Inspiration for Repurposed Decorating/Art

Welcome. I am so glad that you stopped by. Pour yourself a cup of tea - curl up and get comfortable and join me for a little tour looking for the inspiration for a "re- purposed" painting and furniture in my guest room. I love re- purpose decorating using "what I do have rather than what I do not have". I want the room to be calm and relaxing and since I live near the ocean - I want it to feel like an old Nantucket Beach Cottage bedroom with soft, well loved linens and furniture. Let's take a look around at some things "I do have".

Finding inspiration . . . .

The large painting was created to use as the centerpiece of a one woman art show I was invited to participate in to raise money to help find a cure for breast cancer. The show was called "April in Paris" and in honor of the theme I painted the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Here . . . .

White wicker

I went through my cupboards and found the blue and white stripe and blue denim shams and old white quilt with faded red flowers (just what I am looking for to create the old Nantucket feeling). The patchwork quilt pillows are from JC Penny and are part of their new American Living collection. I picked them up for 50% off and since I bought them on a sale day they were marked down another 20 % . The patch work has a tiny blue and white stripe, red floral and a little black and remind me of a cottage.

There . . . . .

Everywhere . . . .

I already had the black throw rugs with red and blue flowers - the blue and white toile chairs are extra dining room chairs that I store in the guest room. The touch of black in the patchwork pillows will tie in nicely with the black rugs that will anchor all of the light colors.

The room has a little bay window which is perfect for a reading/seating nook. The wicker chair and table were found at a tag sale and the painting is one I recently painted to go in the little seating area. This is a wonderful sunny spot to sit and read.

Now that we found the Nantucket colors for my re- purposed guest room, let's take a look around to see what else we can find



I used an old wash stand for one of the bedside tables. A stack of books covers the whole for the wash basin and makes a perfect beside table suitable for a lamp.


A sweet little wicker sewing table purchased at a flea market makes a perfect beside table for another lamp.


Books stacked up on the beside table just waiting for guests to enjoy.


Now that the linens and furniture are in place it is time to re- purpose the painting .First I painted out the trees and Eiffel Tower. Next I sketched in the white wicker chair and added porch railings. The blue and white stripe pillow shams and toile chairs are the inspirations for the stripe pillows on the wicker chair. I will paint the throw cushion blue and white to match the blue and white toile chairs. Next, let's find a pop of color in the garden to add to the painting.

Finding Inspiration for the painting in my garden -looks like Bentley is ready to help.

The white Iceberg roses and bouquet of sunflowers and red roses will replace the bouquet of red roses on the table in the painting.

Sunflowers will add a punch of color to the painting.

Looks like Bentley is enjoying smelling the just picked Iceberg Roses. Sometimes he be can a little too helpful - especially when he starts eating the rose petals.

The finished "re-purposed painting" with blue and white stripe wicker chair, white roses, bouquet of red roses and sunflowers, porch, blue sky, and blue ocean.

Now let's hang it to see how it looks with the furniture and linens.

Note the "re purposed" beside tables and blue and white plates hung on the wall.

That concludes the tour of my guest room that was decorated "using what I do have and not what I do not have".

Thank you for stopping by. I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate that you took time to leave me a comment and to follow my blog. If you have any questions or want to see me paint something special, please leave me a comment or send me an e-mail.

Have a lovely week.

Blessings, Erin