Vintage Travel Room, Part ??

A few more elements to our "Vintage Travel" themed room.  An old pew rack found on Ebay holds old travel brochures and road maps (remember road maps??)  Our first guests already commented on how fun it was to read through these!

 The desk was a Craigslist find -- 60.00 for the desk and chair. I had intended to paint them but I like the wood as is and the hardware has a nice vintage feel already.

 This travel suitcase was a steal at $5.00 and for now is holding reading material.

 On of my favorite Ebay finds was this old Seth Thomas travel alarm clock.  It even came with the original box and instructions and actually still works!

 I wanted to keep the window treatments simple so I just sewed up these valances but added some luggage strap material and sewed on these fantastic old bus tokens (also from Ebay) using red thread.  The holes in the tokens made it easy to stitch them on.

 Can you tell I've been having fun with this room??  And finally, one gratuitous photo of one very cute Cocker Spaniel.  Ava approves.

 

Linking to these parties this week . . .

The DIY Showoff   http://diyshowoff.com/

Knick of Time Tuesday http://knickoftimeinteriors.blogspot.com/

Marvelous Mondays http://www.jamscorner.com/

Uncommonly Yours http://www.uncommondesignsonline.com/

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

Cedar Hill Ranch http://cedarhillranch.blogspot.com/

Savvy Southern Style http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/

Ivy and Elephants http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

From My Front Porch to Yours http://frommyfrontporchtoyours.blogspot.com/

The Brambleberry Cottage http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

French Country Cottage http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

The Charm of Home http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

At the Picket Fence http://www.atthepicketfence.com/

While He Was Napping http://whilehewasnapping.blogspot.com/

Funky Junk Interiors http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/

Sisters of the Wild West http://www.sistersofthewildwest.blogspot.com/

Under the Table and Dreaming http://www.bystephanielynn.com/

Vintage Travel Room Coffee Center

I'm still working on details of our 'vintage travel' themed guest room/study and just added this coffee station.  The table was one we've had for a long time but was in pretty sad shape with lots of water stains and scratches.

 One coat of Annie Sloan Paris Gray chalk paint, some distressing and waxing brought the bottom back to life.  The top took a lot of sanding and then a coat of stain and two coats of poly.

 The drawer handle was painted in A.S. Graphite and the drawer lined with a paper showing "vintage" tickets.

 The shelf on the wall was a thrift store purchase for $2.00.  I painted it with A.S. Emperor's Silk chalk paint, distressed and waxed.  The coffee tin was one I had that I painted and added the vintage coffee graphic.

 The room is nearly finished . . . just a few more touches and small projects.  Here are a few other parts like a window pane bulletin board center, a vintage camera display

Money DOES Grow On Trees!

Yeah, yeah . . . don't we WISH these were real silver dollars? Even though they're not -- they're still one of my favorite flowers! They meet all of my requirements for garden flowers:

1) They are easy to grow and require no special soil, sun or amount of water

2) They provide beautiful purple blooms in early spring that last for weeks and weeks

3) They provide a beautiful dried 'flower' to use year round

4) They seed themselves year after year

5) They can be used for other crafts

 Scatter the seeds across the ground in the fall and just lightly turn the dirt over them.  That's it.  In the spring, you'll see the plants that look like this -- big, green weeds.  Memorize this photo or keep it handy as you'll be tempted to pull them out because they are prolific and they do look like weeds!  After they get to be about 3-4" tall, thin them out leaving just the plants you want.

They'll grow to about 3 feet in height and begin producing these clusters of gorgeous, purple flowers!  In a few weeks time, the flowers will wilt and you'll see little marquise-shaped seeds where each flower was.  By early July, they'll look like this . . .

I stake mine so they maintain a nice, even shape.  The pods will begin to go from green to brown and when they're completely brown and dry, you'll notice the 3-layered pods will begin to naturally shed the two outer layers.  That's when it's time to cut the stalks and enjoy some mindless, soothing, therapy.

Pull up a chair outside, place a table cloth or drop cloth on the ground and start rubbing the pods, shedding the two outer layers, dropping the seeds onto the cloth and revealing the beautiful, silvery silver dollars.

I always arrange bunches inside the house and give away a LOT of stalks to friends, along with bags of the seeds.

Once you've planted these, they'll naturally drop a TON of seeds onto the ground and just come up on their own the following spring!

These are fun to stamp on -- I used black, Staz-On ink and stamped different images on these.  I like to add them to cards and other crafts.  

If you're a lazy gardener or a very bad gardener (like me) and you still want something to impress you neighbors and show for your efforts . . . give these a try!  And to help you get started, the first five people to ask (U.S. residents only) I'll send you a bag of seeds.  Just let me know you'd like some and email me your address -- I'll get them out to you.

Vintage Camera Shelf

Still working with the "Vintage Travel" theme for our guest room, I repurposed this shelf and filled it with old cameras and binoculars.  The shelf was from IKEA - just plain wood with chrome ends and was in the room when it was my son's bedroom.  I gave it a few coats of Emporer's Silk chalk paint, distressed it a bit and waxed it.  I then added a band of black, twill tape with upholstery tacks.

 I got great deals after 'haunting' Ebay for months on all of these old cameras -- not a single one of them was more than 10.00 and they all came with their original cases.

 How about THAT movie camera? It even came with it's original light meter which I put in my little display table in the room along with other vintage 'travel' items. But my favorite find, by far, are the binoculars found in an antique store.  I gladly paid $12.00 for them because not only do they work and come in the original case but inside was the original receipt . . . in FRENCH. . . from PARIS!

 I still have more projects to show and a few more to complete but have to wait a bit because my son and daughter-in-law are using the room right now!

 

Window Frame Memo Board

I completed another project for the "Vintage Travel" Themed room in our home that will double as a study for my husband and a room for guests.  I got this window frame for $5.00 at a garage sale.  The only thing I did was clean it up -- didn't add a drop of paint or any other treatment to it.

 Love all of the chippy paint in different colors and this old latch!

For two of the sections, I made padded memo boards by stapling batting and then the fabric on pieces of plywood.  

 I slipped in a few favorite vacation photos as well as photos of an old steam engine taken in August of 1962 (found these at an antique store).

 This piece of wood was painted with Annie Sloan Graphite chalk paint.  I transferred this verse on by printing the words out, rubbing chalk onto the back and then tracing the letters while this was taped to the board.  I chose this verse because not only is it one of my husband's favorite verses but I thought it fit the 'travel' theme of the room as well.  I want this to be a place where visitors can come, rest and be refreshed by the love of the Lord.

 I then wrote over the chalked words using a white paint pen.

 The last panel is an actual chalk board.  I used the Graphite chalk paint (about 3 coats) for this.  Our son (a.k.a. Stinky Boy) and daughter-in-law are coming in a few days and will be the first ones to use this as a guest room.  Why "Stinky Boy"? My girls and their sister-in-law love to hang around together and joked one time about deciding whether or not to let 'stinky boy' join them . . . and well . . . the name just stuck!

 I hope wherever you live you are keeping cool (it's over 100 here today!) and enjoying a safe and fun Independence Day!