FindersKeepers

Blog has moved

2011-05-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hello,
I am moving my blog here http://tangerinehome.blogspot.com/ I will be posting updates of my etsy handmade home décor business and our home renovation projects there for now on. Soon to come will be our laundry room makeover so follow me there now.

Grey Stag Tea Towel now available

2011-05-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

My grey stag deer tea towel is now available at my new etsy shop TangerineHome This handmade tea towel is screenprinted by me onto a grey 100% linen using water based non-toxic white ink. Linen is a natural material made from the fibers of the flax plant. It is very absorbent and gets softer and softer with each washing, perfect for drying hands or the dishes!

Tea towel features a 100% cotton twill loop on the backside for easy hanging. It is pre-washed and pre-shrunk.

I will have more colors coming soon!

Our house on Rearranged Design!

2011-05-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

Our little house is featured on Rearranged Design today, check it out! Thanks Ana!

Sneak Peek

2011-05-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

So as I've mentioned before I've been hard at work on a new collection for my etsy shop and I'm going to be moving everything plus my new collection to my new shop TangerineHome Currently I'm working on a series of 100% linen tea/hand towels which are screenprinted with a water based non-toxic ink. I'm super excited about these! The linen is soft, mostly environmentally friendly since linen is made from the flax plant and is super absorbent! Here is a sneak peek of one of those new tea towels!

Like Tangerine on Facebook and be one of the first to know when this towel along with several other new items will be available in my new Etsy shop! There will soon be a new blog as well.

Coming soon...

2011-04-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

New name, new etsy shop and many new handmade, eco-friendly home décor items. More information coming soon!

Big Changes Coming!

2011-04-26T11:12:00.001-07:00

I've been hard at work on new designs for my Etsy shop! I've also decided that with these new designs is going to come a whole new name, look, website and shop! I want the new branding to represent my modern approach to home décor. So in a few weeks I will be unveiling my new name and website, I'm pretty excited about it! I will be introducing environmentally friendly items into my shop, using organic materials and water based eco friendly inks, all handmade in my San Diego, CA studio. I can't wait to share it all with you! Stay tuned!

Light Fixtures

2011-04-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks we have been working on renovating our laundry room. Currently there is just a bare bulb for a ceiling light so I've been in search of a stylish period style light fixture that will look appropriate in our 1940 cottage. After a little searching around on the trusty internet I came across this fantastic website, Schoolhouse Electric! Not only is their website super cute, clean and easy to use, it's filled with some pretty great light fixtures! I have my eye on several of them because we need new light fixtures in just about every room as well as some new outdoor light fixtures. Here are just a few of my favorites:

For our laundry room and hallway I really like some of these classic styles:

Two of these would be really cute on the wall in our restroom, one on each side of the vanity mirror:

Here are a few others I really love:

How cool is this one below?

They also have a great selection of light bulbs including the classic Edison bulbs which have recently been gaining popularity once again.

Their website is filled with so many cute light fixtures that would work great in just about any period style home, barnyard style or even modern home! I think I will definetely be purchasing a few light fixtures from them but with so many great options the hard part is choosing which ones!

New exciting things coming!

2011-04-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

So it's be awhile since my last post but it's not because I'm doing nothing it's actually quite the opposite! I'm in the process of getting all set up so I can start screenprinting and I have all sorts of new home accessory products coming to my Etsy shop! It's still going to be several more weeks before this happens but I'm very excited about it!

We have also been working on our laundry room makeover which I hope to have completed in the next couple of weeks so there will be photos up soon! It's about 75% complete, we just have some cabinets to paint, need to find a new light fixture and a few other things before it's completed. Since I don't want to post without a photo here is a photo of my red tubes pillow cover.

Driveway Landscape Project

2011-03-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

After many delays we have finally finished our driveway landscape project! Our driveway is very long and narrow. There is a narrow planting area that runs the length of our driveway and is the dividing line between our property and our neighbors. When we first purchased the house this area looked like this:

There were hedges running the length of our driveway. This photo was after we did a major trimming job on them, they were so overgrown and a huge mess. The white building behind them is our neighbors garage. The hedges were a great privacy barrier but they grew into the driveway, were always dropping piles of leaves in the driveway making a huge mess everyday and when the car was in the driveway you couldn't get into the passenger side because the hedges prevented you from opening the door. Also the way the bricks had been placed allowed weeds to constantly grow in between them and it was really difficult to pull them out. It just looked like a big mess all the time. So we decided to hire someone to come remove the hedges.

After the hedges were removed this area was even more sad looking for awhile. We pulled up all the bricks with plans to reuse them.

We decide to reuse the bricks by creating a border on the edge of driveway which would widen it just enough that when passengers got out of the car it would be wide enough that they would no longer be stepping into the dirt. First we had to make a large trench by removing a lot of dirt and tamping it all down. We added this edging to prevent the bricks from moving around.

Next we laid down a weed barrier and then we added a gravel base on top and tamped that all down.

After the gravel base was laid down we poured a layer of sand on top and tamped that down. Next we started laying down the bricks and used a mallet to set them into the sand.

Once the bricks were laid we swept sand into the cracks which keeps the bricks from moving around. It's really solid, those bricks aren't going anywhere!

This is the final outcome. It was just the perfect amount of width we needed!

We continued this process all the way up to the garage. We are really happy with the result! I love the added detail of the brick edging.

Next was the fun part, planting! This area gets a lot of sun and it was really important to us that it didn't require a lot of watering. First we needed to address the privacy issue that removing the hedges caused.

When we removed the hedges it uncovered our neighbors garage window which looks almost right into our dining room window. We wanted to screen this window. First our neighbors painted their garage to match the rest of their house since they were never able to do that when the hedges were there. Once they completed the painting we constructed this wire trellis and planted White Star Jasmine which will grow along the wires and eventually cover the entire side of their garage including the window. We can't wait for it to start blooming, White Star Jasmine has the most wonderful scent!

I choose to fill in the rest of the area with a combination of pony tail grass and succulents, filling in the remaining area with a pretty rock mulch which will help maintain moisture in the soil, block out weeds and won't break down like wood mulch.

The Ponytail grass is really pretty when the wind blows it.

To the right is our neighbors driveway. They decided to lay brick down too and I think it looks great! Where the post is they plan on building a little fence to cover up their trash cans. I haven't planted much right behind it yet because I'm going to wait for them to finish this fence so the plants don't get trampled. Once they complete that project I will add a few more of the grass and succulents, right now it looks a little disconnected,

Next we plan on doing the same brick work on the other side of the driveway along with similar plantings. It was hard work but the result was worth it! Plus no more stepping in mud in my heels when I get out of the car:)

Stag Deer Now in Burnt Orange!

2011-03-06T14:46:00.000-08:00

My Stag Deer Pillow cover is now available in one of my favorite colors, burnt orange! Get it here

Little Bird Pillow in Inside Out Magazine!

2011-03-04T12:49:00.000-08:00

I want to thank Inside Out magazine for featuring my Little Bird pillow in their March/April 2011 issue along with several other fantastic pillows! I just love everything about this photo!

Get your Little Bird pillow at my etsy shop

Office Corner Organization

2011-02-28T10:35:00.000-08:00

San Diego doesn't get much rain but these past two weeks have been filled with it so our landscape project we've been working on has been delayed (you can read a little about it here). I thought I would be done with that project by now and would be able to have the full reveal but it looks like it's going to be another week or two, weather permitting. When it comes to house projects everything seems to take longer than planned.

This past weekend I took advantage of the rainy weather and took care of some much needed cleaning and organizing in my office/art/sewing room. My Etsy shop has been getting more and more busy and my sewing area looked like a fabric bomb had exploded. So I took some time out to sort through all my fabric, separating it into solids, prints, felt and remnants stacks. I purchased some cute boxes from IKEA, one for each stack and placed the fabric in each box. Now I can find what I'm looking for quickly rather than constantly sorting through my growing stack of assorted fabrics!

Next I needed somewhere to put my newly organized fabrics as well as some books and other items that have been stacked up in the corner waiting for a home.

I had been putting this off because I wanted to search around for a interesting bookshelf but due to time and money constraints I decided it was time to hit up IKEA for a bookshelf. I found this modern looking white bookshelf, added some vintage finds and one of my collage art pieces to add a little character and voila, a well organized office corner!

Geometric Modern Pillow Cover

2011-02-16T17:40:00.000-08:00

I found this great modern geometric fabric! I think it's a great color combination. I made a pillow cover out of it and it's now available at my Etsy shop! A great way to add some color and style to a chair, sofa or bed!

Driveway Landscaping Make-over Sneak Peek

2011-02-15T13:38:00.000-08:00

The past several weekends we have been hard at work expanding our driveway by edging it with bricks and doing an entire landscaping make-over next to the driveway. It's already a huge transformation but it's going to be another week or two before the project is completed. In the meantime here is a sneak peek of what is being done! I'll go more into detail about the project in the big reveal!

A before photo. The bricks have been laid, I'll show the real before photo in the final reveal in a few weeks!

After

We are trying to do a mostly water wise xeriscape garden. Here I used Ponytail grass and succulents.

Sam Maloof

2011-02-10T13:56:00.000-08:00

A little less than 2 years ago my dad signed us both up for a class offered through UC Riverside called "A Day with Sam Maloof". It was a birthday present to me and what a great birthday present it was! For those who don't know, Sam Maloof is known as one of the finest woodworkers/furniture makers of our time and a leader of the California modern arts movement. If you have never seen his furniture you must check it out, it's really beautiful! So this class was to be taught by the master himself in his workshop which is located on the property of his home in Alta Loma, California. There are two homes on the property, the newer home where Sam's wife still lives and Sam's old home where he lived with his first wife. You can tour the old home and see Sam and his wife's art collection and a lot of his original furniture pieces, I wanted to take everything home with me! Sadly Sam had fallen ill and was unable to teach the class so one of his woodworking partners filled in. We were really disappointed that Sam wasn't going to teach the class but his partner did a really excellent job and we were happy we still attended! We got to tour the workshop and learn about many of the woodworking techniques Sam used, it was a fantastic experience! Sam and his wife were very kind and invited us all over to the house so we could still meet Sam and what a honer it was! Sadly Sam passed away just a few months later but he has left behind some truly beautiful art pieces. If you are ever in the area I highly encourage you to go tour his house. Here is a link to the Sam Mallof Foundation where you can get more info http://www.malooffoundation.org/

After the class was over we got to tour the grounds and the old house which houses many of Sam's furniture and art collection. I was so upset with myself because I forgot my camera. All I had was my cell phone and the camera on it is terrible. So I'm going to apologize now for the terrible, low quality images that are to follow but I wanted to share anyways.

A wooden gate on the property made by Sam Maloof.

Sam and his wife were huge art collectors. There was beautiful pottery everywhere I looked!

A Sam Maloof chair, beautiful isn't it? Sorry for the terrible photo, this chair deserves better.

More of Sam and his wife's art collection.

I'm so in love with this stain glass window!

I'll take one of these please!

Amazing pottery collection

Another wonderful cell phone photo, gotta love that poor quality. This is one of Sam Maloof's famous rocking chairs.

Beautiful wood carved spiral staircase.

This is one of my favorite chairs.

The gardens on the property are really beautiful too, well worth taking the time to walk though. They appear to use mostly drought tolerant plants.

This made me swoon. I'm hoping to do something similar in our backyard one of these days.

Wood carving that sits in the garden.

Red Tubes Pillow

2011-02-09T17:47:00.000-08:00

My newest pillow creation now available at my Etsy shop! More colors soon to come! Made completely from Eco-Felt which is made from recycled post consumer plastic bottles.This super soft pillow cover is full of texture and color!

Xeriscape Idea Gathering

2011-01-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

This year is going to be a year filled with landscaping projects. Our entire landscape needs to be started over from scratch. Pretty much everything was dead when we moved into the house and what was still living was poorly placed or too large for the space it had been planted.

When you think of San Diego, California you may think of it as a tropical place with sandy beaches and palm trees but in reality San Diego is a desert. California has been facing serious water shortages for many years now. Our water rates keep rising and there are water cutbacks in effect. Every resident of San Diego is only allowed to water their landscaping on certain days at a restricted amount of time to help conserve water. The result is often sad, brown looking lawns in the summertime. Before we even became homeowners I knew I did not want to have a front lawn. The thought of being out there every weekend mowing, edging, fighting the weeds that always overtake laws, fertilizing, etc... just doesn't appeal to me. Some people may like the look of a front lawn and that's fine, it's a personal choice. For me though a nice mixture of shrubs, trees, rocks and flowering/non-flowering plants is far more interesting than a green (or brown) lawn, and if done properly, less work! I've told several people I plan to do a xeriscape front yard and immediately they think this means I'm going to plant some cactus with some rocks sprinkled around(there's nothing wrong with this either, I love cactus) but there is such a huge variety of plants that needs very little water, you can have a really lush garden and save yourself a lot of money in water costs not to mention your helping the environment and you can spend your weekends doing far more enjoyable activities other than mowing the lawn.

A few weeks ago I walked around one of my favorite neighborhoods in San Diego, North Park. This area has a lot of cute historical craftsman houses. I love walking though this area and looking at all the great detail of these wonderful houses! A lot have started ripping out their front yards and replacing them with drought tolerant plants. I took a lot of photos for my idea book and I thought I would share some of my favorites!

This is one of the few modern houses in this area. I love how they designed the concrete walkway and all the plants are drought tolerant plants. I think the soft plants are a nice contrast to the hard edges of the modern house and pathway. It makes this house not stick out so much next to all the old Craftsman houses and adds a lot of interest to the yard.

I just love this cute little bungalow! I want their screen door for our house! So many interesting things going on in this yard! I like that none of the plants are so overgrown or tall that it covers up the house or windows. Houses from the 1920's have such cute windows I never understand why people want to cover them up with huge plants. There is a lot of rosemary used, succulents, trees, grasses, rocks, it all gives the yard a lot of color and texture.

I find this mixture of succulents, rosemary and rocks to be so much more interesting than most of the dead grass curbsides normally seen in front of houses. And as an added bonus I'm sure these people don't have all the neighborhood dogs doing their business in their yard.

We plan on doing something similar to this in our front yard so when I saw this I had to shoot a photo for my idea book! I love the dry stacked stone wall with a assortment of low lying agave and other plantings in front. I do wonder though if those agave are going to get a lot bigger, I certainly hope not because it looks good the way it is now.

Not only does rosemary smell and taste good it has this beautiful purple flower! Flowers in January, what's not to love about that? Also, it's extremely drought tolerant! Just please don't cut into a square hedge, it looks so much better when you just let it be!

Look at this beautiful red and green sticks of fire! There is so much color in this landscape although I do wish it were a little fuller. If planting sticks of fire be careful because handling this plant can cause skin irritation.

I really like this soft, almost feathery looking tree, anyone know the name of it? Two different varieties of agave flank the sidewalk and more sticks of fire in the background.

The walkway to this house is similar to the modern house above. I think off setting the stones from each other adds a little more interest than a straight walkway. The low lying plants next to the sidewalk soften the edges and in my opinion look great! This along with the cute patio and door make this house so inviting!

Another really nicely done xeriscape! More flowers in January!

Stone is a really great mulch! Although it doesn't add organic matter to your soil like wood mulch does it doesn't need to be replaced like wood mulch and it helps retain moisture in soil and helps block out weeds. It also comes in a variety of colors and sizes!

This looks so natural, like something you would come across while hiking. It reminds me of Japanese gardens but with drought tolerant plants.

I need to find out the name of this plant! The little white flowers are so pretty, I bet this plant flowers all the rest of the winter and into spring.

I use to live right up the street from this house when I was still living in a apartment. I use to walk by all the time and admire the landscaping. This is a perfect example of how you can still have grass in your front yard but minimize it and offset water usage by mixing in drought tolerant plants. There are tropical plants mixed in as well so this landscape most likely uses more water than the previous houses but I'm sure it's a lot less than having it all be lawn. Look at the curbside landscaping, wonderful!

This mixture of succulents in front of that bright adobe color is just wonderful! And more flowers!

I've always thought that large agave plant in the front corner was so perfectly placed!

I can't wait to get started on our landscaping but first I have to dig out our yard full of bermuda grass ugh.

For those living in San Diego, the city is currently offering rebates to those that replace their living lawns with drought tolerant plants. There are also other landscape related rebates. Go here for more information http://www.sandiego.gov/water/conservation/residentialoutdoor.shtml

Featured on Etsy Front Page!

2011-01-27T08:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my grey Stag Deer pillow cover was featured on the Etsy front page! To many this may not seem like much but in the Etsy world it's really exciting! Here is a screen shot!

Here is a close up of the item which can be purchased in my Etsy shop

Our home featured on Apartment Therapy!

2011-01-25T09:26:00.000-08:00

Great news! Last Friday our living room was featured on Apartment Therapy! See it here

FindersKeepers Designs at California Center for the Arts, Escondido!

2011-01-25T09:06:00.000-08:00

A few of my pillows will be for sale in the museum shop at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido during their newest exhibit starting February 11, 2011 - April. For more information about the upcoming exhibit check the museums website here

Here are a few of the pillows that will be available for purchase:

Year 1, A Look Back - House Exterior

2011-01-23T18:07:00.000-08:00

The past couple of weeks I've been writing about all the house renovation projects we have completed in 2010 as a way to look back and see how much we have progressed. It seems we are always looking ahead at what still needs to be done so it's great to take a few moments and remember just how much we have truly accomplished in such a short time. In November we celebrated one year of owning our first home! There have been many, many weekends of hard work. I believe though that where we have spent at least 75% of our time so far has been painting and repairing the exterior of the house.

We purchased our house through a short sale. If you don't know what a short sale is it's anything but a SHORT sale. 9 months it took, of waiting, placing offers on other houses but always loosing out to someone with a bigger offer, more waiting until finally the word came that the short sale had gone through! Well 9 months of nobody living in the house had taken it's toll on the landscaping. When we moved in most of the landscaping was dead. What was left was planted in bad locations and with no thought or design at all. In order to paint the house and eventually create a more cohesive and drought tolerant landscape we have pretty much ripped everything out. In the after photos you are going to see a pretty sad landscape but that will hopefully be changing soon! 2011 is going to be filled with many many weekends of landscaping projects, this is when we will really see the house come together, I can't wait!

So now for the before photos:

So this is what the house looked like when it was put on the market. The landscape was living because there were renters living there taking care of it. The house was white with a light blue trim that was cracking and falling off of all the windows.

This is what the landscaping looked like when we moved in after 9 months of nobody living in the house and watering the landscaping.

All the windows were in really bad condition. There were layers and layers of cracked and peeling paint. Also, somebody had used caulk or something to fill holes in the windows and it had seeped through the paint leaving dark blue spots.

We had to strip ALL the windows and get them down to bare wood. This took several months and was not a fun job at all! We also repaired several of the broken sash cords which is the rope that makes these old windows go up and down.

All the hard work really paid off though! We went with a sage green color for the house exterior, a burgundy and cream for the trim.

The stairs use to be painted blue as well as the railings. The room to the right of the stairs is the kitchen. The hope is that we will eventually move this room out a little to make our tiny kitchen larger. Then we will add a large wood porch to the front. So for now I just painted over the blue stairs but this will hopefully just be a temporary fix.

Painting the exterior of your house is hard, hard work. If you have the money to pay a professional I highly recommend it! Also, don't skimp on the paint. Pay the extra money for good quality paint. You don't want to be out there doing it all over again in a few years. It's VERY time consuming and not cheap.

2010 COMPLETED EXTERIOR PROJECTS:

-Removed overgrown and dead plants.

- Stripped and painted all windows

- Repaired glazing on windows (the stuff that holds the glass in the window frame).

- Painted entire house exterior

- Stripped blue sidewalk going to front door

- Painted front porch and stairs (was blue)

- Painted blue railing black

- Repaired door bell

2011 PROJECTS:

- Landscaping, lots of it.

- New wood porch on front of house (probably won't happen in 2011 but it's a possibility)

- Get rid of ugly security gate on the front door and replace with a nice period style front door.

- New backdoor light fixture

- Widen driveway with bricks (in the works now, photos will be coming in a few weeks!)

Year 1, A Look Back - Bathroom

2011-01-19T19:24:00.000-08:00

The past few postings I've been writing about the projects we have completed during our first year in our first home and the projects we hope to complete in 2011. The next room is the bathroom. We still have a lot of work to do in this room but a complete restroom renovation isn't in the budget right now so we just did a few small cosmetic changes to add a little charm for now.

Here are a few BEFORE photos:

And now for some AFTER photos:

We liked the spa blue color that the walls were already painted but the restroom needed all new paint so we went with a slightly darker blue.

New molding was installed around the window and I made this little cafe curtain. I sewed a small bird in the lower left corner to go with the bird theme we have in this room.

I love our bird cage shower curtain!

Another view of the birdcage shower curtain as well as some Charley Harper bird prints hanging over the toilet.

Nothing has really changed here yet, just added a few accessories and a towel rack.

I made this shelf out of some wood that was left over from another project. Then added a few accessories.

Added a new towel rack

New molding was installed around our door. We still have to refinish and paint the door (A 2011 project).

Before the door frame was all torn up. My dad came down to install the molding and he did a great job repairing this!

2010 Completed Bathroom projects:
- All new paint
- New molding around the door and window
- Made new window curtain
- New shower curtain
- Made a shelf

Projects we would like to complete in 2011:
- Strip and paint door
- Add a vent to the ceiling so we get proper ventilation in the restroom (currently the window is the only ventilation)
- Install Crown Molding
- All new period style flooring (most likely won't happen in 2011)
- New period style vanity (most likely won't happen in 2011)
- New tile in shower (most likely won't happen in 2011)
- New bathroom hardware in shower and sink (most likely won't happen in 2011)
- Install baseboards or bead board (can't be done until new flooring is installed so this probably won't get done this year either).

Year 1, A Look Back - Living Room

2011-01-13T18:39:00.000-08:00

To celebrate a new year and just a little over one year of home ownership, I'm writing a series of blogs that look back on all the progress we have made on the house in the past year room by room. I'm also posting projects we are hoping to accomplish in 2011. In this next blog I'm going to focus on the living room.

First, a few before photos.

Now the after photos!

I still need to refinish and reupholster this wood lounge chair.

We still need blinds for all the windows, I'm really not too fond of this fabric pinned up look! I think we are going to get either simple white roman or roller shades that fit inside the window so we don't hide the beautiful molding my dad installed.

2010 Completed Projects:
- Refinished hardwood floors
- All new paint
- New molding around the windows, doors and baseboards

A before and after shot of the door molding. I love how it turned out! Now one of these days we hope to get a nicer door but that will have to wait for now.

A before and after shot of the molding around the windows.

It's amazing what some nice baseboard molding can do, really.

Living Room Projects for 2011:
- Window shades
– Refinish and reupholster wood lounge chair
- The rest are decorating projects like a tall plant for one of the corners and probably a lamp in the other. The room isn't quite right yet but I think these little things will complete the room.

Year 1, A Look Back - Dining Room

2011-01-12T11:21:00.000-08:00

We have had our little house for just a little over a year now. It's crazy how fast a year has passed! So many weekends spent fixing up the little 1940 bungalow. Since we seem to focus on our ever growing to-do list I thought it would be good to stop and reflect back on everything we have accomplished in such a short time so we can pat ourselves on the back and see how much all our hard work has paid off. The next several posts are going to be about everything we have accomplished in 2010 but I'm also going to list our project goals for 2011. This first post is going to be about our dining room since it is the most completed room in the house I thought I would start there.

This is a photo of the dining room when we moved in. When we first looked at this house our biggest concerns were the tiny kitchen and this tiny dining room. Although we looked at many houses that had no dining room at all so I was excited just to have one! My fiance didn't think we would ever be able to fit a full sized table in this room but I was convinced we could. This photo below shows the small table the people who were living here before us had.

This is our dining room after. As you can see we fit a table that seats 6 plus we have an extension piece to the table so we can fit even more if needed! What we accomplished in 2010:
1) Refinished hardwood floors
2) All new paint
3) Refinished windows
4) New molding around windows, door and baseboard
5) New dining room table and chairs, a great find on Craigslist!
6) New mid-century modern light fixture (won on ebay!)

All new molding around the bay windows gives the house more character and brings more attention to the windows.

New baseboards really finished this room off nicely.

New molding around doors includes a pediment and plinth blocks.

And of course I can't forget all the finishing details!

I found this metal trough at a local modern home store and planted colorful succulents in it. I think it makes a great centerpiece on our table!

New light fixture and woolly wall planter. I love how the hanging plants are like a piece of art and they add a punch of color to the room not to mention plants are great air purifiers.

Our collection of vintage camera's and a mid-century pot given to us by our very good friends help fill this little nook.

Dining room projects for 2011:
1) Window shades

Reclaimed Wood Assemblage Art Piece

2010-12-12T15:44:00.000-08:00

I have completed my first assemblage piece for FindersKeepers which can now purchased at my Etsy shop here! There will be more to come soon. This piece is made completely out of reclaimed wood. Each piece has been sanded and oiled with a natural oil to bring out the beauty of the color and wood grain. Here are a few photos of it!

New artwork in progress

2010-12-10T15:30:00.000-08:00

The past several years I've been creating a lot of collage and assemblage artworks. I love finding small treasures and discarded objects and incorporating them into my artwork. A few years ago I started creating assemblages out of discarded wood. I just love finding old weathered wood, even better if it has old text and paint on it! Here are a few I've created.

When I started FindersKeepers Designs, my intention was to create these in a smaller scale, a more mail and budget friendly size so they could be purchased in my shop. Instead I started creating pillows and got pretty busy making them. Well last weekend I finally started work on my first wood assemblage piece for FindersKeepers and I'm pretty excited about it! I'm hoping to finish the first one this weekend. Once completed I will be taking photos and posting them here. It will be for sale in my Etsy shop and there will be more to come! So in addition to pillows FindersKeepers will soon be selling wall art pieces made almost entirely of recycled/found materials. Check back soon for photos!

FindersKeepers Designs now in local San Diego store!

2010-12-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

Good news! If you live in San Diego or are just visiting you can now purchase a few of my pillow designs at Pigment located a 3827 30th Street, San Diego, CA 92104 in North Park. This store is one of my favorites in San Diego! They have so many cute modern home furnishings and accessories! Go check them out!

Eco friendly decorative pillow

2010-11-30T08:19:00.001-08:00

Just finished this deer pillow last night! It's made completely out of eco-felt which is made from 100% post consumer recycled plastic bottles. This little pillow prevented a few plastic bottles from going into the landfill! It's soft too!

Feeling Groovy

2010-11-29T09:27:00.001-08:00

Remember those groovy room beads that people hung in their windows and doorways in the 1960's? Those were my inspiration for this retro looking pillow! The RETRO BEADS pillow is now available in light blue and orange! Fabric was designed by me and can only be found in my Etsy shop. Buy it at the FindersKeepers etsy shop here

Office Sneak Peek Photos!

2010-11-21T17:21:00.001-08:00

I have finally gotten around to painting the office/2nd bedroom! Here are a couple of sneak peek photos. There is still a lot of decorating left to do in the room so once I'm finished I'll be posting more photos. I need to figure out how to hide all the ugly electrical cords, anyone have any good ideas?

I mixed the green color myself. I took this photo when the lighting wasn't great, it's actually a bit lighter than it appears in these photos. The next set of photos I take I will make sure it's nice and bright in the room so the color shows better.

The Pratt desk is from West Elm, when I saw this design I knew this was the desk for me! I love it's mid-century modern design and the white metal drawer is a great contrast with the dark walnut wood. I already had the white eiffel chair so it was a perfect match!

The crow pillow in this photo is one of my designs and can be purchased in my shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/amyburkhart

Logo at last!

2010-11-19T19:51:00.001-08:00

So I've been meaning to design myself a logo for quite sometime now but I just never seemed to be able to find the time. This week I started playing around with some ideas but I just wasn't completely happy with them. As I was driving my long and boring commute home from work today it finally came to me and this is the result!

For some reason some of my best ideas have come to me while sitting in traffic and staring at the tail lights in front of me. I guess it's my brains way of dealing with traffic!

More FindersKeepers Designs!

2010-09-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

I've been busy creating more pillows! They can be purchased at my store http://www.etsy.com/shop/amyburkhart

Bathroom Makeover

2010-09-23T09:35:00.001-07:00

What is the most difficult thing about having a tiny restroom? Taking photos of it. This is the only bathroom in our 820 sq. ft. bungalow but it's fine for us. We looked at a lot of houses and let me tell you, a lot of bathrooms we saw were downright SCARY! So we were fortunate enough that this restroom overall was in good condition and although the original sink in gone the vanity put in it's place is decent looking and clean. It's not anything we would choose, but hey, it works for now. The plumbing on the other hand was a whole different story but I'm not going to bore you with that story. When the budget allows it we plan on putting in a pedestal sink, something reminiscent of the 1940's to match the bathtub, storage shelves, new lighting and new flooring. For now though we are just working with what we have.

So this is a photo of the bathroom when we moved in. Not bad, at least the original bathtub and bathroom door are still in place. The arrangement seems a little weird to us. You would think the bathtub would be next to the window, perhaps somebody moved it, who knows with these old houses.

These are some after photos.

I actually liked the spa blue that was originally in the bathroom. I repainted it using a similar color just a few notches darker. New molding was installed around the bathroom window which really gives the room more of that early cottage feel. The crown molding and baseboards still need to be installed but we are waiting until the bathroom gets it's full makeover (someday).

The cafe curtain I made myself. I stitched on a small bird to go with our bird theme. The window is currently our only ventilation in the bathroom so I went with the cafe curtain so we could open the top half of the window. (I had to hang it slightly higher than half way since our neighbors can see into our window.)

My cat just loves to model :)

I'm in love with our bird cage shower curtain! It set the stage for what has become a bird theme bathroom.

Bird prints above the toilet are by one of my favorite artists, Charley Harper.

Vanity, lighting and mirror were already in the house when we purchased it. It's fine for now but someday when the budget allows it we are going to change it out for something more period style. Also, it's too big for this tiny restroom.

I built this little white shelf out of some leftover wood from another project. New molding around the door. I didn't show the entire door because we haven't refinished it yet. It's on the to-do list along with a million other things!

Busy, busy, busy

2010-09-21T08:28:00.001-07:00

We are making good progress on the house again! I'm hoping to get some new photos posted up by the end of this weekend. We have pretty much completed all the exterior painting, just a couple doors left to paint and we have started working on painting all our new molding which really takes a long time. In the meantime here is my latest pillow creation which can be purchased at my etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/listing/56919911/yellow-and-grey-petal-pillow-cover-14-x

Each petal is hand cut by me out of felted wool and machine stitched onto 100% cotton grey fabric.

Deer Teal Polka Dot Pillow

2010-08-25T11:23:00.001-07:00

Between working on the house, making items for my Etsy shop and working my full time job I just haven't had the time to blog or take photos. Hats off to those of you who manage to do it all, it's not easy! Here is my latest pillow cover creation. I love the applique deer head although let me tell you, those antlers were easy to cut out of felt! You can purchase this lovely little pillow at FindersKeepers

Vintage Car Collage Pillow

2010-08-12T11:38:00.000-07:00

I love to make collage art so I decided, why not a collage pillow? I found this great vintage car fabric which I paired with a teal polka dot fabric and added a applique number three. I really like to use numbers and letters in my art, it must be the graphic designer in me! This pillow can be purchased at my etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/amyburkhart

Retro Beads Pillow

2010-08-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

So I FINALLY took time out to make a pillow out of the fabric I designed. I really like the way it came out! I'm hoping to make a table runner and a few other creations out it as well. The fabric is 100% organic cotton and it's super soft! I have so many other fabric design ideas, there just isn't enough time in the day. You can purchase these pillow covers in my etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/amyburkhart

Applique Bird Throw Pillow

2010-08-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

My newest pillow creation! http://www.etsy.com/shop/amyburkhart

Construction zone

2010-07-28T12:15:00.001-07:00

Our house is currently a messy, dusty construction zone. BUT the molding is looking great!

European Vacation

2010-07-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

So I just returned home from a two week vacation to Europe. We visited Berlin, Prague and London. It was a wonderful trip and a much needed vacation, I will post a few photos soon. Now it's time to get back to house work! My dad is coming down for one week to help install all our molding so updated photos coming soon! He already finished 3 windows and 2 doors while we were gone and it looks fantastic!

Mid-Century California Modernism Masters

2010-06-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Back in March I went to the Mingei International Museum to see the Masters of Mid-Century California Modernism show they had going on. I wanted to take home almost everything there! The show focused on Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman who helped shape the California Mid-Century Modern era. I was just thinking about their artwork today and thought I would share a few images of their work. You can see more on their website as well as a great story of their history here. The LA Times also did a good story which you can read here.

I would love to own this pottery, so beautiful!

We've been blogged!

2010-06-23T19:38:00.000-07:00

Beth Zeigler, a contributing editor for Apartment Therapy blogged about our little house on Apartment Therapy today! See it here. Thanks Beth!

It's funny because she wrote that the room is blue, it's actually very very grey but looking at the photos I took I see the color looks blue-grey. Looks like I need to make an adjustment on my camera. I'm so use to seeing grey I didn't even notice the photos looked kind of blue. The color is called Sweatshirt Grey by Ralph Lauren but it appears Home Depot has replaced the Ralph Lauren paint with Martha Stewart. Such a bummer because I really like Ralph Lauren's colors.

You can read Beth's personal blog here. She has a lot of great organization ideas!

I think this photo below shows the grey pretty true to it's color.

Molding

2010-06-23T11:11:00.001-07:00

All the molding has finally arrived! Looks like I've got more painting to do. This is really going to add the finishing touches that the house is missing. I'll post photos when it's complete, won't be for at least a month though.

Still painting...

2010-06-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile since my last post. Why is this you ask? Because we are STILL painting the outside of the house. If you have the money I highly recommend hiring somebody to do it because it's hard work and our house is only 820 sq ft! If you're crazy like us though you can paint it yourself, saving a lot of money. Don't think you're going to finish in just 2 or 3 weekends though, oh no, try 2 or 3 months, 5 or 6 even!

Inside the house we used Home Depot Behr paint but I decided for the outside to splurge and use the Sherwin Williams Duration paint. I read a lot of good things about this paint and I didn't want to be back outside painting the house again in another 2-3 years. This paint must be made out of gold because it costs $48/gallon. It goes on really well though and sticks! Plus they guarantee it will last for the entire time you own your home. What I want to know is if it doesn't last do they not only give you free paint but somebody to come paint too? We just have one side of the house left and the garage and then we are done! I'm so ready to move on to the landscaping, I have so many ideas!

Retro Radio

2010-06-09T17:04:00.001-07:00

I found this vintage radio at the local swap meet and since I seem to be obsessed with the color orange I just couldn't pass it up!

Tea Towels

2010-06-08T15:30:00.001-07:00

I adore these cute tea towels from Tikoli I've had my eye on the tree design for sometime now, I think it's time I finally order it!

Living Room Before & After

2010-05-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

We are mostly finished with our living room in our 1940's cottage. The wood floors have been refinished, one of the only things we didn't do ourselves. Some things I believe should be left to the professionals and this was one of those jobs. We prepped and painted everything, and let me tell you, old plaster walls are not fun to prep. Sadly all the original molding was gone when we got the house so we plan on installing molding that will look like it's always been there (hopefully). Furniture arrangement was a challenge in such a small space, especially where to put the T.V. but I'm happy with the results! See below for before and after photos.

Living Room Before

After

The assemblage art piece was made by me. Made out of found wood I collected from different places. The color scheme for living room mainly came from this piece and the orange sofas which I already owned.

We still have all the molding to install but besides that the living room is mostly done. In the lower right hand corner you can see a sample of the baseboard we plan to install. The black and white pillows are made by me and can be purchased at my etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/amyburkhart The mid-century chairs I found on Craigslist and I plan to refinish them one of these days. Another project on my growing to-do list!

The living room flows straight into the dining room. Both rooms are very small. The house is only 820sq ft.

The coffee table is a mid-century modern table I found on Craigslist. The kidney shaped ceramic piece I found on ebay. The print above the sofa is a 1969 poster designed by Ellamarie Woolley.

I'm a huge Charley Harper fan. When I saw this bird print with gourd bird houses I just had to have it!

Texas to California Road Trip

2010-05-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

Back in November, right before we moved into our new house, we went to visit my fiances family in Texas. While we were there we picked up his truck and drove it back to California. I've been so busy with the house I'm just now really getting a chance to look at the photos I took. Here is a sampling from our trip below. We stopped in a small town called Marfa, TX, I wish we had more time there I would have loved to have taken more photos, such a cool artsy little town!

Dining Room Before & After

2010-05-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

Dining Room before the start of renovations.

This photo was taken before any renovations had been done.

This photo was taken after a new paint job and the floors had been refinished.

The final result!

The mid-century modern table and chairs was a excellent find on Craigslist. The hanging lamp I won on Ebay.

I've been really interested in living vertical walls for sometime now so when I came across the Wally pocket from http://www.woollypocket.com/ I decided these pockets would be perfect for creating a living wall in our dining room. I love the end result! It's so beautiful and out of reach from our cats who love to munch on plants. I can't wait until the plants grows in more! It's living art!

All that is really left is to install the baseboards.

Going green!

2010-05-09T18:55:00.001-07:00

After several months of repairing and painting windows we have finally started painting the exterior of the house!

IN THE PROCESS OF GOING GREEN

BEFORE

Modern Bird Feeder

2010-04-30T18:15:00.001-07:00

I'm loving the new modern bird feeder I got from CB2! It's very mid-century modern and I love the bright orange color! I just hope the birds love it as much as I do. http://www.cb2.com/

Design It Yourself Fabric

2010-04-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

I just received samples of some fabric I designed and I'm really excited about the way it turned out! I ordered the fabric at http://www.spoonflower.com a company that prints your designs for you on fabric. I wasn't sure how good it was going to turn out but the colors came out almost exactly as my design! Look for new creations coming soon at my Etsy shop using this fabric! http://www.etsy.com/shop/amyburkhart

Windows, windows, windows

2010-04-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

Since the start of February we have been working almost every weekend stripping, repairing and painting all the original windows to our 1940 cottage. It is hard, hard work but the results are worth it! We didn't have much of a choice, there were so many layers of paint and the paint had cracked or was chipping away revealing the bare wood. At least half of the window sash cords were broken as well so we have been repairing these as we go too. It's nice to have windows that don't need to be propped up with a stick! We now have just 5 windows left and I can't wait to move on to painting the rest of the house, it's going to be a dramatic change!

Original windows in our 1940 cottage. Paint is peeling and cracking off the windows. There are at least 5 layers of paint on these windows.

The windows all had to be removed and stripped. The window panes and surrounding pieces also all had to be stripped, primed and painted.

Window after it's been fully refinished. The green color is one of the colors we are considering painting the house.

Living & Dining Room Makeover

2010-04-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

Before we moved into our new house the first thing we decided to do was to have all the wood floors refinished and install a matching new hardwood floor in the second bedroom which was the only room in the house that had carpet. The house use to be a one bedroom but somebody enclosed the attached patio, turning into a 2 bedroom but never installed hardwood flooring. The floors came out so beautiful, it was money well spent! This has been the only job besides plumbing that we haven't done ourselves and I think it was a good idea to leave it to the professionals. The floors receive so many compliments!

Once the floors were dry we went in and painted the living and dining room before the move in. After looking at a hundred different shades of grey we chose the color below. You would never think grey to be a very warm color but I just love it! It feels warm and inviting all day and night long! We chose a lighter grey for the ceiling which really brings out the white trim detail.

Living Room Before

Dining Room Before

Living Room After

The floors are so shiny!

Dining Room After

Modern Throw Pillows!

2010-04-20T09:38:00.001-07:00

Since the purchase of our new home I've had some difficulty in finding certain items the suit our taste. One of these items was throw pillows. So I searched and searched for fabrics that I liked and made my own! Now you can purchase these same pillows at my etsy shop!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/amyburkhart

Our first house!

2010-04-20T09:07:00.000-07:00

Six months ago we purchased our first home in San Diego, CA. It is a tiny, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 820sq. ft. 1940 cottage that needed a little TLC. Overall the house is in great condition, it just needed some love. I've been meaning to blog about our progress but between work, creating new items for my Etsy shop FindersKeepers http://www.etsy.com/shop/amyburkhart and working on the house I just haven't had the time but now finally I'm making the time! Here are photos of the house before we did any work. I'll be posting the progress we have made so far soon!

1940 820 sq ft. Cottage

LIVING ROOM

DINING ROOM

BATHROOM

MASTER BEDROOM

SECOND BEDROOM

OUR TEENY TINY KITCHEN