Patti writes:

Patti in her girlfriend's mom's 1960's eyeglasses -- recently cleared from the time capsule 1960 house.

I just stenciled the stars onto the wall behind my bookcase headboard, (a peachy pink wall) and used silver metallic. It is AWESOME! I can’t get over what an impact it made. I made one star on paper following Karen’s instructions(8×10)… then reduced it on the copier by 75% and 50% so they’d all be the same… then traced them onto the stencil blank and cut them out. You could also use the stencil with a clear gloss paint on a flat wall. Wouldn’t that be cool!

I also sent a pic of the label on the silver paint, color is Shimmering Silver, bought at Hobby Lobby. It was $7.99 but I used a 40% off coupon. All the other paints are Sherwin Williams Super Paint. Bedroom is Peach Blossom #6624 (interior flat).

And… I also, just in the past few days, painted my drab garage doors and stenciled the starbursts on a few panels. I used the same stencil from my bedroom but turned it sideways, big star on the left on the left door and flipped it on the right door. I have a really hard time being ‘random’!

I’ll be starting on my kitchen next month. Because, as you know…the fun never stops!

I asked Patti a few more questions, she responded:

…I stippled the garage because the doors are kinda textured. I used the same stipple brush for the bedroom but used it more like a regular brush, kinda sweeping over all the edges so it wouldn’t bleed under. (The silver paint is silky.) It was easier when I decided, halfway through the bedroom wall, to use stencil adhesive. I didn’t have to use stencil adhesive on the garage because the door paint was still a little tacky.

…Not counting the price of the wall paint and only counting the cost of actual materials used it’s more like $5. I barely used any of the silver paint and adhesive and only one stencil sheet. But if you have to go out and buy it all new, $20 is close.

Thank you, Patti, for sharing, and Happy Birthday To You! The bedroom is awesome, indeed. And readers, I already asked Patti where she got that wonderful bedspread. “eBay,” she said, “$29.98..more than I normally spend but I love it.”

Get stippling, tribe. Here’s the pattern: Three starburst stencil projects — including a free pattern

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Above:

• The red waves and black wave designs (#1 and #4) — which are made of acrylic — are Jupitor shag rugs from Plummers aka Dania, $299.
• The orange and blue rugs (#2, #3 and #5) — which are all-wool — are advertised rya rugs from RugsUSA.com. Note, I found that if I clicked around for a while on the rugsUSA site, I suddenly get shown a 35% discount, and this may have been on top of a separate code for a 20% first-order discount that I was served when I first logged on. Take the codes down as you go. 35% off brings the price for one of these rugs down to about $460 for a 5×8, and it also looks like there was free shipping. Other sizes — both smaller and larger than 5×8 — were available, too. I really wanna build an entire room about Mr. Orange Guy.

Note, you can watch for vintage, too. My V’Soske (above) — original vintage — cost me about $150, as I recall.

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Remember the table that Laura made from a vintage suitcase?

All across DIY-land, you see crafty 2012 folk making things out of vintage suitcases: end tables (remember Laura’s?), dog beds and recently I saw wall shelves. But our grandparents were already well ahead when it came to innovating with suitcase conversions. LoOk: Here is a true, vintage tall dresser made from suitcases — which converts to usable suitcases. In fact, the piece is branded “Lug-A-Ture“, according to reader Cindy, who spotted it in an antique shop and good girl, had her camera handy to report back. “Lug-A-Ture” — get it? — “Furni-Ture” that you can you can break apart and use as luggage when you need to get a move on. Cindy writes:

One of the most curious things I’ve ever seen, from Midway Antiques Mall in Sacramento CA. They specialize in the mid-mod stuff. A 1950′s luggage dresser by Lug-A-Ture. Take one or all pieces of luggage as needed. They have a lot more cool stuff, including a stash of pink plastic bathroom tiles.

Indeed, Cindy, not just “curious,” but one of the most odd and wonderful consumer products from midcentury America — woddities — that I have ever seen. Well, maybe just a teensy bit under push-button plumbing and of course, the Electro-Sink (bow down to the almighty E-S!)

Interestingly, I found a modern day reconception of this idea — “suitcase dressers” from the British designers JamesPlumb.  There are also “suitcase stacks”. The website explains:

A selection of old suitcases are housed individually in antiqued steel and wood cases that have been tailor made in Somerset. Every case is carefully and painstakingly repaired and repurposed – relined in Swedish linen ready to recieve their new contents.

I love upcycling and yes, this seems to be a fantastic way to repurpose vintage suitcases. Even so, I am now on the eagle-eye lookout for the one-and-only, original Lug-A-Ture.

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