I just wanted to post today on some ways to use non traditional items to decorate your home.  As a lot of you know I love things that are old, chippy and have history and love to incorporate them into my home.  These are some pictures of old  things I have used in my home to decorate.

Taking old shutters and an old arch window for a focal point over the sofa. I love that these things reflect a cottage feel and still have a lot of history to them.

I love to use old doors around my house. I use this one in my entry way  also used an old shutter to hang my vintage bird house on in the entry way. Don't you love the mail slot in that old door.  

I used these old vintage doors and knobs to make a head board in my bedroom

Little vintage door to hang in the entry of my guest room for my sweet angel to hang.

These were old sidelights out of an old cottage. Don't you love the mail slot in the sidelight. I used one on each side of the entry into my dining room from the kitchen.

As you can see I have a little door thing going on and use them a lot in my home. This chippy one I use in my mud/laundry room

Staying with the old door theme. This old horse barn door is hanging in my dining room. I love the chippyness to this piece.

Old vintage suit cases used in my bedroom for a chair side table.

This is one of my favorite things to do. Make headboards out of old gates. I love the chippy vintage feel they give.

I have two twin beds in my one guest room so I was lucky to have found a couple of old vintage gates at the flea market.

An old wooden garden gate for over my guest room bed as a headboard.

Also loved using an old gate over my desk in my office. It is a nice vintage visual piece and I love that I can hang things all over this.

Using an old chicken wire dress form. This is one of my favorite pieces the stand is from the old Hilton Hotel in Chicago and the dress form was made out of old chicken wire. I love to hang things all over this in my office too.

Old vintage mailboxes make great storage bins and also holders for  magazines.

This old section of kitchen cabinets was thrown out and I repurposed it in my office for storage.  The guy that was rehabbing the old house said I could have these "old ugly" cabinets. "Old and Ugly" I thought to myself how about chippy and wonderful!!!!!

Old vintage piece of ladder to hang baskets from and also chippy old washboards for cabinet doors in the laundry room.

 

As some of you have seen my vintage bike that I move around my house and above the bike is an old twin headboard that was made into a hanger and black board.  I am so in love with this bike it just makes me smile wherever I put it.

Old bed frame, old windows and old doors are all part of the decor in my dining room.

I loved using these old door knobs and plates as door pulls for my kitchen cabinets.

 

Old weathered watering can and old chippy window for decor. I also love using old vintage birdhouses.  I am a big flower gardener and use a lot of old chippy pieces in my garden. I love having old pieces in the garden that bring as much beauty as the flowers do.  I love bringing a little bit of the outside inside for all year round.

A big old chippy martin house.

Old vintage posts make such great accent pieces.

Old posts around my kitchen window just for some fun and character

Sharing with Sherry and her Thursday's Open House party

http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

Sharing with the lovely Pamela and her Treasure Hunt Thursday Party
http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/
Sharing with http://diyshowoff.com/category/other/that-diy-party/
Sharing with Becky   http://www.timewashed.com/2013/03/blissful-whites-wednesday_19

It is amazing what a little Goodwill and some epoxy can do!!!

It has been raining and just miserable here in Chicago.  We had 8 inches of snow last week and then by the week end cold and rain.  The rain has washed away a lot of the snow. My sump pump has been running non stop with all the snow melting and rain.  I guess it is a good thing maybe Spring is trying to appear.

Back at Christmas my dear friend Kathy gave me a beautiful repurposed bird feeder she made from items she had and picked up at thrift stores.  I just love this piece and can't wait to put it out in the garden this summer.  

It got me thinking maybe I need a trip to Goodwill!!!!! So I did and these are my repurposed birdbaths and feeders I made.  Each one cost less than $5 dollars to make depending on what I could find at Goodwill and what I had at home. 

I loved that I could re purpose these old bowls, vases and candle sticks into something pretty for the garden.

A lot of the plates and vases already had pretty flowers or birds in the designs.

This little bird bath can be a feeder and a bath with the vintage bowl and plate.

The base on this feeder is an aqua blue and the top feeder is aqua blue too. The little birds will be able to sit as they eat with this having a bigger surface.

I love this one because the birds will be able to sit on the feeder to eat.  Love the aqua in the vase and the feeder top.

This one will be able to be a feeder or a bird bath with it having the wider bowl. It is hard to see but I love the etched flower pattern in the center of this bowl on top.

In this feeder I have a few of my grandmothers old anchor bowls and plates put together.

I really loved making these they were so easy and I think they will add some pretty to the garden this summer.  I have mine and made the others for Easter gifts.  If you have a thrift store or Goodwill near you check them out for these old vintage pieces to put together for pretty bird feeders.

  I am working on some more Easter decor today around the house. I wanted to show you something I got at an indoor flea market this past week end from my sweet friend Jeanine at Chippy Shabby.  She took this old lunch box and added some moss and a daffidol plant.  I had some little bunnies to add. Isn't it cute. I always love seeing Jeanine and her cute chippy shabby both.  You can check out her blog here. http://chippyshabby.blogspot.com 

Have a great week.
Kris
:)

 

Sharing with Angie's Knick of Time Tuesday
http://knickoftimeinteriors.blogspot.com/2013/03/knick-of-time-tuesday