And a mirror to match!

Last weekend I braved the heat to go to the flea market in search of treasure. I didn't find much, but while browsing one stand I saw a mirror leaning under the table and went in for a closer look. I was an old, narrow gold ornate framed beveled mirror. Gorgeous, but the top was broken and hanging off. "I'll give you that for $5" she said, apparently noticing my skeptical look. "Uh, ok." Five bucks? Yeah, for that I can deal with a little "character". So, I glued the top back together as best I could (admittedly, not that clean a repair) and painted it to match my little armoire. I'm liking it.

I also just hung up this bed curtain, which I got at a yard sale a couple weeks ago for $2.  I have been finding some real bargains lately! 

Taking these pics reminded me that one of my goals for 2012 is to work on the master bedroom.  This bed is crying out for a whitewash, isn't it?  And now that I'm looking, so are my lamps.  And I could definitely do with some new ruffly white bedding.  It's always something, isn't it?  Hope you are all staying cool!

Turquoise Jewelry Armoire

I picked up this little jewelry armoire at a yard sale a couple weeks ago for $25:

 
Not exactly a priceless antique, but I liked the carved details and thought I'd like it even better white. 
Then I changed my mind and painted it turquoise. Or, to be precise, I painted it Martha Stewart Hummingbird Blue.  Yes, on my kitchen table.  That's how I roll.  Hmm, note to self... clean out the garage.

Freshly painted, and a little too pristine for my taste, so I roughed it up a little bit around the edges:

Applied a dark glaze to accent the details and give it a little drama.  Now it looks like it had an interesting past life, maybe storing feather boas in a bordello.  But probably not.

Then I decoupaged some scrapbook paper to the frame of the interior mirror (and took a bad pic of it):

Finally, I filled it with my costume priceless jewelry collection.  I have a lot more jewelry than I thought:

I took a couple pics in different light and the color looks completely different.  Here it is in the sunroom, looking slightly washed out:

And here it is in the bedroom with the color looking slightly more saturated than it is.  Neither looks exactly right, but in person it is precisely how I envisioned it, and I guess that is what counts. :)

I'm partying at Furniture Friday, Potpourri Friday, Feathered Nest Friday, and Show and Tell Friday this week. Have a great weekend, and thanks so much for stopping by!

Birds Nesting in the Daisies

When I came home on Thursday afternoon, I noticed some weedy twigs poking out of my front door flower arrangement.  Uh-oh.  Some sweet little bird has decided my flower basket is an ideal nesting spot.  I guess this confirms that I don't get out much, for surely any comings and goings would have deterred her from setting up house in such a way that her babies will be in and out of my foyer.

The daisies do provide pretty good cover from the elements and screen the nest from passerby.  I had this problem once before, when mourning doves set up in a planter outside my back door.  They made a mess.  These eggs are tiny and so pretty, I can't think of disturbing them but it will not be easy since this is the only practical means of egress from my house.

My neighbor thought they might be sparrows and from pictures I've seen online I think she is right.  So it appears I've got guests for about a month.  I'm going to have to rethink my door decor once they move out.

Hope you are having a nice weekend!

Finds, Flowers, and the FLOORING

Pic of some of my flowers because they are so pretty right now:

 I found some cool vintage silverware at the flea market last week:

And today I picked up a jewelry armoire at a yardsale, which is going to end up white or MAYBE duck egg blue (but probably not).  I loved the carvings:

Do you see what it's sitting on?  I'm pretty excited because I spent all day working on re-installing the flooring in my foyer, which is Allure Ultra, a sort of flexible laminated rubber tile that locks together with a little rubber channel.  I have been working on this putting this off for about 2 months, because I was not happy about the way it looked.  The locking part was not staying "locked" and the corners kept shifting around when the next piece went in.  I had 2 boxes installed for the past 2 months, and the other night I laid 2 more boxes.  Still not happy, so this morning I ripped it all out and started over.  That may sound dramatic but it's pretty easy to dismantle, the hard part is getting it to lock together perfectly.  I had much better luck, maybe due to practice?  I spent several hours today laying on the floor, using my weight (which is substantial) to hold the finished part in place while I put in the next piece.  I put all 4 boxes back down plus half of box #5, so there's just a box and a half left to do.  Here is where we stand:

Now that the installation is going better, I really kind of love it.  I'm sure the dark color is going to be a nightmare to keep dusted but I just had to have it anyway.  In the next pic there is a bit of a glare, so you can see the "hand-scraped" effect better. It's a really nice-looking, realistic alternative to wood, which would not work here due to moisture.

Ignore the dirt, I swept but should have vacuumed before taking pics!  I still have to finish the powder room and closet, and then put the edge molding back in place, but I am now feeling confident I will get there.

Have a great week everyone!

Trash to Treasure, with Clay Roses

I'm pretty sure all the problems of the world have been solved, and you can find links to all the answers on Pinterest. But if you are looking for info on how to do a craft, just look to Carol at The Polka Dot Closet. This week she taught me how to make polymer clay roses (and no, she has no idea that she did this).  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Yesterday morning I took 3 $5 bills and 5 $1's, got a newspaper and a bottle of iced tea, and went yard sale-ing. I spent $16 in about 2 hours, and got this little pile of stranger's castoffs, with which I entertained myself all weekend:

This little basket got a coat of French Linen and filled with a grocery bag full of dirt and flowers:

I like old baskets for plants.  They usually are ready for the trash by the end of the season, but for fifty cents I'm not all that heartbroken about it.  Most of the rest of my junk haul is in the process of getting painted white, though I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the suitcase just yet.  So back to the roses... Carol's instructions were great.  Here is an extreme close-up for your viewing pleasure:

 
I had a lot of fun making them, and I think they add a little something to the shelf:

She's already got me sticking chandy crystals on everything, and now there will be roses too!   Have a nice week!

Ironstone, Silver and a Mini Project

I visited my local flea market on Sunday and spent $10.  Half of it went for a cute little English ironstone covered vegetable dish, and while that was getting wrapped up, I spotted these silver pieces and spent the rest:

Not a bad day's junking. 

Found nothing else but I was happy.  Last time I went I came away with this:

And the frame made me think of this.  And so, inspired by my good blog buddy Mel, I came up with this (forgive the bad lighting, it's been dreary for days):

Hey, what are blog buddies for, if not to inspire, right?  Thanks Mel!

Plants and a Planter

A few weeks back my daughter and I stopped a yardsale where it appeared the people had just opened up a ramshackle abandoned shed and hauled the contents out on the lawn for sale.  It was the dirtiest junk I've seen in a long time, and most of it was worthless.  I debated a few minutes over a $10 depression era china cabinet but there was a huge gouge in the wood in the front and I didn't think I was up to the task of fixing that.  I nearly left emptyhanded until something half hidden caught my eye.  For $4, I came away with this sturdy little planter box:

It may look pretty good in that photo, but the flash shows the real condition of the finish:

That was AFTER I cleaned it.  It was disgustingly filthy and the finish was un-pretty, so I decided it needed a dose of ASCP in French Linen, and some dark wax.  Now it has a home on my back deck.

I have some other plants filling out back there too, my go-to black eyed susan vine, and a double impatien, plus a few things still on the table that I have not found homes for just yet:

The double impatiens look white but they are a very pale pink:

I gave this planter a little bling with some chandy crystals:

I planted a little tub of herbs:

 And my rusty milk bottle carrier got $.98 worth of impatiens:

I found this little Cinderella carriage planter and filled it with supertunias (which I used to make my new header:

My magic bean seeds have begun to sprout, so that means I need to dig out around my lightpole pretty soon so I can get these in the ground and climbing. 

This weekend I finally started the foyer flooring project.  It looks awesome but is harder than I'd hoped it would be.  More on that later.