A small vintage tour of my home- Dining/ Playroom

As many of you know, I have a thing for vintage. Many moons ago I was a strictly Goodwill and eBay kind of gal. This opened the doors to garage sales and my favorite...estate sales. I prefer estate sales above all else because being in a persons home, seeing their personal items in their element, getting an idea of who the owner was...this is what I love. 

Estate sales also taught me a lot about what matters in decorating and gave me a lot of inspiration along the way. Through the years, because of this, my home has changed drastically. I recall when we first moved into our home, pre-children and pre-everything (marriage and dogs to name a couple), I painted our kitchen yellow. Like McDonald's "golden arch" yellow, and I bought all of the Italian vintage poster dishes and posters that was big in Pottery Barn at the time. Ugh, I HATED it. It wasn't me, it was a picture in a catalog, and surprisingly the yellow gave me stress beyond belief. 

I then came into my own as far as decorating my home, and I am at a place now where I love nearly everything in my home. I say nearly because we have acoustic popcorn ceilings and an unintentional vintage late 1970's kitchen, but those changes will come.

So, if I still have your attention, I'd like to give you a little tour of my home and how I use found vintage and antique items in everyday decorating. I am thinking this can be a series, pictures of my outdated kitchen excluded, ha!

 So, let's get started with the first room in the tour:

I am starting with this room because I just finished it. It has been a playroom for the last 8 years, and I am VERY slowly making it into a dining room. So for now it is a hybrid and that suits us as a family just fine. 

The dining room is average in size, and truthfully I have too much furniture in it. Furniture I just can't part with. I recently purchased the blue painted furniture from Craigslist, a buffet and hutch. It's 1940's and just lovely. The table is an old farm harvest table, that is soon to become a proper table with tall legs, but works now as the girl's play table. 

Oh, and that chair in the back? A Pottery Barn estate sale find. $20! 

One of my favorite things in this room, my Nana's earrings that I display in a shadowbox. I LOVE this so much, and it's easy to do with ribbon and a frame.

  

Here it is again with a thrift shop lamp, old records, and a Mary Poppins song book. 

  

Another view: the pictures sit on an Ikea shelf. 

 

 

Here is a look into the room:

Notice that I hung curtains, also Ikea, up to the ceiling in the playroom to close off any chaos that may ensue!

Opposing corner: 

Here is the hutch that matches the buffet. I adore it, but it may not be the perfect fit for this ever evolving space. Don't be surprised if you see it for sale in the future!

Atop of the hutch is our collection of Small World Dolls. These were a big hit around Christmas! 

Under the hutch is our collection of vintage Fisher-Price toys that my girls (8 and 5) still play with daily. 

Also pictured is our old school desk that my daughters complete their homework at. It's been calling at me for a coat of paint for years! 

  

This "Rock-a-bye Baby" pressed board wall art is going to be one of those things that will always have a spot in my home. I will have a hard time parting with it, I love it so! The nursery rhyme prints I bought with my late sister Mona when I was pregnant with my first (Charlotte), so I am keeping these forever as well! 

 

And the final touch is this lovely 1950's dress. I bought it at a vintage store closing because it was so beautiful. I figured maybe one day one of my daughters could wear it to a dance? But until then, it's wall art. 

 

I hope you enjoyed the first of many rooms to come in my home tour! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. 

If you'd like to see more ways to give your home a vintage feel, please head over to One King's Lane and check them out!

Ugly outlet cover solution

I came up with this idea awhile ago, and I made mental note to put this in my "invention notebook", the one that does not exist. I keep on meaning to write down all of my genius ideas, but they are so fleeting, and I always forget:)! Anyway, this was one of those ideas.

That outlet is ugly, cream, and right in my face.

See, it may seem like nothing to most, but my counter height electrical outlets drive me nuts. I often find myself plugging in those small wall wax warmers just to stick something in them.

Then I thought, "why not a picture frame?".  I thought of using a frame with an outlet plug cover to jazz things up.

A quick trip to the Dollar Tree was in order to gather my supplies. I needed a lightweight 4x6 picture frame, lightweight and cheap!

This is what I decided on. Pretty basic.

Back view

 Next I removed the cheapo stand, a quick pull and it was gone, leaving a nice flat back.

Photo stand removed

 I then held my frame up to the wall outlet to see where I should position the outlet cover (that we all have leftover from when our babies were sticking their fingers where they shouldn't).

Position and THEN glue

 I then simply hot glued the outlet plug onto the back of the frame, and there you have it!

Add a photo!

Add a printable (I have a chalkboard "You Are My Sunshine" print in this picture)

Easily use it as a dry erase board. Just insert plain or patterned paper into the frame and use a dry erase marker in the glass!

Hope you enjoyed this easy project!

Becky Higgins inspired monthly frame idea

I take NO credit for coming up with this idea, it originally came from Project Life creator Becky Higgins! I did however, add my own touches:). The basic idea is to have 12 monthly frames and use a picture that sums up that month. October-Halloween, May-preschool graduation, January-new bangs for my 5 year old, etc!

Here is what I started with, a 16x14 frame that holds an 8x10 photo. The frames were bought from Target on 70% off clearance. They were around $8 with my Redcard. 

I then calculated the spacing (my non mathematical brain really enjoyed this) and hung them up. 

I then used my laser printer to make the month tags and also my pictures. I decided to print them all in black and white, with the current month in color. 

I love it! What do you think?