Category: thrifting.

My friend opK and I headed into the wilds of Wisconsin for some thrifting last week.  Well, OK, we were just over in New Richmond, but to me it feels a bit like another world over there.

Anyway, as seems to be the trend lately, it was nearly a complete bust.

We went into one shop where the prices were ridiculously high.  The first thing I picked up was a silver salt & pepper set.  I was considering adding it to my very small non-collection …

But when I saw the price tag of $85 (yes!  you read that right), I put it right back down.

I will admit, I didn’t look closely enough to determine if they were sterling or just silver plate,  but even if they were sterling that seemed like an awfully high price for a thrift store.  They must be doing their pricing research on Chairish or eBay.

Also, I should note that I personally don’t care whether they are sterling or not even though I know it impacts the value.

I’ve chosen the ones that I have based on how pretty they are and I usually pick them up for less than $10.

We did eventually end up at River Revival Thrift in Star Prairie, and I found a couple of goodies.

Namely an ironstone sugar bowl that is missing its lid, and a vintage book.

I like the sugar bowl as an option for holding things like a handful of old paintbrushes …

but it would also work well for pens, scissors or silverware.

I picked up the vintage book because I thought the title, The Black Cat, would be perfect for Halloween.  I love the idea of giving a subtle nod to holiday decorating without being overt and this book paired with some apothecary style bottles works for me.

The only other thing I picked up that day was this pile of books.

River Revival Thrift charges .99 for hardcover books, compared to my local Goodwill where they are $2.49 each.  So I grabbed a few to paint up.

I painted the first three books in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  To do this I simply open the books and place them face down on my worktable (a.k.a. my piano) and paint the covers with a brush.  I sometimes can get away with just two coats, but painting the Drop Cloth over a book that is black (or in this case one was yellow) takes three coats.

I don’t do any prep at all, well, unless you count removing the paper dust jackets if they have one.  I guess I should mention that just in case anyone is confused.

I also think that a chalk style paint like the Dixie Belle chalk mineral paint is best for this.

Next I added some typography using the I.O.D. Ephemeral Type stamps with VersaFine Clair in in Morning Mist which is a medium grey.  I gave the ink a little time to set up, about as long as it took me to do the breakfast dishes.

I followed that up with a gorgeous floral from the I.O.D. Madeleine transfer.

After applying some of Dixie Belle’s clear wax to protect the paint and transfer, I gathered the books together with a pretty purple velvet ribbon.

I then decided to go with black on the 2nd set of three books, so they each got two coats of Dixie Belle’s Caviar.

They also got one of the bouquets from the Madeleine transfer, but rather than stamping them I added some gold text from the I.O.D. Étiquettes gilded transfer.

After adding a coat of wax and another velvet ribbon, this set was ready to go too.

I will likely take these into the shop, but probably not until I return from my next trip to visit my mom which is coming up this week.  This time around my sister is joining me.  To be honest, we don’t have much planned other than visiting with mom and enjoying the Las Vegas sunshine.  Hopefully we can get in a little hiking either around Lake Mead or possibly at Red Rock Canyon.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to come up with any blog posts to schedule in advance, so you won’t be hearing from me for the next two weeks.  However, I’ll be returning home to garage sale season and gardening season, plus lots of prep for another Carriage House Sale that I’m planning for June 4 and 5.  So be sure to stay tuned!

I was desperately in need of some thrifting after returning from Florida (where nothing was thrifty), so last week my friend opK and I hit the thrift stores.

I didn’t find a ton of things, but I came home with a few goodies.

First up, the little oil and vinegar set.

I’m fairly sure it’s vintage, and also fairly sure it’s never been used.  I suspect that someone received it as a wedding gift in 1962, put it in the cupboard and never took it out again.

Next up, the 2 quart pitcher.

I just have a thing for these.  I found the 1 quart version while doing some winter thrifting a couple of years ago …

Now I kind of wish I’d hung onto that so I’d have a pair, but I sold it back then.  And now I’ll likely sell the 2 qt versions as well.

Next up is the vintage metal tray.

These sorts of things are always good for corralling a vignette on a coffee table or countertop.  I liked the vintage vibe of this one.  Now I’m debating whether to paint it and add some embellishment to the inside flat bottom, or just leave it as is.  What do you think?

I also picked up this vintage lunch box while we were out.

It was a little overpriced for me, but I’ve made over a few of these in the past.

They make for a quick paint job, and then it’s fun to play with transfers on them.

And since I just ordered a bunch of the new spring transfers from I.O.D. it will be good to have something on hand to put them on.

Last up, my find of the day, a Goodwill unicorn, a toolbox!

It’s extremely rare for me to find a vintage metal toolbox at the Goodwill, but there it was on the shelf.  And better yet, it was only $8.99!

On the not so positive side, this toolbox is ginormous.  It’s 32″ long (wide?, you know what I mean).  That’s a lot of square footage to dress up with transfers, or whatever I decide to use on it.  I do have some ideas for it, so you’ll have to stay tuned to see if any of them work out.

While we were out thrifting, we also decided to stop in at Home Goods where we were stunned to find some pairs of vintage books for sale!

At Home Goods!

It seems almost unthinkable.

They had tags on them …

Artfully hand crafted?  That seems like a bit of stretch.  But I guess I give them props for embracing previously used items, and keeping them out of the landfill.

In case you’re wondering, they were $19.99 per pair.  A bit steep for me.  I wonder whether they’ve had much success selling them.

Have you ever found genuine vintage items at Home Goods?  And which of my finds is your favorite?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Remember this little box that I picked up at the Goodwill near my mom’s house?

It’s nothing special, just a little box with a curved lid.  But I thought it would make a fun painting project.

After getting it home, I gave it a good cleaning and then got right into painting.

I painted the inside in one of Dixie Belle’s newest colors called Thicket.

Then I painted the outside of the box in another new color, Ecru.

Once dry, I sanded the edges to distress and then started adding transfers.

The black and white floral is from the I.O.D. Brocante transfer, and the color florals are from their Floral Anthology transfer.

The little bit of typography on the front of the lid is from an old re.design with prima transfer called Paris Valley.

And the “specimen no. 9” on the bottom corner is from a Tim Holtz rub-on.

Last but not least, how about those flies?  I put one on the top of the box …

and one on the front.

The flies are from one of the newer I.O.D. transfers called Wilde Bloemen.

Looking at those little flies on the box I can’t help but think of the Portrait of a Woman of the Hofer Family that was painted around 1470 by an unknown artist.  Are you familiar with it?  It belongs to the National Gallery in London.

If you look closely you’ll notice that this woman was painted with a fly on her headdress.

Not only does no one know who painted this or who the subject is, we also don’t know why she was painted with a fly on her head.  Some think that the purpose of the fly is simply to show how good the artist was at creating a very realistic painting.  Another possibility is that the fly was some sort of little trick, to make viewers attempt to shoo it away.  The subject is also holding a sprig of Forget-Me-Not’s, so perhaps the fly is symbolic.  The fly is often associated with death, so maybe this was a posthumous painting of this woman so that she would be remembered.  Again, no one really knows.

But for my part, I can imagine this woman constantly having to shoo a fly away while sitting for her portrait.   Eventually she gave a little smile and said to the artist ‘you might as well put it in the painting’ as her own little joke, and he did.

But now I wonder, why did I choose to put a pair of flies on my box?  They aren’t exactly pretty.  I do like the realistic feel they add though.  They give the box a ‘dark academia’ sort of vibe, like it belongs in a entomologist’s study.

I will admit that when I first saw those flies in the Wilde Bloemen transfer I wasn’t sure if I would ever use them, but now I kind of love what they added to this box.

What do you think?  Would you add a fly to one of your masterpieces?  And why do you think the unknown artist painted a fly on his subject’s headdress?  Leave a comment and let me know.

After the rather poor results from my garage saling and thrifting forays in Las Vegas, I had to get a fix as soon as I returned home from the trip I took out to my mom’s last week.

Luckily, I came home last Wednesday and my friend opK is always up for a little thrifting on Thursdays.  So I was able to jump right in for some good upper mid-west thrifting.

We decided to head a little further afield this time, across the border into Wisconsin.  My hairdresser had recently told me that her favorite thrift store is River Revival in Star Prairie, so we decided to check it out.

As soon as we walked in the door we knew we were in a well done thrift store.  You know they’ve taken some time with their displays when you are greeted by this sight.

How cool is that?

Their prices were really good, and they had quite a few nice pieces of furniture.  I found a few goodies to bring home.

I couldn’t resist the little blue and white creamer.  I think it will make the perfect vase for smaller flowers such as the scilla that is currently blooming in my garden.

Lily of the Valley will be pretty in it as well.

The price on these salt & pepper shakers made them too good to pass up.

For now I’ll be adding them to my own non-collection …

But to be honest, I’ve been considering pricing all of these up for my next sale and moving on.  Then again … maybe I’ll keep them 😉

I was inspired to grab the coffee cannister by Ginger Chick Rehab.

She has done quite a few fun projects with these, usually adding floral foam and then a variety of fillers like bottle brush trees, vintage ornaments, and such.  Check out her YouTube channel for more details and inspiration.

At only .99 for the tin, I knew I had to give it a whirl.  The fact that the lid was missing was a bonus, because this way I don’t have to feel guilty about removing and discarding a lid.

I also grabbed a wooden recipe box.

I’ve been keeping an eye out for these while thrifting over the winter, and I haven’t been finding any of them.  Which is a bit odd since I used to see them all the time.

This one needed just a quick repair with some glue and clamps.

Once repaired, I gave it a quick scuff sanding and after wiping it with a damp cloth, I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss.  There was a distinct possibility that the existing finish would bleed through my paint, so better safe than sorry.  The Bonding Boss will prevent that bleed thru.

I then gave it a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Cottage Door on the inside.

That was followed by a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth on the outside.

Next I decided to once again try my hand at stamping.  I pulled out the I.O.D. Ephemeral Type stamps and my VersaFine Clair ink in Pinecone and applied a stamp to the top of the box.  Then, like a complete novice, I decided it would be OK to apply transfers to the sides of the box while I waited for the ink to dry.  Of course, I then handled the top of the box without thinking and smeared the freshly stamped image.  Duh.  So, I painted back over it and tried again.  That is definitely a bonus with the stamps over transfers.  If you mess one up, you can reapply over and over if necessary.

The 2nd time around I waited for the stamp to fully dry before adding my transfers.  Dry time will depend upon your environment.  If it’s humid it will take longer.

Finally I added some florals from a three different I.O.D. transfers, Rose Botanical, Wilde Bloemen, and Catharina.

I finished it all off with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax on the outside and their flat clear coat on the inside.

Finally, I also picked up another toolbox at River Revival.

It was within my designated price range ($10 or less), so I snatched it up.  I’ve already given it a makeover, but I think I’ll save that for a separate post.

After our stop at River Revival we planned to hit up a garage sale that wasn’t too far away.  Unfortunately, we hadn’t read the fine print and after driving out to it we discovered that they weren’t going to be opening until 1 pm.  Since it was only around 11 a.m., we didn’t want to hang about for 2 hours.

So instead we headed to Acme Junk Co in Amery, Wisconsin.

I’ve popped in here a few times, and unfortunately I tend to find that their prices are a bit out of range for me.

They have some amazing dress forms …

But, at $350 or so, they are too rich for my blood.

That being said, I did find something to splurge on.

I just fell in love with that little painting in its ornate gold frame.

I thought it would be a perfect addition to the gallery wall in my q branch.

For now I’ve hung it just above my desk, but I may end up re-arranging the entire gallery to give it a place of honor.  Then again, it’s in the perfect spot for me to admire it while I sit here typing up blog posts!

These thrifting trips are just tiding me over until garage sale season starts here in Minnesota.  The big neighborhood sales start in earnest the first weekend in May, so it’s just around the corner.  Be sure to stay tuned!

I have a definite fondness for French flower buckets.

I was planning to fill this post with some interesting history about them, but these days it seems like all the internet wants to do is tell us where to buy stuff.  Have any of you noticed that?  You google something hoping to get some background info on it, and all you get are links to purchase one.

I eventually found this definition:  the phrase “French flower buckets” likely refers to the galvanized metal buckets used to transport and store flowers, which are a common sight in the European floral industry, and are sometimes associated with French floral markets.

Well, OK then.  Not terribly enlightening.  True, they are usually galvanized metal.  But they are also tall and are often tapered from top to bottom.  They also typically have handles at the top, but not always.

They also are usually round.  But I think you can still count this next one as a French flower bucket even though it is oval instead.

Although they are often just galvanized metal, sometimes they are enameled.  I have a lovely vintage yellow enameled one.

While I would never paint one of the vintage enameled buckets, I have painted quite a few of the galvanized ones over the years, usually in white.

Although I have tried other colors as well, like the Dixie Belle Dried Sage on this next one.

That brings me to the pair of French flower buckets that I thrifted recently.

The first bucket has a black rim, and I always love the contrast of the black with a warm white so I went with my standby Dixie Belle Drop Cloth on that one.

To prep it for paint I simply washed it well with some Dawn dish soap and hot water.  Then I applied two coats of the Drop Cloth.  Once dry, I sanded to distress it and after wiping away any dust, I applied one of the I.O.D. Traditional Pots transfers.

For the 2nd bucket I decided I wanted to step outside of my warm white comfort zone, so after the same prep I gave it two coats of Dixie Belle’s Apricot.

After the paint dried and I had distressed it a bit, I added one of the roses from the I.O.D. Rose Botanical transfer.

So pretty!  Perfect for spring.

By the way, I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat over both of these buckets for durability.

I don’t think I can pick a favorite, how about you?

 Both my friend opK and I are suffering from serious garage sale withdrawal.  Although there may be a handful of sales as early as April, garage sale season doesn’t really start here in Minnesota until the first weekend in May.  So we still have a ways to go.

In the meantime, we are trying to make do with thrifting even though it has been very hit or miss for us lately.  So last week we hit up a couple of local Goodwill stores as well as a Turn Style consignment store.  The prices are always a bit higher at Turn Style, but I still can usually find one or two things to buy.

Both opK and I found some fun things this time out, starting with those brass apples.

They are quite heavy and look to be genuine brass.  I have already given them a quick polish with some Brasso and will be selling them on.

I purchased these owl bookends to flip as well.

I thought they had a bit of a mid-mod vibe about them.  I tried googling to see if I could find them online, but although I found scores of mid-mod owl bookends I didn’t find this exact pair.

I thought that little faux bird cage would be nice with some succulents inside.  I happened to have some faux succulents on hand, so I decided to give it a try.

I purchased the globe simply because it was bargain priced and I just couldn’t pass it up.

 The stand is metal rather than plastic, and I always think of that as a sign of age and/or quality.

The fact that it says ‘Union of Soviet Socialist Republics’ on it tells me that it’s pre-1991 and thus definitely qualifies as vintage.

The watering can is a Smith & Hawken and in good shape.

I picked it up since this brand is known for good quality garden implements.  I haven’t decided yet whether I will keep it ‘as is’ to use in the garden (since my last vintage watering can sprung a leak), or if I’m going to paint it to be more of a decorative piece.  Decisions, decisions.

I am definitely going to paint up the French flower buckets.

And I picked up three different kinds of boxes to paint up as well.

So I’ve got some fun small projects to get working on and I plan to share the results soon.  Be sure to stay tuned!

To avoid suffering from serious garage sale withdrawal, my friend opK and I headed out to do some thrifting last week.

We stopped at a couple of Goodwill stores, where we found precisely nothing.  Why has Goodwill gotten so bad these days?  It seems like even when you do find something interesting, it’s priced too high to consider.

But we also stopped at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore and that’s where I found a windfall of toolboxes.

You may remember that back in May of last year my friend Kathy gave me an entire trunk full of metal boxes, so I decided that the collective noun for them must be ‘windfall’, you know, like a murder of crows or a school of fish.

Well, OK, this windfall of boxes wasn’t quite as big a score as that pile from Kathy, but it was pretty good for a frigid day in January.

I was quite happy to come across these because I’m down to only having smaller tackle boxes and lock boxes in my stash.  I’ve been wishing I had some larger toolboxes to work with, and now I do.

The blue one is probably in the worst shape.

It has quite a bit of rust both inside and out.  But I love the shape of it.

The Homak toolbox is in slightly better shape, and I like the metal handle (v. the plastic one on the blue toolbox).

Both of those were only $5, so right in my price range.

I generally like to pay $10 or less for my toolboxes, but I splurged on this last one at $15.

If my friend Neal is reading this post, he’s probably cringing a little inside at the thought of me painting this one.  It’s a vintage Craftsman toolbox and he says there are serious collectors of these out there.  But I will be painting it (sorry Neal).

A few of you have commented in the past that you can’t seem to find toolboxes where you are, so maybe check out a ReStore if there is one near you.

Aside from the toolboxes, I brought home just a few things from another thrift store we visited called Restored (not to be confused with the Habitat ReStore).

I grabbed this stool.

I definitely didn’t care for the 90’s country vibe, but I knew I could do something with it.  The sunflowers had to go, as did the forest green color.

After sanding off the sunflowers, and scuff sanding the rest of it, I gave it two coats of Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy.  Then I went through my transfer stash and came across an old re.design with prima transfer, back when the I.O.D. sisters were designing for them.

This transfer originally had a lined border around it, but that didn’t fit my stool quite right.  I trimmed that border off and then did just a little re-arranging of some elements so that it would fit.

Once the transfer was applied, I sanded the edges to distress and then added a coat of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta to protect the finish.

I couldn’t pass up this coat rack made from a drawer front from an old spoon carved dresser from the thrift shop either.  The price was right, the bones were good, so I just needed to give it a little bit of an update.

After removing the hooks, I scuff sanded the surface and then added two coats of Sawmill Gravy.

I went back to the old stash of transfers again and found some bits and pieces of the long retired Seeds transfer (also an old redesign with prima transfer).

This transfer hadn’t held up well in storage, so I had to discard some sections and then cobble together just the bits that were still usable.  But it worked out perfectly for this drawer front.  It always feels good to use up something that has been in the stash for a while, doesn’t it?

After applying the transfer, I added a topcoat of clear wax and then just added back two of the original 4 hooks.

Today’s q tip:  transfers deteriorate over time, especially if they are not in a sealed package.  They will dry out and either come loose from the transfer sheet (which is what happened here), or they will just become less sticky and more difficult to apply.  These older transfers came in a flimsy box rather than a tube or as a flat sheet like they do now and those boxes really allowed them to dry out.

I also purchased a handful of smaller items while thrifting over the last couple of weeks.

I’ve given most of them a makeover already.

I simply added one of the I.O.D. Traditional Pots transfers to the tall white pot.

That transfer set comes with white, black and blue transfers.  This is one of the blue ones.  I love adding the blue ones whenever I find a pot with a blue edge like this one.

The glass jar came with a kind of blah label (sorry, I didn’t get a photo of it), so I soaked it off and added a different label.

Well, technically that is not a label.  It’s from the Roycycled Label Masterboard decoupage paper.

I don’t do a lot of decoupage projects, but this paper was just too good to pass up.  Look at all of those fabulous labels.  I also put one of the labels on a bottle that I had on hand.

And then I put one on the square metal container from the thrift pile.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take into account the slightly transparent quality of the decoupage paper.  In hindsight I probably should have painted that container first.  What do you think?

The last item remaining from thrifting is this little ‘greenhouse’.

I plan to paint it, and will probably add wording of some kind to it, but first I have to deal with the broken finial (one finial is intact, one is broken off).  I need to find a replacement for that, so we’ll have to come back to that one.

Meanwhile I need to get back to my dollhouse project.  It’s taking up all of the space on my workbench (a.k.a. my baby grand piano), which makes it difficult to do other things … like paint toolboxes!

Here’s a sneak peek at the room that’s coming up next week.

So be sure to stay tuned!