Salvaged Love in the Desert

+ = HAPPINESS

This past week, I road tripped to Tucson, Arizona to visit some friends and family...
and ended up falling in love with this charming, bohemian desert wonderland!

This was my first opportunity to spend time in the southwest, and I was completely blown away by everything- the weird cacti, the calming sunsets, and SO MUCH perfectly weathered metal salvage stuff!

Here are some of my favorite places:

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Tucson Herb Store, an inspiring and sweet smelling little shop (cool idea --> framed fabric swatches!)



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Totally amazing home/workshop/backyard of Tim Hagyard, Salvage & Vintage Decorating Genius







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My musician friend Ryen's apartment



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San Xavier Mission , a crazy colorful & offbeat 18th century Spanish Catholic church



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Grill, an awesome diner with serious style (love those deco murals!)



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Of course my trip wouldn't be complete without some SERIOUS thrifting- I stopped in a bunch of cool towns during the trip, and raided their thrift stores- but those finds shall remain a secret, until my apt decor is unveiled... very soon!!

Stay tuned, fellow vintage lovers...

Progress & Projects

After 3+ years of traveling, subletting, constantly packing, and moving-

I'm finally home.



The new apt looks amazing, but I'm not ready to do the big reveal quite yet. Since I'm decorating the place from scratch, I'm taking my time gathering the perfect vintage furniture. This decorating job will be my pièce de ré·sis·tance.

I've been hitting plenty of massive estate/yard sales, too- there's nothing like going through the contents of someone's entire house- I find it fascinating to see just how much glorious junk people can accumulate in a lifetime.



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For now, I will share with you two small home improvement projects. More to follow!

PROJECT #1
Ugly ass hot pink/teal and chrome pole lamp --> Sexy, industrial antique gold pole lamp



Bought:

• Once-cool 70s lamp (painted hot pink, by me- 5 years ago) = $5 @ yard sale

• Really interesting gold/black textured spray paint from Home Depot = $4-ish
  

Time: about 20 min!



PROJECT #2
Stupid ugly white fridge --> Easy & cute faux-wood paneled fridge



Bought:

• Magic Cover - vinyl, removable wallpaper type roll - $1.99 at Goodwill
  
• Vintage Wallcovering application tool - $1 at a flea market
• Heavy duty electical tape - $3-ish
  

Time: about 35 min - the black tape border was a bit tricky



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Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment on what you might like to see next from this "little engine that could" blog-- you are my encouragement, dear readers...