During a recent trip to a local antique mall, I spotted a whole shelf full of antique industrial gauges in one vendor’s booth.  He had all sorts of interesting industrial pieces, but these really stood out to me.

I knew Tom would love them, too.  As soon as he saw them laying on the gray dresser in our bedroom, he said “Oh, my gosh.  I love you!”  Did you ever think the way to a man’s heart would be through antiques?

I really love putting together small collections of unique items, and these gauges are no different.  I found some blue and clear glass vintage bottles at another antique mall (I really get around!) and decided that they would be the perfect way to display my new mini collection.

So, what once were instruments used in factories now serve another purpose – beauty.  I like to look at them and think about the men who worked with them so many years ago.  One of them is even labeled “OK 10-31-36” in pencil, which I’m assuming was the last time it was tested.  Do you think they’d ever imagine that some gal down in Texas would display them in a vignette like pieces of art?

Do you have anything old in your home that would seem completely odd to the original owners of those items, like my industrial gauges?  Do tell!

Since the day the furniture delivery guys brought it into our house, my china cabinet has displayed the beautiful china and crystal that we received as wedding gifts.  I absolutely love our traditional patterns, but the display was feeling a little too stuffy for me since I don’t have a traditional decorating style.  I considered adding a few things onto the shelves to give it a little bit more of an eclectic feel, but I couldn’t come up with anything that didn’t feel too contrived.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I was desperately trying to find a place to hide the gifts Santa was bringing for the kids.  I remembered two big boxes of books we had stored in one of our closets.  They were the perfect size to store the toys and would be easy to get out on Christmas Eve, but where would I put these books that were deemed too special (mostly by my husband) to be donated or sold to Half Price Books?

Ding! Ding! Ding!

I took the china and crystal out of the display hutch and stored it in protective boxes behind the cabinet doors.  I then pulled all of those books out of the boxes and put them on the display shelves.  I added a few other goodies, such as the monogrammed silver napkin ring collection from my husband’s grandmother and my favorite vintage dog paint by number.  Instant storage solution, and better yet, instant color.  Oh, how I love decorating with books!

But, I still thought it needed something else to make it not look so much like a traditional china cabinet.  I found some beautiful hand-painted knobs at Hobby Lobby for just $2 a piece (they were priced at $3.99, but their knobs are ALWAYS half off), and replaced the plain silver knobs that came with the cabinet.

I added a few turquoise pieces that I had elsewhere in my house to the top of the cabinet and hung a champagne starburst mirror above it to create a little vignette.  The owl and birdcage look much better here than they did in their previous homes.

And that mirror?  Oh, that mirror!  It’s so stunning.  You’ll definitely want to come back tomorrow so I can tell you all about it.  That’s a big fat HINT, folks.  😉

Do you have anything other than china displayed in your china cabinet?  I’d love to hear about your display!