Some cool finds and a few makeovers....

Well, what do you know- two posts in a month. LOL....I'm feeling ambitious this week, what can I say?

I always love visiting other blogs and seeing what everyone is up to- especially the thrift shop/yard sale show-and-tell everyone shares. I had to giggle when I was visiting Char's blog today and she said she would rather have $50 to spend at the thrift shop than $100 at the mall- wow she really hit the nail on the head there- I couldn't have said it better! So with that being said, I wanted to share a few things I found today...Keep in mind that my thrift shops around here aren't what I really consider "thrifty" most of the time- they usually overprice stuff and I don't ever seem to find the neat prim stuff the other girls back East can. But today's T2T shopping I felt so lucky! First of all, the coffee table was only $5- solid wood and sturdy! It will be getting a makeover very soon. The dark spot underneath and to the left of the stool looks like someone had set something hot there and it scorched the wood pretty bad. The little milking stool was $1- the legs are a tad wobbly, but nothing a nail gun won't fix. It's not like I will actually be using it- after its makeover it will probably become a prop for my pictures or something I'm sure. The frame was only 20 cents. I'll either antique it more to tone down the blue color or paint it another color....we'll see.....the shutters were freebies and I'll tell you more about those in a minute....
This lamp was another exciting find, but I must tell you it wasn't a thrift shop find. It was actually a brand new candlestick lamp I found at Wal-Mart for $5. Its original color was bright white, but now it sports an Old Parchment (Delta-Ceramcoat) topcoat with a coat of black peeking out underneath where I distressed it. And yep, I did rub antiquing glaze over it and sprayed with a matte sealer. My flash makes it a lot brighter, but in person it is the most beautiful, warm light mustard color. We really needed new bedside lamps for our bedroom (I bought two and they both look identical so I'm only showing one) and I wasn't about to pay $100+ per lamp for something I could do myself. I ended up finding the shades at Piper Classics- even though they cost more than the actual lamps did ($20), I still saved money anyway.
Now about those "shutters". LOL. Can you believe they are not actually window shutters at all? A few years ago Sage moved from upstairs into the spare room in the basement and last year we remodeled her room- these were the bifold doors from her closet that we replaced. There were actually four, but I only wanted three- Craig helped me cut them in half and hinge them together to form a screen. They were bare, stained wood so all I had to do was paint and distress, antique and voila! I actually made it for a backdrop to take pics of my dolls or whatever else I'm selling. For years I was using the old weathered fence between our and our neighbor's house and it was so boring- plus if the weather wasn't cooperative I had to take pics inside and they didn't turn out as good. Now I can take "pretty" pics inside and out! Hee hee!

And here is my wagon with my petunias inside. That poor little wagon! I've had it for a few years now and came close to painting it is original red, but decided not to-I didn't want it to look brand new. So I left the faded red and using some white exterior latex paint by hand, I freshened the faded white lettering and symbol on the side. I really love it and those petunias are the kind that trail/vine, so later this summer they'll cascade down. We still need to get some mulch down in the flowerbed and yes, our deck need to be restained, doesn't it? LOL.This was another makeover I did last year. It's actually an old piece of reclaimed cedar siding. I bought it from a shoppe in town a few years ago and it originally said "Wash Room" on it. I lived with it for a year, but I never really liked it too much. I had been wanting to have something with the family name on it to hang by the front door and this old piece of wood was perfect for it. I painted black over the original cream color. I used some tin stars from another sign I have for templates and the lettering I did myself. I thought it turned out neat and wanted to share.... On another note, I apologize some of my pics aren't clickable for a full size viewand I don't know why that is....or how I can make them all clickable- if anyone knows why or if its something I'm doing wrong, please let me know! I am working on another doll, but it probably won't be listed on ebay.... Ebay sure isn't what it used to be- you used to be able to find ANYTHING on ebay and I have noticed it isn't the same anymore. A lot of sellers don't have anything listed and I know a lot have gone to Etsy and have had better luck. I've only bought things on Etsy and haven't tried it as a selling venue yet. Neither of my ebay dolls sold and I haven't decided if I should offer them here or take them to the shoppe in town. If I put them on my blog, the shipping is free (in the US only). Hopefully I'll be back in a few days with my next doll.....

Until next time! :0) -Jody