Showing posts with label furniture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label furniture. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Repurposing a Cupboard


We're down to the last few days of packing, and I've been trying to mentally place furniture at the new little house. I have a much larger eat-in kitchen area there than I have here, (but no Dining Room) so I'm going to use a few different pieces of furniture in there. I've had to rethink the furniture layout to use pieces that are good for storage. One piece that I want to use is this old pie safe that I had in my studio, that I used for craft supplies and storage. It will be holding my Ironstone and Transferware. I need a good cupboard that I can "play with".




The inside was dirty and stained so I gave it a few coats of off white paint to clean it up. It's hard to see but instead of glass it has what used to be gold grillwork. I just painted the metal white with a brush. In this photo my Brown Transferware tureen is auditioning for a spot.



Here are some examples of inspiration from my Pinterest Board, Cupboards.
You can find all the sources on that board.



































I'm looking forward to having this to decorate seasonally. 
I already have ideas for Valentine's Day and Easter...



I'll be hosting Be Inspired this Thursday morning, hope to see you there. We'll be moving over the weekend, so I'll be out of Internet for a bit, but I'll hopefully be back by the end of next week. Say a prayer for us, we'll need lot's of help!


Joining in with wonderful parties:

Inspiration Exchange at City Farmhouse
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
Blissful White Wednesday at Timewashed
Centerpiece Wednesday at The Style Sisters

xoxo,

Sunday, January 5, 2014

New House Living Room Inspiration Board


Last night I needed a diversion from packing. Can I admit I'm already tired of it and I've only scratched the surface? I've spent most of this week in my office/studio trying to make some sense out of all the crap,  junk, supplies, treasures,  stuff that I have. I may not be at my all time "best" through this move. It's a good thing my husband is patient and longsuffering... 

So I hopped on Polyvore once he went to bed and thought I'd put together an inspiration board for the Living Room. Our "soon-to-be" house is small, folks, so nothing is going over there that isn't functional and doubles as storage. Let's just say that most of my furniture and fun stuff is destined for a very large storage unit.



The new little house has a lot of  "wood", in the form of cabinets, woodwork, trim, etc. not my favorite "white". So I'm having to go with a more masculine vibe. Maybe I can translate that into a little of my favorite, "English Country". I can't paint the walls or anything else, and frankly we'll probably only be there a year, so I'm not going to totally "decorate", but I have to feel like I have a "home". (we'll just be leasing until our house sells, then buy something permanent or build) So hubbs and I came up with a plan and we pooled our pocket change and bought a Chesterfield Sofa and Loveseat. Believe me, there is some great looking furniture out there that doesn't break the bank, and I was determined I'd find it.




So we purchased the sofa and loveseat and a couple of new lamps in a bronze tone with linen shades. I have to decide what I'm going to sell, but for now I'm justifying this purchase because all the downstairs furniture will likely be sold. (And it was our anniversary present to ourselves.) I was secretly wanting to do something different downstairs anyway, so please... be careful what you wish for.





These examples of furniture from Polyvore are just representative of what we're using. I have an old cedar chest that had a horrible finish that I painted a Country Gray, which I'm going to use as a coffee table. It's pretty rustic and not at all what you'd find in my current living room, but hey, I'm making the most of this and using or repurposing what I have. 





I have a beautiful black area rug that hopefully will work
 under the coffee table/trunk. If not I have my taupe-y one.




Then, I'm hoping to use some stacked suitcases and a few decorative tole trays and wooden boxes for end tables. I also have a really wonderful very old school desk from Atlanta that's like a tea table. It's been hidden downstairs the whole time we've lived here; I think that will work with a lamp for an end table.








Hubbs has a great leather recliner that we'll use 
and I have another chair that hopefully will fit.





I love me some leopard/cheetah print so I'm going to try to find some throw pillows, cause the pillows that came with the loveseat and sofa are not what I'm going for. 





Love that chair above, but like I said, just "representative" of what I'll be using, something that I already have. How many of you bought the "required" massive entertainment center when big screen tvs first came out? Oh yeah, we bought a doozy, but it's still pretty, and we have one large wall that needs to be filled, plus we need the storage, so we'll be using that puppy.








Every time I feel overwhelmed I take a few deep breaths and try to remember why we're doing this. Let's see...do I remember why? Oh yeah, we're downsizing so we'll be ready for retirement and whatever else that might bring. Actually, this house is adorable, and I'm super grateful that we found it. It will be perfect for us, I just need to get used to this downsizing business. 


you get the idea?


Hope you're having a great weekend, 


xoxo,



and 




Sunday, August 11, 2013

Finding the perfect Greige...

You all are probably like me, and have this little memo board in your brain where you file away ideas and inspiration for projects... ideas that won't go away...but that you're just not yet ready to take on. Thoughts and plans for bringing something to life; it's just that we know it's not the time yet.
 Sort of like little Pinterest Boards in your head... 


Let me share some inspiration for that...

(remember you can click on any pic to make it BIG)


Last week I ran over to one of my favorite stores, Robin's Vintage Suitcase, here in Springfield. I know most of you have seen the posts I do on Robin's store. She doesn't sell on-line, but I like to share her displays and ideas for decor because there is always something to "take away" from just seeing the pics. I try to convey the atmosphere of her shop even though you might not ever be able to get there in person.






She keeps her displays fresh and current, so you never know what you'll see when you first walk in the door. That day I was smitten with her wonderful "gray" furniture and "whites" tablescape.






So, back to the deep recesses of my psyche where my Dining Room furniture lives. I've wanted to paint those pieces for. ever. But couldn't "get there" with the idea of just white. I've been thinking about the "stripped and weathered bare wood" look alot. Like this pic from Restoration Hardware.



...but, the gray, greige, idea has been vying for my attention. Some of you may remember that I painted my perfectly wonderful "gray" console a couple of years ago. (I'm not going to revisit that, some of you wanted to string me up) But I have to tell ya...that color of gray (with the blue undertones) just doesn't look good in my current surroundings where there's a lot of cream and tan. I need a paint color that has some gray, but with warm undertones. But, this wonderful gray paint patina on this old table just knocked me up the side of my head...



It's authentic, not recent...
see the green underneath peeking through?


As a companion piece,
 Robin had painted this fabulous buffet in her homemade paint concoction.



(here are a couple more store pics)










(and for all you locals,
 Robin's having a big sale that you might want to check out)



 I scoured Pinterest looking for other wonderful gray, greige, beige,
 "almost white with a little gray in it", furniture pieces...so take a look at these.



A couple of beautiful pieces from
 Kelli Wright at  Restore Interiors







Here's more...












My favorite color and technique so far...








Love this one too.




These are all pinned into my Pinterest Board
  Gray and Greige Painted Furniture if you want to take a peek.

This is my way of giving this idea in my head some credibility.
It might just be the table, or the buffet and table...
I'm not ready yet to take the plunge...
but I'm working up to it.

anyway, it's fun to dream.
Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

Joining in with these parties:

Mod Mix Monday at Mod Vintage Life
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

xoxo,

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