Junkin' Good Fun

I've been lax on sharing my latest hunting episodes, but then, I've also been busy getting furniture and things ready to take over to my daughter... my daughter who just got engaged Saturday! Yep, that's right! I'm going to be mother of the bride, you all. Woo hoo! Looks like I'll have my hands even more full for many months to come.

I've been playing blog hooky because I've been trying to finish up what feels like a zillion projects. In the process, I've managed to go out and drag home some cool new stuff, passed up some amazing curbside finds because I couldn't get them in the car (okay, I'm moving on... I'll try not to whine about it.) and I've been working on other projects I've gotten myself into.

Here are a few of the latest goodies I've procured.

It folds and then the feet fold up too! The top wood can be twirled open and closed to use as a vice or put pegs in the holes to hold your wood at an angle for cutting.  Five dollars! So excited! I need a workbench!

Why Blogging Has to Wait

My friend, Kathryn, and I had a garage sale last weekend. It has taken so much of my time, both before and after.

It took me about 5 or 6 trips to get all my stuff to her house for the sale, and I had to leave a bunch of my things home due to time constraints.

Putting the Past in its Place

There I sat in a stranger's driveway around the corner from the home my father built and where I grew up, sifting through handwritten recipes along with clippings from newspaper food sections and product booklets of culinary past. It was a bit like digging through a history book. It wasn't my story or that of anyone in my family, but it might as well have been. Hand written recipes dotted with the sweet memories of the culinary moments of a woman's life in the kitchen where she carefully crafted tasty treats for her family stirred something in me.

Finding Fabulous

Recent weeks have found a variety of treasures making their way home with me. On Saturday of this past week this is what I found.

Junk Warrior Without Her Weapons

You've heard the sage advice that even a young boy or girl in scouts learns: Be prepared. 

I should pay attention to the sages and the scouts. While out garage sale-ing, where I hauled in $9 worth of fabulousness plus a 75 cent glazed donut, I spotted a junk pile in front of a house for sale.

Cue the brakes.

Somebody Stop Me!

Why? Because yesterday morning after church, I went back to that same sale from Saturday one last time. (Yes, that makes four times. I know!) I had to. The instrument case was haunting me. It was only a dollar after all, so with a good night's sleep and a full day of rational consideration about this weighty matter, I realized that it was too good a deal to pass up if it was still there. The estate sale was still going on, and it was one of the few stragglers still sitting in the garage looking woebegone and leftover, so I lugged it home. I'm the proud owner of another somethingorother to go with all the whatchamacallits that I have already introduced to my life and my family.

Before I show it to you, here's a shot of the shabby chair I drug home from the trash a couple weeks ago and whose seat I ripped off and threw in the trash, which left a gaping hole. Not much good for sitting.

But great for framing up some pretty little yellow lovelies.

Couldn't Leave Well Enough Alone

Leaving well enough alone is apparently not in my make-up. I suppose this fact should not surprise me, yet I continue to find myself retracing my steps and revisiting treasures I have left behind. I can't seem to get it right the first time.

After forcing myself up and out the door despite a torrential downpour this weekend, I spent only $5 at one garage sale and $2 at another, and headed home. Feeling like a gambler who was ahead, I took my winnings and escaped, heading to my own front door by 8:00 a.m. before I had a chance (or so I thought) to get lost in the morning, the moments and the deals. Feeling pretty good about my restraint, the work to clean everything up began right away, because I like to enjoy this stuff without the ick factor to haunt me.

At those sales, a mini treasure was to be found inside the first item I bought. For $2, I purchased a metal file box. It was unusually heavy, but only had some old file folders in it. I looked through each folder when I got home, just in case something might have been left behind, and bingo, there it was, a form, hand written and dated 1954, with another small withholding form stapled to it.

Who Am I Foolin'?

No.

Of course I don't "hoard".

I stockpile.

You see, I'm just very prepared.

I'll be in good shape if there's ever a junk shortage.

My rationalization is fed, as it is for many of us, by an I'm "gonna need that some day" mentality. Meanwhile, living space dwindles and decisions mount. In my case, my friend and I are intending to open a shop, and the mounting stash of treasure that's growing as if someone's fertilizing and watering it has the potential to become valuable product in some iteration or another. We're counting on it. If I ever get to the store for some of the supplies I need, I will continue to transform the elements of my stash into other life forms. Unfortunately time and circumstance are often fickle and rude. They find ways of interrupting me and changing my mind about what I'm going to be doing next!

Now, this past weekend was no exception to the hunt and gather phenom that fuels my junk stockpile.

Despite the approaching tropical storm (Isaac), and the driving rain that began on Friday, the thought of missing out on something that might be out there, and the hope that the rain would deter others (thereby providing me with an advantage!) prevented me from staying inside and enjoying the dark day inside where the atmosphere was devoid of blustery winds and raindrops.

I donned those fantastical "Raspberry Red"(okay, you can call them pink if you like) Rain Boots, which have become a sort of soggy Saturday staple, (see, I DID need them!) and I set out to run the gamut of stops on my list.

 "Raspberry Red", the friend of a soggy day yard-saler - they did me proud this weekend.

Early on, I happened upon a couple who was selling quite a few items they had from a shop they were closing. There were a lot of things made with wood and seashells. Two ladies had arrived just before me and scored some items I'd have wanted, but they were pricey, so perhaps the timing was just as well. I got this for 50 cents because some shells were missing. It's actually a nice heavy wood frame, and I intend to take the shells off anyway and see what comes of it.

Spotted this old fashioned looking gumball machine on my way into their garage, but the owner wanted $25. Too rich for my blood, so I just glanced at it in passing and continued the hunt.

...whereby I found this and snapped it up for $10.00.

which is odd considering my $5 limit.

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity and striving after the wind...so it felt while sanding down this paint job.

This is a new piece (and not any special quality). The owner had just painted it to look like this. I justified the $10 by considering that each piece was $5. That, my friends, is how rationalization works. I also figured the straight lines would make it easy to work on. Flat surfaces don't provide much character when painting/distressing, but they are easier to sand to bare wood (and I rarely find character pieces around here anyway) and I like to get the old finish off as much as possible if it's not going to add to the character of the end result. I wanted the purple outta here so that when I distress it later, the wood will show through here and there. With a white basecoat, it's already a new creation. And maybe me too, as I listened to Matt Chandler messages while I painted. (He's the pastor of the Village Church in Dallas, Texas. Cally sent me a whole bunch of his older podcasts, and I listen while I work. So yes, it's holy work I'm doing. 

What? You find that to be a stretch? Well, he is an excellent speaker. His Biblical messages are also quite timely and engaging.)

So while I got somewhere on that piece, it now sits in furniture limbo. That's the place where so many of my projects go to dream of a quick renewal and recovery (they dream with futility, I might add, but they can dream). I made a deal with myself to come home and immediately get sanding and to get the first coat of paint on it. Surprisingly I did. Unfortunately it was raining, and that left my sanding efforts to fits and starts, since I do such work right outside of the back door on the porch step. Then I didn't have the color of paint needed for the final coat. I also need to create a stencil I can use to paint the fabric, which I intend to use to cover the seat. I intend that this vanity will no longer resemble its former self when I'm done with it. 

I got this fish net thrown in with the vanity.

So, I left with my vanity and the net and also with soggy hair from the time spent in the rain trying to wedge the vanity into the backseat as water fell freely from the sky (the guy ended up having to unscrew the mirror for me after my futile attempts.) Because of that mirrored vanity, I had to sacrifice hair vanity for the rest of the morning. So it goes. However thanks to "Raspberry Red", my feet and the bottom of my jeans were spared a soggy saga! Perhaps I should become one who dons her little plastic rain bonnet like my mom and her generation used to pull out of their purses, unfold and cover their heads with back in the day. 

Ummm...let me think about that...

Yeah...no.

I think I'll pass. 

. 

Yes! 7 feet of longboard goodness! 

Well, this is South Florida, so I was thrilled to score this.

This is meant to become a sign or some sort of display piece. It's got a bit of fiberglass damage at the bottom, but since we don't intend to use it for surfing, and it's not noticeable, it is perfect. The guy wanted $10 and that was too much for me. Mind you, around here, used surfboards often go for between $150 and $200. Even so I am very conservative with my expenditures. Can't be spending $10 on just anything. I called Casey when I first found this because she's been wanting a long board. I had to wake her to ask, but through a sleepy fog, she declined despite my proclamations that it was a great deal. Then she promptly returned to the land of nod. I wasn't sure I wanted to blow my own cash, so I left, however, as usual, I began regretting the uberthrift and hesitation with which I had operated. You know that feeling; it's the opposite of buyer's remorse. 

I shall henceforth call it "uberthrifter's remorse".

I ended up on the phone with Lynette and told her about the gumball machine and the surfboard. She thought they were great ideas even at asking price and gave me her approval. So off I took in a hurry, pretty sure both would be gone. I arrived at the house only to realize that a 7 foot board might be a bit tricky to fit in my car. 

Ha! By now, you (and I!) should know my car has skills. The board was still there (woohoo!) and the guy selling it managed to fit it through the back car door, over the passenger seat and the dashboard, with the back resting on the back window space. Guess what, he took $5.00 for it! Nicely scored! And guess who came home from work later and promptly fell in love and proclaimed it to be hers?! 

Uh, uh, sweet thang. It's a shop sign now. Casey told me that I should have known not to listen to her when she's sleepy. 

Oh brother.

When I went back for the gumball machine, it was still there too. It's not authentic or old but has enough of a look, and I got the seller to go down by $10 to $15 and made the deal. The owner and I had quite a time trying to get it apart to see how the money would come out (she had never used it the correct way) and then we had to try and get it all back together. Glad I asked her to be sure it worked first because it was a bit tricky. In the process, she went in her house and managed to find the key, which I would have been sorry not to have. She thought she had lost it.

So there you have it. I have added to my stockpile and actually worked on some things. By this weekend I hope to have not only the vanity done but to also have a few other little projects at least in the works.

Wish I had it all ready to show you, but I'm a dabbler. I have to work around my job, the yard work, repairs of many kinds, food prep and clean up, laundry, house cleaning, blogging and such the like. A little time on this, a little on that, and one day soon I'll have something to show for it all.

In the meantime, I'm working on distributing the ever-multiplying junk throughout the house so as to trick the eye into believing it somehow makes sense.

Think I'm gonna fool anyone?

I'll be sharing this with:

Sunday's Best @ My 1929 Charmer
Mop It Up Mondays @ I Should Be Mopping The Floor
Pink Saturday @ How Sweet The Sound
Nifty Thrifty Sunday @ Nifty Thrifty Things
Sunday Show Off @ Twigg Studios
Freedom Fridays @ My Turn
Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home
Feathered Nest Friday @ My Romantic Home
Time Travel Thursday @ The Brambleberry Cottage
Share Your Cup Thursday @ Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson

Sweet Deals, Fun Finds, Sentimental Treasures

I had high hopes for a morning of scoring fantastic finds but there wasn't a lot of vintage goodness to be had. One house I went to had a few good items, but everything I asked about was $6. No thank you. I have a self-imposed $5 limit per item. I hardly ever even spend that or go over my limit, unless it's a large item or a rare treasure. I aim for cheap. Somehow, even though the morning felt like a bust, I came home with some sweet deals and fun finds.


A guy who was cleaning out his warehouse workshop talked me into buying these 6 Lenox coffee cups for $1.

No, I didn't need them and I don't have a place for them, and I told him so. But he drove a hard bargain. Plus I figured maybe Cally could use them in her new place. They are simple, soft and delicate without being too formal. The guy said I could have had all the dishes cheaply too, but he had given them to a local consignment store. Somehow he had overlooked these. I should go and see if the consignment store still has them, and if so, how much they want. You never know. Maybe Cally could have the whole set.

While leaving that warehouse I came across some pallets up against the wall awaiting the trash. There were some smallish ones that would fit in my car. Yes! I snagged them and moved on.




I only took two and wish I had taken more. They don't have very many slats. I got these because I need some wider boards. It's a start. I'll add to my collection a little at a time until I have enough to make something.


I headed to a sale in a neighborhood over by the beach and the woman there had this cool cruiser for sale!

What? You don't keep your bike in the house? You would if thievin' varmints were always watching and waiting in your neighborhood like they seem to be in ours, hoping you'll leave it outside on the back porch so they can snatch it. 

A bike was on my search list for Casey. The woman only wanted $10, so I called Casey, woke her up, and she groggily came over to check it out and haul it home. Her back seat is slightly bigger than mine. That's a bonus because it would have been a job to get this in and then back out of my car. I speak from bike-hauling-adventure-experience-past.





Love the look of this bike! It's in need of some oil on the chain and an adjustment to the seat, and it really works a girl's legs to pedal it (which could be the answer to my need for a leg workout), but hey, it's a bike and we got it for $10 and the tires weren't even flat. I know, $10 is over my limit, but it is a bike and people usually ask $25 for bikes around here.

Color Coordination

The best thing was, it was just the look and color we wanted! Yea! (It even works with my living room color scheme. What? Don't you consider living room color coordination when you buy a bike? Silly you.) Of course, there is nowhere to put it, but what's new. So it's been parked in the Florida room. I only brought it over to the living room by the front door for better photo light.


Also got this really cool old tool box at the same garage sale.

 Also scored some nails and anchors. I needed them desperately for the boxes I was making last weekend. I got the tool box and all of the nails and anchors for $1.50. I was thrilled with that! Simple pleasures are the best!


I think this box is absolutely perfect in color and aging.

Stopped in at Goodwill on the way back and picked up this cute little vase for 69 cents.

Dirty Work

Then I dug through and rearranged a zillion white plates trying to score a good set for Cally, but eventually decided they weren't right. (I should have demanded payment for my work. After I was done sorting through them, the plate organization was stellar!)


I talked one of the women there into giving me 50 cents off this coffee pot, though. That's the second time I've gotten Goodwill to give me a price break. Woo! I'll consider that as payment for my work on my knees on their dirty floor going through the dishes. I have three old coffee pots now. I'd like to collect a few more for a fun tablescape I'd like to create.







Then finally, I searched through all the records at Goodwill and scored these with great adulation!

Oh, Christmas joy! 

Records? You ask. Yes! Records. These are some of the very ones I've wanted FOREVER. I spotted them at Goodwill some weeks back but thought they were asking $2.99 a piece, so I hid them (as if) and left. When I told Casey about them, she chided me for not just buying them then and there. She wants them as much as I do. I went back to find them and my heart sank when I thought they were gone. One by one, I started unearthing them here and there with excitement, and then realized that they were only 69 cents each, after all.


Sweet Sounds of Christmas!


These matter so much because they are among those our family listened to while growing up. They ARE the sounds of Christmas to me. Back when records had gone the way of the cassette, at the start of the 80's, when I was getting married and moving out of my childhood home, I made some tapes of my favorite songs from the records... scratches, skips and all. My Kids were then raised on them and know all the songs (with the skips), by these artists, and we have become Christmas carol snobs for these recordings. We don't enjoy listening to very many others. Only these will do. Sadly the tapes have begun breaking, and one was accidentally taped over by Cael and his friend when they were younger. Right in the middle of a Christmas carol, we'd hear Cael and his friend start singing some pop song of the time. It was hilarious. I loved that tape despite how mad I was initially when I discovered they'd taped over my sentimental favorites. After a while, their recording became a sentimental favorite as those young voices changed and that tape became a treasure. Sadly it broke. I was devastated, and every year at Christmas I fear the last ones will break as well.


Recently I was able to purchase a record player for $5 at a yard sale. Now I just need a needle and we'll still be able to experience Christmas in the manner in which we are accustomed, for as long as the records hold out and as long as we can find needles. Hallelujah! We were really getting nervous because we are down to 2 tapes and one of them has John Cougar Mellancamp recorded on one side.


Also got this little lidded jar. It's similar to the one next to it that I got at a sale about a month ago.

Then we went to Target for food and came home with these lanterns that were on clearance. They were the color I wanted, so we went ahead and got them. They started out up here on top of the beast, but have already been moved to one of the aqua end tables with my little yellow bird.





Last but not least, here are my freebie finds from a trash pile

And here's the chair Lynn and Pete dropped off for me to use as I please. (They also left me a broken windsor back chair, from which I took some of the spindles before it went the way of the trash man, and they also left a black light fixture.) I have a plan for this chair, but I'm really starting to enjoy the look of it on the back patio too. Decisions, decisions. Heaven help me!

Okay, I think that's it. Now it's Friday. Time to check out tomorrow's garage sale listings and gear up for the adventure of the hunt all over again. Woo hoo!


Happy "almost the weekend", everyone!


May your treasure hunting bring you sweet deals, fun finds and sentimental treasures this weekend!

I'll be sharing this at:



Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm
Cowgirl Up @ Cedar Hill Ranch




Manic Monday @ Serendipity & Spice
Sunday Show Off @ Twigg Studios
Show & Tell Saturday @ Be Different Act Normal
Say G'Day @ Natasha in Oz
Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage
Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous
Fabulous Friday @ Doodles & Stitches
HodgePodge Friday @ It's a Hodgepodge Life

High Fives & Double Fist Pumps

I was giving myself internal high fives even as passers-by raised eyebrows and scrunched up their noses while waiting for me to cross the road with old aqua cabinet parts, mirrors and other sundry treasure.

Once home and safely behind closed doors, double fist pumps would have been noted by any who were awake and interested in my morning's adventures. None were. My silent exclamation over my stellar junk haul went undetected. I had loaded up these cabinet doors and drawers for the knobs, if nothing else. I loved the cabinet color and saw some other potential uses that might come of them.

Sweet Salvage!

Ottoman on wheels!

No, I wasn't out garage sale hunting or thrift store shopping. It was bulk trash day. We are having a garage sale on Saturday at my friend's house and I thought I'd run out and see if I could nab some things from the neighborhood trash to turn right around and sell. It was worth a try. Each week in my neighborhood, treasures are sitting curbside for those willing to stop and pick them up.


Trouble is, when I go looking, my eyes hone in on things that I would consider as having potential in my world. So then what do you suppose happens when I get home? Do I leave them in the car to take to the garage sale?

Of course not. I pull it all out and spread it out in the front yard, clean it up and foof around with it a bit to see if it would possibly fit in around here somewhere. If not now, I might need it sometime in the "future".


So while I was out early yesterday morning, I saw plenty. I sadly had to pass on a number of larger things because of lack of room in the back seat of my car. I thought of Distressed Donna's wise insistence that I get a truck. I really could have hauled so much home if I'd had one, but thank goodness I didn't. It took half the day to clean up and dismantle the few things I gathered and gleaned "for the garage sale", just in case and "on the off-chance" I decided to keep them. It also took plenty of time to haul it all from room to room to see if I could work any of it in to my decor, even eventually after some tweaking.

This color is called 7199 Briggs Seagreen. (So it says on the backs of the pieces with bare wood.) Do I need more aqua in my life? Well...

Certainly I would think of something to do with them. Right? I should probably keep them, shouldn't I? There are three cabinet doors, 2 drawers and a dummy front with no knobs, plus some random pieces that were attached. The cabinet doors weigh about 5  lbs (or slightly more) each. You think I'm exaggerating. Don't doubt me. In an attempt at verification of that weight, I did go and hold a 5 lb bag of sugar and then the cabinet door. The door felt heavier. Does this really matter, you ask?

Well, if I'm going to hang them on the walls in some fashion with other items hanging off of them, were I to go that route, the weight just might matter.

 Now, this thing weighs a ton. It's mounted on wood. It's 3'x 2 1/2'. I liked that it was slightly curved at the top and had distressed edges.

I hauled home two mirrors like this, one had a chrome knob still attached in one corner.

 Then there was this beauty. Sturdy, and quality-built.

It must have been well-loved and used over the years. The leather was torn and taped.

If nothing else, I thought I could salvage the legs and the casters. You know how I feel about casters!

Did I stop and call it a day? Why, no. No I didn't. I removed all the hinges from the doors and tore apart the ottoman to get to the heart of it, just to see if it cried out to be kept and remade. I measured the leather pieces that I took off in case I decide to recover it and wrote the measurements on the sides of the ottoman.

It was topped with some great old batting which I've decided to save because it's looks likely that it will be restored as an ottoman with a new/old look, since it's such a well-built piece.

Thanks, Lynn!

Meanwhile, my sweet and wonderful friend Lynn was over today, and she was kind enough to help us haul some of our garage sale stuff in her truck, Big Blue, sacrificing her back in the process, no doubt.

Tomorrow morning we garage sale (or float away in the flood waters - there's a tropical storm threatening and lots of rain expected.) 

I'll be the one sloshing around in the raspberry red rain boots begging people to "take my junk, PLEASE!" It'll be a miracle if I make any money. I'm not known for my salesmanship. Last garage sale I was begging this couple to take a shelf for free even though they offered to pay for it. I know... go figure.

I am happy to say that the large frame and all three mirrors, even the big curved one, are on their way to be placed into the garage sale.

Wish me luck and tell me if you have any ideas for my Briggs Seagreen cabinet doors and drawers. 

I was thinking these doors and drawer fronts might be cool on the wall going in different directions with things hung from the knobs (perhaps attaching other knobs, hooks etc. to them, as well.) Another idea was to use chalkboard paint on the middle of them. A piece of chalk could be tied to a ribbon or piece of twine and hung from the knob so its always handy. That's about all I've got at the moment.

There's copper color showing through on the chippy knobs!

Any ideas, you all? I'd really like to do more than just keep the knobs. I'd hate to have to get rid of the aqua goodness if there's a great idea out there to make the most of the doors and drawers as well.

Put your thinking caps on and please let me know what you think!  

PS: Today I found a cool basket "for the garage sale" in someone's trash pile, but I got home and it looks great with my fire wood in it. I think I'm keeping it. 

I know... someone help me, please!

I'll be sharing this at:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm

Manic Monday @ Serendipity and Spice

Get Schooled Saturday @ Too Much Time

Functional Friday @ The Not so Functional Housewife

Tickled Pink Friday @ 504 Main

Redoux

Hodgepodge Friday @ It's a Hodgepodge Life