Second Hand Rose

If you have been following me for any amount of time you know how much I love to thrift shop. I have had some withdrawls lately with no garage sales during the winter months, so I have been hitting up a few second hand stores to acquire a few new to me treasures for our new home.  Although this first item was not second hand it was in the last chance section of Ikea, I am not sure if it was returned or what but it had a few scratches on top causing it to be priced at $50, you should have seen me loading this into my car with a slipcovered chair and a buffet that were all priced too good to pass up.  The other day I found these baskets that fit under the table just perfectly, I don't know why I was surprised, it's Ikea, they do those things on purpose ya know!  I just love the weathered gray finish!

Onto the second hand portion of my post.  This beautiful pillow my sister gave to me the other day, I took it and ran basically when she offered it to me!  Love it on my Ikea couch!  Seeing a pattern here???

 I think I gasped out loud the other day when I spotted this chicken dinner sign with a barnwood frame at my local consignment shop, goes so well with my love of black and white lettering!  This will go somewhere in the new kitchen fo sho. 

 I knew it was a sign when at my favorite antique mall I spotted these super cool old stamps, there were just a few left and they happened to have the numbers in our new address and our initial, cooincidence?? I think not!!!  I am not sure what I am going to create with them yet, they are about 3 inches tall, so awesome!! 

I had seen a photo of a kitchen that I loved in the Cottage Living Fresh Ideas magazine last year, these stools were my favorite (photo above), I wanted them so badly!  I found this super old stool at a garage sale this summer and paid $15 for it, it has been around forever, the people I bought it from said it was in their old house that they bought from some very old people,  how is that for specific???  Anywhooo... I begged my neighbor to make me a slipcover for it, she told me it would take her a while, she is a busy grandmother, I gave her a copy of this photo and the material that I wanted her to use back in May, yesterday during a snow storm she brought it over to me,  I am so excited!!! I had kind of forgotten about it,  Doesn't she look purty in her new dress??!!!

 before:                                                        after:

I love shopping second hand, everything is a special treasure to me and I spent a fraction of what I could if I purchaed retail.   I love the character of things that have been loved on through the years. 
Thank you all so much for your sweet and supportive comments regarding our move,  we are so happy!  I need your help though, I would appreciate any good advice you can give me on picking out a kitchen, adding on, creating built in bookcases etc,  if you have any great sites or places that I can visit I would sure appreciate your help. I am going to try and document every step on here of our renovation, this is going to be fun!! We love doing this sort of thing!!!  You know my style, please help a girl out!!!! Thanks!!!
P.S.  Thanks to my sister for hijacking my blog last night and making a new header for me, I have no patience for that right now and bless her heart I just sent her the images I wanted to use and she did her magic!!

Autumn Nesting

 The temperatures are falling, the leaves are gone, the geese are flying south, and I am in the nesting mode.  What is it about this time of year that just makes you want to cozy up the place?  Hmmm, maybe the fact that I actually saw snowflakes last week?  I have been fussing around the house a bit lately, trying to find new places for things I love and sadly, trying to get rid of some of my more vintagey pieces.  Seems everyone in my house breathes better when old musty things are not in our environment, sigh..... so I am trying to unload a few pieces on Craigslist (not yet, but soon),  but I am keeping a few of my favorite pieces like this huge tobacco basket that I recently relocated to our dining room.  I have a desire (once again) to simplify and reduce, so I am slowly going through the house and making some changes and moving things around.  Nesting is what I call it. 

 I snapped a few photos the other night (before daylight savings) while the gorgeous autumn sun was streaming through the house, it gave everything such a golden hue.  I have changed the foyer a bit by grouping mirrors from around the house.  It is kind of a small area, I love how the mirrors reflect the light. 

 I added Myah's little toy box that Uncle Charlie made and set the pillows that Mel made for me on top of it, giving us a space to sit and put our shoes on. 

 I love this sweet little cedar topiary, I snatched it up at a garage sale this summer for $2.  I put a little spanish moss on top ( I use that stuff all the time!)

 I also repurposed a frame and found a free printable on line of the vintage starfish. I am really trying to stick with very neutral colors lately, whites, blacks and taupes, so soothing.   The smaller picture came from the ladies at Violets Blue, it went perfectly with my starfish picture in the kitchen.  Am I the only one who hangs larger pictures above smaller ones, I just like that look, maybe I am weird or something!

 My summer of great garage sales landed me these gorgeous white pitchers,  decorating on a dime for sure!  I lined them up tallest to shortest on top of my kitchen cabinets.

 And I cleaned out my kitchen cupboards, seems like everything just got shoved in here over the summer, it was time for a good scrubbing and relocating.  This is the before:

 And the after: Much better, now I even have room for my cookbooks.  I love that I inherited the same cookbook from both of my grandmothers.  See the hot cocoa,. part of my warming up plan around here, from the inside out!!!

 I love having a sparkling kitchen, I am obsessed with keeping things clean and organized in there, it is a small space with not alot of storage at all so keeping it tidy is key.  Last year when my Grandmother passed away she left each of us grandkids a little $$, we just so happened to need a new sink, faucet and disposal so that is where our money went.  Grandma always did the dishes or had a sink full of water soaking them, it so reminds me of her whenever I use it. I had a hard time keeping it sparkling, it is cast iron and I was afraid it was getting ruined.  And then I discovered (scroll down)

 This, and it brought my sink back to her pretty young self again!  I had to find it online but it is so worth it!

 And I am determined to broaden my menu around her, my sweetie bought this for me the other day, maybe he is sick of the menu too!  I love her books and this one is awesome, I can't wait to try her recipes!

I have been so crazy busy lately, taking photos, editing photos, shift changes for hubby, dr appts for the family etc. etc.  that I forgot to post a photo of my little Tinkerbell on Halloween, she was so stinkin cute in her little platinum blonde wig!   We had so much fun around here!!  I am so not ready for the holidays to be here, I am trying to get motivated, I am keeping things very simple this year, we are focusing on our many blessings and just taking in all the wonder of the season.  It has been an exhausting, dramatic year, I am hoping that these last few months of 2010 will give us the opportunity to spend some special time with great family and friends.