I live in a little blue Craftsman that was built in 1911. It has about 1,000 square feet of living space which can feel rather cramped at times with 2 adults, 2 kids.
When you live in this small amount of space, you either: A) responsibly purge unneeded items, or B) Shove them in every closet, drawer, and spare basement space.
Oh, or there’s also my personal favorite:
C) Irresponsibly accumulate cute but unnecessary items from various stores, estate sales, flea markets, and so forth. Then let them gather dust in the basement or haphazardly place them here or there.
So I’ve decided, as part of the Make Stuff Up challenge, to start recreating spaces around the house with these items. Just quick refreshes for now, we all know I already have a bigger remodel to attend to.
Today I started with a quick update to the breakfast (/lunch/dinner) nook.
BREAKFAST NOOK UPDATE:
Last weekend I popped into an estate sale for the first time in awhile. I am really trying to be better about all this accumulation. On the other hand, I have been wanting to replace the ugly Ikea chairs in the kitchen with some bright red schoolhouse style chairs for awhile now and NO JOKE, what do I see as soon as I walk in? Two bright red schoolhouse style chairs. $15 each. Sold!
This got me recharged to rework the breakfast nook a bit by hanging my favorite plates by Nathalie Lete (Anthropologie) and a sweet little needlepoint I found at the Oakland Museum Annual White Elephant sale.
BEFORE:
(Yes, the light is intentionally crappy to make you waaaay more impressed with the after)
AFTER:
Really, this took about 15 minutes to run to the hardware store to buy plate hangers, 5 minutes to dig out a vintage frame from the basement for the needlepoint, and 10 minutes to pull it all together.
And a close-up of the Home Sweet Home Needlepoint:
Oh, and I also found this at the Estate Sale and could not leave it sitting there. It’s an oven mitt! I don’t need an oven mitt! This is my accumulation dysfunction at work. But really, could you leave him behind?
fumbleweeds 