Thursday's Unique Picks - Paint Chip Off The Old Block

Do you dabble...

Gorgeous vintage artist palette brooch and earring set from Seaside Studio on etsy.

Have you experienced the Joy of Painting?

This great handmade felt Bob Ross finger puppet from abbeychristine's etsy shop, might be just the thing to inspire you to paint those happy little trees.

Now I am not talking about landscapes or still-life today, I am talking about kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms... you get the picture. Please note that you don't have to be an artist to be a painter, especially when it comes to this week's Unique finds from etsy sellers.

Fantastic vintage French Trade Sign for a Painter sign from Invisible Gallery on etsy.

Porquoi all the interest in the Joys of Painting this week? 

Adorable vintage "painter's tray" from five6seven8's etsy shop

Two reasons:

Reason 1: I have been contemplating painting the walls in my own kitchen.

Reason 2: Curiosity over something I saw in a bar last week (I bet you are curious now too).

I am still in the planning phase with giving my kitchen a fresh coat...picking the color, finding the time, yada yada.

Color choice is quite a process for me, even if I am just choosing neutrals. I often hang the chips on my walls (sometimes for weeks) to help me with the decision (obsess much?).  I even once hosted a party at my house and was in the middle of choosing a new  wall color in my bathroom. I had the chips hung up in the bathroom and asked my guests to vote on their favorite shade. Wack-o.

Picking the color is my favorite part though, I just LOVE paint chip color cards. I still can't believe home improvement stores let you have them for free. 

These paint color cards can not only inspire a room's color, but they have inspired these awesome finds.

Wear the chips fall...handmade necklace from inky.strings on etsy upcycled from paint swatches.

These cheerful hang tags from BETTESBUTTONS on etsy were created using recycled paint swatches.

Even if your walls are neutrally colored, these terrific paint chip inspired placemats from Avril Loreti's etsy shop will surely add a unique punch of color to your space.

Fun with color aside, you will not get very far if you don't have the right tools to get the job done.

Grab that bucket of paint and get to work. 

Brush up on your painting skills with this vintage industrial brush from BD Vintage on etsy.

A little boost for the vertically challenged folk like myself, with this great cottage chic vintage metal painters ladder from TheOrangeCollective's etsy shop. Even if you aren't painting, it would make a neat plant stand or occasional table in your cottage chic home.

If you want to paint like a professional though, you may want to "look" like a professional painter. 

Which leads me to the second thing that inspired this weeks topic. 

What did I see in that bar? Curiosity killing you?

I saw a painter all dressed up in his white painters uniform. Yeah sorry, not a very exciting bar story. 

Someone I was with posed an interesting question to me though, "Why do painters wear white?".

My reply: "Painters traditionally wear white so you can see their level of expertise. If they have lots of paint on them they are probably pretty messy".

Sounds pretty convincing right? Yeah, it turns out that I totally made that up or believed that statement from someone else that totally made it up, and just relayed it to my parents.

The REAL reason that painters wear white:

 Unfortunately, I wasn't able to track down one concrete reason but found a variety of theories:

1. ...."it began in the early 20th century when union painters adopted white as their uniform to set themselves aside from non-union workers. The union guys used to wear white clothes with black neckties as a symbol of their professionalism."
2. ...."the most common color painters deal with is white, and they also deal with a lot of other white stuff such as plaster and spackle, so they wear white clothes so the splotches don't show."
3. ...."painters use to mix 50 lbs of "White lead powder" with a can of paint paste in order to make about 2 gallons of paint. The mixing process produced large amounts of white dust and to hide the dust on themselves the painters wore white."

Thanks Askville, for these fascinating answers to my exciting question.

Image from The Three Stooges movie Tassels In The Air found on the Three Stooges website.

Don't be a stooge, dress for painting success. No one ever said a painters white suit couldn't be cute...

Stylin' white vintage jumpsuit prefect for painting in, found in Ms. Tips etsy shop.

See what I mean, You don't have to be an artist to be a painter, nor do you have to actually be painting anything to be inspired by these sweet finds from etsy sellers!

The ultimate color splash, no paint required! Beautiful handmade original mixed media using fabrics to create this artwork  from Bright Shine on etsy.

Thursday's Unique Picks - Uncork the Possibilities

This week’s Unique Picks is brought to you by the material known as cork.

This natural material isn’t just great for stopping wine bottles, It is quite functional in the home and can be potentially fashionable as well.

A minor bathroom renovation in my home inspired this week’s topic…

Because I strongly dislike linoleum I urged the hubby to install a lovely tile floor in the bathroom. Small space, simple enough right? Done. 

We used to be stoners in the bathroom.

We chose a natural stone…that I naturally thought looked really nice, but unfortunately within a year or so of installing it, as with many DIY home projects, naturally there was bound to be some issues. There are so many possibilities as to why the grout began to crumble and the tiles started popping up. I could blame the contractor for mixing sub-par quick set and grout…but I love him and would really like to get my bathroom sink out of my living room. We lived with the crumbling tiles, grout etc. for quite a while, made attempts to reattach some of the loose tiles, but realizing that we were fighting a losing battle, decided that we just had to make yet another flooring change. The final push through, to get the old tile up was when we discovered there was a leak coming from our toilet. In order to repair the leak the tiles had to all come up. 

Boo leak! Happy new floor! The joys of owning a home. Enter cork. 

We are now going to be corkers. 

One of the bonuses of having a cork floor, is that if your house floods you will have a built in flotation device.

We decided to try something a little different and went with cork flooring.

Now it hasn’t been installed yet, the contractor told me that the flooring needs to sit in the room for 48 hours to acclimate before being installed. It has now been 120 hours…I am pretty sure the cork tiles are feeling right at home in the bathroom and are ready to be installed. 

My future cork floor, acclimating in the bathroom.

 With cork on the brain and not on my bathroom floor I set out to find some pretty awesome items from etsy sellers that are not only cool but corky!

Corky accents for the home...

Bringing cork to light. This vintage modern lamp from Sixty to Seventy's etsy shop combines the natural texture of cork with modern sleek chrome.

Handmade recycled cork and wood bud vase found in Erde Designs' etsy shop.

Rustic yet sophisticated handmade floating shelves from WaterDrop WorkShop on etsy, was created using reclaimed wood and repurposing wine bottle corks. Gee, I think it would stink to have to drink all of those bottles of wine in order to collect the corks for these great shelves.

Delightful decorative reclaimed cork bowl from DMFD's etsy shop, has a durable pop colored painted interior.

The corky host will use...

Don't sweat it, these adorable vintage apple shaped coasters with useful cork inserts from Raemj's etsy shop, will protect your furniture from those undesirable glass rings.

Divine cork decorated Mid Century ice bucket from Radically Retro on etsy.

Cork stoppers are not just for wine bottles. When you are done pigging out, you can keep your snacks fresh in this handmade pig jar with cork snout stopper from paulaware's etsy shop.

Organize it and keep it corky

Cube shaped cork revolving vintage desktop organization for your cubical from Ugly Santa's etsy shop.

This great vintage find from Blue Butterfly Vintage on etsy, is so much more than your average cork board. It also features little hooks for hanging, a pocket for stashing mail and of course a hooter-ific carved owl decoration.

Wine may wind you down, but these handmade upcycled cork spools from Blue Pearls etsy shop, will wind you up! What a super idea for storing and organizing your trims, yarns or ribbons.

Stylish storage from Print Party's etsy shop. These handmade cork baskets with colorful printed "nice" pattern could practically store anything. When they aren't being used, they fold flat so you can easily store them!

Accessories to highlight your natural corky personality

 This handmade ring from kimquinndotcom on etsy needs no bling to stand out. It has a unique design that features a section of cork mounted on a half band, that gives this piece a natural yet modern look.

Browse about town in these fab vintage wedge sandals from school of vintage on etsy. The cork used in these wedges may be faux but they are truly stylin'.

An amazing vintage cork tote bag from OmniaWears etsy shop for you to fill up with all of these unique corky finds!

I am pretty sure that these fantastic finds from etsy sellers will have you feeling like quite the corker!

Thursday's Unique Picks- Need A Handyman?

I don't care how new your house may be,

the day will come that it will need some sort of repair.

Illustrated book cover, "Your Dream Home, How To Build It For Less" By Hubbard Cobb, Sigman - Ward Illustrators, 1950.

Now my home is no spring chicken, but it really isn't an antique gem either. Let's put it this way, if I were to list it on etsy it could be found in the vintage section. Like many vintage items, from time to time it has condition issues that require a handy man. As luck would have it I happened to marry a pretty good one!

Part of my personal vintage collection, Cover to Better Homes & Gardens, Handyman's Book, published 1957

Not my tool box, but another fantastic vintage tool box found in Turtles Creek Originals etsy shop.

Fact: The hubby's nick name in college was "Toolbox".

Why?...Why not?

This is too funny. Vintage "Tool" belt buckle from Shabylull Island on etsy. It would be a great gift for someone with a hearty sense of humor, or for someone who may take pride in this title.

Just because he has a lot of tools, it doesn't mean that he is one. He is a very good boy.

See he's laughing. Image from Better Homes & Gardens Handyman's Book.

I am always in awe of the types of things he is able to fix and update around the house. On the flip side, I am also in awe of the amount of time it tends to take to complete said projects. We are not talking months folks, we are talking years...but when the projects are complete, wow are they awesome!

(I really shouldn't complain though, I can't do this kind of stuff. It would be a disaster.)

Even kids can do it...why can't I use the tools. This awesome vintage child's tool set and box was found in Flat Tire Vintage's etsy shop. You need to read the seller's description of this listing. This set has a great back story.

Now I am not writing this post to publicly shame the hubby into completing some of things on his "honey do" list. He actually suggested that I do some picks based on the subject of home repair, because he likes that kind of stuff. Done. Finding unique pieces on this subject from great etsy sellers is more my department.

So are you ready...?

let's

This ultra awesome printed canvas patch was found in Barton Artel!'s etsy shop.

Do you have the right tools to get the job done?

A lot of little fun from 3MontanaGirls etsy shop. This is a set of miniature plastic handyman tools. Just the right size for crafty creations.

These picks may not be the first ones you grab for when attempting a home repair, but what they lack in functionality they make up for in character and would be unique pieces of decor in your home!

Vintage hand drill from suesuegonzalas's etsy shop.

I love the color and look of this but can only imagine trying to get the hubby to complete a project using something like this. Electricity is awesome.

Lovely vintage screwdriver from AlicesLookingGlass on etsy.

Can a screwdriver be pretty? This one is.

I am picturing the hubby's eyes rolling out of his head as he reads this.

Vintage wood handle saw in  from lost to found's shop.

I saw this and thought it was too cool. And I just saw your eyes rolling...

Set of vintage wood levels from Richard and Ruthie's etsy shop

If I am being on the level with you guys, I usually just eyeball most of my projects so these levels would definitely be just decorative in my home.

Vintage porcelain hammer shaped bottle from Nostalgic Treasures' etsy shop.

What a tricky find. A bottle shaped like a hammer. Fill it with your favorite liquor and it could be "Get Hammered Time".

 So here is a little something I came across while leafing through our September 2010 issue of This Old House magazine. (Yes we are subscribers and we may be a bit a lot nerdy) In the "Ask This Old House" section I was a little shocked by this person's inquiry...

Please see photo below... do you know what they are? I am a girl and have the tiniest bit of tool knowledge and I found it hard to believe that I instantly knew what these were...

This Old House magazine, September 2010. page 113

 Sorry sir, I hope I haven't embarrassed you, but haven't you seen old cartoons. You know when they get whacked in the head with a mallet! SO maybe I don't know all of the specifics on what mallets are supposed to be used for but geez...

What's this? Get your own mystery tool and stump your pals.

This great looking vintage wood mallet from Moxi Thrift on etsy.

Currently on our home's repair list...

After years of begging and maybe a few threats, the slate tiles were laid and grouted by the Hubby.

What is missing?

1.Base boards.

Hope this helps. Page 318 from one of my recent vintage purchases, Your Dream Home - How to Build It for Less.

Kudos to hubby though, for trying to convince me a few weeks ago that the "no baseboard" trend will catch on in the design world.

Antique tape measure found in Unfinished Business' etsy shop.

Measure twice, cut once...so I have heard. Hope that helps.

Don't worry Mr. Toolbox, I will help with the painting.

I love this illustration titled, "Do-over" from The D.A.D (Drawing A Day) Project on etsy. Not only do they have fantastic drawings in their shop, but they are donating a portion of each sale to cancer research.

2. Replace Light Fixture in entry way...
because we recently discovered the one that is currently there may be a bit of a fire hazard.
(so maybe this one will move up to item number one on the list)

One of our home's original 1970's vintage details. I am kind of bummed because I actually liked it.

The good news is that in our Better Homes & Gardens Handyman's Book  from 1957, there is a chapter on Plumbing and wiring.

Before you start thinking I am a big mean wife...I did not buy this book. This was one of the Hubby's vintage finds. So there.

I did find a few really awesome light fixtures to include in this week's Unique Picks.
(well more than a few but I had to narrow them down to my favorites)

I love this vintage 1970's metal floral light from Tialey Vintage on etsy.
I am a girl. I like girly things. The hubby may not be too keen on this for the entryway though.

Upcycled awesomeness from Boots N Guts on etsy.
Not only is it a great looking light fixture but it may also be used to keep your left overs fresh!

This set may be easier for him to swallow on a daily basis...
I personally think it is playful, stylish and innovative.

Mid century modern magic from Sugarlily's etsy shop.

This is only a hunch, but I think that this would be hubby's pick.

Afraid to tackle lighting? You can get your own copy of Better Homes & Gardens Handyman's Book from red truCK treasures on etsy, to ease you into this fix.

If you don't have time to turn pages in a book, this vintage pick might be the right choice for you. The Wheel of Home Repair from Vintage Home Recycled on etsy.

Illustration from Better Homes & Gardens Handyman's Book.

I don't know if I have really inspired you to dive right into those home improvement projects, but maybe I have tempted you with some rustic and handy looking decor!
If anyone asks why the home projects aren't complete, point to those vintage tools and say,
"I can't be expected to work with that".