14 June 2012

Because it's Pretty...

A few of my favorite things...
Treasure Huntin' 
Oh how I love to find those amazing pieces just waiting for me. You all know what I am talking about. When you walk in and something just speaks to you and you immediately see the beauty it can become with just a little love. 

This first photo is barn wood. Oh My... This was a great day. We had gone back home to Kentucky for a visit and my Fabulous Brother-in-Law gave me a truck load of this. :) He is one of the few who understands my "illness". I have many plans for this, but these two pieces already have a home. HMMM... Where could they be?
I'll give you a hint... Master Bedroom

 
Love this... ALL these Incredible pieces of art lined up in my garage. This is my Heaven... I am still amazed when I look at them. What a Gorgeous sight. I would have to rate this as my greatest Treasure Huntin' find EVER!!! 
This is definitely one of those things you should never pass on. I think I wound up bringing about 16 home with me.
 
Some were used for my baby sisters wedding, I am painting one for my bathroom, and some are going to be used outside.
This was a "in the right place at the right time" treasure. A small shop here in town was just switching owners. The old owner had left this piece behind and the new owner thought it was just a waste of space... So I took it home. The finished product is in my Front Porch.
Doors... another weakness. But you have to be very careful with these or you'll wind up with more than you can use :) Not that it is a bad thing. This was one of those things that just spoke to me as soon as I saw it. And I immediately new what it's purpose would be. What it looks like now!!!
 
I found this while I was redoing my downstairs bathroom. I love the white globes and am planning on painting the metal black to match the bathroom decor. The weird thing about this piece is that the box it was in actually had a picture of the fixture that is in the bathroom now. I took that as a sign that I should get this.
 
These are going to get a coat of white paint and be put out on my porch. I'm not a big fan of the glass pieces, but I love the look of the rest of them.

This lamp is one piece that needed nothing when I saw it. Well except a light cleaning. I love the rusty, beat up look that it has. I have however redone the shade, that shiny one was just not right for it.
I know this really does look like a pile of junk.... but when you see what I did with it you will change your mind.
Picture frames are my most resent obsession. I have no idea why, but for some reason I have to buy at least one every time I go Treasure Huntin'. I have redone a few of them for rooms in my house. I also have some on my Etsy shop. Thrown Together
At least I have a plan for them.
I'm telling you it is an "illness". There is no cure, however I have decided that it is hereditary so if you are afflicted it is not your fault... You can blame it on your Momma... That's what I do.
 
 Oh My... another great find. This was a great Treasure Huntin' Day! The oval frame, the mirror... and check out this foot board.

The original plan for this was to chop it up for parts. Look at all those gorgeous curves, but the plan has changed and it turned out to be Amazing. 
(Thanks to my Awesome husband.)
When we bought our house I immediately started talking about wood floors. I would love to replace all the tile with wood, but that all adds up to ALOT... And I am still trying to talk my husband into it. He doesn't understand why I would want to rip out good tile and replace it with wood. We have very different styles and design ideas. He is very supportive of my creativity and will allow me to do ALMOST any idea I come up with. But there are some things that he won't give in on easily. Mostly because he knows he will be the one trying to figure out how to make what is in my head actually work. But His main reason on the floors was cost. 
Another thing you need to know about him is that as much as I love to Treasure Hunt... He hates it. After 20yrs together he still does not understand why I love all this "junk". On very rare occasions I can talk him into going with me. 
This was one of those days, we were out and I asked if he would just stop by because I hadn't been to my Habitat for awhile. And look what was piled up by the door when we walked in. I got excited, he just saw somebody else's trash... Until I asked "how much". I think this was the only time I ever saw him the least bit interested in junk. When the lady told me $20, he said "load it up". 
 
And here is some of it in our guest bath. I know it isn't a very good pic, but you can see the rest when I get the Guest Room finished. 
 
This was another one of those days where it was ALL too good to pass on... Because it's pretty. This is the best way I have found to describe why to my husband. Like I said he doesn't see what it could look like, he just sees what it does look like.
Got this chair for $2 bucks, love the look and it is going to be gorgeous when it is redone. Just not sure yet what I want to do with it.
Another fabulous chair. This one was sitting out by the back door at one of my favorite places and I was sure they either wouldn't let me buy it yet or that it would be some ridiculous price, but you never know til you ask... So I did.

Here is the whole picture. All these great treasures just waiting for a little TLC...
Can't wait to see how they all turn out :)
I had been looking for one of these for some time. My Aunt Pam had posted one a few years ago that was in her bathroom and I could not find one anywhere. The color was not something I could work with, but it had lots of potential. You can view this one under Downstairs Bathroom.

I fell in love with the look of these pieces. This was one where I saw what they should be when I picked them up. Check them out in my Master Bedroom... Along with this beautiful polka dot fabric.
These are just a few of my Fabulous Treasures. I am working on many more of these posts and hope that it inspires you to find the beauty in "junk".

13 June 2012

Downstairs Bathroom

This Wonderful piece I got in Kentucky from my brother-in-law was the inspiration for my "community" bathroom.
Isn't it just beautiful? Not everybody saw how amazing this piece was with all it's dirt and rust, but for me it was love at first sight. I just knew it would be gorgeous in my house.We were still in the process of buying our home when I got this and many other great Treasures in Kentucky so it didn't really have a place yet, but I just had to have it.
Originally it was going to go in the upstairs Guest Bath, but as it sat in the tub downstairs to be washed... I decided that I couldn't put it somewhere that it wouldn't be seen very often. 

 
Since we had been renting for about 11 years I immediately wanted to tear into a room in my new home. Just because I could. This was the smallest room and didn't really need anything major so I started here. A couple coats of paint and it would be good. OR So I thought...
As you will notice in all my other posts this paint color is in EVERY room in the house. It's not a bad color, but I have been living in someone else's house for so long and going by there rules... Now I can do whatever I want (well mostly, I do have to run it by my husband first, but he usually gives in. Especially when it comes to decorating)  :)
 
 As I was painting the trim I noticed that most of the caulk needed a redo and there was alot of cleaning up from whoever had painted before. Once I got the top of the walls painted... it was time for the bottom.
 That is were my OCD kicked in... A week and a half later... and I had removed ALL the old caulk and re-caulked the bathroom. The walls are painted, removed and replaced the light, taken out the medicine cabinet and replaced it.

 
 My Amazing paint. I had five samples on this wall for about 4 days...
 I'm still trying to decide whether it is just the color I really like or the fact that it is MINE! I didn't have to get anyones permission and I don't have to repaint when I move... I'm kinda thinking that has ALOT to do with it :)


Here is that piece from my Because It's Pretty post...
Like I said it was not the right color for it's purpose... So a couple coats of black spray paint and a few touches of white make it perfect.
And more of my Treasures... Most of the enamel ware I got from my Momma, a few of the pieces she was willing to park with :) The candle holder was brown. Gotta love spray paint.
 
This is the ALMOST finished bathroom. Still needs a few touches, the white hand towels will be getting black ribbon stitched onto the edges, a shelf idea is in my head for over the toilet, and all the pieces will be put into place. 

Adding some trim to these lain white hand towels tied them into the room very well. 
The hook pictured is not in the room, but can be purchased from my shop  

This Fabulous piece that my Mother-in-Law got me will soon be added to the room also.

This mirror will eventually be replaced by something awesome and black... just gotta go Treasure Hunting. I know it is out there waiting for me to find it :) 
The curtain rods and hooks were white, but I decided to paint them black to fit with the rest of the room. Two long window curtains on their own rod and it turned out better than I imagined. Oh My!!!
 
The shelf has been made and installed. I took some old iron hooks off the back porch, painted them and added a piece of ebony stained wood. 
I am still looking for that mirror, I know I will find it.

 Don't really remember where I found this hook, but it is pretty and works perfectly in the room.
 Can you believe this all started with a rusty ol' cookin' pot that nobody else thought was BEAUTIFUL!!!

Master Bedroom

This is the Master Bedroom, the one room in every house we have ever lived in that I can never get completely finished. There is always some other room that really needs to be done instead and we are the only ones that ever see this one. Well not this time. I will finish both these rooms. I hope :)

 
The bathroom is going to be the hardest room in the house to do. I have HUGE plans for this one. 
Hopefully I can get this gutted and redone just the way I want it.
This big, ugly, useless tub is going to be the first thing to go. It takes up half the bathroom and is just a waste of space.
 
The plan is to replace it with a claw foot tub.
The vanity will be going too and replaced with a beautiful antique dresser. Right now these are all just plans in my head, because I have had to switch gears and work on the Guest Room for our company that is coming to visit.

 
However I have got ALOT of the bedroom done. 

The inspiration... Our bedroom has always been done in dark colors. Brown, blue, black, red... Then I found this at my Momma's house, and it has BIRDS!!! I also found a few other things at Dirt Cheap while visiting in MS. So this is how my Master began. 

This dresser was a Treasure Huntin' find before we even started looking at houses. I had actually been looking for a dresser for years, but never could find one that spoke to me. We had been using a chest of drawers that I found about 9 years ago while trash huntin' (this is different from Treasure Huntin') and a 4 drawer that my Granny Bessie gave me.
After some sanding, a little TLC, and spray paint... This was when our room was red, cream, and black.
We have this... One of my favorite pieces. I have ALOT of favorites.
This is what it looks like now in our new home. Since all our other furniture in the room is black I decided to leave it that way and work with it.
  
These are the night stands which were our first build. You can see the full post on the build process in here...


I picked these up at Goodwill. I kinda had a vision in my head, but not everything that works in my head actually works in real life.
But they turned out great :)
Two huge drum shade... Treasures :) Also found the fabric while Treasure Huntin'. I could not believe that I found this adorable polka dot fabric that matches the bed sham perfectly.
This wall is still a work in progress. I am collecting some different shaped frames to add here and I want to paint a quote somewhere. Just gotta find the right one.
 
I'm sure you have all spent alot of time looking for that perfect decorative curtain rod... They are expensive. I went to pick up the metal rods cause I already knew they would be the cheap easy way and I could paint them any color I wanted. Then when I saw the price on just one fo the little metal hooks to hang them on the wall I bought fell over... $8 for a little ugly piece of metal. So I came up with these.
They do take a little more time than the others, but they are prettier and can be used for alot of different things. These can also be found in my Thrown Together shop in different styles and colors.

 
Here is that wonderful barn wood again :)
And here is what I did with it.
A few coats of ebony stain applied lightly.
And my headboard is complete...
 
Or so I thought, but my husband likes to sleep with his hand under his pillow so I had to make an adjustment.
I still have to fix the ties on it, because I changed my design halfway thru making it. I will get to that when I make the bedskirt. :) This room will eventually be a completed project, but for now there are other things to finish as always.