New Vintage Style Vornado Fan

via Amazon

Retro enthusiasts will be happy to hear this: Vornado has reissued a reproduction of their iconic fan, the Vornado VFAN Vintage Circulator. Happy dance!



If you're a regular reader of the blog you may remember this table fan makeover project I did a while back, inspired by the original Vornado. I'm still a big fan (ha!) of that project, but boy, it would be so nice to have one of these.

via Amazon

I love the Mid Century styling of this air circulation diagram! I read it was available in red, green, and a beautiful chrome finish, but I only see the red and green listed on Amazon. At $130, it's not inexpensive, but I imagine this fan would last a lifetime. Considering the originals and previous repros are still out in the world (and highly sought after) it would probably be a good investment piece. And it just looks so dang cool! Maybe I'll ask Santa for one of these come Christmastime...

DIY Whiteboard Calendars

It's back to school time! I always enjoyed school as a kid and the loved excitement of a starting a brand new school year with new school supplies and a new calendar. I'm not in school anymore, but I still try to get a fresh start in my workspace at home by getting organized. Lately I've been feeling a little overwhelmed with my to-do lists, supplies I need to remember to order, suppliers that I have to call. The lists that I jot down on paper aren't doing the trick any more. What good is a list when you tuck it away in a purse or a notebook and then find it 2 weeks later?

I stopped on my way home from work last week and bought a big white board to help organize my calendar and task items. I'm thinking I'll do something along the lines of these projects:

This DIY from SFGirlByBay (top image and below image) uses colorful washi tape to divide up the spaces and color-code task items. I like that you don't have to commit to anything on the board - it's all removable!

This project from Little Green Notebook (one of my favorite home project blogs) uses wood trim to make the board feel like a piece of art instead of office decor. Simple and pretty.

If I had a whole wall to devote to a calendar, I'd totally set myself up like this one at Design Files.

I'm excited to start mapping out my own calendar. I'll show you how it turns out!

Moving day!

Today's the day! The day all of my worldly possessions get packed into a truck and driven down the highway to our new home. I've been really busy packing and getting everything ready, but the movers will be here in about 4 hours, so it's crunch time.

I typed the above paragraph last Friday at 7:30 AM right before the moving company called me to say the movers and the truck were arriving 3 hours early!! Needless to say, it was a mad dash there for a minute and a long weekend of hauling things in my pack mule (poor MINI) and vigorous cleaning. I'm totally out of the old place and now living among boxes, but I'm relieved the hard work is behind me. I still don't have my internet hooked up yet, so I'm typing from the Los Gatos Public Library. I've been to many libraries but I think this is the fanciest one yet! I'm hearing a guy foaming lattes downstairs!

Anyway, I still have lots of unpacking to do back at the new place. Here's a little glimpse of the part of it that I just couldn't resist: the kitchen!

It has these awesome teal counter tops and light yellow appliances that look practically brand new. It also has a big window above the flush-mounted sink. I'm already planning on screen printing my retro house design and sewing some cafe curtains. I think my stuff looks good here.

Now all I have left to figure out is the rest of the place! :)

Movin' on up.

Apparently, it's that time of year again. The time where I must pack up all of my earthly belongings and move them and myself to new and uncharted territory. I'm getting ready to move again!

Photo from hastingsgraham on Flickr.

So, in an effort to retain the tiny bit of sanity that I have left, I'll be shutting down my Etsy shop for a few weeks and will open it up when I'm settled and the cardboard fog has lifted. I'll be spending the next few weeks packing and attempting to downsize. Anyone want a plastic Christmas tree stand? I'm getting rid of it and have fully committed to finding an aluminum tree next year. Why the heck am I thinking about Christmas? Ah the joys of moving... Can't I just live in one of these teardrop trailers?

Oh wait, there's no room for my screen printing supplies... Oh well. So if you've been meaning to place an order in my Etsy shop, do it soon! I'll be closing the shop down on Saturday. I promise to have it back up and running as soon as I can, though! If you'd like to see more of this super cool teardrop, check out this Sunset article about Glam camping.

The Great Move of 2011.

Well, it wasn't that great, but the fact that it's over is! I've been living in my new place for a week now, and had the final walk through at the old place just last Thursday. I think it took me the entire weekend to recover from the stress and hard work. Of course the 31st (and my cleaning day) had to be 90 degrees out, and probably 100 degrees in my 3rd floor apartment...that was fun. Even though I was so excited about the new place, I was still sad to leave the place that was my home for a year and a half.

I will miss my old place for so many reasons - the sunsets from my 3rd story window were so beautiful, the high ceilings and vintage character made the place feel special. I won't miss how the place felt like a microwave in the afternoon and the weird vibrations from the laundry room right above my bedroom. Now I have my own office/studio/workroom AND a backyard. So there. 

I'm just getting started working on my new workspace. It's going to be so great to be able to start a sewing project and just leave it out when it's time for dinner instead of packing up and putting everything away to clear the kitchen table. I've got a few decorating projects planned for my new room, but first things first, it needs paint!

Excuse the grainy photo, but I don't think these walls would look any better in focus anyway. It's a decent-sized room, but with only one window it can look a little dark in there. Especially with the dark wall color.
I need something simple and neutral on the walls since I'll be taking product photography in there. I was looking for something in the warm gray family and I've settled on this color:

Whetstone Gray from Martha Stewart. I think it'll look nice next to the white trim and will help make the room look light and bright. It will be a huge improvement from what's on the walls right now. I've got my work cut out for me and lots of other projects on my to-do list (including painting the master bedroom which is currently a very ugly brown). But for now, it's really nice having only one set of house keys on my keyring.

Portland in February.

So this post is a bit late. At the end of February I took a little leisurely vacation to Portland. It was freezing cold, but relaxing and fun just the same. For some reason, though, the night before the flight I decided to turn in my 30 day notice to vacate letter at my apartment building. Did I have a new place to live, you ask? NO. Did I have any good leads on a new place to live? NO. Seriously, what was I thinking?! I justified it because the rental market moves so quickly around here and if you’re not ready to sign on the dotted line (and sign a big check) the place goes to the next highest bidder. Someone with their bags packed and ready to go or someone who can afford to pay rent for two places at once. Since I’ll probably never fit into the second category I figured I could forcefully cram myself into the first one. So the vacation was lovely, but was sprinkled with Craigslist searches and a few phone calls here and there. Nothing frantic, though, since I had all the time in the world (less than a month) to figure it out. Well, 3 weeks, uncountable emails, a few slums, and a mental break-down later I had signed a lease and received the keys to my new abode: a sweet 1950’s duplex. Now, looking back, my vacation feels like a lifetime ago. Oops. Probably could have planned that better. Oh well.

Anyway, here’s a little glimpse of my Portland vacation. 
Don’t forget to put a bird on it!

We got there right at the tail-end of a snow storm. It was beautiful!

Multnomah Falls, partially frozen.

Voodoo Doughnuts and Stumptown Coffee Roasters. So delicious... 

Cool fountain in the Pearl District with lots of horsetails (one of my favorite plants). I didn’t take nearly as many photos as I wanted too, but it was just too cold to take my gloves off. Yeah, I know I’m a wimpy Californian. This fountain thought it was pretty cold:

Ok, enough of this procrastinating. I've got packing to do!

New House Projects.

So, in addition to my usual MINI-related screen printed items, I've also been working on a few new fabric pattern designs lately. I'm excited to get them all photographed and listed, but I'd like to have a good collection of work together, first. In the meantime, here's a little sneak-peak of what I've been up to!

 This is the background for my new fabric design. I did a few test prints in teal and pink.

After the second run of color: my little retro house sketches!

I needed to do something with my new fabric, so I made a little zippy bag, complete with black and white polka dot lining! These little bags are so addictive and so fun to make. This little guy resides in my purse and keeps my iphone earphones and charger orderly. I love how the fabric came out and I can't wait to do some more printing and make a few more things with my new design.

The other house project I've been working on lately is my own house. I'm moving! The rental market in Silicon Valley is absolutely crazy right now and things move FAST. I still haven't found my new home yet, but I have 22 days left to figure it out. Yikes! I know I would move into one of those little retro houses on my new design in a second! Wish me luck!