more vintage stuff.

Here are some more various vintage things we found in buffalo.

These yearbooks from 1948 and 1952 from a college for teachers. I love the covers, and the layouts inside.

I love this buffalo china platter, found at a thrift store.

We found this box of old stamps in a basement, mr Purington's basement.

this old globe still has tibet and ussr on it.

settling in.

I feel like we are starting to settle into state college. The first night we got here, I was very overwhelmed. But the town here is not intimidating like Buffalo was at first. I haven't even had to use the gps yet! We live on the main road and campus and wegmans are off that road, so I don't really have to venture far. We went to the library last night and checked out a bunch of documentaries. It has a great downtown area. It's weird to be back in a college town, students around all the time. It has a great energy to it.

We have gotten the living area somewhat arranged. That is the only place in the house really fully arranged. We haven't figured out all our knick-knacks and artwork. That will come soon. But we are really happy with it. It feels like home.

Les Bois!

Tyler and I both grew up in Boise, ID. We have fierce pride for the gem state, and Boise is a great little big city that everyone deserves to check out!

Check out design sponge for a great Boise page!

echo quilting

The newest MSL came out yesterday, and I was super excited to see the story. It was one of the projects that I got to see a lot of the creative process from beginning to end, and I got to help with the projects. Nicholas Andersen was the editor that was in charge, and he is from Hawaii so he brought back a true Hawaiian quilt from one of his trips to be in the photoshoot. I love Hawaiian quilting, and the project I worked the most on was the quilted pillow. Me and the other intern Emily spent probably 50 hours on that one pillow. By the end I spend about a week where all I would do in come into work, and hand quilt. It was really fun though, and it inpired me to want to someday hand quilt a quilt. I wasn't able to be at the photoshoot–sadly it was on location upstate.

I miss my days in NYC at Martha, it was amazing!

Before and After

We found these chairs sitting on a porch. We boldly asked the owners if we could buy them, and we did! We got them really cheap but they were in bad shape from neglect. We thought driving by that they were eames herman miller shells, but when we got up close we realized they were kruger chairs. But they were so unique!

This last weekend we went to work on the chairs. Sitting outside for who knows how long, they had absolutely no finish left on them, which meant it was bare fiberglass. So I had never even sat in them because they were itchy. They had embedded dirt, and splatters of paint and stains from water in the seats. After a surface washing, this is what they looked like.



We worked on sanding them (wet sanding so we don't get fiberglass dust in our lungs), getting the fiberglass smooth, and it also took away a lot of the stains, dirt and paint.

They looked so much better after sanding them! They have some permanent stains but they are so much better!



Tyler worked on the sealing. We used Penetrol, which restores color and conditions fiberglass. We thought that the chairs were white, but actually they are a creamy off-white, a color we never really saw. They were white after sanding, but would be a pinkish when wet. Because of sun bleaching and water stains, the color is not completely even, but they look so much better! (and they are safe to touch)



I would love to someday get them painted different colors that would make them look brand new! We still have to seal the backs, but they are almost finished.

vintage dishes.

We are trying to find vintage dishes because we don't have any since we moved cross country. We love buffalo china, which is a restaurant ware. It's think and heavy and was used in diners. We found about a dozen white mugs, but we just picked up these bowls and a plate. We are hopeful that someday we will have a whole set. It will always remind me of our time in buffalo.


Other than the white mugs I have, these are the other colors and shapes I have found.

Since I don't know when we will get a complete set, I spotted this set of 12 plates that I love. It's a J&G Meakin from england. They have a great heavy enamel feel. I can't wait to use these as our everyday dishes.

estate sale part 2

these I don't know what I'm going to do with these for sure, but I know something awesome will come up someday.

This bedspread will make an amazing quilt back.

boxes for film or slides

I have yet to pass on a bottle of vintage glitter. This is in an old vitamin bottle.

cake cases. Never heard that before! I love the type and the blue color.

lastest estate sale part 1

Lately it feels like my full time job is checking craigslist and getting stuff for our new apartment. Over the last year, I have honed my skills for the estate sale scour. I routinely find things hidden in basements, and I have found some of my greatest finds where the normal browser would overlook. This weekend, I spend about 3 hours at an estate sale that wasn't really big, but it was packed. It was the home of a couple that had no family and they saved everything I mean everything. She was a crafter that did everything from sewing, macrame, embroidery, tatting, quilling, loom beading, etc... etc...(I think it painted me a picture of my future). He was a phone repairman and his hobby was photography. And they put everything into hundreds of tiny boxes and drawers and put a label on it. And I went through almost all of them.

Lately I expressed to Tyler how I waned to learn calligraphy. These were in a cigar box in a closet. 50 cents.

Whenever I enter the home of an avid embroiderer, I always try to find these. My first oval one.

I got 3 of these to help organize my crazy thread collection.

I found a bunch of these under a table and behind boxes. These are not all of them, I bought about 15.

a steal of a deal

Tyler and I found this thrift store by chance a few months ago. It's a great one, large, and cheap. They have two different colors that are 50% off every day, compared to the one color that is 20% off at the other stores here.


Now this caught my eye immediately. I've been wanting a low dresser/credenza and this one I don't even have to refinish to have it look presentable! 50% off, only 25 dollars! score.

At this store we have seen a lot of 50's dining tables. I like them but usually they are too broken down, or the color isn't right. This one needs a little tlc, but I love the gray-blue color.

And it looks like graph paper? Sold. 50% off? 10 dollars.