Thursday, May 28, 2009

Spring Cleaning

I have been so busy lately trying to declutter, and clean out, and rearrange. We are planning to have a yard sale Saturday. I think whatever does not sell we will just donate to the thrift store, and be done with it. I'm trying to make room, and fix things up. My style and taste have been slowly evolving, and changing over the past few years. My finding Etsy has had alot to do with these style changes I suspect.

Anyway, I have also been working on getting rust off of the metal couch my mom gave me, After I get the rust off I can paint it. I have been working on sanding the wooden chairs my mom gave me, so I can paint those as well. I'm planning to have a nice cozy, light, airy space on the back deck with the small table, two chairs, and the couch with cushions, and pillows. I bought an old wooden piano bench at a thrift store the other day to serve as a kind of coffee table out on the deck. I can't wait to get it all put together. Right now the deck is a complete and total mess, as is the spare bedroom, and the hall. I'll take pictures once I complete the deck, the hall, and the spare bedroom. I'm wanting to get them semi done before we leave for vacation in mid june. On top of everything else I have been trying to get done, I have also been trying to shop for skirts dresses, and shoes at thirft stores before I go on vacation. It's been hard to find exactly what I'm looking for, but I have found a few things.


Here are a few projects I have gotten pretty much done. About a week ago I did some simple makeovers in the kitchen, and our bedroom. They were simple, but made a big difference, and all the stuff I used I already had, so Brian was happy about that.

Our bedroom went from this...





to this...









I am much more happy with it now. It feels so light, and airy, and cozy. The comforter and sheets are still the same, I just turned the comforter to the dark blue side, and covered it with an old white throw blanket. I borrowed two pillows from the spare bedroom, and pillowcases, and I covered our old pillows with some white pillowcases with dark green and light green leaves on them. I bought the pillowcases at a thrift store awhile back along with matching sheets, and they were just sitting in my sewing stuff waiting for me to find a home for them. I sewed some dioly-like thin cream lace trim on the end of one of the pillowcases. I did not have enough of it to do the other one, so I will be buying some more tomorrow. The sky blue down alternative blanket was also from a thrift store, and I was using it to cover a chair before I moved it to the bed. The small pillow with the blue leaf pattern was a placemat I made into a pillow a long time ago, and the dark blue pillow was on the bed before. All I had to do with the blue pillow was add a bit of doily-like wide white lace trim, and it was perfectly charming. And the cherry on top, a beutiful vintage blue glass ball jar with pretty flowers.



I think Annie approves...



I don't have any before pictures from the kitchen shelves, but trust me, they were a wreck.

Here's what they look like now...













Much more organized, and clean. I sorted through all the stuff on the shelves, and decluttered. I also took snacks, and dry goods, and put them in old clear canning jars that my mother-in-law gave to me. The old blue canning jars were from my mom,some from my sister, and some I have found myself. I had a hard time cleaning those jars out. I can normally fit my hand in a canning jar to clean it out, but after about doing 10 of those my hand started hurting, and swelling a little bit. Anyway, I got the jars cleaned, and with the food in them they make a nice display, pretty, and useful. The old metal crate on one of the lower shelves also came from my mother-in-law. Some of the canning jars were stored in the crate. I made a lining for the crate from half of a vintage floral pillowcase I found at a thrift store. The lining wasn't finished when I took most of the pictures. The other half of the pillowcase I plan to make a tote bag/purse from. I made the apron hanging on the shelves from a towel I got on clerance at target after Christmas year before last.

I have been planning some big changes for my Etsy shop for awhile now. I will be opening a vintage shop, and moving my current shop (OldFashionedButGood) to a new location. I will be turning OldFashionedButGood into a vintage inspired supply shop. Unfortunatly I have been so busy(I still have so much more to do), and stressing myself out trying to get too much done before we leave for vacation in mid June, so sadly the opening of my new shops will not take place until we get back from vacation. Hopefully I will be relaxed, recharged, and destressed once we get back, so I can focus on opening my new stores. Stay tuned...

1 comment:

  1. You changed the stuffed dog into a live cat. Hmm, how did you do that part?

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