Living room decor... and other progress

Monday was my day off, and I suddenly was desperate to do something fun WITH someone. And so I called Bekah and we went shopping in Holmes County, Ohio. I needed new veils and was itching to spend a very long time drooling over antiques. At it turned out, antiques weren't the only thing I drooled over. If you've never had a black raspberry fry pie from Der Dutchman's, you have yet to taste all that is right about the world. 

But, back to the antiques... before I start getting graphic about the finer points of fry pies.

I fell in love with this piano bench. Its worn, green velvet pad, simple-but-elegant lines, and worn finish... surprisingly, I have no impulse to refinish it. I looked apprehensively at the price tag, but what I saw made me say, "You coming home wid me, baby!" 

So I happily carried both a bench and a drawing around the antique mall until closing time chased us out. Because of the quality of the ink and hairline scribbles that wouldn't reproduce well, I think this darling is an original pen-and-ink portrayal of a bridge and canal lock. Maybe the fact that the architecture of the bridge is similar to that of the Eiffel Tower caught my eye, but the longer I looked at it, the more I was entranced. It's an exquisite work, gallery-wrapped and everything. 

But I shivered when I wondered if, after I'm no more than a small pile of dust, my drawings will end up in a pile of odds and ends in a shop somewhere, priced for five dollars with no one to love or understand them. 

Mercy. Maybe that's why people carve statues out of stuff more durable than paper. And maybe my drawings will be adopted and loved like I do this one.

Instead of using nails to hang stuff on my apartment's newly-painted walls, I started using adhesive strips.

It sports a different mirror than the one I originally hung, but this collage on the living room wall is the drawing's new home. Forget fancy adhesive strips. I used nails. If/when I move again, I'll putty the holes and paint over them. 

So there.

This door leads from the living room to the dining room. Nine-foot ceilings and wide, original trim... helLO, gorgeous!

Doesn't the piano bench make the perfect coffee table? Yup, I think so too.

And, semi-facing the couch is this corner of the full bay window... with its bookcase I've outgrown. So I keep stashing books in odd places because I haven't seen a tall book-case that is both affordable and won't dominate the entire room.

Maybe bleached burlap and an old window frame are a bit too casual for the feel of the rest of the living room's decor, but who cares? Not me... at least until I recover from spring fever. And I know, the pink and purple flowers on the lamp don't exactly compliment the sage and orange theme.. but I love lighting just the base of the hurricane lamp in the evenings, making the room all cozy and dusky. Plus, my dad gave it to me. Sentimental? Who, me? Unabashedly.

I found this sturdy wooden serving tray at a thrift store a year ago, but I never posted the before and after, so here ya be.

Before:

After:

It's amazing what paint can do. Sorry about the spin-off, Campbell's.

The fabulous serving bowl was a house-warming gift from Carla... which makes it even more perfect. 

Vintage magazines just rock. The layouts and pictures are fascinating in their difference from modern ones. Plus, I just like old stuff. Fair enough? A Time magazine from 1947, published just seven months before the world lost the gift of Gandhi.

But it was Martin Luther King, Jr., not Gandhi, who said,

 "If I knew the world would end tomorrow, I would go out and plant a tree."

So would I. 

And a peony bush.

And heirloom tomatoes.

For now, though, I'm holding off on the tree.