Secondhand Surplus

Friday, January 28, 2011

Bathroom redo, for the cost of paint



































































I have been wanting to redo the bathroom for quite sometime.
Our shower surround is some kind of laminate, and it has been that way since we moved in. I would love to tile it, but I'm afraid to start a project like that, with only having one bathroom and no experience tiling.
I had been putting off doing any thing to the bathroom since I couldn't do it the way I wanted to.
I had finally had enough, and decided that I wanted to like the way our bathroom looked.
I bought paint at home depot, the paint-plus-primer, and that was it. Everything else used to redo the bathroom we already had.
I started with a light gray, and painted the walls, ceiling, and trim the same color. I then took both light fixtures down, and replaced then with a nice pan light I already had in the garage, and used a simple vintage porcelain socket for between the medicine cabinet and mirror. I paint both with primer and flat black spray paint. I then used 2 large round white bulbs, for both fixtures.
The medicine cabinet was found in an alley, and it was primed and painted flat black. It was found without hinges, so we used two left over hinges from our kitchen switch. My husband then hung the cabinet on the wall , next to the mirror, that I also replaced. The mirror the husband has had for a long time, and had never really found a place.
For the hand towels, I used a hook that I also had laying around, and attached it to the wall, by the sink. I found an old gray cotton cafe curtain with my fabrics, and decided to cut it in half, and hem it to make the two new hand towels. I also switched out the handle and the cabinet under the sink with a simpler handle, also left over fro the kitchen.
I had been trying to come up with a way to hide the shower, and decided a floor to ceiling, wall to wall curtain would do the trick. I had the tapestry with my fabrics also, and it was almost the only piece that was large enough. My husband then used piping as a curtain rod, and an extra piece for the toilet paper holder/curtain tieback.
The rug is also something that I already had, just a cotton saddle blanket. We may do one more long pipe for a towel bar for our bath towels, but for now there is a hook on the back of the door for those towels.
I am very happy with how the bathroom turned out, and you can't beat it for the expense. It only took a couple of days of work, and now I wished I would have done it sooner.(and that all the other rooms would only take that long to paint)










Monday, January 17, 2011

Your thoughts please...











I know the upholstery choice is awful, and it is not original. But, if you look past that, aren't the bones beautiful? This sofa at one point was webbed, and most likely when the webbing started to go they replaced it with plywood. I was not able to find any sort of makers mark on this, but I believe it is designer. I love the way the top of the backrest, widens and curves slightly in.
I'm torn.
Does anyone know anything more about this sofa? Can you see past the awful fabric? Or am I just looking too hard, and this is nothing more than thrift junk?




Sunday, January 16, 2011

Danish modern lamps

















We picked up these Danish lamps yesterday at the salvation army. I thought the pricing was a little high, marked $9.99 a piece, but the current sale was 50% off electronics, so a deal was had at about $5 each. They have modern fittings and cords, and I believe that they are dated '92. They are very similar in design, yet the differences let me know they are handmade. Both lamps are signed, and still have stickers in tact that read, Made in Denmark. I can't find anything on the web about the artist, but I'm sure its because I'm not sure of the signature. If anyone can steer me in the right direction, I would appreciate it.
( I don't want to sound cheap when I say the price was a little high, and if these were at a dealers, they would have been a lot higher. I believe as thrifting is becoming more popular, the thrift stores are hiking up their prices, and most don't know the difference between the lamps I bought and lamps from Target.)

* I am also still trying to work on my photography, if you have any suggestions i would love to hear them, try to think of these pics as product shots. I'm trying to still go for something a little more interesting, not just a bright light and a black velvet backdrop.


Thursday, January 6, 2011

Little bits...














































































































































Just a little bit of what's going on in my life and in St. Louis at the moment.
(*sorry about the fuzzy photo.
** the couple of pics in there were taken New Years day after the tornado, I feel awful for everyone that was effected by the tornado in and around St. Louis.)