The Craft of Design!
American Craft, the beautifully designed and gorgeously photographed magazine of the American Craft Council (and the fab show it brings to St. Paul, most recently in April!), has produced a free, online bonus issue! Whether you cherish good design, love beauty or simply appreciate lush images and crackerjack ingenuity, you will find a treasure trove [...]
Rolled Over (Beethoven!)
OK, the truth of the matter is, some of my junking friends would rather eat ground glass than paint anything. I get it. Sometimes, the patina of a piece of furniture, an old window or a piece of architectural salvage should never be touched. I’ve had lots of those pieces, and stewarded the same, and [...]
Thank You!
This happy swallow wings his way to you to say Thanks! for the rockin’ great Mother’s Day Market! Jane, Sara, Eydie and I had a fab time with you all! Memo to self: Wish we would have stocked more of the pincushion daisies, and we could have sold the chartreuse Beethhoven (post to come) 15 [...]
Textiles On Board!
Spring is in bloom on textiles for the Mother’s Day Market this weekend! This sweet piano bench has a linen cover with a gorgeous hand, ablaze with plum, spring green, orange and fuchsia against a gray ground. It’s a very happy print! These are a few of the many pillows coming to the market as [...]
Vanity Seating Now Available!
One of my favorite projects is to update a retro vanity stool with fresh fabric. This is one of the most ornate versions to come my way. Very Frenchy! Check out the “feet,” heavy iron “tassles” extending from legs of “braid”! The cushion begged to be bright and bodacious and I complied! The photo doesn’t [...]
A Table to Reference!
This dove-gray beauty is headed to the Mother’s Day Market at the Smith Douglas More House in Eden Prairie this weekend! It is classically elegant, with dentil-like detailing and classic tapered legs. It’s painted in a beautiful Satin Impervo that went on like butter. (And provides a nice antidote to all of the bright pieces you’ll [...]
True Blue Memo Board!
OK, I hope you have not been bored with my parade of boards! This is likely the last (fabric, memo) board I’ll show before the Mother’s Day Market! (Next up: Furniture!) Featuring True Blue Cottage Paint, this frame has been retrofitted with a remnant to make a magnetic memo board. I love the juxtaposition of [...]
Color of the Year…Console Version!
Love love love this color of green! It shouts “Spring!” It reminds me of the grass that will be in full regalia soon, now that the end-of-the-week’s snow has left the building! This fresh-looking table is as yet unwaxed. Can’t decide on dark or clear. Each would impart a great look, but different. Kept this [...]
New Life for Old Frames, Part 2!
Here’s the companion piece to yesterday’s post subject; another castoff frame turned fabric board! It’s the same size as the blue framed peacock print, but with a whole different vibe. The fabric is a batik print; the paint job in Cottage Paint “Kiwi” and “Chive” with a touch of liming stain in the highlighted areas. [...]
New Life For Old Frames, Part 1!
A sneak peek at a tall fabric bulletin board coming to the Mother’s Day Market May 11 and 12! Sharp-eyed readers will notice some more of the incredible peacock print linen that I used previously on a boudoir chair! I can make a yard of fabric go a long way; there is one other piece coming [...]
Mother’s Day Market 2013!
We may be expecting snow by tonight, but we have every confidence it will be firmly in our rear view in two weekends when the Mother’s Day Market arrives, May 11 and 12 at the Smith Douglas More House in Eden Prairie! Grab your mom or your gal pals for what we’re confident will be a special [...]
Modern Glam at the Junk Bonanza Weddings Lab!
Yes, I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted! While this blog is supposed to be a bulletin board of sorts for ongoing Lark Nest Design projects, it sometimes falls to the bottom of the list when I’m looking to take just one more “before” or “after” photo, or thinking, I’ll just wait [...]
Shop 501 Opens Today!
Pals Jane Hall of Mustard Moon and Sara Smith of Salvaged and Rescued Art are among the vendors whose Shop 501 vintage collective opens today in Chaska! Lark Nest stopped by Wednesday to deliver two dozen orange and pink roses (already employed in the decor, above, right!) and good wishes. (as well as to snap [...]
A Taste of Spring!
It’s been a long winter! Check out this beautiful thatch of wheat grass and tell me you can’t imagine Spring around the corner! Once it is gussied up, this grass is headed for Lark Nest’s Spring Tabletop Workshop on Thursday night at the Dunn Bros. in the Smith Douglas More House! My counters and worktable [...]
Hirshfield’s Launches Cottage Paint!
Regular readers will know I’ve been down for the count for about a month but am gingerly re-entering the working world, avoiding ice wherever I go! You also know I’ve been experimenting with Cottage Paint, developed with assistance of Texturline and colorist and finisher Drew Beninati, who operates the Minneapolis Institute of Fine Finishes, also known [...]
Spring’s The Thing Market!
Yes, we’re two weekends away from the Spring’s The Thing Market, March 2-3 at the Smith Douglas More House in Eden Prairie! Neither flu nor snow n0r back spasms nor any of the other calamaties our junker group has endured this winter will stand in the way of our bringing you a foretaste of spring [...]
A Fine Little Footstool!
This piece is a lot smaller than many of my client projects, but this little item has a lengthy story. My client’s mother’s well-used, well-loved footstool was so disreputable looking that she had grown tired of looking at it. She exiled it to the garage, where she wouldn’t have to think about its one loose [...]
Charmed, I’m Sure!
Content alert: Today’s post doesn’t have that much to do with design or with junking (unless you count the cool turq strongbox above, purchased from Brenda at JB Knacker, a favorite vintage shopping spot in Gilbert, Iowa!) Instead, I wanted to share this fun bracelet made of vintage Monopoly charms! It found its way to me [...]
Spring Tabletop Class!
Easter is late this year, which means there are several weeks in March in which to plot my holiday tablescape! I’ll be giving that some thought extra-early this year! Lark Nest has been invited to host a workshop March 14 on creating a beautiful spring tabletop! (The cherries-on-a-pedestal art, above, anchors the posters advertising the [...]
On the Workbench…
Just a quick note to share this fabulous fabric with you! Love this linen — it has a fabulous hand — adorned with a fabulous peacock and blowsy, salmon pink and deep red flowers. It is going on the seat of this cool cane-backed vintage chair with two tones of Cottage Paint, Bimini and Slate, [...]
XOXO! Valentine’s Display at EPDB!
In the retail world, it’s already Valentine’s Day! Here’s Lark Nest’s front table set up at the Smith Douglas More House at the Eden Prairie Dunn Bros.! I love the old mirror frame, now strung with three sets of wire to serve as a memo board! (My family is glad this project is out of [...]
It’s Spring in the Fabric World!
It’s 30-plus degrees outside, and for Minnesota, that feels like spring! Wanted to share with you some of the fabrics you’ll be seeing soon on upcoming side and upholstered chairs and pillows! I’m digging this linen blend with shades of green in a tropical palette… …and the parrot, too! This gorgeous, free-form dahlia print is [...]
Fish Skin Lanterns Debut!
Remember the fish-skin lantern-sewing expedition gal-pal Kath and I undertook this summer, on behalf of performance artist Emily Johnson? You can refresh your memory with the original post, here. But you can read about the end result, “Niicugni,” recently reviewed in the New York Times, here! Congrats, Emily, on realizing this second leg of your [...]
Win a Copy of Flea Market Style Weddings!
One of the swell perks of Lark Nest’s work for Ki at KiNassauer.com is the excited anticipation that builds before each Junk Bonanza and the publication of each new issue of Flea Market Style magazine! And now, the same frisson of excitement surrounding its new, sister publication, Flea Market Style Weddings! It’s just starting to [...]
