself. There are some great tutorials online. Wish me luck! I'll let you know how many times I staple myself or sew over my fingers while attempting double welt cord.

Sometimes I feel like I'm having an identity crisis in this Victorian house. I love mid-century style and then I go and buy that loveseat and these chairs. What the? I know. I can't help it. The house wants what it wants. I'm hoping to pull off some sort of eclectic but harmonious mix. Or it might just look schizophrenic, I don't know. I'm having fun, though.

Colorful '50s art prints

I spotted these prints at Art.com and fell in love with the colors. They're reproductions of '50s illustrations from the Saturday Evening Post.

The Marriage Wrecker by Coby Whitmore-- I adore the wacky composition that breaks the rule of thirds, has incorrect perspective, and smooshes the ladies' faces into uncomfortable corners. Plus it's orange!

Marriage Is Not For Me by Robert Meyers-- The color palette is delicious. Love the detail in some areas, balanced with flat washes in others.

Hmm, how to work them into this dignified Victorian house? Maybe I could at least tuck this lady into a bathroom somewhere?

Free fonts and backgrounds for designers

If you're a graphic designer, particularly of the web variety, you'll like Freebiesbug. It's a site with a constantly-updated gallery of free resources to download. Grab fonts, backgrounds and textures, photoshop mockups that show off your branding projects, and all sorts of buttons, icons, and navigation menus to use on websites. As a print designer, my eyes glazed over when I got to "JS effects & plugins" and "HTML UI kits." If it has weird acronyms in it, usually assume it's for building spaceships or robots. I don't know anything about that. But I like fonts. Go help yourself!

Spray painted headboard

This weekend I did a little spray painting. Behold the new bright-red headboard for our guest room. The color is "Safety Red" by Rustoleum Enamel. Because we like our guests to feel safe and have no trouble locating their bed.


This inexpensive, light-weight (you can lift it with two fingers) headboard has held up well for 13 years, but we just bought a different bed and this guy is moving to the guest room. It's got a fake wrought iron paint job that is fancy but no fun.

I didn't prime first since the bed has a rough texture already and it seemed like paint would adhere well. First I tried some Krylon Indoor/Outdoor spray paint in Gloss Tomato. It ended up looking coral and the coverage was pretty bad. The picture above shows how far one can got me. The paint seemed thin and prone to running if I accidentally got the can too close.

Rustoleum enamel had worked great on some curtain brackets I sprayed in just one coat, so I went to Lowes and bought 3 cans of Safety Red.


The color was super vibrant, the paint adhered wonderfully and never ran, and the coverage was terrific. I used two cans and just a tiny bit from a third. Rustoleum enamel doesn't come in as many colors as Krylon, the only downside. But I definitely prefer it.

P.S. It now looks like I have sunburned feet, as they were well-misted during the painting process. That's one way to get a spray tan.

Roundup of free bag tutorials

If you're in the mood for some weekend sewing, take one of these free purse and pouch tutorials for a spin:

Ruffled pouches with decorative stitching at See Kate Sew (yup, those black and white patterns are THREAD.)
See-through vinyl pouch at Bonjour Quilts
DIY backpack from Petit a Petit & Family
Oilcloth pool tote with mesh pocket by Sewbon
Patchwork pencil case from A Spoonful of Sugar
Foldover tote at The Sewing Rabbit

Have fun! I'll be working on some curtains for our guest room this weekend. Unless I decide to spray paint some stuff. Or concoct wall art. Or pick up some patio furniture. Or shop for light fixtures.

Make an origami corgi

Ha, so cute! Steven Casey shows the steps to fold this origami corgi in his Flickr photostream (his photos, above). Not sure if we can see enough detail in the photos to follow along, but it will be fun to try. Start here with step one, then click the left arrow to navigate through. And don't even think about making your pup a different color. He needs to be orange for sure.

Free Nelson clock desktop by Leanda Xavian

Hello! Today I'm sharing a desktop wallpaper from designer Leanda Xavian of One Little Bird Studio. I stumbled upon her Etsy shop and liked her illustration style. I asked if she'd make her mid-century sunflower clock available as a desktop wallpaper, and Leanda agreed.

Download the clock wallpaper here — 2880x1800 px, for personal use only. Adjust your settings to fit it to your particular monitor.

[Update to the post: this clock is a static image, not a screen saver. I know you wish it would keep time, because then your computer would turn into a giant clock and look so cool you'd have to forgive it for every time it crashed before you could save. But we have to settle for a cool picture, unless one of you knows how to make this happen.]

Leanda lives in Surrey, England and loves typography, color, chocolate, crocheting, and everything mid century. She seems like somebody we should be friends with, right? See more of her work at Minted or in her online portfolio.