Nothing if not a disco pirate, living the arrgh life with power tools

When you look at this living room, you don't assume I live in rural Nebraska, do you? Now that you know that, you assume my neighbors assume the worst. You'd be correct. There's one fucking good thing about Nebraska though, and it's all I can think of: I'm completely free of distractions. 80 hours spent on a coffee table and 80 more spent rhinestoning a vintage Mexican restaurant pirate ship? Good. Gives me something to do.

I'm debating reupholstering that gigantor Chesterfield-esque sectional. What do you think? I think part of it should be a crisp white canvas duck material, and the rest maybe a patch work of different stuff I have... 50s curtain fabric, a gold sequined material, maybe even cut apart some thrift store fur coats and add them in. What do you think? Everyone's telling me to leave it, because reupholstery work like this is so damn daunting, but what the hell. What's life for if not to run into a difficult project a little bit fearlessly, right?

Constant state of remodel

Living room remodel and a couple of found pics of a tutu in the light behind my granny's wicker headboard. I'm just living inside this project right now... every piece wants to be perfect. I need about 40 more uninterrupted hours to rhinestone my pirate ship, finish sewing curtains, painting furniture and curtain rods, and oh... reupholstering my new chesterfield sectional... I might need more than 40 hours for that project...

Arrrg, get me some friggin' Ikea...

Do you know that I live farther from an Ikea store than most Canadians? Yep, true, dead center betwixt the one in Chicago and the one in Dallas. Either is a 14 hour trip. Sure, mapquest says Chicago's 4 hours closer, but when you get up there the traffic makes up for it quick. So I'm reduced to occasionally finding something (like the rug shown) worth paying an ebayer extra to run out to the store and ship to me. I would like to go to an actual store at some point... I have such big dreams! Anyway, what does a person do out here, in an Ikea-less village, and four restaurants and one stoplight, 60 miles from a McDonald's? Well, we bedazzle vintage Mexican restaurant decor, that's what. I took this crazy big (heavy, too) pirate ship and spraypainted it white before getting a hot glue burn (or a thousand) putting these little stones on it. Did I mention I ran out of them, and had to drive 3 hours to a Hobby Lobby? The pirate ship is far from done, and I'm thinking maybe it needs some kind of light pointed at it for a disco ball effect. Meh, I don't know. I'll post more pics when she's done.

Boring ass tan...

My living room was two shades of boring ass tan. Now it's Dutch Boy Ultra White.... or just "unmixed paint" as some would call it. But I sure did find a beautiful bright chartreuse for the window ledges.  After upcycling a vintage oval mirror into a chalk clock, this room's on its way.

Texas Eclectic

Dallas couple Adam and Alicia Rico put together this amazing home (photographed by Lyndsay von Hagel), and I'm pretty sure it's nothing short of absolute perfection. I've been on Houzz.com since its beginning days, invited to join and post images, but as far as I can tell, I've never come across a design so close to my heart. I can't find... one thing... wrong. I lived in Austin for a short time, and they seemed to give Dallas a hard time... it's all very competitive. Austin claimed to be the 'weird' capital, and Austinites many times claimed Dallas was on "Dockers patrol," yuppies without a cause. But here's proof there must be some awesomeness in Dallas.  I wasn't surprised this is the home of fellow creatives; the couple own a floral design company, Bows and Arrows, hence the beautiful flowers found in the photographs. Be sure and check out their website (the Bows and Arrows link), it's like Pinterest on its very best day, full of great photos and ideas.

More photos below, go see! go see!

Awakening the carpenter within

I finally finished my wood slat wall a couple of weeks ago and then came across these amazing wooden chairs at the Catholic Thrift Shop, five bucks apiece!  I found the kilim pillows and the cardboard moosehead on etsy... links to the shops provided. We seem to have a lot of musical instruments laying around; people just seem to keep leaving guitars, amps, drums, all sorts of things at our house. Not that I'm complaining, I just wish someone would leave me a fiddle. I can ROCK the fiddle. And that's all brag; I think I'm really good; everyone else seems to run and hide. Ever since I heard 'The Devil Went Down To Georgia' the first time, I've dreamed of playing it, with some pyrotechnics in the background maybe.  Guys screaming and throwing their boxers at the stage. Bob Dylan watching from the audience entranced by my playing, and ohhh, they don't even know my name is Jonnie!!! And it might be a sin, but I'll take your bet and you're gonna regret, cuz I'm the best that's ever been....
Okay, I'm better with a camera. Silently searching for just the right light, just the right odd combination of people, trees, cars, weather. Sometimes I think I'll finally take "the photo" like the one that says IT, that does IT, that explains the whole universe to me and we become one, I turn into square little biological pixels, and the pixels crumble, scatter to the winds and I become a rainbow. That's what happens, they say, when there's too much magic in a rectangle at once. I haven't done it yet, but there are a few photos I'd at least call memorable. I'll get around to scanning and posting them one of these days; the meantime, here's another example of the carpentry skills, not necessarily a photographic awakening:

Kitchen: Accomplished

After four long years, I finally feel like the kitchen's complete. There have
been arguments about color, style, appliances, but at long last, it was all
worth the huge pain in my ass. I hated to paint over the beautiful wood in
the top photo; that was one of the biggest hold-outs. Problem was, and you

Thanks Etsy!

I was really excited to get an email from Christine that I'd be in Etsy's "Get the Look" series on the blog. It's always a wild ride when this happens... tons of things to box and ship (which is great!) and everything feels as if it's happening at once. Geesh! I can't imagine when it happens to handcrafters... if you suddenly had TONS of orders for custom pieces, I'd imagine it would get really stressful and crazy! And, thanks for the blog love! From 8-31 to 9-9 I'm offering a 15% discount in the shop for anyone who becomes a blog follower. Just enter the coupon code "bloglove" and, of course, sign up to follow me here. Also, some upcoming contests and giveaways!

Some inspirations from Casper James

Casper James had me at "living room," this living room to be exact. Maybe it was meant to be, me and Casper being contacts on flickr. Perhaps it was pre-written in the cosmos. But, oooh! every time I look through my favorites I'm drawn to this image:

If you need some more CJ goodness, follow the see more link to see more of the stuff he's creating now. It's nothing short of magic!