Coastal-Junk-French Country-Cottage-Dumpster Diving-Chic-With-A-Nod-To-Traditional

While I linger a while longer in with my summer decor (aka:drag my feet about decorating for autumn) I thought I should find something to write about. As I linked up my last post to my favorite parties I kept seeing new and different things. My familiar blog inspirations had gotten a bit of updating, header changes, ect. Boy! I can't manage to change my dining table flowers and everybody else in blogland is bustin' out mega changes. I have seen lists of upcoming Fall Home Tour parties and I am thinking maybe next year if I pretend I am a part of one of those it may motivate me to get moving! I tell myself that I am just waiting to see what everyone else has done and then I can grab ideas from them!

Since I have nothing in my home worthy of a post this week I decided to share a couple of projects from the past! (...and a bit of blah, blah, blah.)

I have learned two things about my decorating style. (Yes, there are more than two things but I am talking about just two today.)

#1) My decorating taste buds are constantly changing. At one time I was all about Southwest decorating with two big paintings of Native Americans, a woven blanket over the couch and some macrame’ tree-of-life wall hangy thing. Then the late 80’s-early 90’s ushered in the Wedgewood blue, country geese and all things mauve. Scary. Home Interior parties (remember them) were my source of inspiration and my mom had a knack making her home look just like the magazines. I followed her lead right into the Americana/Primitives stage.Today, there is little left of those early decorating days. I don’t know if Coastal-Junk-French Country-Cottage-Dumpster Diving-Chic-With-A-Nod-To-Traditional is a style but I think that just may be what I am….. for now.

Then, one day and out the blue I decided to strip a dresser that had been a hand-me-down and, with the help of Mister, we refinished it. I have not looked back.

#2) I love a bargain. I don’t need to buy everything new. There is plenty of quality furniture out there to repurpose and recycle. That knowledge and the love of a challenge has led to a wealth of decorating inspiration.

One day I found a vanity! Yes, I did. It was on the side of the road; a cast off from an auction held at the church across the street from me. FREE! It had no mirror but seemed stable enough so I commandeered my daughter to help me carry it home. I washed it down with TSP and water but it still did not smell good. I sprayed it with vinegar and water and allowed it sit outside a few days in the sun. That did the trick. A fresh coat of paint and ta-da!

 

The chair was a set of two and was purchased on Craigslist and I painted it for one of the girls. I saw a picture in a magazine many years ago of a painted chair . I liked it so much that I tore the picture out (pre-Pinterest era) and kept it for future reference-that was the inspiration for this little chair. My girls are getting older and neither of them wanted it anymore....something about it being too juvenile. So, their cast off became my vanity chair.

Sorry about the ugly cords.

The next “vanity” I made from an old tea cart my neighbor was getting rid of. Cost to me...$0!  It is metal and had some rust issues. I sanded down the bad parts, washed it up, let it dry and gave it a coat of Rustoleum in gloss black. The glass top was cleaned up. I painted on the underside and put some shelf liner over a piece of plywood cut to the same dimensions as the glass and put it all back in. It became the perfect vanity for my daughter’s Paris Pink bedroom. A new life and a facelift for something ready to be discarded-my favorite type of makeover.

What girl doesn’t love a designated place to keep their make-up, hair pretties and perfumes!

The dresser is a Freecycle item! The chair is the 2nd chair to my Craigslist purchase above. The artwork was made from scrapbook paper, ribbon and thrift store frames painted with the leftover Rustoleum gloss black. I made the curtains using a large piece of sketch paper as my pattern. I drew out the design, cut two pieces in different fabrics. This fabric is thin cotton so I had to add a black out liner so the patterns wouldn't show through. Of course, a little ball fringe was needed as the cherry on top! They are reversible! The chandelier was a Home Goods cast off that I got discounted because some of the bling was detached. Never hurts to ask! I fixed the 'crystals' with a set of needle nosed pliers and it was as good as new-but a few dollars less than than the price of new!

This next picture is a little blurry-sorry about that. I would go in and take another but this was a while ago and I have not seen the room this clean since these pictures were taken! (My girl is going to hate that I said that.) The bed is from Ikea but I bought it on Craigslist for a fraction of the price.

There, now I am feeling a little motivated...maybe. How about you? I do have another vanity down in the basement just waiting to be loved. Wait, I haven't decorated for fall yet.