Thrifting

I got out yesterday to do a little junking.

I wanted to make sure that I put concealer on in case I got accosted by another cosmetics counter salesman. 

Him: "Can I be honest?" 

Me: Ummmm. I'm not sure?

Him: You have such dark circles.

Yes, thank you for pointing out that I look like death warmed over because that is how I feel after being cooped up in the house for three days not feeling well. 

I didn't say that but I certainly didn't buy his make up.;) Which, by the way, sunk into the fine lines and tiny wrinkles around my eyes making them look not so fine nor tiny.



So armed with concealer, I hit the thrifts on the other side of town.

 Oh, Jerry Jones has done a bang up job trying to clean up that side of town. 

Fortunately, the growth and development hasn't put the junk stores out of business. 

My first stop is always Thrift Town. 

It is the nicest of the lot. 

I have bought books, lamps, chandeliers, bedding, and clothes here in the past. 

Now, I almost always stick to the china. 
I've gotten a little more squeamish lately. 
  

Thrift Town's china is organized by color. 

I usually check out the white first. Then I'll look at the other shelves hoping to find something in one of my accent colors.

 I found 5 big off white ironstone looking platters for 99 cents each.   

I also saw a cute blue and white teapot from the 50s or 60s and a pink rose creamer. 
There was nothing I couldn't live without so I left. 

The next stop was Collins Park Thrift. 

They still had some Christmas items but everything was really picked over.
But, 

I found a new big Starbucks mug and a little stack of plates.

The plates didn't look that interesting until I recognized a brown transferware pattern close to the bottom. The stack was all taped together so I couldn't get a good look at it but I was willing to gamble for $2.98. 
 I always run my finger around the edges of china to feel tiny cracks or "fleabites", as they are called.

Unfortunately, there was a naughty child in the store near me. I wanted to give her one of my best teacher looks but she must have sensed a disturbance in the force because she wouldn't look at me. 
She was a little sassy pants.
I realize now that I must of stretched the limit with my children when they were small as well. There is only so much shopping little ones want to do.

I hit the toy section just as they were heading to some other section.  

It was a good day for toys. I guess all the moms in town have been cleaning out the toy boxes because I found two bags full of little trinkets. One bag was full of little plastic pets which will make a great pet shop for one of my teachers. The other bag had some stuff that will replenish our dwindling prize box.

In my attempt to avoid "Varuca Salt", I rounded the corner and there was a cart with stuff fresh from the sorting room. I spied a beautiful silver pitcher and an adorable red and white hotel china gravy boat.

The water pitcher is Wm. Rogers silverplate. It was only $7.98. I love buying silverplate at thrift stores because most of the time it is black with tarnish. Polishing it up is like unearthing treasure when it is clean and sparkly.
My favorite thing to use right now on silverplate is Bar Keepers Friend. 
It is a very mild, slightly abrasive cleanser. It does the job without scratching. 

I could have hit Texas Thrift or the Goodwill store on the next block but I was feeling a little peaked so I headed home. 

The total thrift store route can take all day and it encompasses 7 stores. I have done it before when my brother comes to town but it wears me out.

 I was tickled to find that the taped up little plate was actually a turkey saucer in the His Majesty pattern by Johnson Brothers.

 It will look cute tucked in with my vintage turkeys next Thanksgiving.  

  

I spent the afternoon resting and reading in my big comfy leather chair.

What have you been up to?
Happy Friday!

Katie 

White Guest Room

This is a long one. I apologize in advance.

I knew I needed to paint Rebekah's old room but I had been putting it off.

She and I had only painted it a few years ago. 

We picked Meadow Trail from Sherwin Williams. 
It wasn't doing it for me. 

This room has also been white, celadon, Tiffany box blue and khaki.

I thought about going back with celadon but in the end I chose white. 

I think I have only painted one wall white, one time and only because I was repairing a wall that had been covered in cork board. 
I didn't believe in white walls.

I had two gallons of white paint in the garage. One was Colorplace and the other Glidden. Both of them were grab it and go, off the shelf, premixed white.
I mixed them together so I would have enough to cover the room because I didn't think one gallon would be enough and I was right. What a pain that would have been to run out of one color white in the middle of a wall. Even though they were both white, there was a subtle difference. (I started this project at 6:30 one evening and painted until 11 p.m.
There was no way I was up for a Walmart run.)

  I lost my shabby and white guest room when Jonnie moved back in last summer.  
See it here and here.

 I decided to shop the house to finish this room. 

My husband loves it when I don't spend any money. 

I made the dust ruffle with some fabric that
a sign shop had donated to my school. I rescued it from the summer clean out. I hotglued the ruffle to the existing bedskirt.

 Yes, sometimes I am lazy.

I had to re-find all the pillows that had been on Jonnie's bed. They got dispersed when he moved back in. 
Several of them eventually ended up in my bedroom so I made a new little envelope pillow out of an old vintage pillowcase. 

The accent color was inspired by this pink velveteen chair from Bill's Granny Vi. 

It has to stay in here. There is no way Bill will allow it to be in any of the other bedrooms or in the living room. 
There is a line even I cannot cross. :)

I love this chair. It's comfy, funky and cute.

My favorite things in the room came from this little rose book. I've had it for a while but it's been falling apart.

I took two of the pages and popped them into painted frames. 

 The frames don't match. The prints almost do. 

These are gorgeous and I'm totally smitten with them.

The memo board is a washstand towel bar and some chicken wire.

I pinned the rest of the book and some vintage postcards to the chicken wire. 

 What is it about chicken wire? Love!



Dixie chewed on the little velveteen flowers when she was a puppy. I painstakingly put them back together because they are precious.

 

The shade on the little alabaster lamp is wonky. I've tried to fix it but it will not stay on straight no matter what I do. 

We used to have the best garage sales around here. The lamp was a $1.00. 

This mirror was $5.00.
I think the chandelier looks better with the white walls.
It was 50 cents. 

The footboard is the old settee from the garden room.

I promised ages ago that I would show it to you but I just couldn't get any pictures to come out. This room was very hard to photograph. It was tough to realize that this piece wasn't good as a settee.
It was cute but no one ever sat on it but me. 
It was too low and uncomfortable. I'm short so it was perfect for me. :)

I had to take off the middle section and trim it down to be as wide as the mattress. 
I turned it around so the good side would be facing out. The bottom board had to be stained because it was behind the seat of the settee for years. 

  I've decided to leave the furniture as is for now because I love the quirky bed too much to mess with things. All the chests are oak even if the wood tones don't match exactly.

I did have to break down and buy a few white dishes to stage Gene (our secretary.) There were tons of white dishes at the thrift store this morning. The whole pile added up to less than $8.00. I could have shopped the house for white dishes as well, but then I'd have to shop to replace what I took.
The little suitcase was also slated for the trash at the school.I grabbed it and painted it. Bill does some leather work, hopefully he will make a new leather strap for it. 

I still need to paint the trim and the doors (clearly) but I will wait until after the holidays.
  
I'll be back because I want to talk about 
Mr. Chester Drawers in another post.

 Bye for now,
Katie  
A Stroll Thru Life  
Coastal Charm 
Cozy Little House   
Mod Vintage Life  
French Country Cottage
Common Ground
Savvy Southern Style 

White Milk Glass

I was completely ready to do some regular old blogging again once we were done with the bathroom.  

I had a list of stuff I was going to do this summer but the bathroom zapped all the home improvement life out of me. 

The paint brushes and rollers are on hiatus much like most of my favorite T.V. shows.  

In the mean time, I have been cleaning and puttering and recovering from our trip to Alaska. 

I was ready for some calm decor and thought my milk glass fit the bill. 

This stuff is called milk glass but it isn't like antique milk glass. 

The old collectable is cool to the touch and it's a little more translucent like the rose bowl pictured below. 

If my memory is correct these little vases are reproduction milk glass from the 50s and 60s. 

The bulk of my collection seems to be made for florists to use in flower arrangements.

When I was buying this stuff up 10 years ago it was cheap!

I got most of these pieces for 99 cents.

Some were a whopping $2.99.

   

Sadly these are popular again.
I think because they can look modern or vintage depending on your decor. 
They have a clean graphic quality that I just love.

They are getting harder and harder to find but

I still think they are a great alternative to the more desirable and expensive ironstone.

I have a couple of lamps in milk glass. I love white lamps.

  

I found one early this summer at the thrift store so I snapped it up. 

Milk glass looks good in a vintage or a modern setting. 
Have you seen milk glass at your local thrift shop or antique store?

They have fun and clean silhouette. 

What do you think?

Katie  
Coastal Charm