A Bit of the Sea & Some "JunkingTreasures"

Ever since this past weekend, after purchasing some trash-to-treasure items at a neighborhood garage sale, I have been tweaking a few things around our humble little home. It is amazing how much fun you can have with a few tubes of acrylic paint and a hot glue gun! ;) I have enjoyed rearranging different spots in our living area the past couple of days, and I've done this while my sweet son (pictured below when he was almost 8 months old) has played happily right next to me. It has been nice to enjoy mommy & son time and "me" time all at once!

Here is my $2 blue Ball Perfect Mason jar that I got over the weekend. I also found the tiny little picture frame for 50 cents...of course it has gotten a make-over since, and looks perfect in this little spot.

I added some mother of pearl sea shell chips to the jar, and after painting my little frame with a mixture of pure white, jamaican sea blue and expresso brown, I decided to add some jute webbing laid over linen and topped with my sand dollars and a *store-bought* shell to complete a coastal chic look! ;)

I also painted the frame that my son is in with the same mixture as the small sea shell frame. It used to be a dark-stained wooden frame...but I thought that this spot in the room needed some lightening up, especially since the walls are so dark.


This is my favorite spot to rearrange. It formerly looked like this, but I wasn't fully satisfied with the look of the DVD's being out, among other things, so I changed it up again to what you see now.


And of course no cozy little spot is complete without the warm glow of a lamp nearby!


The sand dollar shadow box was made using a inexpensive "naked" frame that I bought and painted white. Burlap and a hot glue gun were all I needed to finish it up...oh, and the sand dollars of course, which I found out in the ocean! The little ivy jar is a repurposed nutmeg spice bottle, wrapped up in some of my jute webbing and tied with twine.


A photo of my sweet sister and myself rests inside a tarnished little silver candy basket. I could polish it up, but I sort of like the aged look that it has right now.


The small jar holds a tea light, nestled in mother of pearl shells...this is the first candle that I light every morning when I wake up. I love the glow that it gives, especially when the flicker of the flame reflects off of the mirror. It makes the atmosphere of the room quite cozy in the early hours of the morning when I'm the only one awake, and the house is so still and quiet.



My son found the sea shell that's attached to the candle on one of our trips to the beach. He actually brought it up to me...what a little sweetie! He was so proud of his little sea side treasure! More shells (I'm sad to say, purchased from a store) reside in the small silver vase.


And here is my baby when he was just a wee 3 weeks old or so, along with my sweet husband. This frame also got a make-over, and went from ugly dark brown to coastally white!


Here is another 50 cent make-over...sorry, bad photo...another paint & glue gun job gone right! I just love my little framed sea shells!


Can you tell that I'm liking shells? Haha! This is my sea shell shelf...say that 10 times fast...and like the frames that I've just shown you, this one also got a paint job and a coastal looking insert of jute webbing and shells. Oh, and another candle to add to the coziness of the room for my early morning rendezvous with my coffee and the computer!


The jute webbing reminds me of an old fish net. I love the texture of it!


I was given this book by my grandfather several years ago, and seeing that I have a great love for candles, the title fits in beautifully with the candles displayed on the shelf. The book is copyrighted 1891, and is very near and dear to my heart.


I really need a new lamp shade on this sad little wrought iron corner shelf...any ideas???

Trash to Treasure

I have been inspired by so many wonderful ladies in the blog world that have found amazing treasures while out on thrifting adventures...or they have found them just out of the blue as they're going about daily life. The one thing that I've learned is that you always have to keep an eye open for such trash-to-treasure items. You just never know where you're going to come across an item that can be transformed into something you love. Such as this.......

.......I saw this old wooden window several years ago by someones trash can in the alley........

.......at the time I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I snatched it up anyways.......

.......and it wasn't until recently that I dug it out of my garage and decided to clean it up a bit........

.......and after a little elbow grease and a lot of love, here it is, proudly displayed on my front porch! And I can't imagine not having it, and I am so glad that I didn't care what people thought as I pulled up next to a pile of "garbage" and took it and put it in the trunk of my car!

I probably wouldn't have even thought of grabbing up some old wooden window if my lovely sister-in-law hadn't given me this for Christmas one year. Isn't this is a creative idea?!! I actually scored an identical wooden window to the one on my front porch, and made a photo collage window frame like this for one of my sisters. (Thanks for the idea, Kayla!)

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This past weekend while out on a thrifting expedition, I came across this adorable little white chair (beautiful baby boy not included!)........

.......after cleaning it up a bit, it is the perfect spot for my son to read his books. This treasure I had to pay for, but at just $10 I would say that I got a pretty good deal...plus seeing how much my sweet boy loves it makes it worth each and every penny!

So, all of this to say, you never know where your next treasure is going to be. Maybe in a back alley, sadly discarded like yesterday's news paper, or maybe at a local yard sale, ready to get a new home. One man's trash is truly another man's treasure...you just have to keep your eyes open to the possibilities of what can be when you love an item that's been forgotten.