The first thing we did was take down the cork. Big mistake. The previous owner must have had stock in a glue factory, for he had painted the glue on the back of the cork squares. Trying to take it off completely destroyed the drywall underneath. Off we went to Home Depot to buy more drywall. We painted the room ivory, and decided to put wallpaper on that back wall. As it happens, we saw some gorgeous floral paper in a little B&B we stayed in in Vermont, and were lucky enough to find the same wall covering back home. After that, it was time to buy the accessories. We played bedstead bingo and traded our maple (double bed) with my parents for their cherry bed, so they could give the maple one to my niece. (Got that?)
The oak chest was the first antique I ever bought. The Hitchcock chair came next, and then the oak mirror. (I have this thing for oak mirrors -- mostly a thing for frames, but we won't get into that now.) Before I got carpal tunnel syndrome, I used to do counted cross stitch. You can just see one of my projects on the far left, and another on the left side of the dresser. The Colonial prints on the left came from Goodwill, and the floral prints on the right came from a garage sale. The ewer and pitcher came from a yard sale, and the 1950s waste basket (which weighs a TON) came from an estate sale. That's a chenille spread on the bed--yup, another yard sale find. There's a skylight in the ceiling, so the room is always bright and cheerful--a little too cheerful for me come summer when the sun is up at 5 a.m.
Okay, I wasn't going to mention it, but yes, I DO have a thing about frames --
be them mirror or picture. And I tend to collect pictures in little gold frames like the ones here. Aren't they darling? I try to buy them whenever I see them -- which isn't often enough. I believe I currently only have four, which doesn't seem near enough.
So, what do you look for when you're on the hunt?
