Fabric-covered cork board

I saw a simple cork-board at le dump earlier this fall, and I passed it by. Yup. Walked right by, didn't think I would want it, headed straight for the other shelves.  Silly me.  While I was conversing with the on-site recycling specialist he pointed out that there were actually TWO cork boards available, one large unframed board, and a smaller one framed in wood. So, ok, I took the small one.  I didn't take a before picture, imagine a bulletin board made of cork, then imagine one with an unpainted, unstained wooden frame around it. There you go.

At first I thought I would paint the frame, then I decided to go all out girly and cover it with fabric to make it into a jewelry holder. Cue fabric-hunting music.  A trip to the local Goodwill led me to two linen skirts, one salmon pink, the other black.  ~$2.50 each, and I think I even used my student discount.  Here they are drying after a vigorous wash.

buy, wash, craft!

Then the spray paint got involved.....

not quite what I had in mind

 ...but it turned out to be not quite the shade I had envisioned. Too reddish, not old gold enough, you disappoint me spray paint can [head shaking side to side slowly].  Not one to give up on this frame I thought I could simulate the look of bronze by going over the gold with black permanent marker. Don't judge, I was using what I had on hand.

can permanent marker fix this mess?

At some point I realized that in order to wrap the cork properly I would need to disassemble the frame and remove the work board.  

if you squint it sort of looks like bronze, promise.

Here is the frame, in all its permanent-markered glory, after I pried it open to get the cork out. Hmmm, still kind of ugly, especially up close.  After coming to a place of acceptance regarding the ugliness of the frame color I decided to spray paint the whole frame white. Even that was a chore, it took multiple coats and I finally stopped when I achieve some color I'll call... driftwood (said in a breathy mystical voice accompanied by an expansive hand gesture).

Wrapping the corkboard with the salmon pink linen was pretty straightforward. I wanted to have the decorative seam running diagonal across the board, so there were a few strategic drops of super-glue on the front in order to secure it before I started to pull and staple on the back.

Here is a close-up of the seam detail near the top left corner.

seam detail from the original skirt

I found these decorative push-pins with hooks at my local hardware store, they were probably the most expensive part of this project since I bought 3 packs (3 pins/pack).

After the re-assembly and addition of hanging hardware my new jewelry display was ready for the wall.

 The salmon pink fabric is not quiiiite a perfect fit against the blue walls, but it works for now.  What color combos you would have chosen for the freestyle project?

@Friends' - Free Shelving, Just Hanging Out

I don't know if I can take credit for introducing others to the joys of freestyle.  I think it is already inside everyone, you just have to open your eyes, see the possibilities, and maybe get over any lingering qualms about stuff on the sidewalk.  Some people are way ahead of me in the freestyle journey, others are just starting, but whenever anyone has some awesome find to share, I'll post it under the "@Friends' " label.

So, moving on to today's post, with eyes sufficiently opened, some lovely friends (fellow Mid-westerners transplanted to Cambridge) have started to feather their nest -in part- with freestyle finds.  They have a tiny kitchen. Tiny. Tiny. Tiny.  Submarines have more spacious cooking areas. But, being handy with ropes and such the idea of suspending this shelving unit from the wall was easy to carry out. Hanging it from the wall saves on floor space and gives more vertical hanging space for those oh-so-critical pot holders.

This spacious shelving unit is ready to lend a hand from breakfast 'till midnight snack time, all thanks to a little sidewalk scouting.  Now, who wants tea?

The Fortuitous Appearance of an Adventure Bag

Normally I’m hesitant about grabbing used textiles, and bags especially.  On the minor end of the problem spectrum, small things like snaps, buckles, or zippers might not be functioning. On the more serious end of the problem spectrum there is the reality of mysterious stains, rips of various sizes, or that surprise mephitic whiff….

Sometimes though, just sometimes, someone gives away some luggage that seems to be both useful and relatively clean. Such was the case of black adventure bag Adventure Bag.  During the initial examination at le dump, I was surprised to find no major problems, so home it came.  My initial thought was that boyfriend could use it for an upcoming trip to South America. He said it looked like it might be useful, so I washed it. In the sink the water turned purplish-black, from dirt or dye release? I’m not sure.   Adventure Bag survived the wash, and here it is:

Adventure bag, closed

Rawr! Adventure bag open in full glory.

But how useful might this bag be?  I testing its carrying utility, deemed it to be of sufficient space and sturdiness, and no part of the Bag ripped unexpectedly....nothing ripped at all actually.

Keeping in mind the strict weight limits imposed on Boyfriend's luggage for his trip, he included the Adventure Bag in his packing. (Turns out he should have included more granola bars as well, but we'll chalk that one up to 'lessons learned from traveling.')

Here he is, modeling the bag-in-action during a trip to one of the spectacular sights of the region.

Boyfriend's final verdict on the Adventure Bag? "It fit all my important stuff. So it was useful, because I could  keep it in front of me while walking around and could hold on to it."  I call that a win for freestyle, or in this case estilo-gratis, on location, somewhere in Peru.

If the shoerack fits...

Found: Over-the-door shoe rack
Location: Near Broadway St
Time: Early in the month of May, at night

I scouted a trash pile near Broadway street while out walking one spring evening, and upon my return to the apartment I gathered up Creative Roommate, and Girlfriend-of-Technologist-Roommate (aka Lady K) who happened to be over, for some rooting around at night.  We found a few things, one of which had some of the most desirable qualities in a freestyle item: lightweight, metal, and all parts intact and present.
Behold the humble shoe rack.
It asks for nothing, does its job day in and day out, displays your shoes whether stinky or chic, and helps you feel like your life has the semblance of organization. Shoe racks are a good thing.

I understand why someone might not want or need this anymore, but really, the discarder couldn't walk it down to the Goodwill? Or even bring it to the scrap metal bin at the DPW? This was going to the landfill people, so I'm claiming a tiny moral victory at the salvage of this organizational item.

Since the cross-pieces of the shoe rack come apart from the vertical support tubes we were lucky to find them all intact and not bent out of shape.  An additional bonus was that the white rubber door-bumper end caps were still on, no dents in the door!  The shoe rack spent a little time in our living room until we delivered it over to Lady K's house in another part of town, thanks to boyfriend for his help with that, go Team Freestyle!  Here is the picture she sent me of the shoe rack being put to good use.

It's the simple things really.  Great friends, organized stuff, and freestyle.