CRAFTY IN THE HOUSE
I like house projects. I like art projects. I like thrift stores and used furniture. And I love it when all of those come together.
Most of the furniture in our house comes from our family. Some of it we brought from Seattle and some we pulled from family attics. The fun part is making it all fit together in a new space.
When my grandma passed away in 2012 we stowed away a lot of her personal items in my sister’s barn. We weren’t sure what we were going to do with everything yet, but knew we didn’t want to get rid of it. Six years later I was able to give this coffee table a new home. It is a Lane coffee table. All wood and made in the USA, so a nice sturdy heirloom, but the wood was a bit beat up and it needed a fresher-upper. I decided on a butter yellow color, so I went over to our local hardware store and got some paint. It took a few coats, but am real happy with how it turned out. It matches the color in the pelican’s head as well as part of the big rug underneath.
Cousin Liz has been on the hunt for taxidermy for me (she has a list at all times that she checks when visiting thrift stores). She ended up scoring two deer and at great prices. One we’ve named Buck Owens. The other is Buck Rogers.
Now taxidermy may not be your thing, but I say “How can you pass something up with eyes—especially at a thrift store?” These need good homes! Buck Rogers didn’t come with a plaque thing behind him so I decided to give him one. Once I started I took it a step further and decided to bring the gold paint down around my cemetery painting to give it a bit of a gold frame. Then, drips. Drips felt right.
My parents send me boxes sometimes—boxes filled with items they find at thrift stores (my mom, like cousin Liz, also carries around a permanent shopping list when thrifting). Mom finds me Syrocco candle holders and other vintage Home Interiors items like that. And Richard found me these awesome book ends!
But wait! There’s more!
My in-laws found these bedside tables at one of our favorite thrift-store/antique joints. They’re also made in the USA with real wood. Way better than all that new pressboard furniture. I used some black chalk paint on them, covering the tops and backs with some peel-and-stick liner paper. No rings left with that glass of water on the table at bed time!
