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DIY Vintage Window Shadow Box

May 1, 2012

Happy May Day! (a little late) Did you get any special flowers for May Day?

Several years ago, one of my daughter-in-laws found a beautiful way to preserve some very special flowers she received. She created a vintage window shadow box!

This daughter-in-law, Melissa, before she was my daughter-in-law, preserved many flowers, but this isn’t about the drying process, I think she just hung them upside down and they dried. This is showing the creative way she displayed these preserved flowers in a DIY vintage window shadow box.

These flowers have some pretty emotional memories associated with them.

Many of the flowers were given to her from my son when they were dating, and later engaged. A couple of those years were burdened with a long-distance relationship, (with a semester of her studying aboad). Melissa was finishing her under grad 3 states away from where Aaron was working on his doctorate degree.

During those college years, Melissa was having a lot of arm pain that kept getting worse and worse. She was diagnosed with a large bone tumor. The doctor prepared Melissa for the worse as all signs pointed to a malignant bone tumor. Those were scary days. She had surgery that removed a large section of her forearm bone, but miraculously, the tumor turned out to be benign.

The flowers given to her from that time are included in these special flowers.

Melissa’s creative way to display all these flowers was by building a shadow box using a vintage window.

She got the vintage window, that had been removed from a horse barn where she used to ride, for free. (I love re-purposing old windows!) They cut a piece of plywood to fit in the back and built a frame of 1 x 4’s around the sides to allow the gap between the window front and plywood back.

To dress up the plywood, they covered it with some of that heavy thick wallpaper that’s embossed to look like pressed tin. (I had it left over from some project.)

Melissa then made little bouquets from her preserved flowers and using hot melt glue, attached them onto the wallpapered plywood. She finished the bouquets with a raffia gently attached to each group of flowers.

By leaving the old original whitewash finish on the window lends the look to a casual farmhouse style.

Those handles are pretty cool! love them!!

They mounted hardware on the back of the vintage window shadow box so they can easily hang the vintage window shadow box on the wall.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please feel free to follow and share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook, Pinterest, Flipboard, Bloglovin, YouTube and Instagram! I appreciate you reading along.

Here are more vintage window repurposing projects I’ve written about:

DIY Vintage Window Shadow Box
Creating a Transom in the Front Entry
Repurposing: Stencil a Vintage Window
Using Vintage Glass to Create Transom
Building in Vintage Windows in the Interior
Before and After Living Room Renovation
Vintage Windows for Interior Shutters
Library Hallway Interior Windows
Vintage Interior Window in Bathroom

Did you know that I am an interior (including some exterior) decorator? Here you can find more info: Frame and Frills I do e-decorating consultation, via online from my office to your home!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Abbie @ Five days...5 ways says

    May 11, 2012 at 6:47 am

    Oh YEAH! Great idea, and it turned out so pretty!

    Featuring you this morning!

    Reply
  2. Marty@A Stroll Thru Life says

    May 9, 2012 at 9:14 pm

    What a super creative idea. Love it. Thanks tons for linking to TTT. Hugs, Marty

    Reply
  3. Heather @ Heatherly Loves says

    May 9, 2012 at 4:39 pm

    Gorgeous!
    xoxo
    Heather

    Reply
  4. Sally says

    May 9, 2012 at 4:50 am

    Very beautiful and creative. I have an old window that I want to do something with and this gives me ideas. Thanks for posting.

    Reply
  5. Debbie refreshrestyle says

    May 8, 2012 at 3:48 pm

    Very beautiful!
    Debbie

    Reply
  6. Stacey says

    May 8, 2012 at 3:24 pm

    Featured you today! Come by and grab a button!
    Stacey of Embracing Change

    Reply
  7. Kathy says

    May 8, 2012 at 11:49 am

    Oh, now that’s romantic and so very beautiful – I can imagine this being replicated over and over! I appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
    Kathy

    Reply
  8. Stacey says

    May 8, 2012 at 8:52 am

    This is just beautiful.
    How lovely!
    Thanks for linking up this week!
    Stacey of Embracing Change

    Reply
  9. Katie says

    May 7, 2012 at 10:41 pm

    This looks amazing! I love the backing!

    Reply
  10. Deanne says

    May 6, 2012 at 9:14 pm

    I love this idea, I just used a similar window in a project at my house, so if I decide to change it, I know what I can do with it instead!

    Reply
  11. JoAnne says

    May 6, 2012 at 4:00 pm

    Such a great idea and so pretty ~ even more so with the special meaning it has!

    Reply
  12. Lorrie Simons says

    May 6, 2012 at 11:02 am

    This is beautiful! What an awesome idea!

    Reply
  13. debbiedoos says

    May 6, 2012 at 10:04 am

    Oh I love this project, and what sweet sentiment too.

    Reply
  14. SwedishCornerDownUnder...Pernilla says

    May 4, 2012 at 4:52 pm

    Great job! It’s so pretty 🙂 Love old windows.
    Greetings from Australia♥
    ~Pernilla

    Reply
  15. Sharon Hines says

    May 3, 2012 at 8:58 pm

    How special! What a beautiful sentiment this window box holds. Thank you for sharing these flowers with us at Show & Tell.

    Sharon @ mrs. hines class

    Reply
  16. Jennifer says

    May 3, 2012 at 11:31 am

    What a beautiful display {and story}!

    Reply
  17. Cindy Geilmann says

    May 2, 2012 at 3:22 pm

    Yes, this is a keeper for allways! Congratulations to them both.

    big hugs to you
    cindy@stitches

    Reply
  18. Holistic Homemaking says

    May 2, 2012 at 2:07 pm

    I am adding this to my “why have I never thought to do this” list 🙂 I love this idea!!!!

    Thanks for the link-up at the Happy Hello!

    Reply
  19. Susan (Between Naps on the Porch) says

    May 2, 2012 at 11:16 am

    Sweet story…loved it!
    You were one of the winners of A Teeny Bit of Trouble…check this post. http://bit.ly/K9Gxrm
    Need your address where you would like your book to be sent…email me 🙂

    Reply
    • decoratewithalittlebit says

      May 2, 2012 at 1:21 pm

      Whoo Hoo!! First time I won anything from a blog… and I’m super excited about this one, it sounded so intriguing! Thank you!!! Little Bit

      Reply
  20. Elisa says

    May 2, 2012 at 8:48 am

    This is adorable – I love the whole idea of it – thanks for sharing!
    Elisa
    home sweet nest

    Reply
  21. Melinda says

    May 1, 2012 at 10:33 am

    What a beautiful story. And what a beautiful display. It is so much more lovely because it has meaning behind it.

    Reply
  22. Cynthia says

    May 1, 2012 at 9:30 am

    I love this window. I love old windows.

    Cynthia

    Reply
  23. Jen says

    May 1, 2012 at 5:31 am

    It turned out beautiful!

    Reply
  24. JaneEllen Jones says

    May 1, 2012 at 1:19 am

    Love what your son/dil did with that old window. Looks great. We had to leave a few of the old wood windows in KY when we left and it killed me. Now we’re back to crafting and repurposing things, sure wish we had more of those windows. We did get to bring 4 of them with us but they’ll go quickly.
    I have one in our room that has a shelf on bottom of window and shutters on sides with hardware wire on back. I’ve used that window in our living room, kitchen in KY and now in our bedroom over an old chest.
    We’ll have to find a source for the old windows here, hope we can find someplace.
    The dried flowers hung as they are look so pretty, good idea putting the shadowbox frame on back. I’ll have to show my husband that one. So glad you shared this project. Happy days

    Reply

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