Funky Junk Part 1 - From Junk to Junque

I've been blog-hopping lately and I stumbled upon this blog called Funky Junk Interiors.  She makes some of the coolest stuff (you can find everything she does under her 'projects' page) and the best part is that most everything she does is free.  She finds things in the garbage, on the side of the road, at yard sales and flea markets, and turns it into the coolest decor.  Seriously, her house is amazing.

With that inspiration in mind, I decided to do a little junking of my own.  We have lots of junk lying around [or as my Grandpa used to say, "J-U-N-Q-U-E" to make it sound fancy] so I knew it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to find some things to work with.

There was an old sewing machine in Daniel's old house that had seen better days.  The top was pretty much destroyed and the sewing machine itself was long gone, but the drawers were still in pretty good shape, so I saved them.  They make really cute display containers for all kinds of uses.  For example, put silverware, flowers and napkins in one and you have a cute storage container for the dining room.  Fill it with remote controls and odds & ends, and you have a smart storage solution for the coffee table.  Office supplies are stored perfectly on a desk... you get the idea.

Anyway, I had 2 drawers and one was in pretty good condition, while the other was missing the handle and didn't look as good.  I decided to paint the worst of the two to give it that shabby-chic look.  I used a dry brush technique in which you basically put very little paint on your brush so it goes on thin or not at all in some places, making your paint-job look distressed.

Once it was dry, I decided to use it in my dining room on my hutch.  I added some wine bottles from our wedding, a jar of silverware, some toothpicks (you know, dining-roomy things) and lots and lots of flowers from the yard.  I paired it with some flea market finds such as an old silver tea set and platters, some wine glasses and various glass vases and accessories.  

Check back later for more "J-U-N-Q-U-E"!