Decorating With Cottage Style Shelves

Cottage Look With Glass Shelf

One of the most exciting features of cottage style decorating is how clever one can be with odds and ends, flea market finds, found objects and so on.

Each time I think I have seen just about everything in the world of cottage collectibles and furnishings ....lo and behold a new twist to an older idea seems to surface.


Lot's Of Cottage Furnishings at Used Furniture of Canton, CT

For example, on a recent visit to "Used Furniture of Canton", CT, owners Mark aand Holly were displaying a newly acquired "shelf' made from an old bed headboard which had been re-painted Seafoam green. (See very top photo) .Now let's face it, most of us have already seen our share of shelves made out of this and that. But what was novel for me was that the shelf was "glass" and that this particular re-purposed decorative wall decor had been hanging in a huge bathroom.

Special Features of The Green Shelf

This lovely shelf has several unique things going for it:

Painted green instead of white or wood toned.
Used in a bathroom instead of hallway or livng room.
Utilizing a glass shelf instead of a wood one.

Other materials for Cottage Shelves

Other fun ways to build cottage style shelves is to use old doors, shutters, picket fence, stairway spindles etc. You can also add decorative trim from other salvage items. The red painted shutter shelf looks great in a beach themed cottage or in a child's room. Above is a photo of a shelf made from an old door. It serves as both a shelf and a hall tree for coats. It's wonderful to be able to re-cycle older materials and find practical uses for these items in your home.

You will find so much more about cottage decor and collectibles in my book Hot Cottage collectibles for Vintage Style Homes (collectorbooks.com


C. Dianne Zweig is the author of Hot Kitchen & Home Collectibles of the 30s, 40s, 50s and Hot Cottage Collectibles for Vintage Style Homes. She is also the Editor of Iantiqueonline.com an actively growing internet based resource community for people who buy, sell or collect antiques, collectibles and art. You can find Dianne’s fabulous retro and vintage kitchen, home and cottage collectibles at The Collinsville Antiques Company of New Hartford, CT, a 22,000 feet antique emporium with an in-house retro café.

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. Dianne Zweig’s Blog Kitsch ‘n Stuff

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