A little upcycling for your rainy Sunday.

The last couple days have been unseasonably warm for January, so I decided to work on a quick project that I've been meaning to do for quite a long time.

The previous owners of our house (which was built in 1840-ish) left several of the original windows in the shed. Since I am totally at a loss for what to do with our mantel for winter and spring, I decided to clean one of the windows up and use that as the focal point. It's kind of a popular trend right now, but I like it.

Here's what it looked like when I pulled it out of the shed. I liked this one because all the glass was still in tact and it was 9-pane, a little different than the typical window. It was covered in dust and spiderwebs and who knows what else, so I used our Dustbuster to get the big stuff off before starting the cleaning process.

First I sprayed this GreenWorks stuff all over both sides of it and let it sit for about 10 minutes or so. Then I rinsed it off using an old rag dunked in water and a little dish soap. I also lost a pane in the process (the topmost right one).

Then I rinsed it with a bleach and water mixture and used a toothbrush to clean out the nooks and crannies. This is the opposite side of what I've been posting, but you can see how much cleaner it is at this point. It's also lighter, because another pane fell out (the middle left one). It adds character.

I let it dry overnight and then cleaned the windows on both sides (very carefully, I might add) with vinegar and water using coffee filters to cut back on streaking.

And here's the final product!

I am totally at a loss for how to finish out my winter mantel. I love the two little bundled-up birdies perched in the empty spots, and I placed a birdhouse my dad made next to them on top of a book called "A Daughter of the Snows," but everything else is sort of thrown together. I kind of wanted to do an all winter-white theme, since I found a bunch of white milkglass for super cheap at a local antique store, but I don't know. Suggestions are always welcome, of course. I think I'll keep the window up for spring and then put the crane painting that my grandpa did back up for summer.