Lucky Antique Table Find

Today I hit the jackpot!  I'd been looking for a vintage dining table for the past few months, with no luck.  We got rid of so many things when we moved to Washington State, and even more when we moved back to Michigan this spring.  So we were in dire need of a table.  I searched high and low at consignment, thrift, and antique shops, as well as Craig's List.  Either I didn't see anything that I liked, or what I did like was totally out of my price range!  So today, Hubby and I went to a neighborhood garage sale.  I was a bit disappointed, as not many people were participating.  Come to find out, the big day is tomorrow, when there should be lots more stuff treasures.

Anyway, I almost overlooked this beauty.  It was covered in a tacky plastic tablecloth, and covered in stuff!

 It's solid oak, circa 1930, and still has the original tag on the underside, which reads "Lentz Table Corporation, Nashville, Michigan".  It came with 5 leaves, and when they are all in it's nearly 8' long, making it perfect for entertaining!  I've pictured it with one of the leaves in.  Someone had started to refinish it, but didn't do any of the leaves.  While I know that some will think it's sacrilegious to paint a solid oak antique table, that is just what I'm gonna do!  Yes!  I'm going to shabby her up and paint her a creamy antique white, then distress her a bit.  I am in love!  So, now all I need is to find some chairs.  I dearly love the dining chairs in Pottery Barn, but not the price.  So I just may head back to the sale tomorrow to see if I can get lucky!

 In the mean time, I had fun creating a little vignette. I placed this gorgeous vintage crocheted table cloth on it (another garage sale steal from a few years ago for only $5!), as well as a few milk glass vases from my collection.

 I found the one in the center the other day at Goodwill for just a quarter!  Love it!

 Isn't this one pretty?  A moving sale find a few years ago.  Oh, and the silver tray was a lucky thrift store find back in Washington.  I think I paid a buck or two for it.

I found the vase below this week at a thrift shop for a mere 49 cents!  Sold!  I think my sweet peas, purple coneflower, and white feverfew look so pretty displayed in the milkglass.

 Found this tall pretty wooden candlestick a few years ago at a garage sale for $1 (can you tell that I love a good bargain??).

 And a better look at my tray.  Love the patina!

 What really sold me on the table was her legs!  Yes, this lady has great curves!  Oh, and did I mention that she is very heavy!  They sure don't make solid wood furniture like they used to!

 Here you can see that they didn't do any of the leaves.  I know that it will be a bit of a job to paint, but I can hardly wait to start!  Oh, did I mention she was only $100?!  I did the happy dance all the way home!

What treasures have you found lately?

On a side note, my thoughts and prayers are with the people in Colorado who were hit with such a horrible tragedy.  It is just so hard to comprehend.

Be sure to give the ones you love a big hug today!

Garage Sale Loot!

Hello everyone, hope you had a great weekend!

On Friday, I lucked out and found some real treasures at a nearby neighborhood garage sale. Well, I should rephrase that and say "treasures in the making", as I'm planing on transforming nearly everything that I'm about to show you!

As soon as I glimpsed this cute little wire bird cage, I just knew that it had shabby potential! I've already painted it creamy white (after giving it a good bath, of course!). and it looks oh, so much better! I'll be sure to share the "after" with you, once I finish adding a few embellishments.

And I couldn't scoop this vintage desk organizer and coordinating pencil holder up soon enough!  I've been lucky to find quite a few of these organizers, that I've transformed with some paint and tlc, but I'd never been fortunate enough to find the pencil holder, too.

This is one of the last organizers that I painted.  Isn't it gorgeous?  So much better than dark and boring brown, don't you think?

I also love finding interesting easels that I can paint, so was super excited to find this neat wire one.  I can't wait to give it my shabbyliscious treatment!!

Ok, I'm so sorry for the not so attractive view of my legs as reflected in the mirror!  Do you know how hard it is to get a good shot of a mirror, without accidentally appearing in it???  At any rate, I was thrilled to find this large mirror, from a Home Interiors party, I think.  It's in excellent condition, and is so much prettier in person.  Ditto with the frame next to it (which I am going to turn into a chalkboard)!  I'm painting them both cream (gee, I think I should by stock in Rustoleum paint, I sure use enough of it!!).

Also I found a pair of tall wooden candlesticks, in dire need of some help! Not only are they covered in wax drippings from head to toe, but the previous owner had nailed in some awful little candle cups at the top.

One of my favorite finds of the day is this beautiful vintage tin, made in Belgium.  I originally was going to put it in my Etsy  shop, but as soon as I got her home, I knew that I couldn't part with her!  The colors are amazing, and I love the gorgeous flower and swirl design.  I have one other neat old vintage tin (from England, I think), so I guess I need to hunt for one more, so that it is an "official" collection!

I'm also always on the prowl for unique picture frames to paint. For some reason, these are appearing round in the photos, but they are actually oval shaped.  The prints of San Francisco (which don't even fit in the frames!) are going "buh-bye"!!!  Even though the glass in one of them was broken (which I'm going to have replaced), I couldn't pass these beauties up!  They are made of a molded resin (like Syroco), and will be so much happier once I get them painted dreamy creamy white!

And last of all, I found this pretty vintage wooden pedestal bowl.  I've transformed quite a few of these babies, so while she might look a bit drab at the moment, she'll soon get a fab makeover, like the pedestal bowl in the last photo!

While this pedestal is a bit different, I just wanted to give you an idea of what a difference paint can make!  I found the one above while living in Washington State, so I think I'll paint my latest pedestal this fun beachy color as well!
Ok, I've got to run, I'm off to do some painting!
Hope you have a great week!

Picket Fence Plant Stand

Several years ago, to make room for a new retaining wall and landscaping in our side yard, hubby tore down an old, falling down and decrepit looking picket fence.  He was about to burn the fence, when I persuaded him to keep at least some of it, as I just knew that it held potential for a neat future project!  So, he reluctantly saved some of the better sections, then I came up with the idea of turning it into a plant stand that we could use on our deck.  A few hours later, and a handful of nails, this is what he came up with!

 The funny thing is, when I told my handy hubby about my plant stand idea, I didn't even sketch out what I wanted it to look like.  I just gave him a very brief description of what I had in mind.  Imagine my surprise when he finished, and it looked exactly like what I was thinking!  I've since given it a fresh coat of paint, and after several seasons on our back deck, it's held up beautifully.

 Much of what you see on my stand was collected over the years at garage sales.  This cute pot with the fun aqua glass "polka dots" was a thrifty yard sale find.  And so were the decorative birdhouses, that I spray painted aqua and bright teal.  My mom gave me this sweet little bunny a few years ago.

 The cute little watering can with a French label, and the minty green vintage pot behind it are also lucky garage sale finds.

 One of my favorite things on the stand is my grandma's vintage galvanized watering can, that I actually still use!

 And this vintage watering can, below, was super cheap many years ago at a yard sale.  I finally have been able to get around to planting a few flowers.  Love the bright pink geranium!

 Ok, I'll let you in on a little secret!  The ivy in this pot is faux!  Shhhhhhh, don't tell!  I did want to show you what the pot looked like without the ivy.  It's vintage (not sure who the maker was, as it's not marked) and I absolutely love it.  I managed to get it for free at a church rummage sale, as no one wanted it!!  Can you imagine?

 The blue and white pot to the right of this birdhouse was one of my first attempts at broken china mosaics a few years ado.  Lots of work and a bit messy to do, but fun to create!

 Every garden needs a guardian angel!

 Another cute little bunny, given to me by my mom years ago.  This one is made of soapstone, and I just love it!

 And here is a little surprise!  This tiny nest is faux, but the egg is real!  As we were walking the other day, I happened to look down, and found this itty bitty blue egg, still intact, right next to the road!  I felt bad that it had fallen out of its' nest, but had no idea where the nest could be.

 I've never seen a blue egg this small, it's definitely too small for a robin's egg.  So not sure what kind of bird laid it.  I placed a dime next to it, so you could see just how tiny it is!

 Here are a few more peeks at my plant stand!  I almost forgot to mention that I won a prize for it a few years ago, when I submitted the idea to a gardening magazine, "Backyard Living" that I used to subscribe to.  The magazine is no longer being published, but was from the creators of "Bird's & Blooms" magazine.

 Anyway, each issue had a feature called "The frugal gardener", where readers could submit money saving ideas and tips.  The reader that they featured won $100, and the title "The Frugalest of the frugal", and that was me!  I was so thrilled to appear in the magazine, and with my (and hubby's, of course!) "15 minutes of fame"!  Oh, and the money wasn't bad, either!

Trash to Treasure with a French Twist!

Bon Jour, Mon Amis!

Well, I imagine that I'm not the only one who was suffering Blogger withdrawls for the past day or so!  I am so happy that all seems to be working (let's keep our fingers crossed!).

And I also think that it's safe to say that we have alot of catching up with each other, as you all seem to have an overabundance of creative juices flowing!

So, for today I thought I'd share a few makeovers from a couple of things I found at a garage sale last week.

 If you have been following me for even a short period of time, you probably know that I am forever on the prowl for Syroco anything!  So, I was thrilled when I found a pair of vintage Syroco type frames last week!  This is not what they looked like when I found them, however!

They started out looking like this (which I actually really liked), but since the prints has suffered a but of water damage, I knew that I could come up with some other ideas!  I did save the prints though, as I thought they were just too pretty to toss!  So some day I'll have to come up with another idea for them.

I love how the frames really look like intricately carved wood.  Unless you were to pick them up, you never would know the difference!

For the makeover, I brought out my trusty Heirloom White, followed by some distressing and an antiquing glaze.  The glaze really highlights all of the wonderful "carved" details of the frames!  You also probably know that I have a love affair with Paris!  So, I found these two amazing graphics of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame over at The Graphics Fairy.  I printed them out onto vintage sheet music, and oooh, la, la!   I am thrilled with the way they turned out!

 I have put these in my Etsy shop, if you care to take a look!

 Now all I need is a plane ticket to Paris, and I will be all set!:)

At the same sale, I also found the neatest bottle!  I was so excited to alter it, that in my haste I forgot to take a before shot!  I'm not sure if it's vintage or not, or what it's use was.  But I knew that as soon as I saw the unique shape, I just had to have it!

 This was my first attempt at creating an altered bottle, and I had so much fun putting it all together!

 I started with my favorite crinkly taupe seam binding, then added some silk hydrangea blossoms that I'd glittered (you know how much I love my glitter!).   I then added a neat skeleton key that says "memory", and a little tag I created from vintage French book pages, stamped with a crown image (glittered of course.  You can never have too much glitter!).

 I adore the shape of this bottle!  I've never seen one like it before!  If any of you have any ideas as to what this may have been used for, I'd love to hear it!

While I'm having a hard time parting with this, I am going to be putting it in my Etsy shop later today!

I'll be back on later tonight to check out what all of you creative ladies have been up to!  Have a great weekend!
I am linking up to the following great parties:
Funky Junk Interiors SNS
Boogieboard Cottage Masterpiece Monday 
Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

Cream Love!

Hello Ladies!
It's my first time in ages to participatie in White Wednesday, over at Faded Charm.  If you've never checked it out, be sure to do so!  It's a day when those of us who love cream, white, and all shades in between can share ideas and inspirations!  So pay everyone a visit, you'll be glad that you did!

If you have been with me for a while, you know how much I love cream!  And I have been known to paint just about everything in site with my all time favorite, Heirloom White!  So, I thought I'd share with you what I have been up to!

 I was so excited when I found these Syroco sconces the other day while out thrifting!  I wish that I could show you the "before" shot, but we are having trouble with our home computer (phooey!), so I am not able to access the photos (I'm typing this on my laptop).  Hopefully, I can show you in a few days just what they looked like. Trust me when I say they were begging for a makeover!

 Several coats of Heirloom White and some distressing, and oooh, la, la!  Perfect for your Paris apartment, no? (wouldn't you love a Paris apartment?  A girl can always dream.......)

 Prior to being "shabbified", they were black and gold, and looked very plasticy.  Now you would swear that they are made of wrought iron!!

Next are a pair of wrought iron planters, that I brought with me all the way from Michigan!  They are very heavy, and I think would look gorgeous filled with pansies, or other pretty blooms.

They were black and gold when I found them, and I think they are so much happier now that they are creamy white!  A bit of distressing adds to their cottage appeal, I think!

I love all of the pretty detail.  I think they also would be great in a bathroom filled with towels and pretty toiletries!

And last of all, I took a rather boring brown tray, painted it a soft creamy shade, then added this gorgeous crown!  Wouldn't you love being served breakfast in bed on this?!

 I really love this crown motif.  I found it over at The Graphics Fairy (thank you, Karen!).

 You can find all of the treasures that I've shared with you today in my Etsy shop, if you're interested.

Now, go out and paint something cream!!!!

I'm linking up with:

The Graphic's Fairy Brag Monday