Sea Glass

Do you guys love sea glass as much as I do?  I've never found an "authentic" piece of sea glass (Wikipedia says it's more common in the northeast than it is down south), but when I came across a bag of sea glass at TJMaxx for $5 the other day, I knew exactly where I wanted to put it. 

Before:

After:

It's hard to tell in the photo but the blue and green glass really pulls those colors out of the granite in our bathroom.

Love.

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Liberty Antiques Festival

Yesterday, (after watching the Royal Wedding, of course) my friend Crystal and I went to the Liberty Antiques Festival.  They hold it twice a year in a small town outside of Greensboro, NC.  It's supposedly the largest in the southeast with 400+ dealers.  There was SO much to look at.  I think I'll definitely be going to the next one in September.

These little patio sets were apparently very common because I think we saw 3 or 4 of them, all at different vendors.  If that's what you came for, you were in luck!

Oh, the lanterns.  I loved them oh so much but I loved my money more.  Sad.

This was probably the coolest thing I saw - a rotating card catalog!  For $2,000 it could've been mine!

These were just weird, but cool.

There were probably 10 aisles that all looked like this.

Before we left, we stopped for a photo op.

So, I'm sure you're just dying to know what I brought home.

First up, a Coke crate!  It's old and chippy and will look perfect in our game room downstairs.  The dealer had a bunch of old bottles sitting in it and had it marked for $12.  I asked him if he would take $10 and he said "No, I think I'll keep it at $12 because I don't have anywhere else to put these bottles."  Um, how is that MY problem?  Sheesh!  Obviously, I gave him the $12.  I liked it too much to quibble over $2.

Next up, something I've wanted for quite a while now.  A vintage fan!  This one's made by Koldair (clever name, huh?)  It was marked for $30 and I asked the guy how much he would take for it.  He had a much larger Kenmore fan sitting beside it and asked me if I would take both.  I asked him what he was thinking for both and he said $40.  I really didn't like the large Kenmore fan.  It just looked old, not cool and vintage.  So he reluctantly parted with just the small one for $25.  I lugged this heavy cast iron fan around all.day.long and boy were my shoulders sore by the end of the day!  Next time, I know to bring my little SmartCart to lug things around in.  I wasn't even thinking that I would have to carry whatever I bought for the rest of the day.  D'oh!  Anywho, I just love this little guy.

Oh, and of course I looked at similarly sized fans the rest of the day and I definitely got the best deal - go me!

Do you know of any other awesome antiques festivals?  I think I'm hooked!

Garage Sale Saturday = Tons of projects

Another day of garage saling today, and boy did we rack up!

(And by rack up, I mean acquired lots of projects...)

(Btw, sorry for the crappy pictures to follow.  Of course I didn't think about taking pictures of them in the nice afternoon sunlight, but instead in our dark dungeon of a townhouse.)

We got six of these beauties, which, once painted and reupholstered, will reside around Steven's poker table.  The poker table seats 10 but currently only has 4 chairs.  These 6 will make it complete, and I think having two different kinds of chairs will add an eclectic charm (at least that's what I'm telling myself as we got all 6 for $15!).  I looooove the legs on these... aren't they beautiful?

The ugly fabric.  This was actually one of the cleaner ones... some have white paint splattered all over.

We also got this folding leaf table (seller said it came from Ethan Allen many moons ago) for $15!  It will take residence in our basement as a console table once painted.  What a perfect place for all of our Appalachian and Cubs memorabilia!  And when we have parties we can break it out for extra seating.  It's not really anything special, but for that price we couldn't pass it up!  I think the right paint job will make all the difference.

We didn't get these doors today, but I thought I'd throw them in as another example of a project-in-waiting.  I actually spied them next to the trash compactor at our apartment complex a few months ago!  I don't know why anyone living in our apartments would have an extra set of french doors, but whatevs!  Their loss, my gain!  And the best part... they were fuh-ree!!!  Um, could I throw in one more exclamation point in this paragraph?  Anywho, won't they look great hanging on a long blank wall with pictures inserted into the windows?  Or distressed and leaned against a wall as a huge focal point?  I actually don't know what I'm going to do with them yet, but who could pass up free?  Not me!! (2 more exclamation points for your reading pleasure.  No need to thank me.)

So, now I need your advice, my lovely readers (is anyone out there?).  What colors should I paint the chairs and table, and what should I do with the doors?  I'm using a yellow, black, and cream color scheme in our basement so the chairs and table would have to fit with that.  Oh and I want to make curtains with this lovely fabric if that gives you a frame of reference:



Isn't she beautiful?

We're planning on remodeling the basement when we move back to NC, thus why I have items for the basement on my mind.  There's nothing technically wrong with our basement, but it's just... ugly.  It has cheap carpet, and basically cheap everything.  For the past 3 years that we've lived there, the only things in the main area of our basement (which we call the game room) have been Steven's poker table and a small TV in the corner.  We're going to make more of a family room down there with half of the room being a seating/TV area and the other half Steven's poker area.  But I'll tell you more about that in a future post.



Anything goes with the doors as I haven't decided where I'm putting those yet.   We have tons of empty wall space in our house, but I'm thinking about hanging one of them in the hallway that leads to the master bedroom and basement (see diagram below).

Hmm, just realized this diagram doesn't show the master bath.  I'm resisting the urge to go back into Photoshop and fix it (because it's irrelevant!).  I have OCD tendencies sometimes, just ask Steven.

So what do you think? 

A day of garage saling, $30, 6 chairs, and 1 table.  I think it was a successful day.

Garage Sale Saturday

Steven and I have gone garage saling the past two weekends, and I think we're addicted to it.  We never buy all that much but it's just fun to look at all the crap treasures people have.

We got the large mirror with white frame (that looks like it's never even been hung on a wall) for $3, and the small mirrors were 50 cents each.  I think I'm going to do some sort of craft with the small mirrors, but I haven't decided what.

I got these two packets of beads for 50 cents each.  I think some sort of necklace is calling my name...

I really don't know what I'm going to do with these turquoise Ball jars, but at $1 each, I couldn't pass them up.  I'll come up with something.  I'm thinking they will find a home in our bathroom in NC.  I saw these exact same jars at an antiques store today for $6.50 each!  Granted, they had lids, but still, I don't think lids are worth $5.50!

And...

A gumball machine!  Can you believe it?  $10!  We bought some small gumballs at Dollar Tree, but they're too small, so we may have to splurge for the humungous gumball container at Sam's that should last us a lifetime.  Do you know how hard it is to find gumballs?!  Whoda thunk it?  Yes, it is residing in our bathroom right now, which I realize is kind of weird, but it matches our yellow towels and rug!  And we don't have anywhere else to put it.  I wish it had a stand, but it's pretty cool even without it.

I was trying to talk Steven into buying an ugly green desk, but he wouldn't go for it.  It was only $10, solid oak, and all it needed was a little paint!  I know it could've been really cute, but the voice of reason won out... we didn't really need it.  It's hard to pass up such a great deal though!

I'm really sad that the garage sale season is almost over.  Maybe I'll just have to hunt for crap treasures on Craigslist instead.

Garage Sale Saturday

I've never really been big on garage sales.  Other than the city-wide garage sale a couple months ago, I can't remember the last time I went to one.  Probably when I was a kid with my uncle.  I decided last night that Steven and I would hit a few up this morning, so I searched on Craigslist and wrote down a list of 10 addresses of people having sales today.  We ended up going to 5 or 6 and I was just amazed at the cool things we found!  I think I'll definitely be doing this more often.  So much fun for so little money!

 

Candelabra: $3

Patriotic Basket: 50 cents (Bought this with a Snow White puzzle, not pictured, which was also 50 cents)

Awesome ceramic jugs:  $12 for the large one, $3 for the small one. (The large one is destined for a makeover... stay tuned!)

Brand new shadow boxes: $2 for all three

Milk glass bud vases: $2!!!

Shoebox full of tiny Halloween ornaments: $2

Now for a look at their new, probably temporary, homes:

See my fabulous bottle cap coasters?  Bought at The Field Museum in Chicago... a little bit of a splurge, but totally worth it!  (Oh, and that's my brother Jamey in the picture)

Still need to get some candles...

These stone tealight holders were also bought at The Field Museum.

And my favorite... the milk glass vases.  Absolutely love them!

Total spent: $25
Happiness attained: Priceless