Trash to Treasure Extravaganza & a Little Trip to De'Ja'Vu

It has been quite the past 3 days. My mom, sister, and my two nieces arrived Wednesday afternoon. After that, a tornado of junk, fabric, paint, and a little elbow grease has ensued. Over the next few days I will blog all of our adventures but I want to start with my favorite one.

 

This is my "brand new" vanity. How did this little treasure come to be you ask? Well let me tell you. 

First thing Thursday morning my crew and I went over to Lafayette in search of junk. We found a great store over there called... wait for it... De'ja'vu. Here is a picture of my vanity still waiting for me to purchase it. 

 

Still looking a little rough eh?

We also found this beauty:

Don't ask what I'm going to do with it. I have no idea. My sister insisted I have it because of my new profession a.k.a. teaching freshman public speaking. I have to admit it is quite clever and might make an awesome shelf! 

Next we had to get our treasures home. Easier said than done.

Ok, so more of the good stuff... the trash to treasure transformation.

My mom and sister brought this chair down with them. It actually used to sit at my desk when I was in middle school. My mom bought it years ago and recovered/painted it back then. 

  

Here is my sister Kate hard at work on the chair. She also did all the sanding for me (in 102 degree heat)! So very nice of her.

 

The pink/gray/black is leftover fabric from my recent graduation dress which can be viewed in this post here.

I had a hard time deciding whether to keep the original hardware and just paint it or buy new. I am glad I decided to keep it. The three lines on it mimic the lines on the drawers and keeping original pieces together just makes them that much more interesting. They were a hideous gold (as you can see in the picture of it still at the store). My mom just took them outside and gave them a couple coats of metallic silver spray paint. Viola! Beautiful!

 

I also lined the drawers with scrapbook paper for some added color and fun. I won't be keeping anything wet in these drawers so the paper should hold up. For drawers with more wear and tear wallpaper or oil cloth fabric would work well. I also found some really cute embroidery paper at Hobby Lobby that would have held up. 

Such an amazing transformation. My sister and mom thought the vanity may be from the 1940's. We had fun imagining who may have sat at it before. 

More treasure to come... stay tuned!

Chandelier-tastic!

Time for a Chandelier update. My parents came down to see the house this weekend and my dad, handy with things like electricity, hung up my chandelier. And I love it. Did I mention I LOVE it? It seriously makes the room. I can't believe I have lived without a chandelier for so long. How did I do it? I also put extra bright light bulbs (a full 60 watts in each of the 6 bulbs) in to create a bright workspace for my future sewing room. 

Here was the beauty before:

 

I know it wasn't bad to begin with, but now...

 And all a-glow:

 Total spent on this project: $10 chandelier, $3 Very Berry Rustoleum pink spray paint, $6 light bulbs = $19. What would you pay for this fancy thing? I would have paid a lot more than 20 bucks!

Vintage Fabric

While unpacking some linens in the new house I came across this bright quilt. My grandmother gave it to me quite a few years ago, and I think it is amazing. I can't believe I did not appreciate it before now. I guess there are some things that are just not appreciated until one is old enough to know what it is worth.

My grandmother's grandmother, so my great-great-grandma, pieced together this quilt before 1940. That means this fabric is all vintage from the 1930's (and possibly 20's). I can remember my grandmother telling me she had a few dresses made from pieces of this fabric when she was a little girl. I just can't get over how cool I think that is now. What I would give to have a few yards of just one of these scraps!

My grandmother finished the quilt (a.k.a. added batting and actually quilted the front and back of the quilt together) in 1997 but as the tag describes, the piecing together of the vintage fabric was done before 1940. I can only guess that 1940 was when her grandmother died... so she must have done it before then.

The pink and green triangle is one of my favorites. I can just imagine it sewn into a 1930's style dress.
This quilt is worth more to me than any store bought or new. I guess that is the beauty of things that are old. :-)