modern trophy art

Yesterday when I was done with my afternoon painting, I decided to do some more painting.

Ha.

Last Friday, I went on a Goodwill tour with my sister in law- not the humanitarian kind, the thrift shop kind! One of the items I was searching for was trophies.

Not the gorgeous vintage silver ones- the kind you get from participating in sports and such. I've been collecting them for about a month now so I could have a nice grouping to do this:

Here's the background story.

I saw this idea several years ago in Cottage Living magazine and loved it. I also was thinking about my husband's sports trophies sitting in a box, being moved from house to house.

My husband is a pretty modest guy, but I am still so proud of what an incredible athlete he was, and is.

Honey?

I have an idea. You know your box of trophies in the garage?

Yeah.

What would you think if I spray painted them white? I could take off all the little plaque markers and put them in a nice frame...then we could remember what all the awards were for AND they would be displayed in a cool way. :)

(big smile, nodding.)

pause.

Uhhhhh... I...don't know...

Ok, so they're his trophies. He earned them, and if he doesn't want me painting them, so be it.

The good news is that these are not hard to find, if you're looking.

This awesome cup trophy was $4.99. The others were much less than that.

A few quick sprays with Rustoleum's 2x primer gives them a beautiful matte finish- much like what you'd see on a statue. Which is exactly what I wanted.

It helps to lay them down and spray too, so you can get underneath all of the little grooves.

From gaudy to gorgeous!

I had to take my 'Oscar' moment prior to painting... (warning: cheesy photo op...)

In all of my paint day loveliness.

I'm loving my new kitschy, modern, trophy art! You can easily collect a bunch of these from thrift shops for very little cash. In all, I spent less than $20 for my little collection and the primer.

Maybe your hubby will let you paint his. Hey, maybe you have your own trophies to paint! 

It's a great way to display some personal accomplishments (whether they're yours or someone else's) in a cool way.

Sharing with:
Hookin Up with House of Hepworth's
Strut Your Stuff Thursdays
Feathered Nest Friday
Vintage Inspiration Friday
Show and Tell Friday
Flaunt it Friday
Frugal Friday
White Wednesday
Saturday Nite Special


P.S. I have linked up here:



and here's the Pinterest link and photo that was my inspiration for this project!

Transformations and Treasures link party

Hello!

I had so much fun looking through all the great projects this past week- our biggest party yet. 

So exciting! Thank you!

White Street Interiors made a funky, colorful chair out of a pretty drab beginning. Loving that fringe!

Shine Your Light transformed a plain mirror into a stunning beachy beauty.  I am so in love with this.

I have a big appreciation for the work that Kyra at Racks and Mooby did after doing my island- gorgeous! And she got to use some WOmanLY tools!

The salvaged wood used to make a grape trellis was enchanting.  Cheryl at My Sister's Cottage has an amazing hubby for finding and helping to make this happen in their yard. I think I'd be out there every evening!

Nice job everyone! If you were featured here, please feel free to grab the button:

Please remember that this party is just for home decor projects and thrifty finds.  We may do a party down the road for crafts and recipes, but for now, just home decor and thrifty decor related projects!

summer blue mantel

There is something so alluring and romantic about a home that is surrounded by hydrangeas.

Whenever I see photos of homes that are encircled by these plants, I just want to stay and relax.

A few weeks ago I spruced up our mantel with a summery look. You can see it by clicking here.

But since my snowball bush is done blooming, and I was ready for a little change, I did some rearranging and added in some of my blue hydrangea blooms.

My mantel has had the same look for awhile, prior to the seasonal change, and I'm working more on pulling things together rather than accessories on the ends.

This is my source.  We planted it three years ago when we moved in.  It was very small (purchased in a 1 gallon pot) but it loves the place we planted it in.  It is now four feet wide and 3 feet high!  I was really good with regular fertilizing the first couple years.

We have four hydrangea plants now.  This little one was planted two years ago, and It has really taken off just this summer.  In no time, it will be huge like the original. It's on the other side of the yard from the bigger one.

A few weeks ago I added in two more in front of our deck.  I got them at Trader Joe's for $6.99 each!  They don't look great right now, but I'm not worried.  They are healthy and a little whacked out from our can't-decide-if-it's-summer weather.  This is the same size the other two started at. 

I love cutting these for pretty arrangements for various rooms, as well as inviting my friends and family to cut and take home the blooms when they visit.

A lot of impact for just a few cuttings.

Do you have hydrangeas? What is your favorite summer flower?

****

I'm off to paint....again.  It's starting to feel like "Groundhog Day" around here! But the end is near on the kitchen makeover!

Happy Tuesday~

Sharing with:

Tuesday's Treasures

Show and Tell Friday

white kitchen island

This will be a short and sweet update.  I really need to bang out some cabinet doors today.

I have two doors that are completed, hung, and being admired profusely.

:)

Here's a couple pictures of the island with some before pictures to show where we've come from:

Amazing! It took a lot of work to add in all of those little strips of moulding, caulking, and paint, but it is so worth it.  Every time I walk into the kitchen now I just stop and smile.

Beefing up the base moulding has made a huge difference.  I am so glad we did it!

You can also see in this photo the difference in painting our post white- it blends in so much better now instead of being an 'accent' to the kitchen.  That wasn't my intention in the first place, I just didn't know what to do with it when I went green:  (mid paint stage)

So good to see some real progress!

I had an amazing thrifting day in Portland yesterday. We made four stops, and I got some really fun things. A couple of them for our nook, which will be the next stop on this crazy train.

Hoping to be able to photograph some of it this weekend if I can find room to do it.

Have a great weekend!

Transformations and Treasures link party

First off, I just wanted to say thank you to those of you who have been sending encouragement my way- in the form of comments and Facebook visits on the kitchen!!

I have to admit, I was feeling pretty good until today when I realized I have 8 cabinet doors that don't even have primer on yet....

cue Dory's song from 'Nemo':

just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming....

 :)

I have to tell you too, how much it makes my heart smile when I see new visitors joining in the party.  I am so thankful to you loyalists who join in every week too- I love seeing the fabulous projects and finds you bring to the party!

Debra's living room transformation was truly jaw dropping.  I just loved the light and bright feel of her room, and those ceilings!



Lauren at West Furniture Revival showed her beautiful table makeover for her mama:



Live. Love. Create made a neat wall art project out of a canvas and scrapbooking paper- so modern and thrifty!

Nicely done!

Here's the featured button if you'd like to grab it:

This party is all about home decor and thrift shop or garage sale finds~

thrifty weekend finds and kitchen update

I was going to post this yesterday with the wine tasting, but it would have been WAAAAY too long.
I found some cool treasures over the weekend!

All of the items I purchased were careful selections- things on my wish list for awhile.

First, this vintage sled.

A couple years ago I passed one up like this at a garage sale and regretted it ever since. Not this time!

I love the engraved name on it.

My brother in law picked up this amazing vintage suitcase for me! How nice is that?!

This has OSC (Oregon State College - now OSU) on it which dates it between 1937 - 1961 when it was called OSC.

Cool!

Don't you wonder about the history of this little guy? Love the fraternity emblem:

and the initials!

I've had my eye on this orange apothecary style jar for a few weeks.

I found it at The Assistance League thrift shop. I think it will look great for Halloween.   :)

Maybe with some black and white stripey stick candy?

I also got these great folding tables at an awesome garage sale in one of my favorite neighborhoods:

$8 for the pair.

I plan to paint these an olive green. And yes! Our bamboo is in place- more on that soon.

Finally, this carved wooden bowl was from an estate sale.

Last fall I missed out on one for a fall centerpiece. For now, I think it will look great on our master bedroom cabinet. I want to add more sea glass floats in various sizes.

Here's the progress on the kitchen!  With our anniversary, we had some breaks from working on it, but Sunday was a bit tedious...

projects like this always take longer than you expect, don't they?

We got all the trim installed on the island, and we continually stand back to admire our work.

(ever so humbly!)

Loving the difference this has made to really make it look great!

The base trim looks like it has always been there.  Fortunately, we were still able to find the same stuff the builder used so it could match the existing trim around the pillar / support. (first photo)

Today, I am giving the island a final coat of paint on the side you see here.  Can't wait!

On the other side of the island, I got all of the drawer fronts painted, and the pulls have been installed:

I just loved these.  The metal has kind of a pitted finish.

Once the island is done, it's strictly painting all the doors.  I have such limited space in the garage, it's going much more slowly than I hoped. Hopefully now with that being the only focus, I can speed it up a bit.

The nook is also included in this makeover, so once I have a handle on the doors, I will be working on the big wall where the bench is.

Hope your Tuesday is great!

wine tasting in Oregon

We accomplished a lot of time consuming work on the kitchen over the weekend!
But we also took some time on Saturday to go do some wine tasting for our anniversary- which is today.
19 years! It's hard to believe.

We are super fortunate to have a plethora of vineyards literally within minutes of our house.
We decided to first try Stangeland vineyards. (pronounced Stang-gull-and)
We've seen their wines at our local grocer, but our resource for finding wineries to visit led us to their doors. And aren't they phenomenal?

These handmade doors are made from reclaimed wood. We had an amazing time with Norm who was generous with his knowledge of wine but also the history of the vineyard. It was such a fun visit and we had one of the best Pinot Gris I've ever tasted.

We purchased a bottle of their 2009 for the amazing price of $15!! My husband, who normally doesn't like white wines thoroughly loved it. We also loved their Millers Vineyard Pinot Noir and took home a bottle of that.
The surrounding views and tasting room were very Northwest. 

Next, we headed just down the road to Cristom Vineyards.

Gorgeous views and also a beautiful entry to welcome guests.

The large farmhouse table in the middle of the tasting room was very homey.
These antique display cabinets were from a Catholic boys home. I just loved the curved interior walls on these!

We enjoyed a fantastic array of cheeses, salami, bread, and fig spread with our tasting.

They had a few picnic tables with gorgeous views that we'd like to bring our friends to for an afternoon!
The sun finally broke out for a few minutes before we left and I loved this shot of the vineyard:

We had a great time at both vineyards. Neither of us are wine connossieurs- we enjoy driving through the country and enjoying some of Oregon's best. If you've ever considered a wine tasting trip, Oregon is a gem in the wine world.
And best of all? No sales tax!
Wine Trails of Oregon by Steve Roberts has been a fabulous resource for us and I highly recommend it.

Happy anniversary honey. It's been an amazing journey and I can't imagine it with anyone else.

kitchen makeover days 4 & 5

Just a quick update on the progress in the kitchen!

The drawers are done and the final coat of paint on the fixed cabinetry is nearly finished.

We got our trim pieces that we will be installing soon:

New base trim around the island instead of the wimpy 1" strips that were previously there (taped onto the new pieces as a guide for cutting and where to re-install)

Isn't it amazing what a little trim can do?  I can't wait to have the island finished up.
These rectangular insets will go between each corbel support.

I also purchased a small decorative wood trim for the front of the stove area:

I love how it enhances the once blank wood trim panel!

That's all for now.  It's our anniversary weekend, and we're off to do some wine tasting.

I hit some great estate / garage sales on Friday- I hope to post both of these adventures for Monday.