June 30, 2010

Making furniture (and such) out of car parts…

Posted by gadorawilders under Inspiration | Tags: , , , , , |
[3] Comments 

Sadly, Gadora’s Wonder Wagon was in a fender-bender last week. See my sad face? This week I was able to drive “The Paiger” to a few repair shops to see about getting her fixed back up. They’ll reload her with a new bumper and a refurbished trunk. Got Gadora to thinking, what might happen with my used and broken car parts?

Thanks DailyCandy for the e-introduction to Joel Hester, of Dallas-based The Weld House. L-O-V-E his work! He faithfully scrounges salvage yards turning mangled steel into coffee tables, consoles, beds and such. Hard to say he’d find this kind of inspiration from my Mazda wagon as he’s more an old school kind-of-guy… but he just might.

BEFORE: A beater with a personality begs for transformation…

62 Ford Galaxie

AFTER: As Joel says, “the hit the car took buckled the hood but the skin separated from the underside of the hood and the sheet metal was not kinked or bent. Once I cut the sheet metal skin from the hood’s underside, it was back to its flat condition. Lucky on many levels.” We’ll say.

Finished 62 Ford Galaxie

(more…)

 

June 22, 2010

Making missions out of magnets…

Posted by gadorawilders under Musings | Tags: , , , , , |
1 Comment 

Gadora cannot take any credit for the following handcrafted magnets. I discovered them a year ago while helping a dear friend move. I carefully coddled each one, and packed them away for her to uncover later. Later is now and she’s moved into her very first place… and is proudly displaying her “mission magnets” on the fridge once again.

Mission magnets

The magnet set is the brainchild of GW and Glenn (Goodfellow), Denton/Dallas peeps with a penchant for flair. The pair needled together a cardboard box, scissors, sheets of multi-color felt, some glue and magnet backs… and viola!… household chores become less taxing.

(more…)

 

June 14, 2010

Longtime love: The Century Plant.

Posted by gadorawilders under Musings | Tags: , , , , , , |
[2] Comments 

Austin has had an exceptional* rainy season. Besides the full-bodied trees and the flashes of color blanketing the roadside (Thank you Lady Bird), many Century Plants have been in full bloom. Their stalks are proud with patches of vibrant yellow flowers. Gadora’s Grandmother’s house boasted a gargantuan Century Plant. And it utterly mesmerized me.

Agave Americana

It was so out-of-place at her house, I remember thinking—I don’t recall there being another anywhere around. Hers was a Southern yard. Several stately Oak trees canopied the drive. A hearty row of bushes between her house and Uncle P’s provided plenty of fort-like excursions for we imaginative country kids. There was the spindly tree that bloomed the greenest figs. That is still my favorite color. And there was that Century Plant,** snugged so tight to the house I thought it might uproot it.

Adrienne C. Jones "Agave"

There was something magical about the way it unfolded, and those little needle marks left on the leaf closest. I’d run my hands up and down its soft, dense leaf-like appendages and play chicken with its quills. It stood taller than me. A Century Plant. It grows a hundred years. That’s like… forever. I thought.

(more…)

 

February 16, 2010

Furniture making the rounds…

Posted by gadorawilders under Musings | Tags: , , , |
1 Comment 

Gadora has been going round and round a lot lately, with skating that is, and thought it appropriate to include a few home decor options for those who like circles too.

Let’s start in the boudoir. Round mattresses were the rage in the Bond movies, just ask Barbara Bach. Found this patriotic circular bed on Craigslist, accompanying a furnished rental loft in Williamsburg. Click on pic to see more of Patrick’s loft.

For rent: round bed in Williamsburg

More ingenious than renting your way into a circular bed, is having your own. Prealpi’s “Infinity” is a round bed entirely upholstered in leather or fabric that offers a multitude of configurations. eRoomService posted a nice round-up (pun intended!) on the Top 10 Contemporary round beds, if you want to peruse other options…

Prealpi's Infinity bed by Studio Duedi

Of course they all beg the question… where do you get your own round sheets?

(more…)

 

February 2, 2010

A fresh spin on CD recycling…

Posted by gadorawilders under Musings | Tags: , , , , , , , |
[3] Comments 

Gadora managed a thorough clean-up yesterday. With a dreary high in the mid-40s it was far from “Spring-Cleaning,” but there was this box, probably in the office, that held this very important stuff. I was thinking. And I was meant to find it. When said box was eventually uncovered, I also discovered a multitude of discs—some in paper sleeves and some in plastic jackets—most of which had been backed up already and were no longer needed.

What to do with those discs? Put them in the curb-side recycle bins? Throw them away? No. They’re sparkly. According to Earth911, “CDs contain three main components: plastic, metals and ink… But when it comes to recycling, only metal and plastic are processed.” So, Gadora has found alternatives… Spanish designer Belen Hermosa received as much press, originally in 2007, for his CD-chair as the number of CDs he used to create it.

http://www.goodcleantech.com/cd-panda-chair.jpg

Back Support Disc Chair

Thanks to Russell A. Jones III for his photo-journal how-to turn a pile of CDs into a snappy tower lamp. While my current collection pales in comparison, had I kept every CD already tossed, I’d have me one of these.

Russell Jones CD lamp

(more…)

 

Next Page »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 27 other followers