 Among the stacks of moving boxes and piles of "where should this live" I sit on the floor with a plate in my lap. I recently moved and I'm in desperate need of a dining room table. November's "The Fab Furniture Flippin' Contest" Showstopping TOPS sponsored by "ETI Envirotex" came at the perfect time. Thanksgiving dinner picnic style was not an option I was willing to entertain.
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I was a little under the weather this week so I kept the outdoor exploring to a minimum. I spent my time recuperating and thinking about how to make our new apartment feel like our home. As I sketched our new space I began to think about the improvements I made to our San Francisco home. As I didn't venture out much this week I thought I would share how I transformed a cheap metal blind into a custom roman shade. Read More  After I opened the store front I had people gifting me furniture almost everyday, I would come home to find pieces by the front steps or arrive at the shop in the morning to them by the front door. I am grateful for all of the support I receive from friends, family and complete strangers for their donations but not all furniture is created equal. Some of the pieces are beautiful solid wood built to last a lifetime, others may not have been items built for longevity so I use whatever parts I can and then they head off to be recycled. This vintage headboard has great bones and I was excited to give it a new life with a pop of color! Read More  Time to get crafty! I wanted a round mirror for the entryway but I am working with a small budget. I liked the look of a sunken mirror so I was on the hunt for a shallow item that could house the 14" beveled edge mirror I already had. I hit the thrift stores, garage sales and discount stores looking for something that would work, possibly a large cake pan. Read More  ~ This post was sponsored by Fairfield World, but all opinions and thoughts expressed within this post are my own ~ Another great week at the workshop! My second time participating in The Fab Furniture Flippin' Contest and it has been just as exciting as the first! The sponsor for this month is the wonderful Fairfield World. They have pillow forms, upholstery foam, quilt batting and on top of all the supplies they have for projects they even have plenty of inspirational ideas to use those supplies! The March theme "Mix & Match" was so much fun, I really enjoy playing around with patterns and prints! It was time to settle on a piece of furniture and head to my favorite fabric store. I wandered for about an hour before coming out with these three beautiful fabrics...and ten yards of other goodies. I love how they all have grey and gold tones, they work so well together! Read More  Happy Saturday Friends! I have been working non-stop lately to bring you lots of new projects! Today I will share one of my favorites! My apologies in advance for the lack of photos, I got so into the transformation I forgot to stop and capture the process. Read More  San Francisco is made up of old homes turned rentals and I happen to live in one of those beauties! Full of great character, lovely charm aaaand out dated fixtures. haha! As a rental you can only do so much to give the place a facelift, paint goes a long way with walls and furniture but those run of the mill flush mount lighting fixtures...eek! One day while browsing the free section of Craigslist I came across a company that was getting rid of laminate samples, they were colorful and made my creative brain start to tick. I picked them up and brought them home where they sat on my desk for months before inspiration hit. Read More 
It has been a great week at the Delightful Designs workshop! I had the chance to participate in the Fab Furniture Flippin' Contest, an amazing group of creatives that transform neglected furniture. This months contest was sponsored by DecoArt a great brand with numerous products, so you're sure to find whatever you need for any of your projects! We received paint from their Chalky Finish line, a product that is super easy to use! No sanding or priming required, I wiped my piece down with a degreaser and then it was ready for paint!
The theme for this months contest is "Make a Statement" and if you know me or have followed along in the past you know that I am all about Bold and Bright colors. As my boyfriend would say this months contest was right in my wheel house! I choose the color Fortune, a vibrant green, for a project I had been wanting to get started on. I picked up this bench off of Craigslist for $20 and have been sitting on it (haha sorry for the bad pun, I couldn't help it) for while just waiting for the right inspiration to hit. The before is pretty bad in my opinion, stained and pretty blah. I knew I wanted to do black and white on top and a pop of color on the legs. Read More 
With Delightful Designs moving in a new direction, I now have more time to focus on the creative side of the business. I am excited to pull out and start work on the pieces that have been in storage waiting for their turn to be transformed! I have some fun and colorfully chic ideas for a few of the pieces, but also looking forward to expanding into custom orders. I am currently in the process of creating a gallery for unfinished pieces that can be customized to fit your design style. Below I have some rough photos of items that are in the queue for transformation. I will be updating the site soon with better photos. If interested in an item shoot me an email and we can talk more about the details! Read More  Full sized wood headboard A few months ago while treasure hunting at the Alameda Antique Faire hidden behind piles of items I saw a lily pad base popping out and was instantly in love. I have seen this type of lamp before but never with an ornate shade base. They were beautiful and they needed to come home with me! Once home I did some thinking and decided that though they are lovely in their original form I wanted to update them. My first thought was Edison bulbs, industrial chic and modern. To do so the lamps needed to be rewired from a chandelier base to a standard socket. This is something I have never attempted before so I took them to a lamp expert only to be told it would cost $110...Eek! Not willing to drop that much cash on a couple of lamps I decided to give it a whirl myself...after all I changed all the electrical sockets and hardwired the ceiling pendants at the shop why was this any different. After digging through the lamp kit section at my neighborhood hardware store I found what I thought might do the trick!  1 of 2 Vintage Lily Pad Table Lamps  Chandelier base to be replaced with standard socket  Tools needed to complete transformation  Chandelier base First thing make sure your wiring works, if it does not you will need to use new wiring. Secondly make sure the lamp is unplugged and gather your tools. In this case my wiring was good all I needed was a small flat head screw driver and the new socket. While removing the chandelier socket I made sure to mark which wire went with which screw, as you can see in the photo below one is silver and one is gold. I used a purple sharpie and just scribbled on the wire to be connected to the silver screw. Slide your wires through the hole that attaches the socket to the lamp, bend the wires around the proper screw and tighten. Screw the socket back onto the lamp, add a lightbulb and hit the switch! It really is that easy!  New Standard Socket
 Final Product The lamp expert I spoke to said it was hard work and time consuming hence the hefty price tag. This took me 15 minutes and $9 to complete both lamps. I was a little weary after hearing how hard this could be and I didn't want to ruin such beautiful pieces, but when I plugged the lamps in and the light bulb lit up I was elated. I called Dad to tell him my story so proud of myself for accomplishing something new, but what really made me smile was what he said about the lamp expert, "He hasn't met a Stoecker"! Dad was right, as usual, you can do anything you put your mind to, have confidence in yourself and give it a whirl. Thanks Dad!
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~ ABOUT ME ~
Creative Owner of Delightful Designs, a boutique where furniture is given a new colorfully chic life! Read more...
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