Every once in a while, I get in a mood to redecorate. The redecorating bug tends to run in my family, and almost every time that my grandma is at my mom's house, something is moved or rearranged. I fondly remember redecorating my grandma or mom's living room growing up. It's in my genes.
The redecorating bug hit me a few weeks ago, and I decided to update my front entrance and the space above my kitchen cabinets.
My entry table is an antique secretary. My uncle found it on the side of the road, picked it up, and gave it to my grandma. Somehow it found its way into my house, as we tend to pass pieces between generations. I am dying to paint this piece, but I also want a new entry table, and when I buy one or when one is bought for me (at Christmas, hint, hint, mom!) then this secretary will be passed on to my brother and his wife. Which is the only reason that it's not been sanded, painted, an distressed in a bright fun color!
Anyway, this is what my secretary looked like before:
I've had most of these pieces for years. The super tall candlesticks that are distressed, a family picture, a stepping stone Mother's day gift from Megan, a fun candle holder from Pottery Barn, and a white urn with tall blades of grass, along with a "W" initial.
The too tall candlesticks have been bugging me for a long time, and the entire piece felt cramped and crowded.
So, I scaled down, removed the candlesticks and came up with this:
I recently purchased a distressed 5x7 frame to use as a photo prop, but I thought it would be fun to keep it on the entry table and write phrases on throughout the year. I could do Bible verses, "Welcome", "Come Back", "Go Tulsa", just to name a few. I'm excited to play with the chalkboard frame, and the girls have even enjoyed pulling it down and coloring on it.
I grabbed a canning jar out of the pantry and filled it with coffee beans and a candle. I love the smell of coffee, but hate the taste. Using coffee beans as a filler is a great trick to keep your house smelling fresh as guest walk in the door.
Beside the jar, is a turquoise decorative sphere.
On the top tier, I replaced the oversized candle holder from Pottery Barn. I purchased it in December at the Memphis outlet, and it hasn't grown old on me yet, so I kept it. I left the "W" and added a family picture, although it needs to be updated.
Once the entry table was complete, I moved on to the cabinet tops. These were decorated when I moved in, and decorated last fall and Christmas, but after Christmas, I never put anything back up. I have a love hate relationship with cabinets that don't reach the ceiling. I feel like it's wasted space, and my southern family has always decorated cabinet tops, but I also don't see the point, as everything just gathers dust up there.
But, it was so plain and just driving me crazy, so I decided to do something about it.
I am really craving white, crisp, clean designs right now and if I didn't have three young children and a dog, I'd totally stop what I was doing and march myself down to the furniture store and purchase a crisp linen couch. But, that's just ridiculous for now, so I decided to pull out two white platters that my mom bought me last Christmas and put those on display.
Next, I grabbed two wine bottles out of the fridge. One of the bottles had been in our fridge unopened for several months, maybe even a year. I tasted it, decided it was disgusting and poured it down the drain. It was free, I don't feel guilty about wasting a bottle of wine to suite my decorative purposes. The other bottle was fairly new, but only had a glass left, so I poured myself a glass of wine at three o'clock in the afternoon, washed out the bottles, and grabbed some twine and my glue gun and wrapped those bottles.
The cabinets were still missing something, and I remembered a small white plate from the Dollar Tree that had a sharpie drawn letter "W" on it.... I know y'all have seen that floating around Pinterest, and my mom and I tried it out, and then put it in the cabinet. I pulled it back out and set it on a stand. And, I have a feeling that most of my family members and neighbors will be getting sharpie drawn plates for Christmas this year.
Finally, I grabbed a white urn that was originally on my entry secretary and put it on top, but decided it needed something. Thankfully, my brother hunts and my grandmother had brought up pheasant feathers several months ago, and they were just sitting in a drawer waiting to be used. I decided to stick those in the vase.
Voila. I seriously love the way this cabinet top looks. I want my entire house to look just like this. White and clean and fresh.
Sometimes, you just need to make a few little changes to make your house feel like a home again. I'm so glad the redecorating bug is in my genes. Thank you mama and grandma!
