hilarity ensues.

This site is hilarious! It’s called Catalog Living and it’s written by the fantastically sarcastic Molly Erdman whom you might remember from the sonic commercials like this one. I love that it pokes fun at cheesily staged rooms from catalogs like Pottery Barn and West Elm! Love it. Brighten up your Monday! Go check it out!

“Oh that?  That’s my Wish Plant.  It’s where I clip pictures of people who I want dead.”

“No one could ignore the obvious racism of Elaine’s side table arrangement.”

“Greta, the invitation specifically said to bring a yellow or white food or drink.  Now, please remove your brown cookies at once.”

xo,

Chels

Quizzical

Is that a word? Anyhoo, I have been tagged by my lovely Miss Rox of The Sixty Forty {one of my super faves}. It seems like a fun night to do a little get-to-know-you, so here we go!

1. What's your staple, go to meal?

Three words: Stir. Fry. And Holla. ‘Cause it’s that good. Seriously, though. What could be easier (or more delicious) than fresh veggies and chicken in a spicy Szechuan sauce? I’m going to say nothing.

2. What do you want to be when you grow up?

A mom. An entrepreneur. A performer. A counselor. A friend. A teacher. And so many things in between. 

3. What book are you reading at the moment?

Currently I’m reading the book of Job and also a book called Lost Women of the Bible: The Women We Thought We Knew by Carolyn Custis James. {sigh} I know. Big nerd.

I’ve also been forcing myself to read Breaking Dawn for about the past six months and holy cow it’s horrible… but for some reason I feel like I must…..finish……. the series… no matter how painfully awful it is.

4. How do you relax?

Thrift stores. It’s no secret that I’m a thrift store junkie. Also, I love to hike which might not sound relaxing, but when you make it to the summit and look down over what you’ve accomplished, it’s such an awesome feeling. Bear and I have started a tradition where we take along small journals and write something at the summit each time we finish a hike. I love it.

5. What color are the interior walls of your home?

Living/Dining, Guest Rooms, and Hall Bathroom: Valspar's Cliveden Sandstone )(3007-10B). It’s a gorgeous neutral that takes on the characteristics of whatever accent you pair with it.

Hallway: Martha Stewart Colors Cottage Shutter (MS332)-- a fantastically bright turquoise

Master Bedroom: Eddie Bauer Home Craftsman Bungalow Mercer Colors- Mercer Blue (EB32-2)- a warm and relaxing cadet blue

Kitchen:Valspar's Filoli Ginkgo Tree (5006-4B)-- the most luscious green

All trim, baseboards, cabinetry, and fireplace: Valspar’s Du Jour (7002-6)- beautiful and smooth off-white.

And that’s the ballgame.

6. What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Thrifting and gritty gunslinger movies like The Departed and Boondock Saints. I can’t get enough!

7. What time is bedtime and getting up time?

We’re usually in bed by ten since Bear has to be up at 4:30a.m. (!!!!! crazy, I know) and I’m up by 6-6:30 on week days and 7 on weekends.

8. How long do you spend reading blogs (per day or per week)?

Well, it’s kind of hard to gauge. I try to read while i eat breakfast every morning, but with my iPhone I’m always spending my spare minutes flipping through my google reader. There’s just so much inspiration to be had!

And one more question that I got in my formspring!

Anonymous asked, “Are you ever going to turn RDR into a brick and mortar shop?”

It’s tough to say, really. Oklahoma city is a tough place to have a creatively driven indie business. There’s a very specific market for it, and it’s difficult to get the right real estate to cater to that market. For now, I really just like the idea of being able to do everything online 24 hours a day! Thanks for asking!

Got some more questions? Leave them in my formspring!

xo,

Chels

SHOP UPDATE!

The Red Dirt Revival Etsy Shop has been updated with some awesome vintage dresses and skirts! There will be a few more items coming next week as well! Go check them out!

I would love if you left some feedback as well! You guys have been so supportive and encouraging. Thanks just for being awesome!

xo,

Chels

SHOP UPDATE THIS WEEKEND!!

Get excited!  It’s time for a super fun shop update! Some great vintage clothes and some pretty dresses will make their debut in the shop this weekend so stay tuned!

Pssst. Here’s a peak!

The Scout Red Cotton Dress

The Helen Floral Dress

I can’t wait to show you the rest!

Have a fantastic weekend!

xo,

Chels

My latest project and lessons in junking strategies

Full-time job, bathroom renovation, blog, Etsy shop, and a house and husband to keep up with… somehow I thought I needed another project!  Because I want to wait to re-upholster my beloved mid-century rocking chair {pictured below} until I can make it a project with my Nana, I have been itching to start another small project.  Perhaps I’m a glutton for punishment!

Lucky for me, I happened to be out running errands on Saturday morning and saw a tiny handmade“Yard Sale” sign.  I quickly swirved down a neighborhood road and drove aaaaalllll the way to the back, down a long gravel driveway, and up to a small delapidated house with TONS of fantastic junk on the lawn!  There were art deco bedroom sets, mid-century side tables, 50’s televisions, and some great lamps!

And then, beneath a pile of 90s mom jeans was this gorgeous hunk of rusted metal and ripped vinyl:

A mid-century hoop chair! Beautiful.  No price.  I made my offer: $15. No go. The sellers wanted an outrageous $50 bucks for this guy!  They explained to me that this was an “original” this-and-that from the fifties and it was a piece they had enjoyed for many years in their own home- I told them I knew exactly what it was and then my strategy became clear:  These people had so much sentimental value invested in this chair that they couldn’t see that it was simply a rusted, ripped up piece of scrap metal and boards at this point!  I allowed them to continue throwing “facts” at me- none of which had very much truth to them (“Probably Eames or something”, “Worth about $200”) and then I made my final offer.

I explained that the frame was rusted and would need refinishing.  The vinyl was ripped, the foam was disintegrating, and the boards were falling apart- all of which would need replacing.  There were no manufacturer’s markings on the frame, and clear evidence of a re-weld near a pressure point. I would give them $20. The man said there was no way his friend would take that little for such a classic, but he turned out to be wrong! I got the chair for $20!

Strategy #1: Give them the facts.  People love their stuff.  It’s crazy how much someone will ask for something just because they’ve dreamed up some grand story for how much it could potentially be worth- regardless of it’s current condition! Some sellers are “fact givers”. If you can prove that you value the quality of the piece, and that you know your stuff, you’ve got a better chance of communicating and reaching an agreement with the seller.  If I had become combative and said, “This isn’t worth $50”, the sellers probably wouldn’t have been as likely to haggle with me.  It’s a tricky thing! But so much fun.

In the end I walked away with a GREAT deal and my next project! I’ve already got paint, foam, and fabric for it… I’m hoping to get up early this weekend and begin sanding down the frame!

Got any great haggling tips?! Or great projects going on?!

xo,

Chels

IT’S SUMMER!

In case you missed it, the first day of summer was YESTERDAY! Wahoo!! Here’s a super sweet way to cool yourself off from Pretty Miss Rox of The 60/40 (one of our favorites around here!)

Lavender Lemonade 

Enjoy!

Patterns Emerging…

If you have come along on the journey from The Vintage Chair, you know that I usually like things that are a bit… off the wall… or ON the wall, as long as it’s weird.  (here and here just to give you an idea…) It’s become a running joke amongst my friends and myself.

Recently I noticed something quite humorous: Friends of ours came to visit and laughed at (and were seriously a little creeped out by) a small porcelain doll head that I had on a window sill.  A few days later as I brought home my shopping bag from Pier 1, I started noticing a pattern…. a doll head on the window sill, a vintage hat stand “head” in the dining room, a vintage glass Native American head cologne bottle, and lo’ and behold… what do you think was in my shopping bag from Pier 1? Yes. Another head… So I decided to embrace my *ahem* quirk…..

Yes. I think I see a pattern emerging…..

Anybody else have any weird collections? (crickets….crickets…..) anyone? Okay then.

Have a happy Tuesday, friends!

xo,

Chels

Our Bathroom is in the Works!

Bear and I used to have a home improvement blog. Well, it still exists, but after our big kitchen redesign, we took a break from the blog- an indefinite break. BUT we certainly haven’t taken a break from working on our little mid-century ranch house.  We’ve hung curtains, painted rooms, added light fixtures in three different rooms, rearranged furniture, torn down our old rusty patio cover, planted boxwood hedges in our overgrown front planters, and ripped out a bathroom that is currently being rebuilt!  We got new energy-efficient windows, and we’re getting a new roof and gutters today! If you’re a homeowner you know there’s always something to do! In fact, we’ve got a list that’s a mile long… you’re welcome to browse the archives of Mid-Century Midwest to see what we’ve accomplished thus far (we’ve come a LOOOOONG way!) and I hope you’ll join in my enthusiasm in posting house updates on RDR from now on!
As I said, we’re currently working on our “master” shoebox bathroom. In fact, we’re ready and waiting for the shower pan to be poured so that we can finally get to tiling!  There were some interesting finds during demo, and we made videos to document them. I’ll post those when it’s closer to time to reveal the bathroom.  For now, I’ll just keep building the anticipation by showing you some heinous before pictures AND some inspirational pictures for the “new” bathroom design!


Okay, you really can’t understand the extent of the disgusting from these pictures… we literally have NEVER used this bathroom.  It was so gross when we moved in that we just closed the door and used the hall bathroom until we could get around to renovating our little one.  Well, now is the time and I couldn’t be happier!

We’re going for white. I think the walls will end up being grey. We’ve already got a lot of blue going on in the bedroom and hallway, so grey will be a nice, cool,  neutral palette to create some harmony.  We had initially wanted wainscoting, but because the room is so small, we’ve decided against it.  Contrast tends to make a room look a bit smaller, and we certainly don’t need that in there!  I’m super excited to get to the “fun stuff”, but we’ve still got some grunt work ahead of us for now! I hope you’ll come along for the adventure!
xo,
Chels

tweet

Guess who’s on Twitter! A thousand points if you guessed RDR! So come follow us and we’ll follow you and together… we’ll conquer the world!

xo,

Chels

Rock the House

I just got my House Industries {free} catalog in the mail today and let me tell you- I’m in love… I totally never expected to gain so much inspiration from such a tiny little book but just look at it!

And that’s just the cover!

It’s chock full of FANTASTIC images!  The colors are amazing and you would swear that the letters and symbols are originals from mid-century. The catalog features the Eames Century Modern typographic workhorse which they developed after extensive research into Charles' and Ray’s work and lives!

“We derived a clear framework for this project from the way Charles and Ray used type in their illustrations, films, layouts, exhibitions, and ephemera. Since much of their design work refers to the rich typographic tradition of Victorian printing, the typeface would incorporate a wide selection of styles that reinforce the utilitarian, mirthful, and beautiful tangents of the Eames oeuvre.”

There’s a great foreward, and some bits and pieces of interviews thrown in highlighted in their gorgeous, light-hearted fonts… I just wish I could frame every page!

If you’d like your own free House Industries catalog, go here.

Happy Friday!

xo,

Chels

Oblivious much?

I’ve been so wrapped up in getting the Red Dirt Revival Etsy Shop up and running that I totally missed the announcements for the Etsy Craft Party!! It’s a nationwide event with meet-ups all over the country and it takes place TOMORROW! So quick! Find the meet-up nearest you and go go go! Poor OKC only has a handful of people interested and nary a meeting space… I think next time I might even be interested in organizing! We’ll see…

Are you going?! Will you take pictures and tell me how awesome it was?!

xo,

Chels

…before the storm…

I love how a summer morning feels.  Any other time of year you won’t find me up early, but when the temperatures rise and the days become longer, my feet hit the floor as soon as that sun hits the horizon.  It’s my favorite time, really. A quiet house. No pressing issues (unless you consider ‘what to wear?’ a pressing issue, which I suppose sometimes it is!). Just Lucy, a cup of coffee, and me watching the family of cardinals out in our back yard. It’s beautiful… in these quiet moments of my life I have my greatest inspirations and most intimate moments with a living God.  I savor every minute of the cool summer breeze and  shadows that still lie across our lawn…..for in mere moments one’s life is made.

I hope you’re embracing this Thursday… it’s been such a crazy two weeks that I’m really appreciating any quiet time I can get.  Come back later this afternoon for some inspiration :)

xo,

Chels

Just a reminder…

The Red Dirt Revival shop is now up and running on Etsy! Browse the collection of quality, hand-picked vintage and find a piece of history that you can wear!

I’d love it if you stopped by, even just to say hello!

xo,

Chels

Starbucks Day!

 

Just because we’ve switched locations doesn’t mean we’re leaving behind the greatest weekly breakfast tradition known to mankind!  It is indeed Starbucks day around here!  For those of you who are new to the tradition, I’ll explain.  In an effort to keep my wallet (and my waistline!) under control, I’ve designated just one day a week to head on over to my local Starbucks and order and sugary, over-priced caffeinated beverage. AND in an effort to remain motivated to keep up with this one-day-a-week-thing, I make it a special day!  Ah, psychological motivation at it’s finest, yes?

Today it is SUPER humid since all of the great flooding of aught ten and all, so I’m definitely having an ice cold peppermint mocha frappuccino! I’ll probably throw in a muffin, too. Let’s be real.

weheartit

So what’s in your cup?

xo,

Chels

what a day…

Yesterday was forever long… it involved raging floodwaters, a leak in our dining room, and a large piece of heavy sheet metal being moved and a roof being tarped in the pouring rain… OH and just your average technical difficulties while trying to work from home… you know. The usual.

Large piece of heavy sheet metal that was floating through the “river” in our back yard and about to take out our fence…

 

 

Bear tarped our roof in the pouring rain… we don’t recommend trying this at home.

Cursing the rain gods… and our roofing company.

Poor Bear.

But today is a new day and I’m ready to get back to work and normalcy.  Did anyone else have crazy weather yesterday? Goodness gracious…

xo,

Chels

Whale Pitcher

I LOVE this jonathan adler whale pitcher! So cute!!

Mysterious Ways…

  This weekend I decided to take a little break from working on the shop and do some thrifting (oh the irony…) Whilst perusing my favorite haunt, I happened upon a beautiful sight… an entire shelf of polaroid cameras! (Do you see the light and hear the baby angel choir?!)

Now, I already own a polaroid which I will be listing in the shop soon, and although it’s super cool, it’s a pretty common model.  BUT I spied something very interesting… see that camera waaaay to the right? That’s a Polaroid SX 70.  It’s a pretty rare model in that you don’t see a ton of them for sale just floating around your local thrift shop. Since this store always sells their polaroids for $4.98, I swiped it up. But when I got to the register, THEY WOULDN’T SELL IT! Why? The price had been rubbed off… I was sick to my stomach. They asked me to come back Monday or Tuesday, so I’m going to call and see if they have it.  Cross your fingers!

Okay, the story gets a little better, though. I decided to  drown my sorrows with a Dr. Pepper and a bit more thrifting at another store and what to my wondering eyes did appear but a vintage typewriter in the PERFECT shade of 50s mint green! My favorite! Even the keys are mint green! 

It’s not especially rare, but it’s certainly not something you see every day- especially not in my favorite color! It has the original case AND cleaning brushes!  On the case a name and address are scrawled in pencil: Ola Mae Johnson from Bethany, Oklahoma. It appears to be in working order, but I have yet to actually attempt to use it- even though Ola Mae was kind enough to leave me some paper too!

It made my day… now just cross your fingers that my polaroid is still there today!

xo,

Chelsea

Your Questions- Answered!

Whew! Well, I survived and made it to the deadline!  I just want to say thank you so much for all of the positive words and feedback you’ve given.  You have no idea how much it means to have your support!  I hope you’ll stick around because there are more good things headed this way- including an RDR giveaway and a shop update with some pretty vintage dresses!! 

Things are still coming together- everything is a work in progress, right?  But I have no doubt that the journey is the best and most important part!  I’d be so pleased if each of you would join me for it… and I’d be forever grateful!

I’ve gotten a few questions already about the shop, so I’ll go ahead and answer some of them here, AND I’ve added a formspring to the sidebar (left), so feel free to ask me anything you want- completely anonymously!

1. Why did you decide to start RDR?

I’ll be completely honest with you: I’m freakishly good at finding good bargains. I get it from my Mom and my Nana.  I was raised to appreciate the things you have- even if they’re used.  Through that, I came to appreciate the quality and value that come with things that last decades… so I’m super picky about what I pick out for the shop now.  I want to do the same for other people- find quality vintage at a great bargain! Here’s my Mom and Nana determining the authenticity of a piece. See where I get it?

2. Where do you find the clothes/ vintage wares in the shop?

I mostly find them at thrift and vintage stores.  Every once in a while friends or family will give me things just to sell- and sometimes they make a stop in my wardrobe before heading all the way to the inventory list, but that’s just one more stop in their history! I love thinking about who may have owned or worn a piece! It’s fun to make up their stories and their lives!

3. Is this your “day job”?

Nope! RDR is just a labor of love right now. I put lots of hours into it so far, and I can’t imagine how much more work is still ahead of me! I work full time as an assistant to an executive of a third party claim administrator. I am pretty lucky to have coworkers and a boss that I absolutely adore.

4. Do you and Bear have kids?

Nope! Just our Lucy for right now!

5. What kind of dog is Lucy?

She’s a cocker spaniel! She’s parti-colored with ticking and we’re tickled to death that she’s a part of our family!

6. What kind of camera do you use?

Ugh. Right now I just use a digital point and shoot SANYO.  It’s getting the job done, but it sure does take a lot longer than it needs to! I’m currently saving up for a brand spankin new camera and I would LOOOVE your input! Thanks!

7. How did you get the name “Red Dirt Revival”?

Red dirt is a big Oklahoma thing. In parts of our state, we have a rich red clay rather than mud or dirt.  As a kid, we used to go down to the creek and squish our toes into it… the name reminds me of those days and sort of resurrects my inner child.  Plus I’m obsessed with alliteration.

That’s all for now! If you’ve got a question for me, please feel free to submit it into the formspring!

Hope your week gets off to a great start!

xo,

Chels

It’s FINALLY here!

I’m super proud to announce the official launch of the Red Dirt Revival Etsy Store!! You’ll notice to your left there’s a mini-gallery that you can click on to go straight to the shop and get to browsing!  Keep checking back this week because there’s sure to be lots of FUN around here AND I’ve already got a shop update planned for later this week. Tons of adorable vintage dresses that you don’t want to miss!!

Thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged me throughout this process. It’s so great to finally see it all come together!

xo,

Chels