Button Room - Reclaimed Bedroom

For nearly 16 years one of our extra bedroom housed my "Button Room".

It was home to my computer, educational materials & reference books, display cabinets filled with my collections of buttons & buckles along with my competition trays and favorite buttons & buckles showcased as framed artwork.  

I am a collector of antique, vintage, modern & studio clothing buttons & buckles- fascinating, incredible works of art, history, science & culture.  I have been collecting since 1996.

I searched my photos and learned after all these years I have just one photo of my Button Room.

Sadly it only shows one small corner and just a few buttons. 

 I've spent many hours studying/researching buttons and button-related topics in my Button Room.

Many hours were also spent handling business as a former President, Vice President & Show Chairman for the Kansas State Button Society as well as Editor for the Missouri State Button Society.  

 As the years went by this room accumulated too much stuff and was long over-due to be rehabbed.

Last Autumn I decided it was time to reclaim my Button Room to its original purpose, a bedroom.

Little by little walls were repaired, walls & ceiling repainted and piece by piece furniture was acquired to create a bedroom

 (above in photo 2 you will see a new addition - French lighting wall sconce)

 Our reclaimed bedroom is serene and comfortable.

It was fun searching for the pieces that now furnish it.

Although I no longer have a dedicated Button Room, the contents of my Button Room were moved to other storage areas of our home and are just a fingertip away (smile).

 

 

No Rhyme or Reason

Where does time go?

So many projects in the making - they seem to be creeping right past me.

Do you have days, weeks like that?

June 12th marked my One Year Blogaversary.  It came & went way too quickly.  I will be offering a "Happy Blogaversary Give Away", but not today.  Please check back as I HOPE to share it soon!

This upcoming Saturday I will begin redoing my buffet. 

Stay tune for that reveal!

Till then I thought I'd share some of my favorite shabby, chippy home decor images from around our home 

This photo is a corner of my studio nook.   

Till next time ~ Hugs, Tami

Found Treasures

If you have visited my blog before you know we recently repainted

5 rooms/hallways in our home.

I adore lighter shades: creamy whites, shabby whites, vintage whites... they have always been splattered amongst the other colors in our home.  

When we recently repainted these rooms/hallways, we use white on the trim work and either soft white or vintage lace white on the walls.  Our recent redo allowed us to swap décor
with other items in soft neutral tones.   

I had a lovely gold antique mirror that never sold in my vintage shops.  I could not bare to part with it at our local thrift store, so I decided to give a fresh coat of paint.  

Here is the mirror in its original gold paint being prepared for painting

 

voilà

Gold or white, what is your preference?

Our town every Spring offers large item pickup.  Over the years I have picked some awesome freebies from the trash of others -
you know what is one man's trash is another man's treasure!

Since I closed my vintage resale shops, I only bring home items for us, SO here is the piece of furniture that came home with me...

Isn't this a wonderful Thomasville dresser? 

It was in great condition other than a few shabby chic nicks, which I LOVE.  I did replace the (replaced) brass knobs to these fun porcelain crown knobs I found at Michael's on clearance for 39 cents each... that's right 39 cents each... Woot, woot! 

Here is a comparison of the knobs

Which knob would you have selected? 

May you find treasures today - perhaps free on the curb, at a tag sale, but mostly may your heart be blessed with treasures
from those you love ~ Tami

 

Home Remodeling Done?

Could it be?  Are we done?  Maybe?  Probably not...

Finally after months of ceiling & wall sheet rock repairs and fresh paint due to foundation issues, 5 rooms/hallways are done.  

Drum roll please....

 

Clean & fresh looking - open furniture flow -

 simple & uncluttered... at least for now...

Smile or tremble as Larry might feel at that thought.

Anyway working with existing furnishings, it does look different than what it did just a few months ago

We tried switching the function & furniture around between our living & dining rooms, but due to room or furniture sizes, we are limited on what fits where.

BTW, see the buffet in the center of the back wall?  You can see it needs repair & painting.  Please share you comments on how you think I should redo it this buffet.  Thanks!

Thank you for coming along our home redo journey!

You can click here to see prior posts along our repair journey 

 Find the Wonderful in today!

Anxiously waiting

It's been awhile since I last posted about our home repairs.  My hubby finished work on a neighbor's home, went canoeing and started a new career as a part-time plumber... our home repairs have been on hold.  

Larry retired in February, but wanted a part-time job following his retirement.  He has done volunteer handyman charity work for years, focusing the past three years on plumbing.  What a change from being a scientist to being a plumber, but I think he is going to like it.  

OK now for the updates...

Once upon a time our living room looked basically like this

(changing decor with holidays/seasons)

  

Then lately it looked like this

and this

and now it looks like this

the sheet rock repairs have been completed & freshly painted by my wonderful hubby, and as you can see, the living room is now crammed full as we work on the adjacent dining room

I am so thankful Larry is skilled to do all these repairs as well as saving us tons of money... but I want organization back to my home (smile).

It will be like Christmas unpacking my boxes of goodies to decorate once all is done.  

Here's our decorating thoughts... interchange the use our our adjoining living & dining rooms.  Our dining room table is too wide for our dining room, so we are contemplating moving it to north end of our living room, keep the sofa, a small chair & coffee-style table towards the south end and move the remaining furniture into the dining room to create a more secluded

reading room.

At least that is what is running through our thoughts... may not look as good or be functional, but you don't know till you try it.  Hope to share those changes with you soon.   

Thanks for your visit.  Please leave me a comment and let my know you dropped by.

Enjoy your day, Tami

 

Entryway Changes

Until just a couple of weeks ago our entryway was painted    
'Ruby Lips'

 What a difference soft neutral paint can do to the same area... 

 Slowly, wall by wall, ceiling by ceiling, room by room, we are making home repairs and with simple cost effective changes such as neutral paints, repurposing old items and rearranging furniture we are creating a fresh new style for our home.

I hope you will stop by again and follow us as we continue our home repairs.  

I'm linking this post to Kathleen at Faded Charm for White Wednesdays... click & hop on over to see all the other incredible White Wednesday images.

"A friend is someone who reaches for your hand...and touches your heart." ... I am so blessed by your friendships!

In My Room

For years I loved my 'Ruby Lips' entryway color and my upstairs yellow hallway.  When the repair of our basement foundation lead us to repair and paint ten rooms, we chose softer shades of whites and sweet cream... these softer shades seem to fit better with our 

mellowed age.   

Here's a nook I have been working on - it isn't quite what I want, but it is a beginning  

 What do you think so far - do you like it?

I always enjoy Kathleen's White Wednesday linky party on her blog Faded Charm - take a peek by clicking on her link!   

Decorated for Christmas

In 2005 I began scaling down my Christmas trees & decorations.  At that time I had 37 Christmas trees throughout our home.  They ranged from 2' to 7.5'

I love REAL trees and greenery, but I rarely use them.  I decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving and REAL trees & greenery do not stay fresh to New Years when I take down the decorations.  

Sometimes I will add sprigs of fresh greenery into artificial greenery.  In 2005 I donated our huge 7.5' FAT Christmas tree.  It was so heavy to carry upstairs and it consumed our family room.  We now have a 7.5' slim-line tree instead.  It doesn't have the same appeal, but it's manageable.

I seem to add and purge a few decorations each year and manage to keep my storage area brimming full.

While some decorations have their annual place of honor, I do enjoy creating different vignettes each year.

Merry Christmas

 

2011 Halloween & Autumn decorating

Did a little bit of Halloween & Autumn decorating....