A subject fit for 5x7

After being away from the DPW for a week or two it is extra fun to go back and see what has turned over, and what new treasures await the patient peruser.  In early August, after being on just such a hiatus, I came across this flagrantly fake wooden frame:

At one point this was on special offer....

Not much going on back here.

Such a small frame inspired Creative Roommate to paint a picture of a small subject. The unappreciated, and probably widely unloved, fruit bat.

Oh....was this pepper for you?

Naturally a picture of a feeding animal made it on to the 'feeding wall' in the kitchen- in the picture below you will find Mr. Fruit Bat's new portrait in the lower left corner.

 Fruit-a-licious freestyle for all! Yum.

Owl together now

Owls seem to be quite fashionable as of late, and I’m in support of their popular resurgence. I appreciate their classical association with Athena, they are beautiful birds of prey, and they have curved faces that concentrate sound (much like a satellite dish concentrates a signal). Awesome.   

Given my enthusiasm you can imagine my double delight when I found this charming pair of owls with old tea light candles inside of them on the swap shelves at le dump.  After cleaning them up they looked like this:  

 I’m not a candles person, so how best to use these glass containers?  My natural inclination was to make them into planters, and with the leftover moss from a centerpiece I did just that.

It seemed fitting that owls should perch on the bookshelf, out of direct sunlight of course!  Maybe their steady gaze over the shoulder of the reading chair will help us attend to our studies...

Aside from owls, another awesome thing from a strictly freestyler point of view, is the start-of-September move time. Good weather, the end of summer sublets, and the start of new leases means Cambridge is on the move.  Labor Day weekend’s good weather this year also saw 'yard sales' springing up on front steps and sidewalks, such fun to peruse, even though I don’t aim to spend money on miscellany.  Stay tuned for the results from our walkabouts…. 

A demure demi-lune enters the picture

I admit, there are times when it might be handy to have a car.  Such as when you are walking home from the grocery store, loaded down with bags, and you spot a lovely wooden table on the curb.  (The counter-argument is that if I had been in a car I would not have seen this table because I would have been on a different street.)

Waiting

But such sweetness! Such scalloped edges! Such a nice finish, especially for a street find!  I knew I couldn't just walk home and come back, in 20 minutes it could be gone forever. So I planted my grocery bag on top, got out the phone, and started dialing.  After a few no-answers (and many curious looks from passers-by) I reached one of my roommates, who graciously walked over and helped me out by carrying the table all the way home.  Who needs a car when you have friend power?

Here to stay

At first I thought to paint it some outrageous color, like cobalt, then something classic, like ecru, but in the end I kept its original finish.  Creative Roommate pointed out that it seemed a shame to potentially obscure the lovely details on the turned-wood legs with paint, and the finish is neutral enough that it fits with the apartment.  It moved around a few times during the summer (I found it back in May!) before it found a place, but now this quasi demi-lune table has a place to call home.

Demi-lune, meet silver lamp and bowl of moss.

Someday, once I have a freestyle home, I can see this table in the entryway welcoming visitors with its graceful lines... and great story!

Freestyle on the road - Finds!

Just because I leave Cambridge doesn't mean I stop freestyling!  

While driving with my parents through a rather posh part of my home state we saw this sign for an Estate Sale (below).  

It might surprise you that I'm not a frequenter of Estate Sales given my enthusiasm for re-use, but three things have kept me back.

1. I have never been an early riser 

2. Graduate student budgets (and apartment sizes) do not lend themselves to the purchase of antique credenzas or heirloom jewelry

3. Not owning a car means many sales are un-reachable, even if I were organized enough to know when and where they were happening....

But all that doesn't mean I don't like to look if I serendipitously happen to come across a sale.  Turns out, it was the 2nd day of the estate sale and most of the remaining stuff was free, the house had been sold and the guy running the sale just wanted to get rid of stuff. Score!  

Mom and her free framed Monet poster

Some other passersby with their freestyle finds

The double score was that guy from the first sale told us that the house next door had put all their garage sale leftovers in the backyard for people to take. Surely an opportunity not to be missed.

Perusing the garage sale leftovers

"Garage sale leftovers" does not have the most glamorous ring to it, but some of the stuff was pretty nice.  I must also compliment the organizers for their well-arranged display of the goods on folding tables.  We weren't in need of lamps or clothes, but I did snag a few frames since I have a thing for those. I also grabbed a set of 6 little butter knives in a holder (ultimately those stayed with my folks since they couldn't fly with me), hopefully they will end up with someone who does a lot of entertaining and has a need for small utensils.

Mmmmm, garage sale leftovers

Corner detail of a funky art nouveau-inspired frame.

This experience just goes to show that it doesn't hurt to just pop in for a quick look.... you never know what freestyle finds await!

September Celebration of Succulents, continued

You might remember the fabulous wedding centerpiece I showed in the previous post, if not, here it is again.

It took a while to deconstruct this lovely arrangement, but my hope is that the extracted plants will take root in Cambridge and live happily throughout our apartment.  I didn't take any pictures of the deconstruction, but it did take long enough for someone to make cookies, someone else to make gazpacho (both from scratch), and it continued on after the lunch break. whew!

What was involved in all of this? (approximately)
1. Remove the twigs, flowers, and ivy (all the stuff that was easy to pull out)
2. Discover that some of the moss and succulents were glued together, pull them apart gently
3. Rinse out the metal tray and plastic liner, for future use
4. Delicately cut the foam adhesive away from the base of the succulents
5. Make tiny cuts at the base of the succulents, roll in rooting powder
6. Find/decide on planter pots for the re-potting process
7. Put dirt into pots, then plants into dirt (without brushing off the rooting powder)

The end result looks wonderful, I just hope they thrive!

Beauteous variety

 Can you spot the freestyle planters in the photo above? 
The adobe rectangle, the teensy pink & white bowl, and the owls!
The orange bowl and the black bowl are spare plastic cereal bowls from the apartment.

Moss, just moss

 I found the off-white ceramic bowl (above) at the DPW.  Right away I knew I wanted to start a succulents garden, I just hadn't gotten to the plant nursery- good thing I waited.  It was the perfect size for these little beauties.

Rock garden, in a groovy rectangle planter

Piling on the freestyle

Keen-eyed readers might notice that the demi-lune style table against the green wall in our living room was also a summer street find. Freestyle x2.

What a super (succulent) September this has been so far. I can't wait to see what else turns up.

The Start of Some Succulent Love

Weddings are a celebration of love and friendship, and although a small wedding favor gift-to-guests is common I don't usually think of weddings as potential sites for freestyle ingredients.  Maybe some of you have gone home with a lovely cut-flower centerpiece arrangement in the past?  Well, at the ceremony of two dear friends over this past labor day weekend I saw something new-to-me in terms of wedding floral design, a succulent themed flower scheme.  The bride had epiphytes (aka "air plants") in her hair, and all the bouquets were made out of small rosette-type succulents.

Bridal Hair Greenery!

When I was complimenting the bride on the absolute coolness of this idea, she told me to take one when I left.  So thanks to K&F for having part of their wedding transformed into a Cambridge Freestyle first!

Behold my awesomeness!

Ok, the sharp-eyed among you might note that there are a few non-succulents in the mix; e.g. calla lily, yellow orchid, ivy, some other leafy stems I can't identify, and mosses! Such beautiful mosses.  While I didn't want to deconstruct such striking centerpiece the plant-grower in me wanted to get those succulents out of the florist foam and into the dirt.  We'll get to those in the next posting....for now you'll just have to enjoy the vase arrangements that Creative Roommate put together with the pieces I couldn't replant.

A small vase to brighten up a desk.....

A lovely reminder of K & F to grace our kitchen table.

Here's to you K&F: wishing you life, love, and freestyle!