Monday, June 2, 2008

A Room Without Walls, Part 2

About a week and a half ago, I wrote THIS post about my cubicle at the office. Since then, I've been working on making my office space a more personal and welcoming place to spend time in. People have noticed and I've gotten several compliments. Most of what I've added to my space have been thrifted finds, and I brought in a small quilt to hang on the back wall of my cubicle. I'll try to get a couple photos eventually, but I thought I'd show you my latest little project--bookends.

I had seen a couple bookends at the thrift store--simple wooden bookends that looked like they were probably made by some high school kid in wood shop. Oddly enough, they had holes drilled out of the bases. I considered whether they might have been made to serve some other purpose but they sure looked like bookends with holes to me. Not knowing what I could do with them, I left them on the shelf.

Yesterday I started thinking about those bookends again. I thought about getting something round to sit in the holes and remembered these birds on one of the shelves of my hutch--


I had picked these up at Michael's a few months ago and I think they're the cutest things! I decided to go back to Michael's and see if they had any more. Well, no they didn't, but they did have the birds in a larger size--and at 50% off. So I bought those and headed off to the thrift store where I found the bookends still sitting on the shelf.

These larger birds don't sit inside the holes but they sure do cover them! Now I'm working on some paint and decoupage techniques. When I'm happy with the bookends themselves, I'll use some kind of industrial strength glue to affix the birds, but here's a rough idea of how they'll look--


When I was at Michael's, I also found this birdhouse--perfect for my smaller set of birds! I really like the ornate, shabby chic quirkiness of this thing. And, yes, it was also on sale--I love Michael's, don't you?!


I hope to finish the bookends in the next day or two, and when I do, I'll share an "after" photo. Thanks for dropping in to see what I'm up to!

4 comments:

Julie in the Barn said...

Well, pooh. I didn't win. But I still love the pattern and have put the idea on my future project list. I like your on point version better, too.

Your office mates must be oooing & ahhhing over your customized cubicle. You have an eye for the great bargains.

Unknown said...

The birds are too cute and then the bird house. Are you going to repaint it?
We have a set of bookends that DH made in shop in high school. He had cut out dogs on the pieces and one of course is broken off.

Those will really be cute in your private office space.

Anonymous said...

The birds are such a cute idea! It looks like the one is peeking around the corner. Want to come decorate my workspace for me???

Patty

Lorraine said...

Had to check out your blog after reading your comments on Sharon's ...LOL....hope your son's move home is successful....my youngest son asked if he could come home for a couple of months while he finished uni .... that was two years ago....and he has finished uni and has been teaching full time for a year.....but he is great to have around! ...he doesn't cook tho so you have a definate advantage there.....I have been reading your posts about decorating the office.....isn't it funny that we have things around us every day that we don't really notice (like the paper clip holder, mug etc)are a bit past their "use by" date....and how simple it is to replace them to get a whole new look....well done.....btw - love the Prairie Paisley quilt - I have a fat quarter pack of the fabric and haven't decided what to do with it yet....but was thinking stars of some description.....