Just Jack! of all Trades

It seems I can add light upholstery to my trade resume…back when Highlands Restaurant first opened the owners asked me to recover some vintage chairs whose seat pads had seen better days and cursed tacks were common place instead of staples.  Much dust and surprising combinations of horse hair and hay were under some covers while others were light weight wadding.  So interesting to see how different techniques were when these chairs were made.  Thankfully this time we were working with new chairs that just needed seat pads to make your dining more comfortable.

Brian had already jigsawed the bases from mdf and bought a few yards of wadding which we decided needed two layers to be cushy enough.  I loosely stapled in place to make sure the pattern was square and then stretched tight and stapled the whole way around.  Easy Peasy!

I measured an extra inch of wadding around the bases to account for the hard edge of mdf

Assemble your tools! Scissors from a local fabric store, literally called Fabric Store…Staple gun from my local Art Supplies store and IKEA tool set that has so many uses it’ll be the best $7.99 you’ll ever spend.

Loosely stapling in place

Then really staple the crap out of it, pulling tightly as go along alternating opposing corners and sides as you go, and finally trimming edges when you’re sure it’s perfect

Ah, look at that, all stacked up and ready to fit

ta dahhhh!

ta dahhhh (part 2)

You’ll probably see there is space between the pads and the chairs, they were yet to be screwed into place but I was too excited to wait for that…so, go exhaust their extensive scotch list and sit your butt on my chair pads – Highlands Restaurant in the West Village.

Irene Keeps the Tourists Away

Only Irene seems to have the power to keep the tourists at bay….Photos by Kirill Was Here

NY I Love You

Arkansas I love you cause you’re…doesn’t quite sound right??  I know writing a song about NY will almost guarantee some airplay, but I love how LCD Soundsystem have put a dark edge to it, turned the usual press-getter on it’s head and twisted it up at the end.

Heart Williamsburg

Saturated

I took these when I first came back to NY and I was in love with the city, not that my adoration has waned…Some pops of colour at the M.O.M.A.

Let’s hear it for New York

You when there are days you walk around the city and you just feel overwhelmed about how in love you are with NY. It feels like a pop-up book sometimes, you have storefronts in the foreground with the bridge rounding out the middle and then some towers in the city in the background providing this weird 3-D affect. The man in the local Memorial Headstones store who has told you twice that you look like a flower blooming out of the concrete, never gets old. When the subways run on time, when there is good music playing on the platforms. When the people and things you see are a constant parade of inspiring design and culture rolled out (it seems) just for you. How can you not love this city?

HEY FATHEAD! – VICTOR OSBORNE

For a couple of years I have been envious of friends of mine who wear hats at any occasion. I once had the pleasure of spending Thanksgiving with them and shared in their enormous collection of hats which became the definite theme for the evening, that , the turkey, replica hand pistols and Prince.

I love hats but they don’t always love me. I have curly hair and as fellow curly heads will know, once it’s on, you can’t take if off or your tresses look like grass that’s been sat on by a cow. I can’t say this has ever put me off but it certainly slows me down. So this brings me to Victor Osborne’s promise to fit any fat headed , fro-fest lopsided cranium you may have.

I am pleased to also note that I found them quite by accident. I am currently in the market for an appartment and I wondered around all close-ish areas adjacent to where I live right now in order to scope out possible streets for my dream one bedroom on today this gorgeous Spring day. I was heading home with sore feet from walking and walking and passed a store front with dog lolling around the entrance (immediately drawn by the dog, secondly by what may be inside) and blackled them when I got home. Cue video at this point which you will have to watch for yourself here. As Victor and Zachary talk about why you need their hats on your head.