Fun Friday Finds #24

Welcome back to another edition of Fun Friday Finds! 

 I was excited to get out in search of some yard sales today as I had read about a big one being held in an old factory/warehouse a couple of towns over.  The ad said "truck loads of stuff" and they weren't lying.  There really was a lot there.  The kiddos and I headed out right after breakfast and we had a productive morning.  I didn't find a whole lot of great vintage treasures, but still found some other fun things and things that we've been needing and all at good prices.  

On the way to the warehouse sale we stopped off at a few other sales we came across.  Some were a bust.  Like one, where they had so much junk in their yard you couldn't tell what was for sale and what wasn't.  We just got back in the van and left. 

But at another sale we found this beautiful costume dress for only $1.  My daughter loves to dress up and I thought this would be a fun addition to her collection.

At another sale I found this great set of wooden stamps for $1.  I have a similar set already, but they're a much smaller font so I was happy to find them in a larger size.  These sets are originally about $18.

At the same sale I also found this great wooden bowl for $2.  It's not antique or anything, but it's still beautiful, don'tcha think?

And still at that same sale I also got this DVD player.  Our other one broke months ago and we've never replaced it.  With money being tight it just wasn't a priority.  But I found this one with the remote and all the cords for $8.  I've spotted other ones before at other sales, but they've always been a little sketchy looking, or they seemed to be missing wires, or didn't have a remote, or I just didn't feel like I could trust the person that claimed it worked.  But on this one it had all its components and I felt the man could be trusted.  And I was right, it works perfectly.  I had to snap a quick cell phone picture of it when we got home because my kids were so anxious for me to get it hooked up so they could watch a movie on it.  : )

I always give each of my kids $1 of their own to spend on something they want.  It keeps them occupied and happy to look for things they can spend their money on.  Well, when we finally made it to the warehouse sale we spotted this little car mat right off the bat.  My son has been wanting something like this for a long time.

He was SOOO excited!!  I wish you could have seen his little face and heard his enthusiasm when I spread it out for him to see and told him it was Radiator Springs from the Cars movie.  He was ecstatic!!  With a huge grin on his face he rolled it up and hugged it tight the rest of the time we were in there.  He wasn't even interested in anything else.  He found a dime on the floor and I told him he could probably find another toy on one of the tables for 10¢, but he said, "Nope, I don't need nothin' else.  I got my rug!"  

At the same sale we also picked up this adorable little car light for 25¢.  I want to do his room in an automotive/cars theme and I thought he'd really enjoy this.  

They had TONS of books and they were priced 10/$1 so we got a big stack with some for each of us.

One of them I found was this old book about the world's greatest detective, Big Max, and the King of Pooka Pooka.  As soon as I saw the pictures the memory came flooding back that I had had this book as a child.  I had completely forgotten about it, but as soon as I started flipping through it I instantly recognized the pages.  Funny how that works after probably 25 years or so.

The last item I picked up from the warehouse sale was this big metal storage unit for $5.  They actually had 3 more of various configurations that were $10 each, but I only had room for one.  I texted pictures to Hubs asking if he wanted one for his workshop and he said yes, so we lugged this baby in there.  Actually, there was no "we."  I just watched as 3 strong men loaded it for me.  :)  Hubs wants to have his own mechanic shop/business some day so this will be a great piece for holding various odds and ends of tools and such.  Who knows, we may end up going back again tomorrow and getting the other 3 if they still have them.

My last find of the day was this little excavator for only $3.  My son absolutely lives for digging in the dirt!  Whenever he's outside he's got his cars and trucks and little loaders and backhoes and he's digging up some roads or some such thing.  We've seen these kind of things at parks before, but they've always been too big for him to operate.  This one is just his size and the tracks actually move.  He can sit in the seat and put his feet on the tracks and move it around by moving the tracks back and forth with his feet.  It has a crack on the back of the seat, but it doesn't affect the function of it at all and I knew he wouldn't care a bit about that.  All he wants is to dig!  It was pouring down rain when we got home so he couldn't try it out and he just stood at the window staring longingly at it outside asking when he could play with it.  : )

Well, that's it for me today!  No great vintage treasures, but still a very productive morning and I'm most happy with our finds.

What about you?  Have you found anything great this week?

                                                             

House Updates

There haven't been any major changes around here lately, but a few things that have been languishing in an unfinished state for months have finally been completed so I thought I'd give you an update.

A few months ago I packed my kiddos off to spend a week with their grandparents and I had a 12 hour a day paint-a-thon while they were gone.  At the end of the week I shared these pictures of all I had been able to accomplish.  I got a lot done, but there were still some unfinished parts that I hadn't been able to finish up.  If you follow me on Facebook then you might have seen me post about my sister staying with me last week to help out with some painting projects.  She was my minion for the week and finished up a lot of the things I wasn't able to get to.  It was probably the first time in my life I've been able to boss my big sister around.  :D

(These are the "before" photos.)

The upper trim in the school room had been caulked and primed, but I never got the chance to finish edging it in and put the top coat of gloss on the trim.  She finished that for me.  I didn't get to the trim around the window either.  She primed it, I followed behind her and caulked it, then she finished it off with it's glossy top coat.  She also got all the baseboards primed for me, but we didn't have time to do anything more than that to them.

Same routine with the trim around the front door, she primed, I caulked, she put the top coat on.

This little alcove had never received it's coat of tan paint, nor had the trim been addressed.  She put the first coat of tan on, I did the 2nd coat, I painted the ceiling and primed the upper trim, she primed all the doorway trim, I caulked everything, then she went back through and put the top coat on all the trim.

Same routine again for the trim around the sliding doors, prime, caulk, top coat.

I've only got 2 "after" pictures to show you because I still need to do some final touch up painting in some places before I can get everything put back together.  But you'll get the general idea.

Here's the living room view now.  Not only is it much improved with the dark foreboding trim gone, but it also looks like people actually live here now with pictures on the wall and such.  : )

Front entry way lightened up.  (Notice the baseboards, primed but not finished yet.)  This area needs a lot of help, it's very plain and boring.  But...this door almost never gets used so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with this spot.  Anyways, at least the dark trim is gone now.

We probably could have made a lot more progress during the week if I had been able to help out more. I did all the caulking, but she's the one who did the majority of the painting.  Why you might ask?  

Because I was busy working on this project.

Another "grain sack" shower curtain.  

This time it was a custom order for someone.  She had seen mine here on the blog and loved it and wrote to me asking if I could make her one as well.  I designed a more personalized layout for her and spent the week sewing, setting grommets, and hand painting it all.  I'm happy to report that she loves it!

I'm contemplating listing these in my Etsy shop as a customizable/handmade item.  What do you think?  Do you think they'd be a good seller?  Would people be willing to pay a higher price for something personalized and custom made?

Anyways, that does it for my house updates.  A great big THANK YOU goes out to my sister for all her hard work and being willing to paint what probably felt like miles and miles of trim work. 

 Love you Ethel!  :D

                                                                

Simple Patriotic Decor & Table Setting

I know July 4th is already over and most bloggers share their tablescape pictures a month in advance so as to give their readers ideas to copy, BUT....I didn't really know what my table and dining room would look like until about an hour before it was time to eat.  So...you're getting pictures after the fact.  : )

My sister and her family came to stay with us a few days and we all celebrated together.  

I kept the decor really simple, but it felt festive and fun just the same.

You might have noticed the curtains.  Those are new.  I finished making them a few weeks ago, but I hadn't shared them yet.  I love them!  They add so much life and color to the room, and it's nice to be able to block out the hot sunlight.  You might have also noticed the buffet.  I've never shared it either.  It's a dresser that I found on Craigslist and I talked the guy down to $60 for it.  This is its "before" look.  I have plans to change it up.  You can also see that we are still using a plastic folding table as our dining room table.  But that won't be for much longer.  Last week I scored a table for FREE as well as the two darker wooden chairs you see.  It needs a makeover, but I hope to get it done soon so we can eat at a real table again.

For the table setting I used a plastic tablecloth from Walmart, then folded a small gingham tablecloth that I already had and laid it across the middle.  The wooden box napkin holder is always on our table.  I didn't bother with a centerpiece.  I used our everyday white plates and our everyday flatware (that I've had for 12 years!) and just bought small flag themed dessert plates to put in the middle.  My sister brought the cute colorful napkins.

Next to the adult table I set up a kids table, with paper straws as a quick and easy centerpiece.

I already had the game board, pitcher, and rooster set up.  

I just added a few paper decorations from the dollar store.

The game board was a yard sale find from a couple of years ago, and the pitcher was a recent thrift store find for $1.99.

My rusty rooster has made his return finally.  He was a $1 yard sale find a couple of years ago as well.  

I love him with much love!

Above the table I hung two more paper thingy-ma-bobs from the ceiling fan chains.  You can see my collection of aqua Mason jars in the window in the background.  You can also see raindrops on the glass.  Just as I started taking pictures the clouds rolled in and it started to pour.  My husband had just started grilling too.  I did the best I could with the lighting I had, and he still turned out some yummy hot dogs and hamburgers even though he says he risked his life by grilling in a storm.  : )

Festive colorful decor doesn't have to be complicated or expensive.  Quick, easy, and cheap can still look great and it leaves you plenty of stress-free time to enjoy the day.

My sister and her daughter have stayed on a few extra days and while the cousins are having a blast playing their hearts out together, my sister is helping me finish up some painting projects around the house.  It'll feel good to have a few more things finished up!

                                                                     

Patriotic Summer Decor

Hey y'all!  Happy Independence Day!

I thought I'd share a bit of my patriotic summer decor with you today just in case you decide to check in after you're stuffed full of hot dogs and watermelon, or while you're waiting for the fireworks to start.  : )

Not long after I got the gallery wall put up, I added some decor to the opposite wall, the one behind the couch.  I've had it up for a good long while now, but never got around to sharing it. 

I've had this shelf for almost as long as I've been married, but it's getting a little war torn.  If you look closely you can see that it no longer sits straight.  After 6 moves in 12 years it's gotten a bit warped.  But I don't mind too much, I still love the style of it as much as I did when I bought it.  I've also had the picket fence flag for my entire marriage.  The first 2 years of having my own home I had Americana style decor, but then I sold off almost everything and started a new style.  The flag was the one thing I couldn't part with, though, and I still put it up every summer.

I wanted to add lots of touches of red and blue to the house to evoke a sense of patriotism without being like, "here's a hundred flags flapping in your face."  I used lots of non-flag items, like a wooden cheese box, baking powder tin, and a vintage tea towel to accomplish the look.  The picture on the little clipboard is of my father-in-law as a young boy.  Nothing says American summer as much as baseball, am I right?  A little glass milk bottle from Lima, OH (where we used to live) holds wildflowers from the woods next to our house.

This end of the shelf has another rusty license plate (love those things!), an old insulator, and a stack of vintage ice cream cups leftover from my ice cream social 2 years ago.  C&C Cola stands for Cantrell & Cochran, so it's meaningful to us since our last name is Cantrell.  

I shared the blue pillow on the Facebook group page a couple of weeks ago.  It was my only Fun Friday Find for that week, a 99¢ score at a thrift store.  I paired it with a throw pillow from our bedroom set that we're not using right now.  On the other end of the couch is a feed sack pillow.  I simply placed a throw pillow down inside the feedsack and folded the ends over.  And there stretched out taking a nap is our little kitten, Snuggles.  She was only 4 weeks old and weighed 1lb when we found her, but now she's 12 weeks old and weighs about 2.5lbs.  She's so playful and funny and the kids are just loving her.

That's it for me today!  I'm off to fix a big breakfast for my visiting family and then I have lots of cooking and baking to do for the day.  Hopefully the fireworks show won't get rained out tonight.

I hope you all have a happy and safe 4th of July!

                                                                   

Curiosity Killed the Cat...Or So They Say

A couple of months ago I posted this photo over on Facebook of an old abandoned house in my area.  I told how it sits close to the road and there's no other houses around it and I've been tempted many a time to sneak in and take a peek around.  Last week my ever hungry curiosity was satisfied.

I had taken my kiddos out for a long 4-wheeler ride and our route "just happened" to take us past the house.  I hadn't originally planned on exploring it with two little ones in tow, I didn't have my good camera with me like I had planned, I didn't have on jeans and boots like I knew would be prudent in such a situation, but I decided not to squander the chance so I just went for it anyways.  We braved many a cobweb and fought off several nasty looking banana spiders with a stick.  My daughter was not a happy camper.

I found it interesting that looking under the house I discovered that it was set up on wooden blocks.  Not cement like you typically see with raised homes in Florida, but wooden blocks and wooden beams.   There's no possible way this house could have been sitting level at any time in it's life I would think.

On the edge of the porch, near the overhang, were a couple of strings for hanging laundry, or maybe drying flowers or herbs.  I like to think that's what it was for anyways.  Who knows, maybe it was really the only thing keeping the porch from falling off.  : )

Looking down along the side of the house.

The side door leading to the summer porch.

Lots of windows along the back of the summer porch, and lots of beautiful weathered old wood.  

I hadn't planned on actually risking life and limb by going inside the house and potentially falling through the floor, BUT...when I spied this cupboard through one of the windows I just knew I had to go in and see it up close. 

It was old, and rustic, and red...it was worth a broken leg for a closer look I reasoned.  I blocked out the old adage of "curiosity killed the cat" that was running through my brain.  I told my kids to stay put and not to follow me,  I took a deep breath and tip-toed in.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't wishing I had my Smith & Wesson with me for a little added protection.  There were signs of squatters in the past and I was pretty sure there was probably a snake or two around.  It would have been a tad more comforting than the skinny branch I was holding.  But I forged on despite the lack of firepower.

This view is from the front steps looking straight through the house to the summer porch in the back.  It had this main wide hallway with lots of little rooms coming off of each side.  I stood there just imagining the many cool breezes that must have blown through here.

Most of the rooms looked pretty much the same as this one, small and nondescript.  This was the only one with what I was assuming was a fireplace, though there's no chimney so I'm not exactly sure what it would have been.

I finally found the red cupboard.  I didn't get a very good picture of it seeing as it was dark in there and all I had was my cell phone.  But it was very basic, no shelves on the inside and it was built into the two adjoining walls.  If it had been free-standing I would have been severely tempted to commit theft.  I was pretty sure God has some kind of fine print in the 10 Commandments for situations like these.

In the back of the house I found this cute built in cupboard on the porch.  

And that doorway there on the left led to a pantry.

I couldn't get the door to budge any further so I had to just stick my phone in and hope I could get a good picture.  It was quite dark in there so this grainy shot is the best I could get of the shelves that were obviously built for a large supply of home canned jars of goodness.

Back outside and behind the house I could see a smaller building through the trees, maybe a chicken coop?  Or a storage shed?  I really really wanted to explore it too, but my children were on the verge of mutiny by now and one more colorful spider might have scarred my daughter with nightmares for life.  Maybe someday I can make it back when I'm by myself.  

Well, just me and Mr. Smith & Wesson that is.  

                                                                 

Orange Scuzzy Walls Become Boutique Chic

Last week my kiddos spent their first week of summer vacation with their grandparents.  While they were gone I took a couple of days to get my daughter's room painted.  Pink has been her favorite color since she was 3 years old (she's almost 7 now) and she has always wanted a pink room. We could never do it for her before because we were always renting, but now that we finally own a house she was excited to finally get a pink room!

Let's take a look at the "before."

Stepping into her room her bed was on the left in front of the windows, and on the back wall was her kitchen set (that my dad made for her a couple of years ago.)  The poor girl had a mish-mash of bedding that didn't match or coordinate at all.  Her walls were the ugly orange scuz that the rest of the house was, paired with the dark brown trim.

In this picture you can see her closet door on the left and the door coming into her room on the right.  She had a set of Barbie wall decals up in random places as well.  : )

At some point I found a cute pink ticking striped bedskirt at a rummage sale for $1, and an aqua throw pillow for 99¢.  I flipped the red and white quilt over to the plain white side and folded up her old twin sized quilt at the foot of her bed.  It was a huge improvement on the bedding situation, but the walls were still depressing.

I didn't have time to try out color samples so I had to just pick a shade of pink that I thought would be right and hope for the best.  I chose Boutique Chic by Clark & Kensington (sold at ACE).  Many torturous hours later and it was finally transformed to a nice bright and fresh look.

The bed got moved to the back wall and the kitchen set is now on the opposite side of the room from the bed.  It was amazing how much bigger the room felt just moving the bed to this wall!

I made this little set of valances for her room when we still lived in Ohio and I was really happy to find that they fit the windows here perfectly as well.  If I could do it over again, I think I'd go one shade lighter on the pink for the walls, but I didn't do too bad for a one shot deal.  And of course to her, the pinker it is the happier she is, so it was perfect in her book.

Last week in the Fun Friday Finds post I told you how I found matching pillows and a bedskirt at two different thrift stores.  I loved both bedskirts so much and didn't want to do away with either one so I just layered them!  The rest of the bedding still needs a bit of tweaking.  I hope to find her a pretty white bedspread that fits the bed a little better.  This quilt is actually more of a twin size and is a little too short on the sides.  I tugged it down on the side you can see.  : )  We also still have more decor to add to the walls, but Hubs was rushing me out the door on this particular day so I only had time to snap a couple of pictures.  I'll take more once we get it all finished.

Over on this wall between the doors we hung this mirror.  It was a $3 yard sale find.  She loves to play dress up and I thought a mirror would be a fun thing so she can see herself in her many princess dresses.  The mirror is old and very heavy and needed to be hung on a stud.  The only problem was the stud wasn't centered...of course.  So I added in a couple of butterflies along the side to make it appear it that I had planned it that way and that it was supposed to be off centered.  The butterflies were a 50¢ yard sale find.  They used to be dark brown and I think just about every home had them on their walls back in the 80's.  I know ours did.  I simply spray painted them white for an updated look.

Another project for her room is to get her a ceiling fan.  Then we can do away with the ugly plastic oscillating fan on her dresser (which also needs redone).  This is Florida and you just can't sleep well without some circulating air!

She was SO very happy with her pink room and I'm happy to have another room checked off my painting list!