Pinterest Inspired Thrift Store Vintage Apron Display
I know I am beginning to sound like a broken record, with all the recent talk about my stash of vintage linens, but in case you aren’t familiar, I had/have a low key hoard of vintage linens, and I gave myself the ultimatum: use it or lose it! And let me tell you the struggle has been real!
I decided my small collection of aprons weren’t going anywhere, so I spent some time perusing Pinterest for some vintage apron display inspiration and found a ton of ideas, but I kept going back to this sweet vignette by Sweet Eye Candy Creations. You can see the pin below, or click over to the blog, it is just gorgeous, Sweet Eye Candy is the perfect name for Jennifer’s site, her style is very soft and feminine shabby chic.
I decided to draw as much inspiration as I could from that lovely display and started checking out areas in my kitchen where I could potentially pull off a similar display.
We have one wall area in between 2 doors that has always been a struggle for me. There was a custom “phone shelf” that was built by the previous owner of the house, that has always bugged me. I’ve tried the decorate it in the past, but it always just kind of looked weird and random, mostly the kids just used it the set drinks on, and forget about them.
The shelf pulled out remarkably easy, but with EVERY project I do in this house there were bumps in the road. I realized the white trim you see in the first picture that runs in the corner of the two walls from the shelf to the floor, is actually covering up a shoddy drywall job, so removing that wasn’t an option. So, I sanded and patched what I removed to the best of my ability, and painted everything the new wall color (Behr Campfire Ash).
Once the wall was tackled I headed out to the thrift stores to find a shelf, or hooks I could use to display my aprons on. I started digging around in the “wooden decor” section of Goodwill, and was shocked when I came across almost the exact same shelf Jennifer used in her vignette, priced at $2.99! I hadn’t intended to do a copycat decor project, but it looked like that was where this was heading. So, I decided to check out the dinnerware section for pretty floral china I could display on the top shelf to complete the look.
I came home with the shelf and 2 floral plates, and 3 teacups and saucers for around $11 total. Not too shabby…
I loved the style of the shelf, but the finish was a different story. The gold and dark wood had to go, So I sprayed on a couple of quick coats of Krylon Chalky Finish Spray paint in the color classic white, on the shelf. I have to say, I have mixed feelings about the spray paint, it kept clogging and was kind of a pain, but I liked the finished product so I’d probably use it again…
Once I hung the shelf up, the fun started, and I got to decorating my little wall. I really wanted to hang my aprons on vintage wooden kids hangers, but I couldn’t find any at the thrift store, so I made do and wrapped plastic kids hangers with strips of a vintage sheet I had cut up, I am still keeping my eye out for vintage wooden hangers, but until I come across some, this gets the job done.
I have to say, I love seeing my little collection of vintage aprons, and I am totally looking forward to changing the decor out on this cute little shelf seasonally.
Have you ever done a pinterest inspired decorating project? How did it turn out?
