Latest Loot

Hi, everyone,

We made a  brief detour out of the thrift desert last Saturday. While running errands we found one estate and one yard sale. Here is most of the haul:

One thing in the picture  wasn't bought then, the bag with the heart of buttons. It was picked up last week. One thing that was bought but isn't in the picture is a large Matelasse spread which is being used as a cover on the sofa. So, the spread, two aprons, three  hankies, one vintage cloth, one linen dish towel, an oilcloth tote bag, one pad of recipe book marks, a pen in a wooden box and old silver spoon were what we bought this past Saturday, with a grand total spent of $7.60. 

The aprons are embroidered and have pockets.

I love this bright linen tea towel with assorted birds.

I couldn't pass up this goggle-eyed cat bag for .50 cents!

This is another thing picked up last week. It has a cute red-check back.

Flossie had to see what it looked like, too.

A close up of some of the detail on this nice vintage tablecloth.

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This is a wooden pen in its own box, by Structure. The price was still on the bottom, $19.00.

Three flowered handkerchiefs.

This silver demitasse spoon from the old Rice Hotel may be my favorite find from Saturday. 

I've had this a few weeks. It's a little chair made into a lamp that lives on the kitchen counter.

Flossie didn't think much of the first layout, so I straightened out the things till they met her approval.

Perhaps our luck last weekend is a good omen for a lifting of the thrift drought. I hope you'll find some treasures this week, too. Do you typically go out with a list, or instead trust to serendipity?

Till next time,

Michele

Bedroom mini makeover

Happy tax day, everyone. I spent the morning running around to make copies, buy envelopes and then go to the post office, but it's done now, thank goodness. 

Today I am very happy to be able to share our spring bedroom mini fix up with you. After looking at multiple thrift shops and retail stores, a new quilt was finally located at Marshalls last week. With the knowledge of how hot and miserable our  summers almost always are, the goal was to fine one with a light, cool effect. The finalist has shades of blue, green and white in a paisley design, a personal favorite.

Although it can't be seen, we  also (with the help of the unwilling Mr. B) switched out the dust ruffle from a flowered Waverly print to a box-pleated plain white  pique. Although the quilt came from Marshalls, the dust ruffle and all the pillow shams were thrift shop finds. The buttoned blue one is from Pottery Barn. The sweet blue gingham and floral linen didn't have labels. All of them were less than $1.00. Trixie is your model, while Minnie is camera shy, hiding behind the pillows.

In addition to the bed itself, areas on the dresser and dressing table also got lightened up for the season. Here is a lunch-box style container bought in Austin last winter:

It holds a blue paper parasol, some artificial lavender, fabric rose and a few other items.

On the dressing table, a cloth-covered box from Pottery Barn Teen holds a green paper parasol, faux succulents and paper butterfly box, all from earlier thrift shop expeditions. It would be great to have live plants indoors, but the cats always try to eat them, so it's hopeless.

Our house is light years away from being spring clean or decorated, but perhaps sharing these small steps of the total effort as I chip away at them will keep me motivated. Are you making seasonal changes to lighten up your living spaces? Do you use different colors, textures or all that and more?

I hope your week is off to a good start!

Michele

Five x Friday

I did it, I managed to write every day this week, although this is a quickie. It dawned on me there was no picture of the new hutch with its doors open, so this is a belated look at the interior:

As you can see, it holds a surprising amount. If we repaint the whole thing, the white shelf Mr. B installed won't stand out like a sore thumb, otherwise we'll need to try and match that mustardy color. It holds crystal, a gorgeous epergne from a school rummage sale we got for $4.00, bowls, a gravy boat and silver destined to be planted with succulents. It was nice to learn the wonders of Goddard's polish from my friend Tricia at The Dull and the Dutiful. It works like a charm.

An item was left out when the Thrift Desert post was written. It is this pretty cushion, with a nice zipper back closure and embroidery on the front:

While trying to figure out where it would be best to take the picture, Inspector Flossie checked it out, too:

She is very interested in anything brought into the house. Pillows are good, but soft fleece throws even better in her opinion. A new one of those every day would rate two paws up from all the cats, I'm sure.

Are you doing anything different in your house to change up decor in honor of spring? What is your favorite way to do it, pillows, accessories, or a bigger effort involving paint and hard labor?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Michele

Thrift Desert

How did it get to be Thursday already? This week is zooming along. My thrift expeditions have been on the skimpy side the past few weeks. On the weekend before Easter last month there were two book sales in town. Mr. B and I went to one in the parking lot of one library on Saturday morning, then I went to bag day for the Houston Public Library the next afternoon at the big convention center. Aside from those, even checking neighborhood stores regularly has turned up few treasures. Here are some of this meager lot:

There are some of the haul from the Bellaire  sale, an old trimline phone, a small floral decorated tin filled with pastel candles, a jar (already had it) full of alphabet letters, a gold, crown-like metal bowl and a gorgeous bird ornament, now hanging in the living room with the other bird decor. 

I've also done some work in our bedroom after finally locating a decent quilt at Marshalls last week, when weeks of combing thrifts for one never paid off. Once Mr. B and I wrestle the mattress off to switch out the dust ruffle this weekend I'll take pictures in there where a few more finds have shown up to work with the new color scheme going on now.

Now, off to unload the dishwasher and reluctantly consider the dinner issue. 

Have a great evening!

Michele

April Door

Hi, folks,

This post should be titled D is for Dumb. It was written a week ago and after previewing, I hit "publish". Too bad it didn't occur to me to stick around and make sure that actually happened, because it didn't. Which makes last Friday's not true at all.Sigh.

Let's try again. The egg wreath from Easter was switched out last week. First, a little back story. One day in February, 2010, encountered while out walking on the sidewalk was a trash bin that had been emptied by the sanitation department, but they weren't pleased with all the content, and left some behind. There were multiple branches of pussy willow, five - six feet in length not supposed to be put out with household garbage. I grabbed as many as it was possible to carry and took them home. At some point before that, I'd seen a decoration I wanted to try, and this was the final piece needed. It took me a long time looking to find the right umbrella, but eventually one did turn up at the Sand Dollar, for under $2. Combining the two resulted in this:

A sweet ruffled child's umbrella to hold the pussy willows, the perfect way to welcome spring and its showers and flowers! Cute and dead easy as well, a combination hard to beat.

Meanwhile, we're having one of those showers right now, and thoroughly welcome it is. How is spring treating you so far? 

Stay dry!

Michele

Space, space, beautiful space!

No, not the kind astronauts work in, space in my kitchen. Besides having the world's ugliest floor and counters, the kitchen in this house is small. Here is the area available to work in:

There is very little room to work in. The sink is so small it won't hold regular sized pots or pans and the cupboards are so high only the lowest shelf is reachable by me. At the house we moved from there was space on top of the cupboards to set out seldom used or decorative items, but that's not the case here. Things were crammed in everywhere, falling out if you opened a door without being careful. We needed more space. Last week while at the Guild Shop I found this:

 

and this:

We don't have a truck, so I made sure to find out the sections could be separated. Saturday Mr. B and I went back and somehow got the whole thing into his Toyota. More amazing, we got it home again without breaking the glass in the doors, no minor miracle. 

This is how it looks set up:

Unfortunately, the upper shelves aren't wide enough to stack plates on, but they are fine for crystal, silver and a few other items. The top of the cabinet section holds dishes, a vintage tray and the cute birdhouse bought before Christmas that looks like it's made from an old cook book. The lower section has a huge stack of trays, baking pans, vases and more. Best of all, there is a drawer for dish towels, that for the past four years have been in a variety of baskets and other containers, none in the least satisfactory. The top has two birdcages on it and an old tin tray.

One of the pulls was broken, so I replaced both with these cute ceramic checked ones from our neighborhood hardware store. This piece is behind the back door off to one side of the kitchen. The chest/wine station that was there before has been moved to one side of the refrigerator, not a great solution, but it works well enough. The whole thing was dirty and hard to clean. We think it was in a house with a smoker or smokers, there seems to be a sticky invisible residue on it. Once it's cleaned well it may get a paint job at some point. Oh, I almost forgot to give Mr. B credit. He made and installed a third shelf in the upper section, so it holds even more now.

This is great progress to upping our quality of life in general. A crummy kitchen is hard to deal with, especially if it's rented and there is little you can do to improve things because you don't own it. More space for storage with easier access is a wonderful aid. The Guild Shop is generally very expensive, so I seldom shop there. I'm very glad I went by last week. The furniture is by Thomasville and in generally good condition, so it all worked out well.

Have you sought solutions in rented homes before? Do you have any great tips to share? 

Have a great evening,

Michele

One Year Blogging

Hello, all. I'm having a hard time realizing it's already been a whole year since I started writing this blog. I hope you are enjoying spring with cooperative weather wherever you are. It's been changeable here, but no doubt all too soon will settle in to be hot all the time. 

After Easter I switched out my decorations for birds, in honor of the season. Here are a few pictures:

 

The bird, feather and French script saucer is on the coffee table now.

The feather plate is settled on a book shelf.

A bird nest in an urn, under a cloche is on the desk, along with a yellow bird.

Nests, pictures, tins and feather on another bookcase.

There are more near the door.

One on an end table.

it's hard to see inside the green cubby but that is a ceramic trio of birds, wings touching with a votive candle in the middle.The rather blurry blue blob next to it is an owl.

More birds and nests, a box, little chair and pedestal in the terrarium, with a Spode platter in the back with a picture of a flycatcher on it.

So far I haven't figured out a centerpiece for the dining room table yet, so stay tuned.

I'm going to try to take the message of the early bird to heart and post more regularly from now on.

Until next time,
Michele