Found: A $5 midcentury kid's chair

As you might have guessed, those lovely bentwood chairs were not meant to be mine. Not to worry because I sure didn't spend much time mulling my missed opportunity. I've long learned that the gods of Thrift Shop Finds can be quite capricious, rewarding me often enough to keep me going back but not so much that I expect to leave with goodies each time I visit a thrift store. What would be the fun in that, right?

Anyway, I've mentioned before that I am trying to be more focused while shopping in an attempt to cut down on clutter in my home. I've had mixed progress on that front due to my book/magazine addiction, but my list of home projects awaiting my attention has gone down considerably since I am bringing home less stuff. Here is my latest finished project:

Something about those curves has long made the vintage Casalino kid's chair appealing, but I never thought I'd be lucky enough to find one for an affordable price even after I stumbled upon a garage sale with a mid-century focus (photo below). Nope, no kid's chair to be seen, but it never hurts to ask.

OK, I didn't really ask for a Casalino kid's chair. I simply asked the seller whether he had anything else he was selling, so we then walked over to the open garage so I could see his other wares.

The chair was nearly hidden from view by other furniture but I asked him to pull it out. It was in such sorry shape that I almost didn't even ask the price. Look at what someone had sprayed in black paint on the back:

My frown quickly turned to a smile when I heard that the seller wanted only five dollars, such a low price that any doubts about my ability to renew the chair quickly dissipated.

I'm certainly not an an expert on refinishing furniture but I love the process of transforming a piece. I thought long and hard on how to give this chair a new look, even considered decoupaging it with a mod-print fabric for a unique look. In the end, I simply sanded it to remove paint drips, painted it with primer, then painted it in a color that I thought would go well in several rooms of my house so I could move it around as I wished.

I still think the decoupaging project I had in mind would've worked but I think glossy yellow was the way to go because it shows off the curves perfectly without any distractions.

To be honest, I don't know whether my chair is a vintage Casalino since the Netherlands furniture company Casala began producing new Casalino Jr. chairs in 2007 using original moulds. My chair was so beat-up that it very well could have been produced in the 70s, but it really doesn't matter to me.

Interestingly, I discovered that Casalino was the only furniture line ever designed by Alexander Begge. Upon describing his creations, the German designer said: "I had this image of a wisp of fog, and elaborated on that. It brought so much joy, I was in a glow."

Turning a Pottery Barn table runner into a valance

Always hard-pressed to turn down a bargain, I recently scooped up two table runners on discount at Pottery Barn and converted them into valances to help brighten my kitchen.

Going from red-tone to white-and-yellow valances has done a great deal to lighten the look in my kitchen.

When you have children, you learn to make certain sacrifices in your decor. For me, that meant no white kitchen cabinets. I had always dreamed of having an all-white kitchen flooded with light, but white cabinets seemed like asking for trouble with little ones around to use them as canvas for "artwork."

Though obviously not life-shattering, the decision to choose dark cabinets has come to haunt me in the six years since we first moved into our home. I now realize how other design decisions I made, including brown-tone granite counters and dark distressed hardwood flooring, have all combined to create a somewhat somber kitchen, the total opposite of what I wanted.

In an attempt to inject lively touches into my kitchen, I then added red. Too much red, as you can see in the photo above. After six years of so much red, I'm ready to mix it up to make the room more interesting.

I spied white-and-yellow Pottery Barn runners at my local outlet store for $10 each and couldn't pass them up even though I had no specific project in mind and no need for additional table runners (though I did like how it looked in the photo above). I fell in love with the print on the cotton fabric, a reproduction of patterns on fabric embroidered by hand by the Otomi Indians in Mexico (click here to see an example).

After bringing them home, I discovered that the runners, measuring 18-by-108-inches, were the perfect length for the two large windows in my kitchen. Because they were lined, the only alteration needed was some simple stitching down the length of each runner, to create an opening for the curtain rod. I was uncertain that my plans were doable, so I called on my mom for sewing help and she whipped up the valances in just a few minutes. Three cheers for moms!

One day, I will get those white cabinets, but for now I am thrilled with the results of this simple project. I have other easy changes I plan to make, including a new rug, and other small touches.

By the way, I'm always in awe of what a few simple stitches can accomplish, though I have to confess to usually enlisting my mom for help with this. Here are is a pillow cover she recently sewed for me after finding the embroidered textile at a thrift store. Knowing how much I love folk art, my mom bought the fabric and sewed it into a pillow, complete with a button enclosure on the back. Here it is in my living room:

And up close:

Frankly, I prefer simple projects that I (or my mom!) can do in less than an hour. It's about all the free time I have now that I have two little ones, who by the way turned out not to favor walls so much for their writings. OK, only once!

Let me know if you have any ideas for my kitchen. I'd love to hear them.

Before and after: Tiny craft cabinet

So here we are with just a few weeks to go before the year ends. This is when I begin to assess my goals, which just means a lot of thinking and, when I remember, madly writing down lists. Lately, I've been thinking I want and need to do more crafting with my kids and on my own.

Now that my five-year-old is in school, time seems to be on even shorter supply and the months are whizzing by. Last year, I put together "art boxes" for my kids that consisted of decorated fishing tackle boxes filled with all sorts of crafting goodies. My kids use these boxes every day for creations of their own and those we make together.

My own craft supplies are mostly stored in my writing room, (somewhat) organized into wooden and metal drawers. But we all know that out of sight means out of mind so I decided to put some of my favorites in a more visible place. I repurposed one of my thrift finds into a new tiny craft cabinet that now hangs in my writing room.

The cabinet really is quite tiny, but has just enough room for some of my favorite supplies at the moment and adds a nice pop of color in my office. Not that I need more color, but I've been craving something different other than my usual fuschia-yellow-orange-red combo. I love knowing what colors make me feel good, but it also feels refreshing to get out of my color rut.

This cabinet gives me so much joy, especially knowing I paid only $2 for it at a thrift store. I forgot to take a before shot of it before I removed some chicken wire that was attached on the doors instead of window panes. I rather like it without the chicken wire because it allows me to see what's inside better.

By the way, sorry for my messy bookcase, but I removed some books during the decluttering phase a few weeks ago and need to organize and restyle the entire bookcase now.

Strangely, I'd been craving some turquoise in my home, but even a color junkie like me has to start in small doses when it comes to a bright new color. Two sheets of whimsical Martha Stewart scrapbook paper added the perfect finishing touch to my new crafting cabinet. I am able to fit a few of my favorite crafting supplies, just enough to stoke my imagination and make me want to sit down and craft for a bit. Just what I need.

I hope you have a wonderfully creative weekend. The Thanksgiving holiday last week lulled me into a relaxed mode that I've finally shaken off. Good thing because I just realized Christmas is three weeks away!

Linking up to: A Few of My Favorite Things and Chic on a Shoestring Decorating