My Firelace and Mantle

The brick went from dirty and dingy to bright white and beach-y!

First I cleaned it with foaming bathroom cleaner and a scrub brush.

Here's the mirror before, I struggled with whether or not to paint it,
but I am glad I did. I found the frame in my favorite junk shop for $5,
then had a mirror made to size for around $60.

The walls here are a pale yellow, which I hated, so they were 

re-painted in a brown with mauve undertones, I like it so much better!

This is how it looked on Valentine's. The walls re-painted, the brick
painted and the mirror frame, which I loosely painted two colors,
then distressed so that it looked like layers of paint.

Here we are all bright and beach-y!

My chair needs to be re-covered, so right now it has this pretty table
cloth on it, which I purchased for less than $1 (at my favorite junk shop) 

and the pillow came from a thrift store for .50 cents.

I love vintage planters and bottles,
you will find them everywhere in my house!

The pictures are strategically placed to cover the plugs on either
side of the mirror, some day I'd like to have some frenchy-antique sconces
with crystals, but this will do for now : )

The picture seen here is a vintage photo of my brother.

See these sconces that Amy from Maison Decor has?
Exactly what I am looking for!!

Bottles and sea shells!

The fireplace hasn't been used in years,
so I have filled it with some more of my treasures.

The top piece was the start of a boat my grandfather was making,
I like it just the way it is!

As you can see, I still haven't finished painting all the brick...

Old boxes are stacked on top of this suitcase, this was a freebie!

More bottles...

I love these old bicycle baskets!

My son and I collect rocks from the beach and I mark with 

a sharpie which beach they came from and the year.

That's my fireplace and mantle!

Linking to these parties!

Transformation Thursday 

Strut Your Stuff Thursday 

Feathered Nest Friday

Frugal Friday

Show & Tell Friday 

Sassy Sites

Freckled Laundry

Furniture Friday

Masterpiece Monday

Amaze Me Monday

Show Off Your Cottage Monday

Making The World Cuter Monday  

Metamorphosis Monday

Tuesday's Treasures

Twice Owned Tuesday

Tuesday Trash to Treasure

White Wednesday 

Good Life Wednesday

Show & Tell Wednesdays 

My Bathroom Rehab

This has been an ongoing project for quite some time!  (A few years.)

I bought my grandmother's 1938 cape about 7 years ago.  

One of the first things I did was rip out the small downstairs bath. 

I have no before pics because it was started way before I knew what a blog was! 

The bones were great, but the dated floor (you know that orange-y brick-like linoleum?), 

vanity (pressed board oak) and toilet (almond) were not!

I tore out the floor and put in 12 x 12 gray tile 
(not my first pick, but I was on a budget).  

I really wanted that black and white honey comb tile, 
I would have fit nicely with the era of the house.

This is how the wall has looked for a few years, YUCK!!!

The wall was uneven from my patch job, 

so I decided to use embossed wallpaper to cover all the sins.

Big improvement already!

I only did half of the wall, for various reasons. 

I love the paint color, Smoked Oyster by Behr.

I added this small piece of trim where the paper met the wall.

I chose a pedestal sink because the bathroom is so tiny and I like the look!

This is how the mirror looked before I painted it. 

I picked this up years ago at an antique shop ($20), 

it was painted white and very shabby, I stripped it-- what was I thinking??!!

This vintage curtain was my inspiration for color! 

I found these at a flea market for $4!

Here is the mirror after it's paint job, I love the shabby look!

I love these light fixtures, they are original to the bath.

My cabinet over the toilet goes all the way to the ceiling, so I have plenty of storage!

I love the carved wood knobs! (I have yet to find the other one-- I know I have it somewhere!

These green bottles on the window sill match the mirror perfectly. 

This tray (which was my grandmother's) 

is displayed next to the mirror and above the towel rack. 

It has all the perfect colors!

I found this doily at a thrift store recently for .50!

This plate was picked up at a yard sale for $4.

I just love it's form! It hangs above the window.

An antique washboard hangs on the wall.

This little table sits in the corner and 

stores extra toilet paper on the shelf below.

Here's the bath as you walk in the main entrance.

All the doors in the house have these great glass knobs, 

all with skeleton keys for locking !

There is still some left to do...

hook up the sink and attach the baseboards, find the other knob for the cabinet.

Is any project really ever finished?

Now linking to:

Make it For Monday

Metamorphosis Monday

Making The World Cuter Monday

Wednesdays Show & Tell 

Transformation Thursday 

Strut Your Stuff Thursday 

Frugal Friday

Show & Tell Friday

Hodgepodge Friday

Radio Revamp!

I love this piece!

I'm pretty sure this was once a radio cabinet, 

now it's guts are gone and it's great for storage 

and perfect for that little nook where nothing else would fit!

Here's a close-up of the "after".  

Notice the mirror above- you will see before and afters of that too!

Once again, I forget to take a before pic, before I actually begin!

You get the idea, right?

This needed more work than I thought! 

This linoleum was used as a cover on the back!  

It's amazing what people will use, I was once re-doing 

a chair and found counter laminate used for the back! 

I guess we use what we have : )

Here we are primed...

Painted...  

Now time for the mirror... 

Gaudy in gold...   Not for long!

Big improvement!

Now... 

back to the radio cabinet...

All distressed... now for the inside!

New wood on the back, the shelves are lined with wallpaper 

(used from wallpaper sample books that are discontinued) 

I use this stuff to line drawers too! And it's free!

So what do you think?

Now linking to Transformation Thursday!
and Metamorphosis Monday!

Fun, Fab & Free!

I have to thank my new friend Amy from Maison Decor for inspiring me to do this blog. I have a little anxiety about putting my first one up. My 6-year-old son, Sullivan, dropped my digital camera and until I can afford a new one I have to use my crappy camera on my phone. So the pictures aren't great, but hopefully you will still like what you see!

This was a great "side of the road with a free sign" find... my favorite!!

This is how it looked when I first got it home. It was a bit of a challenge getting it in over the table already in the back and past my son's head and over the back seat of my Jeep. But as I always say, "when there's a will, there's a way"!

The guy we got it from built it as a pantry to keep his paints and stains in. Here it is primed, with Zinsser Bin Primer.  This primer works great to get rid of any odor or stains that may otherwise show thru your paint job.  It's also great for any glossy surfaces, your pain will stick, not peel!

Paint finished (Martha Stewart- Tidewater), ready for distressing, my favorite part!

Since it was already a maroon color underneath, then we added the primer (which gives it another layer), the distressing looks awesome, lots of depth.

This is now in my dining room, I think I will keep my sewing supplies in here! The mirror was from a yard sale ($3), the large bottle was found in my basement, the McCoy pottery was my grandmothers', the metal box came from a junk shop ($4), the other two items came from yard sales.

Thanks for checking out my first blog post, I'm so excited to be part of Blogland! I would appreciate any suggestions on how I can improve and become a pro-blogger : )

Now linking to:

Funky Junk Interiors
and 
Miss Mustard Seed's Creative Blog