A fun and funky St. Patrick's day party!

Just a quick blog today. I have so much planned for next week. I will share with you some of my upscale yard sale ideas as well. I started putting things out today and have already sold over $300 just to the neighbors and some friends. That is tomorrow. For now...St. Patrick's day in a jif. My husband (Rick) called me yesterday morning and told me that the place to shop for St. Patty's day food was Safeway. He texted me a quick shopping list and then said to invite some friends over! Impromptu party later. Here is what we did. We had our friends Wendy and Todd over and their son who is my youngest son Kieran's best friend and then after work their daughter dropped by and after some serious hot tubbing with my 19 year old Ashton, I think they finally wrapped up about 2:00 A.M. Oh....... to be so young again!!! Anyway, I didn't panic, rather thought of all of the green things that I could pull together to set a theme. The following photos are what happened. My first attempt at corned beef and cabbage ended up pretty good. Throw out some Guiness light brew and some carrot cake, store bought soda bread for the meal and some smoked salmon and various yummy Irish cheeses and you have a gourmet meal for your friends. I also brewed up some lemonade with floating fruit in these cute little vintage pitchers I scored for $3.99 each at Goodwill and we had a great time! Here goes...

Vintage table cloth I already had. Goodwill $3.99. 4 green placemats I scored from ARC for $2.00 total for centerpiece. The apples I got from ARC for $1.99 for all three stems and the clock face I already had. The cake was on sale at Safeway and the cake platter I stole from my candle centerpiece off of my coffee table. I had bought it thrift late last year.

Close up of centerpiece.

Corned beef, cabbage, red potatoes and carrots

Todd and Rick enjoying the Irish beer!

Frosted mugs for the beer!

Kieran Sara and Tristan sharing an Irish hug!

I love this vintage looking apron I got at TJMaxx for $9. ...Oh yes I AM a Maxxinista!

Remember that I only had about 6 hours to pull together this little gathering. It all came together so well and we had a wonderful time with our friends Todd and Wendy!

Anyone can do this. Just look around your house for items that are green! It can be anything from a houseplant to a placemat or napkin to a green glass. Anything works! Happy Thrifting! XOXO...the thrift addict.

Some fun and thrifty ideas for your place!

I love to find interesting things at the thrift store and use them for an entirely different purpose than what you would think. Here are several ideas that you can expand upon. I found these cute little candle rings at Goodwill for $6 total. It looked like they were once for valentine's day with the cute pink and red. They were in perfect shape and I love how the ivy and the flowers play against each other. Perfect for my front door...Look what I did with them. I think they look very cute and give a sort of topiary feel to the front door instead of the traditional wreath. Since one was smaller than the other one, this worked out perfectly! I used some ribbon to tie the two together and hang one from the other. What do you think?

I love spring! I like to pretend it's coming early every year. Just about the time change, I start to get spring fever and I get the urge to start planting flowers. It would be way too early to plant anything outside just yet so I will grab some greenery or a small house plant and add it to the kitchen area. This year, I couldn't resist the little purple red and yellow primrose that I saw at Home Depot. It was sunny outside and I wanted to bring some color and life into the kitchen so I grabbed three of them. I had a red, vintage looking planter that would work just great to transplant them. I followed the planting directions and it looked great! I wanted to give it some height on my counter so I grabbed a pair of (yes thrift) candle sticks that I had in a closet and made a cute little plant stand. I think it looks cute!

Here is a little quick before and after chair that I did a while back. It was cute, sturdy and comfortable but I didn't care for the fabric. I bought some Hobby Lobby discontinued fabric at $4.99 per yard. It was originally $26 per yard. It takes about 6 yards to do a small chair like this one. I bought 7 because I wanted to have extra in case I needed to repair something or cut it wrong. Since it was discontinued I wasn't sure if I went back there would be any left. I used staples and fabric glue on the base of the chair. For the cushion, I sewed the underside. I'm not much of a seamstress so glue and basic stitches are the best I can do. I love the way it turned out. Here are the before and after photos:

There are always great ways to make something work if you really want it in your home and the piece has good "bones." This was one of those finds. I didn't know how to recover a chair but I just sort of looked under it and saw how the original fabric was put on the chair and figured it out. Happy Thrifting! XOXO  the thrift addict.

Another look at that buffet!

Here is the photo of the buffet with all of it's goodies. I picked up the two antique windows at A & J's Antique store with my friend Wendy. I originally bought them to put in the living room but they didn't fit the mood. I love the panes of glass. This decorating project is not complete just yet. I have my eye on a huge french market clock to hang in the center of those windows. It is aged and beautiful. It is from Pier1 and since I work there I get a 25% discount. I am waiting for the clock to go on sale so I get double the discount and then the buffet project will really be finished, but I wanted to show you how cool the dishes (bought the entire set for $12 at Goodwill) look. They are Williams Sonoma. I don't know the retail value but I would assume each plate probably cost around $7-$10 each. I scored a service for 8 with matching mugs and all. The mugs are in a hutch in the living room. The basket was a find from last week's thrifting. It was $2.99. The other pieces were also thrift. I have to be honest. The only thing on the buffet that isn't thrift is the large silver tray at the bottom. Back in the day when I could afford to pay retail (I think it was before children...LOL) I picked up this Arthur Court platter and a glass and silver salad bowl. They are beautiful and have lasted all these years. Our oldest is 26, so it was definitely a good investment. The martinin glasses were new from pier 1 also, but remember, I get a 25% discount on all purchases so I still consider them thrift. You can find wonderful bar ware in thrift stores. I found a 12 piece glass set that was originally from Pier 1. The glasses were $4 each new. I paid 49 cents apiece at Goodwill. They are just small beverage glasses. In the day, my Dad would haved called them a "highball" glass. They are stored in the buffet cabinets. The darling little bird salt and pepper shakers were given to me by my boys as a Christmas gift last year. I absolutely love them. The big glass containers were given to my by Taylor, my oldest. It is our goal to celebrate with friends so much this year that the jar on the left is filled with wine corks from those celebrations. When we go cheap and buy boxed wine or the screw off top, I will just throw in a cork from a bag of plain corks I bought from Hobby Lobby. I will take a sharpie and write the date and the people and the type of wine. It will be a time capsule of sorts. This project literally started with a little tray that I bought at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. I started and finished the buffet within a 26 hour period and I didn't work non-stop on it. Life happened in between. Here is that buffet in full use. I am going to double post today because I found a steal at the thrift stores on Saturday and I am going to re-do them and create so when I am done with that project today, I will do another post. Good luck on your thrifting adventures! XOXO the thrift addict.

Remember those drawers in the original piece. I needed cabinet type space and this is how I am using it.

These are solid silver candle sticks with the Pottery Barn label still on them. I found them at ARC for $4.99 for the pair.

I am using this basket to organize serving items. All of the glass and serving pieces are from thrift stores. I love the way that the glass ties in the glass on the window panes.

I love birds. I even have a pair of zebra finches that I keep in my art studio. My boys Tristan and Kieran, gave me these for Christmas 2009. I love them. They look happy!

This is our time capusle of good times with friends and family. We only just started it around Thanksgiving last year. I didn't have the glass containers yet. I got them from Taylor as a Christmas gift. I had the old corks in a drawer.

I wanted more glass for a statement so I grabbed another jar at Goodwill that matched the one Taylor gave me. I am planning on putting seasonal type items in it. Topiaries for spring, Shiny fake fruit for summer, Big dried sunflowers for fall, pumpkin for Halloween, Christmas ornaments...you get the picture.

This is the silver tray and serving piece display I have inside the cabinet I made. I love how the green marble pulls the greenish tint of the buffet out.

Williams Sonoma dishes...entire set from Goodwill just at $12

You can't find these exact blocks anymore because the company is no longer in business...but they are part of a set of 16 blocks that spell out dozens of sayings...from Happy New Year to Merry Christmas and beyond. I have had them for 23 years. You can find similar sets if you google "wooden word block sets"

HAPPY THRIFTING!

These before and after photos are amazing!!

This is the before photo of a buffet that I picked up on craigslist for $100. It is SOLID pine and took three of us to move it. All of the drawers and cabinets are in perfect working condition and it was love at first sight! It is just over 6 feet long and although the finish was in pristine condition, I had a plan.

Befor I show you the after, I want to explain what I did. The little tray in the photo below was my inspiration for the color on the buffet. I wanted something that look sort of old world and emulated a feeling of history. The pine was too western looking for me so I found this little tray and fell in love.

I love this patina. It looks aged to me. Interesting choice since I don't usually incorporate blue into my decorating colors. But I was just drawn to this.

I usually start a piece by just digging in but I took my time on this one because I wasn't quite sure how to create that sort of blue patina finish or what colors were going to work so I started on a drawer. I based it in a robin's egg blue. Notice how the hutch had naturally aged to a lighter finish. You can see the original finish was much darker under the hardware that I took off. Just a creative note...I don't base paint my pieces that I distress because when you go back for sanding sometimes you can't get back to the original wood and then you have white or grey showing through. I just started painting this one without an undercoat.

I then took a denim blue and did what I call a dry coat over it. Just take a dry paint brush and dip it in to the new color and start painting.

I used sort of a limey green color to add texture. I also used dry brush technique on this one.

Then I made a very thin mixture of a deep army greenish/brown color and painted it on with a brush and then wiped away the excess to give it a warm finish. Just wait to see what I did next!

After I knew I was going to like the color, I decided to make a huge change to the architecture of the piece. I was not going to have a hutch in our dining room because of the lack of available wall space so this buffet was going to have to hold a lot of dishes and the side cabinets were not going to provide ample space, so I jumped right in and knocked out the drawer support that held the third drawer down. This also opened up the space where the bottom drawer had been. It wasn't hard. I just started beating on the supports with a hammer and they came loose fairly easily. I had to take the back of the buffet off in order to reach the back side of the supports. It was held by staples so that was pretty simple as well. I used a hammer to loosen it from the back. I then measured for a shelf bottom to put along the drawer support at the very bottom of the piece and also to put in a new back on the shelf opening I had just created.

I went to Home Depot and picked out some unfinished beaded board paneling. They cut two pieces my dimensions and I screwed them in when I got home. For a second I thought I might just leave it natural or paint it off white, but I didn't want a country look so I decided to stain the paneling instead. My dishes are white and off white so they would show better against them anyway. Here is result.

This was after the first coat of stain. I used a darker stain to "antique" the inside applying it heavier in the corners and along the edges. In the final photo you can see what it turned out like. I looked at Home Depot for new pulls for the drawers and cabinets but I couldn't find any that exactly matched the holes where the old ones were and since I'm lazy...yes I said it...I decided to just put a new finish on the ones that came with the piece. I painted them a bronzy color with some gold flecks. They turned out nicely. Are you ready...Here is the finished piece!

Voila! A new piece of furniture that functions well for our dining room. It looks like it's been around the world a couple of times and has so much character. To finish the piece, I used a satin Polycrylic all over just to give it a nice finished look. I kept the original wood top because it was in great shape and to paint it would have changed the character that I was trying to accomplish. I love this buffet. I will post some photos in tomorrow's blog of my dishes and things in it. I wanted it to get a good drying time before I did that. I started this project yesterday afternoon at about 2:00 and finished even with errands, kids, cooking, working and life today at around 3:45. Anyone can do this. It's not hard. Cost of the project with paint and buffet was $154.50. The most expensive part except for the buffet itself at $100 was the beaded board paneling. I also purchased paint and stain. If I were to put this in my booth, I would price it around $1200. To me it is priceless! 

I have a story about our dining room table as well. It was thrift...of course and I haven't found chairs for it yet so I can't show you the entire room, but soon...Keep on looking for those great deals!

XOXO the thrift addict.

Let's check out those before and after pics closer together!

Breakfast room Bliss

Our round breakfast table has been a favorite place for our family to gather for about a year. I found it at the antique store where I have my booth. It was $375 for the table and six chairs. They are french country styling with a warm vanilla patina. The seats are rush woven and it is all counter height. I was working on Taylor's booth at A & J's when I spied it. The table had arrived only an hour before I got there and it was screaming "This is a Grant table!" from the next booth over. I fell in love and put it in layaway...(we were paying for Hillary's wedding at the time.) So much love and so many Grant family breakfasts , lunch and dinners have been served at this table. I love the drawer at the bottom for storage of linens. The little doggies love the shelf because it helps them crawl into their "mother's" laps at dinner time and when we have a crowd...all 8 of us when Chris and Hillary are here, I pull in the little counter stools that are behind the couch. I mentioned them in a past blog. I got them for $10 each on craigslist. It seats all of us comfortably.

The room is not finished yet. It is a cutout design just off the kitchen with lots of morning sun which we love. I am still searching for just the right art pieces or iron, old signage maybe to complete the look around those windows. I am also looking for just the right round rug for underneath it just to warm the room and give it some definition and color. The centerpiece came from an old clock face that had broken over our many moves that I originally purchased at my sister in law's store in Telluride. It works beautifully with the shape and size of the table as a centerpiece base.  Rick has threatened to put a lazy susan bottom on it to make it more functional...MEN??? Right now the centerpiece I am using is a garden finial I purchased at ARC for $4.99 I am hoping that if I sprinkle enough garden elements around the house that spring will come early! Don't forget to spring forward this weekend! Too bad we will lose an hour of thrifting pleasure but it will stay light later so that we can spend more time with our families outside as the weather warms up and enjoy our finds. The MSRP on the table was $1598!

Tomorrow I am going to share in my blog the how to's of  re-finishing an almost 7 foot solid pine buffet I came across on Craigslist. it was a steal at $150...there is a story behind it and I am going to use it in my dining room when I am finished with it...keep up that great thrifting! XOXO The thrift addict.

A fun day at the thrift stores

On Saturday, my oldest daughter Taylor and I went thrifting together. We absolutely love it. We can stay side by side and admire things together or go our separate ways and show each other our finds once we are through looking. Either way, we enjoy each other's company very much and always have such a great time. I will show you some of the items that we found while on our trip in a later blog when I reveal my formal living area. It is in progress and I don't want to let you peak before it's all done. Taylor and I spent the entire day together Saturday until our eyes were literally bugging out! We didn't make it to three thrift stores in town that I really wanted to visit, so I went yesterday for a quick trip through and found some really cool stuff. The pictures below will tell the story. Since we just moved into our new house, I am busy furnishing it so everything that I see, I want to keep. Unfortunately I can't do that since I run a booth at a local antique mall called A & J's. I have to find wonderful things, love them and let them go to be re-sold in the booth. Thrifting is fun but it's also my job! Never did I think that I would become a professional "thrifter" but here I am today having the time of my life! I have captioned the photos so that you can see the absolutely wonderful things you can purchase thrift. My trips yesterday were to Goodwill and ARC thrift store. The most amazing find is at the very bottom of the blog.

Cutest little flower and bee frame 49 cents

Love this little pillow $1.99

Cool wire basket $2.99

Little garden kitty $2.99 Original price sticker was still on it. Hobby Lobby $19.99

Four adorable spring colored madras placemats. Mint condition $4.00

The coolest vintage clock $6.99. Has woodgrain 3" framing. Very Pottery Barn

Sorry for the blurry photo. This is a vintage solid silver floor lamp. Don't know how long ago it dates back to but I picked it up for $14.99. The following photos show a little of it's detailing. Very cool.

Very shabby chic with the marks on the silver. I didn't dare clean it up. Electricity works very well too!

Four of the most adorable vintage dessert plates. These were hard to let go of since I am having an old time BBQ housewarming party in June. I am using vintage oilcloth table cloths, vintage plates and tea cups etc. I paid 49 cents a piece for these.

The most adorable iron leafy lamp you will ever see. It had a different shade on it so I switched it (totally allowed) and added a muslin flower to it. Super girly and vintage looking. Paid $2.99 total.

I can't resist a vintage floral pillow. I found two matching for $1.99 each. So cute and in great condition!

Great floorcloth in super condition. Spring greens and creams. Not a stain on it! $2.99

I couldn't pass up this little Special day plate. Someone will snatch it up at the booth! 50 cents!

And now the crown jewel of my finds from yesterday! Something drew me into the old book section. I am trying to fill an antique china hutch I just picked up off craigslist and I have a collection of old Bibles that I am trying to add to so maybe I had that in the back of my mind. Anyway, I picked up this little red book of prayers called "Daily Strengths for Daily Needs." I googled it and it has been reproduced over 6 million times! Anyway, before I got to the checkout, I opened the pages and look what I found...Check out the publishing date!

I knew I had discovered something wonderful! I love the book. The bible verses are in old english and the advice is written in such a way that it has to be read twice to actually understand what the writer was saying. I am sure it is worth more than the $3.99 I paid for it. I am going to talk to someone at the antique store today and see what they think. I am going to keep it not sell, but it will be interesting to find out how much it's worth. I'll let you know later! Happy Thrifting XOXO The thrift addict.