Finally, Bedroom Pictures!

So I am still a long way from finishing my tiny apartment bedroom, but I thought that I would share what has been completed up to this point. I have painted and arranged the room, hung curtains, and begun to decorate. I still have pictures to hang and other decorations to put up, but those will get their own post.


The color is Behr "Pepper Grass", and I love the way it turned out. I had been admiring green walls lately, including Taylor Swifts bedroom in her "You Belong with Me" video. Now if only I can find a butterfly print to go with the green!


The mirror above the bed is from my post: First Post, First Project! The white textured throw pillows are a garage sale buy for $2 a piece, and the white milk glass lamps next to the bed are from my post: Brightening Up Vintage Lamps. I know that their scale is way too small, I would prefer to have a couple of large, white barrel shade, glam lamps, but these cuties will have to do for now. The pink box is my jewelry box with no better home right now than on the bedside table.


The curtains on the windows are a wonderful, light, lace-type fabric: a super find at the Salvation Army for $2.50 per panel. I think they add a little more texture to the room, and they are great for letting lots of light into the room, just the way I like it. The photo above shows how much light comes in during the day with the blinds and curtains closed!


Also next to the bed is a bright shiny alarm clock that I got at Goodwill for $2. It has sort of a retro feel in addition to being just plain adorable. It also has a face large enough that I can see it without contacts in, when I am as blind as a bat.


The room is pretty much skin and bones right now, I have much more to do to warm it all up with personal touches. I am thinking black and white photos in black frames, some silver frames, and I need to bring in a big splash of white somehow...

Here's to layering in those decorative touches!

Embroidery Hoops Courtesy of Desire to Inspire

Oh...my...gosh... I love the newest post over at Desire to Inspire, a piece about using embroidery hoops as decoration. I swear she is psychic: I was just at The Salvation Army this week and saw a multitude of hoops and just knew they had potential. This will be my next project for certain! After hitting up the SA I'll be heading to the fabric store to see what clearance fabrics I can hodge podge into a wonderful array!



Check out her post to see many more beauties, including these darling tack boards. I'll be sure to put up my project after its completion!

P.S. I was also the lucky winner of a giveaway at Couture Carrie this weekend! I won a pair of Trove TKEES flip flops, and I am so excited! Thanks, Carrie!

Brightening Up Vintage Lamps

In the planning of my new apartment I have been looking for white lamps (or ones that I could spray paint) for the longest time. I finally found the cutest pair of antique milk glass lamps at a garage sale a few weeks ago for only $3 a piece! The existing gold finish wasn't terrible, but to match my decor theme, and to cover up the slightest bit of rust and tarnish, I decided to paint the metal parts a matte black to resemble black iron or something similar.

The first step was to take the lamps apart. If you have never done this, its a piece of cake. The key on the side of the lamp is internally threaded and will screw off. After removing the light bulb, the wiring component will screw off also. Below is a picture of the wiring component removed from the base.


A flat head screwdriver loosens the wires. Once the wires are removed the rest of the lamp can be disassembled. The next step is to take the wires and twist them to make reassembling the lamps easier, and to increase contact among all of the wires.


On the base of the lamps there were rings of metal that could not be removed, so I had to tape around them to spray paint them. First I did a close taping right around the ring.


Next, I used a plastic bag to cover the rest of the base and taped it around the portion that was already taped.


The most important part of this prepping is to cover the threaded portion of the base with tape so that it doesn't get painted, and so that you can put the lamp back together!


After a few light coats of spray paint on the bases, the middle brackets and the keys, it was time to reassemble the lamps. Thread the wire back through the base and the bracket, and up through the wiring mechanism. When rewiring, wrap the twisted wire clock-wise around the screw so that tightening the screw doesn't unwrap the wire, but instead helps secure it in place.

After tightening down the wires, reattach the wiring mechanism to the base, lining up the key's position with the hole in the bracket. Re-thread the key into place, replace any covers or guards for the wiring mechanism, and insert your light bulb. Top it all off with your lamp's top, and voila! New lamp!


And of course, plug it in to make sure it works...

Success!!

Pretty Purple Wildflowers

On the way home from the store yesterday I saw a ton of beautiful wildflowers on the side of the road. I stopped and cut a bunch, sticking to white and purple, using the scissors I always keep in my purse (you never know when you'll need them!). After putting them in an existing vase, I made a little vignette on our coffee table. I like the balance the flowers give to the lodge-like metal deer and hand carved wooden candle holder. The deer is actually a candle holder itself, but I don't like the look of it with a taper candle in it. I think I might try to use my boyfriends Dremel tool to take it off in the future. That's a project for another day!

Vintage Palmolive Ad

A couple of weeks ago I found this darling framed ad at a garage sale for only 50 cents! Frame and all! All I had to do was put a coat of gloss black paint on the frame to freshen it up.

The ad is a vintage Palmolive ad, most likely from Good Housekeeping Magazine. I'm unable to find the exact ad online though. Most of the ads that I have found that are similar are from the early 30's. This one has a small '27' in pencil in the corner, so I'm wondering if that is the year this one is from? The ad itself measures about 10.5" x 13.5".

The print says "-charm of youth 'that schoolgirl complexion' The simple rule in daily skin care to follow if you seek it". I'm going to be hanging it in my bathroom-to-be!

Apartment Prep

This chair was $5 at Goodwill, originally in brass. A quick coat of white Rustoleum gave it a new life. It will go in my hot pink bathroom next to the shower. I plan on putting some great baskets under it to store toiletries, slippers and the like. I think the green floral retro fabric will really work with the hot pink, but it shouldn't be too tough to reupholster should I change my mind!

In about three weeks: pics of it in place!

Filing Cabinet Freshen Up

This ugly (though in good shape) filing cabinet was a steal at a garage sale for $5. Its for my boyfriend's 'office' so I chose a black gloss to paint it. After sanding and washing I used a small roller on most of it, finishing it up with a brush. I polished up the aluminum handles with some metal polish to take off some rust and make them extra bright. Its not perfect by any means, but its a lot better than rusty and gray! The final step is making cute labels for the drawers once my honey figures out what he wants them to say!

First Post, First Project!

My biggest project at the moment is getting ready to move into a new apartment in August. It will be the first time in a while that I will be able to paint, decorate, and arrange as I wish! I have a bedroom, office and bathroom to myself and I am so excited to make them my own spaces. The plan is for a lime green bedroom with black, white, dark wood and silver accents, a bright yellow office with dark wood, black and white accents, and a BRIGHT pink bathroom with aqua, yellow, green and white accents.



My first find was this $8 mirror from Goodwill. The frame is actually not wood but plastic that looks like wood. I masked the center and gave it a nice coat of black gloss spray paint. Its home will be above my bed as a pseudo headboard that will hopefully make the room bright and look bigger!



In a month or so I'll have a picture of it in place!