Month: August 2020

The prettiest craft room storage

An antique oak linen cupboard. Mismatched glass jars. Little vintage baskets and floral hat boxes. Ceramic vintage planters and antique general store fixtures.

Aren’t these the first things that come to mind when you think about craft storage?

No?

That’s just me?

Well, if you don’t trust me yet, I’ve got the proof in pictorial form: nothing makes prettier craft storage than an antique oak linen cabinet.

See, I told you so.

If it were up to me, I’d have a gorgeous antique cabinet (with hand blown glass framed doors) for every room in the house. For towels and toiletries in the bathroom? Yep. For jars of flour, sugar and coffee in the kitchen? You betcha. For stacks of vintage quilts in the hall? Of course. For pinecones and stamps and felt and pipe cleaners? Obviously.

Hopefully I’ll realize this dream one day when I have a home with more than one room (technically, this apartment is just one big loft). In addition to old china/curio/display cabinets, I also plan to have 1,487 gigantic wardrobes in which I will store quilts, linens, and actual clothing, of course (because who needs closets? Not this gal—I hate them. No really, I do.)

Technically this isn’t craft room storage, because I don’t have a craft room. Just a nice, big empty corner in my bedroom that needed filling and was crying out for something very old and very wood-toned.

Now that all my bits n’ bobs are displayed behind those handsome glass doors, I’ve never been more inspired to create. Christmas elves, felt flowers, Santa mice, autumnal garlands— the million crafty projects I’ve been dreaming up for the past few years will come to fruition this year (and next) because all of my crafty things have finally been liberated from their dark, lonely storage box existence. Hooray!

I LOVE using unexpected pieces like this to store all kinds of things around the house—it’s simultaneously quirky and functional.

My particular cabinet is a very old piece—it’s likely 100 years old or more—with really unique legs—seriously, how pretty are those chunky things?!

A few other notes about this space:

  1. That black framed mirror was a recent find. I’m pretty sure it’s an antique. It’s insanely heavy and was only $12.99 at the Goodwill down the road from me. Yay for cheap, pretty mirrors!

2. The artwork for the cottage wall has been shuffled around a few times and I have a few more pieces to add. I am really loving the current layout—what do you think? Not nearly enough cottages, though—gotta fill that whole wall up!

3. Check out the photo below—do you see those giant corbels? They are architectural salvage taken from an old victorian home here in VA. I bought them specifically to help full that void (it’s a big opening in the wall towards the ceiling, between the bedroom and living room—what do you call that?) Anyways, the corbels (or whatever they are) really bring warmth to the space and help age it. Toning down the modern and bright whiteness of this apartment is a constant goal.

4. Lastly—if you see any little eyes peering out at you from inside my craft cabinet, don’t be alarmed—it’s just Santa Claus. Mr. Santa Claus Mouse, that is! I’ll be sure to post all about him this holiday season (and I may even share the pattern for him, which I made myself).

Happy crafting (and organizing) my friends!

Vintage Floral Prints + Kitchen Reveal

Today feels like a bright and happy Friday inside despite the stormy weather outside. And I’m guessing it’s got something to do with the recent addition of pretty vintage artwork in my apartment.

My kitchen is *approximately* a thousand times more cheerful and warm (not to mention cluttered with green, vintagey goodness) than it was just a few days ago.

I’m quite in love with it now.

Well, I’m as in love with it as I can be considering all of the contempo vibes and stainless steel. I know I’m a bit weird for hating the modern look (stark white cabinets, dark grey countertops, stainless steel—barf!). I just want a kitchen that smacks of an 1880’s rural farmhouse (like a real, working victorian farmhouse guys, not that Pinterest/HGTV/faketiques crap)—is that too much to ask?

For a rental apartment in Roanoke, VA, it obviously is too much to ask, so I will stop complaining about it now and move on to more important subjects like my gorgeous VINTAGE FLORAL PRINTS!

I’ve finally finished framing and hanging these beauties after building up my collection over the last two years. The kitchen was already feeling a bit busy and full, so it’s hard to believe that hanging some artwork could make such a big impact—but these prints surly pack a punch!

I really can’t decide what’s my favorite—the vibrant florals, green frames, or the cluttered shelf of vintage pottery?! I love it ALL!

The tops of cabinets are a notoriously difficult and frustrating place to decorate—in fact, I’d prefer not to have upper cabinets at all. But somehow, in this apartment it seems to work—the wide open space above the cabinets make them a feature. I used a 1″x12″ pine board on top to function as a shelf and to build cohesion with the other wood elements in the kitchen (like my antique breakfast tray and English plate rack).

My vintage vase collection (mostly McCoy) stands out against the warm tones of the wood shelf and the bright white walls and cabinets. The mirrored shades of green between the pottery and prints create a layered look that adds enormous charm to the entire space. The prints also help to draw attention to the enormously high ceilings.

I delayed hanging these prints for a while because I was a bit worried it would be too busy—would it look too flea market-ish? But, the flea market look has really been growing on me lately, and I think I am learning to embrace the clutter. I am really, really thrilled with the way this project turned out. The kitchen isn’t such a modern monstrosity anymore, huh?

Now that the project is complete, I can admit: a bit of madness was involved in the hanging of these prints. They’re hung about 12 feet high on that wall, so it took some acrobatic work to get them up there by myself on a Wednesday afternoon. I worked crazily and used a truly scary telescoping ladder (ten out of ten, do not recommend) to get the prints hung so that I could surprise Sam before he got home (you know how deeply he cares about these things…)

I did also surprise him with a homemade-from-scratch banana cream pie that same day. It was pure torture for me to bake this pie because—having just embarked on another round of Whole30—I was unable to taste test the vanilla pudding as I whisked away at it for a solid 25 minutes straight. Luckily Sam does care deeply about pie, especially the banana cream variety.

Back to my vintage floral prints, how pretty do all those flowers look?!

(Also, did you see my rolling pin wall? Ohhh it’s SO GOOD!)

More kitchen goodness is to come, as I recently purchased a gorgeous wood antique piece that will be replacing that little purple side table—I can’t wait to show you!