My Favorite Finds

Today I’m linking up over at Victoria Elizabeth Barnes and sharing my favorite find(s). Old, new, trash, treasure, bought, found, salvaged, or stolen. Whatever you love.

It was impossible to choose one favorite find. I find lots of things that I love and I find things a lot. I love finding whimsy, quirky, and eccentricity. I love finding color. I love finding pattern. I love finding characters (especially of the winged variety). So, here’s a sampler of some of my most favoritest finds, broken into categories.

Books

I have vast and vivid dreams of having my own library. Floor-to-ceiling. Crisp white shelving and trim. Soft grey walls. Pops of magenta and tangerine. And of course, books. Tons of books. I love all of my books, but my most treasured books are the turn-of-the-century copies of Jane Austen’s works that I salvaged from my dad’s uncle’s house. I cannot show you an actual photo of said books because they are packed in a box in my parents’ basement (until those glorious floor-to-ceiling shelves are built), and I was too busy/lazy to drive to their house, unpack the boxes, and photograph the books. But, imagine small chapbooks, bound in worn black leather, stamped in gold, with tissue-thin pages printed with the beloved conversations between Lizzy and Mr. Darcy. Kind of like these:

Art

In the meantime, I can’t forget the other library necessities, like a map of the world and a bust of a famous author or two. I am still hunting for the bust, but I’ve got the map-o-the-world covered:

purchased from RightGrain on Etsy

This, also, is waiting on shelving to be built before being hung in my office. Oh, one of these days…

I consider this next piece a ridiculously fabulous find because it was $3. At Ikea. Kari Herer is an awesome artist, whose work I’ve had my eye on for a while (visit her Etsy shop here). Her prints are so unique. They’re the kinds of things I wish I’d thought to do. Because they are genius in their simplicity and creativity. Her prints are by no means outrageously priced, but when I spotted this one at Ikea (again, for $3), how could I say no?

Lastly, but not leastly, I’ll leave you with my latest winged find. Not only is this little guy adorable (his name is Chip, by the way), but I painted him myself at the bachelorette party of one of my best friends. I got to customize my color palette, and have a great memory attached to it. Whooo, whooo can resist those eyes?!?

I hope you’re sharing your favorite find too!

Brika Lovelies

The items from my first Brika order arrived this week! (Remember that Joss and Main meets Etsy site I told you about last week?)

These two prints are by Satchel & Sage (you can find their Etsy shop here). I loved the colors in the feather print. The other print is part of their Artifact series and is titled “The Writer.” So of course, I needed it. And the prices were very reasonable. I love reasonably-priced art!

The other item I purchased is this hand block printed scarf by Maelu Designs. Maelu’s shop/art has a pretty cool story; she uses sustainable textiles and hand-prints each item. You can read more on her website. It’s just as lovely in person!

Have you discovered Brika yet? Have you ordered any awesome curated handmade goods yet?

*I solemnly swear I am in no way affiliated with this site, nor was I paid to write this post. The opinions above are my own, about an awesome site/brand/product/artist that I want to share with you*

Cheers to Art, No. 2

My friend, Katie, and I spend a lovely Saturday morning this past weekend sipping mimosas and painting up a pair of shoes at Cheers to Art.

This was my second visit to Cheers to Art and it was just as fun as the first. Maybe more so, because I love mimosas!

But drinking and painting can result in wonky looking shoes, even when you’ve traced a shoe stencil onto your canvas.

But everything turns out great in the end!

If you’re in the Cincinnati area, check out Cheers to Art in Madeira and Downtown/OTR!

New Furniture In Da Hizzouse!

Awww yea! We got some new stuff up in here!
But really, in all seriousness, we’ve added a few new pieces around the house. It’s surprisingly hard to choose furniture when you have a completely blank slate, but after 15 months of living in our space, I think we’re getting a sense of what will work for us.

Every entryway needs a little something to welcome guests through the door. So we’re starting with a simple console table, decked out in its Easter finery.

At some point, I’d like to add a mirror above the table. And dress up the walls with paint and maybe some moulding. But, it’s a good start!

Meanwhile, upstairs…

Our “bonus room” is finally starting to look like a room! Even if that means a rather sparse college/bachelor pad room. We’ve been using it as a workout space since we moved in. We’re keeping our elliptical in the corner, but we’re also planning to use the space as a more casual family room/hangout spot. We recently purchased a sofa, coffee table, end table, and brought our Ikea Poang chair and footrest upstairs. It sounds silly, but it’s nice to just have a place to sit down in this room!

(the TV stand is on its way)

Now all this room needs is a little color! And accessories 😉 I’m loving the shades of blue in the throw pillow fabric, so look for these colors to start popping up!

Update: if you’re curious, the console table is by Winsome Wood and was purchased via Amazon; the sofa is from Front Room Furnishings (Larkspur model by Simple Elegance).

Brick By Brika

Have you heard of Brika? I just stumbled upon it via Pinterest the other day, and I am smitten. Here’s how the first meeting went down:

Sigh. Not another flash sale site. I mean, seriously. 90% of my daily emails come from these kinds of sites; I don’t want one more.

…Oh…. my… goodness. This site is amazing!

So, here’s the deal. Brika is like Joss and Main meets Etsy… a mecca of flash sales featuring curated handmade goods by talented artisans! Um, can you say heaven? You know I love me some curated handmade goods! Plus there are profiles about the artists, so the whole experience feels more personal, or maybe like an online craft show? I dunno, but it’s cool, so you should check it out. Bonus: I got a $15 credit just for signing up… not after I refered people and they purchased items and blah, blah, blah… just for signing up! So, there might be a couple of new art prints and an awesome hand-printed infinity scarf heading my way… maybe…