{guest bath} in need

So THIS is my blogging come-back post and it has not a dang thing to do with vintage! But given the fact that I am way prone to changing my thought process every few minutes, it works for me.

If you have read my intro, you already know that I'm a mom of 7 kids, with 5 of them still under the age of 18 and living at home. With this in mind, you can probably understand why there is always some sort of project going on around here. We recently moved into a super great house that is just perfect for us - enough bedrooms, large yard with pool, etc. BUT there's just a ton of stuff that needs to get done or that I want to get done in our new digs (the 'wants list' is much longer).

The first place I knew I had to make a major change was the hideous guest bathroom. It almost killed the deal when I saw it - black bathtub, black toilet, with a black pedestal sink and black mirror - egads!!!! (I grabbed a pic of it off of the MLS just to show how truly rough it was before I got started.)

The Before Pic

Of course we could have spent money to have those things replaced, but surprisingly enough they all looked fairly new and we def didn't have any 'extra' money lying around. So I searched my favorite source of inspiration, Pinterest, and found tons of fab ideas to work with. I still wasn't sure about a color scheme though, what could possible off-set or tone down the black?

I decided the best course of action was to use bright whites and varied silver tones following a trip to HomeGoods, where I found this awesome Lion's Head towel holder. I also found the shower curtain rod and shower curtain there too.

Lion's Head Towel Holder

Once I had some of the accessories in place, replaced the black mirror with a silver one I already had, and began to feel better about the bathroom as a whole - I had to figure out what to do with the white walls.

White Walls

I came across this pin on Pinterest that sealed the deal. This darling nursery wall was created by the owners of the Making Our Dream blog - love it. I followed her instructions almost verbatim, with the exception that I created 6" circles, didn't measure out placement, and smoothed out the air bubbles after cutting the circles. And here is the finished product...

...well ALMOST finished. I have the area over the toilet that I was going to hang baskets, like this, but once I nailed the first one up I realized that this bathroom might be too small to pull that off. So, the one is still hanging, waiting for The Boss to come home and provide his opinion. We'll see where it goes from there. Once it is all officially finished, I will post another pic.

I'm always thrilled to answer questions or receive comments, so please post away! Take care. {quirks}

Goodness...

...it has been a LONG time since I posted last! It truly isn't from a lack of inspiring ideas, that is for sure. I have been busy getting into the swing of things with the increased interest in my repurposed vintage home decor and furnishings. It has been so much fun meeting new people and creating fabulous, unique pieces for their homes.

I have decided to expand on the original idea behind this blog. Taking it from solely vintage/rustic inspired DIY Wedding projects to include vintage decor DIY projects and a forum to share my latest projects and creations.

Hope that you enjoy this new format...

{vintage} ✿ Brooch Bridal Bouquet

One of the latest vintage inspired wedding trends happens to be a favorite of MINE...Vintage Brooch Bridal Bouquets. What an awesome alternative to the traditional bouquet, right? Especially if you are lucky enough to have wonderful vintage jewel and gem heirlooms that you can incorporate into your bouquet.

Heirloom Brooch Bouquet by Noaki Jewelry

These beauties are a bit time-consuming though and you need to keep that in mind when deciding between a DIY Project or asking a professional to create your bouquet. Etsy has many talented artisans that can handle your order, keep in mind that you are looking at approximately 8 weeks time and approximately $400.00 to $800.00 in cost. I have found one artist that really caught my attention, Noaki Jewelry out of Los Angeles, California. Her execution of this heirloom bouquet is PERFECT, elegant, and inspiring. Another fabulous aspect of Noaki's shop is that she offers to turn your precious pieces of jewelry into an heirloom brooch bouquet. The cost is $300.00, which after completing my research for this post, is just an amazing price especially for such fabulous work. Please be sure to take a few minutes and look around her Etsy Shop.

However, if you are feeling adventurous and are a total DIY kinda person then this just might be the project for you.

There are several ways that you can acquire the brooches, my personal fave is one that I read where the mother of the bride wrote a short note to family and friends explaining her daughter's plan to make a vintage brooch bridal bouquet for her wedding and her wish to include her family and friends in the process, making the bouquet much more special {something borrowed per se}. The mother also included a photo of the inspiration for the bouquet so that everyone could see what kind of jewelry would work best. She received over 30 donations, at the time of her posting and everyone was thrilled to be asked to be a part of the bouquet. 

Her total investment in the bouquet included the following: postage, cards, padded envelopes and reprints - which she did at Walgreen's for 10 cents each.  She put a $.61 cent stamp on the padded envelope in case the piece they were sending would be heavy - but the whole packet that she mailed took just a $.44 cent stamp on it.

However most of the bouquets that I have fallen in love with have taken approximately 50 to 75 brooches to complete. So you can shop Etsy, eBay, flea markets, thrift stores, or even Dollar Stores for that new-old look. You really don't have to spend a fortune to find these pieces. Many sellers will offer brooches in lots and you can use vintage hat pins, earrings, miscellaneous gems to fill in.