Norma Valentine's passion for vintage design is such a treat for the eyes on flickr, these vintage labels are scanned at 600dpi and can be found in her Art Decoration set. So many possibilities.... I'm in love with the bold vintage color palette, patterns, and typography. (Please do drop her a little thankyou if you download any, I know she'd appreciate it!)
***
An ecclectic selection of free music downloads through podcasts Song of the Day
via KEXP & Today's top tune via KCRW.
Our new town, is really a dream. It still boggles my mind to think about how we moved during such a miserable heat wave, and two weeks later we're up here wearing fall sweaters in the middle of August. Please don't pinch me, I'm not ready to wake up!
At home, "Hold on... while I paint the house real quick" is my favorite Shawn quote of the moment.
In other odd news, my cocker spaniel has taken to sitting & laying down on dining room chairs. A new thing for him, such a civilized little creature he is.
In terms of pulling an old house into shape, we're doing really well. We've only been here two weeks, and have managed to re-paint two rooms, part of the exterior of the house, and put in a new kitchen sink!
My big DIY mistake as of late was pulling up a small corner of wallpaper (you know....just to see), and then continuously ripping the piece in one swift pull. Thinking it would be a piece of cake to remove the rest, I started on the next one hoping it will come off like the first. Instead I managed to rip the paper into shreds with lots of glued on bits still stuck to the wall. What a headache! The next day feeling refreshed I began ripping some more, it was like peeling off labels from cans actually, kind of fun in some offbeat way. Especially getting into the flow when I cranked up the stereo. But I came to my senses after hours peeling paper from walls, arms trembling in pain, realizing that I had to get every last scrap that was stuck on the walls off.
So, the following day in a fit of frenzy I went to consult the guy at the paint store. I came up to the counter with a big bottle of Jasco old glue remover (amazing product by the way, a true lifesaver), and he shook his head at me all too knowingly! His million dollar tip was to wash the walls with this solvent a second time after all of the paper was removed, because old wallpaper glue re-activates when you paint over it leaving traces of roller lint stuck all over the walls. So presently I'm still working on scrubbing those walls like mad! I can't wait for the moment when Shawn steps in and says, hold on "while I paint the parlor real quick"... but I'm not there yet.
My last post was written furiously quick, as I was surrounded by movers pulling our house apart. I managed to leave out a few key details in my haste!
We moved to the upper northwest coast of Oregon just a few minutes drive to Washington over a 4 mile Bridge, or to give you an even better idea, an hour and 45 minutes outside of Portland. It's one of the oldest settlements of the west, located on a small peninsula, and surrounded by forest, where the Columbia river meets the pacific ocean. 100's of historic homes sit on the steep hillside that overlooks the river. Which is why sometimes this little town is referred to as "the little San Francisco of the Pacific Northwest". I think the two photos from my last post, really capture the ambiance of what it's like here...
I've been unpacking boxes the past few days, trying to get back into the swing of things. The little corner in the photo above was taken under the bay window in my new studio/craft room. The colors and loose lines of this framed Itzak Tarkay poster make my heart go all a flutter. He's one of my favorite contemporary artists. It had been hiding in the rafters of our old garage for 4 years along with other treasures that only now we have the extra space for. I forgot I even had it, and am so delighted to look at it again.
The hydrangeas are from our new backyard. I love how the electric blue matches all of my old garden furniture. Remember the infamous Ralph Lauren sea and sky "rowboat" hue from the exterior of our old house?! Shawn talked me into agreeing on painting our new house the same color! After a bit of resistance on my part (I was thinking of trying something new like sage green, or yellow), I'm glad he was such a stickler for the old color scheme. Even just in the beginnings of seeing our house painted in this hue again, immediately makes me feel right at home.
Somewhere in the shuffle of moving, I turned 30 too... so many big events happened at once they all seemed to get swallowed up in the sheer exhaustion of it all! I'm looking forward to exploring some coastal spots in the area after we get a bit more settled in soon, like Ecola, and Cannon beach. (scroll your mouse over the photos within these links for a 360 degree virtual tour)
We just finshed watching fireworks from the annual Regatta here. All of the different long range horns from the nighttime boat parade, sounded like a maritime chorus. It's so great to be here.
Thanks so much for all of the sweet comments on my last post. It was a wonderful welcome back online!
