Thrifty find: Not just another vintage typewriter

The clicking sounds of a typewriter are punctuating my days lately. Yes, I am the proud owner of the lovely typewriter you see in the photo below. At a mere six dollars at a local thrift store, the aqua-colored beauty was just too tempting for me to pass up.

To my credit, I did not wrench it free from the little girl playing with it when I first walked into the store. I waited patiently nearby, browsing the book section, and forced myself to count to five before walking over to the typewriter after she abandoned it. As I examined it, I reminded myself that I already had two other vintage typewriters at home, one a steel blue and the other a creamy white. I really should have put it back on the shelf when I realized the typewriter is far from perfect, with some minor cosmetic flaws marring some key areas.

Instead, I took it home.

Once home, I made a terrific discovery. The typewriter has a Spanish keyboard. Imagine my great delight at realizing that I can now use my typewriter to write in my native language with the ever-important ñ and all the á, é, ü, ¿ and ¡ characters that I would need to write a note in Spanish.

Oh, happy days! Further adding to my joy, my daughter has now made the typewriter her newest toy, reminding me of my days as a six-year-old playing secretary as I tapped away furiously at my pretend typewriter. My daughter uses the typewriter to play store and pretends to write letters on it, which is great practice since she will be starting kindergarten in a few months and a firm knowledge of all the letters will be important.

You will think I'm a dinosaur but I learned how to type on a typewriter and even took a final exam in one of my journalism classes in college on a typewriter.

I did some research and found out the typewriter is an Omega 30 Spanish typewriter, which seems to be relatively rare since I found only one listing for it on Ebay for a whopping $300 and none on Etsy. One of the cosmetic flaws I mentioned earlier is that the manufacturer tags are missing, which probably means I can't sell mine for $300.

It is just as well because this baby is staying home with us for a while.

As you can see, it does need a new ribbon. In case you can't read the note I typed above, it reads: "I love typewriters. A mis niños también les encanta. (My kids love them, too.)"

Now if I could just find a typewriter with a French keyboard.

My daughter's new creative corner

Even during my absence, I have continued to take photos and mentally compose posts, some of which I'm planning to share with you. Today, I would like to show you a new space my four-year-old daughter and I carved out in her room for her to write, draw and dream.

It is here where I can often find her, drawing away. The other day, she and her six-year-old brother took turns sitting at her little desk as they collaborated on a small book they created about a little boy who goes to school. She drew the illustrations and he wrote the story to go with it.

I can honestly say that this lovely corner was my daughter's idea. A few weeks ago, I was all set to rearrange furniture in her room. When I last wrote, I told you that I would be redoing my kids' rooms to reflect the fact that they are older and their interests are changing. Essentially, we are moving away from the toddler stage and into the early school years. Of course, I consulted my kids regarding paint colors, artwork, etc. but thought I knew enough about their tastes and habits to do the major planning on my own. Wrong!

On the morning of the big day of moving furniture around, I handed my daughter the book "Children's Rooms Stockholm" (Jeu de Paume). I was hoping she would find something to inspire a new arrangement in her room and keep her busy as I began taking all the furniture out of her room. Instead, she came running up to me saying, "I like this!" she said, pointing to a picture of a girl's small desk. "Can I have this?"

Hmmm, how to explain that I hadn't planned on buying any new furniture? I was momentarily stumped, wondering if The Big Reorganization of My Daughter's Room had hit a snag. Thankfully, I found a simple solution. Some of you may remember reading here about the small Ikea table/desk that I painted and decoupaged after finding it for five dollars at a thrift store. I originally placed the table in my office as a space for my four-year-old daughter to use when we were both in there, which frankly turned out to be sporadic. Thanks to my daughter's inspired suggestion, this little table has now found a new home in a corner of her room.

After seeing my daughter's new space, my son decided it was time for him to get a new desk. Stay tuned ...

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.

My Mexican-inspired take on Martha Stewart pom-pom tissue flowers

In honor of the Cinco de Mayo holiday, I'd like to tell you about a project my kids did after attending a piñata-making workshop with a local artisan. Piñatas, usually filled with candy and small toys, are intended for kids to hit with a stick until the piñatas break open and spill the goodies, but I instead decided to hang two tiny piñatas my kids made as decorations for my home office.

Like many of you, I enjoy crafting with my kids, even more so when the craft is something we can use to decorate our home. The craft then becomes a reminder of fun time spent together, while also adding more character and beauty to our home.

The tiny piñatas, which I'm calling my Mexican-inspired take on the Martha Stewart tissue pom-pom flowers, nicely complement a lantern I bought at Chinatown recently and add a nice pop of color to what is perhaps the blandest corner of my home office.

At this point, I should come clean and confess that this project, which is really quite simple, took us several months to complete. We created the newspaper shell soon after going to the piñata-making workshop in February 2010, decorated the piñata in May 2010 and then I let the piñata sit in my office unhung for a whole year! In a burst of inspiration, I hung them up yesterday. My poor kids didn't remember the little balls were piñatas and instead called them "balloons," but were thrilled that I finally hung up their creations.

Here's how you can make your own tiny piñata:

Step 1: Blow up a balloon. Make a homemade paste using about 1/2 cup of flour mixed with about a cup of water.

Step 2: Using a small, thick paintbrush, begin gluing torn strips of paper onto the balloon.

Step 3: Cover the balloon completely except for a small hole at the top that will help you hang it or that you can use to fill up the piñata later. To make sure you've pasted enough newspaper to the balloon, hold the balloon up to the light to make sure you can't see the balloon. The more layers, the stronger the piñata will be.

Step 4: Wait two days or so for the piñata to dry completely. If you are planning to use this for an actual piñata that will be smashed open by kids, you will want to repeat the process of adding more newspaper strips to make it stronger. Otherwise, pop the balloon while holding a piece of it so you can pull it out through the hole.

Step 5: Begin decorating the newspaper ball with tissue paper or any other decor of your choosing. We used tissue paper we had cut up using a circle punch, but the traditional method is to use strips of tissue as I showed you in this post.

You may wish to add more tissue paper to completely cover the newspaper, though my kids were satisfied with doing just one layer. Here are the finished piñatas, hanging in back of my desk in my home office. (Please disregard the messy desk.)

The most time-consuming part is waiting for the newspaper to dry after you've glued it on, but as you can see, the project is simple enough for kids as young as two and four years old, which is how old my kids were when they made these piñatas. It really made me so happy to do this project with my kids since I remember making my own piñatas as a girl though not for Cinco de Mayo. It may surprise you to know that, for all the hype in the United States every May 5, most people in Mexico don't celebrate the holiday at all. You can read a story about this phenomenon that the Christian Science Monitor published today here.

Nevertheless, I think making piñatas is a great project for kids any time of the year, either for a party or for decoration. The piñata can be as simple as a tiny ball like the one we made or as elaborate as your imagination wants it to be.

Making room for the things that matter

A few of my favorite things

Dear friends,

I am so humbled that many of you have continued to come here to read my posts over the past few months, likely wondering when and if I would ever blog again. Your kind comments and concerned e-mails have brightened my days and encouraged me to find a way to return. Today, I'm here to say that yes, I am ready to give this blog another go now that I've had some time to rethink my focus and to gain new energy.

A new reading nook since there’s always time for books in our home

Since I last wrote, I've spent much time pondering over what is truly important in my life. With the start of a new year, I found myself at a crossroads, questioning whether I was on the right path toward achieving my personal and professional goals. I finally faced up to the difficult reality that an overflow of clutter at home and in my life was slowing me down. I scrutinized everything, including my beloved thrifting and blogging. I found that thrifting, as rewarding and enjoyable as it is for me, was creating more work for me in the long run since I was spending an inordinate amount of time cleaning, repairing or repurposing items I was buying.

Taking stock of what’s important meant taking a look at the big picture ...

And blogging? I wrestled hard with myself over this one. As many bloggers know, blogging is time-consuming work. I am a professional writer and, frankly, I'm used to getting paid for my writing. My knee-jerk reaction was to eliminate my blog altogether, preferably with a proper good-bye note. But, friends, I could not do that. I love blogging too much, especially all the connections I've made with so many of you all over the world. I finally came to the realization that my blog is rewarding to me in ways that go beyond dollars and cents. Aren't these always the best things in life?

... to be able to make small changes and go from this:

to this:

though a few things stayed the same

Over the past few months, I've made many changes in my home and in my life, mostly small ones, that I will write about in the weeks to come. Added up, these changes have created room for the things that truly matter. The simple and not-so-simple: An impromptu baking session with my kids. Thrifting, less frequently but far more focused. Writing that feeds my family and my soul.

With my priorities (and home) in order, I hope to avoid rushing through the important things in life.

Thank you for helping me along in my journey. I'll be by soon to visit all my blog friends. It feels good to be back.

Hugs,

Dear Santa ...

Letter to Santa from my daughter

Dear Santa,

I wish that all the wonderful people who read my blog get all that they want for Christmas. I am blessed to have already a "castle" to call my own, but I would love it if my daughter could have her own to play with and if my son could have a Hot Wheels race set.

My kids and I have left you a plate of cookies and a glass of milk by the chimney.

Love,

Our Christmas decorations: vintage, thrifted + new

Hello friends,

With less than a week to go before Christmas, I hope you haven't yet had your fill of Christmas interior shots. Decking out my home in all sorts of trinkets at this time of the year is something I've always enjoyed. Even when I was single and living alone, I would lug a tree up to my second floor condo, so it's perhaps no surprise to those who know me that I go a little crazy with the Christmas decor now that I have kids.

The one thing that has changed is that I now rely heavily on vintage and thrifted items mixed with my newer items to create a unique look. I've bought dozens of new ornaments for years, but it gives me special pleasure to be able to add some ornaments with a little more character and patina that usually comes with buying vintage and thrifted.

I recall being so excited last year when I chanced upon vintage crocheted ornaments at the thrift store, thinking fondly about the person who took the time to crochet around an ornament. You can see one of those crocheted ornaments on our tree in the top photo above of our living room (look closely on the lower right corner).

Our tree and the vintage-inspired Christmas village that I wrote about last year are now mainstays of our holiday decor, but I have fun putting together new vignettes with many of our ornaments. In the tablescape below, I used a Santa that my mom gave me a few years ago, a thrifted Restoration Hardware vase to house a couple of tree branches I salvaged from the ground while getting our Christmas tree, a tiny thrifted birdcage, and a rummage sale find of vintage red books that I bought for 25 cents each.

I don't recall whether I've shown you our chalkboard wall before, but it ended up forming the perfect backdrop for a little vignette I created on a red shelf with Anthropologie ornaments, a thrifted Pyrex glass, and twigs collected during our family nature outings during the summer.

The character ornaments are, of course, for my kids since this wall is in their play kitchen area.

I have a special fondness for miniatures so I was thankful that this wall became an excuse to indulge my inner child. The black chalkboard allows the colorful objects to stand out more and forms a nice focal point.

My mom always has poinsettias at this time of the year so I decided to get one this year to continue the tradition.

Here is where I perhaps start to go a little overboard with the holiday decor because I also add a few Christmas touches in our bedrooms. My son's room gets a toy Santa, who was quite appropriately visited by all the family members in my daughter's dollhouse. The toy dolls had the opportunity to tell Santa what they want for Christmas, while his snowman helper took notes.

My beloved pink vintage ornaments go into my office and my daughter's room.

There is more that I could show you, including our collection of snowglobes, but I fear being labeled the crazy Christmas lady! Like most everyone, I do so enjoy everything about this season and having children is a great opportunity not only to continue old traditions but also to start new ones. We have spent the past week crafting, drinking hot chocolate and practicing our favorite Christmas carols.

What do you have in the works in these last few days before Christmas? Do you prefer to spend time at home indulging in holiday activities, or do you prefer the hustle and bustle of last-minute shopping and holiday carousing? Perhaps a little bit of both? Whatever you're doing, I hope you're enjoying much time with loved ones while enjoying holiday activities that make this season so memorable.

Warmly,