While my heart will always belong to Crate and Barrel, I'm finding more room in it for handmade and vintage items. Filling our house with handmade art and old pieces with a history appeals to me -- our house was built in 1929, and I'd love to know who once lived there, what they did, how they made a life there. I'll probably never find out, but I can incorporate that sort of "history" into the decor.
This, of course, means that Etsy has become my new best friend. (And Rich's worst enemy. Probably can't blame the poor guy. He's afraid to let me into Kanibal.)
So I've been hunting for a reasonably priced vintage mirror to fit my new shabby-chic philosophy. I found one at Etsy. The seller couldn't ship it because the thing is reeeeally heavy ... but lo and behold, she lives in Ocean County, just a trip down the Parkway for me.
I went to pick it up and stayed for almost two hours talking to the seller, a wonderful woman named Michelle who is the world's best repurposer. Her entire home--which is beautiful--is full of pieces she's picked up at estate sales, off the street, flea markets, the whole nine. She's then sanded, repainted, remodeled, refurbished them -- for next to nothing. It's amazing. It gave me so much hope that I can do this!
Here's the mirror I bought ... I love it.
My head is spinning with all of the ideas it's giving me. Leeza is doing her Art thing for me and I can't wait to see what she comes up with; one of her ideas is to take some fabric she bought at IKEA and use them to cover some canvases to put on the wall. Loooove it. I think the funky fabric will be a great counterpoint to the scrolling in the mirror frame.
For more, go to Michelle's Etsy stores: The Cottage Way and Cottage Home Couture.
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