ikea dollhouse furniture

On Wednesday I browsed the new section on the IKEA website and one of the first things I saw was this set of tiny dollhouse furniture. So cute! I want it even though I don't need it. All items that are part of this set are from IKEA's regular sized furniture collection.

Happy Friday and hope you get to enjoy the long weekend! I will have to start clearing out the guest bedroom as it has become more of a storage room lately, in order to store some of the stuff away I will have to reorganize the basement. Sounds like fun...not! Do you have plans for the long weekend?

1. lack side table 2. klippan sofa 3. expedit shelf 

4. stockholm rug 5. pillow 6. ikea ps lounge chair

mini makeover Vl - spray painted lamp base

I know you are waiting for the photos of the finished dresser, I did take a bunch last weekend but there were so many of them that I was not able to make a decision which ones to include in the post yet. Instead I am showing you a table lamp I bought at an estate sale a while back, which was pretty much picked clean because it was the last day of the sale. One of the few items left was the lamp base, it didn't look like much and I was able to get it for a couple of dollars. The metal parts were in rough condition but I really liked the white glass pieces and thought a bit of spray paint could take care of the rest. I still had black satin spray paint on hand and got right to work, not really taking good before pictures, just some I snapped with my phone so I could look at them for reference when putting the lamp base back together. Because I did not trust the old wiring I ordered new cloth covered cable on Etsy, the new lamp shade I found at Target. On the before pictures you can see that two pieces were made out of wood but they were not the same kind of wood, which lead me to the decision to paint the upper wooden part as well and I am glad I did because I like the one wooden piece in contrast to all the black and white. This was my first rewiring project, I am somewhat scared of all things that involve electricity but it was much easier than I thought, a piece of cake actually. Have you ever rewired something?

week thirty four

Good morning week thirty five, good bye week thirty four! Today I am still recovering from the rafting trip we took on Saturday. Even though it was just a lazy river, paddling in the sun all day left me exhausted in the evening. We started our trip near the picturesque town of Frenchtown, NJ, where we stopped afterwards for food, drinks and a little bit of chair shopping. When you see the photos of the river below you might think we were the only ones floating around but it was actually quite busy on the river. We have done similar trips at a different location twice before but this time they were already booked so we chose this one instead. What a fun day, I can highly recommend it if you live near a river to explore your area from the water. Our tour took us around 4 hours, with a little pit stop at the floating hot dog stand and some lounging on a deserted  island. Last night I rewired an old table lamp that I purchased at an estate sale a while back, a post about its transformation will follow soon. What were you up to this weekend? Any plans for the upcoming week? I am still working on getting the house ready for our visitors in September. And on Thursday I will see The Book of Mormon, I received it as a gift from P today and am looking forward to finally see the show.

NYoy - voice tunnel at summer streets

As you might have already read and seen in my week thirty three recap P and I with a lot of other New Yorkers and out-of-towners alike took over Park Avenue and Lafayette Street, which were closed to car traffic on three consecutive Saturdays in August from 7am to 1pm. A total of seven miles is being utilized for bikes and pedestrians during Summer Streets, from Brooklyn Bridge up to 72nd Street. Throughout the route there were rest stops, activities, arts and performances. We decided that we wanted to see the Voice Tunnel by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer in the Park Avenue Tunnel, it was the first time it was open to pedestrians for this event. Because the Summer Streets website informed us that the lines for this event close at 11:30am we got there shortly after 10am and the line was huge but moved in a steady pace and about an hour later we entered the tunnel. Inside the tunnel was another line for people who wanted their voices echoing through the tunnel. The voices influenced the intensity of the 300 theatrical spotlights positioned in the tunnel, sometimes it was pretty dim and then as the voices grew louder the light got brighter. We skipped the line for the intercom, after waiting to get in we didn't feel like getting in line again and I also didn't want to hear my own voice echoing from the walls of the tunnel. It was a great experience nonetheless and of course I took way too many photos, none of the intercom you could speak into though, but Tina over at Life in Sketch did.

What are your plans for the weekend? I am looking forward to a three day weekend as I took Monday off. Tomorrow we will be going rafting with a group of friends and on Sunday I might work on one of my projects. Monday is my birthday, I do not have any plans yet and will just do what I feel like that day...Happy weekend!

estate sale finds - stool

My latest estate sale find is definitely in the category one man's trash is another man's treasure. That Sunday I went to two sales, both were picked clean and I was pretty bummed out that I couldn't snag a cheap big pot. Getting a pot for cleaning up the hardware of the old door I stripped was the only reason we went to the sales, luckily they were in close proximity to each other. Then I saw the stool and although the seat was broken I had a vision of making my own seat for it. I already bought some rope and am playing around with ideas. Once the stool is finished it will make an appearance in the mini makeover category. At the same sale they had an old workbench that would have made an amazing island in someones kitchen but it was too big for our car so it had to stay behind. Maybe I need to invest in a van or a trailer? ;) Still looking for a cheap pot though, might have to try Target or other places because I want to hang the door again before my parents arrive next month. Is anyone else working on a cool project? I know that Christine of The Plumed Nest is working on the desk she found on the curb. Can't wait to see what she did with it.

week thirty three

Week thirty was a busy one, almost every evening after work I worked on the dresser for the living room and this weekend is was finally ready. I even polished the old brass hardware. Love the brass in contrast with the dark wood. We moved the dresser into the living room on Saturday, still need to take good pictures for the blog though. It is standing on the right side of the fireplace and now it is super obvious that the other side of the fireplace needs some attention as well. Another project for my ever growing to-do list ;) Saturday we managed to go to the last day of summer streets in New York: On three Saturdays in August, 7 miles of streets were closed for traffic, and you could bike or walk uninterrupted from Brooklyn Bridge to 72nd street. We walked from 32nd street to 72nd street and back. After our  1.5 hours walk I was pretty pooped, not sure how many miles we walked but it felt like a lot. The Voice Tunnel was part of the summer streets but I took so many photos it'll deserve its own post at the end of the week. Of course a weekend is nothing without some good cake and on Sunday I stopped by the Old German Bakery in Hoboken with my friend Ms. K. I hat a super delicious cheese crumb cake and a Quarkball, thinking about it makes me hungry again...How was your week/weekend? Have a great week thirty four!

keep calm

The last two days I was busy oiling and finishing the dresser for our living room, so there will not be a real post today. Hope I will be back on track on Friday. I am trying to make Keep Calm and Get Things Done my motto for the rest of the year. It feels so good to cross things off the list, especially when they have been on the to-do list for so long like the dresser. It took me two years to finish it. Actually it is not fully finished yet, I still have to polish the hardware and we have to carry it to its final location in the living room. There will be a post about the whole process and the new set up in the living room soon. Happy hump day everyone!

week thirty two

Another week has flown by, so fast that I totally forgot to post on Friday. Ooops! Saturday we went to relax at the beach with a group of friends and had dinner on the boardwalk in Asbury Park. I washed down the food with a delicious cucumber and gin concoction, so good. On Sunday I got a little closer to my goal to finishing the dresser for the living room before mid September. The body, as well as the legs got another round of sanding and by the end of the day I was able to stain all the pieces. Now I only have to oil the whole shebang and I will be done.Trying to knock that out this week while watching tv in the evenings, so I can start the next project on my list. Talking about my to-do list this weekend I added another project to it, as if I don't have enough already. I found a little stool at an estate sale. Originally I just stopped by the sale because I needed an old pot to use for stripping the hardware of the old door I am still working on. I want to give the crockpot method I found on This Old House a try. Will definitely let you know if it works or not. This past weekend was the perfect mixture of work and play but next time I should work on Saturday and relax on Sunday, my arms are still sore from sanding like a maniac and I could have used the extra day to recuperate. What was your weekend like? In any case here is to another great week and crossing projects off to-do lists!

instagram obsession

In April 2012 Instagram was finally available for my Android phone and I have been hooked ever since. Before that I have already admired the Instagram photos of other people and have envied that they were able to order Stickygrams. Now I can order my own Stickygrams, a mini booklet with all my shots or even a little projector with my images. There are so many great ways to display your Instagram pictures or any kind of photos actually. Another great idea is to make a memory game out of it like Fluxi did with her vacation photos. If you browse the Internet there are so many great diy ideas floating around that it's hard to try them all. Not sure what way I will go, if I will be able to reach a decision with all these great options to choose from. Have you printed out some of your Instagram pictures or any photos lately? I kind of miss having paper photos...

1. imagesnap tiles 2. projecteo 3. stickygram 4. stitchtagram

5. tinybook 6. poster 7. ixxi 8. canvaspop

week thirty one

Judging from my Instagram photos the past week was dominated by work and food. So on Friday I had organized Cronuts to be delivered to a client. Unfortunately we didn't get the amount we had hoped for and all Cronuts were delivered to the client. They looked and smelled delicious, apparently this months flavor is coconut, I had a hard time not to bite into one. On Saturday I sanded the door and it is now ready to get a coat of matte polyurethane finish, next is getting the hinges stripped off all the paint so I can rehang the door. I also started working on a dresser again, which we got through Craig's List two years ago. Cannot believe that I took a break that long. Two years ago I already stripped most paint of it and gave it a good sanding. Two more rounds of sanding this weekend and I was able to stain the drawers. Hopefully I will be able to work on the dresser again next weekend, maybe even finish it. The dresser will become our new TV stand in the living room, the old one is a rickety old thing from IKEA that has been past its prime for years but we did not want to buy anything new because we still had a humungous old TV sitting on it. Now the TV has been replaced with a modern flat screen one and it's finally time to upgrade the whole setting. All the hard work was compensated by a delicious bowl of pasta at Vapiano and a backyard bbq at a friend's place. Have you noticed the plates and napkins straight from the 80ies? How was your weekend like?

Have a great start into week 32!

shop 'til you drop - h&m

Well actually I didn't really shop, just filled my virtual shopping cart and never pulled the trigger. As you might have heard already yesterday H&M opened their online store and in addition to their clothes they are now selling their home line. Finally! Have you browsed through the store yet? Are you like me and filled the shopping cart to the brim? I think I might have to buy two of the pillows from the first image, other than that my shopping will stay virtual, at least for now.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

1. pillow 2. throw 3. storage basket 4. towels 5. toothbrush holder 

6. hangers 7. vase 8. wooden box