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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Informal Dining Room (In Progress)

A few days ago I shared the transformation of my pretty little antique dresser . . . well - here are her accessories:

TABLE RUNNER: I had purchased a set of placemats from Target that coordinated with some of the fabric in the room . . . but didn't have the guts to allow my little darlings to use them yet - they have this beautiful yellow embroidery that I was sure attracts all varieties of sauces and grease! Once my dresser was ready, I thought they would make a FABULOUS runner - so I went to see what the real runner in this collection looked like - no good - there was orange in it and there's no orange in my new dinning room!!! So - plan B . . . make my placemats into a runner!!! All I did was zig zag stitch them together - that's IT!

SWEET LITTLE BIRDIE:
On clearance at Target - I found this sweet little birdie - in lavender . . . I never care about color anymore - you can spray almost anything, right???

SKELETON LAMP SHADE:
I'm so in love with these right now . . . they are everywhere . . . and can be pricey if you don't know better!!! So - I found this little shapely shade at a thrift store for $.50 - YEP - FIFTY CENTS! I worked for EVERY CENT OF THAT because the fringy little thing was hard to strip down!!! Once I cut through the shade and got most of it off, the inners were HYPER-glued on the frame like cement! A little product I like called "Un-Du" helped - then good 'ole SOS pads finished it off. Once I got it down to just the skeleton - the outside section was silver and the section that attaches it was brass. I had to spray it anyway - so I went bold and now I LOVE it!!!

THE LAMP: was another thrift store buy - one of my more pricey - $4.99!!! GASP!!! But I wiped it down with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and it was good to go! The bulb is a very low watt and not too bright when turned on.

LANTERNS: The tall green one was found as-is on clearance at Lowe's - like 5 bucks give or take! The blue one was on clearance at Michael's I think . . . another cheapo - sprayed blue. The yellow one is one of the lantern sconces I spoke of in my Mason Jar Chandelier post . . . just sprayed yellow.
WHITE GLASS TRAY: $2.00 at a yard sale - it was a green-ish speckled color - very tuscan looking. Just sprayed white.
SOUP TUREEN: An heirloom from my Paternal Grandmother. It was in her formal room that we weren't allowed in very often - just for Thanksgiving dinner and such events. I always loved that room. She had a huge organ she played beautifully, large china cabinets against an entire wall with beautiful dishes and other things displayed, big wing-back chairs and couch - and a buffet with this tureen as one of the decorative items. I LOVE it!!!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Thread Organizer

I picked up this "special" piece on one of my very first thrifting trips - and apparently I got carried away with my new-found hobby - because on a number of occasions, I'd pass it in the garage and wonder why on earth I got it - what on earth I'd do with it - or where on earth I'd put it!!!

Then one day - as I looked in this drawer:

Then searched around on the internet for ideas, I found THIS and the inspiration flowed!

First I had to remove the bulletin board part & hardware - then glue some of the frame edges together again - spray paint the frame white - spray the hardware black - cover the bulletin board piece with fabric and staple it secure - put it all back together - hammer nails in at an angle - and hang!!!

Once I started adding all my thread and bobbins, I realized it was just not big enough!

So luckily I had a long frame sitting in a closet waiting for just this moment!!!

NO MORE messy thread & bobbin drawer!!!