With a design show as fantastic as this one, it’s hard to capture it all. Soaking it in is yet another story! In fact, I’m still soaking in the whole weekend of the Interior Design Show West held at the Vancouver Convention Centre. There were…
Remember when I posted about this lamp? And showed you the replacement shade I picked up for it at ReStore? Then left you with a cliff hanger and only showed you this much? Well, here’s a little glimpse at how this revitalized lamp looks when…
Last week my treasure hunting created a mystery with the large vintage shortening bin I picked up at a garage sale. And Andrea was super sweet in featuring it this week! Thank you so much for the feature, Andrea!
Well my mystery is no closer to being solved, but this week you might think I was becoming a tin collector!
Here’s what came home with me from a little treasure hunting excursion 🙂
That’s right. A vintage Empress jam can, c. 1940s-50s! That’s the tin collecting part, but I’m not actually ‘collecting’ tins… yet! 😉
I came home with this great little vintage piece. Love the old cardboard luggage, though this one might have been a briefcase!
This old glass bottle was also part of the mix. The glass at the bottom is super thick, and poured on an angle.
I don’t know what it was used for, but I thought it was kind of cool. I also liked this wine carafe because of its shape. Most the ones you find are round from bottom to top.
So these are my treasure finds this week! A little vintage and a lot of loooove!
When I bought the jam tin, the cashier asked me what I planned to do with it. I told her it might hold pens and pencils on my desk! What would you do with it?
Today I’m heading back over to the Junkin Joe Linky Party, ’cause the last one was just way too much fun! I hope you pop over and check out all the other vintage treasures, projects and thrifty finds!
And here’s a special shout out toAndrea at The Cottage Market for hosting! Thank you, Andrea!!!
Thank you for stopping by!
Photographs by Sheila Zeller; please link and credit if you choose to use!
I have been working on a redesign project, and this is one of the lamps that was in the mix… Exactly as is. Apparently the original fluted ruffled glass shade got broken, and was just never replaced. Since redesign is working with what you already have,…
Featured by… Thank you so much! You might remember waaaaay back about this time last year I posted in excitement about wanting to turn an artist easel into a TV stand. This was inspired by Vicente Wolf’s very creative idea, and if you missed my…
Wow, can you believe it’s Friday… and August 31st, too? Where did the summer go? I don’t know about you, but I’m not quite ready for our summer to end. My sunflowers just started to bloom!
Although, I have to admit, it is nice to get back into the swing of a regular routine with the beginning of school closing in.
And what better way to end off the summer, and start into the fall than to be guest posting over at Home Bunch? Today you’ll find me stepping in for Luciane with a little Cool or Fool Friday fun…
Luciane is one of my very dear blogging friends who has been with me since the beginning. And right now she’s knee-deep in a big design project, along with being incredibly busy raising her family, blogging five days a week, and just being the amazing woman that she is.
I hope you’ll pop over for a visit, and weigh in with your thoughts… is it cool or fool?
We’ve all heard this before… [Blank] is the new black. And I bet you can fill in the blank. Well, here’s the thing. The other day a mystery envelope was left on our porch. I recognized the sender’s name (thank you so much, Alicia), but…
I picked up a little glazed ceramic lamp base at the thrift store not too long ago, but had no idea what to do for a shade. Knew I wanted to DIY something, but not sure what. And then I came across a tutorial by…
So I came across this weathered, rust stained scrap piece of 2×4, thoughtlessly discarded and left for… well, scrap.
See, it even comes complete with the dust and grime from where it was left to decay! But I saw beyond all this. To me there was a natural beauty here that was just being wasted away.
DIY inspired, I came to its rescue and cleaned up the 2×4, then gave it a quick coat of Annie Sloan’s Light Wax.
It’s hard to see the shine, but if you look back at the rescue photo, you can see a little more spit and polish here. Don’t you think it looks posh with black?
I was pretty proud of my rescued 2×4.
And then my brother popped over, and nearly laughed me right out of my own home! He was not on board (pun intended!) with my affection for this rusted, aged chunk of wood. He did not see it as a thing of beauty. Not. At. All!
So the challenge was on!
I went back and forth with ideas… like making a small shelf mounted on tiny corbels, or a base for a collection of bud vases, or cutting it down and creating book ends… and finally I decided on a tealight valet… sounds pretty uptown, right?
To do this all you need is a 1-1/2″ spade bit to make the holes.
This is the one we bought.
Looks kind of intimidating, especially with the ‘Dare Devil’ graphic. Evil almost!
I got my Mr. to do the heavy lifting on this part. Here he’s doing a test run on an actual scrap piece of 2×4… notice, it’s white?
Totally recommend that you try a few test holes first, because evil it nearly was.
This bit is bossy and tries to take over the show, grabbing and pulling where it wants to go!
Check out the chunks of wood it chews up! If you’re not careful, it will spin the drill right out of your hand!
But I have to say, Dare Devil does make a fairly clean hole.
I lightly sanded the inside and top edges of these holes to remove the rough wood the spade bit left behind.
And then gave each hole a clear coat of Varathane…
Just to give them a finishing touch… even though you won’t see them.
Looks pretty rough here, but do you see where I’m going?
This tea light candle holder is not a new idea, not an original of mine at all. In fact Pinterest has lots and lots of variations if you’re interested in a little inspiration for your own!
Once the Varathane was dry I did another coat of Annie Sloan Light Wax, and this one I actually applied a little heavier.
See how smooth and shiny it looks?
I wanted the rusty marks and the grain to really come alive, and the light from the candles to bounce off the surface…
From one end…
To the other.
I really like the way the rust marks stand out against the weathered wood.
Isn’t the grain pretty?
I originally planned to use tea lights set in clear cases instead of the metal ones. But, I discovered that the clear cases are slightly larger than the 1-1/2″ spade bit, and they’re a lot deeper than the metal cases. So if you’re planning to try this DIY, I thought you should know this before hand.
So what do you think? Is this an old scrap piece of wood to you, or do you see a thing of reclaimed beauty, too?
Thanks for stopping by!
Photographs by Sheila Zeller. Please link and credit if you choose to use!
Holy Hannah, where do the days go? You’ve seen a little less of me, but I’m still here! It’s just that Mr. Sun came out, so I took the opportunity to get outside and pull the thick, lush weeds that never stop growing ! Anyway,…