Well Shoot!

I totally forgot about Street Merch Monday. Whoops! But I do have 2 Before's to offer up this morning!

The first is a dresser I ran across on 47th and 9th Avenue. Love the lines of this dresser - could definitely benefit from legs though!


The other before is from my fave - Salvation Army. Co-worker, Bridge, and I found these a couple of weeks ago. They resemble bowling pins. Maybe they were? The pair cost $10. Yes please. Wait till you see what I have planned for these!

Street Merch Monday: Greene & Grand

Co-Worker Bridget is contributing today's Street Merch. She found this large vase on the corner of Greene & Grand.


To give you an idea of scale, not only is the above vase holding 4 dozen roses, but it's also sitting next to their large flat screen TV! What a cool oversized vase!

Great find Bridge!

Street Merch Monday: 92nd & Amsterdam

Here we go. This is what I found walking home the other night -

Such potential! After some careful shifting around, I found what I was looking for -

This vanity / cabinet thing. Didn't need the whole piece - I really just wanted the drawer. So I took it.

See, my mom repurposed an old wooden drawer and now uses it as a tray that sits on our dining room table. I wanted to do something along those lines. Here it is before - Please note the adorable hardware!

I used some Dark Green Rustoleum Lacquer spray paint I had from a past project, as well as Rustoleum's High Shine Aluminum spray paint for the hardware.

(If you've met my dad, then you'll recognize the above set up as being so him. Like how my screws are punched through a piece of box to promote full controlled spray paint coverage? He's like that - rigs anything/everything! This probably doesn't mean much to you, dear reader, but if you know my dad, it's just funny. Like father like daughter, I suppose!)

Next - I wanted to jazz up my drawer. Why not add a bright white stripe!

NOT. Party Foul. After globbing my paint between my tape lines (first mistake), patiently waiting for it to dry (first clue) and then precariously pulling up the tape (first cuss word) - ALL of the dry paint peels off with the tape. Welllll shoot.

So instead, I use paper I have in supply and take it to the drawer with a paint brush and matte medium. Great! All fixed? No. During my white paint peeling frenzy, I didn't seem to notice the off centered paper. So, I oh-so-cautiously add a small white stripe to help balance it out.

This Street Merch is getting hilarious. I've gone full blown craftastic on this thing - but oh well, what can you do!

Life Lesson: Things often turn out much differently than planned. But why does that have to be a bad thing?

So the AFTER. I'll make you a deal - I'll show you 3 different ways to use this Street Merch Drawer, if you'll settle for non-detailed pictures of my kitschy/crafty/imperfect piece. Deal? Deal.

Use Number 1: Practical

Use Number 2: My favorite

Use Number 3: Current Status of the drawer

Thats it. I'm wiped out.

I think I'll treat myself to a manicure tomorrow.

Country Flea Market Merch - Part II

So back to Prattville, Alabama. Remember that Flea Market in Atlanta we went to? While we were there, I was also on the hunt for needle point hoops. Cause I had this idea....

And what do you know? We found tons! For cheap.



So we picked up some upholstery fabric from Joann's in Montgomery and put Melinda and Mark to work. Mark was thrilled. Ha. He was a great sport, actually!


It was so simple. We just stretched the fabric through the hoop, gave it a quick tighten and a small trim and we were done!


After trying a few different sprawled out layouts on the floor, we were ready to hang them.

(Ignore the superfluous fabric on some of the hoops! Guess this picture was pre-trim.)

We were quite pleased! The homemade/old school character of this project fit the house perfectly! Kim & Melinda - hope y'all are still liking it!

Street Merch Monday: Hotlanta

Street Merch Monday is on Tuesday this week! I had every intention of posting last night, but once my 1.5 hour flight turned into a 6 hour ordeal and a pit stop in Richmond, I decided it could wait until this morning.

I was in South Carolina (more on that later) this weekend for my best friend, Ivy's, bachelorette weekend. Before heading back to the city, I spent the day in Atlanta and went on a hilly walk with my dear friend Turner. On our way back to her house, we ran across this:

A discarded screen door... Street Merch Alert!

We needed it for Turner's room!! She wasn't so convinced. Ha! You should have seen her face when I told her we were going to carry it back to her house.

We got it into her room, gave it a quick cleaning and...

Voila! A perfect place for a few miscellaneous items including jewelry, a painting or two and a basket.

Thanks for rolling your eyes and bearing with me Turner - such a good friend!

Country Flea Market Merch Monday

Instead of Manhattan Street Merch today, I'm posting Flea Market Merch from Georgia - I was too excited to wait any longer. As I've mentioned, I was in Alabama about a month ago helping a good college friend with her new house. We swung through Scott's Flea Market in Atlanta on our way back to Alabama and found some GREAT pieces. My favorite - a pair of chairs.

It was late in the day and really hot when we found them, so I'm not sure the woman selling the chairs new what she was doing.... She sold them to us for $20 - for the pair!

This receipt makes me laugh.

Here they are. Overloaded with character and potential!

They were in great shape. The woodwork was beautiful and the seats were detachable. Thank goodness.

Oh what lovely scratchy old fabric. Ick.

First things first. We prime.


Then we paint. 2 cans of Antique White Satin Spray Paint.


We went fabric crazy at Joann's and decided on a black, white & gray damask meets ikat pattern, which you can see below... On our FINISHED CHAIRS!

This is the country for you. Cotton fields and dogs in the background.

I love how these chairs turned out! Next round, I'll show you the room where these chairs are now living!

Street Merch Monday

Whats the deal with all the pianos on the street? Ran across this one the other day on 9th avenue and 43rd.

And also saw this desk! Yes, it's missing all of its drawers. I think it could be easily remedied with baskets or small wire metal crates.

Wasn't able to bring any of these pieces home with me - bad timing and where would I possibly put a piano? But I'll have you know, I'm on the hunt for a desk that I can take home! Stay tuned!

Street Merch Monday: WIP B&A

Sorry about the acronym overload in the title. Today's Street Merch Monday is the Work In Progress Before & After of the table top I found a few weeks back! Remember -



Blue tape and white paint (that I already had) was an easiest way to freshen this up.

Perhaps diamonds?

My mom taught my sister and I to always do a good job on projects, but to not be overly obsessed with details. Translation: I eyballed my blue tape lines up there.

My room is so small. Ugh.

Primer + Paint =

This! You can't see from this picture, but there a few small discrepancies I need to fix...

But for now, it's a headboard of sorts. I kinda like it.
But as mentioned, it's a Work in Progress. We'll see if it lives there long.

Happy Street Merch Monday!

Street Merch Monday: The Rules

I've been encouraged by a certain sister to take a 360 approach to my street merch finds. So I'm going to try my best to revive as much street merch as I can. That means no more walking by and snapping pictures of merch, but instead taking it home with me and repairing, repainting and repurposing it.

For instance - I passed this wooden table top twice before I grabbed it! My arm and fingers were sore the next day because I walked 10 awkward blocks with it under my arm. Now, you'll notice I don't have after pictures - which is a bit hypocritical after my '360' spiel. But the the overhaul of this piece is happening next weekend. So be ready.

I'm using this merch as an example for my rules below .

Rules to Finding Street Merch:

1. Remember - You are NOT looking for trash. Trash is gross. Street merch is not. Street merch has been left on the street in hopes of someone else giving it new life. It was probably the wrong size for a new apartment or had a small flaw. Like a table missing its legs as seen above!

2. Look for pieces with integrity. The object is not to find a desk from Target or lamp from IKEA that's has been left on the corner. Those things you can just buy from the actual stores. Instead, look for unique pieces with character and potential! Take a look at the wood detail on my round table top above - not something you see every day!

3. Grab merch that can be repaired, repainted and repurposed. That's about all I can manage and have time for in my little New York apartment. You'd be surprised at how much a staple gun, hot glue gun, a drill, some fabric and paint can do!

4. Steer clear of upholstered and fabric pieces. Except for the occasional chair with a removable seat I keep my distance from couches, mattresses, fabric chairs, ottomans.... Common sense people. I'm getting kind of irked just thinking about some of the stuff you run across...

Those are the major rules that I abide by - hope that helps!

Street Merch Monday - I mean Tuesday

I met friends at the Grey Dog in the West Village last week.

First - I love Grey Dog. You should go there.

Second - There was a church around the corner doing some major cleaning. We walked up on a huge stash of tables, chairs (like the one below) that they were releasing to the streets!

With a little paint and fabric this chair would be so clean and tidy!


But the best we found was this.

A piano! It was especially mangy. I imagine it lived up in a church attic for years and years but I think that adds character.




Looking at this piano, I have the urge to paint the whole thing in black chalk board paint. What a juxtaposition! And I know I know, there are some that squirm at the thought of painting wood. I'm not one of those people. I think chalkboard paint would be so unexpected!