Yard Sales and Golden Animals

It is slowly turning into a warm hot Saturday, so I'm glad that yard sales happen first thing in the morning. Scores were few and far between today, but they were still to be had. In addition to what is pictured, I got two new books for $0.50 each and Book-opoly (where the classics are the properties, I'm quite excited to play).

So, everything on the table cost a grand $5.50. The cast iron pot was $1.00 and everything else was $4.50 a this really spectacular yard sale. Seriously, those saucers were five cents each. Brilliant!

See these funny animals? Well, there were colored on with sharpie and, well, I don't have any use for little plastic features.

These, however, are brilliant and I can totally use them!

Don't mind him, he is only looking for 24K bananas. 

Joann's came to town and I got to work ...

Montrose has come up in the world - we got a Joann's Fabric! Seems like a little thing, but it was just the thing to inspire my creativity. So I broke out the dye and the paint for a couple of projects.

First, it was my first dyeing experience. Half decent and half a disaster.

Here are my original pieces - a HUGE crochet table cloth that was in slight tatters and a terrible greenish color. I also had two vintage pillow shams that were stained ... this caused problems.

Here is the beginning.

Okay, here is the problem. The stains pulled more color than the rest of the pillowcase. No where I read could explain this to me, so I'm assuming that these must have been oily stains? I can't find answers on the internet. However, I do know that, in the future, I need to check those stains a little more closely!!

Here I had some more success. A lovely, bright fuchsia in a solid, all-over color. Even the patches pulled the same shade. I was VERY pleased. Now, if only to decide what to do with the thing so it doesn't totally fall apart! 

Tablecloth $1.00

Dye $2.88

Project Total $3.88

Then I started to work on these chairs that I bought at a yard sale last week for $5 each.

Using tape I started in with the somewhat random stripes.

Chair all finished! I'm quite pleased with the results.

Chairs $10.00

Paint ... FREE

Project Total $10.00

This is why I'm up early on a Saturday

Well it is pretty humid today for dry ole Colorado - but that didn't stop me from getting up early and attacking some yard sales. The silver I bought last week, but forgot to take pictures (I got some great vintage linens for a steal as well).

The booty!

I got a box of silver plate silverware for a grand $2.00

Did you say Christmas Crap? I LOVE it!! $0.50 for all

Cute mug set from the 50's (looks like I got it at Target today) $1.00

Two Silver Candlesticks $0.50

I think this is going to become a robot - hehehe - Tin $0.50

Cigar Tin $0.25

Bundt Pan $0.50

Both are for robots

My grandma always gave us juice in these jelly jars - box of 30 $2.00

Vintage, metal fram $0.25

Children's Chalk Board from the 60's $3.00

Matching Wooden Chairs $5.00 each

Look how intricate the pattern is! These are nice and solid ... not shaky at all. I can't wait to see what color these end up being!!

Grand Total (including last week's silver)

$20.50

Bye Drab Bar Cart

Last year as I was getting ready to move into 606 I spotted the cutest little bar cart for a song at a yard sale. Seeing as I'm not cool enough to actually need a bar cart (or I'm too cool to need one as a friend pointed out) - this has been housing a miscellaneous mess in my dining room for the last year. I recently cleared off the top to make room for my record player - so now, in addition to my mess, there are always records pilled around it.

It was time for an intervention. My records were all in the living room, the player was in the dining room, the whole stand was in need of some TLC. So I took the Miss-nice-girl gloves off and brought out the spray paint to turn drab in fab (fabulized, that is).

Taking some inspiration from pinterest I decided to brighten up the gold and go with a bright orange.

Step 1. Remove junk (which is currently piled on my dining table) and clean. I used windex to cut through the icky and then soap and water. It looked much better than this before I started painting.

Step 2. Sand. Hahaha, gotcha didn't I! I knew this one was going to need quite a few coats of paint, but I was feeling too lazy to sand. I decided I'd know before the second coat if it "really" needed sanding ... it didn't. However, I originally intended to paint all of the wood orange and the metal frame gold - but the wooden slats didn't come (easily) out of the frame, so they were added to the gold paint.

Step 3. Let dry. Forever. Usually Montrose rocks about 8% humidity, so 50% is a lot for us right now. This meant that I waited 12 hours before putting the shelves into the bar cart.

Step 4. Fill with fabulized goodies. After waiting the full 24 hours for the cart to fully dry I was able to create the record station I needed. Moving it into the living room also puts the music in a location that moves it through the house (I might be imagining that ... or making it up).

Project Cost

Bar Cart           $8.00

Spray Paint      $9.00

 Total              $17.00