mantel makeover

I'm not the kind of person who decorates my mantel all the time for the seasons or holidays or whatever. I would like to be that kind of person but frankly I just don't have the time or energy to keep up with it all.  So, I decorate my mantel the way I like it and leave it all year.  I will change it out for Christmas but then I put it all back the way it was.  After this past Christmas, I decided I wanted a little change.  I put a few things back on the mantel but never finished it.  It sat unfinished and ugly for the last 4 months.  This weekend, I changed that, inspired by the mirrors I found in my last post.

Here's what it looked like before.  Really, it's just a few things stuck up there.  

I can't get a close up because it's probably really dusty.  

Yep, ugly and dusty was the mantel design we have lived with for the past 4 months.

Now, here's the new and improved and clean mantel.

I left the flag that's framed in an old window because I just love it. 

I added two of my new mirrors on the left side along with the box (that had the locks),

a smaller pine box, my little bowling pin and a plant in a pot that I painted and aged.

Oh I am loving those mirrors.

 

Chippy and lovely and imported from Scotland and cheap!

Since I got 6 mirrors and a bunch of other stuff this past weekend for $50, 

I figure these mirrors cost me on average of 5 bucks each.

They really brighten up the space.

I put one on the right side, kept my cool industrial red 3 and old exercise pins

and added the little wooden boxes that I showed you here.

I moved my father-in-laws old wooden tops to the mantel and added the

French binoculars I also found this weekend.  I actually think they are opera glasses.

I think it looks a heck of a lot better, don't you?  I may add some

more greenery to it with another plant or two 

but I like the simplicity and sort of symmetry of it.

OMGoodness!

OMGoodness did we have some fun today!  Ransberger Auction House in Watauga, Texas is having the hugest sale.  Apparently they are closing down their auction business and will only be doing estate sales from now on so they are selling everything they have in their warehouse; over 30 years of stuff.  The sale started Thursday and goes through tomorrow.  If you want to spend some time on Mother's Day getting some great stuff, be prepared to dig.  I have never seen so much stuff and I was pretty overwhelmed by it all.

To add to the overwhelming experience, nothing is marked with a price tag.  You find everything you want and put it in a pile.  Once you have everything you want, the man comes to see your pile and gives you a price for everything.  If you decide it's too much, you can leave stuff behind.  That kind of shopping stresses me out.  I have to see price tags.  What if I make a pile and it's $300 bucks?!

So, I put a few things in a pile and called the guy over.  I had a limit to spend so I was a bit nervous about what he would say.  He took a minute...looked again..."$30?  (Are you kidding me? I thought.)  Well, in that case, let me add a couple of more mirrors I liked; now how much?  "Oh, now you're up to $50."  Okay, then let's throw in one more mirror, now how much?  "Like you said, you're throwing in one more, so $50."  Right, $50 plus one more mirror is how much?  "It's still $50.  I'm letting you throw that last one in for free."  OMGoodness!  Hurry and get over there!

Want to see what I got?

Here it is in the back of my car.  I know it doesn't look like much yet, but wait!

I got this huge rusted hinge bracket thingy...HUGE, like over a foot long.

This cute little box holds some treasure I'll show in a minute.

Scored this pair of binoculars and if you look closely....

...you'll see they are apparently from Paris.

This was on most of the mirrors so I'm guessing they were imported from Scotland.

I got 6 old mirrors, most of them with beveled edges and great old wooden frames.

The largest ones are probably about 2x3 feet.

These cream and white ones are my favorites!  They are quite a bit smaller.

Oh yeah, and this little box....

...all cute just by itself...

....opened it up and found...

these!

It was full of old vintage locks, some kind of coin that said "no cash value" 

and a cigarette butt.  Eeeew.

I love these little things;

especially the teeny tiny silver one in front.

I have no idea what the box was originally used for but it's pretty cute too.

I guess you may have noticed I didn't buy anything that was red

(my favorite color as you long time followers know).

No worries!

I picked up this last weekend at our antique mall.

It's a cute little chippy red tackle box.  It even has all of the

little storage compartments inside.  

I picked it up from Ruby Grace's red booth at LoneStar Antique Mall.

Thanks Denis!

Now I gotta go and figure out what I'm going to do with all this stuff!

 

rockin' industrial towel rack

I find myself going a little more industrial these days.  

Industrial seems to fit well with my cottage-ish style. 

In the main bathroom downstairs, I've been on the lookout for a new towel rack

and I found one!

Get a load of this great towel rack.  

I didn't even have to stencil numbers on it. It came with them already.

They're actually a bit raised and some of the white paint is a bit worn.

It has 5 industrial metal double hooks so it can hold 10 towels.  

Since we would never have 10 towels on it at once, I'm on the lookout

now for some type of bag or basket or other container to hang on it.

Isn't that cool?

The hooks slide so they can be close together

or far apart.  

It looks awesome with the artwork my son did when he was 10.

I've never shown the rest of the bathroom. 

Here's our huge "G" on the wall and reflected in the mirror.

We painted the builder's basic white cabinets a satin black and added nickel knobs.

We replaced the white toilet seat with a shiny black one.  

I highly recommend it if you have boys.  It actually looks clean between cleanings.

I've had this old vintage medicine cabinet for awhile and it works perfectly in here.

There is no other medicine cabinet so it's functional too.  I have a collection of old locks

on top along with an old iron car and a classic book, "How to be a Rockstar" that matches it all.

This used to be my son's bathroom when his bedroom was downstairs.  

He's a musician so we incorporated that a bit into the space.

So, where did I get the cool towel rack to fit my industrial cottage rockin' bathroom?

I didn't have to go far.

I shopped my own antique booth.  I know, that's not a way to make a profit, huh?

Actually, I shopped my pal Jennie's stuff in our booth.  I bought it from her.