Day 632: spring table updates

I had a little fun this weekend updating some of the tables in our house (and very inexpensively, I might add). This is one of the end tables in our bedroom. I bought them both for about $25 at Bama Flea Mall about two years ago. One was bright peach and this one was bright yellow. I primed them with Kilz almost immediately, and they stayed like that for ... well, a long time while I was pretending to contemplate paint colors.

I guess I'd finally had enough because I brought this guy out and put two coats of some leftover Grant Beige (which is on the walls in our living and dining rooms) on it and called it a day (I still need to do the other one). I decided I didn't want it to be bright and white, since the lamps are white with white shades, and I'm quite pleased with the result. The lamps were a birthday gift from Wes last year, and came from Tricia's Treasure's. I was lucky to find simple white shades at Wal-Mart that are a perfect fit.

I also tracked down a little plant small (it's Chinese Sedum) enough for my milk glass urn (also picked up at BFM) and it looks happy and spring-like on top of an old copy of Wuthering Heights and a book about Charleston (where we honeymooned). The cute alarm clock is from Target that I picked up on major sale one fine day, and the little black heart-shaped box came home from China with a sweet friend of mine.



In the dining room, I'm finally happy with what's happening on the blue chest (by the way, the color is Stratton Blue by Benjamin Moore). I moved the giant copy of Cabinet of Natural Curiosities to another room, which made the stack of books more manageable (and color coordinated). On top of it, I clipped a few little branches of dogwood blossoms from the tree in the yard.

Still need a lampshade for my marble lamp, and I've just about exhausted all of the ready-made options here in town. I want to get it right, so a custom shade might be in order.


I've been wanted to prop something behind the lamp, but just didn't know what. This is actually a page from the March issue of Martha Stewart Living, from a story on bird motifs. Since it's all silver and dishes, it makes perfect sense in the dining room and the colors work great, too. I just clipped it from the magazine and put it in an 8x10 frame from Target. My black Wedgwood pitcher picks up the black in the photos and on the spine of Frank Stitt's Southern Table.

That little glass piece in the front was a birthday gift from my sister, and it's from a make-your-own snow globe kit from the 1960's -- she picked it up at a thrift store. It's so random, but I love it. Inside, I put a nest I saved after a family of birds lived in our petunia basket last summer, and three little eggs bought for 50 cents each at Leaf & Petal.

Do we have anything in our house that didn't come from a thrift or antique store? Very little. Just how we like it!