Repurposed Scaffolding Bench

I found this old scaffolding board at an estate sale a couple of months ago and knew I just had to have it. I loved its look and patina. And the price was certainly right. When I first saw it I immediately thought it would make a great looking bench for our front porch. 

This was a pretty easy first 'repurposing' project that Jon and I tackled together. We have obviously worked on other home projects together but this is the first project where I imagined something up for an 'old' object and he helped me make it happen.

 I am super happy with the finished product and I think Jon is a fan too... although when it comes to my estate sale and picking finds I can never really be too sure ;) 

At first I thought we might buy some MCM hairpin legs for it but with a little research I realized they were a little more money than I was hoping to spend. I have seen a lot of projects online and on Pinterest where they use pipes for home decor projects so I thought we might check that out. So we went to Home Depot and looked at the pipes and fittings. Turns out those aren't as inexpensive as I thought they might be either :)

But we ended up going with the pipes because we could obviously have them right away and also because we decided they might look better and make more sense with the scaffolding than the hairpin legs. Once we picked out the legs, the rest of the project was pretty easy! Jon just measured and spaced the legs out correctly and screwed them in.

So now the bench resides on our porch and I love the way it looks! I sort of wish it was a little bit taller but we didn't want to put any more money in to buying more pipes or fittings. The pipes have been oxidizing rather nicely so they look a bit older and are starting to match the metal on the scaffolding. 

It gave our front porch the little pick me up it needed! I'm not sure how often you might find old scaffolding while out and about but if you see some you should definitely pick it up! .... if not for yourself than for me ;) 

Begin Again ~ Vintage * Handmade * Repurposed

I am so excited to share my new logo and Etsy shop! I have had Hollie Would Vintage open since 2009. When Jon and I moved and then our sweet Calvin came along, I had closed the shop for awhile to focus on those things :) Once I decided I would open it again I thought that it was time for a bit of a change. I have always been a crafter and have also been enjoying repurposing items in recent years. So what better place than my Etsy shop to start sharing those passions as well? 

Hollie Would Vintage wouldn't cut it anymore because I won't only be selling vintage (although that will still be a big part!). I thought about a name for a long time. I'm not sure why it took me so long to realize that the name of my blog would also make a great shop name! 

Begin Again - Vintage * Repurposed * Handmade

Begin Again works so well because so many of these items are being given new life and really 'beginning again'! And when they are bought by someone it is my wish that each item will be well loved and appreciate in their new homes. 

Another reason for the name change is because my sister and I have a dream to have our own small business together one day and a shop without MY name in it seems more fitting ;)

Below are photos of a few of the items that are currently for sale in the shop. 

Ferris Wheel Nursery Lamp

Vintage Home Decorating Books

Sweet Little Embroidered Pillows

There is more in the shop and I am working hard to add more each week. I am also really excited because I am almost ready to list some repurposed art I have been working on. This is something I have been thinking about for years and I am finally making it happen! It has to do with my love of vintage children's books. Here is a little sneak peak. 

I am super excited to share these and tell you more about them but am making sure they are 'just right' before I do! Thanks for following along :)

Foxes and Little Golden Books - Calvin's Nursery

Well, this is the post that I have been wanting to share for over 6 months now! But as most people with a baby would know, you get awfully busy! Calvin was born on October 29th... 7 days past his due date. If he had waited any longer they would have induced me on the 30th and he would have been born on Halloween. I am glad he chose to come before that though cause I wasn't sure how I felt about having a Halloween baby! :) But the most important thing is that he is healthy and happy.... and already 7 months old!! 

So this post is long overdue. It is his nursery and Jon and I worked very hard on making it just right for him. We are both very happy with how it turned out and I think Calvin is too :)

About a month before we found out I was pregnant we painted this room Anonymous by Sherwin Williams (I believe it is an HGTV color). That is a good name for it as it is sort of hard to say what the exact color is....sort of a dark tannish, gray that could even look slightly green in the right light. The pictures don't do it justice. It is really a lovely color. We had picked this color because at the time we had planned to make this the guest bedroom. Well, once we found out I was pregnant we decided this would be better as the nursery. We didn't want to paint it again so we decided we would make the color work whether we were having a boy OR a girl.

The photo below was taken while in the process of decorating (obvs!). It shows the wall color pretty well and gives you an idea of the size of the room (not too big but just right for a nursery) and that it gets pretty good light from the two windows. 

After much thought, we decided on a theme of Little Golden Books/foxes. The Golden Books were my idea because I have loved them for a long time and have gathered quite the vintage collection. The foxes came about because Jon had seen  a few fox items when we were out shopping for the baby and really liked them. The two ideas ended up going very nicely together!

One of the first things we put up were these picture ledge shelves from Target that we are using for Calvin's books. My shower theme was also Little Golden Books so everyone was asked to bring a book for Cal instead of a card. So we got LOTS of books and wanted to be able to display some.

 

The rest of the books and other toys, etc... go on these shelves against the wall opposite the windows. I believe we just got these shelves at Wal-Mart. But they are the perfect size and length for everything else we wanted to store out in the open. I am sure once he gets older he will want to decide what goes on these shelves but I am enjoying all the books and knick knacks for now :)

Have you noticed all the little foxes in the different pictures? There was another one on the picture ledge shelves too. 

One of the most special things in the room is this rocking chair. It use to belong to my great grandmother. And it use to have pink upholstery. My parent's had inherited it and then decided to give it to us as a gift after they lovingly reupholstered it themselves. My mom, aunt and I went down to the Strip District one Saturday and picked out the fabric for the chair. Then my mom and dad did an amazing job redoing it. It was their first time reupholstering something. They did great! 

I already had the floor pouf (from Target) sitting down in our living room and knew it would be perfect in the nursery. 

The fox blanket and the Golden book pillows were made by my sister, Abbe. She is an amazing sewer and found these super cute fabrics. PERFECT for our theme. I had seen these Little Golden Book fabrics online but they were sold out EVERYWHERE. But she kept searching and surprised me with these pillows. And the fox blanket is just THE CUTEST. 

From the beginning I knew I wanted some garland and/or bunting in the room somewhere. I just couldn't figure out the exact placement. I kept thinking I wanted it to hang sort of in a corner but that never really worked out. In the end, above the crib was best. It is something fun for Cal to look at while laying in his crib. The '3D' yellow stars are from Target. And the other star garland was made by my other super talented sister, Gretel. It was garland made for the shower. The stars are cut out of Little Golden Books (ones that were falling apart!). I also clipped up some other pages from LGB's. A 'C' page for Calvin, A page about October for his birth month and two other cute pages. 

His crib is made by Delta and I just LOVE the more modern look of it, and I love that it is gray and white. I was pretty excited when we came across this one because I just wasn't a fan of the bulkier wood ones that all seem to have a higher back. Jon's mom got us the crib. I love that the nursery has so many things given to Calvin from his family. 

We already had this yellow dresser from Ikea and that is honestly pretty much how we came up with the accent color for the room. We thought about painting it but then realized the yellow really looked great with the wall color. So we went with it! and I think the yellow, gray combo really pops. 

The dresser fits nicely between the windows and was a great height to also use as a changing table. To decorate above it, I took three images from 'I Am A Bunny' and framed them. The frames are old ones I picked up at thrift shops or garage sales and then I just painted them all the same color. 

I'm normally not a fan of these stuffed animal holders but it came with the comforter set and I thought this one was actually sort of cute. I thought under the window was a neat place to put it so Cal could easily reach them once he was able. Right now it is filled with some of my old stuffed animals and some things Jon and I have picked up a souvenirs over the years. 

The pictures below are better images of the framed LGB pages on the wall with the shelves. We put three above the shelves and three below. We went with a few fox pages, one bulldog page in honor of Wheez, and the others are just images I really loved. The frames were all thrifted and I painted them all to match. 

Jon did a great job making the closet more functional. He made the shelves at the bottom and added two more bars for hanging clothes. 

I am so happy with this room and think it might be my favorite in the house! Jon and I really worked hard to make it perfect for our little guy. I just hope he loves it as much as we do as he gets older :)

Entry Way Makeover Complete!

Back in February I published this post  about redoing our entry way and the ideas we had for it. Well, it is finally finished! It actually has been finished for awhile but it always takes me forever to take pictures and put a post together :) I'll show you a few 'before' pictures again.....

Look at all those shoes....Yikes!

Before

      Before

Before

And here are the AFTERS! I really love how it all turned out. Jon did a great job, as usual!

We turned the hall closet into a little 'mudroom'/bench area. Jon painted the inside the same light gray (Sedate Gray by HGTV for Sherwin Williams) we used going up the stairs and in the upstairs hallway. The trim and door are just a plain white. He also took out the metal hanging bar and added the hooks. He then made the bench from scratch. We weren't sure in the beginning how we were going to finish it off. Doors? Baskets? Rolling carts that fit under the bench? But in the end we decided just making doors would be best because we could just close the doors on the shoe clutter! And look at that... All of our shoes (OK...MY shoes!) are now nicely hidden under the bench.

We enlisted the help of my mama to make the cushion. She and I made a trip to JoAnn Fabric's where I picked out this fabulous fabric (which I can't, of course, remember the name or maker of). We also grabbed some foam, which was ALOT more expensive than I was expecting! JoAnn's would just cut the foam to length but not width. So Jon brought home an electric knife from work and we did a little chopping! Then mom sewed up the cover! Now it is a great little nook to sit and get your shoes off and on.

The finishing touch was adding the three baskets shown below that I got at Target. They are from the Smith and Hawken line. I love the little chalkboards attached. We will keep our winter accessories hidden away in those!

Thank goodness my shoe mess is hidden away now!! And there is still plenty of room under there for more ;)  We got the hardware for the bench doors at Lowes. Wheezy is glad the shoes are stored away now too. More space for her to sprawl out!

I didn't get a great picture of it, but you'll see below that opposite of the bench we hung a little coat rack type thing. I wish I would have taken a better shot of it because it is one of my favorite finds from an estate or garage sale. I found it in a barn (along with a lot of other great stuff!). It is a vintage, metal hanging with a little shelf type top. Super industrial looking. It's a little rusty/dusty and the perfect addition to the space.

The other major change was the floor. We decided on a faux wood vinyl to replace the old, faux tile/stone... or whatever you would call it. We both really like it. It is easy to clean and really makes a big difference in the feel of the hall. I think it looks and feels a lot more inviting and 'homey'. 

Here is a picture of Wheez 'modeling' the floor. She actually slips on it pretty often. I thought that she might get use to it after a couple of months but she still seems to be having a hard time. If we have visitors she gets really excited and starts dancing around on the floor.... and sure enough a leg will always slip out from under her!

We painted the walls 'Retreat', an HGTV for Sherwin Williams color. We have used those HGTV colors quiet a bit in the house and I have been really happy with them. 'Retreat' was on the same matching color palette as the 'Sedate Gray' we used going up the stairs and in the upstairs hallway. It helps take the guess work out of matching!

Here is one last angle of the hallway. It also gives a little glimpse of the new light fixture we put in. It has a neat look to it and provides a lot more light than the old one. I am not TOTALLY in love with it though. I was having a hard time finding something I really loved for a decent price. Oh well! This one will do for now.
The mirror above the mail table was a great find at Goodwill. It was actually from Target and still in its original packaging. I had it hanging in our Oakmont townhouse but never liked the placement of it. In our new house I think this is the Perfect place for it! You can get one last peek at your hair and makeup before you rush out the door ;)

I am so happy with how this space turned out. It is so nice to walk in to after being gone all day. It looks fresher, happier and more inviting. I am proud to have people over now and know that this is the first thing they will see when they walk in. 

Ms. Batista likes it too!! :)

Hope you enjoyed this little tour! I think next up will be the baby's room. :) It is pretty much done now and Jon and I are so happy with it! Not too much longer before our little guy will be here to actually enjoy it!!