Make a Wish

Who among us hasn’t wanted the label of “Expert” attached to our name? Okay, so maybe I’m a shallow narcissist, but I’m excited that Christine Saunders over at Wishpot.com has asked me to be an Indie expert and contribute as a recurring guest blogger and post ideas about how to inject a little bit of “vintage" into your wedding ceremony. My introduction and first article can be viewed here.

Wishpot is a free social shopping service that makes it easy to save and share interesting things you find in stores and online. Through exploring others Wishpot lists, I have found many Indie merchants and have broadened my shopping scope. I must admit being quite taken with the endless sea of goodies!

So, here’s how it works. Items are collected online or from stores by wishpot users and organized using simple online lists. Your lists and items can be kept private or shared with others. You can collect and discover products you like, recommend your favorite stuff, share and explore gift suggestions or ask for opinions and advice. My wishpot can be found here. I have great fun meeting other entrepreneurs through my friend connections and my lists of wishes keeps growing and growing! Yikes! Look for more of my posts in the future, I’ve gathered a lot of great ideas.

Swedish knockout

I've just finished some great re-worked pieces. One of these is a great mid century chair designed by Carl Eric Klote for A.B. Overman. It has great fluid curves and I couldn't resist it's aluminum swivel base. So, I grabbed it up from a Craiglist post and got busy with some white vinyl. I love the before and after photos - I'm kinda bragging - I know! I've listed them on my website under the vintage furniture tab and you can also get more details from my Etsy store. The older pieces like this one are becoming obsolete and quite hard to find - so, I feel very fortunate to have found it!

In the late 1950’s Swedish designer Carl Eric Klote developed a process of making furniture utilizing a light-weight expandable polystyrene frame for Overman. The company produced pieces in factories in Sweden and Germany before ultimately establishing Overman USA in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Very light, yet so durable the company offered a 25 year guarantee. These pieces have become classics of mid century design. The chairs and sofas all have sculptural qualities to them and, when properly care for, as the one shown here from the early 1950’s has been, are as graceful and fashionable today as the were nearly 60 years ago.

Klote went on to form Klote International Corporation in 1977 which is still producing furniture utilizing the same technique today.

He retained his Swedish citizenship until his death while working and keeping a home in the United States. At the time of his death in 2007 at his home in Högby, Sweden, he had over 2 million frequent flyer miles according to Clarence Hamby, the controller of Klote International. Hamby also has said that Klote was a workaholic, prone to working 12 hours a day, seven days a week. He further remembered Klote stopping by his office and saying, "I've put in my 12 hours; let's call it a half-day."

They also started a new company in Lüneburg, Germany under the same name.

The Vintage Laundry now offers Mod Green Pod fabrics

I'm so pleased to announce that The Vintage Laundry now offers Mod Green Pod fabrics through our workroom. I was checking in over at Mod Green Pod's blog today and they were sharing this great sneak peek of their new Austin headquarters. They're headquartered in an adorable late-40s bungalow in central Austin. They are loving their space and even though they still don't have a sign out, they are feeling happy, comfy, and productive in their digs on the inside. Though it's not a retail space, they are available by appointment. The photos above are what you will be greeted with as soon as you enter. I'm so excited they're back in town!

The Sprucettes are at it again!

Kallie over at Spruce contacted me the other day to let me know that Amanda and Lizzie are offering Spring workshops.

Spring workshops schedule:

March 7-8: Make Your Statement Chair Class
April 11: Build a Bench Class
April 25-26: Make Your Green Statement Chair Class
May 9 : Build a Bench Class

You can find more registration information on their blog.

They recently announced the opening of their second Etsy store, Spruce Home Must-Haves. In this shop they will be featuring smaller statement items for your home.

In January they were Etsy's featured seller! Go here to see the interview.

Vintage Shower: Hanky Panky

So much can be done with vintage handkerchiefs. If your shower guests are particularly skilled with a needle and thread, or a member of your crafting group is getting hitched, the following shower idea might be for you. I read recently about how to keep guests entertained while the bride-to-be opens gifts at her bridal shower. The suggestion was to have guests bring an embroidered square, vintage handkerchiefs, or scraps of fabrics to the party and as they watch, the guests sew the squares together to make a quilt or pillow that the bride can keep for years to come.

I've just listed several beautiful, vintage handkerchiefs on my online store - there are many monograms and Valentine hankies.

Vintage Wedding: Karisa Winkel

"Vintage" has been enjoying a well earned popularity for several years now, whether it is accessories, clothing, or a piece of furniture for your home. Many brides are including vintage elements into their ceremonies, which spurred an idea I’ve had about posting a series of blogs on the topic. Lately, I have come across some really creative ideas. One such idea came from Karisa Winkel at Pretty Handsome Paper.

Karisa says she just finished a project that was a lot of fun. A bride wanted something with old New York style that was totally unique and meaningful. So, for her "Save the Date" cards, Karisa and the bride decided to use vintage handkerchiefs instead by silkscreening the message on center field of the hanky. To completely capture the recipients' attention they were sent out held in place with a vintage hat pin! She admits that although it wasn't easy finding 82 handkerchiefs they finally found them all and Karisa silkscreened them herself. She jokes that she came very close to robbing a Grandmother.

What guest would miss this ceremony? I’m completely charmed by the novelty of this idea.


After 3 years of being an Art Director in NYC, Karisa gathered the courage to pursue her lifelong dream of starting her own design boutique. Though she markets herself as a wedding stationery designer, she also does custom projects and loves taking on a challenge.

Karisa’s company, Pretty Handsome Paper, now offers custom designs for every occasion. Is your project unique? Do you have a clever concept? Do you want to do something original and creative? Go check things out and see if you can’t collaborate to make your wedding a ceremony that people will be talking about for years to come!

A Sweetheart of a Deal

Today, if you will pardon the pun, I would like to broach a subject very near and dear to my heart . . . heart and cardiovascular health. I’m sorry to say that I’m pretty much a heart attack waiting to happen. My family tree is not full of cardiovascular and heart health success stories. My Grandmother and Grandfather both died after having heart attacks. My Mother and Aunts have had double bypass surgeries, pace makers and valve replacements, and my beautiful sister, D’Aunn, died after suffering a stroke at the age of 39.

So, as you might imagine, in February, in partnership with American Heart Association, I promote the heck out of heart and cardiovascular awareness and education. To begin, you can wear red on February 6th to show your support and foster awareness. The American Heart Association offers many great items at ShopGoRed.com. You'll find jewelry, clothes, desk accessories and more -- perfect for Wear Red Day on February 6th. They have this great pin that costs $5 or you could purchase 10 pins for $40 and give them to your co-workers, friends and family to promote awareness. With just one purchase, you directly support the Go Red For Women® movement and can help in the fight against heart disease and stroke.

But if that’s not your thing, there are many ways to show your support.

For instance:

° You can choose to shine: Gather with your friends, neighbors and co-workers, and take a photo of your Wear Red Day activities. Then send it to us! We’ll post it on our Flickr site, along with the hundreds of other Austin area businesses and entities Going Red!

° Or you can choose to share: Do you choose baked over fried? Do you take the elevator or stairs? What choices have you made to positively influence your heart health? You can tell your story at the Austin Go Red For Women® Casting Call, Friday, February 6th from 11am to 1pm at Louis Shanks of Texas, 2930 West Anderson Lane, Austin, Tx. You could be selected as a finalist to be featured in a nationally syndicated Go Red For Women® television special!

° Or choose to celebrate: Join us from 5-7pm on Friday, February 6th for a Wear Red Day celebration at Zax Pints & Plates, 312 Barton Springs Road, Austin, Tx. Wear red and 10% of the proceeds from your purchase goes to support Go Red For Women®!

I’m committed to supporting Go Red For Women® so10% of each purchase on my online stores for the month of February will be donated to the Go Red For Women® campaign.

Alkemie: Romantic French Style Bedrooms

Alkemie: Romantic French Style Bedrooms

I was an Unexpected guest on Sfgirlbybay.com today!

I'm so excited!!!! Victoria from sfgirlbybay included me and my home in her Unexpected Guest Series this morning. I've so enjoyed emailing back and forth with Victoria - she's a lovely woman and quite talented as most of you know. If you aren't familiar you can see her Etsy store here and her blog here. She and her endeavors are a daily source of inspiration for me! I thank you so much for the profile Victoria - and I profess my admiration for your wonderful style.

sfgirlbybay: Unexpected Guests: The Vintage Laundress.

sfgirlbybay: Unexpected Guests: The Vintage Laundress.

Design heroes: Kenzo Takada

Kenzo Takaka - by thevintagelaundry on Polyvore.com

In 2006 Japanese fashion genius and founder of Kenzo designed a collection of crystal for Baccarat as well as a housewares line of luxe tableware, bedding, pillows and even playing cards. Kenzo also launched a unisex fragrance in June of 2008 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fashion label. It is called Vintage and was created with the idea of capturing some of the spirit of the seventies, the decade that saw Kenzo Takada enter the couture scene in Paris...... The purple bottle decorated ... with a hippie peace-and-love sign can be bought in four differently designed outer packages - and I love it all!

Born: Kyoto, Japan, 1940

Studied: Takada was one of seven children and developed an interest in fashion through reading the magazines of his sisters. He quit Kobe University to try to become one of the first male students at Tokyo's Bunka Fashion College (Bunkafukuso Gakuin). His parents did not approve of his career ambitions and he had to work part-time in Tokyo to support himself while he did evening prep courses in design. After some six months, he was finally accepted to the prestigious college and the kind of determination that got him there was to serve him well in the future.

Kenzo Spring 1999Takada's first work borrowed heavily from traditional Japanese styles but it was his 'big silhouette' designs which drew worldwide attention. His designs made him something of a trend setter for young fashion. In Japan, he is highly regarded as a pioneer who introduced Japanese fashion design to a world audience. Always very selective of his fabric, Takada in recent years has moved into the design of furniture coverings and household items. In September 1999, he announced that he was handing over the reins of his fashion house to his assistants.

Each week I plan on making installments on this series called Design Heroes. My goal is to profile iconic designers who have made waves in the design world and have personally contributed to my style sense - I hope you enjoy!

Victoire de Castellane

Victoire de Castellane is crazy fun watch this video and fall in love!

Adolie Day

...clearly, I’m a Print and Pattern slut - I flitter around that blog and bookmark and bookmark and bookmark . . . well, you get the picture - I can’t help myself from developing crushes on almost all of the artists profiled
So . . . I tell you that story to tell you this one . . .

Adolie Day is a French Illustrator whose work I came to know through the Print and pattern blog and now I’m completely enamored with all her illustrations & paintings. In addition to all that work, she’s also a textile designer for children’s fashion, which clearly influences her choice of color and texture. She has a website, and you can enjoy her blog and an Etsy store as well. This is the part of this post where I struggle with putting on airs and pretending to speak French - well, I can’t and unfortunately her website and blog are produced in her native tongue - so, Goggle translation comes in very handy. She seems to have a lovely spirit and in addition to drawing beautifully, she is adorable - don’cha think?!



Photos at her book signing are from here.

Pray for Our Nation and Our New Leader

Congratulations and may God bless you and your lovely family as you and our nation begin this long journey!


In 2002 my family and I were given the opportunity to visit Chicago for ten days. Included in our souvenirs we brought back with us was a full body infatuation with Chicago and it’s history, culture and citizens. During our stay I gained an appreciation for the work of Langston Hughes. And today as I watched all of the inaugural festivities and listened to our 44th President’s speech one of his poems came to mind.

I, Too, Sing America
by Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

More of Langston Hughes work can be seen on PoetryFoundation.org. The foundation works to raise poetry to a more visible and influential position in American culture.

The photo above of President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama waving to the cheering crowd while walking part of the inaugural parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue was taken by Rob Carr for AP.

Nothing Up My "Candle Sleeve"

Apparently these have been blogged to death but I couldn't resist. The candle sleeves on your chandelier are white or cream - right? But now we don’t have to rely solely upon prisms to bring a little bling or funk to a ho-hum, ordinary chandelier. Recently while I was flipping through the February edition of House Beautiful I spied a really groovy product by KaarsKoker, a company that produces, among other things, candle sleeves. What a great way of adding a punch of color to otherwise ordinary chandelier or sconce. So, I went to check out the site and I must admit they charmed me - and my fifteen year old was quite taken with pink skull motif. They are made of laminated art paper and cardboard, the tubes are available in a rainbow of solid colors and patterns, including clover, and crossbones, polka dots, hounds tooth, basket weave

The sleeves have a standard candelabra-size inside diameter of 13/16 inch, and come in 4- or 6-inch lengths that can be trimmed to size with a serrated knife. Cost is $12 to $23 per pair. Oh, and kaarsKoker, translates to "candle sleeve" in Dutch.

Below are a few of my favorites:

“Good Morning M'am, Could You Get Out of My Way?

I was looking at this person in the mirror this morning and I said to her, “Good morning M'am, could you get out of my way so that I can see how I look this morning!”’ And of course, much to my dismay - that was “how I looked” this morning. Apparently, I misplaced my style in 1993 when I became “preggers” with my baby girl. And if matters weren’t dismal enough in 1995 my style was pronounced dead on arrival with the birth of my little boy. So, to roll with the new me I decided that just because my body couldn’t fit into all the fun, young, “fetus-sized” fashion that I used admire and on occasion wear didn’t mean that my feet had to suffer - they were the same size - I could still indulge in my shoe fetish! Which leads me to today post . . .

This morning, after my mirror siting, I was sitting in front of my computer slurping on my 32 oz. carbonated beverage and munching on my breakfast - and there it was - one of my favorite blogs written by Megan at beachbungalow8 - it was a post about this young woman living in a Dallas town home with her obviously stylish and generous mom and sister. Yikes! this little girl is only like fifteen or sixteen years old and has already procured an amazingly expansive and expensive collection of shoes and well . . . crazy fun style! She has a blog called Sea of Shoes and often puts pictures of her outfits up - I love this because my daughter and son often post photos of outfits on their Flickr and blog accounts.



So, with egg and cheese biscuit still embedded in the corners of my mouth, accentuating my Viking, dog breath, I decided to not judge or question she or her mother. But to relish the days when I have had the means to indulge my children’s interests and encourage them to seek out what turns them on be it fashion, art, music, etc. Self expression is, after all, another form of art. And as Megan said in her post, “Because of her thorough knowledge, and exposure, this girl is already well on her way to being a true force in the fashion industry.”

And like Megan I applaud her mother.

Designer Mary McDonald . . . she's my favorite!

Who graced the first cover of Domino Magazine and designs the most amazing interiors? You know her you love her, it's LA based interior designer Mary McDonald. So, yesterday I decided I would look through my Deco File on Domino.com and browsed through some new gallery photos as well and there she was looking all "glamy" in front of her Hollywood guest house. The photos are marvelous! As I said before her first spread in Domino blew me away and since have been enamored with her style and work. Everything from her "Tom Jones rock 'n' roll breakfast nook" to her "audaciously preppy den" just captivates me - does that sound creepy and "stalker-ish"? - hope not!

I think it's really groovy how McDonald will design a basically monochromatic room and then give it shot of contrast - like for instance my personal "fav" pink. In the bedroom, the swanky canopy bed has a "shock-o-morocco-pink" painted ceiling, and in other rooms she has accented the sea of navy with dashes of deep rose and an abstract looking pink canvas hung above the fireplace mantel. Another nifty trick she has incorporated is to add fluidity to a particularly long room that is divided into two separate areas with pops of pink throw pillows.

You can find the full gallery of photos here. The February 2009 photos above are by Miguel Flores-Vianna and you can find more about his work here. And the Domino, January/February 2006
photograph is by Melanie Acevedo and more of her work can be found here.

Designer Barry Williams' Turtle Creek Apartment

Barry Williams is a childhood friend who was featured in the December issue of D Home Magazine. It was wonderful to see Barry be recognized for his talents - way to go! His fabulous Turtle Creek Boulevard apartment, pictured above is heavily detailed, classic, lush, layered, and rich. Barry muses in the article about how he got swept away by it’s legendary reputation in Dallas.

We have not seen each other since our college days but even then his classic style shown through. He’s always had a knack for making all that he touched fabulously elegant. Barry is six feet six inches tall and I am six feet 1 inch tall - we used to proclaim that our children would be quite tall! In the article Barry speaks of renovating his bathroom's 32 inch vanity to match his six feet six inch frame. I feel your pain! I have such fond memories of Barry and our summers spent playing in my cousins front yard in Wichita Falls and college memories of quick hugs and catch up at the local dance spots. It is a wonderful thing when wonderful people have wonderful lives!

Barry has a wonderful interior design firm in Dallas, Texas and you can get info here. You can read the entire article about his apartment here and find more of photographer Stephen Karlisch work here.

Bloomacious

Carrie Leber from Bloomacious included The Vintage Laundry in a collection of pink interiors, appliances, objects, etc - Thanks Carrie! I've just found Bloomacious - and I must admit I have a huge crush!

Bloomacious was inspired by a love of all things beautiful and full of promise. This site overflows with optimism, fashion, interiors, flowers, food. Carrie says it was their goal to create a magazine rich in images and ideas where our readers could turn when they needed a lift and some inspiration. They have been working hard since their launch a few months ago, to create a catalog of images and information and other good stuff for readers to indulge in. I'm going to be reading on a regular basis as they add more interviews, images and articles - go check it out here and see what you think.

Here's to 2009!

I realize I'm about 6 days late for a Happy New year post, but I couldn't resist this one. This is a wonderful post I saw on Design Crush.

Neil Gaiman is the author of one of my daughter's favorite books, Coraline published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and Harper Collins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella, the 2003 Nebula Award for Best Novella, and the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers. It has been compared to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland because of its surrealism and plot based in an alternate-reality. Gaiman is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, and films. Other notable works include The Sandman comic series, Stardust, and American Gods. The extreme enthusiasm of his fans has led some to call him a "rock star" of the literary world. He lives near Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, in an "Addams Family house". He is married to Mary T. McGrath and has three children, Michael, Holly and Madeleine. He also writes a journal you can view here.