Flea Market Finds For Fido

Bed & Breakfast has gone to the dogs! Lately all the rage is about going green and giving new life to discarded items so as I was thumbing through the pages of a well-loved older issue of Country Home Magazine November 2008, I was thrilled to see an article that walks you through repurposing old chairs into a fabulous dog bed and how to transform a toile tray into a custom feeder tray with room for dog food bowl and water bowl.  Directions here.

Turn Vintage Tea Towels Into Amazing Chairs

Aren’t these chairs amazing?  Suzie Stanford of Melbourne, Australia, creates these amazing chairs from vintage and  discarded tea towels and tapestries. I follow some blogs where the writers write about their love and even obsession for collecting vintage linens and I too share this passion! So, here we go then, imagaination is the key to eveyrthing and when repurposing flea market finds and vintage treasures, why not transform them into art!

Decorating With Coffee Pot Lamps & Teapot Pincushions

Do you ever wonder what to do with a teapot or coffee pot that are missing their lids?  Just because a lovely piece of china is not complete or has some damage does not mean it is ready for the trash but rather it can become part of your home décor and actually be repurposed into a useful lamp or pincushion.

On a junk jaunt not too long ago I came across a booth that had a wall arranged with various vintage teapot lids and coffee pot lids into a neat little artful display just like miniature paintings would be arranged; I wish I would have snapped a photo to share with you all as it was the sweetest display that would look so great in any cottage or country house décor.

Here are a couple patterns with instructions for crafting your very own teapot and teacup pincushions and coffee pot lamps. Remember that flea markets, antique malls, thrift shops and yard sales are all full of china and porcelains odds-n-ends that have a couple dings and nicks or are missing tops or bottoms and these can easily be fashioned into your new lamp or pincushion. Have fun!

Lamp-pattern
Pincushion-pattern