Shocking Egg Chair News

When I was little, my parents had a hanging egg chair. I would have loved to have it, but the last time I saw it, it was stored away in the garage, and that was a long time ago, so I had assumed it was gone. Then the other day, my mother pinned some hanging chair action on Pinterest:

{Via}

Nice! This is not the style of the one my parents had, but it reminded me of it, so I mentioned that to my mom in the comments, and her response made me do a spit-take with my iced coffee.

*My mother also loves cats. :)

Wait, what? My mom still has it? Dry rot, whatever. Now I'm curious. And probably too optimistic.

I love a good DIY. Let's do this. And if it's too far gone, then fine. I'm going digging for it the next time I visit.

Until then, let's dream about that chair, mkay?

Hanging Egg Occasional Chair

Serena and Lily Hanging Rattan Chair

JLIP Outdoor Rattan Hanging Chair

I can't remember if my parents' chair looked more like the middle or the last picture here, but you get the idea. Forget the stand, though. I would hang the puppy right from the ceiling.

Oh yeah. I will find you, chair, and I'll give you some long-overdue lovin'.

The MoMA Store

The Museum of Modern Art has a store. Seriously. The museum that curates and displays "good design" also offers a store full of products that meet the museum's standard of good design. Now, I like to think I don't just buy things because someone tells me what is good design and what isn't. The more I see, the more I'm able to decide for myself what I like and what I don't. But it also happens to be that a lot of the things I already like and would want to purchase are available in the MoMA Store. Lucky!

Not so lucky: I am definitely not to a place in life where I could pay these prices. But that's not what it's all about. Here are my favorites:

Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman
It's a classic. Designed in 1956 by Charles and Ray Eames, and not in my budget at $4999.00.

Cherner Armchair
So cool. $1199.00. And I would want several. Doh!

Eames LCW Chair
I actually came across one of these at a vintage shop in Springfield once. They wanted $300 for it, which was still more than I can currently pay for one chair, but now I see what a deal that was. MoMA has it priced at $979.00.

George Nelson Bubble Lamp
I'm really drawn to the classics. This lamp is probably considered "over done" by people who have more classic pieces at their disposal, but I will never get tired of this lamp. $329.00.

Componibili Storage Module
That's really attractive storage. This is the item that could actually make my bathroom look modern and stylish. And kind of reasonably priced at $169.00.

Well, shoot.

But here's the thing I've found about thrifting-just know what you like. Look in the higher end stores and know exactly what you like, what it's called, who designed it, and what it costs elsewhere. Because one day, in a hot, ugly flea market, you may come across a dusty, dirty, classic item you've been searching for. I know I'll probably never buy new from the MoMA store, because I'm a teacher, but also because it takes part of the fun out of it to just "order up" an instant room. I've stumbled upon an Eames LCW and a Franco Albini ottoman and a set of Eames shell chairs and a Nelson Bubble Lamp in flea markets before. And someday, if I save my pennies, I'll be able to buy these pieces for the right price, because I know exactly what I like.

How to Grow Huge, Lush Ferns

Whoa. Are you seeing this? My ferns are huge and healthy-for the first time ever!

I love having ferns hanging around the porch of our old house. But the problem has been that every year I have to buy four new ferns, because the previous year's ferns dried and shriveled up halfway through the summer. I would water, mist, and fertilize in vain just to get them to stay green, but they would never last past the Fourth of July.

Until now. I've discovered the secret to huge, beautiful, bright green ferns.

This year when my ferns started to turn brown, I went searching for advice on watering or fertilizer. I came across this tip on Pinterest, and I was really surprised. I traced the tip back to this blog, but it wasn't part of an article. It was just the tip, and nothing else, and I hadn't seen any other source recommend this, so I was a little unsure how reliable it was. But since my ferns always die, I decided I really had nothing to lose to try it.

Here's what we've been doing: Every other day, we take the ferns down and completely submerge them in a bucket of 3-4 gallons of water and 1/4 cup of epsom salt. We use paint stirring sticks to hold the ferns down into the water until they stop bubbling (listen closely). Then we take them out and leave them on the sidewalk, out of the sun for about 1-2 hours until they're done dripping, and we hang them back up on the porch.

Here's Rand to demonstrate:

I've been doing this for about three weeks and the results are pretty amazing. At first, my ferns all started to look like they had mullets, because the new pieces on top started to grow crazy fast, but now the new growth has nearly caught up with what was already there. In three weeks! All the new growth is huge, soft, and a much brighter green than the old leaves. I read that epsom salt has magnesium that helps make the leaves greener, and you can definitely see a difference in the shades of green.

An old bungalow definitely needs bright green ferns hanging from its porch. These make me so happy every time I look at them!

+ How successful are you with keeping plants alive at your house?

+ Have you had success with any other Pinterest tips? I know some tips work, and some are just ridiculous.