Flea Market Find: Vintage Metal Bed

Hello!  Not only have I not been blogging...but I haven't been to a flea market since November. That's like not having a diet coke since November, or candy. Rough times.

One Saturday, Adam ran some early errands and when he walked in the door he said there was an estate auction in town then quickly realized what he had said...

Of course there was no taking those words back. We loaded up the car...baby and all that goes with--and headed into town. It was a gloomy, rainy day. Serious auction goers know when you go to an estate auction when it rains-it pays. Not many people want to stand in the rain. I was right, everything was going for a steal. I practiced resistance and did not bid on every little thing. Even all the cute chairs that were going for 3-5 bucks. I had my eye on one item. A metal bed. A rusty as heck metal bed. 

I'd seen photos on pinterest of awesome iron and metal beds and I wanted one for our master bedroom. 

The sweet rusty patina. 

source

With muted bedding and other flea market finds all around you while you are snoozing....the perfect dream land!

source

Antique ones usually come no bigger than a full. We have a king now. There would be no way we could downgrade. Plus, Adam is so darn tall we can't really get a bed with a foot board anyway. My vintage bed dreams didn't seem like they'd go anywhere. Until that day...

See, if you are new here I will let you know, we're in the process of finishing our basement. Lucky for our friends and family not only will there be a family room, a full wet bar, but we'll also have a guest suite down there.  This was my chance to get that rusty patina iron bed in my house--even if I wouldn't be the one getting beauty rest on it.

Here she is. It looks like a pile of junk to some people. To me, a serious treasure.

After outbidding one other person... the bed was officially mine, and only for 10 whole bucks. A serious deal. The flea market gods were smiling down at me because the rain held out too.
Unfortunately for Adam they were not smiling at him...the downpour began as soon as he was loading it up. Ben and I were already waiting patiently in the car. Oops.

I cannot wait to get the basement bedroom situated and set up in it's new home. It's going to be so dreamy. It only needs a little fixing up before it's ready for dreamland.

Jamie from Southern Revivals explained how she sealed in rusty patina on her fab antique metal bed frame she scored. I plan to do the same to mine.

Please only pin from original source at Southern Revivals! 

Gah hers looks so cute in her son's big boy room. Those arrow stripes are so awesome too. Now I will be on the lookout for a twin version for Ben's someday big boy room...

Score anything good lately at a sale or flea market?

New Art: Dad in house!

We have some new semi-DIY Art in the living room/hallway. Adam has been on me to get stuff hung up in this house. I guess he's tired of staring at bare walls. Hence my golden mirror gallery wall--which already needs some updated photos, we've added more! Lots more!

But today I'm sharing something different on the walls.

If you've been a reader for awhile you know my dad did our beautiful stonework on the front of our home, and the fireplace. By himself. Just my dad.
He pretty much moved in with us for a few weeks at a time and worked 12 hour work days jamming out to the radio, cutting the stones, mixing the mortar, and placing the stones to the fireplace and exterior of the house.
He doesn't do this for a living or anything, it's sort of a hobby for him. When we told him we were building we nicely asked for his help with the stonework. Not sure if he knew what he was getting into...however, it's our favorite feature on both the inside and the outside of the home. It's very special to both Adam and I.

So I was playing around with the Waterlogue app, and turned these photos:

into these photos:

I emailed them to a buddy at a local print shop, and ~bippity boppity boo~...I have some beautiful prints!

I spray painted some old wood frames from the thrift store (which I forgot to take a BEFORE photo of! I'm slacking lately!) and also spray painted mattes white since they were an ugly peach color.

I'd say I spent less than 20 bucks for both prints and the revamped thrift store frames and mattes combined. Not bad for some large art pieces with meaning. Am I right?

We hung them in the living room hallway. It's a nice reminder of my dad's hard work, and it's nice to have meaningful artwork in our home for us to see, and our guests too!

PSSSSTTTT! Read more about my dad doing the stonework himself on our home Here and Here!


Do you have meaningful artwork in your home?
Have you tried to Waterlogue any of your favorite photos? 
Are you late to the Waterlogue party too?

A Golden Gallery Wall

Last weekend I was on mission “Start Hanging Stuff on Walls”. I  rummaged through my stash of frames and mirrors in the basement. I remembered I had a few gold mirrors I was hoarding saving for just the perfect spot.

And I also had one very large red mirror that needed a new paint job stat. 

But guess what?
I forgot to take a photo of the big old red mirror before it got a beautiful makeover. I know, bad blogger.

I had 1 can of spray paint, a nice day, and a mission to complete. I taped my mirror up, gave it a few coats of gold spray paint.  I contemplated spraying all the mirrors into one gold color, instead of having a hodge-podge of real and fake gold mirrors. But, one group text to my home decor advisors (read: best friends) and the vote was hodge-podge of golds. So only one mirror got the golden spray treatment.

I let it dry for roughly one hour. Mostly because I was antsy. I decided it was too shiny. I added some rub & buff in antique gold to give the mirror some depth. It also brought out the details with just one quick rub.

My dear husband got out his drill and we just eyeballed where we wanted the mirrors. Up they went.

Nope, no silly cutting out shapes in newspaper. Although, we probably should have gone this route---since I know it’s tried and trusted in blogland. But, we were super tired from working on stuff all day. So up they went.
And we love them.

 Going up the steps..

I think I need another baby mirror above the mini one I already have...

Our monogram...

Remember my monogram story? Well, it got thrown in the mix too. I think  it adds a little different pizzazz to the space. I may try to add something else a little different on this gallery wall too!

From the top of the steps...

View from the loft.

I plan to add a few more to the mix when I spot some while out thrifting and at flea markets this summer. (Almost flea market season WOOHOO!!)
I prefer to find mirrors that are already gold or brass, but, I’m not against spraying them and giving them a makeover!

Do you have a gallery wall in your home? 
Would you add other items besides mirrors to the mix? Like what?

Plan for Plates

When your husband says to you every week:

• "Start hanging stuff on the wall!" 
• "What kind of junk are you bringing home now?"
• "You are trying to make this house look like #&$*%@& Pottery Barn!"

It CAN get annoying. Especially when you are just trying to do what he asked demanded you in the first place. To start hanging stuff on the wall!

I think he's tired of staring at blank walls. But I'm kind of picky about putting holes in the walls at this house. He was too...but now he's over it!

Well I'm working on it. I finally made a decision about what I wanted to do with this odd shaped teeny portion of a wall that we just had to have to hold the second story up and all...

On the living room side of the weird wall I stuck a big old vase with sticks in it. Done. Love it.

But the kitchen side was a different story all together.
Does it have to be something kitchen-y?
What kind of decor can I put on this tiny little space that I won't hate?
Can I find something that I can DIY or makeover so it doesn't cost a fortune?

In comes plates....

They looked so cute at the thrift store. But what would I even do with them? Then I had a little pin-spiration!

These were each less than a buck each. I plan to do a little collector wall hanging! I want to incorporate these colors, but many more. I'm on the lookout for some with teal, green, red....maybe even some plum toned purple plates if I can track a few down.

My inspiration:

 Kelly @ View Along the Way

Love what Kelly did with her plate wall. I like the way it wraps around the side. Which is what I plan to do! I think Kelly shows us that you can make any design with the plates you want. Fit it to your own home. Love that.


I like this mix of old and new styles...

HomeEdit

This collection wall from CasaSugar is interesting because the plates slightly overlap in some spots sort of like Kelly's. It's different and makes it more of one piece rather than several plates in a collection.

CasaSugar

Do you have trouble committing & nailing things to the wall? 
Any tips for a non-picture hanger committer? Do you have any collections on your wall?


p.s. please go to the original source before you pin any of these and pin from there! Thanks!

Get those BUNS ready for Spring! Gold Leaf is the answer!

Are your buns ready for Spring? Mine are!  Nope, I'm not talking about extra work at the gym--because me workout? Ok, I do workout....sometimes...

I'm talking about these buns:

The little thrift store bunnies. They were each under a buck, and looked like they should be at grandma's house. I took them home for a Spring makeover.

(I already showed you the ducks when I gave them their quick makeover last week in my Spring Vignette post.)

Anyway, Let's start with bunny #1 (because I forgot to take a before photo of bunny #2, oops).

He's fine--- but kind of 1991 if you ask me. Time for this bunny to hop into 2014.

To start, I gave both bunnies a coat of white spray paint as a base.

Already better with the pure white. I even thought of leaving him this way. But, I had this jar of gold leaf that was just sitting there staring at me. It was saying "GOLD LEAF ALL THE THINGS!". Because everything should be gold leafed, obviously.

Time for these baby bunnies to get the golden touch!

You can get this gold leaf at Hobby Lobby for about 4 bucks, cheaper if you have a coupon.

Liquid gold leaf in antique gold, a paint brush, and 5 minutes later....

I thought I would like the bigger one better because he seemed to have prettier lines that would show through, but the gold leaf adhered to them each differently. I was surprised because they looked like they had similar lines before the gold leaf!

I still like the end result on each. Different but cute!

Now the fun part, finding new homes for them around the house.

Little bunny found a home next to the Easter nest my momma gave me...

Look close...Scout is in this photo...twice.

Do you decorate for Spring? 
Have you ever gold leafed something and it turned out way different then you imagined?

Pssssss! In case you missed it! Check out the rest of my Spring Decor in my Spring Vignette and Mantel post!

Friday Show & Tell: Introducing my favorite thrift store purchase EVER.

I've already told you about our DIY Pinterest inspired projects  (Easy Wreaths here & DIY Mercury Glass here) we worked on during my "weekend of dreams" with friends in Peoria Illinois. We pretty much acted like old grannies, crafting, drinking wine, eating, gossipping... and one of my favorite pastimes...thrifting!

Today I will share some of my favorite thrifted goodies from that weekend.

First off, this sweet jute-like rug. Actually, this rug was not even for sale...it was kinda sorta rolled up (aka thrown in a corner) of dinky little thrift store--they must have been moving stuff around and threw it aside for the day...but I wanted it. 

the colors are perfect.

I made one of my friends carry it to the counter for me and wink at the young man behind the counter (I couldn't do it...I'm MARRIED YA'LL) Her winking worked because he sold it to us for $4.99. Yep under 5 bucks. And it's pretty big too. It will go on the back deck I think...after I spray it with the hose to get the thrift store dust and dirt off it.

And another find for under 5 bucks. This big old basket. It was only $4.99.
I don't have a plan for it. The lady at the counter asked me if I would put apples in it...Apples? Hm.. I said no, not apples. She then asked if it was for a dog? No, I said. My dog is too fat for this basket.

So what it will be used for I'm still not sure. But I have a thing for baskets and this one called my name.



So what is under that 5 dolla rug and 5 dolla basket you ask? Only my most expensive thrift store purchase EVER. You see, not only am I cheap, but I am a cheap thrifter. I usually spend about 15 bucks tops in a thrift shop...and come out with a handfull of items.

Well, this beauty was $35. Which to me is a lot to spend at a thrift store. But I just couldn't pass it up. Just couldn't...It is my favorite find, ever.

Let's take a quick look at the bottom of this beauty...

Do you know what is is yet?

How about now?

The insides...

It's a sweet-ace old radio. They didn't know if it still worked or not but I didn't care. I love the look of it.

With ends up and down both.

Adam is going to tinker with it a little to see if he can get it going.
But for now, I am cleaning it up and it will be a new nightstand in our bedroom. Perfect size!

So all in all it was an amazing weekend full of friends, crafting, shopping, and lots of other old granny fun...and I got to bring home some awesome finds from the weekend of dreams!


Been thrifting lately? 
Are you a cheapo thrifter like me and have trouble spending $35 bucks at a Goodwill?

Friday Favorite: Thrift store find

So, I popped into my local thrift store...one that usually has crap but since I had an extra 15 minutes before my lunch hour was up and it was next door, I figured what the hey. And I am glad I did.

Like shopping at any thrift store, mostly the aisles were filled with piles of ugly wicker baskets, bins of bras (yuck), and a lots of cheap bookcases and toys...but there was a gem nestled among the stacks of orangey oak picture frames...

ooooo aaaaahhh.

A Fancy-ish mirror! and for only 5 buckaroos.  Fancy & ornate does not really go in our house...but..I think I can make some changes to the mirror to make it less golden-fancy and more us.
So what should do I do with it?

Well, I thought about it.
Then I poured myself a glass of wine and thought about it some more.

thanks for the yummy wine Mom!

 I think it will get a fun paint job, and go in my walk-in-closet.  A preview post of our walk in closets is coming next week!

Any good finds at your thrift stores this week? Does yours have bins of old lady bras too?
What color would you paint the mirror? Or would you leave the gold?