My Loot

21

Monday, July 25, 2011

Okay. I'll show you my loot now. I didn't make any big purchases on our Friday shopping trip, just a few little ones.

'Member how I saw some tart tins and wanted to buy them but they were $30 for six of 'em? Well, I held off and at the very last shop, in the basement, on the very bottom shelf...... I found a bundle of ten tart tins for $6. Woohoo!

It was funny because it was nearing the end of the day and we were both getting tired and Alex kept asking me to hurry up and I kept tellling him, "One more minute, one more minute." That's when I hit the jackpot.

For now, I made a few piles of these tins in our dining room cabinet. In a few days we're having a bbq so I might fill them with tealights for the table or line them with wax paper and fill them with different goodies for people to snack on.

In the same basement (Antiques at the Red Barn) I found a glass rolling pin with the cutest metal lid. My mom has one layered with different coloured beans and it looks really cool. I haven't decided what I'm going to fill mine with but the possibilities are endless: jellybeans, oats, beans, chocolate chips, bubblegum...... mmmmmm.

I think I've got a crush on the whole vintage-metal-kitchen-item-theme for some reason. 'Cause I also picked up two matching pie plates. They're so tiny and cute! I was really hoping there were three so I could have a little odd-numbered set. But now I have an excuse to go shopping again so it's a-okay.

I had so many ideas for the pie plates. I was going to either hang them on a tiny, narrow wall (stacked over eachother). Then I decided to put them in my dining room cabinet. Then I decided to lean them over the high window in our dining room. Then I decided to hang one over each doorway in the breakfast room.

Then. I saw this photo. I swooned, and I even hate the word swooned.

Source: Martha Stewart

Anywooooo, I guess pie plates are going to be my new collection. So exciting! Wait a minute, is there something wrong with me? Why do I love old junk so much?

The last item in my stash of loot was this hose holder thing (from Hilltop Interiors). It's a new item but new things are allowed sometimes, too. Right now our hose has a permanent spot strewn all over the lawn. It looks terrible and I keep having to drag it around to new spots so it doesn't kill the grass. Alex will attach it to the house with concrete screws and we'll have a cute little spot for our hose to go instead of one of those plastic jobbies.

So, that's all for now. What've you been collecting lately? Pretty please tell me I'm not alone in this.... ;)

Linking to: Twice Owned Tuesday @ House of Grace, Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm, Good Life Wednesday @ A Beach Cottage

Mini Shopping Road Trip

7

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Sigh. I love road trip shopping days. Al had the day off so we hopped in the truck yesterday a.m. and headed to a few of our favourite shops a couple of hours away.

I had a secret list of things that I was on the hunt for: vintage tart tins, an old alarm clock, a vintage camera, and a chippy green bench.

Everytime I saw a sign like this I would squeal and yell at Alex to pull the car over. It was fun. He really enjoyed that part.

I saw many, many cute things. I tried to control myself but it was hard.

This basket was ca-ute. I didn't get it though. Apparently I already have a lot of baskets.

I saw a few cameras but didn't buy any. I'm waiting for the perfect one. In white. Haha, just kidding.
Do they come in white?!?!?

This bucket on castors wanted to come home with me real bad.
The tag said it would be perfect for beer. SOLD!
Oh wait, it was $95. Didn't get that one either.

Jackpot! I WANTED THESE SO BAD!!! There were six of 'em at $5 each. But, I left them behind.
{This part of the story has a happy ending.}

Oooooh, an already painted white little rocking chair? Hello, my pretty.

As we drove through one of the little towns we spotted a sign for a Farmer's Market. As you can see from the picture it was hard to get a parking spot. We only had to cut off ~~one~~ ~~two~~ three people to get one.

I.Do.Not.Know.This.Man.
Where is he running to anyway? To get some Farmer's Market cheese? Bahahaha.

We tried some freshly squeezed lemonade. It's my new most favouritist thing.

At 12:14 I saw this sign:

At 12:15 I ate this:

Yum.

After I was fed we headed to some interior decor stores. I drooled. Then cried because I couldn't afford anything.

Like this coffee table and rug. When I looked at the tags I swear they had my name on them. With a heart.

Other interesting events of the day included trying to take a picture of a deer but scaring it away, eating a giant cookies n' cream ice-cream cone with real cookies in it, and almost getting pulled over for speeding because we were in a rush to get home to see the pups.

I did make it home with four incredibly cute finds. They're sitting here on the table with me as I type these but I'm too lazy to take pictures of them right now.

I'll show you tomorrow. And of course I'll let you know what I plan on doing with them.

And the moral of this story is: smoked beef sandwiches are wickedly awesome and you should eat one.

{Update: I posted about my loot here.}

More Breakfast Room Progress

30

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

I finally got around to snapping a few pictures of the breakfast room since I've made a few changes. It's such a difficult room to photograph since it's so teeny tiny (12x9). I hope you can picture me smooshed up against the walls and hunched over at weird angles trying to get a decent picture.

For a few of my new readers (hollaaaaaa)(I can't believe I just said that) I'll show a few before pictures to give you a sense of where I started from.

When we bought the house the room was a sea of beige:

Here's where I'm at as of today. I'll explain the latest things I've worked on in each photo.

I leaned the ladder I got from the Christie Antique Show against one of the shorter walls that was bare. The ladder is centred in between the doorframe on the left and the window wall on the right. I know it's hard to tell from the photo ('member me squished all up in the corner?). I also repainted the table set in Cloud White, recovered the chairs with some pale striped fabric, and stenciled a number word on each chair.

In the next corner I brought down an old, green dresser that was in our spare room. I didn't like the green dresser against the green walls so I painted it white and sanded it all over to give it a two-toned look. Above it, I installed the little white shelf that I just finished working on. I hung it nice and low so that you can see all of my little trinkets and doo-dads that are on it.

In this corner I stole this cubby/bench thingie from the front entrance and centred it under the mirror. I had already had the three baskets from Pottery Barn Kids so I put one in each cubby. I purchased the pail awhile back and just filled it with fresh hydrangeas from the front yard. On the mirror I hung a tiny basket. Don't tell anyone but it's just the handy-dandiest spot for poop bags for the dogs. (Ew!)

In the last corner I put down the jute rug that I recently purchased from Homesense. It hides grass and dirt from the doggies really well.

The last picture is the table and chair set that is in the middle of the room. It turns out that doing all the work to repaint it and recover the chairs doesn't make me like it. I'm on the hunt for a pedestal table with some old-fashioned looking chairs (whatever those are). Don't tell Alex, though, k? He thinks this room is almost done. Muh ha ha ha.

I have quite a few posts about this 'lil old room if you want to take a look:

Adding Trim to Our Baseboards

White Linen Curtains Finally Up

A Little Post About a Little Hook

Pails Make This Girl Happy

New Pendant Light

Breakfast Room Progress

Old Window Project

Shelf Before and After

Subtle Dresser Makeover
How to Recover a Chair

Linking To: White Wednesday @ Faded Charm, Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Creek Cottage, Good Life Wednesday @ A Beach Cottage

Shelf Before and After + A Shelf Vignette

37

Friday, July 15, 2011

After blah blah blah-ing about this shelf forever and a day, I finally got it done. It's refinished, it's installed, it's decorated, it's photographed. Phew.

First, I bought it from the Christie Lake Antique show in May (read here). Then I stripped all the old paint off (read here). Yesterday I primed it, painted it with two coats of white paint, distressed it, encountered a few small glitches, installed it, and then the fun part: trinkified it.

Here are some before shots:

Before

Here is a during shot:

During

Here are a million and one after shots because I just couldn't help myself:

After

I started with a large white picture frame that I already had (from Homesense). I took out the picture of Roary as a puppy {sorry bud, I'll make it up to you with an extra long walk I promise} and replaced it with some butterfly scrapbook paper that I had in my stash. I wasn't sure about the colour of the matte but what can you do when you're trying to decorate with mostly what you already had?

I found another white frame from our sunroom, also from Homesense, and took out another picture {sorry J & J, I'll make it up to you with some baking}. I added a $3 double matte from Michaels and then put in an adorable greeting card that I found at Chapters. It's actually a get well card that has little jars of cute stuff on the front (honey, love, lemon, and cheer). Let's pretend that it's a mixed media piece by a local artist instead of a plain old greeting card. ;)

On top of the framed card I added an old key that I bought from a lady who sells antiques out of her garage. I wanted to add a little bit of height to the smaller frame to match the other one. The colour of the key also ties in nicely with the colour of the hooks that came on the shelf.

I found this little notebook on the clearance table at Chapters. I loved the texture of the cover as well as the colours. It just went perfectly with the whole look. It also added a little bit of height to the shelf.

On top of the notebook I put my two vintage tart tins that I'm, um, trying to collect. Apparently they are hard to find and when you find them on Etsy the shipping costs a lot of money. I found these two tiny ones at the Christie Lake Antique show for 50 cents apiece. Score!

Leaning in front of the large frame I have a white, rectantular plate that was also on clearace at Pier One for $3.

The little bowls were a set at Homesense. Also a steal at $3.99 for all three. I plopped a hydrangea from the front garden into the middle one.

On the right side of the shelf I used a small glass bottle to hold another hydrangea bloom. I got the glass jar a few years ago, can't remember where....

Even though the original colour of the shelf was also very pretty (turquise/blue), the white looks nice against the pale green walls. The shelf looks perfect up above my newly painted dresser. I'm hoping to do a little update on the breakfast room tomorrow. Stay tuned!