Glamorous Vintage Guest Room

I made over our guest quarters to look like a mid-century motel room. Check it out...

Lazy Summer Mud Room

 

This summer's mud room design inspiration came from magazine photographs of 1960s camper trailer interiors.  

  

A comfortable throwback reading spot.

 

I found a few vintage souvenir cushion covers at the thrift shop then 

made a few of my own with touristy tea towels, such as the ones above.  

 

 

 

The mud room had to maintain some function as a storage space,

so the table beneath the window is actually a steamer trunk full of sporting equipment.

 

 

Also for function, I had S.B. install space-saving hooks for deck chairs.

 

 



I found this ceramic lemonade dispenser at a local flea market.

The SUN YOUR BUNS ashtray is like, my favourite thing ever.

 

S.B. discovered several of these old tin advertising signs nailed to the ceiling of our crawl space.



 

This is our new sunny breakfast spot. My soon-to-be mother in law gave me an unused bistro set,

which I spruced up with a few coats of emerald green.

 

 

 

 

Making Cooler Shit Out of Existing Shit

Some darling items were procured today on an antiquing adventure along the South Shore with my friend S.D. (her: an English floral jug, an ice cream dish, a 'Sweet Honesty' cologne bottle from the 60s shaped like a Volkswagen bus with peace and love decals you apply yourself; me: a cottage-blue antique match holder, a teensy pill tin and a couple of 1920s Parisian postcards.)

Before we left home, I was showing her some of my latest up-cycles or repurposes (or whatever the heck the term is for making cooler shit out of existing shit) and realized I hadn't posted any of them.

So...

 

I was quite taken with this ol' potato sack, so much so that I had S.B. 

build it a frame and stretched it over. It now hangs on our kitchen wall.

 

 

 

Tacky painting-turned-less-tacky-sign.

 

 

 

S.B.'s talented cousin handmade this wrought iron chandelier. The lines

were a little too clean and modern for our décor, so I be-shelled the eff out of it.

 

 

 

Cool stand from Mom plus vintage Pyrex = one of a kind herb planter.

.

 



2013 Round Up! A Cavalcade Of My Favourite Vintage Finds From The Past Year

I got addicted to chairs in 2013 and this weathered gem has the perfect patina for a beach house.

S.B. talks to these salt and pepper shakers like they're his friends. We found them at a yard sale for 25 cents then found matching creamer and sugar dispensers buried under dust at a Caledonia general store.

This old gingerale crate is the perfect receptacle for winter hats and mittens.

I thought this ship lamp was too kitsch at first, but it's so unique I couldn't resist.

My mother (the original thrifter) left this mysterious, heavy, gold-painted candle holder in my Christmas stocking. I love the way the whole hand seems to glow when it's lit at night.

Speaking of Christmas, CHECK THIS OUT. I begged S.B. to drive to New Germany and help me stuff this 13ft long masterpiece into his car. Someone was selling it for a measly twenty-five bucks on kijiji because their elderly mother who owned it was going into a home. It makes me sad to think about her, but I bet she'd be pleased to know it became a joyful part of someone else's tradition.

With no sign of a hook on the back, I'm not sure what this was supposed to be originally - a tray? She's too pretty to have her kisser covered up. I hung her up in the mud room.

If you see me this winter, I'll be wearing this coat. The photo does it no justice. Think Sharon Stone in Casino. It's 70s era, made in Canada, 100% leather, has a raccoon fur hood, is warmer than any coat I've ever owned and was worn exactly 0 times before I bought it for a song.

First I painted the mirror, then I found the blue vinyl chair, then I found the folksy pillow that matches both. Some days, the vintage gods are smiling.

Not too "shabby." Total cost of all this delightful crap: $135.25. Only about a third of our holiday booze budget ;-)

20s Style

After spending the summer in headscarves and kimono robes, my Gatsby fashion fever is still not abating. I got engaged in May (!) and my ring, which came from an estate sale, is an antique 1920s art deco with a central diamond surrounded by baguette sapphires; as I was admiring it one day, I had an idea. I compiled some old broken jewellery, feathers, cufflinks and a glue gun and created this:

 

 

Then this...

Then this...

 

Then this...

 

 

 

 

Then this!

 

 

 (Click on photos to enlarge)

 

I'm not sure what I'll do with them all. Wear them in rotation? Sell them? Give them as bridesmaids gifts someday? All I know is, I can't seem to stop.

Vintage Drinking Glasses

Life's too short to drink out of boring glasses, so every time I'm at a yard sale or thrift shop and spy a fun little beauty for less than a buck, I take it home. From vintage carousel animals to Mad Men whiskey tumblers, here are some of my favs:

Weekend Project: Door Belle

Poor S.B. All he does is work, work, work. This time it was repainting Old Blue, our peeling, weather-battered door.

Old Blue

New Blue!

Lookin' good, coming or going!