Y’all may remember the challenge we did a while back – myself and some of my blogger friends took some items that were on clearance, all for $15 or less, and styled it for fall. If you didn’t get a chance to read that post, you can find it HERE. Anyways we had SO much fun with it, that 3 of us decided to make it a monthly thing. That’s right! Every month Emily from Le Cultivateur, Terri from Decorate and More with Tip, and I will invite 2 other bloggers to join us on this challenge. The links to their results are at the bottom of this post. Here is what I did for November!
Okay if I’m being perfectly honest, I procrastinated on this one. Not because I didn’t want to do it. There just seemed to be so many other things grabbing my attention. Like laundry. And dishes. And sick kids. And…..life! On Friday (yes, the Friday that was 3 days ago) I finally realized I had better get my project DONE! That meant finding it……whew!
It took me several stores before I found something that was just the thing! What you don’t know is that my “blogging buddies” and I have some special plans for the weeks leading up to Christmas and you’re about to see a while lot of amazing posts coming your way! That said, this item fits PERFECTLY into a space that I was (and I must admit still am) in a little bit of a panic about showing y’all. You see it’s been one of those spaces that I hide when I take pics and share them and I’m about to expose it all! Yikes! It’s worse than that dream where you show up at a big function in only your underwear! Ok I got off track. Back to this challenge!
I proudly rushed home with my beautiful find and showed the first person I ran into. The MR was quite convinced I was totally nuts this time when I showed him that my treasure, that I paid MONEY for, was a broken shelf. Yup, you read that correctly. A broken shelf. What?
First off here is the most important thing that you need to know right now. Read that price tag! It may have been broken but it was originally $54.99 and I got it for $13.74! Perfectly within my $15 budget. Whats a little bit of broken decor anyways? Easy peasy….
Maybe I should show you what I mean by “broken”.
See that lovely wrought iron bar with the hanging hooks on it? Well one side of it was broken right off so it just hung there. Perhaps if I was a welder I could have fixed this but I am currently lacking in that skill set. Perhaps if I knew a welder really well, I could have gotten it fixed but I don’t. Keep in mind this was 2 days prior to having to take the pics and write this blog post! I took a trip to Home Depot to see what I could find that might let me replace the bar.
One I removed the wrought iron bar, it left a shelf like this with holes thru the brackets where the bar had been. I tried and tried to find a metal rod of some sort to fit through there but couldn’t find what I needed exactly. Then I thought of a wooden dowel!
Voila! Perfect! Not perfect…..the theory was great and it fit once I cut it to size and all but it doesn’t match but since when has that ever stopped me before?
I grabbed my Waverly Chalk Paint and set to work. The color “Elephant” was the closest to the dark tones in the existing shelf. I literally applied this with a piece of paper towel because I didn’t want to dirty a paintbrush for this tiny thing.
After letting it dry I dry brushed some white chalk paint on and waxed it a couple times. Perfect! Now comes the really fun part.
Since we are getting so close to Christmas we decided we would show y’all ways to style these clearance treasures for Christmas. Once again I chose a piece for this challenge that is in no way a specific season. I can use this shelf anywhere in my home and for any season just by styling it differently. I love things like that. I decided to hang a couple neutral ornaments with some twine at varying heights making sure it didn’t interfere with the light switch. This shelf is currently in my front entry but I’m not going to show you anything but the shelf because I’m working on a big project here. Don’t worry – you’ll see it all very soon.
Next I added a lovely drapey greenery garland and two silver candlesticks. I wanted to keep it simple and neutral.
I finished it off with my little rusty birdcage (I’ve showed you this before. Still love it!) and some copper toned battery operated candles to tie in the light switch plate cover. This is my splash of color and y’all know how much I am obsessed with copper!
Here it is with the candles on, but clearly its still daylight. I think you get the idea however.
What do you think? Not bad for a “broken” shelf, huh? I’m pretty pleased with how it all came out and it is the perfect thing to style my entry. It may look a slight bit sparse at present but when you see the big picture, you’ll see how well it fits right in.
Want some more amazing ideas and transformations? I’ve got you covered…..check out my friends projects for this month.
Emily from Le Cultivateur
Terrie from Decorate and More with Tip
NJ from The Colorful Wings Journal
Stacey from Poofing the Pillows
I’d love to have you follow along on Instagram and Pinterest as well.
Enjoy!
You are so clever Tara! I love how this shelf turned out! It so pretty too with all of it’s Christmas Decor!
Thank you, Jerri! I loved sharing it with yโall
Boy that took a lot of ingenuity to figure out a way to solve the problem. The shelf looks great styled!
Thanks so much, Susan. It was so much fun!
Tara, what a perfect shelf. I wouldn’t even of thought twice about purchasing the shelf the way you repaired it. That shelf is a gem. I love how you styled your shelf too. This is such a great way to inspire our readers not to be afraid to purchase a clearance item. Thanks for sharing this with us!
~Terrie
Honestly it could have been left with no rod and still would have been great if you didnโt pay too much attention to the holes thru the brackets. However I thought something to hang things from was just what the doctor ordered!
That is adorable! I would have walked away from it and never thought about replacing the broken bar with a dowel! So creative! Love the Christmas styling also!! Have a great one!
Thank you so much! I was originally hoping to replace it with something like the wrought iron but plan B worked just fine! Iโm loving it! Enjoy your day!
Tara, that shelf is so cute!!! You fixed it so perfectly! No one would ever be able guess that it wasnโt that way when you bought it! You matched the wood tones so perfectly! And, you know, I loooove that greenery!!!
~Emily
Me too! Iโd like to have dozens more just like it for every tall piece of furniture and mantle and shelf ???
This is just simply gorgeous! I love how beautifully you fixed up this shelf! It looks way better with the dowel! Great job! I just adore those subtle touches of Christmas!
thanks so much! I was going for more โwinterโ than outright Christmas so it can last for months or until I get bored.
Oh my goodness, that turned out great! I really love the pretty greenery draping over the sides. Little shelves have always been a favorite of mine. They can add so much to a room.
So glad to do this challenge with you. ๐
I had so much fun with this one, once again. I got that greenery at a thrift store for $6 the other day and Iโm obsessed with it! It does put so much personality into a space that otherwise has none.
Girl, you are a genius! I would have passed up that shelf in a heartbeat. Love your ingenuity. So cute!
Thank you so much! I love doing things like that. Saving a piece everyone else passed by. The reject. Thanks so much for stopping by!