Mad as a Hatter

So today was such a smashing Sales Day at Salvage Chic I decided to treat myself to this lamp I've been eyeing since Claudia put it out the other day. She was calling it a "Mad Hatter Lamp" on the tag, which seemed appropriate for its fun & quirky shape. I brought it home to try it out and wasn't sure if I liked it or not; but Kenny immediately piped up "It looks much better in here than the old lamp what with the curtains & bedding that are in here." Hmph; either he was doing a really good job at channeling his Inner Decorator or he was just trying to shut me up. The REAL TEST, I said to myself, will be after dark when I can see it lit.

Fast forward a couple of hours and I skipped in to turn the light on and step back to admire the view. Something didn't look quite right... the bulb seemed a bit bright, so I went to check that out, but it was only 60 Watts. Still it just seemed, really HIGH up toward the top of the shade. That's when I remembered a couple extra clicks when I turned it on. AHA! It's a 3-WAY LAMP! Off to the pantry to get a different bulb. Only, Oh No, now the bulb is too tall for the harp the shade hangs on, it won't FIT!!
Right about this moment I started wondering how many people have gotten something home from Salvage Chic only to discover something slightly off about it that leaves them muttering "THAT *!@#? PLACE!" Was this the wrong shade for the lamp base, or the wrong harp for the lamp and shade? Oddly I happened to have a larger harp handy so I swapped that out and Voila. "Thank GOD!" I exclaimed which of course was enough to have Kenny inquiring from the other room "What's the Matter?" So I went in and told him the whole story and he got this little grin on his face and said "You're so cute, only YOU would happen to have the right spare lamp part hovering around" which I'm pretty sure is Husband-Code for "You're Freaking CRAZY."


So the real question is... Can YOU see the difference? Or am I really as Mad as a Hatter??

Mad Props

I'm sure that's what the Critics will be rewarding the Set Designers at the Huntington Theater Company with next month when this Salvage Chic Find takes center stage for the performance of "Fences", a 1950's-based play based on the novel by August Wilson.




When the guys came today to pick up the table I tried to act all cool like Professional Set Designers come here all the time, but really it was just once before. And the guy wasn't exactly a Professional, at Set Designing anyway... he was a nice teacher from a pre-school in Duxbury where the kids were putting on Annie. So I loaned him a suitcase, and a strand of pearls, in exchange for a free ad in the Programme; and so-began my Set Design career. This time, they actually BOUGHT the table. I'd say I'm making progress! Hollywood, Here I Come!

The Way to a Man's Heart...

is NOT Through is Stomach! Let's put that old theory to bed right now. Trust me Ladies, the way to a Man's Heart is through his... TV. Specifically his flat screen LCD model, which Kenny has been clamoring for for quite some time. Luckily I already have him in my Clutches so I was able to stave him off by telling him he could get one, WHEN (and IF!) I found the right piece of furniture to house it. He seemed satisfied with my excuse and I promptly forgot all about my promise until I stumbled upon THIS piece of furniture at Salvage Chic:

The key to converting a piece like this into a TV stand is it has to have the dust liners under the drawers so you can take the drawers out and house your cable box/DVD player etc. on the 'shelves'. My first step was to remove the bottom 2 drawers and spray paint the inside in a color of close proximity to the chocolate brown color of the piece. Then I had Kenny drill some holes in the back for ventilation:

By then he had already dismantled our old setup (insert horrifying Psycho stab sounds) and unearthed THIS mess of wiring:

The old TV cabinet from Target was put out to pasture or rather, the curb (HEY, we all make Poor Design Choices from time to time...)

Next I was bound, gagged and blindfolded and taken to Best Buy, where I don't really remember what happened but I suspect I racked up serious mileage points on my MBNA Mastercard.

A few hours later the New Technology was in place and Kenny was happily enjoying the Red Sox Game while his Trusty Assistants gave new meaning to the words "Dog-Tired".




I, of course, had seized the opportunity to completely re-arrange the living room and was unable to relax and enjoy the fruits of their labor, because my dining room table now looked like The Place Where Old Technology & Random Accessories go to Die!


SIGH. Luckily I knew JUST the place to get the last few finishing touches I needed; so after sleeping on it, I came home from the shop today with the tall French Windows I stole from Jack (shhh, he's on vacation, I'll just Blog a lot this week and he'll never read this post.) I tried to shoot the photos in panoramic fashion so you get a sense of the room; it's really an odd configuration because someone knocked a wall down at one point leaving a large but L-shaped room I've never been happy with the flow of. Fireplaces are cool to have, but only on HGTV are they the Focal point of the room; in real life, it's YOU GUESSED IT - the TV! And I have to say, I could tell my non-Antiquer friends I got the TV stand at Crate & Barrel and they'd TOTALLY believe me; of course, I'll proudly brag it's from Salvage Chic!! And even better, aside from the TV & the rug, I think almost everything in the room was bought second-hand... Now THAT's Salvage Chic!