The Spoon Room

The Spoon Room

Photographed by Jodie Miears for Madeworthy Magazine

Cute Howdy shirt found here. 🙂

Hello hello!

When I posted this photo on Instagram a few days ago, I got tons of questions, and I thought, “Oh my goodness, how have I never written about the Spoon Room?!”

Side Note: I posted the below photo on Insta because we are taking that original 1919 water fountain and moving it to the kitchen for our cold water faucet. If you follow me on Instagram (please do! click here), you have probably been watching our kitchen renovation on Instagram Stories. Currently, we use the cold water button on our fridge A TON, but our new fridge does not have that option. So we decided to move this little fountain and hook it up to a chiller that will be in the basement. I’m super excited about it!

How the Spoon Room came to be is a fun story. And it has a sort of notoriety now in our little world. People come over, and they want to see the Spoon Room. They take pictures in it. They ask for the story. (They know just about everything around here has a story 😉 ) It’s a conversation starter for sure!

The Spoon Room is not really a room as much as it is a small hallway between our kitchen, the entry to the Dining Room, and the entry to our Playroom. (The door on the left goes to the Kitchen, and the door on the right goes to the Dining Room. The entry to the Playroom is to the right of the Dining Room door. The skinny door is an old ironing board.)

The idea for this space started a couple of years ago when I was at a garage sale. I found this bucket of spoons with a small sign that said “Bucket o’spoons $10“. They were black and grimy, but upon further inspection, I thought, “these might be silver!” I love finding collections of items, and I thought if the spoons were silver, they were worth way more than $20, so I lifted up the very heavy bucket and took it to the garage sale hosts to make my purchase. The second I set that bucket down, the lady looked at me wide eyed and busted out laughing. “YOU WANT THEEEESE?!!”, throwing her head back and roaring. After recovering, she looked over at her husband and said, “You owe me fifty bucks AND a massage!” Apparently, the couple had made a bet that no one would buy those spoons and they jokingly made that sign and price. Welp, little did they know someone like me existed (ha!), and how awesome they could be. 😉

“What in the world you are going to do with these?”, she asked me. “To be honest, I have no idea”, I replied, “but I think they are cool!”

I did not know what I was going to do with them, but how often does a bucket of silver spoons come around for $20? I knew I could do something neat with them, but first came the cleaning.

Are you inwardly groaning? Yeah, me too.

I’ll tell ya, it took seven months of cleaning off and on to get all of these done. There were over a thousand spoons in that bucket! (they’re not all silver, but most of them are) I eventually learned the fastest way to clean them was to soak them in ammonia to loosen the crazy grime and dirt, scrub them with a very fine steel wool pad, and then clean them with silver cleaner/polish, followed by a tarnish preventative.

I knew I wanted to display the spoons in a unique way, but I was not sure how until one night kind of late when I was putting the dishes away. I had just finished painting that little hallway Benjamin Moore’s Palladian Blue, and it struck me. The space felt so empty.

The only logical solution was to cover it in spoons, right? I mean, this little room is BEGGING for spoons, can you hear it?

I tried various methods of adhering them. Sticky putty. Industrial strength glue dots. Small command strips cut into tiny pieces. But what worked best? Hot glue. You heard that right. I basically bedazzled my walls with spoons. My eleven-year-old self was in heaven.

Here’s an in progress cell phone shot. I did not really have a rhyme or reason, I just placed them somewhat orderly without looking too perfect.

This was one of those projects I started around 10 o’clock and was so mentally focused on my work that I did not realize I had stayed up all night doing it until my husband came down the stairs early the next morning. You can imagine his response, “Is she genius? Ooooooor has she lost her mind just a little bit?” 🙂

I’m not sure what the answer is to be honest.

He jokingly refers to this space as my “White Box Challenge”. Haha! (Did anyone reading this ever watch Design Star on HGTV? The episode with the White Box Challenge was always my favorite!)

You may have noticed the ceiling wallpaper. As you know, I’m a fan of wallpaper on the ceiling, but what to put on this particular overhead surface puzzled me. But really, what type of wallpaper can you use in a room covered in spoons besides…spoon wallpaper?

Wallpaper found here.

Spoon wallpaper in a Spoon Room makes complete sense to me.

I’ll tell ya. I find spoon collections at estate sales and garage sales ALL THE TIME. People travel, and they buy spoons. They get them as gifts. Then when they pass, their family members have no idea what to do with them. How has no one ever thought of hot gluing them to walls? 🙂

The spoons are interesting, too. I have really really old ones. I have one with part of the Gettysburg Address inscribed on it, I have ones with pretty colors, funny sayings, places I’ve never heard of, and ones made of gold. The kids sometimes lay on their backs and play “I Spy” in the Spoon Room. It has definitely become a quirky part of our family.

And it’s a really small space, guys. I think in little spots like this, you can do something different. You can do something slightly more risky.

I felt a little like Tom Hanks in Cast Away when I stepped back, pounded my chest, and said, “I HAVE CREATED 3-D WALLPAPER!”

So there you have it. The Spoon Room. It’s a thing.

Until the next story.

xo, G

17 Comments
  • Lori Terceira
    Posted at 08:10h, 29 January Reply

    This is brilliant and now I want a spoon room. We have this small dark hallway with 5 doors and I think doing something fun and unexpected would be perfect for my space. Thanks for the inspiration.

  • Ashley
    Posted at 08:25h, 29 January Reply

    You are TRULY ahhhh-mazing! Wow! In my next life I want to be you!

  • cattknap
    Posted at 08:37h, 29 January Reply

    Love the story as much as the darling room. How many rolls of wallpaper on your ceiling?

  • Emily Henderson
    Posted at 09:13h, 29 January Reply

    Grace, you are truly one of the most creative peeps out there with a home that reflects you and your unique sense of style. Every room blows me away, and this one does not disappoint. No one could ever call you a cookie cutter girl! Ha ha, what if you had found a box of cookie cutters?? And, as always you are the best story teller and great writer. What a fun post to wake up to this morning. Love you to bits!

  • Kelly Kay
    Posted at 15:09h, 29 January Reply

    The Spoon Room is famous … love it!! So glad you wrote about it!

  • C Hayward
    Posted at 18:39h, 29 January Reply

    What a fantastic idea, and great execution! I’m curious, though… Was the bucket o’ spoons enough to do the entire room, or did you have to supplement it with even more spoons?

  • Holly
    Posted at 19:30h, 29 January Reply

    I’m so glad to see this because it makes my 10’ x 10’ wall of silver platters hung with Velcro seem normal! I just wish you were closer and we could get into some wild and crazy estate sales! Well done!

  • SJ
    Posted at 20:16h, 29 January Reply

    I never comment but I just love the creativity and impact. SO AWESOME!

  • Lisa
    Posted at 09:28h, 30 January Reply

    I adore it. This is the kind of creativity I long for when I scroll Pinterest & read blogs!

  • Lymari Navarro
    Posted at 09:44h, 31 January Reply

    Love the spoon room. Why does this room inspire me to eat ice cream? Love it you are so talented!!!!

  • Kristi
    Posted at 07:45h, 01 February Reply

    I am in love with this spoon room. The idea and execution are just perfect! And I soooo wish that garage sale couple could see their spoons now!

  • Jessica
    Posted at 11:37h, 04 February Reply

    Oh my goodness Grace you just made me realize what’s missing from our remodel project!!! Not spoons per se but SOMETHING UNIQUE!

    The memories of afternoons spent w/ the cousins counting old tins that lined the 13ft ceilings in my grandmas plantation kitchen are some of my most treasured. I bet you’ll have memories of the littles laying in that hallway for the rest of your life & it will bring a smile to your face every time.

    This story made me realize I’ve been going about our remodel choices in too much of a cookie cutter (aka boring) manor & need to find that something special to create a space that’s really me!’Thank you so much for sharing this & I LOVE the spoon room! 🙂

  • Anonymous
    Posted at 13:39h, 27 February Reply

    This is so great, I’m so happy I stumbled on this post today! Thank you!

  • Leslie McKinley
    Posted at 22:00h, 19 March Reply

    This is awesome. Love your style!

  • Arlene
    Posted at 09:54h, 23 August Reply

    Absolutely, positively FABULOUS!!!’

  • Joanna
    Posted at 17:48h, 08 November Reply

    Grace!!!! I have seen this picture but never read the story. You AMAZE ME! I sure love you and your creative mind that makes everything beautiful and fun! Love you friend!!!!

  • Katarina
    Posted at 18:48h, 09 February Reply

    This is, hands down, one of the most innovative room designs I’ve seen in a while. The story behind how it came to be is so exciting. All these spoons remind me of some colorful wonderland. And that wallpaper is beautiful, it fits perfectly with the rest of the room. Love your sense for unusual, unique home designs and styles. The world definitely needs more creative people like you. 🙂

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