Thrifty Weekend

Ahhhh!  Finally, Spring is in the air.....

and for me that means hunting season!

This weekend I gathered up my fabulous sister-in-law and hit the streets to unearth some 

Hidden Treasure.

Our first stop was an estate sale in Nesconset, NY run by

SISTERS IN CHARGE.

The sale consisted of both the house and the garage.  

In the house I found 2 lovely little trinkets.

The first was this Oh So Cute green Slag Glass vase.  

It's just perfect for my Lily of the Valley once they are in bloom.  

SWEET!

Next I found this vintage floral scrapbook.  

Hello Springtime!  

The piece de resistance was unearthed during a 

major dig  in the garage.

  

These 

precious yellow lawn chairs 

were hanging on the garage wall.

They are in fabulous condition for their age and were the envy of all the other treasure hunters including the Sister-In-Law.  

Thanks to a very helpful gentleman who dug them out of massive piles of ummmmm... stuff!  

Thank you sir wherever you are!!!

In the end we only found 3 chairs.  

My guess is somewhere in that garage there still exists one more yellow chair.  

I hope wherever it lands, it's as cherished as these are.

Further into our journey we visited

Island Thrift 

which is now located on Route 112 in Medford, NY.

This was the first time I visited this thrift store since it moved from Port Jefferson, NY.

It's a great new space!

Nice and Clean.

While there I found these 

dainty lil' yellow shoes with a bow on top.

They are reminiscent of 1940's shoes with the peep toe styling.

I also found this vibrant aqua & orange paisley scarf.

I truly love finding vintage scarves on my treasure hunts which brings me to our last stop.

AUCTION'S BY WENDY!

Early on a chilly Saturday morning we headed to an old house in Sayville, NY to a house auction.

This was the first time I had been to an estate auction in a house.  

I was there more as an observer and student and boy did I get an education!

There were 3 items I was interested in.  

First was a pink marble table with a mismatched base, 

second a huge white wicker plant stand with an arch over it for hanging a flower basket or a bird cage. Lastly, there were 4 drawers FULL OF VINTAGE SCARVES!  

Pretty.....

The auction started in the living room and each of  

MY COVETED ITEMS 

were in different rooms of the house.  

While Wendy did a super job at moving quickly through the house, I just didn't have the time that day to stay.  It would have taken a long time to get to each room and payment was expected at the completion of the auction.  

Time just wouldn't allow for it.

Next time I will clear the day so I can bring home some 

goodies.

If you are in need of household items, trinkets and treasures, I fully recommend one of WENDY'S auctions.  You will spend pennies on the dollar compared to other venues.

To sum up my thrifty weekend, 

I found a few little gems to add to my collection 

all for $27.30.  

Welcome Spring!

Thrift Store Bench Re-do

I recently visited one of my favorite thrift stores here on Long Island,
Selden Thrift 
is located in Selden, New York. It's part of a local chain along with 3 others stores. They have sale days where they will sell furniture for 50% off. They also have sale days according to the price tag color. Sometimes they ask astronomical prices for the items and other times you can get a great bargain.



I think I did fairly well on this particular day! It wasn't on sale but I did manage to picked up this
diamond in the rough for  
$12.99!



OK, so it's not so pretty in it's original form but I had a vision. I knew I needed a bench for my sun room desk/vanity. It's where I sit each day to check my email, drink my tea and blog.
The old chair looked well enough but I was wanting something different.



BTW, this chair is so
"vintage awesome"!

My friend graciously and generously shared it with me from her grandmother's estate.
I was going to refurbish it a little however, once cleaned, it was aged to perfection and the fabric on the chair matched my room exactly.
So I did nothing more than clean her up!



I had found a wonderful piece of fabric several years back at an estate sale that I had been waiting to use in just the right space. This is vintage fabric by Waverly in the "Millerton" pattern.
I just love the color combination!
I'm pleased with how it compliments my desk/vanity.



So, with a little help from antique white spray paint, I was set out on a mission to transform this lackluster bench into a vision of loveliness.
Here is the finished project......





If you are curious about where I found my vanity, stop off at
Not Too Shabby NJ
and
Not too Shabby Blog

Liz was such a doll! She actually allowed me to come and pick up my vanity on EASTER DAY as I was in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey visiting relatives. If you live close by and can visit Not Too Shabby, you won't be disappointed!



What is one of your favorite thrift store purchases? 

I'd love to hear about it.
Leave me a comment and give me the details!

Shabby Lefton Picture Frame

My very sweet thrift buddy gave me this awesome shabby looking frame. It has pink flowers, green leaves and just enough gold embellishment.



It's a porcelain piece by Lefton. I fell in love with it immediately and thought about where to put it.



I found the location but, what picture to put inside?



I have 2 boys and I just don't think they would want to be displayed in this overly feminine frame. I decided to use a picture of my sweet little Maltese pup! Her name is Sabrina, in honor of the Audrey Hepburn movie of course! Okay and maybe a little bit of the teenage witch, being that she is blond and all.

Here are some pictures of my precious little
SABRINA CUPCAKE

Sabrina is 6 pounds, 2 1/2 years old and quite the Tom Boy. With 2 big brothers (of the flesh variety) to make her wild, she can keep right up with them. She loves to grab their socks and pull on them while they do their homework. If they aren't paying enough attention to her she will jump up on their pants and take a bite of the fabric as she runs after them.

But with me she is different. She lets me dress her up in all the loveliest finery I can procure. Her clothes and accessories are a blog entry unto themselves!!

She loves to rest with me while I type away on this computer, snuggle up in my lap as I watch television and go for our morning walks.

And the winner of the picture in a frame contest was..... (insert drum roll here) I just adore this little creature! I hope you approve of my choice.

I was so happy with Sabrina's framed photograph I decided to frame yet another one. This frame I collected a while back just because it was cute and vintage with a piece of bubble glass. Today it found it's purpose!

Treasure Hunt

During a recent antique jaunt I came across this fabulous old dressing table. This beautiful old piece is covered with beveled marble and has dove tail drawers. The piece is on wheels and has beautiful carvings along the side. There are keyholes to lock the draws but sadly the key is missing. Also there must have been a mirror attached which is long gone. The condition was really super for a thrift store!

Since I had no use for this great piece of furniture, I quickly sent a text message to my sister who was on vacation to see if she was interested. She said yes! Yippee! I just couldn't leave this gem behind.

So here it is delivered and in place! I forgot the polish so it hasn't even been cleaned and still looks this super. Now all she needs is a little vignette to make this piece feel cozy in her foyer.

I was thinking about giving her this awesome deco style amber glass lamp. It would look super sitting on this chest. I just picked it up this weekend at a garage sale. Isn't it pretty?

I need to find a shade that works with it. Now that is the story of my life; too many lamps, not enough shades. That is a blog entry for another day.
I simply can't resist a pretty old lamp!

Thrifty Fun!

I'm recommitting myself to this blog and the notion of sharing my crazed addiction for all things "vintage" with like minded souls. Surely while I was away from this forum I have not lost my thirst and drive to pick through dumpsters, rummage through garage sales or rifle through thrift stores. In fact this past week has provided me some goodies I would love to share with you.

I found this awesome wing chair at a thrift store. I got a GREAT deal on it! It was too good a deal to leave behind. Now where should this go? That part I haven't figured out just yet. I love the cottage, home spun inspiration of the embroidered fabric. The colors would work well in my sun room but there really isn't any room for it!

UPDATE: I learned something new! This fabric is considered Crewel Embroidery which Wikipedia defines as: A decorative form of surface embroidery using wool and a variety of different embroidery stitches to follow a design outline applied to the fabric. The technique is at least a thousand years old.

Until such time as it's home has been found. It's relegated to storage for now.

I found these jars in a few different locations but they come together very nicely! I think they look very fresh and clean. I'm still a big fan of milk glass.

A sweet enameled vanity jar.

Great painted planter whose metal base weighs a ton.

I was sitting at my banquette reading a book the other day when I thought to myself, "Wouldn't an ottoman or stool be good to put my feet on?" Low and behold, I came across this little gem. It's a wrought iron bench I found at a thrift store. I am going to reupholster the cushion and paint the base.

I purchased this fabric at an estate sale quite some time ago. I have loved this vintage Waverly pattern called "Millerton". I think I will use it on the bench.... it finally found it's home! What color should I paint the base? I'm toying with the soft cream yellow or the aqua. My dilemma with the aqua is it likely won't work with the banquette near by. What do you suggest?

Addiction

How many of you are like me out there? I just can't seem to leave a thrift store, yard sale, antique store or estate sale without something.... or 5 somethings? I love furniture and I have officially run out of room for anymore. If more comes in, others have to go out. I have been more than half joking with my husband that we should buy an old house to rehab somewhere in Upstate NY, a vacation getaway that I can fill with all the vintage/antique finds to my hearts content. We will have to file that in the "someday" pile and deal with the "pile" on my dining room table for now.

Where to put all of this...errr... stuff? Eventually they will find their home but... here are some pictures of the pretties below the mess.