vintage tools

Old crusty tools, spraypainted gold and suspended in the glow of bulbs was the result of a weekend office window makeover, after brainstorming with old college pal partner in crime Randy Kaufman in from Boston.  He came up with clever but simple ideas to amp up the windows that had gotten dusty in the past months.  This involved urban foraging for supplies at the local junk shops and thrift stores – I’m easy when it comes to dropping everything to go pickin. We dug through to find a good selection of things, made a mess and got yelled at by the proprietor (just like old times!?) and took off with our finds.  Although the tools each had a unique, time-worn patina, we opted to lightly color them into uniformity. The toolboxes were a little harder to find and not as cheap as I expected for plywood junk, but I grabbed them and coated them gold. We spent the day racing around town for supplies, then dividing the items per window, hanging them with fishing line and building the central piece to each window: Edison bulb light fixtures made simply of dual-socket-adapters, which we expanded to (6) bulbs each. There’s really no limit – you could grow this thing to a really beautiful, asymmetrical fixture over your dining room table! We were happy with the results, minimal, sculptural, warm. The lights are on timers so they click on just at dusk and off before midnight. I’m enjoying collaborating to make these window displays something interesting – a fun diversion from the daily grind.  I’m sure it’s confusing to passersby as to what we have to offer but there’s only one way to find out!