Monthly Archives: July 2011

friday finds | sarah cihat

The other day I randomly stumbled across the amazingness of that which is Sarah Cihat. She has an amazing collection of refurbished plates all adorned with.. you guessed it my all time fave.. silhouettes! Animals, household items, skulls, anchors, astronauts, whatever you can dream up she has probably already made. I love the fun punchy colors against the white silhouettes. I especially love when the original plate’s character shows through. Here’s a tiny glimpse at the process:

Pretty nifty right? Her pieces make me want to run to goodwill and attempt a little Sarah Cihat inspired DIY adventure. I think these would make a fun addition to my kitchen walls. Here are some of my faves.

Aren’t they fun? Which are your favorites? Oh and Sarah doesn’t just stop at plates, she also has lots of other pottery pieces, several collaboration projects, as well as beauty products.. so check them out!

cfs

awkward and awesome thursday

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shirt {new york & co.}, shorts {nordstrom}, shoes {steve madden}, belt {forever21}, necklace {thrifted}, watch {michael kors}, earrings {kate spade}, sunnies {nordstrom}

Co-worker who likes to show me videos of women getting hit by their boyfriends. Really guy? What is your malfunction? Do I look like someone who would enjoy said recreation? Nothankyou.

I wear a total of six different sizes at JCrew. How is this possible? I feel like their clothing designers need to get together and settle on a sizing system, it’s getting a little ridiculous.

I’m already on the third book of my series. I’m seriously devouring the pages by the dozen. It’s a sickness.

Fish jerky. It smells as good as it sounds. [Which is super gross, if you didn't pick up on that]

I still haven’t installed Lion. I feel like I’m letting Steve Jobs down.

Going for the DOUBLE stuffed oreo blasts from sonic, assuming there would be twice as many oreos yes? No. It was all vanilla ice cream with only a slight oreo garnish on the whipped cream. Never again Sonic, never again.

Bringing back the frat tuck. Yep, it’s happening. Namely because it lets me show off my cute belts rather than hiding them in shame. Oh, and I explained to Derek [Mr. Anti-fraternity] what the frat tuck was, only to realize he’s been sporting it forever. Classic.

My basil plant is such a hipster. He doesn’t want to be normal like all of the other basil plants. He never drinks water, and hates the sun. They’re too commercial. I even think I heard him say “over it”. Maybe I should get him a pair of oversized fake glasses.

Spending the entire weekend reading a book while the boy finished building his bed. Oh the joys of not knowing how to use power tools. It gets you off the hook often.

Conquering another sesh of Bikram yoga! Let me share with you how hot it is. When you go outside to walk to your car, the blazing 101º sun feels like air conditioning. Holy hottness it’s muggy in that studio. But oh so worth it.

Derek said that one of photos from the shoot was “so Anthropologie” I love this guy.

Hearthstone Bakery! Have you been there? It’s SOOOOO good. I got the Gobbler and it was after-thanksgiving-leftover-sammie heaven! We will definitely be going back.

Watching someone leave Sonic with their Route44 drink still on top of their car. I ~~tried to yell~~ basked in the awesomeness. What was even greater was that it stayed upright the entire way out of the parking lot and down the road. I applaud the styrofoam cups.

Finding the perfect colored/patterned drapery panels for Derek’s parents’ dining room at the first place we looked. AND they were 60% off. What up.

What are some awkward/awesome things that have happened to you this week? Embracing the awkward makes you awesome!

cfs

DIY art on the fly

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Do you remember that place holder I had hanging out on top of my right billy bookcase? No? Maybe this will jog your memory.

Yes, it is in fact a shoe box lid, and a blank canvas. I had planned on painting the shoebox lid [hey, it's the cheapest canvas you can get! Plus it comes with a free pair of shoes ..what?] but then after doing some cleaning under my bed I found a stash of blank canvases I’ve been hoarding for a while. After seeing the pile of blank canvases, which would usually overwhelm me to no end, I was surprisingly inspired.

I found a photograph of Jonathan Adler that I had torn out of an old 2007 Elle Decor issue, and had saved in my one of my inspiration sketchbooks. It looked like this:

And I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to paint. You know I have a thing for silhouettes, as well as animals so combining the two seemed like a no-brainer. Enter: Norbert, the giraffe silhouette. He is oh so adorable. Now I’m not going to do a step by step on how I painted him [it was basically a free hand sketch of his outline, then the perfect mix of blue paint to match my living room wall, followed by going over the silhouette with white paint to make it pop] but the photos really do all the talking.

It took me about an hour, and this project was 100% free. So double win! I already have big plans for my remaining canvases [and some that have already been used], so stay tuned!

PS: I definitely dropped a paintbrush soaked in blue paint on my white shorts which then fell to the light colored carpet leaving a nice trail of blue splotches the whole way. I FREAKED out, and immediately changed out of my shorts and ran them under cold water using Mrs. Meyer’s all purpose cleaner [directly] and it got it out of both my shorts and the carpet instantly. Craziness. Whoever said organic cleaning products were weaker, is a dirty liar. Literally…Get it?

cfs

playing tourist: architectural artifacts, inc.

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NAME: Architectural Artifacts, Inc.

LOCATION: 4325 N. Ravenswood, Chicago IL

WHAT THEY DO: Sell vintage and antique furniture, selvaged architectural pieces, unique finds, and other misc. items from all over the world.

PRICE RANGE: $$$$$

During my trip to Chicago in May, my 3rd cousin Paula took my mom and I to an amazing warehouse in Uptown called Architectural Artifacts, Inc. If you live in the city, just take the Brown line to Montrose and it’s right there. This place is over 80,000sf of treasure.

I mean it literally just goes on and on. Everywhere you turn there’s even more treasure. Now keep in mind this is a pricey place, but for someone who is willing to shell out some serious dough, Architectural Artifacts, Inc. will NOT dissapoint. They have anything and everything you could be looking for. Here are some of my favorite finds from my visit:

This place was seriously like chair porn. Or perhaps the Play-chair Mansion. Either way, I’m creeping you out.

I loved all of these iron grilles and gates, they could make really fantastic headboards or wall art. And those doors! It’s hard to tell but the glass squares are actually giant jewels, all beveled and sparkly. I’m dying to know what these were the doors to.

This bed was intense. Each woven strip was animal hide. It was kind of cool to see how intricate beds used to be made. I mean, talk about strong!

I LOVED all of the unique storage opportunities they had to offer. [One] was an old card catalog file from a library that would be great to hold all of your small misc. items, or I’d personally store all of my art supplies and fabric samples in it. [Two] would be amazing in a kitchen. I love the industrial look of it. I can just imagine storing my flour, sugar, coffee, etc. in each jar with giant scoops for each. [Three] was a cabinet from an old dental office, and each of those narrow drawers swiveled out like pie pieces. I think this would also be great in someone’s kitchen. [Four] looks to be an old flat file, perfect for preserving artwork or photographs. I love a good flat file. I’m not sure where [five] was from, but I loved the asymmetrical shape of it, and the funky green color as well.

The final room we ended on was what I refered to as the “piling room”. This room was full of piles and piles of items. All organized of course! There were ceramic tiles, doorknobs, hardware, maps, blueprints, glass, sketches, you name it! I even found a jar of teeth. Not cool. But it fit the theme. If I had more time I probably would have bought and framed a couple of the blueprints. They were all buildings in Chicago, but none of the Architecture firms caught my attention, so I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

I spoke with the owner while I was there and he shared some amazing stories about how he has acquired a lot of his finds. He even let us check out his back room that happened to have a giant task lamp [that Derek and I have been searching for] see my mom? She’s 5’6″. And those doors? They’re off of a Frank Lloyd Wright building and going for $35,000 a pair. Yowza! But how awesome would it be to say that you have FLW doors in your house? Amiright?

So if ever you’re in the great city of Chicago, it may behoove you to leave the downtown for just a bit, to take a relaxing train ride to Architectural Artifacts, Inc. Trust me you won’t be disappointed. I think you honestly need to spend a whole weekend there to see everything, it’s just so impressive!

Have you been? Tell us about it!

cfs

your modern eats: kale chips

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I know I know, kale is all the rage these days. But for those of you who have been hanging out with us under a rock will enjoy this amazing new snack craze that’s been sweeping the ~~nation~~ blogosphere.

Kale Chips

Image via

You will need:

1 large bunch of kale
olive oil
sea salt
parmesan cheese

Step One:

Tear all the leaves off of the kale stems , placing the leaves in a large mixing bowl. You may want to break some of the larger leaves into bite-size pieces, but note that they will shrink after baking.

Step Two:

Generously drizzle olive oil over the leaves and toss.

Step Three:

Spread the oily leaves over a cookie sheet (or two depending on how much you made) and sprinkle with sea salt and parmesan cheese, to your linking.

Step Four:

Bake in oven for 20min at 300F

And yes, it really is that easy. And in 20 minutes you will have a new favorite snack. I’ve already won over the boy, his parents, and my parents [and my dad turns his nose to strange leafy greens, and he LOVES them!] Take that leafy greens! So besides the constant hankering for chips and salsa we’re always fighting, kale chips tend to satisfy our little snack cravings we get while watching endless episodes of Happy Endings. See ya later salty carbicidal tendencies.