the haystack needle

billy bookcase

When it comes to simple, versatile + affordable bookcases, the Billy is a favorite that IKEA keeps reinventing. I love its new spring look coming this April — the Billy Olsbo with doors!

wood & wool stool

We received an amazing surprise in the mail this week, all the way from Amsterdam. I was speechless and jumping up and down with excitement. I'm sure you can imagine. Our dear friend Liz commissioned one of Ingrid's Wood & Wool stools as a wedding present for us. I still can't believe this handmade treasure is really ours! When it comes to your wedding, I'm sure you're with me that having the people you love most around you for the day is the biggest gift ever. Liz even shared a special reading during our ceremony. And I feel especially grateful to have had Liz as part of the super group of friends and family who arrived early to the wedding to decorate the barn (without their amazing help, the details would have never come together.) But back to this stool. Isn't it the sweetest? I especially love the colorful pattern of the crochet top and the faded green recycled wood legs.

 

Liz asked Ingrid to carve our wedding date on one of the stool's legs. I'm so blown away with all the thought behind this gift. And I love imagining how this special stool will be with Dan and me no matter where we call home.

Ingrid, if you're reading, thank you for all the love you put into this handmade stool. I'm so thrilled to have a piece of your work in my home. Liz, wow — what a surprise. Thank you so much for this incredibly sweet gift. We love you.

ps. You can see a peek of our wedding Wood & Wool stool when it was made in Ingrid's studio!

vintage shops in williamsburg

A small hunt on Craigslist brought me to Severely Vintage and Sit and Read Furniture — two Williamsburg showrooms filled with industrial relics and vintage furniture. They're in my neighborhood! I have so much around me still to explore – can't wait to visit these showrooms in person. This 6'3" tall green chalkboard (for sale) is amazing. I wish it were in my budget as it's so hard to find a super-sized chalkboard (and I personally prefer the old school charm of green chalkboards over black.) When I peeked through the collections on both sites, I have to say that the prices are not bad (considering it's New York, after all) — especially when you compare them to similar vintage goldmines like Factory 20. And in general, I haven't had a ton of luck finding much in the way of industrial style furnishings on eBay — though maybe I'm not looking in the right places.

knack furniture

 

I have a bad habit of occasionally breaking into conversation with a random thought, forgetting to give any kind of context as to what my mind is spinning about at that moment. Poor Dan is usually the recipient of these proclamations. The other day it was about furniture on wheels, preferably little vintage wheels. I decided that all our furniture, going forward, should be on wheels. Or at least I will be daydreaming about vintage furniture on wheels for a while. When you live in a small square footage space, it makes it so much easier to double-duty your furniture — like turn your kitchen bench into your living room ottoman for TV snacks (yes, please) — if you can roll it. And cleaning is so much easier — the dust bunnies cannot hide under rolling objects. So far, we have one vintage dresser and a shoe trolley (and the garment rack in our closet.) If we had space, I'd really love to adopt one of these treasures from Knack. Isn't the armoire fantastic? Love those mirror doors.

And today I woke up with this peaceful sense of quiet. I hope it's the quiet before the start of a good day.

{photographs via knack, and check out the studio's blog, which I follow.}

urban outfitters furniture

While Anthropologie sells furniture with that one-of-a-kind look (even when it's not), the furniture collection at its sister store, Urban Outfitters, most definitely is mass-produced. But I'm impressed with its style, especially considering the price tag (some really affordable finds at UO.) And besides the sofa, it looks like Urban Outfitters is offering free shipping on these finds through early next week.

+ rolling side table

+ tweed storage bench (my favorite!)

+ convertible sofa

+ peacock ikat slipper chair

+ feedsack floral pillow

my handmade ottoman

Here is the final result of my furniture upholstery class! Meet my ottoman. We finished last week. The last class reminded me a lot of the first class, with the teacher's assistant helping with (or let's be honest, doing) the steps that went over my head. I'd stand alongside watching and feeling completely inadequate. I did learn how to sew with a crazy curvy upholstery needle. Once again, I found out (the hard way) that everything in upholstery is super precise. I do love my little handmade Orla Kiely ottoman though (made from an Orla Kiely for Target tablecloth.) It's nice to have a spot to put your feet up. But I can say with all certainty that this Jen is not cut out for upholstery.

I couldn't resist signing up for this tie dye workshop that starts on Monday. I'm just now following through on my 2009 resolution to take a few fun classes that speak to me. I'm going to learn the methods behind tie dyeing. I have a feeling this class will be way more mellow than my crash course in upholstery. I can't wait to roll up my sleeves and play with fabrics and dyes. I'm also looking forward to meeting one of my favorite textile designers, Lena Corwin, since she's hosting the workshop at her house. So nice to have something to look forward to on a Monday (mental note: book more fun activities on Mondays.)

upholstery class, week three

I guess it was one of those times where it could only get better. After the first two near-disaster classes in learning how to upholster an ottoman from scratch, we moved onto the fabric on Tuesday. And I actually did something right!

Full disclosure, part of the reason I had a less-stress class was sheer luck. Every week, there's a new student in the spot where the teacher does the demonstrations. This week, that was me. Sure, you only learn by doing, but it was nice to have the first couple steps, which were timed to be finished in 2 minutes, done for me (especially since the steps involved toxic-smelling glue that sprayed out everywhere.) I freeze up under the pressure of being timed like that — something I learned in the first class. So the teacher glued the cotton and foam onto my ottoman. 

 

Then we had to add this piece of dacron and staple it onto the top of the ottoman, being careful to avoid a bunching of dacron around the corners so that it's all smooth. You also had to staple along a green line that was hidden under the dacron — somehow that magically worked out. The dacron step was started for me, and I finished off the sides. My corners were good. Phew.

 

Then you give your dacron a haircut, snipping off all the excess. I guess it's more of a crewcut, because you really have to snip close to the staples, removing any extra fluff from the dacron.

The big step that took most of the time in class was shown, but not stapled, on my ottoman. So I did it all on my own, which felt good. The step was to take our 24" square of fabric and carefully staple it to the top of the ottoman, smoothing and creating tension so that there aren't lumps or sagging fabric.

For fabric, I actually brought in an Orla Kiely tablecloth I had from the Orla Kiely for Target line. My teacher pinned my square of fabric onto the ottoman, so that the center pear was in the right spot. We were supposed to stop stapling two inches away from each of the corners. I worked really slowly on this step, stopping to smooth before each staple. This stapling step turned out to be a disaster for much of the class. Shockingly, I stapled with good tension and scored my first compliment from the teacher: "this looks ok."  That made my week. 

I felt so bad for many of the other students in the class — after inspection they had to start all over. Do you know how hard it is to take staples out of fabric? Really hard. And really frustrating. I helped a woman next to me who had to take hers out and start over. You're pounding your staple remover tool onto the top of this tool that looks like a screwdriver, which you hope is slipping under the staple to poke out the staple (rather than simply creating a hole in the fabric, which is generally what happens.) Honestly, I think part of the problem for some people was the fabric choice. My Orla tablecloth is a nice, heavyweight cotton. Some other people were using thin fabric (even shiny, thin fabric) which shows every little lump in the dacron and requires perfect tension or it's a mess.

So our class is behind schedule. But my little ottoman is ready to go. I can't wait to take her home.