From Princess to Vintage Chic Part Two..Vintage VAVOOM !

This is part two of "From Princess to Vintage Chic".

Last week I posted about how I transformed by daughter's cream and gold little girl's princess furniture into an updated "chic" style using black and white paint.

Today I'd like to show/tell you how the room itself was transformed.

My first inspiration was wanting to keep their furniture for a variety of reasons.... (sentimental and of course it's nice to recycle and save money, at the same time.)

Okay, so now I have a black and white theme going on. The next question was, what color I would like to paint on the walls.

Well, since the furniture was vintage, I thought that the pale aqua color would lend itself nicely to the look I was going for. Plus I just love the pairing of it with black and white. The color I chose is called "La Fonda Mirage" and I believe that was a Lowe's Valspar color.

So now I've got the colors and theme going on and I need to figure out what type of bedding and acessories I want to use.

Since I wanted vintage, my first thought was to go to antique mall and wander around aimlessly until something came over and knocked me on the head!

Well, it wasn't long until I spotted something that made my heart skip a beat.....this hobnail milk glass vase. (Hobnail is a glassware design featuring an all over pattern of raised dots, forming a bumpy texture.)

My Mom had a vase identical to this one that I remember seeing filled with her garden zinnias and roses when I was growing up. Love at first site! This was the inspirational acessory that I was looking for.



I was so excited to get started on this room. So now I'm blending my daughter's childhood bedroom furniture with a part of my childhood and memories of my Mom. Not planned, but what a nice idea.

Next thing I knew, I was flying down the isles of the various stalls scouting out anything milkglass/hobnail I could find....... and find I DID!

The lady at the cash register came over and offered to give me a hand, as my arms were filling up with everything milkglass and hobnail that I could snatch up.

There were a bunch of small bud vases, some goblets, some serving pieces, a compote dish and not once did I resist. "Come to Mama", I called! By the way, the lady was looking at me with curiosity , trying not to be too nosey, but she asked anyway: "what in the world are you going to do with this stuff?"

Little did I know what I was going to find around the corner.... be still my heart, there was the coolest vintage lamp with two globes made of ...YuP...hobnail milkglass.

That was perfect! Even though it was an antique, it had a real modern twist to it and my fingers were crossed that it would work when she plugged it in.. ..... SucceSS !

"Oh", said the shop lady, "are you interested in hobnail lamps?" " " Mais oui", I said !

"Come right over yonder, we have some more for you to choose from ."

Oh my goodness, how could I choose? They were all so cute and cheap! " "I'll take them!"



So now I've got the furniture, the wall color and a gazillion milkglass acessories and lamps, great!

What's next?

I needed to figure out the bedding. Well that was going to be enough for one day. I came home with my treasures and played with them, stacked them, bunched them up, scattered them.... a tweek tweek here and a tweek tweek there.....

That was a good start.

The next day I painted the room and was so pleased to see how nicely that shade went with the black and white. I love contrast, I think it keeps a room alive and interesting. Black and white add instant dram into a room.

One of the most important elements in room design is textures and let me show you a sneak peak of all of the different textures that I was able to pack into this small bedroom:

Huh?!?.... well this must be the "unexpected"!

The following week, I decided to go treasure hunting once again, at a different antique store and the third stall I spotted this gorgeous "Popcorn" chenille bedspread. Perfect! It echoed the hobnail glass ware beautifully. Oh JOY!





So, there you have it... my "recipe" for a pulled together room. Draw from an inspiration that you love and you will be excited to find all of the elements to pull it together.





I added the zebra stripe to create a "vintage with a twist of mod". I didn't want it to be predictable, with all things vintage.



I "monogrammed this pillow using gimp and hot glue!











I painted the large frame white, took the ugly picture out of it and hung the oval mirror inside. The mirror was a garage sale find... I got two, originally gold, I spray painted them black.





Here's that modern/vintage lamp that I loved so much at the antique store... and the little chair is a perfect accent.



Displaying my milkglass collection on the dresser was so much fun. I stacked them, grouped them . See what looks like a cake stand under the black and white vase? That's a piece turned upside down with a plate on top!

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Susan at Between Naps on the Porch is hosting a Met Monday and would love to see you there!

A Ten Minute Low Carb "Dinner"

It's a Foodie Friday Party over at Gollum's be sure to join us!



I've got to be honest, on the nights when my husband is out of town, I don't bother to fix anything for dinner for myself.
I might have a bowl of cereal or just stand up at the kitchen counter and take a couple bites of grilled chicken breast left over from the weekend. The favorite of late is the scrumptious Buttery Salt and Cracked Pepper Popcorn from Orville Redenbacher. (Seriously fantastic.)

But last night, I just couldn't go with the usual. I wanted something more. I scoured my fridge and freezer for some inspiration.


Here are the ingredients that I selected:




Shrimp, chorizo, spinach, eggs and cheese.







Oh and to save a couple of calories, I use butter Crisco.








The chorizo is fantastic. It comes from Spain and I buy it at superTarget.





I scrambled 2 eggs.








In the skillet, I sprayed the Pam, put in about a cup or so of shrimp, just a couple of slices of chorizo that I cut into small pieces and then I was trying to come up with a seasoning and remembered that I had this jar of Pesto in the fridge. I used about a tablespoon. Stirred it around a bit and while that was cooking, I took the spinach and microwaved it for about 3 min.










Then I threw the spinach in and mixed it up a bit. (Had to get my green in for St.Patty's afterall!)










After a couple of minutes, I took it all out of the pan and put it aside.






Poured the beaten eggs into the pan...








Let it cook for a couple more minutes until it was set.








Put the shrimp mixture back in and sprinkled cheese on top.






I was sooo happy that it didn't break when I flipped it! yay!



I couldn't wait to sit down and check out my creation!





So, here's my dinner.....



It was delicious and low carb ! Duchess helped me with it. It was huge!

"An Ivy League Luncheon"

It's Tablescape Thursday, join Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for this great event!




Come have lunch with me in the "garden"....



These dishes are called " California Ivy"from the PoppyTrail collection, by the Metlox company.




















This pattern, California Ivy was introduced in 1946 and is hand painted.







The Metlox company was started in 1920 and originally made ceramic signs. The name was formed by combining the two words, metal and oxide, which are the substances that give the pottery its vibrant colors.

Foxy Ladies

Come meet some foxy ladies at Fox Tale Book Shoppe..........






Does this book look familiar?






Well, it should! It was written by our talented Gollum, aka Michael Lee West.




She came to Woodstock, Ga. to the very cute bookstore, FoxTale. It was just a 40 min. drive from my house and I was thrilled to get the opportunity to meet her.






Here's Susan, Michael Lee, Debbie and a Ga. blogger that was also attending and joined our little group.







The store had foxes everywhere!








Couldn't help myself, had to take a picture of this chandy. Isn't it gorgeous?





I am so happy that I bought her cookbook, "Consuming Passions", it is like having Michael Lee there with you , just talking about her family and her southern roots. Of course the bonus are the recipes! They look great and remind me of my childhood. Definitely going to test some of these out on my bookclub!

She has such a witty way of writing and you'll feel like you are chatting with an old friend. Have you heard the expression, "Let them eat cake?"...well in this book you'll get to read about her experience eating DIRT!





Watch out FoxTales, I'm pretty sure I saw Susan stuff one of these sly little foxes in her purse for her Hunt themed family room.

*From little princess to vintage chic *

Another Met Monday is upon us. Will we ever run out of transformations? I hope not. It's so fun to see creative ways to make something old, NeW Again .


So my two little princesses are now adults. What do I do with their little cream and gold bedroom sets?

They all shouted, SELL THEM !

Did I listen? Mmmmm...you must not know me too well, if you think I did.


These are some of the few reminders of their childhood.

It's hard to let go... I sooo wish that they were 4 and 7 again.

Those were the good ole days of slumber parties, princess costumes and purple and pink bikes with training wheels and streamers.

Funny how a piece of furniture can hold so many memories.

SO..... to answer the rhetorical question that I asked , " Heck... NO !"

I could not let them go because, even though my girls are grown and blooming beautifully, these pieces stand guard in their bedrooms and stop the clock for me..... a proof that I had these two adorable little princesses at home with me.

But to get back to reality... time does not stand still and sometimes we have to change with the times.


What to do with these little time capsules to make them more "grown up"?





Is there anything easier and cheaper than paint for a dramatic transformation? Me thinks not.


I used regular white paint on the dresser, but spray pained the drawers black.






I spray painted the knobs and hardware white...







Here's a peek at the finished chest of drawers along side of a previous Met Monday post.. .. The pitiful dining room chair from the thrift shop.











So now I can go into my daughter's room and peek into the past, but with a new eye, fresh and "all grown up".

Be sure to come back next week when I share this fun room and show you how it came together.









Between Naps on the Porch sponsors this wonderful event every Monday!