The Wall Collage - Finally

We moved into this house a couple of months ago, sight unseen. Long story, but we had been on the road for a year. My best friend Juliana checked it out for us. The only photo we saw of it was a tiny picture of the kitchen in the corner. Anyhow, she loved it and I trust her so we signed a lease.  Now we're here and we love our place.

This house is an old house that has a big add on room in the back. The add on room is about 16 x 24 feet, carpeted, has recessed lighting, and loooooongg flat walls. Kind of feels like a basement .  When we first moved in there was also HEAVY gold and red drapery which as soon as the landlord left I took down and put in storage. Really helped lighten the room.

 For the next couple of weeks we did alot of sitting in the room, some lying on the floor and alot of pondering on how we were going to use the space.   Well I'll keep this short, but we've made it our dining room/living room. Most of it has been done for a while except this darn wall collage that I wanted to put up.  I thought wall collages were easy: buy some pictures and hang them. I was sooooo wrong. It's been months of buying pictures, changing my mind.. blah, blah, blah. I was making my husband nuts. He said he wouldn't patch the holes in the wall until I was done with the collage. He thought it would motivate me, but we've just had an ugly wall for months...

Anyhow the other night I was at Goodwill "Anthropolotiquing" and I found all of these gold frames. 9 of them. I thought they cost too much so I didn't buy them. Got home,regretted not buying them, thought about them all night. Woke up the next morning still thinking about them. Finally I decided to go back and see if they would take a lower price. They did! I didn't realize you could bargain at Goodwill, glad I tried! Got 6 of them for $60 (Hey, I'm on a budget!)

That night my husband painted the frames white for me.  I went and pulled out all of the pictures I had been collecting.  Still wasn't working. The next day I hit up some garage sales and found a couple odds and ends. My friend Juliana talked me into buying this small mirror that I almost put down and it ended up being the magic piece to fit it all together!

Mixed the mirrors in with vintage black and white etchings and some vintage prints. On a side note, if you ever need to make a dining room work in a carpeted room, USE and OUTDOOR rug. They are way cheaper and the chairs slide on it super easy! 

See the gold mirror my friend talked me into? It totally makes it all work, in my opinion. Anthropolotiquing is best done with a buddy! I still want to tweak them a bit, but my husband is refusing.

That bronze wall hanging was an estate sale find from the weekend. Needs to be cleaned up, but I love it! 

Here's how we've structured our Living Room/ Dining Room. Still want to add ceiling fans to break up the recessed lighting and a curtain on that random door on the right wall in the middle. AND new couches, but who doesn't want new couches?

Another piece I picked up at the estate sale. Cool vintage ceramic piece.

 

Gold pots, lace table cloths, pottery. Seems to be a gold and white weekend.

Cool mid century pottery piece with gold flecks. Adding it to Anthropolotique Vintage soon if you're interested!

Bestee's Nursery - So Anthropolotique

Before I get to it here is some definitions of terms I have made up, just so there is no confusion as you read on.

Bestee - A best friend. In this case it's Juliana.

Anthropolotique - 1) Anthropologie mixed with Antique. An item that is vintage but looks like it could be in a Anthropologie catalog/ store. 2) It also refers to my Etsy store "Anthropolotique Vintage" See my Etsy mini on my sidebar to check it out.

Anthropolotique Style - The art of mixing Anthropologie (if you can afford it) items with your vintage finds to create your own authentic, electic and global style.

Anthropolotiquing - Going to antique stores, thrift stores, estate sales and garage sales and hunting for those perfect items that will help you with your Anthropolotique Style home/closet.


Now that that's settled....

 Today I popped over to my Bestee's house because her baby nursery is finally finished! This is VERY exciting for 2 reasons. I just recently moved a couple of minutes away from my Bestee and being able to just "pop over" is a dream come true. Secondly, I never thought this nursery would get finished (she's 39 weeks pregnant) but she pulled through! It's very Anthropolotique Style.  She used lots of color and mixed new and old pieces to create something very unique.
One night there was a fiasco when I tried to help her sew some curtains and thought the nursery was over....You should have seen the curtain that we were attempting.  Sometimes you just need a Bestee to just look at what you're doing and tell you to keep going in that direction and sometimes you need a Bestee to tell you not to buy that $85 tree wall sticker and SOMETIMES you need your Bestee to just tell you stop making that ugly $*%&# curtain :-)

There was moments when I tried to convince her to buy some expensive Anthropologie curtains, but she held steadfast and was able to accomplish the entire room for less than the Anthro curtains would have cost. She's awesome.

Anyhow here is the room. It's very tiny about 8 x 9 feet but the white walls keep the color from being too consuming.  I love all the mixed prints and colors.

This is a hand-me-down crib that she painted white. She assembled the "mobil" with a tree branch her hubby found (so glad I talked her out of the sticker!) and some lanterns she got anthropolotiquing finished off by decorations from World Market. (World Market has great Anthropolotique Style options)

 The nursery also double as the guest room. The curtains are from Pier One (Clearance!) as well as the throw blanket. How Anthropolotiquey of her to turn an old crate into a side table.

Her handy husband made that headboard for her! She made the covered buttons and used a sheet for the fabric. Sheets are way cheaper than fabric by the yard.

She bought these CUTE wall stickers from Love Mae.  Real non-sticker stick was free!

More of the imobile "mobil".  She's going to make them a little higher, no worries. Definitely my favorite part of the room! So creative and cool!

Oh wait! Where did she get that cute succulent in the tea cup for her side table you ask? Oh it's just a favor that her Bestee put together for her "Baby Sprinkle". Gotta have a Bestee....