FLEA MARKET: before and after

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The Traveling Trunk and a Good Cause

This is the story of the traveling trunk.

She's a true vintage beauty that really WAS used for shipping. You can tell by the address painted on her. Not the Paris address, but to the gentleman below. Wouldn't it be fun to peek into the history of her travels!?

This trunk's character and sturdiness instantly caught my eye. Oh, the potential...

But a facelift, some TLC and a renewed purposed was desperately needed.

Which brings me to a twist in the trunk's journey.

A wonderful organization recently held their second annual "Laughter is the Best Medicine" Foundation Gala. Funds raised during this event go directly to the Emergency Room Enhancement Fund at our local Carrington Health Center. Last year there were 1800 patient visits to our ER and the foundation's goal this year was to improve the ER to offer better privacy to patients.

So I gave the trunk it's facelift, added some legs for a coffee table refunction, and gave her a new (pretend) destination to Paris.

Donated on behalf of the JunkFest Girls for the Gala Silent Auction, here she is...

Linked to:

172nd POPP party at Domestically Speaking

Sunday, January 8, 2012

A year and a "hack" later....

Back in January 2011, I bared my soul with you all in this post about my sewing room....vowing to get things in order and show you the "after."

Here's a shot of the "before" to help jog your memory. If you're not too afraid, I suggest you go back and read the original post.

One year later, and a really cheap PB hack, here's how the room looks today:

I knew I needed some better storage solutions to hold the necessities for all the hobbies I keep diving into: sewing, quilting, paper crafts, etc. After doing the research, I decided the Martha Stewart craft room furniture from the Home Decorators catalog would fit the bill. While waiting for the (un-assembled) furniture to arrive, I painted the room a warm tan. With the shutters closed, and at different times of the day, the color appears a little more fleshy than it actually is.

I am proud to report that I put each and every piece of this furniture together BY MYSELF, thankyouverymuch. The instructions were very easy to follow and I'm quite happy with the storage each cabinet provides.

I built a shelf from a simple board and wooden brackets and painted it white. My intent was to run a dowel through a hole drilled in each bracket to hold spools of ribbon, but the weight of 40 spools of ribbon made the dowel sag in the middle! So the ribbon is now neatly stacked on the shelf, which works just as well.

Below is the desk I made using some unique old table legs found at an auction, and an old 5 panel door.

A comfortable place to blog and surf...

Wire baskets hold future projects and past issues of magazines that I can't part with.

My little sewing corner. I can pull the sewing cabinet out and extend the table for more room.

Or sit and smile at the sweet baby face of someone dear...

The cabinets on the other side serve as storage for sewing supplies (fabric, serger, etc.) and my cutting table.

Thrift store frames painted black house graphic black & white scrapbooking paper for a wall collage.

Here's where the hack comes in. Both Ballard Designs & Pottery Barn sell bulletin boards covered in burlap. I found just the size of bulletin board I needed at the 2nd hand store for two bucks. I had the burlap on hand from another project, so all I needed were the upholstery tacks.

All I did was remove the wooden frame from the cork board,

and cover in ivory colored burlap, staple the back side and glue on a picture hanger.

Twenty minutes and $4 later.....

Below my cutting table are a couple of vintage suitcases that hold quilting patterns and magazines.

In the corner sits a chair that my husband used as a child. On the chair is a pillow crafted by my mother that depicts my childhood home.

Hand stitching, applique and embroidery give the pillow dimension. I love this!

The entry to my sewing room. The cabinet is very special to me as well, and holds some prized heirlooms.

The cabinet was once my grandfather's and refinished by my mom. The sewing machine on top came from Norway in 1880 with my husband's ancestors.

Old photos of my parents and vintage McCoy pottery that holds fabric, notions and other vintage trinkets:

Vintage quilts sewn by both mine and my husband's grandmothers:

My goal was to get this room done in 2011, and in all actuality, I did. Just needed to tweak some things here and there. I'm happy with how the room came together and I finally enjoy spending time here creating.

Thanks for your patience! Had I not posted "the ugly truth" I would never had finished it!