little tree stool

This turned out cute by accident. Somewhere around here is the basketball colored and textured vinyl remnant I intended to use for reupholstering this little 1970s caster stool.

I picked the stool up at a thrift store awhile back for a crafting competition, but never got a chance to use it for a project.

I meant to paint it, too, but I wanted to get the seat covered, first, to see what color might look best with the new upholstery.

Four little screws held the pad on from beneath. A phillips head screwdriver took care of them in about two minutes.

 Here it is, plain brown without padding.

Here's how the other half lives, when the other half is separated from its stool.

And here's the seedy underside, riddled with a hundred staples.

I searched my stash high and low for that basketball vinyl, but couldn't find it. What I found instead was a thrift store upholstery fabric remnant printed with modern leaf outlines in shades of green. And I thought, suddenly, that it would be a much better match to the two Ikea stools that will flank it at the train table.

I cut the fabric to cover, plus about an inch and a half "seam allowance" to wrap around and staple.

So modern! So graphic! So summery! So . . . who designed it and where did it come from? (Google image searches turn up nothing.)

The secret to successful upholstery is to pull tightly, staple securely, and keep your curves smooth. I always start with a staple on one side (call it the west side), then pull the fabric taut and staple directly across from it (east side). Then repeat for the other two points on an imaginary compass rose (north and south).

I keep at it, stapling opposite points all the way around, pulling tight, tight, tight along the curve for a smooth edge. I never need a hundred staples; I think I used maybe twenty for this stool.

And here it is, finished. I could have painted the base white or some shade of green, but in the end,  it didn't need painting after all. The twiggy brown legs are pretty much the perfect complement to the leafy upholstery. My little Peter Pan loves it, and I imagine the Lost Boys would too.

Thanks for reading.

fun dinettes at the re - building store

If I was in the market for a dining solution, one of these hip yellow mid-century foldable diner dinettes would have fit the bill.

Double so because of the price tag. Seating for four for $75? This would be so awesome in a small eat-in kitchen like mine.

They had several of these out at Bring this week; not sure how many are left, but I snapped these photos earlier today, so maybe if you were to call them up first thing in the morning . . .

Me, I have a too-large dining room table filling up my space. Today I was pining for one of these. What's in your dining room?


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)

in the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room

It was a few months back that I found these two Paul Marshall tiki mugs at the thrift store, cute little things. No cracks, no crazing, all markings are clear and readable. The faux bois texture is awesome.

From everything I've been able to figure out in my research, it's difficult to put an exact date of production on tiki collectibles; I'm estimating that these two mugs (based on others I've scouted out on-line) are from the 1970s. These two mugs are quite similar to one another, though the one on the right is very slightly shorter, with very slightly darker glaze.








From the Ooga Mooga website description:
"This is the classic Paul Marshall Products 'peanut' mug design, in tiki mug form. Beige unglazed ceramic, with brown glazed top and bottom. Tiki has a mouth shaped like a sideways peanut, eyes like almonds, with pupils, gently recessed eyebrows, hands on belly. Marked 'PMP©' on base."

Peanut mugs. I love it.




Listed for sale in my Etsy vintage shop; stop by to accessorize your very own tiki room!


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)

Wonderland, part 2

"Wonderland" is underway, and I posted a couple of "Wanted" messages on Eugene FreeRecycle and Lane County Pay-It-Forward asking for bits of stuff people might have laying around that could be used for costumes, set pieces, and props.

Several responses, but only three offering useful goods: 1) a woman offering sheets from her niece's hospital bed; 2) a woman offering some pieces of solid-color knit fabrics; 3) a woman offering a stack of her mother's "vintage" blazers . . .

I get a little nervous whenever the word "vintage" is used to describe something. It means different things to different people. What it DOES cleary mean, when not followed by a date, is that you have no idea what might show up.

I asked her what decade they might belong to, and got a little excited when she replied that she wasn't sure, but that her mom had entered the work force in the 1940s, and that she remembered her mom wearing these well into her old age.



I got a whole sack full of 1970s, Sears brand, 100% polyester blazers with nice, wide lapels, like the red one shown here. I'm a creative person, but I'll admit, I'm having a hard time imagining how to squeeze these into a production of "Wonderland" set at the turn of the century . . .