Wordless Wednesday

Show and Tell Sunday -Trash to Treasure

This week we are looking at "Trash to Treasure" -a subject near and dear to my heart. When I moved into the neighborhood I met and took a class taught by my neighbor, a local artist. It taught me some of her techniques for turning trash to treasure. She uses paper mache combined with clay and her special painting techniques. But more than that she teaches her students to look at the shape of an object , not the condition, and she a new way to use it. I loved that! Some of the first projects I finished were these 2 candle holders. I usually use them decorated for Christmas, but I dusted them off and gave them some summer flowers.

These are made from flower pots, wooden salad bowls, paper towels, clay, wall paper paste and paint!

This one also has an old metal candle holder, some artificial grapes and some cording. I had such fun in this class. We even took a field trip to some thrift shops to gather our trash. Then we experimented with stacking things up and balancing them so they weren't top heavy! All the angels and roses are clay. We learned how to make molds to reproduce the shapes. The roses were molded from buttons and the angels from a terra cotta angel! The possibilities are endless!

When I found this picture frame for $1 it was missing some of the detail. I made molds of the pieces that were still on it and replaced the missing ones. Then repainted using some of the aging techniques I learned.
The next treasure was in my nursery and then spent 40 years in my parent's basement storing tools. My talented husband turned it into a vanity by repainting it and running plumbing between the drawers.
Also in the bathroom is an old wicker chair that was on our front porch when we moved in. At first I was going to put it on the curb, but I saw one in a magazine that had been spruced up with a little work. Where the wicker was broken I put doilies with ModPodge. A little spray paint and some new pillows and it will last until another chair wins my heart!
Out on the porch now is another cast off chair from the barn of a friend's aunt!
Please don't sit on it though!

When my artist/neighbor moved some of her leftovers came to live at my house waiting for me to give them a new life! Old windows.....

And a great old sewing machine table....... any ideas?
Be sure to check out the other creative ideas on Sugar*Sugar! And thanks again to Cheri and Analise for hosting this each week!

Pieces of Olde

While planting some daisies last weekend I dug up a few pieces of olde. Although it was a small hole I found 2 coins, three pieces of broken china and a joint from an old pipe. The coins were not far down, one was from 2000- right before we bought the house. The pipe was next-but still modern. About 8 inches down I found this - I began to research it and found that it dates from the turn of the century or even older. Anthony Shaw and Sons produced Opaque Stone China in England. I'm still researching. Our house has been through many owners and renters over the past 100 years, so we really didn't expect to find much left from the early days. Every time we find anything it is exciting!

The first thing we came across was this tiny bottle. When we moved in the house was pretty rough. We had a big basement flood the first month. While DH was digging some drainage under a kitchen window he dug it up. It is probably from the 1920's. It looks like this 1928 ad I found on ebay for Hind's Honey and Almond Cream.It became the inspiration for my bathroom with a seaside theme and a practical joke played on me! My Principal put old glass bottles around the front yard one night because I was so excited to find this one. It was a little spooky and I never suspected him until he confessed!

Another interesting find came in the closet of the guest room. It's an old good conduct medal from the Army. Funny that it was found in the room our "National Guard" son slept in until the redo! From what we have been told that room was usually rented out as part of an apartment. I wish I knew who left it behind.

The recent parlor project has yielded some finds in the fireplace. First, stuffed up the fireplace was a wad of dirty, fragile 1944 Atlanta and Montgomery papers. They were so sooty that I smoothed them out and covered them in clear contact paper so that I could read them. This is a patriotic Coke ad.The next paper was behind the mantle mirror. It was not as dirty and wrinkled but very fragile. The date was January 17, 1904. We had been told that our house was built in 1907, but maybe it was earlier. This is also an Atlanta paper.
Sealed inside the fireplace was a piece of the original tile. That was what we used to find some reproduction tile.
Some of the trim on the fireplace was so fragile and brittle that it could not be saved. We got as close as we could.

We found several things in the ceiling of our bedroom - which is below the attic floor. I packed up some of them in the parlor boxes - a child's wooden block and a script for a Thanksgiving play- so no pictures of them. Here is an old razor blade box.
And a Violet water bottle
Finally there were 2 letters of sympathy after deaths in the family. I think they were from the same woman -no signature but the handwriting seems the same. Both dated 1901. The paper is falling apart and is very hard to read. The museum curator told me the paper would continue to "eat" away - best thing to do is take a picture and copy over what I can.

We look forward to finding more treasures, maybe even that hidden gold and jewelry...........

Front Doors and Fireplace

The front doors are back in place and I could not be more happy with the way they look! We are on the hunt for a plate to go behind the doorknob. This one is temporary - we'd like an old one with patina to match the doorbell!

OUTSIDE

INSIDE

We got the first 1/2 of our tile, unfortunately many of them were broken! Since we had to cut a lot around the opening we were able to use many of the broken ones there. When we order the rest we will need more whole tiles so we will see if we can upgrade the shipping! But, I am so excited about how it looks so far! Again my hubby has been able to surpass my vision!

Show and Tell Sunday-Studio Storage

If you live in an old house then you know that they were not big believers of closets in the early 1900's! A few have been added to our home over the years and we have added more....but there will never be enough! My "nest" is in a room without a closet. When Son#2 left home, I snatched up his room and made it mine! It has great light and a small balcony. We haven't done a redo in this room yet and now I don't want to move all my stuff out to paint- so it is mostly as it was when we moved in! It joins to the guest room so I do use those closets and the armoire for storage. I have had to be "creative" in finding places to store things!

This is my main sewing station-right next to the machine. Most of my necessary tools are hiding in the little suitcase. I can close it to cover up the clutter. But, most of the time I just leave it open.

On the other side of the room is a stack of suitcases with different notions and projects- pink suitcase is buttons

Poka-dot is Easter/Spring things

Striped suitcase is Christmas

Plain suitcase is fabric samples for pillows

The view inside the Spring Project suitcase..... Before I paint the suitcase I take out all of the old insides. Most of my cases are thrift store or estate sale finds and they are often in poor shape. A coat of primer is next - inside and out. I use fabric, old wallpaper, or even scrapbook paper to decoupage the inside. Finally I paint the outside to match!
Two more nifty storage items are here by my "Grandma" chair that I do my hand sewing in. First the lovely file cabinet! It was really rough. DH did not see my vision when we dragged it home. A few coats of bright pink spray paint cleaned it up and gave it personality! Here I keep patterns in one drawer, scrapbook supplies in one, pictures and photos for inspiration in one and school memories from the kids in the last drawer. The ottoman is great fabric storage and I kick back with my feet up to baste or rip out here. The best thing about it is how I made it! One patchwork slipcover + one foam scrap + one rubbermaid tub = my ottoman!
Pull off the top and there is a big tub to put all the fabric that you have forgotten why you bought!

Moving into my guest room are more suitcases. These are where I store painting and paper mache supplies.


This is a "new" suitcase that I will not paint because the aqua color is perfect for the guest room. I did redo the inside with old music and scrapbook paper.The fabric closet with a plastic shoe bag to hold trims. Love it because I can see everything in it easily.

Finally two vintage sewing baskets that Mom found on ebay. I have crochet thread in them.

Now that I look at the pictures- the rooms looks like they are straightened up. This is a clear illustration of how photo editing can provide misinformation! Thanks for stopping by today. Remember to check out all of the other ideas at Little Pink Studio !

Parlor Progress -Outside Edition

This three day weekend without rain was our chance to take the front doors down and strip them. I hate stripper and dislike the heat gun, so I worked on getting as much paint as I could off with the heat gun. They are big, double doors with beveled glass. The hardware is 1/2 painted over. We like the doorknob and old doorbell so we will save them. When we first moved in and started painting I wish we had stripped the door-hindsight is 20/20! I didn't know then that a white door always looks dirty, even when you scrub it. I wanted a stained front door. And soon I will have one. I had started to take the paint off on the inside first and we decided to do the outside, too. DH took out the glass and did the lion's share of the work with the stripper.

He got all of the paint off the old doorbell. It's never worked - but after playing with it for a while- he's got it ringing. I can't wait to see it back on the door. Now I have to think about the curtains. The old lacy curtains were so nasty- I should burn them. But, they did give us some privacy. The light coming in the window is so cheerful that I almost hate to put anything up there!

Wordless Wednesday