LA inspiration

A few things I saw and loved and wanted to share with you. Park LaBrea is getting a pretty update that I just adored including adding new focal points on the building, adding color and acentuating the awesome doorways. Fortunately a certain dear friend of mine will be having a baby here in a month and I will have to come down to visit her. Oh darn.

duh a link to my design sponge before and after

It's a little bit back now on their site, apologies!
http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/08/before-and-after-rosemarys-chair.html

Oh my gosh, I am on Design*Sponge today!

So today after some conversations with Grace over at Design*Sponge I was so overjoyed to see I fit the bill to be shown on her fabulous website. If you haven't checked it out yet please do. There are many fun ideas of things to create, places to see, and many homes to dream living in. I hope that you visit her site and support her. I will continue to try to submit projects to her for sure.
ps. If you couldn't tell, this made my day!!!!!









*** Here's a little bio of the site if you aren't familiar (I got this off their "about" section, check out how awesome Grace is!) ***

Design*Sponge is a daily website dedicated to home and product design run by Brooklyn-based writer, Grace Bonney. Launched in August of 2004, Design*Sponge features store and product reviews, sale and contest announcements, new designer profiles, trend forecasting and store/studio tours. In addition, Design*Sponge features a unique section dedicated to covering student design, national and international design shows. The site is updated constantly throughout the day (with an average of 6-10 posts a day), and attracts a core group of devoted readers. Design*Sponge currently has over 30,000 daily readers



Design*Sponge editor Grace Bonney has a unique angle on the industry, working as a contributing editor at Domino Magazine and CRAFT magazine, and as a freelancer with top publications like House and Garden, New York Home, Food and Wine, In Style, Better Homes and Gardens, New York Magazine, CITY Magazine, Time Out New York Kids, Archinect, The New York Post, Everyday with Rachael Ray and others. In addition, she wrote a weekly design column for the Philadelphia Inquirer for two years and has worked as Style Editor of HGTV’s Ideas Magazine.
In addition, Grace has been a featured guest on Good Morning America and the Martha Stewart Radio Show and has been invited to speak with wide variety of organizations ranging from design schools to professional trade organizations. Recent engagements: “Design and the Media” (RISD, 2007), “Getting Your Work Online” (SCAD, 2007), “Design and the Internet” (AIGA, 2007), Design and Marketing Online (FIT, 2008), and Design Panel Discussion (SURTEX, 2008).
Grace also runs a national series of meetups for women running design-based businesses called the D*S Biz Lady Series. Grace hosts and speaks at these events designed to connect local designers and provide free advice on the subjects of PR/marketing, legal concerns, business/financial decisions and wholesaling. Meetings have been held in Brooklyn, Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles with 6 additional cities coming in 2008.

Patio set from start to finish

These are the after pictures of our patio set...


So this is what I started with. We needed a patio set to eat dinners outdoors on hot evenings. I didn't realize to find a nice patio set you would be paying quite a bit of money. Last week on a fun visit to a suburban thrift store we found this 3 piece set for $40, which was much less than I was thinking I was going to spend! The great thing also about this set is that it folds up so it's easy to transport in my trunk. I was sold!!! I just knew I had to use some imagination, usually in the form of color to make this piece pop.


I started by washing the set in a mild detergent to get off dust, some rust and some grease.
Next upon recommendation by my favorite Mom & Pop hardware store was told to make a 50-50 concoction of white vinegar and water and spray the set down for maximum paint stick. This helps you avoid primer! I left this outside to dry which was really quick since it was 90 degrees outside. Here I am sprayiing down the table. This photo certainly shows the rust better too.
Here's the Krylon Satin Touch in "Catalina Mist". I ended up using almost 4 cans. I was told this holds on both metal and the plastic arm rests.

Overall I am very happy with the end results and think that the small amount of paint really made this table perfect for us!~

Chihuly and S.F.

For my Mom's Birthday I took her to S.F. for the night and we did whatever she wanted, which included The De Young museum's Dale Chihuly exhibit, the Legion of Honor and lots and lots of eating. Enjoy the pictures.

xoxo Rosie

Bow Ribbons play Luna's 7.31.08

Bow Ribbons at Luna's, yes I realize I am veering off topic, but it was a really really good show.

Should I make this ottoman?

Should this be my next project? We have been in dire need of a coffee table for a long time, with a tray it would do that trick, and when we have extra guests around we'll have plenty of seating. Let me know if I should do this!

how to make the ottoman; follow the link:

http://blogs1.marthastewart.com/blueprint/2008/01/ottoman-empire.html#more

a visit to the east bay

This is Jen's bike. Okay, well one of many






Jen's Bottecchia, her prized bike.













Apartments done right.















The fabulous Clairmont Hotel

Not an ugly chair anymore

So I found this lovely little gem at a garage sale with my dear friend Darcey. Immediately we saw the simple yet elegant lines of this find and bought what was a pair. We each got one for a grand total of $4 for both. We were thrilled with the potential. In the midst of a move and planning a wedding there was much distraction for both of us for several months.

Finally one day needing the solitude and project I found myself disecting this chair in all it's glory. Chunks of pillow coming out left and right, tearing off hardened velvet that felt that it had been soft in it's heyday but had spenttoo many rainy seasons outdoors now making a sad hard sheen on the fabric. My dear mother gave me her leftover Ikea fabric from one of her projects and immediately I knew it would be a part of this chair. I love that their fabrics are thick and durable. I hate that they are so recognizable but again, trying not to spend much money I found myself digging in my bin of fabric and resorting to this. At least I must say I adore the design.

I could not take off the pillows so immediately I knew this was going to be quite the chore. I decided to paint the chair first so with a layer of black spray paint on the wicker part and layers of black shiny oil based paint I found that this chair already looked better than ever. The next chore was measuring the fabric, flipping it inside out to securing it to the bottom part of the chair (where the backs of your knees hit). With probably 50 staples from my handy staple gun I was able to secure the fabric without showing any pillow. I stuffed the rest of the fabric into the seam of the chair along the sides and back. With my sewing machine I made the stop part of the back of the chair sewing three of the four sides of a square. At this point I just covered the top part and with a flat head screwdriver shoved the excess fabric into the chair where it cannot be seen. There's a button I covered in the same fabric on the back of the chair that goes through the wicker and secures the back pillow to avoid it flopping.

Two days of labor later. It seemed like such an easy project when I started but than of course, they always do....

For future projects I will take photographs of the steps, supplies, pain (cut fingers etc) and make this a bit more interactive.

Welcome, come on in

Welcome!!!! This blog I am starting for your own viewing pleasure and well frankly my own as well. The plan is to complete projects that I can share with others who may find inspiration and enjoyment from. I make useable art out of found objects spending minimal money and making beauty out of something that was once ugly. I hope that this is fun for you, as I know it will be a lot of fun for me. Please also share your projects on here. I hope that this can grow into a forum of fun creative ideas for all.