Here is my three week bathroom reno! (I think 2 of those weeks was spent on taking down the wallpaper)
The other day me and my husband were at Ikea and saw these glasses. (pictured above) We thought they were totally cute. I can't remember why... but in the end we didn't get them. Then yesterday I was strolling the Salvation Thrift store aisles, like I usually do, and came across these:
I love them, more then the Ikea ones for sure. I know some people would pick new item over old item any day, but I think, more then not, I love the character and history of the old. (Only four are pictured, but I bought a set of eight)
Everywhere a broach, broach? umm... Sorry for the lame title. My latest flare in life has been to the broach. My friends always tease me that I have a "grandma" touch to my fashion sense. It's true... I have a quilted leather purse, I wear shawls and I love cardigans. I guess broaches were just a natural addition into my life. I have bought some brand new, made a few from scratch (example: the large flower and lace one) but I love to buy the vintage broaches and embellish them. I like to wear them in normal ways like on my shirts, scarves and jackets... but sometimes its fun to stick one in your hair or mittens. I have a Christmas reindeer one that I put on my Christmas tree as a decoration when I wasn't wearing it. For storage they sit around a candle in my bedroom... kind of pretty.
I seem to often decorate my table in a gypsy style of way. I can't explain why, I think my table must be a gypsy. With rich plum, hot pink and orange colors and glass beads, black stones and candles my latest display is no different. I love the look of the patterned fabric in the vase, it's funky and textured but still tidy. The plum fabric and the pattern fabric I just found at the thrift store, everything else I had from before.
The wood will need to be sanded and restained, I think I'll keep it a dark brown though. This will most likely be a spring project because I'll need to be outside sanding, but I am so pumped. I was already telling my husband we will need to buy another coffee table and rug. I love it... it's projects like this one that make my creative soul race with joy till I fall over panting with laughter. (Did you like that line? It made me laugh... I was trying to come up with a cool metaphor. I probably won't be adding 'poet' to my resume any day soon.) But seriously, this summer is gonna be a good one and this is just one more reason I can't wait to say good bye to the snow and ice!
I always seem to go through phases when it comes to crafts. I drift through months of scapbooking, or I'll spend my evenings working on refurbishing a dresser and now I am back into beading. 
I'm always looking at the jewelery section in thrift stores and have now have a pretty sweet stock of vintage beads. These two necklaces are made of all vintage pieces. The cambros in both necklaces were earrings.
fabrics down, but nothing looked how I wanted. Then when I was searching in my chest I found this old game I had bought at a thrift store. (I am really into board games, new or old) That is when I got the idea to use a game board for my center piece mat. This board is from the game "Inventors", and it works perfectly because it has the lime green in it and I love the fonts used. I decided to keep my globe and two side candles, 
but it still looked a little empty. I wanted something to match with the brass of the orb holder, so I raided my jewelery and used my recently purchased miniature furniture pieces and this is what I came up with. To me it kind of looks like treasure. 
I just got back from exploring a new wonderland.... also known as the Mulvey Market. It's a flea market on Mulvey, just off Osborne. There about 40 some booths set up, selling all things vintage. I spent 17$ and walked away with two brooches, a purple vase... purple is my new accent color, 
and my favorite purchase is the miniature furniture set. It's brass, each piece cost 2$. I haven't decided where I'll 
put them yet, I am thinking some where kind of hidden.. so they are like an I Spy game. Side Note: I am obsessed with I Spy, it's my dream to open up an I Spy Museum. Cool idea, eh? Ok, but back to the Mulvey Market. They had lots of vintage glass wear, especially serving bowls and vases, it almost all colors imaginable, movies, sings, books, sports cards and jewelery. 
Some specialty stores included a remote control car shop, vintage door knob table, an Elvis booth, McDonalds toys... that one brought back a lot of memories, and action figures.
It's true, I have a crush on my newly painted and upholstered chairs and I don't care who knows it!
(You may recognize some of these chairs from a previous post.... click here to see.)
In the summer of 2007 I purchased a small bench-couch. (It's not really a bench and it's not really a couch so I am going with bench-couch for now.) It was an experience... mostly working with the back tack... that's the stuff you use to wrap you fabric around the hammer on to the furniture. It has about a half inch nails running along it every inch... 
I'm describing this to you in detail so you can imagine my pain when I, with full force, stepped on a strip. But besides that minor set back everything worked out fairly well. It had one arm on it, but I decided against using it. I stained the wood darker, and re-padded it, and upholstered it.
The other day, while getting a tour of my friend's new house I mentioned that I liked their antique lighting fixture in their front entrance . Yesterday I went to the same friends house and they re-did all there lighting and he saved that antique fixture for me! What a happy surprise! Well we might hang it in our bedroom... but for now it is making an appearance in my home as a table orb. I think it looks totally funky... 
like a gypsy globe. I want to add more to the arrangement eventually, I think some more wood items... or maybe change the table clothe. Or, to go in a completely different direction from the wood, I might spray the bronze pieces black and then use more black. Lot's of options!
