Recently in Corner of My House Category

This is Vincent Van Gogh's Vase With 12 Sunflowers - painted in 1888. It is one of several inexpensive art posters we have around the house. I love the Impressionists and I love sunflowers, so here is a double blessing. (Yes, I know Van Gogh was actually a Post-Impressionist. Let's not nitpick.)

I have the children sketch a still life every other week, but D was inspired by an episode of Doctor Who (featuring Van Gogh) to instead sketch this painting using pencil with a bit of colored pencil added for clarity.

She wanted me to post the original painting along with her hasty sketch. I believe she likes Van Gogh's art a lot. I know we both wish someone could have calmed his tumultuous mind.

My recent entryway project inspired a 5-minute makeover over on my desktop, which faces the Jane Austen mirror.

I dusted.

I moved things around.

I also changed the cardstock behind my token collection from white to light blue.

This is one of my favorite collections around the house. Each transit token and the Hobo nickel were purchased about 15 years ago at a flea market. The Ts are for Tampa, Florida. The R and S are for Rochester, New York.

Transit tokens and Hobo nickels, categorized as Exonumia, are an interesting and unique art form. I wonder why more people are not collecting them. I've always collected coins, mostly foreign, and my little collection seen here is just another facet of my interest in the beauty of circular bits of metal. 

I think my bluebird looks quite fetching next to the token collection.

Prior to the unfortunate theft and vandalization of our property, I decided to give the entryway mirror a little makeover.

This mirror was gained at a yard sale - way back in 2006. Can you believe it was free? The seller had broken one of the side mirrors. Each side panel is about 8 1/2 x 11, so the whole thing is rather large. It hung in my son's room for a long time, but he never really used it. Turns out boys aren't as into mirrors as girls are. Go figure.

So, I kind of stole it from him.

But, look, the size and shape is perfect for that entryway wall.

Convinced? Okay, back to the mirror makeover.

I decided to print out a picture of Jane Austen for the left panel. My shamelessly purloined version of Dear Jane is, I believe, the 1879 engraving which was based on Cassandra's drawing.

For the right panel, I chose one of Miss Austen's witty quotations, printing it out with a downloaded Jane Austen font.

"Pictures of Perfection make me Sick and Wicked."

When we return to our normal balmy weather, I think I might use this instead:

"What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance."

The portrait and quotation are printed on turquoise paper and I have placed three turquoise glass votives from Big Lots betwixt the two panels.

So, what do you think? Would Dear Jane approve?

***More lovely transformations are linked at Between Naps on the Porch for each Metamorphosis Monday.***

I hate to keep special items buried in boxes in the attic. Precious mementos should be enjoyed, not forced into servitude as long-forgotten clutter.

This philosophy is how I ended up hanging my silver baby spoon on the kitchen wall.

This is truly the most-viewed corner in the house and now I can see my baby spoon everyday without it taking up valuable storage space.

Oh, look, another Mail Call post. I must be working on that correspondence flaw of mine. Brandy, of Minivan Life, kindly noticed my lamp and vintage plate recently.

So pretty! I LOVE turquoise. Love the blue plate and that lamp... is it vintage?

Dear Brandy,

Thank you for the compliment and that you took the time to comment gives me twice the joy.

I picked the plate up from a local consignment shop. It was still in the lovely blue original box. The enclosed Avon note card reads, "1974 Avon Commemorative Plate for achievement in campaigns 1,2, and 3." This plate begged to be bought and I obliged since it was only $6. I like that the plate has blues and greens and is crowned with daisies. Best of all, it shows a mother with two children and the older child is a girl. This fits my situation perfectly. We really did sit amongst wildflowers while my daughter was little and I held her baby brother. Give me a coincidence like that and even I can overlook the hair and dress of the Seventies.

The lamp was absolutely free and spared from my neighbor's garbage. She brought it over one night, knowing that I might like that it was blue. The base is encircled by Roman numerals, as though it were a sundial. I removed the fairy swinging betwixt the lamp arms; not even I can allow for such an amount of whimsy. 

I removed the Christmas tree bows since this photo, as it is no longer winter. (I know many still have snow, but I'm naming it and claiming it.) Sorry, no bowless photo at this time.

Blessings,

Mrs. Happy Housewife

I had a bit of a bad time last week. Suffice it to say, I now believe that "moron" must be "doctor" spelled backwards. To take my mind off my troubles and better spend my time while on hold with doctors, I got the living room ready for St. Patrick's Day without buying a thing.

Green enough? I think so. If you click on the photo, you can read notes about what you see there on my sideboard and shelves. Yes, I'm calling the dresser in my living room a sideboard. It makes me feel better.

Here's a peek at the tea tray. Click through for notes on the objects.

Best of all are the vintage St. Patrick's Day cards:

I say best of all because they're not really vintage. I printed them off the internet and pasted them onto dark green cardstock. That makes them nearly free. I like that price.

This "Erin Go Bragh" (Ireland Forever) flag was also nearly free. I had my daughter shorten and paint a wooden skewer. Then, I printed out the flag twice. I pasted each picture onto dark green cardstock and attached the two sides to the skewer and each other with poster tack. God bless the person who invented poster tack.

I may not feel better about my doctors, but at least I now enjoy my living room more.

I've posted photos before of the Green Cabinet in our Dining Room, but I don't think I've ever shown the inside of the cabinet.

Here is the Green Cabinet shown again standing in the corner with our wine rack which holds decorative bottles.

The cabinet holds some of our school supplies but had gotten quite messy lately. I decided this week that it had to be tidied. Let's take a look at the results. 

Not perfect, but better. I really should have taken a before photo.

Shall I tell you about each shelf?

Here are the top three shelves: 

The top shelf holds two free brass planters - one with colored pencils and the other with markers. I plan to spray paint these planters soon. I'm thinking a blue or green.

The second shelf holds pens and pencils. The white milk glass cup holds pens and highlighters. Ten years ago, it held toothbrushes in our bathroom. The large white jar used to be part of a kitchen canister set and now holds our unsharpened pencils. The blue star tin cup is where we keep the sharpened pencils and erasers. The tin cup is from Target's dollar section.

The third shelf holds our stapler and tape dispenser. The white tub has our scissors, staple remover, calculator, hole puncher, and compass, but it held baby wipes long ago. It was long, long ago because my youngest child is nearly twelve-years-old. This sturdy container has been very useful all these years.   

The fourth shelf has a large, blue metal bin from the thrift store with all of our crayons in it. The little blue tins has our Crayon Twistables. It came from Target just like its twin above.

On the fifth, and bottom, shelf we have our watercolor pencils, a box of index cards, and our index card binders. The box for the index cards actually was part of a small paper shredder years ago. The part that sat on top broke ages ago, but I saved the the hard plastic box and it has been very helpful. 

So, that's my tour of the Green Cabinet. I hope you enjoyed a look inside this useful (and free) piece of furniture.

I suppose I should have known, but I didn't. Obviously, I should pay better attention because I was simply shocked to find out...that the IKEA chalkboard is magnetic. This will really transform our lives. How? I have no idea, but a magnetic chalkboard is an amazing feat of technology and I must reap the benefits - whatsoever they may be.

Above you can see my overachieving chalkboard working her heart out by holding a Columbia Restaurant magnet while simultaneously displaying fractions AND guarding our clothespin doll collection. Quite the skilled kitchen helper, isn't she? She definitely deserves a gold star. 

This weekend, H went after his Honey-do list with a passion and one item he marked off the list was hanging some items above my sewing desk in the Family Room.

A little thrifting fest this weekend brought this glass bluebird to live on my desktop. It's not actually thrifted; I found it at Big Lots. It's turquoise, though I don't think you can tell in this photo. I'm a bit color blind and most "turquoise" items just look light blue to me. Does anyone else have this problem?

Did you know that Turquoise is the hot color for 2010? I picked up several turquoise pretties at Big Lots, in addition to the bluebird. I decorate with a lot of sunflower yellow, dark blue, and apple green, but I think turquoise will liven things up around here. I don't want to get bored and adding splashes of a new color is cheaper than redecorating.

By the way, in many myths and fairy tales, the bluebird symbolizes happiness. It must be true because I'm very happy with my little bluebird.

Movie buffs might recall that the Bluebird of Happiness was the focus of Shirley Temple's first childhood box office flop. Ironically, the movie also received two Academy Award nominations.