Labor day weekend is often a great time to find gems at estate sales, yard sales, at your local salvation army, and even consignment stores. Lots of folks are cleaning out their garages, moving, or just looking to make some extra cash over the holiday weekend–prime time for scavengers like us! We hit up a great estate sale nearby, as well our favorite Salvation Army in Mount Vernon, NY. Check out what we found!

As you can see, not everything at estate sales is worth entertaining. Take this cowboy boot lamp for example!

There were some great platters and plates, a few of which we ended up buying.

Some beautiful candle holders.

An antique Turkish platter set…this is a gem.

We always find great DIY-able dressers at this Salvation Army. All of these dressers are ripe for a good paint job. Below (top right), a Bernhardt dresser similar to the ones we refurbished a few months ago. Stay tuned to see how we transformed a table bought at Saturday’s estate sale tomorrow! – S & L

So much of today’s trendiest clothing is embellished with studs, jewels, and gems. But where did it all start? Visiting my little sister, Sam, in Woodstock this past weekend, I realized it began with the Bedazzler. The original Bedazzler hit the market in the early 70s and quickly became an essential appliance for crafty girls across America. Fast forward to 2010 and seven year-old Sam is holding up the tradition, spending the summer bedazzling just about everything in sight. You should see her jean jacket! Challenged by my step-mom to make a bedazzled piece of my own, I decided to transform an old Hane’s tank into my version of the bejeweled tees from Prada Resort 2009. Below, Sam models the tank I made.    

How did I do it? Well, I didn’t actually use the Bedazzler (not precise enough for such detail). All you need to bedazzle your own tank or t-shirt is an assortment of studs and gems (easily found at Michael’s or other craft store) and a pair of tweezers. My first step was to lay out the general shape of the necklace using the larger, clear gems.

Next, I started adding the studs and smaller gems to fill in between the larger gems.

Once you’ve got the stud or gem placed where you want it, carefully push it through the fabric. Using the tweezers, bend each of the four prongs so they lie flat on the inside of the shirt.

Et voila! Time consuming, but so worth it in the end. And you don’t even have to own a Bedazzler! – L

It’s officially summertime, and that means spending more time doing outdoor DIY projects. This weekend, the tie-dye experiment. (It doesn’t hurt to have a badminton net that doubles as a clothes line.) We’re planning a summer dinner party soon in honor of Lauren’s birthday, so in preparation for a really special table-setting, I tie-dyed some cotton cloth napkins (formerly white bandannas) in bright colors. Follow along and I’ll show you how easy it is to do.

I’ve been experimenting with tie-dye techniques for years. As a television producer for Martha Stewart, our Style department would create amazing tie-dye projects every summer, and it took forever: a team of crafters made multi-color textiles in every shape and form. Sometimes you have to learn how to do things the most elaborate way before you can figure out the easiest. Start with RIT dye. It’s the best there is. You can get it at Home Depot or at Michael’s Craft store in a multitude of colors. If you get fancy, you can also blend and make your own tints and shades of color by using less or more. Use 100% cotton cloth–never a blend. I used white bandannas that I found for less than two dollars each. First, I folded them like a fan, lengthwise, then attached rubber-bands tightly about two inches apart.

I enlisted the help of my son, Jack, who’s always up for a DIY project. (Of course, I let him go crazy with kid’s colors later, and he made several t-shirts for camp) We poured a pasta pot full of boiling water into each of these tall, clean Home Depot buckets, adding two packages of dye to each bucket. We chose powder pink and tan. Jack added one cup of salt to each bucket, plus half a cup of Tide detergent with softener (our secret weapon). He then stirred the ingredients with a wooden dowel. Gloves are essential, because these dyes are permanent. We threw the napkins wrapped in rubber bands into the “vats” of hot dye and waited for about twenty minutes. An eternity for Jack!

Once the napkins had reached the desired intensity of color, we put them in a stainless steel bucked full of COLD water and swished them. This is the fun part. You can see that the fabric detergent we added is softening the material after being shocked by the scalding hot water and dye.

Finally, we lay the dyed napkins in the sun for a few minutes to dry off, then clipped-off the rubber bands with a scissor. Be sure to cover your work surface. We used an old camping tarp.

It’s exciting to reveal the areas where the dye did not seep through!
This is what the pattern looks like. Isn’t it great? Each of the napkins takes the process differently, so they all end up slightly different from each other.

We followed the same exact technique with the tan. As I had hoped, the tan color ended up being more of a burnt orange. Love it.

This is the finished product of the tan dye. It’ll dry to an even lighter shade.

Thanks to the badminton net, we were able to look at our work and let it dry in the warm summer sun. I’m still formulating my plan for the table-setting, but I started to play around with some pieces I’ve collected (see below). I’ll be sure to share the Birthday table-setting with you once I’ve got it all together. It’s going to be fabulous! If you have any tie-dye stories to share, please send photos. We love seeing what you’re all up to. -S

Finding simple, chic dressers for storage in small apartments, kids’ rooms, and wherever else is not as easy as you’d think. When we saw this photo in the newest CB2 catalogue, we were inspired by how cool these multiples looked side by side. Surely, we could come up with our own tag sale find version of the same thing for less!Fast forward to a trip to the Salvation Army in Mount Vernon, New York, and I’m sure you can see why this pair spoke to us.Lauren and I just can’t walk away from a bargain, or a pair of anything that needs a transformation. And ever since Martha Stewart’s new paint collection for Home Depot came out, we’ve been looking for an opportunity to try one of her bold new colors. We started by removing the brass hardware, then sanding the dressers lightly with our electric sander. Lauren rolled up her sleeves and started applying the first coat of paint. (In this instance, we chose not to prime them first, as we were going to be using such a bold color over a very dull, matte finish). These dressers appear to have been custom made, probably for the inside of a large closet. The wood was nothing special, so they’re not heavy at all, ideal for all the moving around of furniture we do!I put some rubber gloves on and took over the less fun task of cleaning the brass hardware. We really liked the hardware, as we often do on pieces that have age. These are heavy and made to last so we decided to repurpose them. We used Goo Off to remove the grit, and then paint thinner to take off any residue.Here’s what the paint look liked on the drawers after one coat…not quite green enough! This color is called Sultana 101, in high gloss finish.And here I am, the following day, applying a third, and final coat of paint. Painting is very therapeutic, and not at all difficult to do. We both really like using these black foam brushes, below, for touch ups. They come in all different sizes and they’re really inexpensive.Finally, we put this vibrant pair of dressers in young Jack’s room for now. Those drawers will be full of t-shirts and basketball shorts in no time at all. – S & L

We were at it again this weekend. Trolling through the Salvation Army Consignment store in Port Chester, New York, we found a pair of glass lamps in a classic shape for just twenty bucks. They were absolutely covered in dirt, and they’re probably 25 years old (ancient electrical cord and plug give away their age). We plugged them in to make sure the worked, and once satisfied, we loaded them into the back of the Volvo. Our garage is getting crowded because we’ve been making so many purchases like this recently. All of the pieces we’ve found are what we call G.B.W.P., or “Good Bones With Potential.” They all need some updating. Now that the warm weather is coming, we’ll be able to get more done outside on the weekends. We can’t wait!

So here’s the story of these two lamps. First, we cleaned them with Windex. There were layers and layers of dirt on them! Even the light bulbs were grungy. Next, we used blue painters tape to protect the top of the lamp where it meets the harp, and the base of the lamp, which was a very pretty chrome.Our secret weapon is RUST-OLEUM BRIGHT COAT- Metallic Finish. For the first coat, we used RUST-OLEUM simple Metallic Finish, but it was much too matte looking. We were trying to mimic a shiny mercury glass-style finish. You can see the difference if you look closely at the two lamps in progress.Spray painting is so easy, even a child can do it! Below, my nine year old son, Jack, tries his hand on a clay pot. We weren’t about to let him get his hands on our little project!We let the lamps dry overnight, then removed the tape from the top and the base. As you can see, these lamps are versatile enough to live in just about any room. We dressed them up with white linen lampshades from Target for $19.99. — S & L

Whenever we have an opportunity to salvage a tag sale find, we take it. The two now luxe-looking side tables on either side of the sofa (below) are our latest conquest. When we first discovered them (courtesy of our friend Kate, a dedicated weekend “antique picker”), we looked inside the drawers to find that they had been made by a now defunct, but once quite reputable American furniture maker called Kroehler Manufacturing. How did we know that these side tables would make great pieces? Four reasons. One: they’re a pair. Decorators love pairs because they add symmetry and balance to a room. Two: they’re a pair that are slightly different from each other–even better. Three: they’re well-made (out of natural wood materials). When you pick them up, they feel sturdy, and the drawers slide in and out effortlessly. Four: they have an unusual and interesting architectural feature, in this case their profile (if you continue scrolling down, there’s a side view of the legs to show you what we mean). While they may have been made in the 1950′s, we think they look quite modern and updated in our living room.
A quick history lesson on Kroehler in case you’re curious. It turns out that Kroehler Manufacturing had a long, and and at one time, quite prosperous history. It began in 1902 as a family business, started by Peter E. Kroehler in Naperville, Illinois (the factory actually survived a tornado in its earliest years). In the mid 1940′s, Kroehler Manufacturing company,with over $20 million in annual sales, was the second largest furniture maker in the country! Unfortunately, the company took a turn for the worse in the ’70s, closing its historic factory in Naperville. Since being acquired in 1981, some Kroehler furniture is still being manufactured today (and it can be found online). Notice the classic hardware made of solid brass. We chose to preserve and reuse these.We began our DIY by pulling together all of the ingredients and tools. We like using an electric sander on furniture projects. First, we cleaned, and then lightly sanded, every surface. To prepare the wood for an enamel paint, we used Zinsser primecoat water-base primer and sealer (two coats). We chose a neutral taupe color from the BEHR paint collection at Home Depot called Castle Path (730C-3); it’s a high gloss enamel. We let the paint dry overnight, then gave it a second coat. Lastly, we coated the surfaces with Min Wax fast-drying polyurethane clear semi-gloss to give the tables an even more lacquered look.
And here they are on either side of the sofa post-transformation. Ta-da!
Originally, it was the side-view of that tables that grabbed our attention. It’s this feature that gives these pieces that staying power we’re always looking for.
While they can easily live beside a sofa in almost any room of the home, they look equally great as night tables in your bedroom. Their flexibility is one of their greatest assets. They’ve got good bones, and they’re great pieces (sorry, we couldn’t resist).
Want to see how we created the ironstone arrangement above the sofa?