Trash to Treasure Decorating

I decided my house needed a little makeover.  I love that just by rearranging a few things, I can have a whole new look.  I moved the yard sale globe from on top of the armoire and put it on top of a stack of vintage suitcases in my piano room.  It makes sense, right?  Travel the world...suitcases...I have a little theme going now!  I should have put it there long ago.

We drove past a home in our neighborhood that had an old dresser mirror (minus the mirror) out at the curb.  I had my husband pull over, and I sat there mulling it over... "Do I want it?  No, what would I do with it?  But, I'm sure I could do something with it.  But what?  No, I don't want it.  Ok, yes, I do".  That is pretty much how the conversation went. Over and over in my head.  I finally said, "let's take it". 

It did sit in my garage for a few weeks before I finally got out the hand saw.  I cut out the pediment on the top, threw the middle away, and then saved the bottom for a future project.  One day I might ask my husband to help me mount it over the doorway between the family room and piano room.  But that can wait.  It's a really cool, old piece.

I have this bare wall in the piano room that I have never been quite sure what to do with, and I have some blue transferware plates that I really wanted to hang somewhere.  So, I decided to make a nice little grouping with them.  To get the composition just right, I layed the pediment and the plates down on the floor, and rearranged them a few times.  I wasn't able to use all my plates, which I was a bit sad about, but I'm sure I will find a use for them some time.  I brought out my cherry painting that had been hanging on the door to the garage long ago.  I've improved quite a bit in my painting skills since I painted it, but for some reason, I still love it.  I could never get rid of it, even though I had a hard time finding a place for it.

I decided it went well there in the grouping because I needed a little bit of black to go with the wood. I like to mix wood tones with black and whites.  And here is how it turned out.

The piece in between the two plates?  It was a little vintage yard sale frame that I painted white.  I felt I needed something with red in it to match the red cherries.  So, I found a vintage cross stitched tea towel in my linen stash, and cut it and mounted it in the frame.  (came from a yard sale)  I felt bad cutting it, but I wanted to do something with it, and it was too pretty for my family to use in the kitchen. :)  Besides, it had been sitting in my basement for years.

I forgot to mention that I hot glued the cherry canvas into the white frame!  I needed it to be bigger, so I "framed" it!  It was a little sad, because I used the frame that once housed my faux stain glass piece.  Remember that?  From long ago?  The Plexiglas was a little cracked in one corner, and I didn't have a good window to hang it in, so I just decided to take it apart.

So there you have it...My literal trash to treasure decorating!