Art

Antique finds
Pia's butler chair

The Butler Chair

Who doesn't have the perpetual disarray of clothes in the bedroom, not going into the closet for some reason, but not into the hamper for another? So these clothes are in temporary limbo, and there's never a good place for them. In our master bedroom, a perfectly good chair and a perfectly usable chandelier serve as holders for those clothing items. Not anymore for Pia, for the Butler Chair was built for the purpose. It has a clothes hanger back with a second piece above and can take care of those stray clothing items elegantly. The seat is a bit lower, so you can comfortably reach your feet while putting on socks and shoes, and when seated you can effortlessly slip into the jacket hanging from the clothes hanger back. Simply genius! And then there's the secret compartment under the seat. Pia is in love!

Art Shelf
The art shelf, mounted high on the wall

This is an idea we had for a very long time, but never got around to actually build. Then we saw this version by Erin Loechner and everything came together. Her idea to mount the shelf up high, and installing the brackets on top of the shelf seal the deal. Genius!

Canarywood Coffee Table
The finished coffee table in use - note the colored streaks in the canary wood

Pia and I had spotted canary wood at Cut & Dried Hardwood (now sadly gone) a few years back, fell in love with its crazy colored stripes, and wanted to create a furniture piece with it. However, for lack of time and energy nothing ever happened. Then, two months ago, our need for another small table became urgent, and the plans finally coalesced.

Refurbishing a Brooks Leather Saddle
Refurbished Brooks saddle

First off I have to say that the only reason one should want to refurbish a Brooks saddle is if the leather is in usable condition. If the leather is too worn to recondition there is no point in keeping the old rails and mounting new leather, just go buy a new saddle from Brooks (they are not that expensive). The only reason I say this is because in my quest to refurbishing my saddle I did lots of research and found many people were trying to refurbish old seats with new leather, which makes no sense because the worn in leather is the only part that makes the seat worth refurbishing.

Scrapbook-style Greeting Card
Greeting card with scrap of paper and fabric

At the moment I am creating greeting cards. I have a box full of scrap paper, labels and other things I collect from different sources.

I assemble them and make them into cards like the one above. Years ago I taught art classes and my students of many years knew that almost everything we used to create with had a story and asked for it. So, I tell you the story of the fabric piece in the middle of this card.

Display Frame Update
Zen background in display frame

Inspired by a page sent to us by our dear friend Susi Niederberger I set out to rework the display frame. The goal was to use vertical sticks, loosely placed, and randomly placed horizontal sticks to create a zen-like backdrop, on which to display just a few select photos.

Versatile display frame
the versatile art frame adorned with travel photos

I stole this idea from a flower shop in La Jolla where they had long stems of exotic flowers artfully displayed in a bamboo frame, but I extended the concept. You can put just about anything into this frame, just use your imagination. In our house we have mounted flowers, tree branches, cloth, origami pieces and much more, all with great results.

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