Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Outfits: My Dream Coat and a Quick Hello

Hello!! It's been a week or so since I've showed my face 'round these parts. I've been busy with lots of things.

Work has started up again. We open officially in a week. I'm currently working at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre on this show(they have a strict social media policy, so that link is all I'll be posting in regards to this project -it's fantastic though and if you live in Winnipeg I highly recommend it). So, as usual, work is keeping me pretty busy.

This past weekend I was interviewed by Shaw TV Winnipeg as part of a new series featuring Winnipeg bloggers. That was incredibly exciting! We did some thrift shopping and then shot some clips at my house too. I will be sure to let you know when the episode airs and post a vid or a link! Many, many hours were spent scrutinizing my outfit...let me tell you! haha!

Otherwise, it's been business as usual - trying to juggle time with friends and family with my busy work schedule, as well as trying to keep the "blogger guilt" at bay as I found myself too busy to post.

Oh! And the snow has finally settled in to stay here. So I finally got to wear my Vintage Dream Coat. Big smiles over here about that.

click the image for a larger view


Black Wool Beret: thrifted
Vintage Dream Coat: thrifted, Value Village
Best Purse in the Whole Damn World!!: thrifted, Value Village
Black Tights: ?? had them so long I can't remember..
Black Booties: G21 - Walmart

Lisa.xo

Labels: , , , ,

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Outfits: A Mix of Eras

I really adore this dress. I rescued it from the scrap pile about 10 years ago when I worked at Ragpickers. It was in such terrible shape. The fabric was stained, the hem had fallen, it only had two of its buttons left on it and several seams were split. Despite all of these flaws I was uncontrollably attracted to this dress. There was something about the soft pink colour, the cute novelty print and the softness of the fabric that I couldn't resist. 

I brought it home and it hung in my closet for years. I carefully spot removed all of the staining and fixed the split seams. A couple years after that I pressed and pinned up the hem, but never sewed it. Eventually I found enough matching vintage buttons in the right size to replace the lost ones and finally sewed them in place and tacked up the hem. Better late than never right?! 

And the result is this beautiful summer dress! It's early 40's by my reckoning - the novelty print and colour says 30's, but the simple sleeves and lack of embellishments says 40's to me. Either way, no part of me regrets saving this dress and restoring it. 


I rarely wear this dress any other way. I just love the brown accessories with the cotton candy pink. The hat is 60's, the dress is 40's, the hot pink clutch is 80's and the enamel brooches are 50's or 60's. Mixing eras is my favourite way to wear vintage. I am rarely interested in dressing period specific from head to toe. 



Here's the print close up. I wish I could show you how soft this fabric is! It's heavenly!




60's Brown and Cream Hat: Thrifted, Goodwill
Vintage Slip: Thrifted
40's Novelty Print Day Dress: Ragpickers
Bow Belt: Forever 21
Vintage Porcelain Flower Brooches: Thrifted
Brown Leather Peep Toe Pumps: Kensie
80's Hot Pink Clutch: Thrifted



Lisa.xo

Labels: , , ,

Monday, June 17, 2013

Congratulations Laura and Steph!

On Saturday our friends Laura and Steph got married!

I love seeing The Boy all dressed up. And naturally, it's the perfect opportunity for me to pull out all of the sartorial stops.




40's Straw Tilt Hat: Ruby Slipper
Vintage Pearl Necklace: was my Grandmother's (gift from Mom!)
50's Seafoam Pansy Print Dress: Vintage Glory
White Belt: Thrifted
Red Satin Clutch: Ricki's Sample Sale
Suede Seafoam Peep Toe Pumps: Le Chateau
Lipstick: MAC Ruby Woo


Congratulations you two! We're so happy for you! :) Thank you for sharing your big day with us!


Lisa.xo

Labels: , , , , ,

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

"It Looks Like a Used Clothing Store"

That's what The Boy said when I showed him how I re-arranged my dressing room last night while he was out snowmobiling. That'll teach him to leave me alone for an entire day! ;)

Warning! This is a picture heavy post!

Honestly, I've been dreaming about re-configuring my dressing room for a while now, almost since we bought our house. Frankly I'd love 3 PAX wardrobes all kitted out from IKEA, but I just can't afford them right now. That $1500 is better spent in other places.

So I've been scouring Pintrest for inspiration. I thought I liked the idea of my clothes behind doors (and it would be better to keep the vintage out of the light), but I was continually drawn to rooms with the clothes out in the open on display. I was inspired to get my clothes out of the closet and create a wardrobe on a budget.

These are some of the images that inspired me:





Check out my Pintrest board Dressing Room Ideas for more inspiring images!


For those of you who may have forgotten, here's what my room looked like before:





And the dirty little secret I kept from you is that I have my treadmill in my dressing room (see it peeking into the pic below on the right?!). It used to live beside my vanity in the corner of the room in plain sight. Not pretty. My goal was to eventually move my clothes into a wardrobe on the wall you see below and put this treadmill in the closet behind a curtain or a screen when not in use.


And that's exactly what I did last night when The Boy was out hehehe... (he hates it when I upset the house like this, so it's better for him to see the "after", even if I know he won't like it) I went to work assembling my new clothing rack and moving the furniture around.
Here are a few shots of the chaos:







Almost there!


Normal people might empty the room completely, vacuum then start bringing things back in. But I'm far from normal and really, what's the fun in that?

Here's what it looks like now:

This is the view of the room when you walk in now! 

















I am in love with the results. Instead of looking at the treadmill when you walk by you see this. I don't care if The Boy thinks it looks like a used clothing store - I took it as a compliment! ;)

And here's the other side of the room.


And the closet. Less pretty - the treadmill does a great job of looking terrible in here wherever it is, but I need it, so here it sits.



This summer I've got plans to paint this room white - I'm still deciding on a tone. I want to room to be a neutral backdrop for my clothes, not compete with them. I've also got some window treatments from one of my old apartments in storage I want to put up in here, find an effective way to hide the treadmill, hang a full length mirror on the back of the door and put in a rug. Eventually we'll get the carpet changed in here too.

I've got this rug picked out from IKEA. That's my next purchase for this space. I've got to try and mask the brown shag carpet.


This major upgrade only cost me $140! I bought a second clothing rack, an expandable hanging clothing rod and some more 3M hooks to hang more hats on the wall. Oh ya, and some sweat equity. I think in the end I'll be able to renovate the entire room (including new carpet) for less than $1500! Take that IKEA!

What do you think? I spent an hour laying on the floor enjoying my handiwork this morning! haha! 

Lisa.xo

Labels: , , , , , ,

Friday, February 22, 2013

Outfits: Variations on a Theme

Another outfit from the road (although we're in town for the weekend!). As you can see, this one is similar to the one I showed you last week. 
It's a fail-proof formula really: cute beret, tee-shirt, cardigan, skinny jeans, vintage jewelry, boots. I have a number of these outfits in my suitcase. 


What you don't see here is how many layers I'm actually wearing. Under the cardigan, the tee-shirt and the white long sleeve tee shirt is a tank top. Under my jeans are thermal long johns and under my boots are thermal socks. Sometimes I wear another pair of knee high socks over the thermals. And often I will layer on a scarf if the gym we're performing in is cold. 


As you can see, I did manage to wear my new necklace. I thought maybe when I bought it, it was too fancy to wear out in rural Manitoba. Nope! Nothing like a tee-shirt and rhinestones!



Chartreuse Knit Beret: Forever 21
Vintage Rhinestone Necklace: thrifted in Swan River
Aqua Tee Shirt: thrifted
Long Sleeve White Tee (under tee and cardigan): Ricki's
Leopard Print Cardigan: Joe Fresh
Black Skinny Jeans: Forever 21
Over the Knee Boots: Urban Planet

We head back out for the next leg of the tour on Sunday. It's a shorter stint this time - only a week and a half.

Lisa.xo

Labels: , , , ,