friday's finds

I will be honest, my trip to Chicago was fairly unsuccessful. At least when it comes to finding deals. I guess even the thrift stores have the big city mark-up. But, I was thinking we could have quite a prosperous business by buying in WI and selling in Chicago.

However, the trip was very successful in being to catch up with friends. To say we ate well would be an understatement -- Ethiopian, Greek, dessert cafe with the most incredible bread pudding. I honestly don't know how I didn't gain weight.

In spite of the disappointment in Chicago, I really scored in Sheboygan last weekend. D and I went to Kohler for their Winterfest activities; so I, of course, had to stop at a couple Estate Sales. I was really excited because they were both on their 2nd weekend, and everything was 75%. The downside is the original prices were so overinflated that I cannot believe anyone paid full price.

I found a couple more pieces of milk glass, an apothecary jar and the Robin Hood book. Dave also had some success by finding some $.50 poker chips. (He may be unwilling to admit he likes these sales, but he always finds something he cannot leave without) Everything we bought was $.25-$1. My crystal decanter was a bit more at $8 from a local consignment shop.


Here is some more milk glass and a Fenton plate from another Estate.


Okay, so is it possible to have too much of one thing? I think I might need to go to milk glass anonymous. I found these pieces and the antique blocks at my local thrift store, for less than $2 each. I was SO excited to find a hand blown glass cheese dome for $4. I don't really care about the wood plate and may just re-donate. I also love the twin plates I found in Chicago for $1 each. Too bad those were my only finds in the big city.


Lastly, I also found a little present for the hubs. I was thrilled to have spotted this at the Goodwill near mom's house. All the pieces, and only $2!

fabulous finds

I mentioned earlier in the week about the little round end table I found at an estate sale to go between my two new chairs. At the same Estate Sale, I had spotted at little french provincial dresser, but didn't buy it. After getting home, I could not stop thinking about it's potential. I called D and sent him a photo to get his opinion. He agreed about how cute it is and asked where I would put it. I had a few ideas that he loved too. With a green light like that, I hopped back in the car and headed over in the hopes it was still there. Lucky for me, it was!





I had great expectations to get them completed this week, but my body had other plans. As it turns out, I have a viral infection in one of my lungs and won't be doing any painting for a few days. In spite of my illness, I was able to venture out to Target (for a prescription) and stop off at Michael's to check out the 80% of Holiday items.

I found some gorgeous wrapping paper at Target for only $.62 per roll. I love the designs and that they can be used for a variety of occasions - birthday, wedding, Christmas, etc.


At Michael's, I stumbled upon some giant faux poinsettias. The arrangements were a bit too much for my taste, but the urn planters they were in are exactly what I had been looking for... and only $16!


I have already removed the silk flowers and greens, and cannot wait to use the urns on the front porch.


I almost forgot! At another Estate Sale last week I found this basket of vintage ornaments. Now if I could just find a large feather tree to display my favorites on next year...

is there anything that can't be spray painted?

It is hard to even begin to list all the things in our house we have spray painted the last 8 years - everything from furniture, bathroom fixtures, photo frames and a fireplace screen. I have even read of some who spray paint doorknobs!

I wanted to share my recent finds and accomplishments. Even though I write with a sore shoulder from all the sanding and spray painting...


A couple weeks ago I purchased an old, black arm chair. I have a thing for interesting antique (looking) chairs. So much so that I need to stop as I really have no other places to use them. However, I could not pass this one up that I found at an estate sale. I fell in love with the natural rubbings on the arms and front rungs. Not to mention how hard it is find arm chairs! However, the seat was quite a mess and I was not so sure what to do with it.

Today I worked on sanding down the seat, and a few other areas that needed some attention. When D got home, he convinced me to just spray paint. So, I taped up the arms and front rungs to keep their natural distressing. There were a few spots I had to fill in with wood filler, then I used two coats of flat black spray paint. Next I took some sandpaper and distressed the other areas. Here is the finished product, although I am thinking about making a chair cushion too. We will see...



I have been struggling for months about what to do with all my long fashion necklaces. They were being stored in a drawer in my lingerie chest and it seems every time I want to wear one, I spend 10 minutes trying to untangle it from others. It suddenly hit me to make a board where I can hang them on the wall. The next step was to find something large and cute to use as a frame

The large gold frame in the picture above was it! It was another estate sale find, and at $5 (with no glass) I could not pass it up. I stripped and sanded as much as possible, then primed with spray primer and finished with a coat of a slightly off-white can of 50 cent oops paint. To complete the Shabby Chic look, I distressed it lightly. Then I spent two hours working to untangle everything so they could be hung.



The little blue box in the above picture is a circa 1960 train/make-up case. I had found it at an antique store with a price of $17. I had gone to another store across the hallway to find a similar case for $34. Really? double the price? I went back to the first store to have another look and that is when I spotted the $6 markdown sticker. SOLD! I plan to use this with some other vintage suitcases I have found in the last couple years.


In my stops at Goodwill, I also found these two little candle holders for a total $3. The white one is pretty cute as is, but I bought it with the intention of spray painting it silver. The already silver candlestick needed a good scrubbing to get rid of all the wax dripping.


Here they are, ready for display, along with a $2 flame less candle on clearance at Marhsalls/Homegoods.



Although Halloween has come and gone, I wanted to share my cute little skull from Goodwill. It was not in great shape and the paint was peeling off, but it was the perfect little guy to paint a nice glossy black - especially since it was a steal at only $1. After painting him, I thought about maybe doing it in silver for a Terminator look. Maybe next year....



Finally, I decided to jump on the bandwagon of making your own cake stands. While I have been collecting antique plates I would like to use, I needed something to test it out. These $.70 plates (from Homegoods) and $.20 cordial glasses (from thrift store) were the perfect trial. I got a $3 tube of Duco Cement to hold it all together. A day later and here is the finished product...(they are not attached to each other, just gently stacked)

estate sale + man tools

This morning Dave and I headed out to an Estate Sale about 15 minute north of us. Being that it was "out in the country" and Sunday morning, I had hoped to be in the top 15 on the list to enter. Boy were we wrong. The sale started at 10:00am and we arrived at 8:45. I was shocked to see us as numbers 31 & 32 on the list. We headed off for breakfast and returned an hour later. It was about 10:30 when we finally got in and I was in love. There were so many great colonial antiques - chairs, boxes, books, tables, etc. The owner of the Estate Sale Company had even said she had never seen antiquities like this before. I had to agree. Much of it was true colonial America. Items from early-mid 19th century, built in Massachusetts, Vermont, etc. There was even a diary series from 1852-1854. They were incredible, as they should be for $1500.

Unfortunately, all my heart's desires were too steep for my wallet. However, D found two things he couldn't live without for only $20: a 200-ft extension cord and chain saw - perfect for Halloween! I also walked away with a $2 glue gun and 20 glue sticks. Not sure what I will use it for, but I know I have wished I had one in recent months.

Later today we are going to try out some meatball recipes....

great success!

I headed out this morning to hit an estate sale, a couple consignment shops and a few charity stores (Goodwill, etc). I was thrilled with my finds at the estate sale, which included three gorgeous frames, a small wooden stool and few misc. decorating pieces.

One of the frames had filthy dirty glass and the other two had no glass. I plan to use some glass from old frames I had and my one-cent finds from yesterday.

The stool is just what I had been looking for, but the paint was pretty awful. I could see it in a blue-grey in my living room and was looking forward to getting started. I headed over to the nearby Home Depot to see what kind of 'Oops' paints they had. I was so excited to have spotted the color I was after. When I asked the paint lady the price, she said to just take since it was only half-full. Hooray! Then I went to Home Depot near home and found another similar color for 50 cents. Boy, I am on a roll! I think I need to play the lottery...