Thrifting treasures

I have had incredible luck at yard sales in the past few weeks.  The first Saturday in May is a huge community wide yard sale in Wernersville.  I have gone for years and always have found some great things. 

All the silver flatware in the avocado tray was $5.  The hand held vac was $5 and I got the box of attachments at another house for $3.  Perfect for vacuuming the carpet on my staircase!  The silver gravy boat had never been out of the box.  Mine for just $1.  The silver plates and other silver plated flatware totalled roughly $8.  Not too shabby!  I polished all of the flatware in the tray and discovered that it is a complete service for 8 (including seafood forks and parfait spoons) and all the serving pieces.  I went on line to do a little research and found several sets for sale.  The lowest asking price was ... drum roll please ... $279!  

This Saturday was the community yard sale in my parent's neighborhood.  I only have photos of the "big score" items

I have been wanting a trunk for the longest time.  This one was filthy and had been stored in a barn.  The canvas (over wood) was in pretty good shape and all the brasses are intact.  The leather straps were in pieces on the front and back and leather handles were missing.  In an antique shop, I would have expected to pay anywhere between $65 and $100.  I took it home for just $15!  Whoo hoo!!

This sweet mahogany table was in rough shape but I was thrilled with the $5 price tag.  I have already primed and applied two coats of Heirloom White paint to the table.  I need to do a light sanding, one more coat of paint and then a coat of poly and she will move into the living room.

Here is the truck after I scrubbed, rubbed and re-hydrated the wood strapping a bit.  I don't want it perfect.  I want it to have a bit of beat up charm.  I love it in my living room.

Hope you got out there and found some treasures for yourself!  I am linking up to Rhoda's blog!

Surprise!

Finally, a post from me!  I am starting to work on projects since it is warm enough to do things outside.  There is little I can do during the winter since I keep the house so cold paint takes FOREVER to dry!

Here is one project that I recently completed. 

I had white cotton cafe’ style curtains with window blinds in my bedroom.  I have had sleep issues for months and finally figured out that the amount of light coming into my room at night was a factor.  Out in blog land, everyone is using painter’s canvas drop cloths for curtain, slipcover and upholstery fabric.  I thought – what the heck?!  - and purchased 2-9’x12’ packages.  I washed them twice, rinsed with fabric softener and threw them in the dryer.  They came out soft and very workable.  I cut 1 panel down the length for each window and only had to do minimal hemming.  I am making a quilt for my bed and have a lot of extra fabric for shams, borders, bed skirt, etc.  I had originally planned to make drapes with the Chocolat fabric (Moda 3 Sisters) but just used some for the valences and I made a couple of matching shams.  I was very pleased working with the canvas fabric and would do it again in a heartbeat!  As a side note – because of the positioning of my bed there was no way to get a better shot of the curtains.  They go to the floor and because I have such high ceilings, I took advantage of that and positioned the valances as close to the ceiling as I could reach. 

Today is the huge yard sale in Wernersville so I am off in search of treasures.  Hope you have a great day!!

If I could just retire...

I could stay at home and get my decorating done!  I honestly intended to have all my Christmas decorating done in time for Southern Hospitality's Christmas Home tour.  I took the button off my blog because I still have only one thing remotely "Christmasy" in the house.  My annual Christmas Tea is next Sunday (the 13th) so it will all have to be done this weekend and I am not looking forward to the 30 trips to the basement.

So, stay tuned.  I promise there will be something pretty to see in a few days!

I am an Army brat and I can do ANYTHING!

That has been my mantra for the day.  This morning I moved the deadbolt strike plate at the front door and now my door closes tightly up against the weather stripping.  No more drafts!  I am one happy woman.

I did have to get out the drill, power screwdriver, regular screwdriver, measuring tape and a pencil.  I love tools. Yesterday I cut dowel rods to use to bunk the twin beds in the guest room.  I used my power finish sander to just take a little off the rods as they were a little too snug in the holes.  To cut the rods I used a little hacksaw only because it was too small a job to bring out the jigsaw.

I covet other people's power tools.  It's a character flaw.  Don't hate me for it!

Staining wood

I am attempting to stain one of the pocket doors in my house.  It was an unfinished door that I have been trying to ignore.  I got out my power sander, sanded it thoroughly, wiped down the dust and started to stain.  There are several places where the stain is "taking" in a blotchy manor.  Some places are too light and some are too dark.  This is not the first time I have stained something so I do have some experience.  I just can't figure out what is going wrong.  I am going to let it dry for 24 hours and then hit it again just in the spots that are noticeably too light.  My fear is that the door may be poplar and it will never take the stain correctly.  If I try another coat and it still doesn't work, I am going to just paint the darn thing.  That will mean it will need sanding again and a coat of stain blocking primer BEFORE I can paint.  I am going to be really cranky if this door ends up having to be painted!

Found it!

I went shopping this weekend and found the fabric for my kitchen.  I wanted something with a "country French" feel to it.  Looky!

My kitchen is large enough for the dark print and I love this little chicken vignette.  I may need to go to a lighter shade of olive for the paint but with vaulted ceilings and so much light, I think this fabric is perfect.  Now, do I do a cafe' style or just use this fabric for the valence and keep off white ones on the bottom?  Maybe this on the valence, off white on the bottom with a band of this at the bottom of the curtain?  I haven't purchased the fabric yet and I need some help making this decision!

New profile photo

So - I updated my profile photo.  It was time to get real.  The other photo was 4 years old, taken in Hawaii and I was tan and very blonde.  My son was sitting across the table when he took the shot.  He is a pretty decent photographer and I love that photo.  Brian referred to it as "Mom's money shot".  (I am not exactly sure what that means!)  This one is me at 57, hair definitely graying and I now have squinchy lines around my eyes when I smile.  I thought I should post one before my face starts sliding down to my chest...