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Sparrow (Re}flecting
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July seems to be a {Re}occurring month of moves for me.
My family moved to Elgin and closed on our 1893 house in July of 1998. After spending a brief couple of years in La Crosse, WI, my husband Jeffrey was offered a job with RR Donnelley, which is now located in downtown Elgin. We were attracted by the historic neighborhoods and were impressed with the direction in which the city was moving. It worked with our philosophy of "live where you work".
In July 2011, Judy closed on the Sparrow House, so it seemed fitting to showcase the house for this blog post as we get ready to open the Soulful Sparrow store in downtown Elgin, IL in July 2012.
In my previous blog posted April 4, I explained how the Sparrow House rehab inspired the opening of our shop, Soulful Sparrow. Since Judy bought this house last July, we have rehabilitated and decorated the home in about six months. Unlike a typical home renovation project, we set our minds to recycle, reuse and repurpose in order to decorate this home in a creative and artistic way.
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Sparrow House Kitchen
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{Re} Claimed Counter
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The kitchen counters were an ordinary and very plain Hunter Green that did not suit "the look" we wanted to achieve. But instead of replacing them, Judy discovered a way to decoupage torn pieces of brown craft paper to the surface. She finished it with several coats of poly acrylic for a soft shine and added depth.
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Counter detail with a creative touch
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The kitchen cupboards were glazed and stained and we pooled our collections of salvaged backplates to create a unique vintage style for the cabinets.
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| {Re} Purposed Collection of Backplates |
Salvaged architecture feature on the wall. Curtains are easy no-sew, gathered and tied remnants of fabric.
Salvaged Art and No-Sew Curtains
We considered ordering a carpet runner for the stairs, but we realized the glue from the old carpet left behind a rough texture on the treads that resembled a rug like look that would enhance a faux finish on the stairs.
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| Painted Stair Runner |
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| Master Bedroom Wall |
After picking at the painted wallpaper in the Master Bedroom, we discovered many beautiful layers and patterns left behind from days gone by. We love the vintage background.
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| Peeling Back the Painted Wall Paper Detail |
Finally, our finches have been the talk of the town since we brought them to the shop in Saint Charles last spring. My birds at home were still multiplying, so naturally we thought they would be a perfect addition for the Sparrow House as well. We decided to convert the top of this china cabinet to become their home.
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| {Re}Purposed Bird Cage Condo |
...of course our shop finches will be making the move to our new store in Downtown Elgin.
Stay tuned for more Soulful Sparrow store updates.
See you in JULY ;)
