The pickings are slim…

 

Sales are winding down in our area, and I don’t seem to be finding much in the way of yard sales these days. And I think the dealers in the vintage stores where I frequently shop are having a hard time replenishing merchandise in their own booths. So the pickings were slim for me this week.

I did find this trio of Pyrex bowls in the crazy daisy pattern, though.  Back when I first got married, I received a set of four bowls in this pattern as a wedding present. There was a larger mixing bowl included in that set and I wish this set I found wasn’t missing that size bowl. It was perfect  for mixing cake or pancake batter. 

But I’ll have to be satisfied with these three. I think they were a good deal at $15.00. The dealer just happened to be in the shop the day I was in, and she brought  the price down from$22.00.  Turns out she was the lady I bought all those glass snack sets from last week!

 

 

I found this this glass pitcher at a yard sale for $1.00 and it’ll be fine for serving a batch of ice tea or lemonade. The weather is still warm here, so something cool and refreshing is still well-received on a day when the temperatures are still in the 80’s.  I just read in Dana’s blog that she and The Stone Rabbit like to drink a combination of iced tea and lemonade called an “Arnold Palmer.”  I am definitely going to try that, using pink lemonade. Doesn’t that sound good?

 

 

 

Gotta bring out the silver polish for this baby! It is so tarnished that it will probably take several cleanings to get it to where I want it to be. A little elbow grease will be well worth the $3.00 I paid for it. 

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I found this  French-looking basket while out on my adventure in Lancaster, Ohio. I had originally looked at a similar one in another shop, but it was quite expensive. This one only set me back $8.00, as opposed to almost $50.00 at the other shop.  I’ve filled it with two dozen paper sunflowers that I found at a yard sale for $2.oo.

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Make sure that you stop over at Rhoda’s site. I’m sure she and others are finding cool things to show us from their thrifting excursions.

Crowing Roosters Again…

*If pictures appear cut off on the right side, please try adjusting your screen resolution to the highest possible setting.

It’s a rooster party at BellaVista and I’m flaunting some rooster finery!

My rooster clock was a present from Mr. Sullivan a few years back. I had admired it in our furniture store numerous times. One day I couldn’t find it when I went searching for it. Turns out he had hidden it in the warehouse and wrapped it up to bring home as a surprise. Thanks, Mr. Sullivan!

He surprised me once again when he gave me these canvas prints at Christmas.

Black and white toile frames these small rooster plates. They were given to me by my sister-in-law, Linda.

Linda also gave me this rustic pottery rooster.

Yes, I finally set a table! How could I resist when I found these cute rooster bowls? I’ve combined them with a rustic yellow salad plate and a polka-dotted dinner plate. Now, about the food…. Well, this was playtime today, folks. Dinner is actually carry-out tonight. *grin*

Salt and pepper shakers from a vintage shop.

Place cards holders from the same booth as the salt and pepper shakers let everyone know where they are seated.

Chickens are a vital part of a rooster’s life, so I have included my soup tureen as part of the tablescape.

I used the cactus fold on the napkins that I placed into green wine glasses. The candlesticks are old stair balusters.

I’ve been drinking this cabernet for several years now. I actually bought the wine because the label intrigued me. Turns out the wine is pretty good, and it isn’t that expensive. Wouldn’t you just die if you saw Rex, the giant 47 pound rooster?!

These three Mr. and Mrs. Rooster prints are located on the wall across from my two large roosters.

Back in the 50’s it was considered quite fashionable to own rooster cocktail glasses. I found these two black and gold highball drink glasses in the same vintage store where I got my place card holders. Is it cocktail hour, yet?

This small glass rooster is perched on a shelf on my kitchen hutch. Check out the detail in his feathers.

A red and off-white checkerboard pattern is the background for this vibrantly colored rooster in this wool rug at the back door.

This rusty metal rooster was my very first fowl purchase.

My blackboard from an elementary school in Indiana hangs on the back hallway wall.

Thanks, Barb, for sponsoring this party! Please click on the logo below to see the many roosters that are strutting themselves on all the party-goers’ sites.

Unexpected finds on an unexpected day and a bite of the bug…

 

Mr. Sullivan expressed interest in tagging along with me to some yard sales this past week, as he wanted to experience thrifting first hand. Unfortunately, the yard sales seem to be dying down in our area right now. And they usually begin on Thursday. Strange, isn’t it? One would think that the weekend would prove to be the more lucrative days. But that is what is the norm for this area. Go figure…

However, there were three sales advertised in the newspaper for Wednesday, which is his day off. We hit two sales that were busts- one had over-priced “antiques” from this 60’s and the other had baby items and household stuff that should have gone out to the dumpster instead of being put out on tables to sell. 

The last one we went to was an estate sale where I found this tureen buried in a cupboard in a bedroom.  It was brand new and I only paid $2.50 for it!  It doesn’t have an opening for a ladle, so I will can probably use it to just serve a casserole, as well. A perfect accompaniment for my growing collection of all white dinnerware and serving dishes.  We didn’t find anything else and I felt bad that he was not getting the full experience of the hunt. We were on our way to breakfast when he spotted a bright fuschia sign on a street sign advertising a sale around the corner. I’m so glad he saw this sign because it was the highlight of the day. We spent about an hour browsing through these two ladies’ things. I found glassware galore at fantastic prices!  And you know how I love glassware…

This large bowl (12 inches across) will be perfect for salads or fruit. It cost me a whole dollar!

 

I’m always on the look-out for these glass snack plates. They’re perfect for a tea party. I have paid $2.00 for a plate/cup combination before. When I asked how much they were, she said I could have them for 25 cents apiece. I thought she meant that it would cost me 50 cents for the set. NO… she meant 25 cents for both pieces! I bought all that she had. There 12 in this style….

 

 

Four in this fan style….

 

 

Four in this teardrop style…

 

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Four different teardrops…

 

 

 

And four of these contemporary bubbles…

 

 

 

This covered butter dish was 25 cents, also.

 

 

 

There were ten each of the scalloped edged dinner plates and ten of the dessert plates.  ~Twenty pieces for $5.00.

 

 

I think Mr. Sullivan had fun. He got to see that it can be hit or miss with the sales. He related that he likes going to antique and vintage shops better than traipsing around all over town. What would he have thought if we had gone to the number of places I usually make it to?  But guess what? He’s already been talking about our next outing. Seems he’s already looked in today’s newspaper listing of estate sales and auctions for the upcoming week. I think he’s caught the bug!  But not before it bit him…

*** Oh, and if you want to see the update on how my great room is coming, please visit my previous post here.  I don’t spend ALL my time looking for treasures….  *grin*

Once again, thanks to Rhoda, the Queen of Thrift  (my opinion)  and our hostess from Southern Hospitality, for hosting this party. Please visit her and all of the other participants who have found their weekly treasures.

The Great Room that isn’t great yet…

 

I’m finally getting around to posting some pictures of our great room and the little tweaks that have been done to it so far. The room is still in a state of flux, but I decided that posting what we’ve done so far would be a good starting point for showing the transition to its completion.

A few months ago, we had some carpentry work done in several of the downstairs rooms.  Since the baseboard and door casings were the original builder grade, we wanted to replace them with something a bit substantial. The doorways and windows were given wider casings, corner blocks were added, and the baseboards  gained some height.

 

The use of corner blocks gave the doorways a little more interest and the addition of backboard molding made the doorways look a lot “beefier.”  

 

The two-story foyer opens directly into the great room. You can see a partial view of the fireplace wall in this picture. 

The edge of the doorway casing has a rounded edge and extends from the wall almost three inches. 

 

I needed more storage space for all of the glassware I’ve been buying at yard/estate sales and vintage stores, so this chest is a new addition to the foyer.  Here are a couple of the accessories that adorn this tabletop.

 

A shell handled magnifying glass.

 

 

Vintage books bound together with waxed twine and a feather.

 

 

The  original  great room furniture is back in place temporarily. We haven’t selected new furniture yet,  because I’m waiting to go the International Home Furnishings Market in October with Mr. Sullivan.  We’ll be shopping for new merchandise for his furniture store and I’m anxious to see the new styles and colors for the fall/winter season.  It’s a perfect opportunity for me to find just the right  furniture for our own home, and it sure beats looking though piles of catalogs, any day! 

 

The entertainment center, with the two bookcases on either side of it, was returned to  its original spot. I always liked the idea of having the television hidden from view, but we purchased a  larger flat screen TV that doesn’t even remotely fit behind these doors, so the cabinet is currently holding my overflow of thrifting goodies. Ideally,  I’d  like to see a long antique table  in this space where we could set the large behemoth of a television.  The problem with doing that, though, is finding a place to stash all of the cable and surround sound components.  Hmmmm… I may have to re-think that idea! 

 

 

The sofa is a collage of leather and fabric. Down-filled cushions make it nice and comfy.

 

I’m waiting for the mate to this contemporary abstract  to come in, then I’ll hang them side by side over the table. Until then, it will stay leaned against the wall.

 

 

And speaking of leaning…. this mirror was a Christmas gift from Mr. Sullivan to me last year. I love how it reflects the tree and the burlap-skirted table between the sofa and the leather chair. 

 

 

My sister-in-law gave me three large leaves from one of the plants in her garden. I propped them in a water-filled vase and they still look good after 2 months. I’m still amazed at this feat!  You may remember that my thumb is brown…

 

In this picture you can see how tall the ceiling is in this room. I’ve never had coverings on these windows.  Our house backs up to a wooded area and privacy is really not an issue, but if we intend to watch that huge TV in here, we’ll be needing something to cut the glare on the screen.  I’ll probably order wood blinds to match the ones that are in the rest of the house.

 

The clock is three feet in diameter and fills the large space above the mantel quite well. I’ve sparsely filled a vase and set it on a wooden box for elevation.

 

Apothecary jars filled with feathered balls front a flat wire basket.

 

There is still much to be done to this room. The walls are freshly painted and we need more artwork. New carpeting still needs to be installed here and throughout the rest of the house.  But we don’t want to have that done until the upstairs bathrooms have been completed. And we all know how long it can take to remodel those rooms! I think we’ll be living with what we have for a while. *grin*

In the mean time, I can look forward to workmen traipsing through our house once again, drywall dust flying, and hammering and sawing noises permeating the air.  Aaah, the joys of remodeling…