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This early bird got the worm!

May 14, 2013

No doubt about it, the prices at thrift stores are going up. Womp Womp. I’ve had a much harder time lately finding furniture to paint. I just can’t pay $80 bucks for a dresser at Goodwill and expect to make any money by repainting and reselling it. I’ve also never have any luck with Craigslist. Yard sales have always been my best bet for finding furniture and odds and ends to redo and resale.

I decided this past weekend that I was going to hit some yard sales and wasn’t coming back until I had scored several pieces of furniture! I woke up wayyyyyy early Saturday morning, drank wayyyyyyy too much coffee, and left the house at 6:30 am. Yes I am that person sitting outside your house waiting for you to hurry up and open up your garage and start your sale! It’s true, the early bird gets the worm!!!

Here’s some of the fun stuff I found on my little yard sale adventure……

I’m a sucker for original paintings. This painting on canvas was $8.00 and will be going in my guest room.

$1.00 sign and $1.00 basket.

I have a list on my phone of things that my friends have asked me to look for while I’m out and about. I can’t wait to give this to my friend who has been looking for a Cuckoo clock!! This never been out of the box clock was $12.00 and the pea candle that I just couldn’t pass up was $1.00.

$5.00 end table.

$4.00 Picnic baskets!

This is ugly, but at $1.00 I already have a plan for this guy!

$8.00 vanity and stool. Just the stool alone is worth the $8.00!!! I can not wait to paint these two pieces and recover the stool. Bye Bye viney flowers!

I think this was my favorite find of the day. It use to hold an old radio but was replaced with two little shelves. I’m going to fix the shelves and paint! I might be keeping this for myself! $10.00

Little end tables sell really well, especially when painted blue! hahaha! $6.00

$20.00 dresser! Finally a dresser that doesn’t cost $80.00!!!

This shelf unit is pretty ugly too, but has sooooo much potential! I am hoping I have enough barn wood to enclose the sides and back. At $10.00 it will be fun to play with!

Oh yes, I had to feed my shoe addiction by grabbing these new Steve Madden heels for $2.00

I almost died when I saw these $3.00 Vintage cowboy boots! The lady selling them said they belonged to her grandmother and she tried and tried to wear them but they were just too small! Well guess which Cinderella they fit!!!?!? They are sooooooo soft and already broken in!!! Is it fall yet!?!?

Not bad for a Saturday morning! Guess I have some projects to get working on!!! Anyone want to come help paint!!!

What is your favorite yard sale find!?!?!

xoxoxo Angela

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Do you have a compatible yard sale partner?

May 10, 2013

The Nester and I hit some yard sales a couple weeks ago. Not only is she such a dear friend but totally a compatible yard sale partner. This is very very important when you are going to yard sales with another person. Your yard sale partner should have the same goals, the same get in and get out of there techniques, and the same speed to make your yard sale experience a success. One rule that we both seem to follow is no talking to people. This will slow you down. No eye contact. Eye contact with the seller might initiate conversation and conversation at a yard sale is the enemy. You have to get in and out so you can be on to the next sale. The more sales you hit the more likely you will find what you’re looking for. Also we have been to many yard sales together and tend to know what the other is looking for. This is very helpful. If I see something she might want, I can scoop it up before someone else puts their grimy paws on it. Luckily we are usually looking for different things but sometimes you might see us racing each other up the driveway!! It also helps if you like to start the morning at the same time. When I suggest picking her up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning, she doesn’t bat an eye. The early bird does get the worm and she will be ready!

Here’s an example of a non-compatible yard sale partner. I will not use names to protect the innocent. My dear dear friend asked if she could join me one Saturday morning, and I said sure knowing how much I love her company. This dear dear friend is a chatter box. Normally I love her chattering ways but there is no place for that while hitting yard sales. Yes chatting in the car while driving to the next sale absolutely, but not while shopping. Once you arrive at a sale, you approach quickly, skim items available, purchase items quickly without talking, and then back in the car walking very briskly the whole time. My dear dear chatter box friend wanted to talk to the people putting on the sale, their kids, and everyone else who was there shopping. She had questions about what they were selling and why. Were they moving? Were they just cleaning out the house? Was it hard to get rid of their stuff? On and on with the questions. I think we made it to like 3 sales that whole morning. And she was a very slow walker. I love my dear dear friend to pieces and we will still hang out but we will not be attending anymore yard sales together. hahahaha!

So the last yard sale I went to I found this. The lady wanted $50.00, and I could only talk her down to $40.00. $40.00 was a little more than I wanted to pay but I loveddddddddddd the desk and knew it would be so beautiful painted blue. Of course blue, are you so sick of blue yet?

I bought this chair a while ago at Value City Thrift Store in Mooresville, NC.

It had been marked down to $10.10 as you can see because they write on the furniture! WHYYYYYY!?!? And wonder why $10.10!?!?! That extra dime almost scared me away.

My sweet neighbor and friend Kim came over and chatted with me while I painted. See I really do like to talk and chat. There is just a time and place for it and a yard sale ain’t the place.

Because I failed upholstery school and I loved this vintage fabric that was already on the chair, I decided to paint around it. Took a little longer than I thought it would and I had to be a lot more careful than I normally like to be. Thumbs down on this project.

Distressing.

Before and after glaze.

I took both pieces to 32 Flavors Boutique last Friday. I sold the desk the next day for $160.00!! $160.00 won’t pay our mortgage but it sure will help support my yard sale habit. Anyone need a chair!?! Anyone want to hit some yard sales tomorrow!?

Help!!!!!! If you live in the Charlotte or Bristol area and have any furniture pieces you would like to sell, please let me know! Thrift stores have gone up so much on their prices and I’m enjoying lazy Saturday mornings at home with the family more and more so finding furniture at yard sales has been tough!

Happy Friday!! Hope you have a weekend full of inspiration and lots of crafty projects! xoxo Angela

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Dining room makeover take 2

February 28, 2013

So the dining room table was a little toooo green. A little toooo bright green. Even I had to agree with my husband. With Dixie May’s help I decided to paint it againnnnnnnnn. This time I used regular paint instead of chalk paint. That meant I had some sanding to do. You don’t have to get all the way down to the bare wood, just knock off the shiny finish.

I also decided to paint the side of the table too instead of just the top.

I stopped by a little boutique in Mooresville, NC called Sweet Grass and picked up this giant S with some birthday money. It was $18.00, a little more than I like to pay for decorating stuff, however I’ve been wanting a large S for some time. The ones I’ve seen at antique stores and flea markets have all been more than $50.00!

My dog is a total stalker.

While I waited for the paint to dry on the table I used the same paint on the S. Then I roughed it up with sand paper and covered it with glaze. I wiped off the excess glaze and added a hanger.

Before

After

After After!

I am sooooooo much happier with this color paint on the table. Also thanks to you guys I got rid of the rug which makes such a huge difference! My friend gave me the rug several years ago and it served it’s purpose but didn’t go with anything in the house. Love the change! It feels so bright and airy!

As I took the photos of my dining room, I realized just how much the room made me happy and was such a reflection of me and my family. It’s full of things I love, beautiful meaningful things. Isn’t it wonderful when a home makes you happy and makes you smile without costing a fortune?

These are a few of my favorite things.

Without even realizing it, I’ve started a new collection. I grabbed the three smaller S’s at an antique store a while ago for $1.00 each. I made the quilt S yesterday and can’t wait to show you how easy it is!

Mason jars from my grandma’s basement. I love them all lit up at night!

A needlepoint created by my grandmother. I painted and distressed the brown frame.

This is one of my favorite paintings of all time. My mom and I saw it in a little gallery in Bristol, VA. I fell in love with it. My mom went back later, bought it, and gave it to me for Christmas that year! I love you mom.

I bought this painting in Portland, OR years ago to remind me of the trip with my college roommates. Just because it’s a painting of bottles does not indicate we drank a lot! Although that was before kids and husbands and real life, so now that I think about it maybe we did do a little drinking!hahaha

I have kept every piece of pottery that my kids have painted and now it’s one of my favorite and largest collections!

Something about a pretty mug makes hot tea taste even better!

One of my favorite photos of all time!

More art by my grandma and great grandma! Special rocks from somewhere special! Just can’t seem to remember where that somewhere special is! hahahaha

$1.00 yard sale pitcher and a piece of embroidery displayed in a hoop.

$5.00 Yard sale painting and more embroidery.

My boy’s art.

A clock from my parents and more yard sale finds, all under $1.00!

My grandmother’s vase that I can still see sitting on her dining room table.

I found the large brown birdcage at a yard sale for $5.00 and the silver one for $1.00. My father in law bought me the blue cookie pot for my birthday! The man has good taste! I needed something for the space behind the birdcages so I tried my hand at painting. I think I will stick to painting tables!

My husband and I saved our gift certificates from our wedding and were able to buy this cabinet from Pier One almost 13 years ago. It’s so special to me because it’s one of the first “real” pieces of furniture we bought together. I also love that huge pot my kids painted and my $1.00 yard sale bottles.

Another one of my favorite things is this bench I rescued from my neighbors trash and painted green! My grandma’s quilt, some handmade pillows, a couple of Christmas trees I made that never get put away, and this is one of my favorite spots in my house.