My Eddie Ross trip

My flea market trip in Charlotte with Eddie and Jaithan was this past Saturday--fun, fun, fun!  I learned a whole bunch, saw a WHOLE bunch of stuff, and came home with just a little of it.

Eddie is so charismatic and exciting in person, and knows just everything about EVERYTHING. 

I was almost convinced to buy an amethyst compote... almost.  

Jaithan kept everything very quietly organized and it was all just so nice. My only wish was that the other 24 people would have called in sick so I could have gone over all the goodies with those two by myself!

Flea markets can be really, really fun for hunting for buried treasure.  I was on some rather specific (and not terribly inexpensive) missions, plus it was cooooold.  I do better when it is a) warm and b) totally non-goal-oriented.

Somehow I managed to pry my frozen fingers apart to unzip my wallet, however, and came home with some loot-- all waiting to be transformed.

On my list was some chenille bedding for the boys' room.  Judy the chenille lady helped me find a perfect twin coverlet and two matching king-size shams.  But of course there will be a little presto-change-o involved-- I'm crossing everything and holding my breath that I don't ruin it. 

Stay tuned for more fun finds!

Banquette re-vamp, in progress--

Cue the theme song from "Annie"...

"Yesterday was plain awful...

you can say that again!

Yesterday was plain awful....

but that's

not now

that's then!"

While I (literally) wait for paint to dry so that I can move a few more things into the boys' room, I am left with a little time on my hands (and my ever-presnt crafting ADD.) 

After last night's post I ventured into my "well-I-have-no-idea-why-I-bought-this-but-gee-isn't-it-pretty" Leisure Fabric (the $3/yard remnants store in High Point) piles and dug up 5 yards of this print.  It's from Premier Prints, retails for $9.99 a yard, and is awfully cute.  I tossed it up there to cover up the enormous eyesore and really liked it!  The machine is humming away stitching it into an easy and temporary slipcover.  A thrifted mirror-- very Alice in Wonderland-y in it's curvyness-- hangs above, waiting for a coat of paint.  The boys are already putting this space to good use. 

Grand total spent:

$9 in fabric (the banquette will only take 3 yards)

$20 for the banquette

$7 for the mirror

$36! 

I'll post more pictures as soon as I'm farther along. 

A little Thrift Score love...

So this is where it usually begins...a grocery sack stuffed full with lumpy newspaper bundles....

 And then comes the unpacking.  Everything is a little (sometimes a lot!) dirty, dusty and in need of love.  Price tags must be scraped, crystal washed, frames painted, new treasures displayed.  Some great haul this week-- beautiful cut-glass salt cellars (six at fifty cents a piece!), heavy crystal candlesticks, an Ironstone-esque pitcher, and a mirror in desperate need of some paint!

This week was  a great week for hunting.  When I popped into Adelaide's on Saturday, the place was rocking!  After a quick lap around the shop, I spied this antique cloche-- price twenty-five dollars!  I nearly fell over-- it's so beautiful, wavy and bubble-filled, and what a great deal!  She has another, much larger one, that I really want-- maybe it will be a splurge soon (if it lasts that long!)

This little architectural bit I love-- my shutter project is coming along, and it will look great hanging on them.  The giant pear was an Adelaide find a few months ago--$8--and the turquoise pottery was $3 at the Salvation Army.

This botanical needlepoint, found at the Salvation Army for $5,   took my breath away.  It's so amazingly detailed-- so many hours went into this piece.  The colors are soft and muted, and it's in pristine condition-- often rare in vintage textiles. 

I always feel such a mixture of emotions when I find vintage handmades-- part of me is ecstatic.  Five dollars--score!  But then the part of me that is a crafter, who knows the amount of time, attention and heart that goes into this kind of work wants to cry--five dollars?  Really?

But then I remember, that if whoever poured hours and hours and hours of (her?) life into this work is anything like me, it's those hours that are really what are most valuable.  There isn't a price you can put on the feeling of being in the moment of creating, of watching something whole and lovely emerge from a blank canvas, of your two hands making beauty where there once was nothing.  The process is as valuable as the product-- and h. E.-- whomever they were-- can be assured that I love and treasure the product of that process very much.

Off to Adelaide's: The Dreamsicle Edition

One day, while I just happened to be driving through  a lovely neighborhood adjacent to my own at 7 am on Trash Day.... (OK, OK, you know me, I was totally stalking other people's garbage...) when I spied something furniture-esque next to the bins.  Stopping for a closer look, I saw that it was a little bench with pretty, swoopy lines. 

And as I was loading it into my car, the bench's (former) owners were bringing another bag out.  Blush. 

Can I tell you how very much I always hope that I'm not robbing the garbage of someone like, say, my husband's boss?    They already think I'm weird because I don't laugh hard enough at all the lawyer jokes...

So home again, home again jiggity jig I went-- and deposited it in the attic, where it has remained for many moons, all painted up, waiting for me to get around to covering the cushion.  During our Saturday night movie (The Losers, which, surprisingly, I loved--ridiculously funny) I stapled on some new foam, batting and a little fabric Grady chose from a pile at one of our warehouse trips (orange, of course) and it's as good as new. 

Having no place for an orange Dreamsicle bench in my own home, I'm sending it off to Adelaide's. 

 It's becoming a fun adventure to walk into the attic and choose my next project. 

My husband is just happy I'm not taking other people's trash and telling him he has to sit on it in his living room.

I don't need it, but maybe you do?

While doing the rounds on Craigslist, I have a few search terms I type in frequently.  One of them is "Hickory Chair:" the bestest-most-wonderfulest-furniture-in-the-whole-wide-(Triad)-world, if you ask my humble opinion.  Which of course, you did not, but there it is anyway. 

And looksie what I turned up!

Here's the link to the listing: $175.  I called to inquire-- the sofa is 6 years old, covered in a "fancy" (her words, not mine) fabric that is stain repellant.  There are no stains or marks on the sofa.  If you want to buy a new sofa from Hickory Chair, you'll need to cough up an additional $4,709, or thereabouts. This style is no longer in production, but the Roberts sofa is pretty similar

The fabric is OK as is-- you could certainly live with it for a while.  If you live in this part of the country, you can get fabric at one of the (many) surplus warehouses in the area for between $3 and $30 per yard.  You'll need around 11 yards-- so anywhere from $33 (gasp!) to $330 for fabric.  Labor to reupholster in this region would run around $600, and to slipcover it would be less-- the last quote I got for a slip was only $400, plus the cost of fabric.  I personally love the look of the Palmer, which has a similar arm style but a tufted back.  Add a couple hundred dollars for tufting and nailhead.

So for around a thousand dollars (or less!) you could have a HICKORY CHAIR sofa, upholstered in the fabric of your choice.  For the life of me I cannot figure out what I would do with this bad boy, or I would be over there before you could say wouldyoulikeahickorychairsofaforathousanddollars. 

I know the seller is flexible on price, and wants it gone, like, yesterday.  Go forth and purchase, dear readers!

***Caveat on labor pricing.  Remember, I live in the furniture manufacturing capitol of the world.  Or, should I say, the former furniture manufacturing capitol of the world.  I think that title is probably now better bestowed on Southeast Asia.  There are many, many, many very skilled workers around here who spent their lives perfecting the art of furniture manufacturing, who now are willing to do anything they can to make ends meet.  I know that labor costs here are probably a good bit lower than in other parts of the country because there are so many people competing for so few jobs.  The stinky laws of economics at work (want to feel really sad, drive through downtown Thomasville.  It will break your heart.)  If you live outside of central North Carolina your costs are probably going to be higher, maybe significantly so.

Off to Adelaide's!

Three words that make my husband cringe every time he hears them-- but make me smile from ear to ear.  My favorite little stop in the Boro for cleaned up but still well-priced goodies is Adelaide's Vintage Home and Garden.  I like to go in and wander (squeeze is more like it-- they pack it in) and chat and dig for treasure.  And I almost never leave without just a little something-- a fun accessory, a great lamp, or some snazzy chairs.  I'm still kicking myself for not grabbing up the 1930's grey wicker desk I saw last week.  Adelaide had hers priced at a bottom basement $119.  Here's one just like it on Ebay

List price: $1650.  I always like it when I pass up a deal that leaves a whole zero off a price tag--- makes me feel smart.

But this time I'm not buying, but selling.  The accumulation of J.U.N.K. around here is starting to get a little bit ridiculous-- there are only so many chairs one can purchase for $4 at a thrift store before one's own living room begins to feel a bit like-- well, a thrift store.  And since packed to the rafters is not the look I'm going for, and since I have becoup fabric lying around, I decided the time was nigh to enter the retail market. 

Something fun, a little more funky and colorful that what I use in my own home, but oh, so fun. 

It's whispering to me-- "store credit, store credit, store credit..."

(and the garage sale said) Let There Be Light!

Aren't they sexy?  For some reason that's the only word that comes to mind about these lamps-- there's something just so deliciously naughty about their curves.  And their very naughty price tag-- $1.50 each.   

 I think they would look great paired with drum shades in this fabric

It comes in orange, too-- Grady would love that.  I think I would leave the bases orange-- maybe.  Nothing is safe when me and my paint brush get on a roll.

Or this one-- pretty.

I'm really feeling the brass lamps these days, aren't I?  I love this one (and my other one) because they are old-- their patina isn't newly minted for big-box sale, but comes from years and years of honest dirt (the cord can't lie-- I haven't seen a cloth cord on a new lamp, ever!   I will definitely rewire this one before use!)  $5.00 at a thrift store. 

A simple, classic shade would be good.

This lamp is my find of the year-- I LOVE it. It's perfect for the boys' room, which is coming together (at least in my head! If you saw the real thing right now you'd be scratching yours, though-- I have some pretty heavy-duty floor painting to go on in there, and I've been waiting for the right time to move them out for a few days.)

This one was so cheap-- $2 at a garage sale.  I can't even stand it it is so good. 

Not so good-- my crappy kit-lens that came with our camera.  Anybody have recs on a good lens for a Nikon D-50 that is good in low light and doesn't cost a fortune?  With all this money I'm saving on lamps these days I think it might be time to spring for a new lens!

Sometimes even I'M not sure what I'm up to...

Case in point. 

It is

a) not small.  Not at all.

b) not light.  Not in the slightest.

c) not identified.  Attic vent?

But...

it also was

a) $10 at the Habitat store:

b) exactly the right size to fill up some space on a library wall:

c) interesting?  Maybe. 

Whateveritis is undergoing it's little presto-change-o right now.  I'll keep you posted.

A Tale of Two Lamps...

Marsallas Urn lamp base-- on sale at Ballard for $64.99

Totally (perhaps more?) awesome lamp--Salvation Army on E. Lee Street: $5.00.

The moral of this story: get thee to a thrift store! 

I'd love to hear all about your latest finds!

So apparently the boy has thrifting ju-ju, too

On Saturday Grady and I had a solo date to visit a friend-- and we were late.  Very late.  Far too late to stop at the yard sale he spotted on the way out of town.

"STOP MOMMY!"  he yelled as we drove by.  "Not right now, we're late," said I, noting as we flew past a really cool trestle table among the wares. 

He didn't forget-- all the way home, tired and hungry as he was, he kept asking to go back to the yard sale.  By the time we were back to that street, rain was falling, and I was sure the sale would be over.  I hoped he wouldn't be dissapointed.  I also mostly hoped he wouldn't scream (as over-tired and hungry boys are wont to do.)

I always said I wanted the boys to inherit two things-- my ability to tan, even when I forget sunscreen, and my thrifting ju-ju.  Apparently, my genetic wish has been granted.

When we approached the house, rain fell harder and of course the sale was over.  But there on the curb was that trestle table--worn plank top, nicks and dings in all the right places-- EXACTLY what I'd been looking for extra seating on the deck.  Throw into the bargin a pair of cool andirons (I was looking for some of those) and a HUGE frame with ugly oil print that has already become a chalkboard-- now that's some serious thrifting ju-ju right there.

That's my boy.

Guest Room: mini makeover on nearly zero dollars

So when you have houseguests for a month, you want them to be comfy.  I had big plans to get this room in tip-top shape, but between all the hurdles of the last couple of weeks, I ended up just getting the furniture in there-- unpainted-- and calling it a day.  I have to say, though, it's still mighty cozy.

I hope you have learned by now that you SHOULD be going to thrift stores and shopping on Craigslist.  This room is living proof.  We started out with just the mattress-- the bedframe is a CL find that was brass, painted nickled silver, and blogged about here.  I. Love. It.  I wish it was my bed.  The side table we had-- it's an old sewing table.  We have a gorgeous antique secretary that was a wedding gift that would be perfect here-- I've always thought it was pine, but my husband informed me that nothing that heavy is possibly pine.  It is not light.  And our stairs are not gently sloping.  Maybe he'll move it up for me, though.  The small chest was inherited from my Grandmother, and it will be getting a coat of paint at some point-- probably "Talc" from Martha's new line for Home Depot-- it's such a perfect whiteish cream.  The map was a $5 find from Adelaide's, and is destined for my boys' room, but it is large and fills up some space and I was in a hurry.  Round mirror (moderatley similiar to this one) was $10 at a resale shop-- I'm going to sand off the varnish at some point.

Pillows made by yours truly.  The linen ones are a linen/cotton blend drapery panel that I found thrifting for two bucks.  I sat with my seam ripper and 15 minutes of Sienfeld and took it apart, yielding 3 yardsx 60 inches of fabric.  Not too shabby.  I wish I'd thought to add a cute boxpleat ruffle edge-- I spied on in a phot here.  I just might go back and do it.  Ticking is from Leisure in High Point ($3/yard)-- I bought 10 yards last month and wish I had bought more-- I can use it EVERYWHERE!  Lamp is from the Salvation Army-- very similar to the one in Lauren's pad and the one Jenny's sister now has.  I have some linen in the exact same shade as the lamp to make a long pillow for the bed-- maybe this week? (ha.)  The curtains are actually pure linen tablecloths I bought on clearance at Wal-Mart about 5 years ago for $1.99 each (I'm so, so sorry little Chinese child who made you.  If it makes you feel better, I'm doing my part to put you out of a job now.)

The chair is a cast-off from my neighbor-- just like this one, but for $0 instead of,  you know, $2700.  Right now it's covered in a leftover slipcover cushion-cover (from another neighbor), but I plan to paint the frame black and have it reupholstered (by a pro) in a muslin with exposed tacks and extra-large nailhead (ala here) when I have the money.  The little cabinet, which used to be the top of a hutch, I think-- stuffed full of all kinds of yummy books-- was $20 at a thrift store, and will get a coat of "Talc" and a navy blue interior.  The mirror above is from Adelaide's, around $20, and will become navy blue, as well.  I'm planning to add a little coffe pot and some snacks to the cabinet.  I just threw what I passed on my way upstairs on top-- my Fenton glass and a little terrarium box (that needs a plant!)

The window seat is stocked with magazines, kids books and linens.  The curtains are more of those tablecloths.  Eventually a cute cushion and pillows are coming to the window seat.  AND-- I'm really stoked abou this-- the ugly carpet will come out and I can paint the existing (and badly damaged) hardwoods!  Grey? White? Stripes?  Thoughts? 

Thanks for indulging me in this loooong post.  I'm feeling so much better-- I caved and took both antibiotics and predensone (for a heat-related rash that had turned my hands into the ickiest glove-like mass of blisters you have ever seen.)  I try to treat myself at home as much as possible with natural stuff, but for this, I called in the big guns.  Just wish I'd done it last week.  And I'm delighted to report that Charlie-dog is home and ravenous-- must have been an odd doggie stomach bug.  He's so happy to be an only dog for the first time in 8 years that we wanted him to get to live long to enjoy it.

That tutorial?  It's comin'.  I promise.

::Found Thrifting::

Still feeling awfully yucky here, but not so yucky that I didn't get REALLY excited about these finds.  Today at the thrift store the Fabric Gods were smiling down upon me.

In the remnant bin-- two yards of that yummy blue and red plaid (perfect for summer rompers and shorts for my boys), two yards of a pretty floral-- love the birds, especially-- that will be tea-stained and made into pillows, and a preppy little Polo hankie-- how cute will that be as a little throw pillow with some navy cording?  Fifty cents, fifty, cents and one quarter respectively.

This BOLT of grey ticking-stripe in a shirting weight.  I was so excited when I found this-- it's exactly what I was looking for for some projects in our guest room, and will make perfect duvets for the boys for their room, which we're revamping later this summer.

This is A LOT of yardage-- 30 yards, maybe?  And the best part, (of course!) was the price.  Five dolla.  Grand total spent: $8.08. 

As my sweet son says: "yeah, dog."  (wonder who taught him THAT?!)

Dresser transformation: Before and After

Here's a little peek into our master bedroom.

It's not a very large space, and our bed, which I love, takes up more than its fair share.  Storage is at a premium until we are able to do our remodel that we have planned (that's a couple of years off at this point) and I've been looking for a small dresser to help out with our storage needs.  A few weeks ago, while cruising my regular thrifting route, I found a cute little dresser with good lines-- with a massive mirror-- for $50. 

I decided to sleep on it-- and low and behold, when I returned the next day, the set had been marked down--50%!  So for $25 the dresser and mirror were mine. 

The mirror I put aside for another project-- I'm not a fan of matched dresser/mirror sets.  The dresser itself was lovely wood, but the veneer was in pretty bad shape, and so I knew it needed a coat of paint.  After a lot of woodfiller, sanding and priming, I was ready to brush on the first coat of paint.  I always stop at the "mistint" table when I'm at the hardware store, and I had picked up a couple of sample-sizes of paint--one in a very pale grey with green undertones, one in a medium toned grey-- for fifty cents each.

I decided to mix them together, and brushed on a few coats of the lighter mix using a wide brush-- I wanted the brush strokes to be present to provide texture for the next step.  Then, using a wide, dry brush, I went back and added a very light brushing of the darker grey to the entire surface.  Over that I added another barely-there dry-brushing of the original paint color, this time running against the grain.  A thin coat of wipe-on poly, a couple of new castors, and some improvised knotted fabric handles (just until I can get to Anthro without my kids-- these are NOT permanant!) and here it is!

Finished off with a thrifted mirror, lamp and tray, and it's a great little additon to our bedroom.  Here's how the numbers shake out: dresser/mirror $25, meaning the dresser itself was just $12.50.  Paint=$1.00.  Lamp ($8) plus new shade ($15)=$23, tray=$1.99, mirror=$10.00.  Grand total for a new dresser=$48.49-- I'm pleased!  Heck, six knobs from Anthropology will probably cost more than the entire project!

Don't forget the giveaway-- leave me a comment for a chance to win your scrap bag!

::Found Thrifting::

It's been a very good week 'round these parts thrifting-wise.  Here's a little peek at what I've found lately...

'Lil bit of Fenton art glass-- I love the sunbeam color and subtle irridescence of the bowl, especially.

For storing kid tidbits...

For storing grown-up tidbits.  The pewter bowl is especially wonderful.

 Piece de resistance...

Saw one of these enormous lab beakers at Anthro.  Price tag $48 (just like the one in the back.)  Price tag at the Goodwill on Eugene (not for the faint of heart!) $1.99.  I found the other two oversized beakers at two different thrift stores-- each were .99 cents. 

Price tag for all this loot--$12.49.

 Have I said it before? 

I. LOVE. THRIFTING.