The wait is over! The Spring/Summer issue of Flea Market Style is on newsstands and in the hot little hands of eager readers, yours truly included!

Packed with great project ideas, beautiful style and creative new purposes for castoffs, this issue brims with features that celebrate the flea market aesthetic and the people who practice it.  As an FMS team member and blogger, I am fortunate to work in support of an incredible team: Executive Editor Ki Nassauer, who also founded Junk Revolution, which produces the annual Junk Bonanza; Art Director Stacey Willey; Writer Christine Hofmann-Bourque; project builder Cammie Metheny; blog administrator Margo Arrick and appraisal king Tim Luke!

It’s an amazing alchemy at work. Ki dreams up the best projects (the hits keep coming!), and Cammie makes them real. Stacey brings laser-like attention to detail along with a polished and charming eye for color, type and design. Christine not only makes the words sing; she orchestrates harmonic convergence!

Other highlights from this issue: Gorgeous, inventive sewing projects by sew pros Karla Cunningham and Nancy Polacek, and a picture of fabulous Carver junker Jane Hall perched atop a stack of steamer trunks in the Top 10 Collectibles feature!

Lark Nest Design gets a nod, too, with a music cabinet-turned-portable bar project, and a styling credit on the Collectibles piece. More on the bar project later this week. But for now, congrats to the hugely talented Flea Market Style team members on their rockin’ issue!

Kim

Getting ready for a market sale is like waiting for Godot. It seems as if the waiting is interminable! Meanwhile, my living room becomes a crazy staging area for all the stuff that will eventually make its way to the Be Mine Market on Saturday!

(Did I mention that my family is incredibly indulgent?!)

Wanted to give you this peek at the creamy table I finished yesterday. Just needs a coat of poly. Don’t you love the detail everywhere, and the angled legs?

Those are parts of a few fabric boards showing in the background. More pix to come! No one should be surprised to know that I am off to the hardware store!

Kim

This cool print from Waverly, “Circular Motion,” is one of my favorite textiles! I love how it looks on fabric bulletin boards. I made this one, with a tramp art-style frame, drybrushed with cream, this fall! I’m working on a 4 and a half-foot board using the same fabric with a wide cream frame (and an inside banding of linen) to sell at the Be Mine Market this weekend!

Imagine my pleasure when I found this while cruising new arrivals on the Horchow site yesterday:

 This pattern never fails to make me happy (and check out “Square Root,” the matching geometric squares pattern used for sheeting and shams)! All this staged room is missing is my storage ottoman and matching pillows:

It used to be covered in green corduroy before I was gifted a second-hand, reversible silk-look embroidered coverlet (thank you, Nancy Polacek!)

The coverlet and a raft of nickel nailheads provided a spiffy new coat! She’s a capacious piece (2 feet by 3-plus feet),  and she, too, will be sherpa-ed to the market that starts Saturday!

Orange you glad?!

Kim

Looking for cool upcycled furniture and home decor items, vintage gifts, one-of-a-kind valentines, seasonal botanicals and a fun gal-pal outing?

This weekend we’ll have rooms packed with great stuff just for you!

Lark Nest joins friends Jane Hall of Mustard Moon, Sara Smith of Salvaged and Rescued Art and Eydie Campbell of Moss & Marigolds in presenting the Be Mine Market Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 11-12!

Shop 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days for a rich selection of vintage home furnishings, decor, valentines, gifts and seasonal botanicals! Enjoy delicious chocolate treats and a cup of coffee before shopping or a restorative glass of wine after!
Free admission!
8107 Eden Prairie Road, Eden Prairie, MN 55347 in the historic Smith Douglas More house, home to a rockin’ Dunn Brothers coffee franchise! * More info, 952-361-3282 or 952-934-0145

Watch this space this week for a preview of some of the items headed to market!

Kim

Lark Nest continues to grow its business, thanks in large part to the generosity of others.

Today’s example: the offer from BobVila.com to share a tutorial on changing out the paint and finish on a single piece of furniture, as well as a general piece on painting tips and practices.

(Yes, THAT Bob Vila! And on the home page, too!)

Any piece of furniture will do, the website editor said. I rummaged around in the garage and pulled this green mahogony end table from the top of the heap!

I loved the fret work on the sides. But the finish was striated from a bad paint job, and dried globs of latex dotted the surface like chicken pox!

The site asked me to illustrate the basics in taking the table from one color to another, and showing a drybrush technique, above.

Once the project was completed for the site, though, I wanted to distress the table!

I love how sanding over detailed pieces, such as this beading, brings in not only the original finish, but also layers of the avocado green along with the new turquoise base coat and the drybrushed granny apple green.

You either love this look or don’t, but there is no denying the texture it brings to a room and the rest of its decor!

 Here’s the finished piece, perhaps a bit enthusiastically sanded. The great thing about distressed pieces? I can always go back and brush on a bit more base color to tone down the sanding. What could be more forgiving?

Thanks to BobVila.com and its executive editor, Larry Bilotti, for the opportunity to paint a picture! One of the best things about the junking/furniture refinishing business is the incredible generosity (of spirit as well as of knowledge) of those who do this kind of work.

Fun and fraternity! Now that’s a workplace!

If you rushed past the links in order to get to the pictures, you can find the tutorial and slideshow here, and the general painting tips here!

Kim

These keys are not to my heart (my man and my girl already hold those), but to a gift beyond this junker’s wildest dreams…

A tool chest of epic proportion!

Behold: Order (to come) out of chaos (existing) in the garage!

Which should pay big dividends in the Lark Nest furniture rehab department!

Hoping your holiday is full of sweet surprise and the love and encircling warmth of those near and dear!

Kim

If you’re not, you are calmly enjoying the wonder of the season without a to-do list the size of  a Lady Gaga hairdo.

(Sincere commendations on your balanced life!)

I wanted to share a quick look at the birch stars I’ve been making in the garage/studio, and a few tips in case you want to construct some for your very own!

You’ll need an electric drill, two- to three-inch drywall screws and, per star, five lengths of birch branches cut to equal lengths. I made 20 of these, each from three-foot branches between one and a half to two inches in diameter.

The most important tool, though, is a masonry bit for your drill!

(I share this wisdom after breaking two everyday bits as fast as you can say I Brake for Junk!)

Arrange your sticks on a flat surface first to make sure any knobs or whorls on the branches aren’t sitting on top of each other and making the star too high on one side. Place some sticks over each other, some under. There isn’t a “right” way, but try a few iterations and you’ll see that some branches just fit better (and sit better) over rather than under!

Once you’ve got it how you want it, transfer it to your work bench and drill away!

In addition to screws at the five star points, add some in the supporting intersections throughout the star. You can add a length of wire at the top for hanging, but I displayed several of these at a sale (and on the back fence) hanging from a long nail.

Then, accessorize! Twinkly lights, greens, ribbon if you desire! They are great for your decor or for gift-giving!

Wishing you a wonderful week, with time to pause and enjoy!

Kim

In decor as well as in fashion, everything old becomes new again. So I’m spot on trend with this Pyrex covered butter dish, a staple in my childhood home, purchased when my folks were newlyweds!

Its vibrant hue this week was named the Pantone Color Institute‘s Color of the Year for 2012!

Introducing Tangerine Tango, which replaces pinky Honeysuckle for 2011 (which in turn unseated Turquoise, the pick for 2010).

(Yes, I, sometimes wonder who dreams up the names for colors on things from fingernail polish to fancy sheets, but in this case, credit goes to the Pantone.) The institute sets color palettes and standards for use in the design industry and everywhere else. So you can take it to the bank that red orange will be “trending” even more than it already is in items from rugs to vases to furniture to fabrics.

Why this color for 2012?

Pantone calls it friendly, energizing, seductive and exotic, all without being threatening (which, of course. is what we all want in our home decor!)

Michelle Lamb is the Eden Prairie Minn.-based color guru who is Editorial Director of The Trend Curve, also an international authority on color and design trends. She said red oranges “really pop,” noting they are being increasingly paired with trendy grays and the peacock colors that have been holding

 strong since 2010. Her recent visit to the Showtime textiles market, which features fabric to be introduced by manufacturers on new upholstery beginning in April and on retail floors later in the

fall, saw orange/gray and orange/peacock combos in abundance.

(The Trend Curve called this one last year, by the way, with its 2011 palette including Tweetup Orange and RT)!

Watch for red ahead! I’ll happily be taking a cue from red orange in my decor and furniture refurbishing projects this year. Will you?!

Kim

This door frame caught my eye in August during Gold Rush Days in Oronoco, Minn. From northern India, about 100 years old, with original hardware and frame, it was a handsome piece. It exuded charisma, even in its disembodied state!

All good things come to those who wait, and I had been searching some time for the perfect display piece for FC’s living room!

FC — Fabulous Client — is a veteran traveler whose collections lacked suitable display. New pieces seemed too sterile. Glass-fronts too formal. Standing seven feet tall amid several pieces of architectural salvage, this was something that could carry a room!

Here’s what the door and frame looked like closed, but FC loves to look at her collections. So I knew whatever storage we devised would be displayed doors open.

This was perfect! Doors on both sides had a fabulous patina…

…and original hardware inside and out.

Next stop was to the carpenter’s, where Alan worked his magic on my sketch and specs.

The original door and frame were four inches deep. My design called for extending its depth by eight inches, in order to make room for display shelves. The extension required the addition of a back, a coved top and a stabilized base extending from the original door jamb running the width of the door’s bottom.

And just like that, the armoire took form!

Here’s Alan with the armoire before staining. He used reclaimed wood from a building being torn down in Minnetonka. Shelves and sides were pegged when attached so no nails would show. (See more of Alan’s great craftsmanship at The Porch & Atelier, where he is the go-to guy for great custom work!)

I’m average height, but felt diminutive next to this captivating beauty!

This photo shows how the sides were extended from the original frame…

…and how the extension flowed from the curved top.

As is often the case with architectural salvage, even the curves weren’t “square” ! So small, individually cut sections were pieced in to extend the coved, curved top.

The finished armoire sports five shelves plus the bottom, and provides ample space for FC’s pottery, metalware and other souvenirs. Finally, the piece was stained to match the original wood, and waxed to match the original finish.

Recently installed in FC’s living room, the armoire commands attention and adds gorgeous texture. It’s beautiful, functional and one of a kind.

A door to adore!

More to follow once FC’s house project is fully photographed!

Kim

You already know that I’m an inveterate dumpster diver, though I use the term loosely; most of my finds come off the curb or out of the alleys of southwest Minneapolis. I don’t think I’ve really ever shopped a dumpster, but it’s on my bucket list!

This recent project is a great example. A neighbor tossed a pair of these basically sound but inherently ugly card table-like chairs out with the trash.

I loved the “X” base on each, with the vaguely Chinoiserie-style rings. I nabbed them one at a time (the Escape was already loaded with projects bound for the TLU (Talented Local Upholsterer) and dragged them back up the alley to deposit on the driveway.

The next day, I knocked the backs and arms off of each and filled the peg holes with wood putty. After deglossing the wood, I painted each high-gloss black and sealed them with poly. The brown Naugahyde vinyl covering appeared to be attached for posterity; it was the most difficult removal I’ve had in some time.  I extracted more than 120 staples from each seat before recovering! I didn’t think about it until later, but the classic cane print fabric from my textile stash pays homage of sorts to the chairs’ previously caned backrests!

After some TLC, voila! Still on casters (to preserve a usable height), they work as ottomans, coffee tables or extra seating for whomever eventually owns them. Another landfill sacrifice averted! They survive to serve as functional decor, singly or as a pair, for yet another day!

Kim