funky junk & other treasures

A couple weeks ago I headed over to the Funky Junk Antique Show in Sandpoint, ID. It was my birthday present to myself. No big kids. Just me & Addie....and QUIET uninterrupted time to enjoy one of my favorite things...thrifting & antiquing. It was wonderful :)

The drive was about an hour and a half so not too bad. The show wasn't huge but the people there were so nice. 

And... I found something I'd been looking for for quite a while.

An old kitchen scale. And it's BLUE!!!

Isn't she purty??! She's currently sitting on my kitchen counter with some cookbooks on top.

I paid a bit more than I would've liked but other than some rust it was in great shape. And sometimes when you find exactly what you're looking for you have to just grab it!

I found a few other treasures, like vintage ledgers.

These ones have little papers from the post office inside with date stamps from the 50s.

And some sugar sacks. These are going to be made into pillows.

And while I was there...and without big kids...I decided to hit up a few other local antique shops & found a few more treasures.

That towel isn't 'vintage' but I loved the look. Totally gonna make that into a pillow. I really, really, REALLY wanted this vintage A&W Root Beer crate that I found. It was orange on the side with brown writing. I was envisioning a cute little fall setup inside the crate on my front porch. But they were asking $24. 

what the what???!! 

I find it hilarious that sometimes people seem to think that just because something is old that it's worth a lot of money. So I walked out without that one :(

The other day I was coming home from taking the kids to school & came across 'Vintage Sale' signs. Well, I was all over that one, lemme tell ya! hee And I discovered some more great finds, like this ah-DOR-able little bench.

Yes, I could've done this myself. However, it would've cost me over 1/2 of what I paid just to redo a bench like this. And this one was uber cute so I couldn't pass it up :)

I know it's hard to tell in the photo, but the bench is painted a pretty light blue. Of course! And I just loved the chenille fabric on top...haven't seen that before.


And here's a few more finds from that sale...

I'm going to cover those wooden spools with some fabric scraps.

And then I found some great stuff over at a store called Real Deals. They're only open twice a week. My friend Theresa met me over there last week & I snatched up some new goodies :)

I love new things that look vintage-y.


And last but not least, I found this great rug at a local shop.

I paid $11 which may not seem like a deal but I know from the local sewing store that it takes about 9-10 yards of fabric to make one of these knotted rugs. So even at $3/yd it would cost $27-30 to make.


And considering it had my favorite colors...turquoise & green...I had to snatch it up!


Well, I think that's it for now. I looooove living in an area that is into antiques. I'm in heaven :) I have company in town for Addie's baptism this weekend but I'm getting some posts ready to go up for the rest of the week while we're busy with that.


Have a great Thursday friends :)

thrifty thursday - thrifty finds around the house

Yes, Thrifty Thursdays is back...for now :) I have lots of projects that I want to work on but with the impending move they may not happen til after we're moved & the baby's born.

I'll start with my latest find - a bookshelf for my daughter's room.

I'd been looking for one for a little while now. She had a smaller one but given the amount of books she reads she quickly ran out of room & books started piling up on the floor. A random trip to a local children's consignment store & I found this tall, white bookshelf for 50 bucks...a great deal considering it was a good bookshelf, not a cheapo one.

As you can see, she nearly has it filled!

******

Here's some of my other favorite finds (click the links for more info):

foyer dresser

Olivia's dresser

matching side table

side table in the living room

framed chalk board

front porch chair & flower box

(I'm thinking I may paint this turquoise after we move)

summer photo collage

Of course, there's other 'thrifty' redo's that you can check out on the sidebar by clicking on the 'thrifty thursdays' icon :)

thrifty thursday - front porch decor

Yes, thrifty thursday is back! I know, y'all didn't know what to do with yourselves these last couple weeks it was missing. yeah right

I thought I'd show you my recent front porch decor...thrifter style. I have a small front porch. But it's big enough to put a few things out there to decorate and make it look pretty.

I'd been on the lookout for an old, rickety chair that looked weathered & worn. And wouldn't you know it, I found one just the other day! By the way, I also got to meet a new friend I met through this blog...hi Jen :) Anyway, it looks like it's falling apart, the wood is cracked, the paint is peeling...perfect!

On the chair I have an old crate that I picked up at Gina's a while back. It was on top of my kitchen cabinets along with some other thrifty finds. But it found a new home holding some fall mums. 

And, of course, my pup and a pumpkin. Now I just need to get a Halloween wreath on my door & my porch will be done!

thrifty thursday - another dresser redo :)

I have another dresser makeover for you guys today! I've been wanting to get this one painted up for a while. What hung me up was the fact that it was in dire need of a good sanding and that's my worker boy husband's department. I mean, paint drips everywhere & lumps...ugh. Why do people do this to furniture?? I mean, why paint it if you're not even going to do a semi-decent job?? And the poor hardware, that had paint & gook all over it too.

Sorry guys, that's a pet peeve of mine. It ranks right up there with painting over outlet covers.

But I digress...

Do you remember this dresser/hutch/nightstand set I got at the thrift market back in May??

You might remember I redid the nightstand. That cute little table sold in my consignment booth in like a day! Guess I wasn't the only one that thought it was cute :)

And here is the dresser with a new coat of white paint...

Isn't she pretty?? When I first snatched up this dresser set I thought it might go in my daughter's room. But then I found that other dresser I shared last week so I decided the bottom part of this one would go in my foyer (the hutch is in the attic in case I change my mind later) I can't tell you how nice it looks now compared to what it looked like before. 

I haven't figured out what is going to go on the wall or the dresser yet. But I'm envisioning an olive green vase with some fall foliage in it. 

The handles got a new coat of espresso spray paint (brown).

And now they look brand new! By the way, I'm glad I could help some of you with the toothpicks in the styrafoam idea! 

I was thinking that this dresser might look good with some type of glaze on it. But I like the white so much I'm going to leave it alone...for now. But I can't guarantee that in 6 mos you won't see me doing a makeover on this dresser again!

I also want to share a little secret about this dresser. She has something a little special to share that not everyone gets to see ;)

Since the insides of the drawers weren't very pretty I decided to decoupage the lining. At first I was going to use some vintage sheet music and then came across one of the Winnie the Pooh books I found during one of my thrifty excursions. So I ripped some of the pages out (I know, but after you do it once or twice it doesn't hurt as much!) I used decoupage glue (or you could use Mod Podge) and applied it to the back side of each page & laid it out, pressing out bubbles. Then, after it was all dry I applied a coat across the top. 

Now, because my drawer isn't totally flat (there's some imperfections in the drawer, paint droplets, etc) my pages weren't going to lay totally flat. And I was ok with that. Hey, this is an old dresser. It's not gong to look perfect. I love that.

And it wouldn't be a vintage dresser redo without hardware issues...again. I'm missing several of the screws for the handles. Shhhh...don't tell anyone but the 2 bottom handles don't have screws in them! hehe It doesn't matter, that's one big drawer and you can use the upper handles til I get new screws ;)

In the next few weeks I'll have some non-furniture thrifty redo's that I've been working on!

I'll be linking up to Jen's weekend wrap up party!

thrifty thursday - girly dresser redo

I am so excited for today's post!! I've been working on my daughter's dresser for a while now and I'll give you the details below. I would have had the post last week but I lost one of the dresser handles and trying to find another one for a dresser that is probably as old as me was not fun. Thankfully I found it and all is well again!! hehe

But first, let's get to the good stuff, shall we??!! Here's what it looks like now:

I'm just so thrilled with how it turned out. It makes me smile each and every time I walk in her room :) Especially since this is how it looked before:

Yuck, I know!! But this dresser had such neat details and I knew that all it needed was some TLC (and a great coat of paint!) I mean, aren't the legs on this dresser cute??

First of all, excuse the weird shadowing in these photos. My daughter's room is purple and gets mostly indirect light. I've tried every which way to take great pics in her room to no avail. Something about that purple paint makes some weird shadows, especially when I'm taking pics on the wall opposite from her window.

But let's get back to the dresser! I used True Turquoise by Glidden. 

It's the same color I used for her side table redo. I had my hubby sand the top of the dresser because it had a shiny finish. I didn't sand any other part of the dresser but I did use a primer first. I really wanted this dresser to turn out nice so I wanted to do it right. It took 2 coats of paint and we also put a coat of polyurethane on the top to keep it from getting it dinged up (cause this is going in an 8 yr old's room remember!)

Now for the top I got the idea here to do the little scalloped frame. 

Isn't it cute??! I just love it. I put the tape on the edge of one side of the dresser, then ripped it in half lengthwise weaving so it would look a bit scalloped. I did that for each side. 

Just make sure that the tape is on there securely so that when you paint none of it leaks underneath ruining your shape.

Then I used a roller to roll on the white paint (2 coats). My only regret is that I didn't make it more scalloped but I'm still happy with it. By the way, be careful if your daughter decides to go pick up her guinea pig in the middle of a painting project...

Yep, she picked the most inopportune time to go get Bugsy...Geez!!


I also used the original hardware and spay painted them white. I did prime them first, then one coat of the white.

Here's a tip when painting knobs & small stuff. You don't want to lay them directly on the surface they're sitting on because when they dry they'll stick. And that's not good. So I usually use some toothpicks in a piece of styrofoam to hold them up.

This way also makes it easier to spray paint around all the little edges & details. I mentioned above that I thought I'd lost one of the pieces. Of course, it was one of the pieces that holds the handle on. Let me tell you, trying to find hardware that will fit a vintage dresser (that doesn't cost a fortune) is hard to do. Thankfully my hubby found it in the back of my truck so we didn't have to worry about finding a replacement. Cause even if I wanted to buy 'non-vintage' hardware, the holes on this dresser were an odd size. So keep that in mind if you're refinishing older furniture. Make sure it has all its parts!!


And now for my next project - decorating above that dresser. I'll give you a hint, I'm probably going to be doing something with this: