30.8.10

Mustache Me!

Hola! I'm back from vacation, rested and relaxed :)
While I was gone my little blog surpassed 50 followers - yay!
In honor of that I've decided to do a little giveaway!

Even though we moved into our house 3 months ago we hardly have anything hanging on the walls yet, sometimes all that blank space gets a little depressing - so I whipped up some 'typography art' to make my office a little warmer, and decided to give away a set to warm someone else's walls as well!

It is a series of 6 open curly brackets (those little keys next to the P on your keyboard) in a variety of fonts to represent mustaches.


Each mustache is affectionately named after it's font namesake.


The giveaway consists of all 6 Mustache Me! 5x7 prints, printed on 100% cotton Crane Lettra {frames not included}.  I chose to frame my set but I think they would look equally interesting hung with binder clips-

There are three ways to enter!
1. Comment below with MUSTACHE ME! and where you would hang these.
and/or
2. Follow @fourthandfolded on Twitter (if you’re not already following) and tweet this:
I entered to win 6 MUSTACHE ME! prints on @fourthandfolded’s blog! http://shorl.com/sopyfradryfrahy
…and then come back here and leave another comment with a link to your tweet.
 and/or
 3. Follow ClassicallyModern Nest (if you're not already following) and leave another comment saying so.
GOOD LUCK!  A winner will be chosen Friday, September 3rd.

11.8.10

6 Tips to Mastering CraigsList....

After my recent craigslist finds this pretty lady asked me to share some of my Craigslist searching tips. At first I really didn’t think I had any, but after giving it a little thought I came up with a few lessons learned for searching techniques.


Some of her questions were:

Q. Do you go on every day?
A. Sometimes, sometimes not. Most likely I’ll go on when I have a few down moments at work and my google reader is empty.


Q. Do you search multiple times a day?
A. Sometimes, sometimes not – it really depends how my day is going. I usually run a few searches just after lunch. I figure people have posted items during their lunch break and often times you MUST be the first one to email/call since the good things go FAST.


Q. Do you search for something in particular?
A. Yes and no. If you search for something really particular you may limit your results. Often people don’t know what they have, or don’t know the correct name for it and will call it something else or just describe it. (see Tip #5 below)

So here we go, 6 Tips to Mastering CraigsList


Tip #1 : Always check the ‘HAS IMAGE’ box.
I think this is pretty self-explanatory.  I don’t have time to chase around looking at things, especially since I would never buy 90% of the things on Craigslist. If there is no image it’s a deal killer right off the bat.

Tip #2 : Know that everyone is not as smart as you.
For example – if you are looking for a scretAry desk, you should probably search for secretEry desk as well. Crate and BarELL is another popular one.

Tip #3 : Take into account local vernacular.
People around here (Boston) refer to DRAWERS as DRAW. (We are not talking about a small percentage of the population either – seriously do a Boston search for ‘DRAW’ just for fun). You will see FIVE DRAW, THREE DRAW, CENTER DRAW and the list goes on. (How they think ‘draw’ is even plural I have no idea.)

Tip #4 : Run 2 or 3 searches for the same thing.
I would love to own a letterpress. I’ll often search under “LETTERPRESS” then “LETTER PRESS” and finally “LETTER+PRESS” and usually I’ll throw in a “PRINTING+PRESS” just for fun.

Tip #5 : Understand that not everyone knows what they have.
If I were looking for a mid-century chair I could search under

Mid Century, Mid-Century, MCM, Mid Century Modern and get results. But these people know what they have, and usually they want a lot of $$ for it. 


But if you look for Plastic Chair you can find something like this :



I had to zoom out to capture the first image, but if you can read the top of the it says $135 (thats a $105 difference!).

Tip #6 : Do a ‘LIKE’ search.
Again, people don’t always know what they have – but they may know it looks LIKE something from a Pottery Barn catalog, etc. Chances are these items will be much less than their name-brand counterparts but still have the same look.

Anyways, those are my helpful hints.
Do you have any of your own to share?

9.8.10

Mudroom Built-Ins....

I've already confessed my love for built-ins. And this weekend we tackled our first 'semi-major' DIY built-in project.

Obligatory before shots:



I designed a simple cube shelving unit, made with 1x12's.... (this was before I put in the interior dividers)


We attached it to the wall by resting it on a 1x6 that we had already attached.  Then started filling it in with 1x3's and quarter-round to create a 'paneling' look below, added the mini-crown molding for a more integral look and some wooden corbels for a little detail and intrigue.


We (read I) started priming -


And then added a few coats of semi-gloss Benjamin Moore Simply White. This is the view when you enter from the side door.



And now we have an out-of-the-way spot for jackets (we had a coat tree in the corner that I kept running into).  With baskets for mittens and other winter necessities above.



I'm not 100% sure of the exact project cost but I'm pretty sure it was under $125.  I definitely think we added more than $125 of value to the house - do you agree?

3.8.10

My 2nd Craigslist Buy....

You saw my first purchase just a few days ago here.
Well, just a few days later I scooped up this:




(1) Solid Oak table (with extension leaf - not shown)
(4) Solid Oak chairs
For a Grand Total of $100.

 
 I'm going to paint both, although - I'm a slightly partial to leaving the table black. 
What color would you paint the chairs?  
A bright POP of color or black to match the table?

2.8.10

Why Must Fabric be So Expensive?

I’ve been on a mad search for curtains for the past week.


I found these at Pottery Barn :


..which I love, but do not love the price. We need two sets of them which means 4 panels, which means ~$450 – and that is not in our budget.

So, I decided they would be much cheaper if I sucked it up and made them myself.

Note to future self: When calculating how much fabric is required divide by 3 (3 feet in a yard) and you will not have a mini heart-attack next time.

I did NOT need 30 yards of fabric, I merely needed 10 (4 panels at 2.5 yards ea.). Which made the prices of fabric much more reasonable….rookie mistake.

Then I decided that maybe those curtains would make the room too heavy; too formal and not punchy and fun. I like punchy and fun, and I feel like curtains are a good place to do that. I found and fell in love with this fabric:


High Voltage by Schumacher

And then fell of my chair when I realized it was $90/yard (which would be DOUBLE the pottery barn curtains). I mess up sewing all too often to buy fabric that is $90/yard no matter how perfect I think it may be.
Back to the drawing board I went.