vintage + industrial = really cool!

Way back (waaaay back, say January of this year) when I started this blog thing, I mentioned that I needed someone to do it with me (someone to support me, post with me, proofread me, whatever).  So, I mentioned my pal, Jennie.  You can read all about it (and I really hope you do) here in this old post.  Well, Jennie has been supporting me by giving me feedback on my posts, helping me find great stuff to post about and just being a good pal....but....she has not posted anything herself nor let me post about her...UNTIL NOW!  So, this is the first post showing something from Jennie's house.  She has a great eye and a wonderful decor style which results in a beautiful house.  She's just not convinced of that yet so she's hesitant to share.  So, we're taking baby steps today and just showing you one part of one room in her house.  I'm hoping you will all leave amazing comments for her to read so she'll let me show way more stuff in her house.  So, here goes....

This is part of Jennie's home office she is working on right now.  It's an office in progress we shall say.  A few months ago, we went to Canton for First Monday Trade Days.  Jennie has been wanting some old vintage lockers for the office.  She found some but they needed a little work.  Here they are before:

So, she used a spray primer and spray paint and revamped them!  Here they are in her home office:

Pretty cool, huh?  Jennie likes red too.  Don't ya love that big clock on the wall too?  She got it from the The Red Shed.  Look closely on top of the lockers, on top of the little blue filing thing...do you see that letter holder thingamajig?

It's an old block of wood with old rusted castors/wheels attached to it to create a file holder.  Isn't that cool?  Nope, we didn't think that up (wish we did).  Got it at the Red Shed too. 

Here are some of her cute things in her office. 

She found these two vintage red check trays and hung them on the wall above the desk.  She will be using them as magnetic boards to hold memos and stuff, once she finds some cute magnets. 

So, there's a peek into Jennie's house.  She loves modern farmhouse, coastal, cottage, vintage and industrial.  Hopefully, you'll get to see more in the future and hopefully she'll start using a camera instead of that dang iPhone that's permanently attached to her.  Then, I'll be able to use those fancy editing things better in Picasa.   Don't you want to see more?

Hey Jennie, I may be linking this up to some blog parties this week like the ones listed below on the right or up top in my page of favorite blog party links!

Finders Keepers

This never happens to me!  Apparently it happens to a lot of you but it just doesn't happen to me.  For my job, I had to go to a school the other day.  I arrive at the school and park across the street next to a big ugly wall that surrounds an industrial/commercial area.  I turn off my car, open my door and there, next to the wall, is this:

It was just sitting there all alone.  Oh my gosh, that is so cute and looks like something those blog people find but I never do...yet here it is right in front of my eyes.  (Now, being the goody goody that I am, I did ask inside the school if it belonged to the school.  No, it didn't, followed by chuckles was the response I got.  Now, I know about half of you wouldn't do a thing to it and the other half would strip, sand, paint, distress, paint again, distress again and seal.  (A few of you might not of picked it up.)  I am somewhere in the middle.  I loved it as is except for one thing.

I don't like the wicker stuff in the middle at all.  I can hear about half of you saying "that's the best part" and the other half saying "yep, that's pretty yucky ugly." 

Close up...see?  I don't like it...at all!  Besides, it was soooo dirty and I don't think I could clean this part to my satisfaction.  Who knows where this table has been.

So, off with the wicker!  Most of it could be pulled up by hand and the rest was scraped.  What was underneath was worse.  It was wood but with a permanent impression of that wicker.  So, here's my solution.

A little burlap can fix anything.  So, I cut some burlap to fit and used a little dab of glue to glue it down.

Next, a little jute twine around the edges to finish it a little (yep, just glued it too). 

See, it's already looking better!  I like the burlap and jute twine lots, lots better than the yucky wicker. Ready to see the finished project?  Here it is and all for free since the table was free and I had burlap and twine laying around the house.  Doesn't everybody?

Pretty cute, huh? 

Top it off with a big old rusty horseshoe for a little Texas style cottage flair.

I'm so happy with it, I may link it up with a couple of my favorite link parties listed below on the right or up above on my list.

How I Met My House

My husband and I waited a long time to buy our first (and last) home.  We both came from parents who lived in the same house forever...the family home.  We had childhood friends we grew up with and knew all of the neighbors well, some of which still live in our old neighborhoods.  Neither of us came from families that moved around.  We wanted that for our son.  We wanted to buy a home that we would live in forever, our son would grow up in, memories would be made in and grandchildren would visit us there. We wanted an old house with character but realized we couldn't afford that.  We couldn't afford the neighborhoods where the wonderful old homes were, we couldn't afford big renovations and we couldn't afford the upkeep. 

So, we decided we look at new developments, new construction.  We looked everywhere and finally settled on a nice development with nice houses.  These houses were generic new construction, open layout, no character.  I decided to take my pal, Jennie, to see the model home we were choosing.  She was polite and said it was nice.  As we drove away, we decided to just drive around to look at the area.  Jennie noticed a sign for a different development and said we should look.  I remember turning down the street and seeing THE HOUSE.  It was new construction but looked like a cottage.  She said we should go in and look at it. We walked up to the front porch (with a ceiling fan!) and then went inside.  It looked like the cutest cottage ever but it was big.  It had old brick floors, beadboard, fireplaces, french doors and it was 2500 square feet of brand new house.  There was no way we could afford that.  It was too perfect.  The look of an old house but the advantages of new construction.  I asked the price knowing it would be way too high...but it wasn't!  I couldn't believe it.  The next day, I brought my husband to look at it.    He loved it too.  We moved in Dec. of 2001.  I still love it.  We are changing a few things now, just cosmetic redecorating.  We are about to paint our shutters outside black and paint the columns all white...give it a little makeover.  I can't wait.  And guess what?  We have the great neighbors, my son has childhood friends he is growing up with and we're creating wonderful memories for him. 

I'm linking this to Our Suburban Cottage's "How I Met My House"

teen room makeover

Okay, stay with me here...because if you like my blog then these pictures I'm about to show you probably aren't your style.  Hopefully, though, this post will still be inspiring if you have children who have a sense of independence and defnite opinions about their likes and dislikes.  So, here goes...

When we first moved into our house, our son's bedroom was on the first floor to be near the master bedroom.  Our son was 5.  However he liked the upstairs bedroom which was a bit larger.  We told him when he became a teenager, he could move upstairs.  Those next 8 years went by in a flash and he recently turned 13.  Since he's a good kid and we stick by our promises, we allowed him to move upstairs.  This will be the fourth time we've redone his room.  The first 3 times, his room was decorated like I wanted.  I chose the color schemes, the decor, the furniture, everything.  It was always my style and fit with the style of the rest of the house.  I put my style and choices on him and told him how much he liked it.  He acted like he did and never complained.  Now, he wanted to decorate his new teen room the way he wanted.  Oh my, what would that look like?  I think back to my own teen room.  Although I didn't choose my furniture and bedding, my parents allowed me to decorate the walls however I wanted.  It's embarrassing to say how many teen idol and 70's posters I hung up and I know nothing I hung was my mother's style.  She always commented on the newest poster addition and acted like it was cool. (I know she hated it.)  So, now I'm the mom.  What will my son choose for his new room?  He's into alternative music, indie music, non-mainstream things and hates sports.  I am soooooo mainstream so to be honest, I'm scared. 

We gave him a budget and one rule: we had the right to say no to any decision he made.  So, here we go.  The reveal.  Take a big swig of something and hang on to your hat...here's how my son designed his new teen room!

Look at that!  It's not all black with skulls or craziness.  It's actually really nice and somewhat mature.  He chose chocolate brown as the main color with accents of steel blue and pops of red.  His walls and bedding are brown and most of the furniture and accents are steel blue/metal.

His bed frame/headboard and side tables are from Ikea and not expensive at all. He chose the lamps at Target.

Our neighbor put this chest of drawers on the curb and we grabbed.  It's been in our garage for awhile.  It was the wrong color and missing knobs.  It's hard to tell from the picture but it's painted  a bluish white.  The knobs are from Target.   Have you noticed my son's a bit thrifty?  Where did he get that from?

He did his own artwork for his room.  He used brown and red paint along with a metallic silver paint.  He likes modern art (sort of Jackson Pollock style).

Can you see the metal silver paint?  It's kind of cool and certainly matches the furniture.

Yep, there's his name.  He did it.  I don't like modern but I have to admit, I do like this.

He chose a silver nickel type ceiling fan...from Home Depot...on sale!

We painted a small wall next to his door with dry-erase paint.  He has people who visit his room "sign" his wall and leave messages.  He also keeps a list of his favorite bands, musical artists or songs.

Even his tissue box matches.  I didn't realize this until I started taking pictures.

The only black in the room.  Kind of surprising since he wore brown ones for two years.

So, why post this instead of my latest vintage chippy find?  It's important to me to be able to decorate my space in my style; what I like.  It makes me happy.  So, I should allow my son the same; to be able to decorate his space in his style, what he likes to make him happy even if it's different from mine.  Besides, his room is upstairs now and sort of separated from the rest of the house :)   Seriously, when your children are older, hold your breath and let them decorate their space in their style.  They might just surprise you. 

I think I may share at some of my favorite blog parties.  You can find them below on the right or above on my blog parties page.  Next post, I will be back to my style (no modern, no Pollock, no matching tissue boxes).

Great blog!

I started this blogging thing in January so I'm still pretty new and still discovering blogs.  Sometimes I find a new one and get so excited and then realize they have thousands of followers so I must be the last one to know about them.   So, I found a new one or at least new to me and I may be her new biggest fan.  If you haven't checked out In Pursuit Of Martha Points, you must!  I have no idea who this girl is; I think her name is Julie.  I don't know if she has one regular viewer or a million because she doesn't show followers.  She has some pretty pictures and good ideas but the main reason to read her blog is so you can start your day off with a great laugh.  She is hysterically funny while writing about her projects and things around her house.  I find myself laughing outloud reading it.  This post is one of my favorites but I also like this post.  (Mandi, wait until you see this post. You two may have been separated at birth.)  So, I don't know Julie but I know she makes me laugh and I get giddy when I see in my blogroll that she's updated with a new post.  If you have a great sense of humor and enjoy a brilliant wit, visit her blog.  Selfishly, I want people to see it so she'll keep writing it so be sure and leave a comment so she's knows people are reading it.  If I check my blogroll and see that both she and Mandi at Tidbits from the Tremaynes have new posts, I have to put down my sweet iced tea before reading so I don't choke from laughing.  Thanks ladies for bringing more than just great pictures to blogworld or blogland or whatever it's called. 

I went shopping and "picking"...at my own house!

Okay, when you read this post, you're going to think I'm crazy or spoiled or blessed or extremely absent-minded with possibly early onset dementia.  So, I need to explain before you see the pictures I'm posting today.  As I mentioned here,  my mom and my aunt were some pioneering "junkers" from way back.  When my mom passed away in late 2000, we had to pack up her house.  It was hard to decide what to keep, what to give away to family and friends and what to sell.  To be honest, it was a task I dreaded and wanted to finish as quickly as I could.  So, for every item I touched, I made a quick decision "keep", "give" or "sell".  If I couldn't decide quickly, then it was keeper for me to decide later just so I could get through the process. 

When we moved into our new house in December, 2001, all of that stuff came with us plus all of the stuff we already had.  A lot of it filled the garage and some closets.  So, fast forward to today.  I love looking on all your blogs and shops to get ideas and my pal, Jennie and I, love going to shops and flea markets to find new things for our homes.  Jennie laughs at me because as we look at all the stuff, I frequently say "I think I have one of those" or "I think my mom had that."  As I look at your blogs, I find myself saying the same thing. 

So, today I decided to go shopping...at my own house.  When you see some of the pictures, I think "picking" may be a better word since I had to look through quite a bit of stuff to find some possible treasures.  I have to admit, I'm a little excited about what I found.  We are redoing several rooms in our house and need some stuff.  Apparently, I've got plenty of stuff I didn't know I had...and it's all free.  

So, here you go.  Here's what I got today shopping at my own house.  Please don't look to closely at some of the background.  Stay focused on the item (because the background will be a mess and a bit embarrassing.)

This little green mirror is too cute.  I like the wire above it. It's from my mother's house.

I think I bought this heart many years ago.  I have no idea where I got it and completely forgot about it.  Why did I do that?

This was my mother's.  I think she had it in a bedroom.  Why have I not had this in a special place?

A pale yellow chippy little vase.  I could use a pale yellow chippy little vase.

That vase is cute and the price is right!

Okay, these storage drawers were in my Dad's shop.  He was a manufacturing jeweler in Dallas.  My mom talked him in to bringing these home and they sat in our garage.  She wanted to clean them up and put them in our house (this was back in the 80's!  She was a visionary for sure).  My Dad couldn't see them as anything other than storage for his nails, small tools and jewelry supplies so they stayed in the garage.  Guess where they are at my house?  In the garage.  Jennie spied them and told me I had to do something with them.  I guess they could be my next big project.

They do have potential!

what fun it could be to make cute little vintage labels for the drawers!

Not to mention, the storage would come in handy.  I'm pretty sure my Dad's stuff is still in those drawers. 

I was looking at this post on the Shabby Nest and saw her makeover an old fan.  It was so cool.  You know what, I think I have one of those.  Yep, there it is in the corner of the garage covered in dust and yuckiness.  I've got to clean that up and bring it in. 

Oh my gosh, look at that thing...right next to the Gretzky cut out that my husband hung in the garage.  (That's his idea of decor.)  It's an old pulley and some weights.  What can I do with those?  All ideas are appreciated! 

This stuff is high up on a storage shelf in the garage.  I'm not sure what all they are but I think I see an old vintage paper cutter..or at least the handle on the top left.  That could be handy and cool in a craft room...now that my son is old enough to leave it alone or at least not cut off a limb or whatever  if he uses it.

Yes, folks, this is my garage.  Your going to have to look close here to see treasures.  In the middle, under the bicycle tube are two old desks, a brown one and an upside down white one on top of it.  The red and white striped awning thing is the top of an old Gym Dandy surrey.  Yep, we have a surrey, complete with fringe on top (for you older folks who have seen the movie "Oklahoma.")    

Here's a close up.  Can you see the desks?  A Very Blessed Nest did a great post on a cute idea with an old school desk and it got me thinking.  I was pretty sure I had one and here it is. 

Here's the white one that's upside down on top of the other one.

What's that cute little bucket?  It's a little too cute to be holding whatever that is in there.

Here's a cute little miniature trunk.  My mother had it in her bedroom and I always liked it. 

Ooooh, these have potential.  I like the little rusted tin vase on the right.  I'm not sure about the fakey rusty birdcage thing. 

It might have potential. Oh, wait a minute....

a little spray paint...

That's better.  Now I just need to find a place for it.

I definitely found some great bargains today.  I'll have to shop this place again!  Take a second look around your house, closets and garage and see what you have that you've forgotten about it.  If you find something good, let me know!  I need the reassurance that I'm not the only absent-minded one plus you might have something that might spark another memory and I just might have it too!