My Best Junk Project of 2011: Funky Junk's Linky Party!

  So, Miss Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors is hosting a linky party... 

featuring Your Best Junk Project of 2011.

REALLY? Well..... ok.... I can do this.....

Donna throws down a gauntlet, Deb's gotta' take it up!

My best junk find of last year was discovered when we moved in December. 

It was sitting in the middle of my new (rented) backyard.

A little gardenhouse, built from reclaimed materials by the home's owner,

has been rather neglected over the past few years. 

So, me being me, I made it my project and rehabbed it.

In a weekend. ;0)

And then I filled it with a ton of my existing vintage & junk finds.

It started out like this:

Kind of forlorn and overwhelmed with stuff. 

(wow, that sounds like where I was at during the move... ok, enough of that...)

I emptied it, swept it out, and then commenced with the prettifying.

 First came a whitewash. All over everything! 

Walls, beams, doors, floor.

Then I culled through a bunch of stuff ('Cause I have  BUNCH of STUFF, people)

I did not buy ANYTHING NEW for this project, girls! I already had it ALL.

I decided what was going inside to make this a workable 

garden house/photo studio/writers' retreat for me.

The enamel sink I've been haulin' all over for years was a no-brainer. Finding one large and two medium crates to hold it up wasn't hard, either. A pegrack made from old wood and some ceramic insulator knobs (for electric fences) hangs over it and holds buckets. Eventually, I'll hook up a hose bib for running water to the sink, and it will drain into the pail below.

The folding white chair is a prop that I uncovered in a huge dumpster at Molbak's Garden + Home when I worked there as a display stylist years ago., I've used that poor broken baby in more displays than I can remember... and now, she holds my plethora of pots quite charmingly. I used a vintage commercial bread pan on the floor to hold rows of small pots, and a vintage commercial muffin top tin up on the chair arms to hold more pots.

Then I hauled in an old enamel-top table. Perfect working surface for potting plants, making wreaths, and works FABulously in photo setups. Behind the table is a loooooong wooden bench - that was already here in the gardenhouse. Over the window is another pegrack (today I hung a huge lace tablecloth on that to block the ugly view into the neighbor's yard).

 I hung a vintage metal cabinet and an old metal light fixture. 

 Then I hung my sweet vintage floral chandelier up high. 

I also added a heater. It's freakin' FREEZING here in Seattle right now!!!

 Then I foofed and primped and fussed, and when it was all done, I was just thrilled.  

I did a photo shoot out there this week for 

my Sweet ReTreats column  in the Spring issue of FOLK Magazine, 

and I am utterly beside myself with the way light bounces through this space. O JOY!

Dare I say it's even BETTER than the light was in my old dining room? ;0)

It's going to be a really fun 'lab' where I can play and try out 

all kinds of seasonal decorating ideas for my designs and articles.

I just have to add:

Wow. Thanks, Lord! I am awestruck by this.

In the midst of losing everything, God gave me this gift...

something I've wanted for a really long time. <3

So, there you have it.... my Best Junk Find of 2011: My Gardenhouse. 

Thank you ever so much for stopping by my crazy lil' blog!

Come back any time!