Weekend Picks, Etc.

We knew we had an auction to go to last Saturday morning right in our neighborhood. How handy is that? While I was getting ready, Roger ran down to scope it out. He came back and told me there really wasn't much there, except some chrome and laminate tables. Now, he can say that sort of thing, but I like to see for myself. I'm pretty good at finding stuff that he overlooks. And, vice versa. That's why we work together on this. The auction didn't last long - less than three hours. We came home with a number of great things!

 

 

I picked up a flat and a couple boxes/bags of small Christmas décor. I love all these little angels. Especially the little cardboard ones with the wooden bead heads.

 

 

I could not figure out the point of this Styrofoam Santa, but how can you possibly go wrong with a Styrofoam Santa?

 

And, then my sister asked me if it opens....Oh my gosh!! It's a Styrofoam Santa cooler!! Why would you need a Santa cooler? Why not? I can hardly wait to start decking our booth for Christmas.

We also picked up a flat of baby toys. I probably would have passed them up at first glance, but Roger pointed them out, so I picked through them a bit more. It was the blue bear rattle that sold me.

I picked these two pillows out of some boxes of ratty blankets. They're pristine and obviously handmade. What is this pattern called? It looks like stained glass.

Remember the chrome and laminate tables? Yeah, we bought five of them. I'm not even going to tell you what we paid. It was criminal. What do you do with five tables? Stack them in your living room, of course! Hoping to get these out of here soon!

More great finds at Thriftasaurus!

Details

It's all about the trim. Roger puts so much time into figuring out the trim work for any project. And those little details are what make me love our house. He's doing it again in my trailer. And the exciting part is that I can finally start to see this space coming together!

 

This is the first completed window. Look! It has a window ledge! More space for me to display more stuff! I might even put a sacrificial plant in the window. It will look great until I manage to kill it...

 

 

See how the there is a little ledge at the top of the wainscoting? That will go all around the trailer. More space for stuff!

 

 

He worked on the other windows tonight, too. By the time he finished up for the night, they were completely trimmed out. These windows are going to be way too pretty to cover with curtains. I'm thinking that valances will be enough.

 

 

Remember the completely amazing metal table leaves I bought this past spring? They're next up to be mounted.

 

 

If you look closely, you can see a penciled letter "C" on the wood. That's the center line. The leaves fit into the space absolutely perfectly! Still my most favorite part of this trailer!

I was down at the flea market/antique mall this afternoon and found these three crisper drawers. The plan is to somehow incorporate these drawers into a storage cabinet. I'm excited to see what Roger comes up with. My favorite drawer is the one that says "Hydrator". It's hard to see in this picture, the other two have blue flowers on the handle of the one of the left and the one on the right says "crisper" on the drawer handle.

It is FINISHED!

So, after sitting in our living room 95% finished for at least a year, the Gym Dandy Surrey restoration is complete! I finally figured out how and got up the nerve to sew that canopy! Cutting into a big piece of canvas like that is not to be taken lightly, you know! Roger is very happy to see it done. He did his part with the wood and metal, and he's been on me ever since to do my part with the fabric.

I used this table cover tutorial as a guideline for sewing the corners, and added a little dart where the top of the surrey peaks. This makes the sides of the canopy come down a little further than the original canopy would have, but I like the deeper look. I sewed bits of ribbon at each of the four corners and at the two peak darts so that the canopy can be tied into place. I didn't want a gust of Kansas wind to rip off the canopy and send it flying into the next county! Finally, I used my serger to finish the bottom edge of the canopy before sewing the tasseled fringe into place.

And, then we entered it in the parade! The girls got third place in Saturday's kiddie parade. I wanted to see it in the parade at least once before we offer it up for sale. Our driver was a pro, but her legs were tired when she was done!

We've had several people ask where we got parts and graphics for our Gym Dandy Surrey restoration. We recommend Cowboys & Kidillacs.

More great finds at Nifty Thrifty and Thriftasaurus.

Recent Finds

A couple Saturdays ago, we woke up and decided to attend an auction. We had no intention of going to this auction when we went to bed on Friday, but we took a peek at some pictures, it was nearby and we figured, "What the heck?"

So glad we went! We ended up with some great items!

I can't find any information on this set of vintage glasses. Each one has a card suit symbol on it, and they sit on a nice glass holder. The glasses each stand about 5 inches tall. A friend suggested they may be half pint glasses.

There was a ton of enamelware at this auction. We picked up a few pieces in a fabulous aqua blue color, but this is my favorite piece and one that I am keeping for my crafting trailer. It has a red rim, and I believe is a collapsible spice rack. I think it will look adorable holding colorful bottles of craft supplies.

This was the most exciting purchase of the day, at least in  Roger's opinion. It's a vintage dental chair. He's been working on shining up the chrome so we can get it down to the antique mall as soon as possible. The hydraulics work, and it is in quite good condition. It's a perfect recliner for a man cave!

There were a lot more purchases, but they got hustled into our storage unit, because the real plan for that weekend was to unclutter the house! There is nothing that will clutter your house faster than a good auction!

A couple weeks before this auction, we took the kids and headed to Florence, KS for my aunt and uncle's estate auction. We came home with some great pieces from there, especially if one likes rusty stuff!

Love the nice rusty dolly on the left. The big scoop on the right is called a tumble bug. It will make a very cool industrial look piece for someone! 

This pretty scrolly frame is made of some kind of painted metal. Roger was teasing me about my collection of empty frames. Frankly, they look kind of cool. Why mess them up by adding photos?

One of my other uncles had brought a few pieces of furniture that he had restored to sell at the auction. This cabinet was one of them. Originally it was all blonde. Now, I love mid-century modern, but I'm not a fan of blonde wood. This is so much better and fits our decor perfectly. It's a keeper! Notice I've claimed it by filling it with part of my Pyrex collection. And, I love being able to store stuff in the bottom cupboard!

Find more thrifty goodness at Thriftasaurus and Nifty Thrifty

More work completed.

I'm starting to feel like this project will never be done, but Roger assures me he is making much progress. I'm just an impatient person. It's the reason I don't do large projects.

He has begun to finish up the reading nook area. The inside walls are up.

All of the light fixtures are installed, including this one that will hang over my table. The overhang is almost done, too.

And, finally, the electric fireplace is installed! I love how it looks. What I love even more is that it is no longer sitting in its ginormous box in my living room!!

Slowly, but surely, we are getting there. The heavy rains have not helped with our progress, but they have revealed a few leaks that need to be dealt with. Not something I was thrilled to see, but I trust that Roger can solve the problem.