around the nest

     I wanted to post some pictures of items i have created or modified around the nest.  One of my favorite pieces is my bookshelf turned "china cabinet." I own 2 pieces of actual china (one porcelain teacup that i found in a quaint french pottery store and bought for a euro, the other given to me by a dear friend of my grandmother). I feel like if i'm going to own something special like china, it should have a neat story behind it. It's all about the sentiment, you know? 

     So the evolutionary process of this "china cabinet" is as follows....received from friends when we got married - it needed a home and we had a new one.....did a fine job as a bookshelf for 5 years....moved into house with a dining room....wanted to display my sentimental pottery....didn't want to spend money. Stephen found some old wood from a dilapidated building on Whitfield road and sprayed them for bugs. Always spray for bugs when using old wood indoors. Stuff can hatch...yikes.  i painted them black and he hung them on some modern Celtic looking brackets in our living room. Looks great and fits the space much better. You can see it below. 

     We also mounted a piece of the old lumber to the wall left of the shelves. I added knobs from my dad's old kitchen cabinets and shabam, a convenient place for purses, coats, and kid paraphernalia. 

     
I then took the bookshelf, white washed and distressed it. I also painted a subtle organic design on the backboard for a little added detail. I love stamping, especially circles...i'm not sure why...it's just really gratifying. My stylized flowers are stamps from peanut butter lids and shampoo bottle tops. Stephen added some ledgers to the length of the center of the top three shelves to hold the dishes in place. He helps me a lot...i think that guy might like me or something:)

Mason jars make nice china. They also look beautiful filled with tea lights on a dinner table. My mom gave me those really interesting clay bowls on the top shelves. Thanks mom.

   So, shelves for the living room, a coat rack, and a china cabinet for around $80, which i still think is kind of expensive. I couldn't figure out how to weld metal brackets from scrap or create an aerosol can, so we had to purchase brackets and a can of black spray paint. I really like the results.