Thursday, November 18, 2010

Staging a shelf!

Donna at Funky Junk Interiors shared a great post about staging a restaurant near her home. Although I can't begin to compare my little experience with trying to decorate an entire restaurant, I had a fun "side project" this summer in helping a friend decorate a high shelf in the entry of her home.

I had completed several projects for "D", like the first Farmhouse table and chairs, this cute bench, and an antique coffee table, to name a few.

D has a lovely vaulted foyer area in her home, with a loft on the 2nd floor that looks down into the entry. There was an empty decorative shelf that was just begging for some personality.


I had been "collecting" items from garage sales and thrift stores and classified ads...things that I was storing in my garage but had no idea how I would use in my home! Believe it or not, almost everything I had seemed to work together perfectly for D's space.

Part of the wall behind the shelf was actual wall, while the other was banister for the loft area. I used one of my antique windows to fill the space, hung next to two not-antique plates that I bought on clearance at Tai-Pan Trading. The plant came from D.I. The laundry basket and the linens inside were different garage sale finds, and the little stool was a garage sale purchase that I painted. The bowl and pitcher are D's, and are family heirlooms.

I have to make a quick comment about the linens in the basket...when I first brought it over, I also brought an afghan that we received as a wedding present to see how it would look in the basket (I knew it was going to need a filler). It looked great!! I had to leave it with D for two weeks until I found a good replacement. I can see how someone could easily fall in to stripping their own home to make someone else's look good!



I had a silver star that used to hang on this window before I found my huge "B." I brought it over just to see how it looked, and we liked it...except that it was silver, and D wanted it to look more rusty! Would you believe, it had been rusty, but I painted it silver! I stripped the silver paint off to bring it back to it's "old" glory!

The ladder and candlesticks were more garage-sale finds, along with another pretty old linen apron. The wreath was something I made myself (my first wreath!) but then decided not to use.Italic

Neither of us were crazy about the statue of the lady, but it belonged to her mother, and she needed some place to put it! It didn't look bad, but it has since been replaced by a little fake topiary tree. The lady had to move on!

The milk can I purchased for a song at a garage sale. It was hard to let it go, but D loved it, and it looked great on her shelf.


It was so fun to see it all come together, and it made me feel better about my "impulse purchases," since they went to someone who really loved them!


Maybe I could be someone's personal garage-sale shopper. Do you think that could work??


In other news...this blog has almost gathered 100 followers! I can't believe it. I dragged my feet over starting a blog for such a long time, but it has been so fun for me to get to "talk" about my furniture/decorating obsessions with some people who actually care! Trust me, my husband....doesn't!

In keeping with Blogland tradition, there will be a giveaway when Red Hen Home reaches that magic number! CSN Stores has graciously offered a $35 gift certificate to one of you lucky people. Stay tuned!




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9 comments:

Jennifer Interiors said...

I LOVE it Korrie! I too have the ominous shelf. What a cute idea. I bet your home is a complete doll house.

Courtenay@Signal Hill Interiors said...

I really love those plates on the wall for some reason. I was searching for some just like them yesterday, but with no luck. Congrats on almost 100 followers! I get so excited every time I get a new one. Although, I'm a ways behind you. I'm only at 45. But they're an awesome 45!

Patricia @ 9th and Denver said...

Korrie!

wow it all looks so great.Love the whole look of it all. I can't help myself here... but what does the sign say over the window? I gotta know!

Is "D" gonna pay you to come dust that shelf?
I don't like heights-- if I had that shelf--it'd be naked, except for a thin layer of dust.
Ha!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the comment on my blog!

Love that shelf!

I think you could totally be a personal-garage-sale shopper!! Maybe I should get myself that gig too. I like to hit the auction sales and see what kind of stuff I can get for a buck or two! hehe

Going to follow along, one more closer to a 100 for you!

Rachel said...

That looks really good Korrie! Makes me wish I had a shelf.... but then I look at the tops of books shelves and such that I already have in major need of decorating help and I realize my shelf would be added to the list. :)

Glad your garage sale items could find a happy home!

AND!!!!! Congratulations on so many followers! Doesn't surprise me one bit!

Quiltpiecer said...

I love the post! Came by way of Leigh's Thrifty Thursday and you can me in as follower #96 ... only 4 more to go! Thanks for sharing!

gail@My Repurposed Life said...

great job! I'm glad your stuff went to someone who appreciates it.
thanks for linking up and linking back.
gail

Funky Junk Interiors said...

Wow, well done! I love all the rustic details, very eye catching. Isn't it fun doing this for someone else?!? Such a blast! Thanks for the shoutout too!

Donna
http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/

Tania Pelletier said...

Wow! That looks great! I like the idea of being a personal garage sale shopper too, I'd like that job since I'm always dragging stuff home from garage sales, thrift stores, etc. I have a hard time parting with stuff though... but if it was a friend... maybe!

Tania