living with style and humor

Entries in decorating (3)

Thursday

04Mar2010

Vintage gameboards on my living room wall, before and after

Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 3:24AM

after, game boards

I have been collecting these vintage games for quite a while. I haven't spent more than maybe ten bucks on any of them so they are quite affordable to collect by my standards.
Within ten minutes of moving to Portland I put the matching gameboards on the picture shelf of my dining room but I never did anything with the boxes which were arguably cooler. Last week I decided to ditch a gold mirror (see below in the "before" picture) and sold it Craigslist pretty quickly. I replaced the ratty Angela Adams rug with this gigantic shag rug from Target that cost a mere $150! We were surprised when the bright rug opened up the room so nicely and it almost never looks dirty because it's so texturized. My vintage click back sofa (in my favorite color) cost me $220. (See one of my very first posts about looking for the perfect sofa here.) Coffee table and side table cost me $110. Orange phone $2. I can't brag about the lamps being especially thrifty, these were pretty pricey and I had them leftover from Hello Martha's Vineyard.

Click on any picture to enlarge.

	There are almost too many Winner Spinners out there to buy.
	Rich Uncle game is pretty easy to buy on Ebay.
I love these colors.
These Junior Executive Games are my favorites

These boards have been displayed in my dining room for a while.

This cool spinner just makes me smile.
I decided to use these vintage Bingo cards to make promotion pads for Run Like a Girl Design

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Stacey K |

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Wednesday

14Oct2009

Nifty Picks, Hot Designer Chicks and damn... Fiona's sick

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 5:18PM

re-nest.com featured this pretty ensemble from the home AB Chao

While I was working on my NiftyPicks I found my Ikea table on a website that was featuring a very hip chick from Lousiana named AB Chao. She has both a blog and a Flicker feed that could suck up a lot of of my precious time. She's also snarky enough that her writing doesn't blow.

Stacey's Picks 10/13/09

Pottery Barn Teen chandelier was $199, now $49 After I got kicked out of Forever 21 for shoplifting, I went home to stare at my Zac Ephron poster and flat-iron my hair. Later I decided to surf Pottery Barn Teen. This chandelier was a remarkable $199, and I tried to imagine what teenager needed a $200 chandelier. $49 is much more reasonable price so scoop it up...

Infinity Retro Orange Wall Clock was $31.99, now $19.99 I actually have this clock and it's super cool. It was $31.99 and is now at Target for $19.99. If you buy it on the (right side) of this Amazon link,I get a little credit so I can buy tonic for the vodka a friend left in my freezer.

Retro rip-off shelf was $28, now $19.99 I have a vintage version of this in my basement and now I'm inspired to paint it and put it in Piper's room for her endless array of crappy trinkets. If you are (a normal person and) maybe too busy to visit a local thrift store and sand and spray paint one of your very own, then this might actually be worth $19.99 at the notoriously shameless Urban Outfitters.

Great tins to hide your weed were $38, now a far more reasonable $19.99 These Sunshine Canister Racks at U.O. could hold lots of things, like spices, office supplies, bathroom crap or seeds in your potting shed! If they were $8 I would ditch the canisters and use the shelf alone which I bet would look pretty cool. You know I say "cool" too much, maybe I should upgrade to "f@#cking cool".

Magazine Butler and multi-colored magnetic strips at threebythree.com Three by Three pretty much invented these cool magnetic strips and wall organizers. I carried them at Hello the day I opened till the day I closed and I'm pretty sure (and embarrassed that) I still owe them money. The least I can do is say how much I use them and love them. We have one in the kitchen for the kid's stupid notices from school and I have a couple at work for more crap I don't want to look at. Buy yours here and 3 x 3 will make twice as much money selling directly to you (and I can feel a little less guilty for closing my store.)

Folding table at Ikea $49 The MUDDUS drop-leaf table comes in three colors. I have a red one and I use it for barbeques, laptop tables, or an extra table for crafting. I like the yellow better right now because I love all things yellow for the moment.

A veritable plethora of three by three magnetic boards. This is where the nifty magic happens (click to enlarge). If you live nearby, come on up and buy me lunch (or a drink at least).

Mr. Meathead tried to distract me from the endless phone calls from Hollywood looking for the movie rights to my novel idea: "Men are Assholes, Women are from Venus". He actually bought me the Little Lark pillow that I crooned about on 10/1. What about the Vulva Pendant Charm? This is just more proof that he doesn't really know me. Meanwhile, Fiona, the self-declared Ed McMahon of the Blog World, is suffering from a terrible flu so you can send her your get well greetings at twitter (@fionagirl). Go figure, she makes my son a bunch of cupcakes for his birthday last week and I end up in the emergency room with a mask on for four hours. I am a good friend DAMMIT!! Stupid Fiona and her flu.

Stacey K |

The prettiest bag lady in Portland

Friday, September 18, 2009 at 2:39PM

Jane's showing off her new fall/winter collection which is a darker palette than her typically vibrant bags you see over the shoulders of Portland's hippest gals. If you're lucky enough to live in Portland, Jane Raymond has a trunk show tomorrow at Soho Boutique on Broadway from noon to 3 pm. Jane Raymond's bags are so popular in Portland that she can't keep up. I don't eat red meat so I tend to go crazy for bags that aren't made of leather. Jane's bags are made of vinyl and I love them because you can clean them easily and they are rain and kid resistant.
I met Jane maybe two years ago when I asked if I could sell her stuff in the now defunct Hello store and we struck up a friendship when she moved to my neighborhood.
I can't talk her into a website because she can't make these babies fast enough. She sells pocket-size purses, coin pouches and eyeglass cases for as little as $20 and her more sophisticated bags rarely cost more than $80 and average around $60. To keep her prices low, she has to sew these herself so if you are lucky enough to get one of her bags (I have 6), consider it a bargain and a treasure.

I started my first post promising not to blow sunshine up anyone's ass, and this particular entry reeks of sunshine because Jane is so talented and her house and her bags are so fabulous. But I am happy to report it's all authentic and this is not the gal you might expect to snub you at the playground. Jane is a down-to-earth, thrifty and nifty creative goddess, and she deserves some kudos for putting it all together with so much style.

Here's Jane's house, and the reason I am featuring it is two-fold. The nexus of this article was inspired by an amazing inquiry from a famous national magazine. After blogging only two weeks, I was surprised to see anything in my blog's inbox from anyone besides the IRS. The unnamed magazine asked me if I knew anyone cool they could feature, and if so, there might be some work in it for me. Jane was my first stop (out of a few more to come.)

Jane's house is a bit of a paradox for niftyliving readers. It doesn't look "nifty" or "thrifty", it just looks just too damn good! But it is. Jane is an artisan, and like myself dabbles in just about every art and craft you can think of. The more we talked about the details of the house that were too intimidating to analyze in the past, the more I realized that her amazing decor was about 30% retail expense, 30% thrift and ingenuity and 40% elbow grease. Surprisingly, Jane was not a cover girl in her youth, she was painting houses with her sister in Michigan and she painted her house (here in Portland) all by herself with the same techniques she invented in the past. On top of that, I think she made every beautiful lamp downstairs herself. And her most remarkable furniture pieces were pieces that she painted herself! I knew that a lot of the artwork on the walls was hers, but she explained a lot of the art was her kids (it doesn't get more affordable than that!)

I promised Jane I wouldn't take her picture too often because for some bizarre reason she doesn't love to have her picture taken but if I looked like Jane I'd pose naked on the internet every day.

Family photos are displayed on two peices of sheet meatl she picked up at the hardware store

Family photos are displayed on two pieces of sheet metal she picked up at the hardware store.

2 girls and 2 boys. Surprise! They're good-looking too!

Dining room features luminous curtains she made from $3 a yard sale fabric.

Jane's bag matches the room (entirely by accident)

But the pieces I like best are the furniture pieces she painted herself.

And the ceramic lamps she made herself.

And the harloquin textured walls she painted herself

And the harlequin textured walls she painted herself.

Funky lime entryway is juxtaposed with traditional, preppy paintings...

with a sculptured lamp (that Jane made, uhg) that throws the prettiest reflections

with a sculptured lamp that throws the prettiest reflections.

Going upstairs...

Her daughter's room was a cross between a girlie-gasm and a DIY masterpeice

Her daughter's room was a cross between a girlie-gasm and a DIY masterpiece.

Dresser hand painted by Jane.

And the art was created by her daughter (some cool hybrid of ceramics and sharpie markers.) Jane painted the walls with pretty blue swirls over a lavender background.

I have always wanted one of these "Summer Lights" by Artecnica (an old and very cool vendor of mine). Artecnica

Jane's sister hand painted their comforter covers (which means she has a lot of extra time on her hands.)

I snuck a picture of the bathroom with another great handmade lamp by Jane.

On the 3rd floor we quickly redecorated to make the space look enviously cool.the

On the 3rd floor we quickly redecorated to make the space look enviously cool. Oh shit, I also promised Jane I wouldn't show her rear.

I can't wait for Jane to go on vacation d=so i can break in and steal this cool sign.

I can't wait for Jane to go on vacation so I can break in and steal this cool sign.

Jane's childhood dollhouse had deteriorated into a guineapig pen. She cleaned it up and repainted every detail herself for her daughters.

Jane's childhood dollhouse had deteriorated into a guinea pig pen by the time she was a rebellious teenager. She cleaned it up and repainted every detail herself for her daughters.

Hand painted cabinet that I made look fuzzy because it was a crappy shot.

The side of her extremely patriotic garage came like this...

The side of her extremely patriotic garage was already like this when she moved in.

I love these vintage chairs and franly her rear patio was pretty cool.

I love these vintage chairs and frankly her back yard was pretty cool.

Jane showed me the grapes growing between the house and her neighbor's driveway.

Jane showed me the grapes growing between her house and her neighbor's driveway.

They were freakin' delicious.

And jane took an opportunity to show off the damn bracelt she made herself! Is there anythign this woman doesn't make? I thougtht she was going to tel

And Jane took an opportunity to show off the damn, I mean gorgeous, bracelet she made herself! Is there anything this woman doesn't make? Do you think she made those fabulous boots too?

Don't forget, if you're lucky enough to live in Portland, Jane Raymond has a trunk show tomorrow at Soho Boutique on Broadway from noon to 3 pm. If you live outside of Portland, www.tillyjane.net usually carries some of her bags but I noticed the site is temporarily down (Jane says she is replenishing tonight.) Otherwise, politely ask her if she'll mail you one herself at stylesisterstudio@yahoo.com.

Stacey K |

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