Tuesday, October 2, 2012

bedroom series part four: the old window

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i have a thing for old windows.  there’s something so architectural about them.  they make a statement because they’re gorgeous enough to stand alone, whether they’re acting as a functional window or just hanging out.  i would hang them in every room of my house.

so my dad rents an old duplex and has as long as i’ve been alive.  obviously, the windows were replaced at some point and my mom (who i think i get my love of decorating from), has them all stashed away for future makeovers.  she let me have one.  score!  it’s an eight pane old wooden window with the heavy lock and all.  i’d seen an awesome window re-do from our vintage home love and was inspired to go with black.  i thought and thought about it and just couldn’t make up my mind. 


leshia and i scraped the paint off as much as we could.  it was chipping and flaking off and if i wanted to paint over it, it needed to happen…although not a particularly fun job.  after we scraped off as much as we could, i had to use a paint stripper.  this was my first experience with one, and it wasn’t too bad.  i used krylon off.  be sure if you are using a paint stripper in any form that you use a mask.  the fumes are pretty potent.  i sprayed, let it sit for a few minutes, then scraped.  i did this on all the sides until the can was empty.  this window had several coats of paint on it, including something similar to enamel green. 




i still couldn’t decide what to do with it, so i opted to go ahead and scrape all the paint off the glass.  i just used a putty knife and it worked fine.  just another time consuming process. J 



so here’s what it looked like after all that.  and the more i looked at it the more i fell in love.  you can see some of the original wood, along with some of that enamel green paint.  i almost felt bad leaving it like that…like i was cheating or something.  but sometimes “junk” in it’s original state is prettier than anything we could come up with! 

i just love it hanging in our bedroom.  it’s on my side of the bed so i get to look at it lots. J



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43 comments:

  1. I love the way this looks--so rustic and natural. I've been wanting to do something like this for awhile. I think it would be so cute to hang something like this above a desk and use it to organize sticky notes or a calendar or something like that. Good work!

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  2. I have 2 of these old windows sitting in storage...I was going to use mine as a photo frame of sorts, but I love this idea as well!

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  3. It looks amazing! Love the natural, rustic look. Over from the Creative Headquarters hop and excited to look around a bit more. Happily following :)

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  4. I love this window!! I actually put one almost exactly like it in my shabby chic guest bedroom, which I did entirely for under $250. Here's the link.

    http://thepolkadotshoes.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-245-shabby-chic-guest-room.html

    It sounds like we have a lot in common in terms of our love of thrifting and transforming things on a dime. :) Glad to have found y'all through SSS. :)

    Blessings from Oklahoma,
    Meredith at thepolkadotshoes.blogspot.com and #66, #52 and #61 on Wow Us Wed.

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  5. I love all things architectural. Your window is perfect and looks great hanging in your room.
    I'm happy to be a new follower and hope you'll stop by.
    Mary Alice

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  6. I LOVE old windows - and hanging on your wall like that, it just looks gorgeous! How lucky for you that your Mom has a stash of them!!!
    Your newest follower - would love to have you come by and follow back when you have the time!
    Hugs,
    Suzan

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  7. Oh oh oh- this is a MUST DO! Love it.

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  8. Love the window....especially having 8 panes. It looks great. I've never seen the Krylon Off, good to know!

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  9. I have never seen that paint remover before--but I love Krylon products so I bet it is good. love your window!

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  10. That's one beautiful window. Scraping off paint is a lot of work. I am doing the same with my old chair that I want to repaint. I haven't finished removing the old paint. I didn't use any paint remover. Just doing it manually.

    Eco-Strip.com

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    1. it is a lot of work, Edith! I scraped as much as I could but it was stuck pretty good after all those layers! :) good luck!

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  11. Love how it looks. I think it was a good call on your part to leave it after all the scraping. (wow, what a job that sounds like!)

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  12. Hello, new follower here! I would love to have you link up with my Clever Chicks Blog Hop this week!
    http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/09/clever-chicks-blog-hop-2-featured-post.html

    I hope to see you there!
    Cheers!
    Kathy
    The Chicken Chick

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  13. I love this. Please consider linking this post to repurposed ideas weekly at www.repurposemylife.com

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  14. I like it the way it is, too! A lot of work, but so worth it. Great job, and it looks wonderful on the wall.
    Saw you linking at Serenity Now
    Debbie :)

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  15. I love the idea of using an old window as a decoration. Very rustic and beautiful!

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  16. I love it...it's the perfect decoration! I would love to have you stop by 'Or so she says...' and share your great ideas at the link party, going on right now (and every weekend.) Hope to see you there! www.oneshetwoshe.com

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  17. What a great window. I can never seem to find any good old windows. Thanks for sharing on Tout It Tuesday! Hope to see you tomorrow.

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  18. The window looks great and I like how you cleaned the paint off the glass. I found two old paned windows this weekend and hope to work on them soon, although the glass panes are mostly gone.

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  19. I have a window just like this that I recently received for free thanks to my Father-in-Law's girlfriend renovating her house! My plan is to hang it on a huge bare wall above my soaking tub in the master bath... but have no clue HOW to hang it!! How did you hang yours?

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    1. I was stumped by that too, Kelly! I had a small picture hanging kit that had eyelet hooks & wire in it. I screwed an eyelet in each side if the frame & tied the wire to it. I LOVE Hercules hooks, so I used the most heavy duty one I had. Hope that works for you! :)

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  20. New fan here, I found you through Cowgirl Up! I love what you did with the window and hope you'll come share at my Farm Girl Blog Fest: http://fresh-eggs-daily.blogspot.com/2012/10/farm-girl-blog-fest-3.html

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  21. Wow - what a great idea - looks really great hanging up!

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  22. I truly like to reading your post. Thank you so much for taking the time to share such a nice information.
    buy wood windows

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  23. My wife is into this crazy rustic look. She is always trying to make our home look "chic". I do not understand it at all. She has made me run out and grab throw pillows, weird-shaped mirrors, and egyptian cotton sheets. I just don't get the whole interior decorating thing. Can someone please explain this to me!

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  24. You remind me of my friend who's also fond of recycling old windows, you know. In fact, she just visited our colleague's house just to get the old windows that our colleague supposed to throw in the garbage. Haha! One man's trash is indeed another man's treasure.

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  25. Pretty! This was an extremely wonderful post. Thank you for providing these details.
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  26. Simple but very catchy! It looks like a plain window that was transformed into a wall décor but the catch is, you’ll keep thinking: What is that for? Anyway, why not try making it into a picture frame?

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  27. Hanging it in a bedroom, that's clever.

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