this is just one of a few of my favorite before and after projects that ill be posting. dad found this tractor as a pile of rust. literally. check it out. who would possible think it could have been restored, let alone restored like THIS!? he always said that nothing is every too far gone. (miss you, dad)
we needed a facelift at ogilvy, so i called in anders nilsen (the artist who did an button installation @ lula cafe in logan square) i asked him if he could take one of his 500 count button count and do it on a bigger scale. 20 feet, 10,000 buttons. we collaborated to come up with the installation you see here- featuring the segments of Ogilvy’s work dating back to the 1950’s, and mixing in pop culture spanning the last several decades. the buttons are in multiple sizes, and installed to undulate off the wall at different depths. he has…
its aint pretty. well, the model are. the process… not so much. we beg borrow and steal models and make them do all sorts of things they regret.(thanks will for putting his butch hat on and heather for not kicking his arse)
a few years ago i started digging to find some old geezer who still had a press & stock to print those retro postcards on wood. FOUND. cardsofwood.comits really hard to remember, write it down. they make all sorts of cool stuff. we had the modest cottage business cards printed by them. (check it)
the latest found free or flea project: a 1929 Ford.picture here: (from top) They called her the ‘CHEATER’- and it was a drag car that my dad used to race against in his reckless youth. He always talked about her, how he wanted to her out of retirement- but for decades nobody could even see the building she was locked up in. She was built to drag race in the 50’s, holding an impressive track record in the midwest, until her motor was pulled over 40 years ago and the body retired to a decrepit storage building in Arenzville, Illinois…
it took a year to find all these books.they all had to be FOUND, FREE OR FLEA.under a buck each, and in a limited color palette.(gray, brown, tan, black or creme)bladdon conner built the wall out, angela finney-hoffman helped me stock the shelves (shown here)
NURSERY MURAL (its as easy as it looks) find an old school paint by number painting on ebay, customize it to fit the wall size you’re painting (in my case, nursery wall). break down the colors by hand numbering, matching each to a pantone chip to assign the palette. take your pms colors to the paint store. now shoot a pic your P.B.N. painting guide, download it, project it on your wall- trace it out, then start filling in your numbers. (used foam brushes & latex paint)
SHOWN IN THIS SHOT IN THE LODGE: 1. upholster seat cushion in vintage wool tartan blanket: thrift blanket $8. chair: found upholstering the cushion: $60 2. re-purpose bedsheets as window coverings: i love antique french linens (the sort with hand embroidered details + initials) retro fit them to the rod with standard curtain clips. 3. turn a sweater into a pillow: find a thrift sweater, i love the irish hand knit wool sort, cut off the sleeves, turn inside-out, sew to size of pillow insert, belt it with a vintage leather strap
my friend patric king of HOUSE OF PRETTY is a writer for PRINT magazine-he did a review on one of my prior projects –his blog (obsession at IMPRINT) is so fun + fresh. I am seriously addicted now.)thanks for the review, PK! My friend Tereasa has amazing taste. She’s a creative director at Ogilvy, but it’s her curatorial chops and personal collections that really intrigue me. She has this crazy instinct for Americana that I don’t ever see honed to so fine a point, like her viewpoint is naturally tuned into a past we all culturally share. Everything is a…