Yay? Nay?

I've been looking for a smallish table lamp for my living room for months. I've looked just about everywhere, and not found much that I liked. Part of the problem is that it really needs to be small! My living room furniture is on a very small scale, and even smallish normal table lamps seem too large for the space.

Today, however, I found some promising candidates on etsy, from seller Mariposa Avenue! The lamp shades are made from recycled tin cans, painted and with designs punched in them. Very unique, and I appreciate the "green" aspect of them. They're small, too. But are they ugly? I can't decide. You tell me. I think they're cute, but I'm not sure how well they match with my other decor... Which is mostly vintage. Here are the couple I'm considering.

They look pretty cool lit up!

I think the colors of the blue one would go better in my living room, but the flower design is almost too chintzy. The third option is to contact the seller, and ask for a custom lamp... White base, blue shade, and some sort of retro/mid-century modern-inspired pattern stamped in the shade. Boomerrangs, maybe?

Finding the good things

1. Yard work. With the aid of my bestest guy friend, I FINALLY finished cleaning up from the ice storm this weekend. The ice storm was three months ago. And finally, save for one huge dangling branch, there are no visual reminders of it in my yard. This is a good thing, for my mental health. Now if I can just stop freaking out every time the electricity flickers during a severe storm (hey, you'd freak out too if you went 120+ hours without).

1a. Also, I got my hands in my garden for the first time this spring, and YAY! I didn't kill everything last year! I was so terrified that my neglect and abuse (and the monsoon season we suffered last year) killed off all my perennials. Not so! My rudebeckias and coneflowers are already emerging, as well as my day lilies! Even my miniature rose bushes look healthy! The only thing not emerging yet are my cannas, but I've read that those are slow to come up here in Oklahoma. So maybe my garden will be absolutely beautiful again this year, like it was last:



My big project in the yard this summer is going to be a vegetable garden. I'm determined to grow my own vegetables. It remains to be seen whether or not this will involve building a raised bed (a.k.a., lots of hard work), or just working out of a few containers. Either way, I plan to grow tomatoes, peppers, green beans, okra, and zucchini. I'm still evaluating my site and planning the layout.

2. This.


Yes, I'm a member of "the cult." And I highly recommend this etsy seller! She included a bonus print, for free! So I got the one in blue AND the one in yellow. How nice. It will hang in my dining room, once I get a nice mat and frame.

3. Planning paint for the kitchen. I'm so excited about working with my kitchen in any way I can- who cares if I'm poor and can't afford new cabinets or a new dishwasher yet! I can paint, and I can re-contact paper the shelves and drawers.

4. My cat. A.k.a., my sweet kitty boo. My boo-bear. My Dante. He turns two years old this Wednesday! I love him dearly, and overall, he's a pretty good cat. Most of my friends say he is the BEST cat they've ever met. Even my friends who normally hate cats *love* my Dante. Happy birthday, boo-bear!!

(here he is passed out on his catnip scratcher, shortly after I moved in last year)

5. Spring time, which leads to summer time, and Oklahoma sunsets.

(as seen on the drive back from Okie Noodling last June)

6. Approaching one year. The end of April will mark the one year anniversary of closing on this house. Looking back at all the changes I've made so far makes me feel good. I feel proud of myself. I don't often give myself credit for my accomplishments, but damnit- I'm 25, single, and I OWN THIS HOUSE. That really is something to be proud of.

Obsessed with!

This!

It's from etsy seller almost famous. The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my most favorite films, and these two characters are some of my most favorite characters from any film, ever. This could work in my dining room. I'm not sure where, or how, but GOSH I really want it.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Okay, that's enough about the ice storm. My pile of branches (which I will take a picture of this weekend) will most likely sit in front of my house for a month or longer, as the city tries to find a private contractor to handle the $8.2 million worth of damage in my city alone (FEMA says it's equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane and Bush says we're a federal disaster area), so I will just have to live with it for awhile!

But look what I found on etsy.

This item is from another recently featured seller on decor8. I think this would look excellent in my living room! Maybe if it's still available after Christmas I will treat myself.

Ohh, there was another one I liked that she had for sale but it sold out yesterday! Darnit.

This is my last week at work until 2008, and I'll have plenty to do around the house during the break. If the weather cooperates, I'll do that second coat of paint in the bathroom. I'd also like to go to this cool looking local hardware store we have in town, because I think they sell the hardware I want for my bathroom. And if Santa is very nice to me, I just *might* be getting a new dishwasher soon.

Eek! Etsy lust!

This item is from a featured seller on decor8!



Ohmygosh I want that birdie soooo bad for my dining room!!! There is a whole mess of cute and unique things in this seller's etsy store! Like...



And...



I bought some stripa shelves at Ikea to hang in my dining room to display things on, but I haven't hung them yet because I don't have anything to display! And I want just the RIGHT grouping of items, you know? Things that I love.

Grr, if it weren't Christmas season, I'd splurge on these items right now! Maybe I will anyways. My present to myself. :)

Like Lichtenstein, but not!

Perhaps now would be a good time to explain the VERY rough idea I have for my living room. It all started with this picture I found in domino magazine's gallery archives.



This seemed perfect. I wanted red and black in my room, and I already have a lot of heavy mid-century modern furniture. But it always seemed too serious and...boring. Plus I'd been trying to find another color to bring in, and aqua was a new idea.

So this has been the image I've kept in the back of my head for sometime now when trying to decorate my living room. I don't want to re-create it perfectly; I don't like the silhouettes, for one, and while I like the *idea* of the black trim on the walls, I'm not sure how hot it would look on my heavily-textured walls. It seems more suited for the type of walls shown here.

Anyways, I looked at Lichtenstein prints and even Andy Warhol prints, and came up sort of empty-handed. They all seemed old and too familiar and over-done.

Tonight, though! I found some pretty awesome stuff on etsy. I've tried to find original pop art before on etsy, but never had much luck. Look what I found tonight!





These are perfect and I want them. If only I had $300 for original art...