RePurposing an Old Window PLUS GIVEAWAY WINNER!!

Let's get the business out of the way first........the winner of the $25 gift certificate from burlapfabric.com is...........

MARIE from THE (NOT ALWAYS) LAZY W

"As a matter of fact, we ARE hosting a farm wedding this spring! Love your site Heather, following your on FB and Pinterest too, and soon to follow Domestically Speaking. Thanks for these lovely images, I'll show them to the bride to be!!"

Thanks for entering my first giveaway. Marie - please email me so that I can give you the instructions how to redeem your gift certificate.

Now onto something new for my home. Actually, it's old. We found it in the basement of the rental property that we own in a neighbouring town. The house is an late 1800's Italian Renaissance building that has been converted into 4 apartments. It's full of interesting treasure and I found one the other day. 

This old transom window probably sat under the awning you see in the top picture which is now the balcony from the kitchen in the upstairs apartment. The window has the original 100+ year old glass and it's original green chippy paint. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it green - but we haven't redecorated the kitchen yet, so for now it will stay green.

Here I've hung it over the sideboard in the kitchen and added a floral garland for some colour. We played around with the height as I didn't want it to appear like it was floating over the cabinet. Our first attempt at placing it for position included a couple of 6x6" posts to balance it and a good eye. It seemed that 2 posts one on top of the other made the window look lonely and just one post seemed too low as if it was part of the sideboard. So we dug around and found the perfect balancing wood in a 2x2" piece. I'm happy with how the platter and the terrarium cover the bottom part of the window. 

I think it's important to bring some history into a home. Even though our house was built in 1935, there are many modern elements (such as the 1990's wallpaper in the kitchen). By adding some old/found pieces like this window, we're adding some character and warmth into an otherwise sterile eating area. 

What do you think of an image being frosted onto the glass? Perhaps a french label in the centre panel? I know with the wallpaper behind it that it would appear too busy. But when we remove the wallpaper and just have a painted background I'm afraid that it will look too plain. I'd love to hear what you think.