Friday, August 20, 2010

Repurposing.....

Not that I need one more item inside my house (or outside) but I had this bare space on the wall above the sofa that kept bothering me. Everytime I'd go to close the front door and turn to reach for the door handle I'd see this space and a question asking "don't you see me here, empty and waiting?" Now, mind you, most people are perfectly content with bare space within their living area. Some even strive to achieve it, as in the "less is more" concept. Not me, I hear voices inside my head (it used to scare me but now I've come to accept it, the voice seems harmless enough). I knew what the space needed, whether or not I could find it would be the question. I pictured a shelf, light in color but not white, nor a painted or stained shelf. It needed to be an architectural piece from the outside of an older home. Just the right width and not too short or too long, and most important, it could not be too expensive. I figured at most I'd find a matching set of corbels and Husband would use these as the base to hold a handmade shelf from Husbands workshop. Off we went to a wonderful flea market (too many years since the last visit, won't wait that long again!!) with the hope of finding something close to what the empty space was asking for. Lots of fun small trinkets were tempting to purchase (purses, hats, aprons, pillows, baskets) but I kept to the original mission - fill the void above the sofa. Husband and I didn't have to wait long, within the first hour there it was - waiting for me. It was on the ground in a group of three, the last one partially hidden by two more stacked in front. It was perfect, perfect in every possible way. I didn't shout "there you are, you are what I've been seeking". Instead, I stood next to Husband and asked "what do you think of these?" He looked and said the first one was too big and the other two would be fine - I said I knew which one I wanted hoping he would pick the same (either way I knew which one would be going home with me). He said "they're both the same", not in my eyes, one was perfection. So, I handed over a very reasonable amount of cash to the salesman and watched him place the shelf into the back of his truck for safe keeping while we continued to shop. My mission completed the rest of the morning was spent browsing and watching what other people stuffed into their baskets (some true treasures/others beauty only in the eyes of the new owners). Little did I know I was about to make what I thought was already a perfect day even better. I LOVE stained glass windows...my dream home would most definitely include stain glass windows, so when I spied this little gem sitting at the base of a folding table and the salesman told me he'd sell it to me for $10.00 I almost jumped right out of my tennis shoes. Husband was a couple of tables down from me so with a very subtle wave to come join me I stood directly in front of the window - completely prepared to dislocate anyone's hand who made a move towards MY NEW STAINED GLASS WINDOW!!! Now, I knew this was going home with me, but, I considered it to be thoughtful to first ask Husband what his thought was. Looked like an old window in his eyes, (probably thinking here's something else I need to attach to the wall inside the house because she can't leave 1 x 1 space empty)but when I told him $10.00 - even he couldn't pass up such a deal. I won't tell you about his garage - he's still saving our daughters plastic bent hula hoop thinking someday she might want it back again (she's 28, I think her hula hooping days are over). So, now the challenge, where to place this beautiful old stained glass window, you see friends, I don't have an empty wall space available. So I'm going another route - I think it would be totally cool to knock a hole out of an interior wall and place the window and let the light from inside the house shine through. I know, you're thinking why not just hang it in front of an exisiting window - no can do.. I'm ahead of you on that. Well, after reading all of this it's time for you to see what we carried back from the flea market.....I'm so grateful Husband isn't one of those "less is more" type of guys, he'd be a really unhappy man.

Love the cracked paint - Husband asked if I wanted the center touched up but that would change the look.....



A double surprise - a different color on each side

Have a great day - hope you find a special treasure along the way

2 comments:

Prairie Rose said...

Love the shelf!!!(and your sofa!!)
AND the stained glass window is so pretty!
In the hundred year old farm house that my parents live in,it has stained glass in the living room,and its just lovely!
I think you all did just smashing at the flea market!

Unknown said...

Nice finds for sure! The shelf is perfect and looks great. Looking forward to seeing where the window lands. Happy weekend!