i collect vol. 6: Sketch ups

My favorite kind of art

aside from the kind I make myself

or the encaustic kind I covet

from Planet Janet

consists of sketches.

Primarily of  places I've been

Goodwill find 2.99

and of course of places I want to go

Sisters Antique Shop find 8.00

I wish I could draw. 

I used to be married to an artist

he couldn't really draw either though

Sought and Found | Driftwood

Did you happen to know that collecting driftwood

on many WA state beaches that you might normally frequent

(ie, those that are maintained by Seattle Parks and Rec)

is illegal?

But that collecting driftwood on WA beaches in general

(outside of Seattle and the many other muni codes you may run into)

is okay?

Well, I'm a law abiding gal

Who mostly hangs out in Seattle

So I didn't think I would press my luck.

Although for the longest, I have wanted to come up with something like this

Gorgeous photos of a WA cabin I almost stayed at

Taken by a great blogger that I follow

but, for the life of me, cannot now peg these photos to

I suggest you visit all 20ish of the blogs listed over there ----->

for more eyecandy like this

And if they are your photos

please (let me know)

and thank you

(for adding another obssession to my list of must haves)

So when I was in Goodwill (over by Southcenter)

the other day

I was on their massive wood and wire basket isle

and my eye spotted this

in the hands of a child

Goodwill $10 Challenge, Bag of sticks

What in all hell would a kid want with a bag of sticks?

Thankfully, her mother had no clue either.

She hollared for that child to put down the bag of sticks

And I may have tripped over someone's cart

whilst making a mad dash to grab it up.

I had already determined that I would spend $10 on this bag of sticks

wrongfully convinced that I wouldn't get out of Seattle

long enough to amass my own collection

Might have.

I am pretty certain that I DID gasp out loud when I saw the price

was 2.99.

And I may have said "Thank you Jesus" out loud, at the cash register

when the sister gal in front of me

turned to me and gave me her 50% off coupon

because they were not letting her use it on whatever she was trying to use it on.

1.50 for all of this

Goodwill $10 challenge, Bag of sticks

I'm feeling all sorts of driftwood art coming on

Home Decor Fail | Fillable Lamp

Believe it or not

More often than not

I fail

Miserably

At trying to do something or another

I am generally a very lucky girl

Somewhat crafty (whatever that means)

Sometimes artistic

Generally thought of as super smart

But more often than not,

I fail miserably at bringing "the bright idea"

to light.

Case in point

Fillable vase fail

Photo (c) b3 home designs

Not only did I mange to pull the thing apart

and humpty couldn't put it all back together again

I also managed to chip/crack/break off a large chunk

of the bottom lip

Guess rocks were not the best idea for this one eh?

I'll find another and try, try again

On Deck | Maser Bedroom Headboard Wall

Not to imply that I am going to build a wall of headboard

But one of the many things I actually love about this place

Is that there is a space for everything

and the blueprint almost dictates just where you would put things

like, our bed

in the nook in our master that says 

"bed goes on this wall"

Master Bedroom Suite

Photo (c) b3 home designs

I love simple like the next gal

But there is something about artwork on the wall

collected over time

that says "lived in"

a bit more than this made up

hotel bed

that never really ever looks like this

Ever

Unless we're staging the place to sell it

That was the HARDEST part about selling our last place

Getting up in time to make the bed

Although, I must say

I always felt so much more grown up

when I came home to a made bed

Interestingly, since the last time I ever made my bed regularly

was when I was 11 years old and living with my tyrant of a military officer stepfather

Ironic.

Found and Used | Bow and Arrow

Remember how I went to the Pac Gal Flea

And I found this stash of goodness

Pacific Gallery Auction House

Annual Flea Market | Seattle | 2010

I blogged about that trip of awesomeness

at b3HD [the original] in this

Pac Gal Annual Flea post

It was awesome.

But do you see that bow poking out of the stash?

Look closer...

okay, here's a better shot of it

Pacific Gallery Auction House Bow & Arrow get

Annual Flea Market | Seattle | 2010

If you didn't make the jump to read the original post

let me sum it up really quickly for you:

I. almost. cried.

When I saw this set.

I had been on the lookout for an authentic Native headdress

to go in this space

And even though I DO live in the PNW

after having come here from Upstate NY

by way of New Mexico

Somehow, I had managed to never come across one

I was so obsessed

that when I first passed by this very childish

not authentic get up

I was completely blind to it

Then, I was thinking of the basket (that I hung it in front of)

and how maybe I would fill it with something

When out of nowhere, this vision came to me

and I thought to myself

"self...didn't you just see a bow and arrow here somewhere?"

I roamed back over, and when I picked it up

and she told me the price

(you WILL have to make the jump for that story - CLASSIC!)

I think I might have actually shed a tear.

All together, that powder room is coming along nicely

Main Floor powder room

I just need to come to grips with whatever design vision

was in my builder's head

when he put up that mirror.

Or maybe, that was the doing of my neighbor's sister.

Maybe.

Linking up to Funky Junk's Themed Vintage Link Party

*** 

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Faux Edison

I'm not brave

not like lots of girls

in home bloggity blog land

I'm not a fan of powertools

or electricity

or using power tools to put up

electrical thingamagigs

Like lighting fixutures

Or, plumbing fixtures for that matter.

Oh, I'll drill up a picture or two.

But the real stuff, I leave to Mr. Handy.

For now.

That said, I loved the look of Pottery Barn's Edison chandelier

And at the top of the landing,

in our home

there is a fixture cap

which I imagine hides the wires for those brave enough

to install their own fixture

because,

evidently

they ran out of fixtures in our home

and didn't think we'd need one more

in that very obvious space

No biggie.

I loved this nook

Reading Room Nook - Top of the Landing, Pinehurst

You can see the light fixture cap in the ceiling of this photo

It would be great to have a real lighting fixture in that space

you know, to read by

But since I live in the land of the sun/not sun

(just depends on the time of year)

I can get by with natural light from the window

Note that I didn't say "sunlight" because,

well, that stuff needs to be bottled when it shows up here

I digress.

I wanted to make a Faux Edison.

So I gathered the following supplies

Faux Edison Parts | Pinehurst Reading Nook

I found the coil of rope at Goodwill (of course)

But then decided that I wanted the rope with the blue label

from Home Depot

I picked up the clear globe bulbs in three different sizes

from the Habitat Store, Wal Mart and Goodwill

(noticing a trend here?)

I got the bag of gray couplings 

in the plumbing section at Home Depot

and I picked up the eye screws from Home Depot too.

Score Orange!

The craft paints were picked up in the great 

Freecycle paint heist.

Awesomeness.

Faux Edison Bulb Making| Pinehurst Reading Nook

I used a bit of Gorilla glue

and some washers I had on hand

To glue a washer to one end of the couplings

that I had painted black.

On the non-washer end of the coupling

I glued my light bulb to the coupling

Because, they're not really going to light up and all

Faux Edison Couplings and Bulbs| Pinehurst Reading Nook

The washer on the other end was so that I could take this

Faux Edison Step 1,283,789| Pinehurst Reading Nook

and end up with this

Faux Edison All Strung Out| Pinehurst Reading Nook

I used different lengths of rope,

different sized bulbs

and now, I just need to get the guts

to put it on my ceiling

Yeah.  I'll keep you posted on that.

Faux Milkglass

So.

Milk glass is all the craze.

Allow me to show you how to make your own faux milk glass

Faux Milk Glass Vases

What I love about milk glass is the milky (imagine)

consistency of the glass.

What I love about faux milk glass is the clear (imagine, again)

completely see through "layer" of external glass that peeps through to the white stain.

It's awesome!

To get your own, you will need to gather:

some clear, clean glass

some white paint

some patience

and place to work on

(preferably NOT your black granite countertops)

Quilted Glass Vases

I chose to use this set of three quilted glass vases.

I love the texture

I love the shape

I love the trio

Just enough to risk completely

screwing them up

Acrylic Craft Paint

For my paint

I had the choice

between using a white acrylic craft paint

(which we all have in abundance)

or some of the white laquer

that coats all the trim in my house

(which we don't all have, but I do and I love it so boo on you)

I started with the craft paint.

Clean, dry, pour in paint

And it looked...well...milky.

I wanted a thicker coating than what I got here

Streaky acrylic results, go for the lacquer

So I broke out the big guns

Don't hate on a sister.

Rodda paint (a PNW company) is AWESOME!

Rodda Lacquer

Which gave me to die for coverage

as seen in the short vase to the left.

One coat of acrylic and one coat of lacquer later

Faux Milk Glass

For under $5,

($1 each for the vases,

$1 for the craft paint

$1 for your patience)

You can have lovely faux milk glass too.

And trust me, it is so much more fun

to create pieces that fit your style

than to have to hunt for years on end

for a non-grandma piece of milk glass

Not hating.  It's a style.

That I love

My husband, not so much.

Go forth and conquer!

Oh and yeah!

I still have milk glass to give away right?

Perhaps we should jump start that

starter collection of real milk glass

giveaway.

Around Pinehurst - October (Falling for Fall)

There are many things in life that I love:

• Photos
• Pumpkins
• Fall
• Football
• Traveling

Whilst there has been little football 

because I live in the land of Suck

(aka, "Not Texas")

There HAS been plenty of opportunity for travel

Plenty of pumpkins in site

Fall is happening all around

And I've got some fave photos 

from trips to the farmlands

which are a lot closer to home now

than they used to be

you know, when I used to live in the hood.

 All photos (c) b3 home designs

Enjoy the weather/season/beautiful colors!

Here's to our first Halloween in our house.

Giggle.

Happy October!