Sweet Sanity Designs

Designer Eddie Ross has a fun blog.  He designs lots of table settings for magazine covers and scenes for store windows, but what FASCINATES me are the 'behind-the-scenes ' photos of  the tricks he uses and the things he re-purposes. This posting caught my eye.  He and his lamp maker friend  swished paint around the inside of a glass lamp base, and it became this... 
I would have NEVER thought of that. Pouring the paint INSIDE?? I mean a 4th grader could do this. And love how the outside then remains shiny.  I read this post as I was getting ready to throw out a lamp that had broken months ago.  I could have kept it  as yet another plain-jane-clear-glass-vase, but honestly my cabinets are EXPLODING with those.  So decided to give this technique a try.

Started by rinsing the inside, and moving some leftover white latex paint into an empty water bottle. Figured it would be easier to pour from there.

Then swirled and swirled for even coverage. No rocket science here. 

After letting it dry and doing a second coat, the top needed something.  I had the twine  laying around so why not.  (If this all went very wrong it was still ending up in the trash, so who cares!)  I knotted it towards the bottom and began to wrap.  Maybe I didn't even need glue, but I gobbed some on as well.  Finished with another knot.

Actually didn't come out half bad.  Not a show stopper, but fun to have a brand new home accessory for free.  It's really a revelation for leftover paint, too.  I mean why not use colored paint and have a matching vase after you finish painting a room.   Are we sharing the ah-ha moment now?? ♥  

Why all of the wiring for my entire apartment had to enter via the master bedroom is beyond me. Some recent rearranging of my bedroom furniture left my two routers totally exposed, with a mess of cords for each.   So how to hide...

I came across Sherry's YHL post about using boxes for Cord Control, and decided to see if this could work for me.  Initially I tried one long box to fix both routers, but it took up too much dresser-top space. So I settle on these from the Container Store that fit one router each and could be stacked.  They had plenty to choose from, like this white shiny dot pattern (Item #10042930). The cardboard works great to allow the signal to beam through. 

 
First I cut holes in the back of both boxes.  A box cutter worked fine.  Then fished through the cords for each one.  Wireless router in the top box, Comcast in the bottom. It helped to coil and twist tie the cords inside so the lids don't fling off. 

Now something witty for the label slots.  I didn't think writing WIRELESS ROUTER would get me any design points.  Maybe some inspirational words?  After thinking about how helpless I feel if Comcast goes down, I thought "Lifeline...to Civilization" was appropriate!  Using a fancy font and hiding my dorky humor in FRENCH looked way better ~ thank you Google Translator. 

* UPDATE: This post continues to get tons of comments both good and skeptical ~ many people are concerned with ventilation and overheating, as they should be!  I definitely suggest making the holes in the back nice and big for ventilation, and if you can make more on the bottom and sides depending on your set up, all the better. For the first few days or weeks I would just walk by and open the boxes to ensure nothing is getting too hot and to see if your ventilation is adequate. I still occasionally touch my hand to it as I pass by and everything is a-okay on my end.  

Remember the $15 Pink Chair?  She's all finished! And thank god I brought in professionals on this one!

First a big *thank you* to Lili at Burchell Upholstery who not only gave me a fair price on the reupholstering but found me an amazing remnant.   Yeah for REMNANTS! They are cheaper and it limits your choices, which in some cases is a good thing.  Sometimes there are too many pretty (and expensive!) fabrics to choose from.  Apparently just like carpet stores, upholstery shops have remnants, too, so ask! When Lili came out with this luxurious, neutral, chenille-ish fabric from a previous order, I thought 'Let's go with that lady's great taste!' I was thrilled with the final product and the craftsmanship was astounding.

Excuse the fuzzy picture...and the black sliders for the wood floor!

But...I knew something was off. Sort of like when I devastate my cute work outfit by putting on running shoes to get to work.  Even with new upholstery, the wood color made it look like she had on dorky shoes.  

So I decided to paint the legs white.  Do not copy me here!  Should I not have done this beforehand?  Thank god there were no accidents but taping, sanding, and painting  3 coats of glossy paint right up against the fancy new fabric was not ideal people!

But I think finally it all came together!  The Before:

And the AFTER!  Isn't she lovely!?

Recap // Craigslist still rocks sometimes but you have to be patient for a deal which I hate.  Reupholstering is not something I can do myself so spent the bucks for professional BUT saved money on remnant fabric.  And finally paint or stain before putting on fabric!  Duh!

I've got this dark corner with absolutely no light at the end of a hallway. I've always had an old chest there and some picture frames, but on rainy days or at night time it becomes invisible.  There is NO ELECTRICAL OUTLET IN SIGHT!  Don't you hate that?  I know electricity is not something one should screw around with unless you really know what you are doing.  So last time we had a workman over I asked him what he thought...

Well it was BAD. To put an outlet on this wall, we'd have to rip out dry wall out, put in a box, drop wires, etc. I listened politely realizing halfway through there was no way I could justify all this $$ just because I wanted a 'cute lamp' in the corner. So I  sulked. 

And then plotted...
There was an outlet just next door inside the 'laundry room' (ok, maybe ROOM is the wrong word, it's a closet ~condo living!)  Why couldn't that help my situation somehow? At first I thought of just bringing an extension cord around the washer/dryer to the other wall.  But there is a door involved that needs to close and cords. BLECH. CORDS.

 
I began to get hooked on the idea of simply cutting a hole in the wall to bring it through.  Apparently someone can't let things drop. I kept thinking, how hard it is to cut through drywall? And there must be some cap or cover you could use to cover the  hole, right? This is the part of the story you won't believe....while searching the aisle at Home Depot for a part this an electrician overhears me talking to the Home Depot guy, says he knows exactly what I am trying to do, and to use THIS...a Furniture Hole Cover, for $3.96.  The DIY gods had shined down on me.  I bought two and an extension cord and headed home.   For under $20 thank you.

I knocked around to make sure I wouldn't hit a 2x4, and tried to go far back enough that the dresser would hide the hole.  I couldn't go too far back because on the opposite side I could only push the washer/dryer over so far to squeeze next to them. Then I started with the drill - just some nice holes to get us started!

The electrician had warned me not to make the circle too big because you want to wedge the furniture cover in there...so I used a variety of tools to expand the hole. Was really WINGING it here. I traced the circle with a pencil and would just shave a bit and check the sizing, and so on.  Turned out the box cutter  worked really great here.

I knew the next part would be tricky - the SECOND sheet of dry wall. I bounced back and forth between the washer/dryer side and going through the first  hole to get through the second wall.  Even a flashlight became necessary. Am not going to lie, I started thinking it wasn't THAT important to make the perfect hole on the other side and use the cover, because who would see it. But the perfection monster took over and I forged ahead.  Making that second hole because of the angle was definitely annoying.  Not crying/giving up annoying, just ugh-my-back-hurts-I-need-a-break annoying.

Finally it was time to for the furniture covers on both sides...worked perfectly with some elbow grease and a hammer.  Then I just fished the extension cord through both holes!

Maybe because it all came together so fast, or because there were no hiccups, but I must admit that when I was done I was flipping out a bit like - OMG it worked??!!!  I popped on the final cover that keeps the cord in place and was done.  

The Black Hole Corner is ready to be LIT!
SHUT. UP. Stayed tune for next post...