Fun Friday Finds #12

Wanna know something shocking?  I wasn't in the mood for yard sales today!  Can you believe that?  We went to a few, but I just wasn't feelin' it and we came back home.  Nevertheless, I did find some things at those few sales.

Total spent - $23

Vintage mirror - $1

(Can you see that great aged patina?  So lovely, but I do plan on selling it.)

Vintage wooden hangers - .50

(Not sure if I'm keeping or selling, I love the ones with the extra long metal part.)

Little wooden Baking Soda box - .50

(I don't really know if this is original or reproduction, but I don't care either way.  I've been looking for little vintage laundry type items for our laundry room and I thought was this cute.)

Apple peeler - $1

(I love all these handy little kitchen gadgets I've been finding lately.)

Set of 4 planters - $5

(I bought these with {this idea} from Pinterest in mind.)

You can follow my boards {here}.

So.....

did you figure out what was in that black box up there in the first picture?

If you guessed an old Royal typewriter you'd be right!  I got this beauty for $15.  

The older gentleman who was selling this had it marked $20 obo, so I asked him what his best price would be.  He said, "Well, I was just looking them up on my phone and they go for some pretty fantastic prices so I think I'm gonna have to stick with $20."  His wife walked up just as I was saying, "You wouldn't take $15?"  He replied, "No, I better stick with $20."  She gasped and said, "We are NOT storing that thing for another 10 years, give it to her for $15."  He shook his head in defeat and gave it to me for $15.  : )

Not sure if I'm keeping or selling this one yet.  

If you've been following me on Facebook then you know I did some thrift store shopping earlier in the week and one of the things I found was this odd little glass box.

Check back on Monday to see what I did with it.

I hope you have a really great long weekend!

                                           

Fun Friday Finds #11

Hi again, everyone!  Here I am back again with another Fun Friday Finds post.  I know some of you have been anxiously waiting for it...sitting there with your cup of coffee...hitting refresh...sending me inquiring texts as to when it would be published. (*ahem*.....I think you know who you are) 

This first set of pictures are from Thursday.  If you're following along on my new Facebook page you already know that I caught wind of some community sales in a nearby town that I went to yesterday with my junkin' buddy.  It sure was a fun day!

Total spent for Thursday - $23.30

Christmasy little tote bag - .25  

(I thought it would be really cute to fill with homemade cookies and give as a gift to someone at Christmas.)

New dishcloths - $1 ea

(These seemed like really good quality and I needed some new ones anyways)

French Fry Maker - $1.50

(We enjoy making our own fries sometimes so this will make the process a whole lot easier.)

3 Ball canning jars (from 2 different sales) - $6

(Nearest I can tell these are from the age range of 1896-1910, my oldest ones yet.  That one on the far right is the oldest of the three because of that word "improved." Again, this is what I can tell from doing a little Google research.  If anyone can tell me something more accurate, please let me know.)

Vintage style stacking/nesting boxes - .50

(My daughter has this exact same set in her Shabby Chic style bedroom, and I bought this set with the intention of putting them in my Etsy shop to resell.  BUT...the date on the bottom is 1998 so they don't qualify as vintage.  I may try to sell them on Ebay instead.)

3 pairs of jeans for my growing lil' boy - .50 each

A rubbery Croc style pair of shoes for my daughter for playing out in the yard - $1

(Both of these things were much needed so I was happy to find them.)

Apple corer/slicer - .25

(I used my friend's a few weeks back and it was SO handy, I loved it.  So when I found this one I had to have one for myself.)

Milk glass pedestal vase - .05

(This is another E.O. Brody Co. piece to add to my set for the shop)

Glass magnifying paper weight - .25

(You may remember I bought 2 of these recently, but this one had a snowflake in the bottom of it that I thought was really pretty.  Planning to keep it.)

2 old pie plates - .50 each

(I thought these would make cute/rustic candle holders for Fall/Christmas.)

Vintage ornaments - $1 for all

(Adding these to my collection, but I still can't decide if I'm keeping the collection or selling them.  Hubby would tell you selling, and I had planned on it, but I just can't seem to let them go!)

Vintage sheet set - $8

(Ok, peeps, I have to admit I think I failed on this one.  The seller had a paper inside the bag that called these Holly Hobbie sheets, and she had them marked $10.  I went back to the car and looked up Holly Hobbie sheets on Etsy and Ebay (using my new iPhone that I lurve!) and they seemed to have really good resale value, so I talked her down to $8 and bought them for the shop.  BUT...the more I got to looking at them (after I bought them mind you) I realized they were not, in fact, Holly Hobbie.  They are of a similar style maybe, but not actually HH.  SO...I got duped and it was my own fault.  I just hope I can move them out and at least make my money back on them.)

Ok, so that was all from Thursday.  I still hadn't had my fill of sales yet, so the kids and I headed out again this morning.  We were out much longer than I expected yesterday, and their naps got all messed up, so I told myself that we would only go for a couple of hours today and be back by noon so they could keep on schedule.  I didn't do too bad either, we left at 9am and made it back at 12:10.  : )

Total spent - $56.50 (way more than usual for this small amount of stuff, but there's a reason)

Wooden dairy crate - $1

(This sale looked like they were cleaning out their grandparents home so I asked if they had any more crates or any other vintage style items that weren't out yet.  She told me they had a bunch more crates yesterday, but someone had already bought them all.  Ugh.  I hate that.  Makes me wish I had never asked.)

Galvanized bucket - FREE

(I saw it sitting under a table filled with rocks and garbage and I asked if it was for sale.  The lady said, "THAT?!?  You can just have that.  I would feel bad asking for money for that."  Well, don't mind if I do.  It'll look perfect with some flowers planted in it thank you very much.)

Set of vintage owls - .50

(Owls are not.my.thing. - at all, BUT they seem to be all the craze right now so I thought I'd try painting them up and see if they sell.)

Gorgeous vintage pillowcase - .50 (selling)

Stack of colorful flower pots - .50

(The chalky vibrant colors and chippy patina of these just grabbed my heart and wouldn't let go.  My husband will shake his head about this purchase, but I don't care.  I just had to have them.  Had to I tell ya!)

Globe - $1 

(fix it up a little and sell)

Vintage leather Samsonite suitcase (in almost perfect condition!) - $3

(Most likely selling.)

Ok, now we come to the reason my total was so high for today's finds.  This vintage school clock robbed me of 50 buck-a-roonies.  But, I shall share the story with you.  

I actually found this clock almost a month ago at a little local flea market.  Love.at.first.sight!  Loved the style, the colors, the fact that it still works great, everything about it!  I wanted it SO badly!  I did my best to talk him down off his $50 high horse, but no such luck.  I walked away and left it there.  Over the next few weeks I searched the internet for one I might like better or that was cheaper, but there just wasn't one that fit the bill like this one.  I kept thinking about it and wishing for it, but I just couldn't justify spending that much money.  Then the other day when I took my in-laws back to the airport my father in-law slipped me $50 of spending money.  (They spoil me rotten!)  It was just meant to be, right?  

So, I stopped back by today hoping beyond hope that #1) it would still be there, and #2) that he would finally budge on the price.  It was still there, but he wouldn't budge.  There's a huge flea market coming up next weekend that he'll be selling at and I was afraid it would be gone if I waited any longer and that would've made me very sad.  So...I did a mega splurge and bought it.  And you know what?  I don't regret it.  Not one bit.  I love love love it!  

And no, you can't have it.  I'm keeping it...for-ev-uh!  : )

                                            

Linking up to:
Wow Us Wednesdays - Savvy Southern Style

Saturday Nite Special - Funky Junk Interiors

The Facebook Page Has Arrived!

I had a pretty good response to my poll about starting a Facebook page for The Cozy Old Farmhouse, so I took the plunge and got it set up and running yesterday.

I've added a little button down in the sidebar, or you can check it out {HERE}.  I've already posted my first status update - woohoo!  I'm big time now.

Hope you all are having a great week!

                                             

A Rainbow Cake for My Sweet Girl

Today I thought I'd show you a little bit of what I've been up to for the past few days.  My husband's parents came to visit and we had SO much fun with them and they sure kept us busy.  (Or maybe we kept them busy?)  

We were so happy they could be here for our daughter's 5th birthday on Sunday.  We decided to keep it pretty casual and low key.  I didn't do another big themed party (like her Pinkalicous one last year), but I did still try to make it special for her.

I set the table to look pretty for her birthday breakfast, and then after church we transferred it all outside and enjoyed our dinner and dessert out in the fresh air.  It was a GORGEOUS day!

I found this adorable little paper goods set at Save-A-Lot of all places!  I knew she would love it, so I bought some other coordinating things from Walmart to finish it off.

Fun Friday Finds #10

Today's Fun Friday post is going to be short and kind of quick because my husband's parents are here visiting and I haven't had time to do any treasure hunting.  We've been having too much fun doing other things.  

But instead of leaving you with nothing, I'm sharing a quilt top I found a few months ago before I started doing my regular Friday posts.

I found this towards the end of my morning and my money had run out, I only had $1 left in my pocket and she was asking $20 for it.  $20 was more than a fair price for such an intricate, handmade, OLD piece like this.  The lady said her great-great-grandmother made it, and she herself was probably in her 60's.  So if you count back two "greats" from there, it's a lovely antique.

Anyways, like I said, I only had $1 and I was despairing that I would have to pass this up.  I am a LOVER of quilts and I really wanted this one.  So I asked her if I gave her my name and phone number and if by some miracle it didn't sell, could she call me and I would most definitely buy it.  But I knew in my heart of hearts there was no way it would last.

But she was SUPER nice and said, "Oh, no problem, I'll just hold it for you."  I said, "REALLY?!?  Without any kind of down payment....you would really do that for me?!?"  She said sure and I promised her that I would be back the next day as soon as I could.  I half expected her to sell it out from under me, but she didn't.  And it was a good thing she held it.  Not long after I was there someone else swooped in and bought up all the rest of them she had.

I just love all the tiny little pieces and how it's all so intricately fit together.  

So, now I'm off for a morning of baking Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins with my daughter (who is turning 5 on Sunday!!!) and Mom-in-law, and then they're taking us out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner tonight.  Can't beat that with a stick.  : )

I'll be back sometime next week when things get settled down and back to normal a bit around here.  

I hope you have a great weekend!

                                                 

We FINALLY Have Curtains!!

I am SO excited to finally show you the curtains I made for our master bedroom!  I've had this all planned out in my head for forever, but it just took me a really long time to actually pull it all together.

Remember a few weeks ago I showed you this picture as a sneak peak of an upcoming project?  I shared the rustic sign that I made with some of the wood, but revealed that there was more to do be done with the rest.

Well, the other two pieces were for this area.

This barren and oh-so-boring window in particular.  Notice all the cords showing and the baby monitors so tackily in plain view?  

It needed help!

The window over the bed is much too narrow and needed some "oomph" to make it really stand out and have more presence in the room.

When I was trying to decide what I wanted to do for the curtains I knew for sure that I did NOT want the ones that went with this bedding set (not pictured).  Can we say overkill on the French country look?  Too busy and just not my style.  I thought it over for a few days and then as I was looking at the picture that came with the bedding set I realized the answer was right in front of me!

There in the background, behind the bed is some sort of burlap panels.  Burlap...of course!  It's perfect.

So, now with burlap in mind I began to try and figure out exactly how I wanted them to be hung.  I knew I didn't want them to be on a traditional black or oil rubbed bronze curtain rod, again, it would end up with more of a French country look and I wanted "farmhouse."  I thought of other rustic options like tree branches, etc. but nothing was speaking to me.

Then one day I remembered reading Michael's post, over at Inspired by Charm, about the curtains he made for one of his guest bedrooms and I instantly knew that was my answer!  I went searching on his blog and found the post again to refresh my memory.

(via Inspired by Charm)

Suddenly, I could picture just how I wanted it to be and I knew it was the perfect combination of rustic and creative that I love.

I had hubby measure and cut the boards to the sizes I needed, then I stained them with a vinegar and steel wool solution.  (I learned my lesson on the last go-round with this stuff and made sure I wore gloves this time!)

Next, I measured and marked off spots every 3 inches for the nails.

I had this box of rusty nails in my junk stash that I bought at the Habitat ReStore last year.  They were just perfect for this project!

Hubby used drywall screws to attach the boards to the wall and I colored over the shiny silver screws with a brown Sharpie permanent marker to help it blend in a little better. 

After I got the nails all hammered into the board it was time to start on the fabric.  I had already purchased the burlap months ago (used my 40% off coupon to make it cheaper) and had just been waiting for Hubs to have the time to cut the boards for me.  (He goes to school full time and works almost full time on top of that, so he's a very busy man.)

I needed to cut and trim the fabric into 4 panels.  Here's a handy little tip I came across over at Craftaholics Anonymous.  A way to easily cut a straight line in the burlap is to pull out one of the strings/fibers at the cutting point.  It leaves you with a nice little gap that serves as a cutting line.  Very handy!

I can sew some basic stitches, but I wasn't sure how difficult it would be to sew burlap and I didn't even want to try.  I just ironed a good stiff hem along the top and called it a day.

I bought curtain rings with clips to hang the panels.

Here's another great tip about burlap I came across, this time at Life to the T.  Burlap tends to be pretty stiff since it's more of a grassy type fiber rather than fabric.  To get a nice "wavey" look, shape it how you want it to look and use clothespins to hold it in place and let it hang and it will start to take on that shape.  Ideally, let it hang for a couple of days for the best results.  Personally, I'm too impatient for that and mine only stayed clipped for maybe a day.

My original intention was to let the panels hang straight like Michael did up there in my inspiration picture, and maybe add a bit of trim of some sort.  But after I got them up it just didn't look right for some reason.  Hubs wasn't impressed either.  We stood there and mulled it over and tried this and that.  (Now, he's a man's man, loves guns and hunting, he used to be a cowboy, he's currently going to school to be a diesel mechanic, his job is fixing huge semis, and in a perfect world his meals would be meat with a side of meat.  BUT...when I'm stuck and not sure what to do he's always willing to be my sounding board and I can just talk it out and run my ideas past him, and 9 times out of 10 he has great feedback.  This is reason #86 that I love him completely, all the way down to his oddly formed pinky toe.)

After talking it out with him an idea hit me and he liked the sound of it, too.  I wanted to make tiebacks, so I bought a couple of yards of jute webbing and some sticky velcro tabs.  Funny story - the lady who was cutting the webbing for me asked me what I was going to do with it and I told her "curtain tiebacks."  She responded with an, "Ohhhhhhh...." in a tone of voice like, "Here's a trophy for participating Sweetie, but next time you might wanna just stay home."  I got the same reaction when I bought the burlap.  Oh well, you can't let naysayers and criticism get in the way of a vision.  : )

I cut each tieback about 18 inches long, applied the Velcro, then I just wrapped them around the gathered burlap and pinched them together to hold them in place.

** Update - the velcro just did not stand up to the stiff burlap and they fell off after about 3 days.  I ended up using Aleen's Tacky Glue to permanently hold them in place. **

Cute, but still needs something.........

Ahhh...much better!

I found these adorable red wooden buttons at JoAnn's Fabrics and used my 40% off Hobby Lobby coupons on them.

SO.....are you ready to see the full reveal?  

The stack of tan patterned boxes are ones I've had for years.  They hold excess old photos and I put them there to help cover up the unsightly A/C cord.

I frayed the bottom edges of them by simply removing a few rows of fibers.  

So, let's compare a few "before" and "afters."

Notice how the baby monitors are well hidden now?  We can still hear them, but we don't have to stare at them all the time.

Ahhhh...such an improvement!!  And it only took me 1 year and 7 months to do something about it.

Why in the world did it take me so long to finish this project?  Oh well, at least it's done now.

I'm still lovin' my ladder bedside "table."

In this close up you can see the tiebacks peeking out over the top of the bed.

It's all coming along quite nicely, and I'm very pleased so far.  

So...I've done plenty of talkin', now it's your turn.  

What do you think of my "rustic farmhouse" curtains?  Would you give me a consolation trophy like Fabric Cutting Lady or do you think my "vision" was a success?

(If you want to see any of the previous posts about the master bedroom just find my list of previous posts over in the side bar and click on "Master Bedroom.")

Linking up to:

Wow Us Wednesdays - Savvy Southern Style
Saturday Nite Special - Funky Junk Interiors
Sunny Simple Sunday - Sunny Simple Life