Baskets

Isn't it funny how sometimes you can run into one of your favorite stores and not find a single thing and then another day you come out with a cart full of goodies? This happened to me the other day when I ran into Gabriels, a discount department store in our area. I only ran into look for one thing when I spotted this basket...

with a $5 price tag! I was so excited!

And then I rounded the corner and saw this basket...

a reproduction primitive basket in the most perfect blue/gray color and a french ticking inspired lining!

They had three sizes but I had to draw the line somewhere so I only bought the large and medium size ones. I knew the large one would be just perfect on top of our step-back cupboard.

And as I was trying to make my way out of the store I saw this beautiful $12 blanket sitting on an end cap, still with the original boutique hand written tag on it! It is perfect for those chilly autumn nights and is also that perfect blue/gray color. I placed in a thrift store find antique basket on a flea market stool.

You should have seen me trying to juggle all this stuff, since I thought I was just running in I didn't get a cart, I should know better:) I also bought a giant $7 red ticking stripe pillow that I will show later.

I have started to add some autumn decoration to this room and this antique footed bowl, which is also a recent thrift store find, is the perfect contrast for some white pumpkins.

I am tickled with all of my recent finds and excited that is officially autumn. What I am not so tickled with is that our tractor, dryer and just as of today my vacuum are all broken! I guess bad things do happen in threes!

HAPPY AUTUMN!

Fall Dining Room

It definitely feels like fall in our neck of the woods, the leaves are falling and the nights have been in the 30's, so I thought it was time to add some touches of fall to our dining room.

I started the table with 3 yards of off-white burlap that I simply just folded over. I then found this beautiful buttery yellow heavy weight fabric at Walmart for $2.50 a yard that I thought would add the perfect amount of color to the table and also give it a layered look at the same time.

I then added lots of little pumpkins placed in ironstone dishes, some golden rod and candles, as I wanted (as usual) to keep it simple.

I bought the rusty sap bucket at the Brooklyn Flea for $5 this summer and it is the perfect size for holding more golden rod. One of my favorite flea market finds from this summer is the large basket with the white pumpkins in it that cost $8, what a steal!

I also wanted to share some of the very thoughtful presents that my family got me this year for my birthday. My husband and son bought me the adorable shabby carrier that I just happened to have the perfect size glasses for. My parents bought me the cute little rustic bucket, and I recently found the tea leaf ironstone platter at the thrift store.

We have made great progress in our kitchen/great room renovation in the last couple weeks. This past weekend we got the sheathing and house wrap up and put our new windows in! I am so excited to be able to see into our back yard from the kitchen now! We changed our minds about the wood stove though, we are going to have a real fireplace installed instead. It will be the first thing we pay someone to do since we have lived here.  It will take lots and lots of saving though so that won't be done until next summer at the earliest. But my husband and I want more than anything to have a real wood burning fireplace so it will be worth the wait.

And I wanted to a say a HUGE thank you to my sister-in-law for designing my blog banner! You are the best Em! 

Let The Autumn Decorating Begin!

The nights have been chilly here, the stores are full of autumn decor and everyone on Pinterest is pinning autumn pictures like crazy so I have been itching to get some signs of fall into the house. My son started Kindergarten so I am hoping to have a little more time to blog, but don't hold me to it because things never seem to slow down for us.

I recently found some really great fallish (not a word I know) things, and wanted to show you some of them. Like this adorable crate I bought at Marshalls that says "Orchard Farm", which seems a little redundant but I loved that it was gray and white.

The blanket on the end of the bed is a vintage hand-made blanket in the most perfect mustard yellow color, it will soon be available for purchase in my Etsy shop. I love how it brings out the colors in the gourds but also goes so well with the gray.

I added some pumpkins and fall stems to the shelf above the bed, the lantern placed there is available for purchase in my shop, it goes so well with all of the fall colors I couldn't resist putting it in the pictures.

I have so many decorating ideas for autumn this year, I just hope that I can find the time to show them all to you! Happy fall decorating!

Bedroom Dresser

This is our bedroom dresser and I have always struggled with what to place above it because it is so long. I found the mirror at the thrift store for $5 a couple of years ago and painted it a light gray color but I could never find anything I liked for the empty wall space next to it.

And then I spotted this little white $5 cupboard at the thrift store the other day. For that price I figured it was worth bringing home and trying, besides the glass knob on it is worth $5 alone. Turns out it works perfectly in the space and the bonus is it provides storage too. It was built to be a medicine cabinet so it has lots of little shelves which I can put my creams and perfume on.

I bought the little tote at the MauMee Antique Mall for $6 and painted it gray, it is great for holding my makeup and my watches. Now I know you are wondering about that amazing enamelware pitcher....

I know I don't need to tell you how thrifty I am but every once in a while you stumble across something that you just know you aren't going to find at your local flea market or thrift store. Well this beautiful French enamelware pitcher is one of those things. I found it at Mademoiselle Tresors on Etsy, Wahine has the most amazing things in her shop. I had been looking for an enamel pitcher and I love anything that is white with blue stripes so I knew this was the one for me.

The Blue Willow sugar dish was a gift from my Dad and it is one of my favorite things. And Neal built me the rustic box (painted Glidden "Whispering Wheat") so that I would have place for my chargers. I am so happy with the way it all came together, some things are worth the wait.

It's The Little Things

One of our local churches has a rummage sale every Tuesday and Saturday and I just love going because I never know what I will find. I just recently discovered it and I hate to think what I may have missed out on all the time that we were living here...but better late than never I guess. Yesterday my son and I quickly ran through to see if there was anything good, I found a duvet cover and he found a toy front end loader (his favorite) and we paid. As we were headed out the door I saw a little handle sticking out from under a shelving unit...could it be a cutting board?!
It was and it was priced at a $1!

I love the pale wood color and the fact that you can see that someone burned it a time or two. Also it was great timing because I just bought a new table runner and wanted a rustic cutting board to place on our dining room table.

The candle holders are recent thrift store finds, and I just love them. And my hydrangeas are blooming and couldn't make me happier when placed around the house.

Don't you just love it when things come together, especially if you didn't have to spend a lot to get the look you were going for.

A New Quilt and Some Ironstone Too

Due to lack of time I wasn't able to visit any Chicago antique shops while we were there, but Neal was sweet enough to left me walk around the MauMee Antique Mall in Ohio on our way home. Most items there are overpriced but if you scour enough there are deals to be found.

Like this beautiful antique quilt I found that was only $18! And this ironstone pitcher that was affordable due to the chip in it, plus it was 10% off due to a dealer sale. Other than lots of chamber pots there really wasn't any other ironstone for sale there, much to my dismay.

But that disappointment quickly dissipated because the next day I found this ironstone platter at the Goodwill near my parents house for $2!

Some of my favorite things to collect are old shaving mirrors and I just recently found the one pictured for $1 at a yard sale. The frame is that perfect gray color that I love so much. And see the mantle in the mirror reflection? That is for the sitting room part of our kitchen...not much progress there...we have been so busy with weddings and visitors galore and trips it has been put on the back burner. But the warm weather won't last much longer so we will have to really put the hammer to the nail once things slow down.

Hope you are enjoying these last couple weeks of summer!

Another Man's Trash

I was trying to get all of our computer/office supplies organized and decided that what we needed was a cabinet above our computer desk. I really wanted to have Neal build something custom for the space but time and money are not in abundance around here right now so I tried to think of something I could use that we already had laying around. And then I remembered I had this cabinet that I had gotten out of someone's trash years ago!

And it is just the right size for the space above the desk. I wanted to be able to hide unsightly things inside it though so I put ticking inside the glass doors.

The desk the computer sits on is also from someone's trash. I spotted it on the curb in Queens, NY while visiting my niece. Thanks to my mom, sister and niece for helping me carry it 6 blocks to the car!

Almost everything else in this space, except for the wire paper holders, is from a thrift store or garage sale. The cork board is from Pottery Barn but I found it at the thrift store and changed out the ugly metal hanger it came with. The little table with the printer on it was a $1 at the flea market. The industrial lamp, wooden cubbies, jar and crocks are all from some awesome garage sales I hit while staying at my sister's camp this past weekend.

The tall cupboards were actually two bookcases that Neal had built for our previous home. They fit into this little corner perfectly so we just made them into built-ins and added doors. I painted them with  a  $5 clearance gallon of Glidden "Antique Beige" paint that I found last week at Walmart. It is a beautiful creamy white if you are looking for one.

The room you can see into here is our bathroom. I hope to do a post about it one day, but it is hard to get the right lighting in there.

No new development on the kitchen/great room reno. We have to wait a week or two for the cinder blocks to be completely set before we can do anything else.

And I have a question for any of you that are familiar with the Chicago area. Neal and I are going to Lollapalooza in Chicago this weekend and I might have time to visit one or two antique/vintage shops. If you know of any ones that I shouldn't miss while I am there let me know! Thanks!