Creativity a brewin’…

 

It’s Ladder time!

So something in me thought it would be a great idea to carry 7 foot pieces of lumber home on the windiest day of the year.  Seriously, those bitches were like sails.  Sorry mom.  It took years and cost thousands of lives, but eventually I dragged the wood up to my apartment and took out my handy pink hand-saw and got to work.

By the way, this hand-saw is the reason I started the “not pink” list – this is a running tally of things that, in the future, I’ll know not to buy JUST because they’re pink (the idea being that perhaps I should consider qualities of importance rather than their cute  color).  Also on the list: running shoes, dish soap, pens, antacids and bed sheets that pill after a day.  ONE DAY.

Anyway, hours later I had chopped, sanded and painted my way to a partial ladder, only to stand it up and realize that it was completely crooked.  I made the ladder-rookie mistake of measuring the placements for the rungs from the top of the posts instead of the bottom.  Sigh.  Take two led me to a relatively level result and I’ll take it.  Yes, a stiff wind could blow these puppies over, but they lasted through the night and I’m calling it a success!  This weekend Laura and I are scouting the brown elephant for the perfect last touches…wish us luck  

 

PINSPIRATION:

Spearmint Rehab

After graduating from college, I gladly took any furniture my parents were kind enough to donate to the poor-undergrad fund.  While I still have and love the majority of it, some of it could use a bit of a work to be considered my style.  This weekend I took a small and simple wine rack and gave it a spearmint twist.  The end result is a bit jazzier than the original – just the way I like it!

 

For a fun and antique-y look, I’ve jotted down a few brief steps below – of course, you should make it your own!

1.  Clean and lightly sand the object, concentrating on the edges.

2.  Lighten the object with a neutral base.

3.  Apply the overall color.  I mixed white with a bright teal and a bit of periwinkle for a very light spearmint tint.  I applied streaks of gray, gold and copper with a paper towel to blend it with the spearmint paint while still wet.  I wanted the rack to look like it had a bit of depth and distress to it.

4.  I glued copper pieces I found at the hardware store to the top edges for an industrial flair – it also helped to bring out some of the bronze highlights from the paint! 

Before & After

A few weeks back I had the idea to make a bar cart, or bar table, or liquor cart – I couldn’t really settle on an appropriate name.  The fact that I don’t own a single liquor bottle aside, I had my mind made up.  Laura and I trekked to the local Brown Elephant to see what was available.  After practically stalking a man for a red-metallic martini shaker and budging a woman for a set of wooden badminton rackets we found the perfect supplies.  We snatched up a  vintage, ornamental serving tray and tapered but metallic table legs for the components.  The table legs were rumored to have a turquoise table top as their final complement, but a bit of innocent eyelash batting and shoulder shrugging gave us enough advantage to avoid that purchase.  All told?  $23.00

Now before you say that the original design and coloring of the tray was unique and pretty and should have been showcased, I thought so too.  However, it did seem to smudge when I tried to clean it.  Yes, yes, it’s possible that the ornamental design wasn’t intended to withstand Windex, but still.  I can’t have a streaky, dirty tray.  Laura and I debated on paint colors and after purchasing more gold paint than one person will likely ever use, I decided it had to be a glossy white.  Anyone in the market for gold paint?

The cart pieces made truly horrible (and awkwardly painful at certain points) companions on busses, trains and a long, chilly walk home but we eventually made it back to my humble abode where they, some glue and an absolute cloud of paint fumes became my new bar cart.  Well, just to clarify: considering I’m not really a hard alcohol drinker (last weekend aside…ahem) it will likely become an empty wine bottle cart.  Who are we kidding, wine doesn’t really stand a chance in this apartment!  At least now my empties will have a lovely, glossy display.

Suspense!

I found a hardware store the other day.  Ordinarily not a very exciting discovery, but as someone who thought she didn’t live close to one – and coincidentally used to trains, planes and automobiles it to Home Depot – it was really a very good day.  I filled up a basket with random items and more than a few copper trinkets, mostly because I liked the color.   I lugged my spoils home and processed down a creativity path that could only be described as a relative mess of wire, wood and mesh, and a hacksaw scare a Hollywood director would be proud of.  I’m swearing off wood projects in the near future.

It took more glue than I’ll ever admit, but eventually came up with two very different, but hopefully sturdy suspended wine glass holders. Now I just need a few new wine glasses to fill out my shiny copper prongs…good thing my birthday is coming up

My collection of goodies!

The wine glass rack in my apartment hangs in the space created by the window-style pass through from my kitchen to my living room: over head but still readily accessible.

The second wine glass was a gift to Laura, and hangs by her kitchen window and…well, frankly, a slightly sad looking plant.  No offense.