EARTH DAYS
While the official celebration of earth day was last week, I think it's important to enjoy it and be good to it every single day. Many of my designs involve re purposing items to give them new life, but also to save them from the dreaded landfill, or worse, the deep dark crevices or your basement or garage. My mind is in a constant state of overdrive conjuring up ways to re-imagine accessories, furniture, and fabrics; take vintage curtains to a new level by making them into throw pillows or a cool headboard, allow a vintage purse to act as a magazine rack, cut the legs of a dining room table in half to create a gorgeous coffee table, turn a fake tabletop Christmas tree into a year-round jewelry tree, hang a rug on your wall, put a garage-sale indoor rug outdoors to create a warm dining area, use a flower pot as a beverage cooler filled with ice and use a vintage cooler as a file cabinet in your retro-themed office. Just because you buy a door handle doesn't mean you have to use it as one...ever think of screwing it to the wall of your closet and hanging ties or belts from it? One of the wonderful things about design is it allows you to get creative with just about anything! Today's tip is a two-parter and if you've been reading you might have picked up on a theme...great, simple meals, delicious drinks, plastic barware..well, it's that time of year so it's time to take the party outside and enjoy the great outdoors! While Joe prepares a delicious meal for our guests, I love to jazz things up by setting a sassy table. The photo above has two unique, re-purposed items that make the table shine. A centerpiece with an umbrella in the middle of it (read tomorrow for that one) and a bright idea found in a pickle jar! Before tossing that empty olive jar and after you've taken the last swipe of jam, ever thought of making a chandelier out of what you're holding in your hand? Lighten up any outdoor mood by adding cool design with the food!
LIGHTS..ACTION!
To create interesting lighting all you'll need are a few jars, chain and "S" hooks. After removing the labels from the jars, wrap wire around the top, attach an "s" hook, add chain and another "s" hook to attach to the umbrella arm, drop in a battery operated candle or votive and bask in the light of your bright idea.
