piano guts!

I've been at my repurposing shenanigans long enough that when friends are, say, dismantling a piano to repurpose the frame into a bar(a piano bar! HAH!), they naturally email me to see if I want the guts.  Of course I do.  And these are such good friends, they had already done the hard work, boxed the keys and helped me load the car. 

Here's the piano frame, which will make a gorgeous bar (I made them promise to send photos when it's done, which I will post):

cute toes!

And here are the innards:

keys, lots of keys

keyframe

moth proofed, what a relief

conveniently numbered!

I didn't have much time today (the husband working and watching Gus simultaneously, always a harrowing experience), so I started with a simple project using the keyframe, which appears to quite literally frame the keys:

The wood wasn't that exciting, so I took off all of the cute little felt buttons and got to painting.  I then replaced all the cute little felt buttons (because they are cute, and authentic), and created several lovely hangers for keys, tea towels or what have you:

this guy

If you are of a certain age, you might have had a poster of this guy up on your wall (or in my case, had friends who did):

that headband kills me

So imagine my excitement to find a duet of Bjorn Borg tennis racquets.  From that era, naturally.

Given how hunky he was back in the day, it seems more than appropriate that his racquets are now mirrors.

random hardware = lovely candlesticks

A few weeks ago, my tag sale partner and I hit a sale that was advertised as a tool and hardware sale.  Our hearts went pitter patter, naturally.  By the time we rounded up piles of random bits and pieces, the entire crowd was helping us brainstorm projects.  I think they found us adorable and slightly crazy, which sounds about right.  My kinda tag sale.  

Both items I scored - hinge springs and tractor axle nuts, or so I am told - lent themselves rather naturally to candlesticks.  All they needed was a good bath and a spray of polyeurethane.  The hardest part of this repurpose was finding 1" diameter candlesticks. Thank god for god - these are actually church candles.  

axle nuts from a Ford

(apparently you can tell from the blue paint)

church candles, no priest in sight

awesome Northampton box as a backdrop!

hinge springs, opines my husband

 criss cross applesauce, 

as my son would say

collision of left and right brain = super cool yardstick box

Those of you who have been following along at home may remember that part of my inspiration to begin crafting again was to exercise the other part of my brain, as I am a lawyer by day, and don't have tons of opportunities to be super creative there (though I surprise myself sometimes).  I've been a legal aid attorney almost my entire career, which began waaaaaaay back in the mid-90's.  From 1999-2000, I took a year off to clerk for the probate and family court judges in western Massachusetts, a super fun and interesting job.  At that time, John A. Barrett was the register of the Franklin County Probate and Family Court.  What I didn't know until 2 minutes ago was that he began his reign in in 1978 (when I was in grade school, thankyouverymuch).  I know you're not reading this blog to ponder my inexplicable decision to go to law school. Stay with me; we're coming back around now.

What John A. Barrett's remarkable 24 year reign as register, an elected position (despite the fact that the vast majority of humanity has no idea what a register is or what s/he does), tells me is that he must have been an excellent campaigner.  Which brings us back to the original point of this post:  yardsticks.  One specific yardstick, which I scored at the fantastic Loot in Turners Falls.  

This yardstick: 

John A. Barrett

Register

of Probate

The yardstick requested (implored?) that we "re-elect" Mr. Barrett, so we know it's not circa 1978, his first year as register, but that's the only clue I have as to its age.  

So now you're thinking that this is a really lovely inside baseball story, but who is going to care about Mr. Barrett and want his campaign yardstick on her desk?  I'm so glad you asked.  A lawyer friend recently hung her own shingle in Greenfield, Massachusetts. She practices family law.  In probate and family court.  In Franklin County.  SO PERFECT, right?  Right.  

so much loot at loot

Yesterday's outstanding Pumpkin Fest in downtown Turners Falls presented an excellent excuse to go to Loot, a place that speaks my language.  If you haven't been to Loot yet, for the love of god, go. Loot describes itself as an industrial artifact and handmade goods emporium, and it's that and so much more.  

But today I'd like to talk about test tube holders, because I have lots and lots and lots of test tubes.  Like this many:

Not that I'm complaining.  And I've come up with lots of great ways to use them.

crutch tips, naturally

rubber stamp carousel (also from Loot!)

salvaged table leg

And now that I've scored all this gorgeous barn board, I have several more tricks up my sleeve.

But there is beauty in simplicity, and putting test tubes into a vintage test tube rack acquired from Loot, and using it as a bud vase, is both simple and beautiful.

Barbara thought it wise 

to label her test tube rack

and she was apparently 

in Group II, Table 5