Better than Restoration Hardware!

 We had a lovely weekend in Idaho with the northern grands, celebrating Easter and attending a touring broadway company's rendition of my favorite play, Wicked... (Which was amazing of course)

On the way home we gave a ride to the relative of one of my daughter's Brittany's friends, who needed a ride from Boise to Salt Lake ...

Luckily for us, she is staying with a very talented brother-in-law, who was willing to share the renovations on his historic down town SLC home ....

It was amazingly and greenly renovated, with many repurposed items for a great industrial look.

 Love the corrugated steel as a shower surround ...

 and the factory caged lights above the sink.

 The entertainment is the unburied foundation stone, and historic cement.

The vintage typewriter shows of a back drop of 100 year old cement.

The table was purchased as a table, but they flipped the top over so they could use the unfinished side ...

The fridge has colored fiberglass sheeting attached with double sided tape ... such an awesome look!

 A European antique buffet and hutch were placed behind the bed as a head board.  Love it!!

 The floor of the master bedroom and the hall leading to it are made of bleacher boards that were planed down, and then screwed directly onto the cement basement floor.  They left small gaps between and use a vacuum to clean the floor ... its beautiful!  The entire house is nothing short of amazing.  I loved every inch, even though it is the antithesis of my own home,  I was charmed.

 

The Steampunk Robot Family

 Meet Bop, the bell hop ... don't you love the bell on his cap?  Me too .... Let me tell you how Bop came into my life ...

 Once upon a time, Mr. P and two of my sons, Son B and Son S ... ran in a 5k called, 'Hale Freezes Over' ... a benefit for our local community theater ...  The Hale Center Theater ... After the race ... in which my husband took first in his age group (Although it was a very old age group :-))  ... they had a drawing with lots of fun prizes ...

When he won Bop ... he was very happy because he knew his wife would love Bop ...

 Because Bop was made by the artist that made the robots above, robots that sold at flea.o.logy a couple of summers ago...  In fact the elegant lady to the far right, stayed at the flea.o.logy house when all of her robo friends went home ...

Though I did buy another robot at the following flea.o.logy, it was a childbot, riding in a fantastic space vehicle ...  so our elegant lady was still pretty much alone with not one to talk too ... now she has Bop, but unfortunately she cant't talk to him anyway ... because ... well, neither of them have mouths ...  :-(  Don't you think she looks like an opera singer?  You know with the wings and the breast plate looking thing?  I like to imagine she is world famous, on some other world, and she goes to a new hotel every week as her opera travels ... and then she falls for the kind Bell Hop, Bop ... ah such a lovely love story!

The artist who created this little family and many others is Penny Jones, Penny just happens to also be the scenery painter at the Hale Center theater.  I just can't believe my luck in having my husband win Bop in the drawing.  Really, what are the chances?

Steampunk Valentines Wreath!

 In the Facebook group I belong to, Reclaimologists and Other Craft Chics, we received a request to make a Steampunk ValentinesWreath ... I have always thought that the wire wreath frames looked sort of steampunkie when naked, so I set off to make one.

Of course I dived into my piles of cool metal stuff, and came up with a 'love plaque' that I quite liked.  Then I found some loose elements and wanted a bit of a charm bracelet look, and made up the top embellishment.

This is the result, though I must admit I thought it looked a little bare.  The customer thought so too, and asked that I fill it in with deco mesh ...  I had seen the stuff, but didn't know the name of it.

Shannon, our prime Reclaimologist,  told me where to buy it, and I checked out a couple of tutorials on line, and voila!  

It has since been tucked into a specially made box and is on its way to New Mexico ... Enjoy!

The Star Mill Antique Store and its Stories

 Lucky me ... I have always wanted to check out all the nooks and crannies at a local antique store which is located in a historic mill.

 

This past week I got the chance to do just that at the Haunted Mill Event sponsored by Shannon at Lucky Red Hen and Angie at The American Homemaker!

Boy do those girls know how to throw a party!!

The event started with some browsing through the booths set up by local antique and collectible dealers, and yes, there were some great deals.

 

Next Daniel Copper, shown above, the owner of the Star Mill Antique Shop told the wonderful history of the mill, including the fact that it burned down twice ... and was rebuilt.

 Of course the mention of ghosts is always fun this time of year ... such as the story of the little girl who wandered off down some stairs when her mother was shopping at the mill, who, when called back by her mother said "But I was going with the lady" ... another child turned and left the back room of the mill, saying to her mother that the apparently empty room had "too many people in it." 

 After the talk we got to wander all over the property, including the historic home of the miller, and several spaces that are normally closed to the public. 

I did find a lot of treasures to take home, as usual ... what fun!

 

It was especially fun seeing all the large gears, funnels, wheels, and cranks of the mill machinery, as Daniel had told us that when he was researching the mill, he was told by experts at the Smithsonian that it was one of only 10 complete 1800's mills still in existence, and the only one west of the Mississippi.

 Here is my friend Christine, who manages the Utah Vintage Yard Sale site, she had some fun spooky Halloween décor for me to add to my dining room mantel. 

 To the left is one of the food trucks where we got lunch ... mine was an ABC grilled cheese (Apple, Bacon and Cheddar)  Yummy!!

My friend LaVern and I both had a great time ... note my van behind us in front of the mill, all ready for me to load the amazing antique door turned huge wall mirror that we stopped off and dropped at the Treasures Antiques on the way home. 

 

 Yes, a good time was had by all!

Steampunk Decor Ideas

Wow, its Wednesday again?  Time to record more of my recent wanderings.  If you read my blog about the Acorn Antique Show last Saturday, then you have probably been looking forward to seeing Marci's Amazing Steampunk booth for yourself!!

As you see, I have not been stingy with pictures.  Everything was so amazing I just kept taking more and more pictures.

As you can see she has really outdone herself with old clocks, gears, machinery bits, and antique reinventions.

The eye examine chart to the left is typical of the celebration of a period of time when inventions and innovations grew exponentially.

The charming antique books stripped of their covers and tied up with hand printed and hand died ribbons, each with a gear or other element added, were just charming.

Other inventions from the time of invention, like the phonograph and typewriter are of necessity included in any Steampunk display.

This little typewriter may be later than the Victorian period Steampunkists extol but it is charming none the less.

In addition to Marci's talents, others from Vine Street Antiques in Salt Lake City, were also represented.  The lamp to the left was made by another talented dealer.

There were also amazingly handcrafted jewelry and photo frames compliments of our favorite Steam Punk Diva.

And what SP display would be complete without a huge antique toolbox full of old gears and wheels.

I told Marci that I am thinking about Steampunking my library.  I can't think of another room in any Victorian house that more closely abides by the loosely woven tenants that are Steampunk. She even said she would come down and help!

I hope you enjoyed steaming along on our Steampunk adventure.  I am not sure it will ever be mainstream, but Marci has a way of making it just delightful!!  Thanks Marci for sharing your talents with all of us!!  You are definitely the Jules Vern of Decorating!!