Show and Tell Friday

I have soooo been waiting all week to show you this little beauty I picked up on Craigslist for 75 bucks! I thought it was a really great deal when i saw a photo of it. But seeing it in person was just another thing. This solid oak desk exceeded all my expectations. It is basically mint condition and just glows with beauty. You might be thinking that I am going to paint it. No way. Not yet any way. I would like to enjoy it on its own beauty for a while. I am showing this for Show and Tell Friday, cause I got such a great darn deal on such a BEAUTY!! YIPPEEEE!!!!!!

A new Singer.....

Today I went to get my slightly used Singer Sewing Machine that I found on Craigslist-50.00 bucks! I am SOOO excited to start learning and sewing! My plan is to make some nice pillows and eventually make chair pads for a set of chairs I have found at a yard sale and more! My plan is to paint those chairs on Friday and then at some point make those chair pads. Think I can go from a non sewer to a sewer in a week? Well, maybe thats a bit soon, since I need to find the fabric and all, but I am thrilled at the excitement of it all!

........Oh Tuesday

I was just on The Romantic Homes Blog spot and I just LOVE that Vintage and Vogue Shop. I would LOVE to decorate my little booth that way, and I must say that it is coming along nicely after our expansion. I will show some photos!
Last night I finally finished my little $5.00 garage sale desk. I wish I would have taken a photo before and I wish I would have opened the top, cause the inside is the best part. But At least you can see the outside! Tonight for diner I am doing Chipotle Bowls. SO easy! Ground Beef with little chili powder, garlic onion and cummin, can of black beans, Can of Chopped Tomatoes or salsa, Rice(i like Jasmine)(with a Sprinkling of Cilantro in the cooked rice), Sour Cream,Cheese and Lettuce. Layer it horizontally in a bowl. YUMMY! or you can wrap in a tortilla. My family just LOVEs Chipolte Night! Low fat, low cals, high protein and vegys.

Here are a few closeup photos of my booth:

Lamp was 1.00 yard sale find, Mirror: Goodwill 6.00, then i painted it.

Bench was a 15.00 Yard sale find, i painted it/Pillows 4 bucks for all- yard sale

4.00 yard sale find

60 dollar Craigslist find, then I painted it.

Love this little dog feeder, my dad and I cut the holes. 8 buck yard sale, only had to cut the holes!

This was a 5.00 yard sale find and I painted it.

flowers on top 1.00 yard sale find.

It was dusk when i took this, but Its my 5.00 desk yard sale find. Then i painted it of course.

Lots Done Today -with photos to boot this time!

What a DAY! I just love Sunday! I know that dreaded Monday IS just around the corner, and it a school night and all of that jazz, but I get so much joy out of a Sunday! Whats that Song? Manic Monday? ...Wish it was Sunday..'.cause that's my fun day...
After morning coffee, and a big home cooked breakfast. My daughter that is 6 and could eat you out of house and home, and remains looking like a perfectly sculptured gymnast, requests, or rather demands Big breakfasts Sundays. Now don't get me wrong, I don't go through a ton of work, but Pancakes and Turkey Bacon, OJ, Toast. Occasional Hash Browns make their way in. I am not huge on cooking and that may sound like a small breakfast, but its the main one I physically make all week that takes more than 1 minute in the microwave. Other than that its cold cereal or frozen waffles. Which is not half bad really.

ANYWAY!..... Wile hubby was watching the football games today, I was painting! By the way, HOW does one person sit from noon, until literally 10:49pm at night and watch Football? I don't mean the game, I know that's important, but HOW do you just lay on the couch and not move? Thats like a darn near 10 hour car ride. Don't you need to stretch or move your muscles,-I mean get off the couch MAN! LOL!

Photos please:

I have been wanting to take a stab at learning how to recover things. SO this was my first VICTIM!!! DON DON DA!!! Staple gun in hand WATCH out! This was a freebie from my mother and was in our booth for a month with no takers...A few staples and A bit of white paint later....

Didn't this come out -to die for?? LOVE LOVE IT!!!! Guess what...It sold within an hour of taking it to my booth! The other way it was before, it was there for a month, I just pulled it out of my booth so that I could test drive the staple gun with fabric!

I got this little cutie at an estate sale for 30 bucks! I thought it was such a cute find for the money! I was a woman on a mission with the staple gun today, and did not even think to try to recover this, until I walked by it while jumping and cheering about my stool to my husband this morning. Well, a few staples later.....

Presto...Sold within an hour of taking it to my booth!!! I am soo proud! Hated to part with these.

Last BUT not least! My $25.00 yard sale rug from yesterday. I priced a similar one online.... $191.00 on sale!!!

*note: The blue Flower Fabric I used was bought at a Yard Sale for $1.50 for about one yard and a half.

A BUSY day!

I know that you are probably just dying to see all the great stuff I got today yard Saleing! BUT, I have to tell you that I have been working SO hard all day! We have expanded our booth at the WONDERFUL antiques mall that I love and I have been working so HARD on it! I will be BACK up there tomorrow with my camera to take photos of stuff we have gotten today AND other things I have been working on! Today was a good day. Not the best in Yard Sale terms. HOWEVER, I did get a FABULOUS and I mean FABULOUS Oriental rug. Circular-and you know those are expensive, scalloped on the edges, and great thickness in a cream, sea foam green and Burgundy. For -25 bucks! The lady NEVER used it! Would not fit in her room! It is gorgeous! I will try to take photos of that as well tomorrow. I am just too tired right now and, you will start to find that I am actually the original -Wonder Woman, my favorite cartoon character growing up. I had the wrist bands, albums and ALL. The only thing I lack these days is the actual ability to fit into that costume from childhood. So, I just have to make believe in my head. HA! When I got home from a 3 hour stage fest at the antiques mall with my parents, I had to load dishes in the washer, start Chicken and Stove Top bake, and then FALL onto the couch. Oh forget to also tell you that AFTER yard sales, I attended the Fall Festival with my hubby and children for a few hours at the school! See...I am the original Wonder Woman! :)

My first Show and Tell Friday

This is my first Show and Tell Friday and I am most giddy to be participating. I have been following Cindy's blog for quite some time and feel like I am among the Stars to be able to actually participate with the ranks of the most finest bloggers on the net!!
I am up way too late right now at 9:54pm, getting this in just under the wire. I NEED to get in bed for Yard Saleing tomorrow!! But I wanted to participate this Friday!
I have chosen on of my first items that I painted this summer. It once was a horribly, rusty(in a bad way) looking garden birdcage. While I was at my mothers house this summer, I plucked it out of the yard and gave it a whole new look. It was my first experience with Decoupage and I had a great time making over this "yard" find! cost: Scrapbook paper: (book on sale for $4.95-so lots for later) Decoupage $3.99-(again-lots more for another project!) Birdhouse: free

My Office Makeover under $500-$300 ha! Less....

About a week had gone by and I was in lull. I remember 4 weeks ago, Sunday morning, I was looking for something to do and around 11 in the morning, I started looking at a Romantic Homes Magazine. Low and behold there it was. The office makeover I had been looking for! I ran down and spoke with my husband briefly, showing him the photo and what I intended to do with my office, that actually takes the space of the dining room in our home. He ok'd it soon enough and I was on my way! 5 miles down the road, about 2 hours later, I paid a visit to Home Depot that afternoon and made a nice purchase on a gallon of paint. You will see the before and afters here. Although, it is still a work in progress, I could not resist showing you!

This was the enormous masculine desk I had in there before. If you look hard you can see the walls were a mustard color and my furniture was painted black. Desk sold on craiglsit in 3 days, $100.00.
Ok, So finishing the white walls on approximately a Gallon of Off White(cant remember the name right off) Behr Paint in Eggshell from Home Depot: approximately $25.00This was a gorgeous Craigslist Find for $75 BUCKS! I love it!! Course I painted it! Although it was beautiful as it was.



So.....tallying what i spent. from above. The rug was a garage sale find that my mother gave me, The large antique buffet was already in the office and was black-free, the corner hutch was there as well and was black-painted it white-basically free. The chair at my desk was a $10.00 yard sale find, I pulled other odd and ends around my house to decorate for Halloween. The armorer was a $15.00 yard sale find. The lamp on the armorer, and the curtains that decorate the windows, the tops of the furniture and the bow on the bird cage and the bird cage itself came from my mothers attic! The little cottage chair was an estate sale find at $30.00 and the little table was a 5.00 yard sale find. The white chair with the orange seat is actually going to my booth, but was also a $5.00 yard sale find!
photos were $25.00 each at an estate sale of the birds, and the vase with the sticks coming out of it was $2.00. It has birds on it too.

Total for office redo: $374.00 approximately MINUS $100 for my craigslist desk= $274.00 BUCKS! Hows that for a makeover!

Welcome to the birth of The Yard Sale Posse

My whole life my mother has been decorating our family home and my life with yard sale finds. In fact, growing up in upstate NY, one could find a "Garage Sale", as we northerners call them, every Thursday, Friday , Saturday and Sunday! Heaven and Junk 4 out of 7 days per week! I didn't get it then.
As I married and got my own home, my mother continued to truck in the "junk". As a matter of fact, if i asked my mother for lets say a fan on Friday, she would bring back four of them in various sizes and styles by Monday!
Now, living in Virginia, the weather is warm and the seasons mild for the most part. Great for yard sales every weekend, and for some reason, Saturday in the capital of the south, is the chief day for yard sales. About a year ago, I painted my first few pieces of furniture to"makeover" a few yard sale finds that my mother brought over. A $5.00 side table, a crusty old fish tank holder my son had in his room previously-$2.00, and a free TV stand that my Mother -In- Law had given us. My decent cherry bedroom furniture was horribly mismatched and crying for help.
So I took the plunge. Many of my neighbors thought I was very brave. Are they crazy? Brave? Did they not see the pieces before?! A junk yard might have been a better suited match for my pieces of furniture. I was actually brave to have had them in there in the first place!
I got rave reviews. As my neighbors friends beheld beautiful redos in a Sliced Cucumber color, I realized that I enjoyed the painting and I seemed to be good at it! I was very proud! And, I was on to something. Something that many books have been written about, something that has been so popular in the Shabby Chic world, which i had not previously cared to venture into. Now came full into my view. I could paint, I could Shabby, and I could....!
6 months later I found my self with my mother, opening our first booth at an antiques mall in the country. Some of the most beautiful painted furniture exists at this mall, and the owner, well, her shop looks like it came straight out of Shabby Chic Disney World. I am always amazed, and try to learn as I go.
Enter... Yard Sale Posse. 6 am Saturday mornings consist of the most precious hours of the week for me, besides family diner together with my husband and two children, which i adore-I think we are one of the last families that do this, five days per week, is Yard Sale Time! Bring in Craigslist weekly, and I am almost ready to talk "Posse".
So, my crazy Aunt, and I mean in a Ringling Brothers circus when you were like 6 crazy fun, just moved to town. She, paired with my father, the other half of the family craziness in a way that is hard to explain unless you see it, bring about a a hysterically funny Saturday morning of Yard Sales with my Mother and I. Thus the Posse, is born.
My aunt, who is a yard sale and antique guru, my father who has tagged along with my mother for years are the real deal. Myself, well, I am the former beauty queen, turned hobby painter, turned hobby booth owner, and happy to be learning form the Posse elders.
I hope you will follow me on our blog and twitter soon. I will post photos of before and afters, and show you how to turn a dime into a cool decorating peice or a $1.00 into something totally chic, and we will just have a barrel full of fun!