I am excited to share with you a few updates on remodeling my house. I have focused on the dinning room so far, and I am thrilled with the progress!
I recently have decided I am a friend of thrift stores! I have always thought the only way I was going to find any pretty vintage things was flea markets. BUT surprisingly that is not always true! I found this big mirror for $5 at an old consignment furniture store. You can really see the detail of the mirror in some of the other photos. This cabinet was wood. I painted it white and added glass knobs I found on ebay for $1.99 with low shipping both with shipping cost me $5. The handle I got at a shop in town that was going out of business. It was $2.50. I got the stand at the same shop for $10. It is new not vintage, but has lovely scallop and rose detail on it and I love it.
So here it is so far. A work in progress, but the puzzle pieces are coming into place for sure. I was so happy I was actually able to get a photo without it being BLACK in there! If you remember my first post HERE, I was so excited to start I did not really take a before photo. But I did find this old photo with the dinning room in the background.
Sorry about the mess lol. But you can see I had a country apple theme and it was just so dark! The windows had darker curtains. I shared in the last post the bottles I painted that are now over the windows. My husband has said a few things are off limits. They have surely been challenges to overcome. He won't let me take the blinds out, I can't paint the moldings around the windows, I can't paint the green cabinets and then there is "the cabinet".
I am not allowed painting, putting backing, sanding, etc. to "The Cabinet". It was a piece passed down that was made for his grandmother by his dad. The color of the wood is a little harsh, and the hardware is really strong. I would love to paint it, change the hardware, add a decorative accent to the top, and put chicken wire in where the glass is, BUT NOPE off limits!
It was really hard to try and figure out what I could do to it to soften the feel a little and help it blend better with the surrounding decor. So this is what I did. I added lace pieces on the shelve and let them spill over a little.
I tried to tack some lace pieces also in the back on the top shelf and added pearls and vintage buttons to try to lighten the harsh wood. I also added a few of my china pieces I have gathered.
I am not 100% happy with it, and may redo it later, but for the mean time it will work, and is an improvement.
I also loved the look of layered mirrors I saw in this magazine (to the left).
(100 ideas Flea Market Style 2011)
So I added a couple mirrors on top of "The Cabinet" angled toward the ceiling. I loved how they reflected the white from the ceiling and helps bring more white color to the dinning room. I found the back mirror for $1 at Habitat for Humanity, and the one in front was $4 at a thrift store and I painted it white.
I also finally had a spot to display this lovely large cake stand I won at the Paris Sale last November. I put a couple of tarnished silver pieces in the center in a variety of silver shades to try and tie in a little of the tarnished silver from "The cabinet" that my husband inherited.
And now that the light is better, here is a better look at my table I painted (above).
This is a before picture of our coffee table.
And here is the after picture. I painted it white, and added different cream and brown colors over top. I also added the accent pieces. I love how it turned out!
While searching for treasures for the house, I stumbled upon this darling little white teapot at a thrift store. It came with 3 pieces and the lady sold it to me for $3. There where just two little chips on the lid I noticed, and I think the lid to the sugar bowl is missing, but it's so darn cute I did not mind at all!
I also found a box of Myott Staffordshire Ware "Forget Me Not" dishes in a box at one of the thrift shops. There where a set of 3 dinner plates, small bread plate, bowl, teacup and saucers. I asked the lady how much and she said $7! There was some crazing, and one plate had a chip and stain, but the other two dinner plates had no crazing, and despite that I LOVE THEM! I have always enjoyed imperfect things and I actually like the crazing. I think it is neat! The silver teapot I got for like $5.
So with my new love for tea, and new found teapots, I was so excited to have tea with Molly this week! She was coming over to create a sample for the Jolie a' Paris party she is hosting in July for the Pretty and Vintage Things meetup group. So tea worked out lovely!
I had Vanilla Carmel and Strawberry Pomegranate tea. It was so good! It was so lovely to have a light dinning room to get photos!
The little ones where so sweet and watches a movie while we created. Yes this brown chair is surely on my list to fix up! lol
Dylan has not been himself lately, and he was suppose to be in school, but I kept him home. It was nice to see he perked up a little with his good friend Lilly over! He came out while we where creating and said "Birthday Hat!" He held the cone on this head and sang "happy BirfDay to you" for us. It was so cute!
We where making Tussie mussie's. I was a little slow! Molly made two and I have not even finished my first one lol. I made the one to the right, and she made the two pretty ones to the left.
Her cones where so lovely I had to get a few photo's of them!
It was so nice to have decent lighting and a different spot to take photos!
For the moment the paint is away! Four days of it wore me out. So I need a little break, then maybe I will work on the living room, or maybe my craft attic room, who knows.
I am so thankful for your visit! Thanks for stopping by!
