The New Berry Booth!

It has definitely been a long time since I have blogged but...I have been to South Dakota, Estes Park, North Carolina and Atlanta!  Driving stinks but what was at the other end was worth it! I got to see Hillary who is 23 and her professional soccer playing husband out in NC and met lots of their adorable friends! Loved the entire trip!. Then it was down to Atlanta for auditions for the NBC show THE VOICE! Ashton who is 20 was chosen out of 3000+ vocalists to participate in the second round of auditioning...now we wait for a phone call as to when she goes to L. A. for the next round! She was so brave and this show was made for her...wish and pray!

I have been busy getting the Berry booth ready for fall shopping! I can't believe that I actually have a grapevine pumpkin with twinkle lights for sale already!! I love fall in the mountains here...the crisp in the air and the smell of cider is coming! YAY!

Cool baskets are in style for sure!

Dark distressed woods and window frames are everywhere! I love this fruit wreath! When I got it there was not as much fruit and I added some greenery and grapevine to customize it into a stunning piece. It is super heavy. Would also look great as a table centerpiece!

Shabby hutch...french lines...all the rage! Love this piece! Yes it was wood when I got it and I did the distressing and painting. Also LOVE the fruit clock that sits on the right top of the hutch.

Love the Waverly fabric on these chairs! This table has been blue with hydrangea fabric. Check out my earlier blog...didn't sell :-(  so I simply re-did it!

Love this dark brown antique door and also the custom windows. Art pieces!



Another shot of the cute fruit wreath. Also love the lamp shade...super cute floral.

All  of these pieces are thrift. I added my touch as usual. You can do it too! Everything you see in ALL of these photos came from a thrifty place...thrift stores, garage sales...super sales at stores etc.

Go out and create your own vintage look with all things thrift! XOXO the thrift addict!

Sunny day projects

I absolutely love the sunny days here in Fort Collins. It makes it so nice for drying time on painting furniture and other items. On this particular sunny day, I grabbed some garage sale pieces and spruced them up for my booth. I did some small candle holders, some wall art, a little wicker table with drawer and a buffet. The sun was so warm that it only took me a little over an hour to finish all the projects below. Here's a look...

Cute little table with shelf I picked up at a garage sale

Darling detail on drawer pull after the dry brush. Little flowers really show now.

Finished product. So cute. Sun dried it for me and I used the dry brush technique so it only took me about ten minutes!

Before...boring brown wall art. A little shabby chic and...

Just did a little dry brush of reds, greens, golds and shabby white and they turned out great! Thank you sunshine!

One of the favorite pieces I have ever done. Found this at a thrift store! Beautiful and solid.

Beautiful detailing on the hardware.

Beautiful scrolled and detailed legs. It was so solid.

First coat of linen white. The sun was so hot that I had to really hurry to paint because I didn't want drag marks. Turned out great!

Handle detailing. Was very happy with the way it turned out.

After....second coat of white and then sanding. I did a heavy distress on this. The sun dried the paint so it gave a little "peeled" finish to it. I love it!

This was a thrift store find! As always, enjoy the sunshine...wear your sunscreen and Happy Thrifting! XOXO the thrift addict

Some quickie projects!

Life gets busy for most of us doesn't it? Before we know it a week has passed and we don't seem to know where the time went. Here's a list of a few quick projects...Worked on this antique cabinet with my friend Jane...love how it turned out! Did a quick re-do on a lamp shade as well.

I love the details on these little wooden insets for the doors. So cute!

Painted with a brush on the front and then sprayed on the back. I sanded them off a little bit to shabby them up before Jane put them back in the doors.

This is the after photo although it was before Jane cleaned off the paint from the glass. We were sort of in a hurry. She had to get it into her new bigger booth at A & J Antique store!! I always love spending time with her. She is so much fun and we are a great creative team!

This next project was so much fun. I found the lamp at Goodwill and the shade was in a corner of ARC. Put them together and really enjoyed the way the finished product looked in my booth after I added some little flowers to the shade. These are so feminine and cottagey (there's that word again!)

I cut up a shirt that had the cute cut out embroidery fabric and put it together in a flower. Added an antique brass grommet and a little rhinestone for accent. Love this look! Hot glue holds the flowers on the shade. Here's another shot.

It is in my booth at A & J's between these two cute little purple chairs that I think I may have actually sold yesterday??? Here's the finished product.

Loving this look right now. Just adds such a distinct touch to a room. You can go overboard with the feminine florals in a room but I like to sprinkle a few. Then it is more of a surprise to the eye!

Happy Thrifting! XOXO the thrift addict.

Seeing Green!

With all of the rain in Ft. Collins that we have had lately, we have been wondering if we would ever see the sun again. Well...out it came and made my painting projects dry in a jiff!! So glad to have cool temps and warm sun to speed my projects along. Here is a little project I did over the weekend. Solid wood chest with dovetail drawers. HEAVY piece! I thought about doing just a plain shabby chic "creamy white" but decided to punch it with some of the green I had picked up at the dump. A gorgeous spring green. I think I must have been influenced by all of the beautiful green the rain has produced. Take a look at the before.

The top of the chest had some rings on it and scratches so I sanded a bit with a medium grit to smooth things out. Some of the drawer pulls were off so I had to put them back on and tighten others. No big deal. The only problem with this piece whatsoever is just it's weight! It is so heavy that I had trouble moving it around. I put two coats of green paint on it. Painted over the hinges as well. Here's what it looked like along the way.

First coat of green paint was easy. Painted directly over the wood. Applied it directly over the drawer pulls...check out the next photo.

The paint is a gorgeous deep sage green. It looke white in this photo for some reason but it's not.

After both coats were dry, I used 3X sand paper to distress the drawers, top and sides of chest. I did this with what I call a random distress technique. It puts distressed areas on the piece, not just around the edges. You have to use an artful eye and place the sanded areas so they don't end up in a pattern.

A photo of the top of the dresser so you can see how the distressing is placed.

I finished the chest with a coat of polycrylic. Beautiful. Take another look at the before and after.

Total project time with the sun's help just under 2 hours. I purchased this throw away at Goodwill. Solid pine chest with dovetail construction and in great shape with all the drawers working. Look at it now. It is in my booth for $195.00 Happy Thrifting! XOXO the thrift addict.

Parsimony Market & Luciana!

Hey guys...sorry to keep you waiting on new projects...but I have been super busy working on a business venture and the big news is ... I am finally getting a puppy! I am road tripping to Idaho tomorrow with Ashton to pick her up. She is a French Bulldog that we named "Luciana." We are going to call her Luci for short. She is adorable and this is fullfilling a dream of mine that I have had for several years now to have a Frenchie. I am so anxious to bring her home. Here is a picture of her.

The breeder sent me a video of her yesterday playing with her sister. She is lively and just so chubby and cute. She is going to get along wonderfully with our little Boston Terrier "Pickle."

The business venture I have been working on is launching soon. I opened an Etsy store called "Parsimony Market." The definition of Parsimony is "extreme frugality." Let's face it...if you are reading this then you are someone who exhibits the trait of parsimony!! I am opening up my vintage world to the public in two ways. You can click the link on my page to visit my store. I only have about 15 items left as I have already sold some things...YAY! Will be placing more items this afternoon. The other way I will offer my items is still a "secret" of sorts until I launch. Until then...go out and find some cool stuff and happy thrifting! XOXO...the thrift addict

Little red chest and a darling wicker love seat

I absolutely LOVE wicker love seats. The one I found had really great bones but not a lot to "say" to the world. Wicker is sort of hard to paint. If you use a brush then sometimes the actual "fabric" of the wicker gets lost in globby paint. If you spray the wicker it tends to lose some of it's character. I have done both and sold both, so it's a personal choice. When I can, I use a dry brush technique. If you look at older posts, you will see that dry brushing is picking up paint on just the end of your brush and then sort of brushing it over your canvas dropcloth or towel until there is still color but not a super wet application. Then you just brush it over your project to give color but not cover. In the case of this little love seat, I did a dry brush of sage green and then added elements of denim blue over it. The brown of the wicker came through beautifully to add to the charm of the piece. Here is the before and after.

This is how I found the piece. Purchased off of craigslist and in really great shape. Sturdy with only the tiniest bit of wicker damaged on the front.

Here is how it sits in the booth at A & J's right now. The denim touches can best be seen on the top left side of the back of the piece. I bought some Waverly red striped fabric from another dealer and recovered the cushion and then added some beautiful red floral pillows to complete the look. Really having a hard time parting with this one!
The next project was a little brown chest of drawers that I picked up at a thrift store. I painted it a tuscan red. I just love that color and I am best known around the antique mall for it. Here is the before photo.

Not much to look at but it is solid wood and the drawers are all in tact and open properly. This little chest just wanted to be more. I used two coats of tuscan red Americana paint and then rubbed a stain mixture of raw umber and water over it just to age it a bit. Distressed the corners and edges and here is the after.

Super cute and in the booth at A & J's waiting for a new home!

Happy Thrifting! XOXO the thrift addict

Antique Window turns eclectic artpiece

Lots of people have done creative things with antique windows, so I am not re-inventing the wheel here, just showing you my particular twist on it. My friend Sheila showed me this antique window with panes missing and asked if I was interested in it. She gave me a great price on it and I set out for my adventure.

I am new at this, so I will show you a couple of projects that were fun and easy to do. I love that vintage..."I've been somewhere and have a story to tell," look when it comes to wall art. I have always had a problem with store bought art because being an artist, you just never capture the true essence of the artist's brush, so my walls are sprinkled with photos of my family and friends and original art by me. A true eclectic mix of things that I love and an expression of myself. I will never have a room in "Elle Decor" or "Verdana" magazines but our home expresses our family's love for color and our laid back lifestyle. Here are two examples of re-created vintage windows. I had so much fun doing these that I am sure there will be more to come in the future. I am not sure why  both of them have heart themes. I get an image stuck in my head sometimes. I have some future pieces planned with flying clocks, arrows, alphabet letters and birds. For now...hearts LOL!!!

This window was my first effort. I may go back and add some cool elements to it now that I am feeling a bit more confident, but this is how it hangs on the wall now.

I got this piece of garden edging from a friend's trash can. I forbid her to throw it out. LOL! Look at how it is still usable to make a cute statement on this piece. Soooo not trash!

The scrolly piece of metal at the top was given to me in exchange for painting for a friend of mine. She gave me four pieces. Two short and two long...this is one of the shorter pieces. It fit perfectly at the top!

Old wooden heart that I had in my garage. Painted and everything. I ran some rusted wire through some holes that were in it and made it a cute hanger. Added a screw to the window frame and voila!

Notice how cute the little latch is on the right hand side of the window. Love it! The buttery yellow walls come through as well to make this a cute piece. I left the window frame as I found it with a little bit of brownish red paint still showing at the top.

Here is the second project. You can tell I got a lot bolder with this one. I drew it out first on a piece of paper. I wanted a winged heart from the beginning so this piece had a little more intention than the first one.

Found the perfect pre-cut heart at Michael's Craft Store. Painted it Tuscan red and then dabbed with my palm some of the creamy yellow I painted on the re-cycled corrugated cardboard wings. Also found a piece of beaded board paneling in the garage and painted it sage green. Dabbed some yellow on it as well.

Added detail to the wings with some black spray paint and dry brush in denim then sanded them a tiny bit for distress.

Added some rusted wire and a mother of pearl accent that was in my trinket box from a broken necklace for detail.

Used a metal scrolly piece to add the "stencil" effect. Laid it on the frame and then sprayed black spray paint over it. The brown peg board was a scrap that I had in the garage. NOTHING is trash!!!!!! I am not a pack rat, but some things I don't let go of knowing that they will have a future purpose in life!!!

Thanks to my friend Sheila for chatting with me about my plans for windows. She had some great ideas that she followed through on and I am excited to say that I have a new art adventure to pursue now.

I am working on several more window projects and plan on showing them at an upcoming open air market next month!!! One of a kind art pieces. Possibly also offering them in my Etsy store I am about to open (30 days) and of course selling them at A & J Antique Mall...one of my favorite places on earth!

Happy Thrifting XOXO...the thrift addict

From drab to GoRGeOus!!!

Started stalking this hutch at a local Thrift Store about a month ago. They had a big sale where it was marked 25% off but I didn't have the cash available to purchase it at the time. That is one area of improvement I need to work on in my thrifting. To be a true addict you must pursue your addiction and sometimes I sort of just fall into it...LOL! Not an overachieving addict I must say, but nonetheless...still got a great deal on it. I sold a large piece in my booth and due to other responsibilities in my life, husband, kids etc....I didn't have another large piece ready so I had to pull my gorgeous red hutch from my entry hall at home to put in my booth to fill the space. That meant that I needed something to replace it. Long story...I went back to the Thrift Store and there my treasure still sat. I went to the counter and made an offer (25% off) and they took it! Brought it home and let it sit for about a week because I just couldn't decide on a color. The screen in the front threw me off. I love this piece. So different and cute. Curved legs, beautiful architecture and fittings but not right in it's original wood finish. Here is what I did.

It is a great piece with good "bones"

There is no glass behind this screen. It is just a screened in cabinet. It has very french styling. That is why I painted it a shabby chic white.

Gorgeous antique brass fittings.

Two coats of flat white paint. Mine is actually called "eggshell white" It is not stark, but not yellowed. Just a nice neutral white.

Two coats, let dry then use 3X sandpaper to distress edges and hardware. Didn't want to use a gripper base on this to kill out old finish because I wanted the old wood finish to come through after the distressing.

You can see the wood finish in tact under the sanded off finish.

So much more character when painted.

Cute carved feet can be seen and appreciated so much more now that you can see the architecture come out.

HERE IS THE AFTER!!! I am so happy with how it turned out. It is just gorgeous. I love it!!!

I found this piece for a good price. If it ends up in the booth, It will retail for $495-$595 which is still an amazing price for a solid wood, well built piece with such intricate carving and interesting architecture.

Happy Thrifting! XOXO the thrift addict.