the eye and the gaze » thrifting

new art = new set-up

amy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:12:25 +0000

Mark and I were inspired by our friends Abigail and Stevens‘ decor, specifically, the way they display their art collection. We even found out where they get their pieces framed and promptly followed suit. The day I picked up the framed pieces, I was on my way out to pick up Mark for our date I wrote about in my last post. When we got home, I got to show him all of the pieces all framed up. Opening each one from it’s brown paper was a little bit like Christmas morning, and it prompted us to do our semiannual Purge and Rearrange of the house. It definitely deserves to be capitalized. Now this occurred on a Friday night. Let’s just say that by the end of the evening Saturday, our entire living room had been rearranged to make way for the new art. Also by the end of the weekend, we had dumped a van full of recycling and stuff off at their respective locations (Re-Use Ann Arbor for the furniture and household stuff)…and rearranged the entire living area in the basement. Which included Mark’s music studio. We felt like industrious squirrels getting all of the odds and ends in order for winter. Whew! I’m tired just writing about it! Behold.

Here’s one of the pieces that spurred the change. All pieces framed in white are part of the art makeover. This particular piece made the greatest transformation. Formerly, it’s glass was old and dusty and it was in a thrift store frame. Now this vintage butterfly mosaic is much happier. Here are a bunch of images of the new living room set-up with art in place. We’re fixin’ to paint the walls gray and the trim white. What do you think?

Here’s the Mike McFalls sculpture installed in its new home in the dining room. For the the time being, this is where it lives.

So in short, buy or trade for some new art. Or invest in some frames for your art. Your collection needn’t be extensive or expensive to spruce up and I think you’ll like the way it makes your space feel!

inspired

amy — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:22:06 +0000

I haven’t been able to write in awhile because of all of the end-of-summer activity going on right now. I wanted to post about my weekend trip to Quincy, Illinois. Why yes, that is the famous site of the Lincoln/Douglas Debate. Glad you mentioned it. I went because I wanted to see two dear friends from grad school who are seldom in the same place when I have time to travel to them. This time the stars aligned to make it so, such that Thursday I found myself aboard my first ever U.S. passenger train headed toward Quincy via Chicago. It was a wonderful weekend of art, friends, good food, catching up, and a lot of laughter. I stayed at the impeccable 1914 bungalow of friends Jen and Todd and got to hang out with their kiddos Trevor and Joel.

Of course I was inspired by the people I was with, but since I am always mesmerized by other peoples’ spaces (thus my infatuation with sites like The Selby, Apartment Therapy and magazines like Dwell), I thought I would post about it. Jen and Todd (and even her parents) worked hard to make their basement into a space where Jen would want to have a studio and where the boys can play year-round. They sealed the walls, cleaned up a lot and spray painted the heck out of the ceiling. The result is a clean, crisp space with painted walls, floors, beams and trim that coordinates with the rest of the house.

Jen's studio with completed and in-progress paintings

Jen's latest painting

To see more images of her work, visit her website.

The boys' "studio"- I love the colorful art lining the walls!

The occasion for my visit was our friend Kelly‘s exhibition at the college where Jen teaches and runs the gallery. I got there too late to attend the opening, but did get there in time to: attend (even help out with) Kelly’s mural painting workshop, go to the farmer’s market, do some thrifting ($25 pair of Lane end tables- score!), enjoy several delicious meals, play soccer with a pair of squirts, partake in raspberry AND lemon sorbet at a sci-fi/horror themed ice cream parlor (Eye-Scream anyone?).

farmer's market flowers

Indian corn

Saturday night we were awestruck by a breathtaking sunset.

sunset in the Q

Here’s my attempt at one of the photos that inspires Jen’s paintings:

Even with 18 hours on a train, it was a very complete and restoring weekend.

guested

amy — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:41:19 +0000

I was fortunate to guest blog about none other than… rings (of course!) on my friend Lauren’s blog Dear Golden. She also has a top notch etsy shop by the same name through which she proffers vintage wares, and I am guilty of taking home a lot of the bounty. I suppose I could have composed the same post for this blog, but I haven’t really written about fashion much here, and since her blog is geared toward it, specifically vintage fashion from all eras, we thought the guest blog would be a fun idea.

Lauren and I like a lot of the same kinds of vintage clothing, though her scope is much larger than mine. Her tastes never fail to inspire me.

We have been thrifting buddies for awhile now. I think the reason I like thifting so much is getting so much for so little. Thifting allows one to find seemingly unique items, often in very good or excellent condition, for a low price. I really like purchasing previously owned pieces that have a history, and in doing so, I am not encouraging the manufacture of new goods, or so I tell myself. I know I am not alone in this practice (which, if you’re not careful can border on obsession). And it’s not just clothing that I find in this way, but also house stuff. We have a thoroughly thrifted house. What isn’t thrifted is often from craigslist, garage sales, or antique stores.

Of course, buying from Dear Golden means that I am buying thrifted items, but it’s even better because I am getting hand-selected, often carefully mended clothing, about which Lauren knows the historical context. And I’m supporting a friend too. I model for her from time-to-time and am happy when she sends me home with “payment” in an especially cool skirt I modeled that day, or a pair of shoes.