trunk bars

So I came across a post on ReadyMade where they converted a suitcase into a rolling bar.  I love it.  It is cute, reuses something that would either end up in the dump or in someone's attic, and it serves a purpose: fun!  So I posted my interest in making one of these on my facebook profile and promptly got a response from my mom that we have a steamer trunk in the barn.  Next time she visits me she'll try packing it in the car so I can have it and do this conversion.  Awesome news!  I like to drink a bit of wine and would love to have a specific place to store unopened bottles, glasses, corkscrews, and other items.  Plus, I keep a few bottles of bourbon and this would be the ideal place to store those as well.

I couldn't remember what the steamer trunk looked like.  Mom described it to refresh my memory: "The steamer trunk is meant to stand on end and opens up -- drawers on one side and the other side is where you hang clothes. People used these years ago when they would travel on ocean liners to Europe, etc. It served as a moveable wardrobe (closet)."  So we have one with drawers!  OH fun!  I can't wait for her to visit sometime in the summer or late spring!  Maybe I will convert it to look more like this one:

pantry redesign

I was tired of bags and boxes in my pantry all jumbled up together. I've also become a little more sensitive and/or annoyed at advertising everywhere I look, so emptying my pantry of most of that "product placement" feeling makes it feel downright me.  I also have this new-found love of mason jars.  So I decided to do something about the mess and make looking in my pantry/cabinet a little more exciting to me.  As a photographer, I love to see bright colors and patterns in nature, so seeing the grains, pastas, beans, etc., through clear jars instead of hidden in rolled up bags and crushed boxes makes me happy.

I also picked up a couple brightly colored baskets from a department store.  These have little packets of spices I got at farmers' markets and soup mixes.  I still have to get some more jars; I bought 24 and I still need some for the flour and sugar.

fabric flowers, birds, turtles...

Today I attended for the first time a group of crafty people who meet, socialize, and craft on their projects at the same time.  Some were crocheting, others weaving, some making papers flowers, others collaging.  I brought fabric and paper stencils to cut out birds, turtles, butterflies, bees, and flowers.  I plan to use the spray-starch method of application to the cabinet doors in my kitchen.  For nearly a year I have had this idea in my head and I am finally getting around to doing it.  This nature-in-fabric-on-the-walls idea all started when I decided to put a tree in my living room:

Since I rent, I didn't want to actually try painting a tree on the wall only to have to repaint the walls before leaving this house, if I choose to move any time soon.  By the way, I just put a brown slipcover on the loveseat.  It looks much better now.

I have seen adhesive vinyl decals of really neat designs online, but they all were out of my budget range.  Then I learned of a friend who couldn't paint the walls in her bathroom in her rental apartment, so she applied a light-weight cotton fabric to the walls with spray starch.  Voila!  Wallpaper without the hassle, and when you move out simply spray with water, peel off the fabric, clean the walls of the residue and you're done!  So I thought, I can do this instead of purchasing vinyl decals!

Looking for some tutorials on how to do this?  Try here.  Someone tried out a mod design on a door. Or check out ohdeedoh's How To: Make Fabric Wall Silhouettes.  Strange how I didn't see these pages back in December 2008 when I created the tree in my living room.