Monday, May 28, 2012

WIP (work in progress): Bathroom shelves



Hi ya'll! It has been AGES since I have had any time to do anything remotely house-y or crafty. I was jonesing real bad. Anyway I decided today that I would start decorating the bathroom shelves. They aren't finished, hence the post title, but I have started and that is a step in the right direction, right?




The Hubs built shelves last Christmas for our master bath and I absolutely love them. They sat empty for about three months and then the last two months there were two candles, a jar of cotton balls and a rolled up hand towel. It was pitiful looking! So I went to a couple thrift stores and picked up some vessels to fill the space. I found lots of interesting blue jars and also the clear one below containing rope and a silver lid.






The large blue jar is super neat; it holds a candle on a cast iron holder perfectly nestled inside the jar. Perfect! I also found this great wire basket for real cheap at Roost (downtown Spokane). It will be perfect for holding towels, wash rags and hand towels. 



Then I hit up a local Goodwill and grabbed a few clear containers as well. Three were only .99 cents and the large round one was $1.99. Can't beat that people! I ended up not using the two similar jars but I know that they will be utilized somewhere else so I am not sweating it. 



This interesting jar below was a Goodwill find two years ago, but it was used in a chemistry project at school. We coated glass jars with a silver type compound. I am not sure of the precise name, and I don't feel like digging through my school work to uncover it so we are calling it "silver type compound". I love it, and think it's so interesting and it kind of looks like mercury. Besides it is pretty cool that I "made" it...well you know, sort of.  



The Hubs and I collect shells, sand, and general beach items every.single.time we go to any beach location. We have tons! I put some of the collection to use today for the decor. I placed sand (from an unspecified foreign beach-I'm not sure if we are allowed to "take" items), a starfish and random shells in the large, round vessel and then stuffed in a tealight as well. 




In the tall, skinny jar I put in a pebbly beach (from an unspecified domestic beach) and then tossed in small shells. 




It still needs something so I may end up wrapping some raffia or jute around the neck of the bottle. We'll see. The large conch shell is from a trip The Hubs took a few years ago. 




Putting items in a cluster or vignette style is something I have a tendency to do, so I placed items into groups in the corners of the shelves. 





The shelves are still quite empty looking but I have some big plans to add to it. Imagine black and white photos, in frames, of The Hubs and I enjoying various beaches on the top shelf. Also I am thinking I need more texture so a skinny seagrass basket that can hold various decorative soaps. The wire basket on the bottom shelf will house the towels; I just need to find the right color scheme. Also imagine the walls blue instead of green. I think it will definitely make everything pop. I believe the bottom shelf needs varying height as well so I may stack some old books under the large, round vessel. 


It is still a work in progress, and it may take me another six months before it is complete (lord I hope not), but I am content at the moment knowing that I have at least made a few baby steps. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!