Fabric sighting: Under the Weather bags

I just spotted these cool Commuter Bags in a couple of my Outside Oslo prints; the red one is Sticks and the gray one is Frond. Great lining colors! Find these and other accessories for cyclists here at Under the Weather, based in Ontario.

African/Dutch wax print fabrics

While browsing Etsy for artwork, I got distracted scrolling through African wax print fabrics. The fabric I put on the parlor lamps was a wax print. These textiles have a fascinating history; read more here. These were some of my favorite prints:
Above: Left; right.


Left; right.


Left; right.

Geometric lamp shade with tape

After swapping out this dining room light fixture for this one I love, our room got a lot dimmer. We needed extra lighting in a corner, so we bought a shelf floor lamp at Target. It was looking a little Asian, though, which is not part of the plan. So to distract myself from that, and since we're going pattern crazy in this room, I decided to give it a little sumthin' sumthin.' There are more than enough swirly lines in there already, so I made geometric shapes with this 3M 1/8" vinyl tape.


It's repositionable and removable for when I get tired of it.


I'm really pleased with how good it looks. You wouldn't even know it's tape until you put your nose right up there to inspect it.

Drawer pull

Happy Friday! I leave you with this photo of my ugly dresser drawer handle (it goes on this guy). The two hardware stores I stopped by last night didn't have any sleek, modern pulls that would fit the current holes (which are very large, and I'm not ambitious enough to try to fill them and drill new ones). So I'm stuck with the original "fancy" ones. The only gold/brass metallic spray paint I found, other than Krylon I don't like much, was Rustoleum's Universal Metallic in Pure Gold. It looks like this. Nope. I'll paint them some other color tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!

UPDATE: Now they're navy. I'm calling it a day.

Painting the dresser

I've finally gotten around to painting the Craigslist mid-century Drexel Touraine dresser for the dining room. It looked like this before:


I primed it with Zinsser Cover-Stain oil based primer and then tried out Sherwin Williams ProClassic Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd Enamel. It's one of the new "hybrid" paints that acts like oil, but is actually water based. The paint store assured me it has great leveling properties so brush strokes will disappear, but that didn't prove to be the case for me. The surface looks quite brush-strokey despite my efforts to lay it down quickly and not over-brush it. It's driving me crazy, but maybe I'll forget about it once the dresser is in place in the dining room. I tried researching online whether I could add Floetrol to a water based alkyd to help it level and gave up in confusion— and, let's be honest— laziness.

I'm moving on.

I want to spray paint the hardware.


Should I make it look brassy? Pretend this statue lady's arm is a drawer handle.


Or let's get crazy: Hot pink.


Here's a hasty Photoshop mock-up with brass.


Here's a hasty Photoshop mock-up with pink. Heck, let's paint the fancy trim around the bottom, too.


But remember, it's going to live in this room with nutty fuchsia wallpaper. A vintage lamp with a sleek brass cylinder base will sit on top.

My gut tells me it would be pink overkill. After all, a respected colleague once informed me that restraint is the second rule of design. But man, that pink is FUN. Maybe in a room that wasn't already swathed in pink.

I was going to use the original hardware, but the mocked-up rectangles are making me want something simple, modern, and less fussy. I wonder if I could find something like that.

What to do, guys?

UPDATE: I couldn't find new drawer pulls, so I tried for a brass paint job and didn't like the spray paint I used. So they're navy.

Free fonts: Intro Condensed

The Black and Light versions of Intro Condensed are available for free here from Fontfabric. Personal and commercial use are fair game! These are two useful freebies, I guarantee it. Elegant, clean, and geometric. If you need more weights, buy up all their brothers and sisters and cousins at MyFonts.

Fabric sighting: store window

I stole this photo from The Needle Shop's Facebook page and shamelessly pasted it here. There's a rule that when you're excited to see your name on a store window, you have to show everyone you know and lots of people you don't.

The shop is promoting my mini home decor fabric collection, Arrow. The print is inspired by airport signage; I had travel on my mind. (I made Arrow a logo and marketing materials, too, just for fun.)

I expect there will be more Arrow sightings here in the next couple weeks since I can think of a few nifty projects people are working on— I'd love to share the before-and-afters, the tutorials, and finished products. They might inspire DIY projects of your own using your favorite fabrics. Onward and upward!

Easy origami egg holders

These easy origami egg cups are folded from 6" squares of origami paper. They took me just a minute or two each, and any decorative paper will work. You could whip up a bunch and put one at each place setting for Easter brunch. Coordinate the paper colors with a flower centerpiece and wrap the vase with a strip of matching paper. See how to make your own with this video tutorial by YouTube user 1petiteSorciere. Cute!