“I love finding a throw-away and making it into a treasure,” says Kaylene Shepard, who has turned that philosophy into a business at her Eureka Springs store Something Simple, where she gives vintage home furnishings and accessories new life. In order to blend her mix of true antiques and newer flea-market items, Kaylene sticks with a neutral color palette and covers all her goods in shades of white. “I have always been a fan of cream and white because they’re timeless and work in any room,” she explains, “and I use the same palette when I decorate for the holidays.”
Working with elements she’s found through years of flea market and antique mall visits, Kaylene creates unique, hand-made ornaments and accessories. Here, her inspired ideas with suggestions for incorporating them into your own home.
Create & Trim a Twig Tree
Kaylene cut a well-shaped tree branch and sprayed it with several coats of white paint. She had a wooden cube cut to serve as a stand, had a large hole drilled into the top, cemented the branch inside the hole, added pea gravel to fill the remaining open area, and then spray painted the stand and rocks white. She trims the resulting tree with both hand-made and vintage ornaments.
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Spring for Ornaments
Springs from a flea-market-find daybed were the starting point for Kaylene’s corkscrew ornaments. She cut out the springs, painted them white, and then dressed them up with vintage ribbon and antique treasures including chandelier crystals and glitter snowflakes.
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Fabricate Vintage Flowers
Ideal for topping packages, Kaylene’s flowers are made from old zippers and tape measures. She makes several six-inch loops with the zippers and four-inch loops with the tape measures and secures them into a flower shape by sewing or hot gluing them together. She then embellishes them by gluing on whatever vintage finds she has on hand—buttons, trim or even old watch faces.
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