The Kirkland Museum's New Home

If you love 20th century decorative arts, there is one museum here in Denver that just cannot be missed. The Kirkland Museum of Decorative Arts is now just across the street from the Denver Art Museum. They literally moved it, the building itself. Wait, what?

The museum is based around the former studio of Denver artist Vance Kirkland, and his studio indeed used to be several blocks away from where it is now. They lifted the building from it's foundation and wheeled it down to a new location! Now that is dedication. The new location next to Denver's other major art museums does make sense for visitor traffic, but what an undertaking?! Since the museum had been closed for a few year for the move and renovations, my mom and I recently decided to finally stop into downtown to check out the Kirkland's new space.

Luckily the new digs mean the large collection is allowed to breath a bit more and the extra space certainly makes it easier to study the thousands of gorgeous examples of antique and vintage design. Ranging from Art Nouveau to 1960's Mod, the collection ticks all of the boxes for a muti era loving vintage gal like me. 1920's glassware? 1950's furniture? Frank Lloyd Wright anything??? Yes please.

And the Denver Art Museum just so happened to have a midcentury modern exhibition on as well! It all made for a lovely day out, I highly recommend it :)

I wore my green print cotton sateen dress for the day of museum visits. The yellow facade of the new museum building is quite striking no?

Dress: Made by me
Shoes: Royal Vintage
Handbag, Belt, & Jewelry: Vintage
Sunglasses: TJ Maxx 

Video : A Sewing Room & Studio Tour

I have posted a little photo tour of my sewing room and studio/office before, back when I reorganized and spruced up the space, and I'm honestly surprised just how much the room still looks the same today as it did then. This past weekend I put together a little video tour of the space, and now comparing the video to the old blog post where everything was freshly organized and clean...I feel the need to give the space a bit more time to make it shine again! Then again, who am I kidding, I barely get the time to sew in at anymore let alone spend an afternoon organizing.

But with all those nice fall fabrics just sitting there waiting to become frocks, I better make some time right? Especially since I want new dresses to wear with the Royal Vintage shoes I may or may not have pre ordered...*ahem* Have you guys seen the new Edwardian/20's shoes from American Duchess too? So good, my bank account is crying.

Finished Sewing Room Redo!

As you all know, I have been reorganizing and redecorating my sewing room, and today the project is finally finished! It occurs to me that it might not actually look very different to an outside eye, but I know how different the room feels! I now have a fully functional (and adorable *squee!*) desk/office area for blogging (and soon vlogging too) in the room as well. I am currently sitting at my new desk to write this post! For those of you who haven't see the befores of this room, check out this post where I go into more detail of my plan for the space. Then in this post I updated you all on my progress and Ikea purchases.

There were bags and bags of "trash" (sewing scraps, fabric from old projects, old mock ups, old school work, broken things, etc...) removed from this room. I also removed several of those plastic storage drawer tote things that never really work and also look horrible. Now I can use my pretty velvet bench (it's in the window, hooray seating!) finally after years of using it as a catch all. I hung up lots of new art and...wait you all just want to see don't you? Okay, without further ado, my newly improved sewing room/office!

I do have a thin vase for those large leaves leaning against the wall above the sink, I just need to bring it downstairs!

I made this little seat cushion for my new swivel chair (Ikea of course)

(There are a lot of photos, sorry not sorry!)

Sewing Room Redo: In Progress

I finally got started on my sewing room makeover! I've been sick for two weeks and just finally had enough energy yesterday to go to IKEA. After all, a serious IKEA trip requires some courage as it is both overwhelming and crowded! I may have gotten a bit distracted and bought more than I'd planned! The white desk lamp below was love at first sight, the brass accents! I picked up a super fun faux Edison vintage style bulb at Home Depot that looks the part but is actually LED. In this lamp the combination is perfect! I also picked up my first house plant while at Home Depot, a zz plant which are supposed to be quite hard to kill. I want to get a few more smaller plants and possibly some succulents too but I'll have to try a garden center for those.

Today I made progress by removing an old table that took up too much space, moving a bookcase to a different part of the room, and cleaning out mountains of old fabric scraps and papers I no longer need. I put together two new white tables from Ikea that are now my new L-shaped desk (alright I put one together and then my dad put the second together for me!). Removing the old rug and bringing in two new rugs to the space changed the look of the room so I felt like I got more done than I did! I have another full day of cleaning and organizing ahead of me but it will have to wait till Friday!

1) I picked up this pretty metallic and white shade to use as a hanging lamp over the desk area. It's very retro mod looking in person so I am excited to see how it looks in the space! I wasn't planning on introducing copper into the room but I found some cute copper mason jars at Joanns to accent the color in the lamp.

2) The best desk lamp! Since finding this lamp I have learned it is actually a very trendy lamp among interior decor bloggers, so I'm jumping on that trend :)

3) This cute little cart now lives next to my sink with the lovely zz plant ontop! I found the cart in the bathroom section of IKEA, told you I got distracted...

4) Cat print pillows. CAT PRINT PILLOWS! I bough two, no questions asked! They fit on my bench perfectly too which was a nice bonus.




I'm sorry to have been quite missing recently, I caught a terrible sore throat/fever/respiratory/pink eye/cough thing and have been useless (and unable to wear makeup!) for weeks. My energy is finally returning and I hope to be back in the full swing of things shortly. I hope you all had a great weekend!

Sewing Room Upgrade: The Plan

Above are photos of my sewing room as it is currently arranged. Well almost, as these photos are from 2013 and it is much much messier right now! I really need to clean up/out the space so that it works better for me and is easier to keep organized. Mainly I want to take an old art table that is currently unused (not pictured above, it's in front of the window opposite the view above) out of the room as it is currently just serving as a surface to collect stuff on and replace it with a functioning desk/table instead. I also want to move one of the bookcases to the opposite wall, add a new rug, and in general just get rid of the mountains of "stuff" that never gets touched or will never be used.

A few Pinterest worthy inspiration images below...

The main concept for the room is lots of white with pops of fun colors. My room is already painted a very soft light blue which is a nice base. I plan on rearranging the furniture and adding two new tables from the ever reliably affordable Ikea. Actually, with my wishlist of items pictured below, Ikea should be sponsoring this post! (they aren't, but feel free to hit me up Ikea!).

1) New tables, these are the super inexpensive Linmmon.

2) A cute colorful woven runner for along my big navy blue drafting table, the tile gets real cold down here in the basement!

3) Pretty pink boxes for storing patterns and other stuff on my existing bookshelves.

4) This gorgeous colorful striped rug for the center of the room where my sewing table and desk live. I just love the colors :)

5) Sewing room essentials, little trash cans everywhere: by the machine, by the ironing board, under the drafting table...you get the idea.

6) A new chair that I can swivel from my sewing table to my desk and back without having to pick it up. I'm currently using the tiny chair that matches my black vanity (seen in the first photo at the top of this post) and am constantly moving it back and forth! (also said little chair is sort of falling apart and needs some serious TLC).

7) A fun pendant lamp for the corner of the room over the new white tables to add some whimsy.

8) Cute and colorful boxes to hold pens and pencils around the room. 

9) I may even add some indoor plants! I'm no green thumb and they would have to be hardy, but it would be so nice to have a mini garden indoors.

10) I wanted an excuse to buy this lantern last time I was in Ikea, so I may just let myself buy one just because it's so cute!

I'll be putting up some new fun images and art on the cork boards and may even try my hand at some DIY bunting for the ultimate in cutesy indie overload factor! I really can't wait to get started on updating the room, I want to go to Ikea right now, but first I have to clean the room :( There is so much that just needs to be organized or thrown out! I think with the new furnishing the re-do should cost me around $200-$250 dollars, and for how much time I spend in the sewing room that sounds well worth it to me!

Do any of you have a dedicated space for sewing or crafting? I know I am super lucky to have a whole room! It's good too because when it is super messy (aka, always), I can just close the door and no one has to know about it ;)

Vintage Hat Storage

I can only imagine there used to be many more options and varieties of hat storage available in the first half of the 20th century. I am infinitely perplexed as to why they don't still make functional hat boxes! I have seen nice vintage hat boxes with the clear plastic sides so you can see inside, but no one seems to make them anymore. After my black Friday hat buying spree (only a few...really, I promise...) my previous way of storing my vintage hats just wasn't cutting it anymore.

I always store my hats in boxes, mostly because I find they get dusty fast if I leave them out in my room. I also have cats who are always interested in investigating (and chewing on) feathers of any kind. I used to store my hats in shoe boxes, big boxes for tall boots are very useful for hat storage indeed. Still, I had amassed a large leaning tower of hat boxes, and often had to go through every box to find the hat I was looking for on any given day. A a new solution was needed, and after searching the net for nice clear hat boxes and coming up empty, I decided to visit the maze that is Ikea.

My new leaning tower of hats

 The two large blue boxes above are nice and sturdy and also pretty cute. I filled one with my winter and larger scarves, and the other provides great space for some of my wider brimmed hats. The round hat box above holds the rest of my larger hats and was found at TJmaxx a few years ago. I still want to make some liners out of muslin for these boxes, as I doubt they are acid free cardboard. Always do your best to store clothing and accessories in acid free boxes and tissue paper. I have an order from amazon coming now for acid free tissue!

The other Ikea find were these little boxes meant for shoe storage. These two will need a lining of some kind, I wish Ikea listed whether or not these boxes were acid free! As it is I will have to assume they are not. Still, the liftable lids are a great little touch, as are the clear fronts so I can see which hats are inside.

The last new addition to my hat storage arsenal was a surprising holiday sale find! Walking through the grocery store I noticed these clear plastic round holiday cookie containers and immediately though to myself "hat box!". Just goes to show sometimes you can find just what your looking for in the most unlikely of places! Keep an eye out in the holiday sales, I got these cookie boxes for just .60 cents each!

A smaller 40's or 50's hat fits perfectly! If I could find these exact boxes in a larger size I would be over the moon, but these will do fine for now.

I still want to go through and organize my hats better so I know what is in each box. I am planning on printing photos of each hat and taping them to the top or sides of the boxes so I know where to look next time I am searching for a particular hat.

As a major hat lover, properly storing them is always a concern. How do you store your hats? Please let me know in the comments, I am all ears on this subject!

Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art

If you guys are anything like me, and if you are here let's face it you probably are, you love vintage decorative arts as much as you love the clothes. I am an Antiques Roadshow junkie, I can never get enough (I watch the US and the UK versions!). I love a good flea market, thrift shop, and of course antique mall! I go goo-goo for Lalique glass, silver tea services, Rookwood pottery, and retro Eames chairs. That's why I love (LOVE!) the Kirkland Museum here in Denver!

The Kirkland Museum is named for Vance Kirkland, a Colorado based artist who created wonderful and very colorful abstract paintings from the late 20's through the early 1980's. The museum is housed in Kirkland's 1911 studio and home, with his studio room intact. In addition to being the home of the majority of Kirkland's large body of work, the museum has a huge collection of decorative arts spanning from the Art Nouveau to the 1980's. When I say huge collection, I mean jam packed, overstuffed, crazy levels of amazing!

As Wikipedia sums it up:

"Displays objects from the decorative art movements of Arts & Crafts, Aesthetic, Art Nouveau, Glasgow Style, Wiener Werkstätte, De Stijl, Bauhaus, Art Deco, Modern, Pop Art, and Postmodern. The collection focuses on objects from c. 1875 to 1990. Over 3,500 objects are on view at any time. According to scholars, including Patricia Kane, Curator of American Decorative Arts, Yale University, “Nowhere else in the country can one see such a comprehensive presentation of international twentieth-century design.”[6] Peter Loughrey, Director Los Angeles Modern Auction, similarly stated, “I believe your museum has the finest survey of 20th century design on view in America today.”"

For me, it is like Antiques Roadshow live, The names and pieces I have seen so often on my beloved TV program live and in color right in from of me (okay behind glass, but still). Tiffany Studio's glass, Clarice Cliff pottery, Frank Lloyd Wright chairs (even some you can sit in!); the list goes on and on!

While those not local to Denver may be unable to visit this amazing museum, please at least enjoy the photo-spam below!

Those straps hanging there were used to suspend Kirkland above the painting so he could get to all areas of a large work in progress!

These chairs just above are the Frank Lloyd Wright designed chairs that one can actually sit in. They are from a theater he designed in Texas.

I hope you enjoyed out little visit to the museum! If you are in the Denver area or pass through, make sure to stop by the Kirkland Museum!