Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Trashy Treasures

Well, this was supposed to be finished much sooner than now, but I have a new part-time man in my life {you may remember him here} and he keeps me busier than I thought!  But I love having him around, and I'm learning to work fast while he's napping.

Isn't he just a cutie!
This has probably worked out for the best since I'm not sure when I'll get to the projects I planned for March.  We have been having some hellacious winds here in South Texas that make working outside super difficult.  Maybe April will bring calmer breezes....

Anyhoo...
I'm sure I've mentioned before I'm a bit of a pack rat.  I keep everything and never throw it away.  But I've been attending Pack Rats Anonymous meetings and its getting better, ha ha!  I actually heard a great quote on Duck Dynasty {!!} from Willie, something to the effect of: There comes a time when you need to get rid of old stuff to make room for new memories.  I'm trying.  Really, I am.  But I have my relapses...
 
And apparently I've developed this thing where I keep other people's garbage!  What is that?!  The most recent occurrence of that was at my Grannie's house.  She has been attending meetings as well {ha ha}, and was getting rid of lots of "junk" from her office she retired from a year back.  Lots of office supplies and more office supplies.  A lot of it we would term nowadays "vintage."  But, lots of it still usable.  So most of it came home with me, including this plastic molded desk caddy.  Not much to look at really, but the molded motif caught my eye, and I knew I could make it pretty.


First things first, I gave it a base coat of creamy white.  I wanted to keep it neutral so no matter how my office looks {because I do tend to change my mind frequently}, it would work.  Plus neutral is classic.  Rarely goes out of style.  I debated for a while what color to use for the details but eventually decided on grays: a dark charcoal gray for the larger leaves, and a light gray for the vines.  Once the paint dried, I applied a coat of Mod-Podge to give it a little bit of sheen to match the finish on the base coat paint.


The end result is big, in my opinion.  Something that looked out-dated and blah is now a little modern and the motif is something you notice.  It doesn't just blend in with the background.


And it is perfect for my desk.  Hopefully it will help keep me more organized {something I am in dire need of, ha ha!}.


So, whadya think?



Not only am I bad at rescuing other people's trash, but I keep my own!  My hubby and I eat those little clementines like crazy.  Our local grocery store, for whatever reason, likes to rotate brands of said clementines, and once such trip to the store landed us those yummy fruits in this crate.


It's solid wood!  I was pretty surprised to buy a crate of fruit in our grocery store because most stock is either cardboard or plastic bags.  So, being wood, I knew we couldn't just trash it.  It had to have some purpose.

Well, it's going to help me keep our home's newest addition organized.  I hinted at this space earlier this year, but construction began much sooner than we anticipated.  I can't wait for the reveal!  But, while we are still finishing up those last little details, I'm collecting "decor" for my new room.

I'm a little on a natural wood kick {see last month's Spit*Shined}, so I left the wood as is.  But the label needed to go.  Which wasn't just a label; it was printed on the wood.  So I had to cover it, not remove it.

Based on what I have so far, this room will have a vintage feel, like most of my house.  I have a good collection of vintage-inspired scrapbook papers, so the decision to cover the sides in that paper was pretty easy to make.

Once I had all the sides covered, it still needed a little something, some little detail.  So I used some scrap paper I had to cover the corners, and then created a little label.  I think its cute! 



And will look much better in my *new* LAUNDRY room this way than before.


So, whatcha think?


I know these aren't "wow!", but I think great examples to re-examine an item before you throw it out.  It could have another life just waiting to be born.  And there are two less items being tossed into a landfill.  Woo hoo!

So, what's the best thing you've breathed new life into?  I'd love to hear!

Until next time,
ta-ta for now...
 
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment

So what did you think? I'd love to know!

Related Posts with Thumbnails