Hey friends! It’s time for another Trashtastic Treasures post today, and I love Trashtastic Treasures! One of my favorite things to do is to scavenge around at thrift stores, yard sales, and online for new to me items that I can make my own. I have three different trashtastic treasures to share with you today, and I would love to hear your opinions about ways that I can make each of these my own! My three items that I am sharing today are a vintage bar stool, an old painting, and a vintage office chair. I’ll tell you more about each item below.
The first two items are pictured above and below. I picked this vintage bar stool up last summer at a community yard sale, for like $5. It sat in my garage for months, and I finally cleaned it up and brought it up to my kitchen in the current state. The seat is in fairly decent condition, but not perfect. I do really like the color of the red seat though.
As you can see, the legs are rusty. I did clean them with soap and water, but that’s it so far. I have debated back and forth on weather to leave this stool as is and embrace the rustic simplicity, or whether I want to spray paint the legs and make them shiny, and leave the seat as is, or what. I really don’t mind it the way it is, but would I love it even more if I do a makeover on it? I don’t want to touch it unless I feel sure that is the way I want to go with it. I would love to know your opinions about my vintage bar stool!
Here is a close up look at the condition of the seat. I have to say, I kind of dig it!
The bar cart you see pictured near the bar stool is a vintage bar cart that I painted. You can read all about that makeover here. This bar cart has worked out wonderfully to add some extra storage in our kitchen. It holds all of my mugs, some tablecloths and bowls. You can see that there is a phone jack in the wall above the stool, and we do actually have a phone that hangs there, believe it or not. It is our only land line. But I took it down for the pictures, because it just isn’t pretty. The mirror you see hanging on the wall is another makeover, and you can read about that here. I painted the turquoise plate at a Pottery painting place locally, and the yellow bird in the black frame is a little DIY project that I did at the Haven Conference last summer.
The vintage fork and spoon hanging over the doorway was in our home as a child, and my mom gave them to me. You can see a peek into the office wall of our dining room in the picture below.
Let’s talk about the vintage painting sitting atop of the barstool. I found this for $6 at a Goodwill in Maryland. The frame is damaged, and there is some fading, but I had to bring her home with me. There is a label on the back that says Publication of Edward Gross Co. New York Elena by Anne Allaben. I looked around online, and this artist was employed by that company in the 1940’s.
Through my research I found that there is a matching painting of a boy called Chico. The pair are often referred to as gypsy children. So I am going to keep my eyes out and see if I ever find it . If I do, I’m buying it! There is no signature, so I’m not sure if it is original or not. I plan to repair the chunk that is taken out of the frame, and then paint the frame. I’m not sure yet what color the frame will be. I am leaning toward a pink or coral color to match her bow in her hair and her skirt, or possibly a pretty blue to compliment her vest. What do you think? any suggestions? I just sat this there for this post. Obviously this is not the permanent home for this artwork.
Through my research I found that there is a matching painting of a boy called Chico. The pair are often referred to as gypsy children. So I am going to keep my eyes out and see if I ever find it . If I do, I’m buying it! There is no signature, so I’m not sure if it is original or not. I plan to repair the chunk that is taken out of the frame, and then paint the frame. I’m not sure yet what color the frame will be. I am leaning toward a pink or coral color to match her bow in her hair and her skirt, or possibly a pretty blue to compliment her vest. What do you think? any suggestions? I just sat this there for this post. Obviously this is not the permanent home for this artwork.
I made my cafe curtains myself, and you can read the tutorial for no sew cafe curtains here.
My third find is this vintage office chair pictured below. I bought this recently at my local Goodwill for $6.99. I plan to make it over, but it has such great bones! And it is very sturdy and comfortable. We have been without a chair for this desk for some time now, and were using a chair from our table. So we are already using this chair, but I do plan on painting it, and possibly reupholstering or painting the fabric, I haven’t decided yet. I am still dreaming on this one. Any suggestions for this chair would be appreciated! And just so you know, I did not style my desk and prettify it for these pictures. This is where I work on my blog, and where we all sit down to use the computer (we don’t allow the kids to own laptops until they are 18). So this is the hardest working area in our home, and this is how it really looks. I sometimes style it for pictures, but this time I just wanted to show you my desk chair. Just in case you want to know, the desk and the shelving above are all from Ikea. I painted the shelving hardware gold with Rub n Buff.
The upholstery on this chair is part leather and part fabric. Although I don’t think it is real leather, I think it is vinyl. But whatever it is, it is in good shape. The actual part you sit on is fabric, and it is an olive green color. This is the part I really want to change, so since the rest is in good shape, I am considering painting the fabric.
My favorite thing about this chair is the brass detail on the bottom of the front legs. I want to paint the frame a color this will make the brass pop more. This chair is surprisingly comfy, and I am so happy that I happened across it! The black and white striped pillow is from Amazon.
The gallery wall you see below is something new I did for Spring this year. I may end up adding a little more to it. You can find the free botanical printables here.
And here are a few more closer up pictures of the chair.
And that is a wrap for my Trashtastic Treasures post today! Thanks so much for stopping by and spending a little time in my little corner of the internet today. And if you have any ideas for either of the pieces I shared here today, I would love for you to write a a comment about any of them! I read and respond to each one! Have a fantastic Tuesday! I hope to have a new project I have been working on ready to share with you soon. I am working on tile in the master bathroom.
And I can’t wait to share it with you!
And I can’t wait to share it with you!
Do you have champagne taste and a tiny budget like me? Love fashion, DIY, crafting, all things vintage and thrifty? Stick with me, I’ve got you covered!
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I have found two sets of Elena & Chico portraits in thrift stores in NJ. The artist worked in NYC so they must be more common in that area. I also find a lot of the 50s style Syroco and Homco decorative wall hangings and frames, like your gold mirror….produced in Syracuse NY. Lots of good thrifting out here!