The Answer: What Is This Thing?
What exactly is this thing?! Some of you thought it was something that may go on top of a gate or fence (great idea and what a great decorative piece to add to a gate or fence!). One thought it might be for drying mittens and gloves (another awesome idea to use this for). While others thought it was a fireplace grate...
...which that is exactly what I am using it for. This fireplace has been concreted in and it looked so bare without anything in front of it. But...that is not what the "that thing" was intentionally made for. Teresa was the one who guessed correctly in that it is a candle sconce made to hang on the wall...
...and I placed it upside down to be used as a decorative grate.
I picked up the candle sconce at a thrift store that was hidden under a counter - you never know what goodies might be hiding and where! I'm not sure why it caught my eye but it did. I picked it up, looked at it over and thought about where I would put a sconce...nowhere! So back to it's little spot it went. When I go to my favorite antique/thrift stores, I always walk around twice and in a different direction to make sure I have not missed anything because items can be tucked away that you didn't see the first trip around from the first point of view. Sometimes it takes coming from a different direction to see the little finds that were missed earlier. As I made my way around a second time through the store, I kept looking over at the sconce, thinking about the great price it was ($2.99) and telling myself I really did not have a place for it on my walls despite the cost. I just couldn't resist! The price won out and thought I could either repaint it, sell it or give it to someone who might could use it but I just couldn't pass up how cheap it was let alone the unique look and feel that it had. It is a heavy piece! So...it came home with me.
When I got home, I unloaded my little treasures from my shopping trip and placed the sconce upsidedown, as you see it pictured above, and left it to sit for a bit until I could figure out what to do with it. Later on, I tried putting it on the wall, as it was intended for, around my house. Up the stairs I went from wall to wall to back down the stairs and going from room to room...trying to make this sconce work somewhere in the house. I even thought of using it as a mini garden gate/divider in the yard. It was that second time placing it on the floor, upside down, that made me wonder if I could use it as a fireplace grate in the music room. It fit perfectly as if it was intended to be there all along and I loved the look it gave to this little space!
I think it is so much fun and somewhat whimsical to use items other than their intended use especially when thrift/antique shopping. One must use a different pair of eyes when finding items to decorate your home with when shopping at these stores. Some of the neatest shops I have walked into displayed mismatched used items and put them together in a way that inspires you to look at a this or a that in a completely different manner! Despite the fact that the items were intended for another use, they are charmingly put together with other (odd) items that make them look like they just belong together! I love that!
One of the things I have learned about thrifting is only picking up the things that I love or that attract my eye and not worry about things matching. It is amazing to me how the items I have picked up over the years have just naturally melded together as if they were meant to be a matching ensemble. I don't know...maybe I am deluding myself with my mismatched items in my home and maybe to someone else they look just like they are...mismatched. To me they are items that I love or have some significant meaning to us. I don't have too many of them but just enough to enjoy and that look like Blaine, Catherine and family live here. The items are us. I also love the fact that most of these mismatched treasures were not expensive and are easily replaced should something happen.
Anyone can have a decorator come to their home and have it "fixed" up and looking like a picture in a magazine but I think it takes a greater talent to decorate your own home in a manner that is your own style. To have it look warm, cozy and inviting, knowing that you alone did it for almost nothing, I think speaks more than a decorated look that cost a small fortune and many times does not "feel" so warm, cozy and inviting!
And The Winner is?
Teresa You Won! I think the next time I go shopping...I'm taking you with me!  | 
