Upcycled Vintage Thrift Store Books

Vintage books are plentiful at the thrift stores. I often find them in the free boxes at the shops. Some are damaged, outdated, in a foreign language, and not worth keeping as a book to read. I always look through the book sections for vintage books I can either add to the library in my old schoolhouse or that I can upcycle. I recently did just that with a couple thrifted books.

Both the vintage bird art on the wall and the book art "planter" were created with thrift store books.

To make the book planter, I used a free book. after finding the middle of the book, I cut five pages at a time, horizontally or perpendicular to the spine, cutting each five page section at different heights. I then rolled each five page section toward the middle and hot glued it to form a tube.

I added small pieces of floral foam to the tubes to keep them more rigid and to help hold the faux stems. I also traced the bottom shape of the tunes onto a piece of cardstock and cute it out and hot glued it to the bottom.

I added three types of thrifted faux greenery, using some hot glue as I placed it. This stands up beautifully and would be fun with seasonal flowers or dried flowers.

A 1970 Audubon Bird book is providing me with all kinds of lovely bird art that I am enjoying framing up. I painted a thrifted frame and mat to frame this particular page. 

I am a reader and I love books, but sometimes they have lost their usefulness as a book to read. When that is the case, I love upcycling them rather than letting them go to the landfill. 

Three Ways to Use a Wood Garden Trug

I found a wooden garden or tool trug at our local Habitat for Humanity Restore and thought it could use a little upcycle.

I painted the outside and the edges a fresh green color, stained everything, and added a matte clear coat. Trugs are traditionally used in a garden to hold pots and gardening tools and to collect produce or flowers. I am sharing three different ways to use one in the home.

It makes a fantastic coffee table organizer. Use it to hold remotes, tissues, coasters, reading glasses, and books.

The remote controls are in the McCoy frog planter that a propped up on the edge of the trug. A favorite rock and piece of driftwood, greenery in a basket--all add natural, organic, and decorative elements. Readers are easy to find when kept in their own space. A sketchbook that I use often also sits in the trug.

The wood garden trug also makes a fun, portable bar cart, perfect for an impromptu, outdoor cocktail party or an indoor game night. Include your favorite alcohol, stirrers and shakers, glasses and mugs in the crate.

There's even space for a cutting board and knife. Just add ice and mixers and you are set.

A wood trug is the perfect way to organize items on the kitchen counter. 

Tea and snacks, dessert plates and herbs all look less cluttered with corralled in one container. 

There are so many other ways to use a tote like this--in the bathroom, a kid's room, a craft space, or as intended, in the garden. Organizing utilitarian objects in a pretty way is a design tip that any home can put into practice.

Curated Spring Vignette

We are in the middle of an endless winter measured in feet of snow and temperatures below zero for days (we got down to -31 last week). Another 8 inches of snow is predicted over the next day or so and then we will see some warmer temps. I have been in deep hibernation mode, not leaving the house often. But, when I have been venturing out, I have been all about curating SPRING decor for both the pop-up shop and my home. 

I styled some of my favorite finds to create a spring vignette. Keep reading for the tips and details. This vignette started with an embroidered runner or dresser scarf. The orange and green is perfect for spring.

Vintage art always helps to set the tone in any vignette that I create. Four different pieces of art are displayed in this vignette. The larger, vintage, oil, floral, still life is a lovely way to include the yellow, green and orange colors repeated in the display. The fabric mat was water stained and couldn't be cleaned so I painted it a flat maize color. The print with a textured finish is a humble Woolworth piece from the fifties. By tucking it behind items, it is not the focal point, but it adds color and pattern.

A small, oak, side table acts as a shelf and draws the eye upward. The warm, organic texture grounds the vignette. On top of the table sits a white, ceramic bird that is a chopstick holder. I put some moss in it. A yellow vessel (that came with a cork lid) holds faux snowdrops--often some of the first flowers to bloom in the spring or late winter. 

An oil painting of a Rome cathedral, which reminds me of Easter, is the third item on top of the oak table. It sits in an old, metal, industrial clamp.

Under the table on the rung sits a nest.

A vintage, signed, duckling print, a wood bowl with a yellow flowers and a green book, and vintage, jadeite salt and pepper shakers repeat the vignette colors.

This spring vignette exemplifies the same "rules" that I have shared before: repeated colors, textures, and materials, varying heights, odd numbers, layers, and utilizing objects with a common theme that I love. 

And while it blizzards outside, I will continue to dream of warmer, spring days. Are you ready for spring?

I recently sourced some lovely, vintage items and I thought I'd share a few.

A Munising wood bowl, a Steiff pewter ink well, a 1966 duck print, and a Greek, copper peppermill add warmth and texture to any home. The hand carved wood box cribbage set is beautiful.

    A leather correspondence folder is definitely a nod to the past when we would write and keep letters. the pinecone engravings on it are perfect for a Montana home or cabin.

And, vintage, Dutch, wood candy or marzipan molds will add character and warm wood texture to any kitchen.

See anything you love?

A Lovely Vintage Curated Vignette

If you saw my vignette post a week and a half ago, you might have read that I LOVE creating vignettes (you can see that post HERE). I also love giving my readers tips and hints on how to create their own visually appealing displays. So, here I am again, with another vignette and more tip sharing.

Please keep reading for the tips and to see how I put these thrift store finds together and why.

Let's start with TIP #1, which is to have a focal point or visual centerpiece. Oh, and what a center of attention this vignette has in this Victorian style, vintage, dried flower art. This piece was thrifted, but came in a cheesy, thin frame with a plastic bag over the top of it.

I cut it down, because it had too much white background, to fit in this thrifted frame. I got this frame for a great price because of the chipped area on the bottom. I simply used antique gold Rub-n-Buff to cover the chipped part and to tone down the shiny gold on the frame. There was an oil still life that came with the frame. I will sell it unframed as it is an amateur painting and I like the casual, less important style that leaving a canvas unframed speaks to. I used glass from another thrift store frame. 

Tip #2--repeat colors and materials. The green is repeated in the candle, the velvet interior of the jewelry box, the moss, the green in the round frame, and the green glass. Gold is repeated in the frame, the oval planter, and the gold roses on the front of the box. Vintage lace is in the artwork, draped on the lid of the box, and under the other objects. Tip #3, remember asymmetry, odd numbers, and triangles are more pleasing to look at and displaying the repeated elements this way is helpful. 

Tip #4, to help curated items from looking too cluttered or disjointed, create mini vignettes within the larger display. 

Tip #5 Don't place everything at an angle. One corner of a rectangular space is great with an angled display, but then use a more square or straight on placement on the other corner. Also, don't just place items in the middle of the display space or an even number of items in the middle. The green glass sits on a leather bound book for more height.

Tip #6 is to juxtapose different themes or eras. Don't decorate too matchy, matchy. The Victorian art and old lace could have gone over the top really quickly with other frilly, gilded, flowery items. The rustic barnwood and chippy metal shelf grounds this vignette. Simple tulips rather than something more complicated compliment the dried flowers rather than compete with them. The greenery in the glass jar is funky. The jewelry box is from the sixties rather than the Victorian age.

The vintage art decoupaged on a simple piece of plywood doesn't take your eye away from the ornate, gold frame, but rather harmonizes with the rustic wood shelf and the flowers repeated in the art. Tip #7--do something a little unexpected or out of the norm and HAVE FUN! The round frame with only the green background paper that came with it is a little unusual. But add color and a layers and height without being distracting. 

As I started, I so enjoy curating beautiful and vintage items and putting them together to create vignettes. I do not keep most of these that I share in my home, but rather use them to share newly thrifted items that will be for sale in my pop-up shop. I am proud to say that EVERYTHING you see in this display I sourced second hand. 

Which tip helps you or do you love?

Thrift Store Valentine's Day Tablescape

The word tablescape has been trending for the past few years, but setting a pretty and visually appealing table has been around since the Renaissance period. I have always loved a "decorated" table and find it fun to do a little extra for holidays. Of course, I headed to the thrift store to find items to create a Valentine's Day tablescape perfect for a couples' dinner.

Keep reading to see what is from the thrift store and to get some tips for creating your own beautifully set table. one item I was on the hunt for was tablecloth or table runner. After my third or fourth trip around the thrift store, I found these heart shaped placemats and even though they were a little rough, I decided I could work with them.

I asked on social media which way I should arrange the placemats, long as a runner,

or in a clover pattern.

The opinions on Facebook and Instagram ended up being about 50-50. I chose the long runner because I have a leaf in my table right now and it is oval shaped. If the leaf was out, I would have chosen the cloverleaf design. I sewed the placemats together, also sewing a few frayed edges. I sponge cleaned the placemats and sprayed them with Lysol,

The white plates, from World Market, and the silverware were purchased brand new. Everything else is from a thrift store. 

Tip one--if you aren't using a tablecloth, be sure to set plates on a placemats, chargers, old books, picture frames, something to ground them. I used rattan chargers that add texture and warm color.

The red, heart plates were a great, thrift store find. I always use cloth napkins, even daily because they are better for the environment. These hand embroidered ones came in a bag with 20+ other vintage linens. They were washed with Lysol laundry sanitizer. I set them in the stemless glasses so that I didn't cover up the heart.  Tip two is use cloth napkins, the thrift stores have lots of them. 

Tip three, remember to set the silverware "correctly", forks on the left, knives on the right next to the plate, blade in towards the plate, spoon next to the knife. 

I used vintage style valentines for placecards. I don't always use placecards, but I thought these were a fun touch.

A simple centerpiece stays on the table even when the table is not set. Tip #4 is to incorporate a centerpiece that fits your theme and helps to set a mood, one preferably with candles and plant life or flowers. 

I created this one using a basket for the base (so I can easily remove it for big dinners), a brown dripware pitcher that I used for fall and Christmas got some red, thrift store flowers and were placed on a couple small, red, vintage books. A wood candlestick adds height and seed pods incorporate texture and organic elements. Remember to repeat colors or textures or materials.

A driftwood heart replaced the vintage, winter painting that was sitting on the windowsill. 

And the final tip is to not take yourself too seriously. Enjoy hunting for new to you decorating finds and try something unexpected.