Favorite Finds: Bethany's Vintage Scarf Turned Pillow

I knew Bethany and her husband Adam through mutual friends and then they moved to a house just 2 streets over from mine! When Bethany hosted a bridal shower for our friend and I visited their house, I fell in love with their style! Their artful wall of "H"s (their last initial) inspired me to collect "Y"s! Bethany has such great taste - be sure to follow her on Pinterest!

What is your favorite find and where did you find it?

My favorite find is a vintage scarf. I found it at the Canton, TX Flea Markets. There is a booth that has piles and piles of vintage textiles. You can find clothes, tablecloths, and many other fabric gems. I loaded up on tons of vintage scarves for $1 each!


Did you know right away that you would repurpose it or did you buy it intending to wear it as a scarf?

When I bought the scarves, I knew I would repurpose some of them. I had ideas of pillows, shirts, and curtains. I do wear a few of them as scarves.

Was it difficult to sew?

It was pretty simple to sew. I didn't follow a tutorial. I had some gray fabric left over from curtains. Using the scarf as my pattern, I cut out a square the size of the scarf. After a few minutes at the sewing machine, I had a decorative pillow case on my hands.


Where does it "live" now in your house?

My vintage scarf pillow serves as a focal point in my living room. It lives propped in the corner of our sofa. It has made plenty of backs and heads comfortable. I love that my favorite find is functional as well as beautiful.

Do you and Adam share the same taste in decorating? If not, how do you balance that?

Adam and I both have a love for unique, vintage, and repurposed items. He helped me choose which scarf would become a pillow in our living room. The differences of opinions have definitely come our way. We usually hash it out, sharing our viewpoints. Most of the time we can arrive at a compromise. However, he wins some and loses some.


Thank you for sharing, Bethany!

If you have a favorite find you'd like featured, don't be shy! Email me!

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Just Bought: Novelty Sailboat Dress

Just bought: Novelty Sailboat Print Dress.

The print is not my typical style, but I couldn't get it off my mind! I favorited it and then looked at the listing once a day. (I tend to fall on the obsessive side!) I started following the shop-owner's blog and she posted a coupon code, so I decided to go ahead and buy it before someone bought it out from under me!

Check out Bloom Bandit on Etsy- just don't buy the other dresses of hers I have favorited! :)



Stay tuned for more on vintage dresses + Owl Really. I have a one-track mind these days!!!

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Thrifty Finds - Monday, November 7

I have had some great luck thrifting around Nashville lately!

First up: this beautiful navy blue dress I just got at Goodwill. It is the same style as the pink and yellow dresses I found recently at another thrift store! (The pink dress I am keeping, I wore it as my Halloween costume, and the yellow one I will be selling - more on that soon!)

I saw this dress on the rack at Goodwill and couldn't believe it was the exact same style and was my size! So excited! I love finding "granny" dresses and updating them - most times it only takes tights, a belt, and cute boots!


There's a new-ish thrift store that I have decided to visit every Friday. Last Friday, I found a few awesome things!

I am a total sucker for 70s/80s era ceramics. I love them. I wish that ceramics were still popular! Paint your own pottery is ok, but it doesn't hold a candle to the variety that vintage ceramics classes offered! Check out the horse head below! He's definitely going in my booth - I am considering spray painting him white. What do you think? Leave him as-is or give him a fresh coat of paint? (Keep in mind, the weather is not conducive to spray painting lately!)

I also found a small globe - TOO cute. I haven't done my research to find out how old it is yet, but I am loving its petite size. It might actually get a coat of chalkboard paint - I successfully sold a chalk globe a few months ago!



And then... and then!!! I found a Nashville puzzle. From 1978! It is a really fun illustration of the city and its landmarks. I bought it not knowing if all the pieces were there but hoping that they were. I brought it home on Friday after work and showed it to Andy and before I knew it, he was opening it and laying the pieces out on the table! We got right away to work (we are officially old and married! doing a puzzle on a friday night!) and by some miracle, all the pieces were there!! We were SO delighted. Andy is from here and is very proud of Nashville and since I've lived here for 7 years, the city is very dear to me as well. If it were a photo puzzle of the current skyline, we wouldn't have been excited about it.. but this illustration is SO cool and it features the amusement park Opryland USA (rest in peace, dear opryland!), Andy's beloved summer pastime that was torn down to build an outlet mall. sigh.


Anyway, we love it and went to Michael's first thing Saturday morning to get a frame for it. Now I just have to figure out where to hang it! I have so many things to hang and I'm so indecisive on where to hang them. Thank goodness for 3m command strips!

Linking up to...

Penny Worthy Project
What I Love About The Thrift Store
Thursdays are for Thrifters
Treasure Hunt Thursdays
Magpie Monday

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Thirty Before 30: Update 2

I am trying to power through my Thirty Before 30 list! November 29 will be my "half birthday" so that means I have 7 months left in my challenge. Below, I am bolding the ones that are in progress.

House:

1. Buy a new couch
2. Get the attic (craft space & guest room) organized - working on this right now, since we'll have guests staying November 5!
3. Change up dining room wall decor - halfway there - did 2 of the 3 walls!
4. Redecorate above the couch - working on this! I have too many art pieces that are close in size - I need to find some variations.
5. Get shelves for living room and redecorate the inside the door space
6. Hang the "Y"s I've been collecting
7. Get (and keep alive) more plants
8. Go through my old CDs and figure out what to keep/import/sell/etc
9. Get a canvas print of the "Believe" sign at the church where we were married
10. Organize garage

Life:

1. Get our wedding photo booth photos printed for our guestbook - even put them in the photo album! woo!
2. Finish wedding thank you notes - SO close
3. Be more intentional in my friendships - this one is hard to quantify, so I'm leaving it up here as a reminder to initiate hanging out with friends! Lately I have been ok with it!
5. Get our wedding featured on a wedding blog - Thank you Ashley's Bride Guide!
6. Make a meal plan/menu with Andy
7. Learn how to arrange flowers properly
9. Edit a video of our honeymoon roadtrip
10. Watch all the seasons of Mad Men - we are almost to season 3!
11. Take a trip with Andy - Seattle!
12. See a play/musical - We saw our friend Jason in The Complete Works of Shakespeare!
13. Ride our bikes this fall and next spring

Business:

1. Put an item on consignment in a local vintage shop
2. Succeed with booth at TN Antique Mall - This is also hard to quantify, what is "success" really? It's going well and growing!
3. Go to an auction
4. Make postcards for my business to leave at the booth - Accomplished!
5. Do a fabric bouquet tutorial on my blog
6. Grow my blog to 75 followers and 75 subscribers - over 100 in subscribers, 70 followers!
7. Do another flea market (maybe even organize one?) - I regret this one - since I opened my booth, I don't have the inventory to set up at another flea market.

So, all in all, I feel pretty ok about the list! Have you set any goals or made any lists recently??

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Vintage Decorating: Flower Arranging

One of my Thirty Before 30 goals was to learn how to arrange flowers. I haven't learned just yet - I would love to take a class in person. I d0 have a vintage flower arranging book (Better Homes & Gardens: Flower Arranging, 1957) and the new Design*Sponge book has a section on flower arranging, but I'm not there yet. I think I would learn better through hands-on experience, so I'm still on the hunt for a class to take.

In the meantime, here is a 2 page spread on arranging for autumn! You can click the images to see them much larger on flickr.





Personally, I love the last image with the teal tablecloth, yellow flowers, and mod plates!

Do you know how to arrange flowers? Where did you learn? Do you know of any great resources for simple arranging?

Favorite Finds: Melodie's Bamboo Bar

Today's Favorite Find comes from Melodie of Pink Cupcake Vintage! We met years ago when I worked with her husband and would run into them occasionally at antique shops. (They helped me decide to buy my first record player years ago at the Tennessee Antique Mall, in fact!)

Throughout the years, I have loved following their adventures (especially Tin Can Treats, their mobile ice cream shop!) and I am pleased to bring you Melodie's Favorite Find.

What is your favorite find and where did you find it?

My favorite find is a white lacquer bamboo bar cabinet that I found for $50.00. If I remember correctly, the hubs and I were killing time in Franklin, so I popped into the Harpeth Antique Mall off 96. I was immediately taken with it since it had 3 of my favorite things. 1) bamboo 2) high gloss white lacquer 3) gold hardware.



Do you do the majority of the decorating in your home?

I would say I do most of the decorating in our home, but Matty definitely weighs in on everything! If it were up to me alone, my house would be even more girly than it is. Matty is such a trooper and is so great about letting me do what I want, that when he makes a special request I make sure I find a way to include it.

You're an avid thrifter, do you have any advice for those who love to thrift?

My advice is buy what you love...even if it takes years for you to find it!

Thanks so much for contributing, Melodie!

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Couch Coveting

I've had my eye on the Corona sofa at Macy's for quite awhile now but I've also looked around at some other vintage-inspired couches. Here's a round-up of some of my favorites I've found.



First, the Corona sofa, then the others. Click through to learn more about each sofa!

What do you think? Do you have any favorites? Do you own a vintage or vintage-inspired sofa? If you have found one other than those posted, where did you find it? I am eager to tuck more away for the future. :)