Garage Sale Goodness (and a couple of thrift store finds)

Oh what a wonderful garage sale day!  I have to say that my hubby and I were a bit discouraged when we began because there were just no garage sales out that we could find.  So we went over to pick up my baby girl's senior graduation announcements and decided to look for garage sales by the beltway.

Jackpot!

Even though we only found one frame at the one garage sale we went to, we did find several more sales on the way home.  And the windfall began!  Here is a picture of my loot for the day...

I have to confess that the two matching Victorian cherry wood nightstands were purchased at a thrift store that we drove by on our way to look for more garage sales, but the rest of the lot was a total of $25.00!  Antique plates, a ton of frames ~ probably won't keep the photos, I just wanted to wood frames to frame my vintage linens that I have been collecting ~ brass candlestick holders, 2 end tables, and the piece de resistance...a 1947 Singer sewing machine and original sewing cabinet!

Of course all of this will be refinished and look totally different when I am finished with it.

That's the fun part!

I am not sure what I am going to do with these beauties, but I love them!

In parting, here are some goodies that I bought at the antique store this week.

What a wonderful day it has been!  God has sent many blessings this morning in addition to a great garage sale day :)

Hugs,

Deanna

Vintage Desk Revamp

I got this wonderful vintage desk from my niece (grandma gave it to her a few years ago).  Apparently, she was too grown up for purple with white polka dots.  In my excitement to get started, I again forgot to take a good before picture.  However, here is a picture of just the desk without the drawers (they were being sanded).  Just look at all of the ink stains!

BEFORE:

I used a stencil to decorate the drawers.  Since I am trying to add white to my family room, I decided to use white as the background and a light tan for the bird stencil (both colors I got from the mis-tint shelves at Lowes).

I love the crystal knobs ~ they give the desk a little sparkle :)

All of the edges were sanded to give a worn look.

Then I painted the desk light tan to match the stencils.  Since, it will be used as my daughter's computer desk for school, so it definitely had to be sealed (she is very, very hard on furniture).  To seal it, I used semi-gloss Minwax poly-acrylic.

 I also lined the drawers with leftover burlap from my curtain project that still needs to be finished. I am searching for affordable vintage rhinestone brooches for the curtain hooks ~ but I digress...that is a post for another day!  Back to the desk...


I used Mod Podge to adhere the burlap inside the drawer.  It worked really well!

I think I love it!  What do you think?  I love to read comments, so let me know :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a super awesome weekend!

Deanna

The Garden Swing

My daughter actually made me pick up this little diamond in the rough.  Here is the before picture:

It needed a lot of love and attention!  Sweet hubby sanded it all down for me, and replaced many of the old screws.  I painted it a turquoise blue and sanded it some more to give it a distressed look.  To prevent further weathering, I sealed it with exterior grade varnish.  I just love it now!

Thanks for looking!

New Etsy Shop!

I finally did it!  I opened an Etsy shop to help sell some of the things I have been making.  This way I can make room for more projects :)  Click here to visit me ~ My Happy Place on Etsy.

Thanks for dropping by!

Hugs,  Deanna

Trash to Treasure ~ Another Curbside Find

It never ceases to amaze me the things that people throw in the trash.  I rescued this little big beauty last week just before the garbage truck came.  Of course I don't have a before picture.  I seem to get so excited that I start sanding and painting immediately and forget about the camera all together.  It was originally black and pretty rusty, but a little lot of sanding and some lime green spray paint turned it into this gem!

I absolutely LOVE the color!  I have totally started refinishing/replacing all of the furniture in our new down-sized home. 

Here's a little Spring eye candy.  My grandmother was a ceramic artist and she made two turtle planters, a girl and a boy.  When she passed away, I brought them home with me.  I LOVE these little guys!  They remind me of sitting on her front porch, listening to the locusts buzz and drinking sun tea.

Aren't they adorably unique?!

End Table Redo

I still miss my Nellie P, but as I was told ~ HOPE stands for Hold On Pain Ends.  The pain is subsiding and now all that is left is a hole.  We haven't cried today, which is a blessing.  So being able to function today, I finished up one of my projects, an end table that I bought at an estate sale for $6.50.  Painting outside while it was sunny and quiet was very therapeutic.

Here is the end table BEFORE:

and AFTER:

The carvings on the doors are beautiful, don't you think?

and just look at those knockers!  I thought of my husband saying that and just cracked myself up!

I painted it a pretty turquoise blue from the mistint shelves at Lowe's, then distressed the edges with sandpaper and applied some walnut stain that I had left over from another project.

And there you go...I LOVE it!

I also threw this together today.  I bought a yucky candlestick holder for $1.00 at a different estate sale (forgot to take a before picture).  I painted it white and used my crop-a-dile hole punch to punch holes so that I could add chandy crystals.  After it was assembled, I glued a vintage Haviland plate on top using E6000 glue.  Wah-lah!  Pretty, vintage, shabby chic pillar candle holder :)

Well, I think I kept myself busy enough today.  So I will sign off and leave a really cute picture of my Nellie P at the beach last summer.  She loved to go for rides and LOVED the beach!

She's enjoying the surf and sun in heaven now.  Miss you baby!