Household goodies
Well, as you can see by the chair, I am a big fan of recycled materials. Here's a few other pieces I created for my house made out of odds and ends!
coatrack
My entry way desperately needed something on the left wall, so I decided it would make sense to put up a coat rack. But I couldn't find anything I liked, so I opted to just make one. I picked up an old cutting board for $1 at a thrift shop, and decoupaged an old artsy piece from a magazine onto the back. Those knobbies are actually from the dresser in Anthony's room that I refurbished. Since I had bought new knbos for it, I had these leftover, and their worn look fit in perfectly with the style I was looking for. Tres Shabby Chique!
windchimes
I have an insanely big backyard now at the new place, with a beautiful old cherry (I think) tree right outside the living room window. It's lowhanging branches were begging for ornamentation! So, again, I went shopping for windchimes, only to be dissapointed with cutesy-poo crap or overpriced pieces. The solution lay an a box of mismatched silverware I had in the garage (I never throw anything away!).
The main piece is a pie server, which I bent up for hanging. Those danglers are three forks that got the tangs bent around with my trusty pliers. Since the plain copper wire I had looked too, well, plain, I embellished each thread with beads I individually knotted on. Those pretty glas beads are from two broken necklaces I owned (again, packrat!!!). Cute, no?
Jewelry Box
I think this was originally a cigar box, and ugly as sin. I had it from ages ago, and I don't even remember what it first held, although it delightfully smells of lavender. It had a nice shape to it, so the german book got to do double duty. After I decoupaged the pages onto the box, I rubbed in a bit of silver craft paint to give it an interesting patina. The gothy pic of the queen on the top is from another art magazine I tore up for decoupage/collage purposes. The inside was lined with a bit of scrap felt.
Fireplace Insert
Nothing is uglier than a non-used, empty fireplace! This piece was originally going to hang on the wall, but since it's currently incomplete, it's temporary home is our den's fireplace. It started it's life I believe as a kitchen drawer, although I found it on the sidewalk! Took off the hardware and painted it black, turned it on end and decoupaged the interior with some cool religious tidbits from my collage box. The candles inside were another thriftstore find, catholic prayer candles, which are interestingly printed in Spanish.
Sorry for the crappy pic, the den has very bad lighting...
coatrack
My entry way desperately needed something on the left wall, so I decided it would make sense to put up a coat rack. But I couldn't find anything I liked, so I opted to just make one. I picked up an old cutting board for $1 at a thrift shop, and decoupaged an old artsy piece from a magazine onto the back. Those knobbies are actually from the dresser in Anthony's room that I refurbished. Since I had bought new knbos for it, I had these leftover, and their worn look fit in perfectly with the style I was looking for. Tres Shabby Chique!
windchimes
I have an insanely big backyard now at the new place, with a beautiful old cherry (I think) tree right outside the living room window. It's lowhanging branches were begging for ornamentation! So, again, I went shopping for windchimes, only to be dissapointed with cutesy-poo crap or overpriced pieces. The solution lay an a box of mismatched silverware I had in the garage (I never throw anything away!).
The main piece is a pie server, which I bent up for hanging. Those danglers are three forks that got the tangs bent around with my trusty pliers. Since the plain copper wire I had looked too, well, plain, I embellished each thread with beads I individually knotted on. Those pretty glas beads are from two broken necklaces I owned (again, packrat!!!). Cute, no?
Jewelry Box
I think this was originally a cigar box, and ugly as sin. I had it from ages ago, and I don't even remember what it first held, although it delightfully smells of lavender. It had a nice shape to it, so the german book got to do double duty. After I decoupaged the pages onto the box, I rubbed in a bit of silver craft paint to give it an interesting patina. The gothy pic of the queen on the top is from another art magazine I tore up for decoupage/collage purposes. The inside was lined with a bit of scrap felt.
Fireplace Insert
Nothing is uglier than a non-used, empty fireplace! This piece was originally going to hang on the wall, but since it's currently incomplete, it's temporary home is our den's fireplace. It started it's life I believe as a kitchen drawer, although I found it on the sidewalk! Took off the hardware and painted it black, turned it on end and decoupaged the interior with some cool religious tidbits from my collage box. The candles inside were another thriftstore find, catholic prayer candles, which are interestingly printed in Spanish.
Sorry for the crappy pic, the den has very bad lighting...
posted by Mother Hoodlum at 6:14 PM
2 Comments:
I think a nice huge plant in the fireplace would look better or even some real logs! That "art" piece in the backyard is creative but just gives your backyard area that "junky" look....is that the look you are going for?
The cigar box is interesting.
hhmmm....who do I know that leaves comments to criticize and silly lilttle 'quotations' around everything?
First off, I can't put a plant in the fireplace, because my son will eat it. We aren't planning on using this fireplace either, which would nix the logs. Comeon, think outside the box. As for my junk in the backyard, I like the way it looks, so that's all that matters. By the way, windchimes of a similar design go for approximately $50 around here, so apparently I'm not the only one who likes them. Just you wait, by the time I am done your eyes are going to hurt.
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