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. 

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

Another Art Project

Maybe you saw my previous post where I worked on an art project.

The full post and tutorial can be found here

Then last summer I bought this hot mess at a second hand store for $0.50

I've been ignoring it for ages, but then last weekend I had a moment of brilliance and it went from blah to fabulous in under an hour.

First, you'll need some electrical tape and tape your pattern on. I would have used the letters again on this ... but the oil paint was too thick and lumpy.

Then you have to spray paint it gold. I didn't go too heavy, but I like the pattern showing through. 

Lovely.

Now hanging in my dining room. Art work for $0.50

{Master Bedroom Curtains on a Shoestring}

Paneled Curtains

So, I have these huge ceilings - which I TOTALLY love! - but I haven't been able to find curtains that are long enough and still anywhere near my budget. It was time to get crafty. I already had some white sheers I had used to "screen" in my porch when I live in the apartment (which was quite awhile ago, they were pretty wrinkled when I unpacked them. 

Enter my hero: Target Clearance! I bought two of these shower curtains (which were the same sheen as the sheers I already had) for a brilliant $4.98 apiece.

I began by cutting the first curtain into three even pieces.

Then I ironed where I would be creating seams - because I don't "love" sewing, this makes my job SO much simpler!

The most complicated part was probably pinning it on - it took me a minute to see what I was doing. You will pin the right sides together, and you want to make sure you will be sewing ABOVE the seam on the curtain (or you will be doing what I did, more on this in a minute). 

The shower curtain was longer than my sheer, so I just cut it off where it needed to end and then pressed the future seam in place. When I went to sew I sewed all of the "hems" first and then did the attachment to the panel. 

Then I sewed the first seam. This seam would have been the only one, except I wasn't consistently above the hem on the sheer. Insert heavy sigh here.

Because of my "mistake" I had to go back through and sew over the top of the newly added piece. This actually gave it a more "finished" look which I was pretty happy with.

Here is the finished work - I tried to take pictures of the whole window, but they turned out so dark. I love it when the curtains puddle on the floor like that. Perfection!

Faux Roman Shade that Costs Next to Nothing

The other window in my bedroom is pretty small, only about twenty inches wide, but just as long as the other. I had seen this idea on Pinterest (which, of course, I didn't pin, so if anyone recognizes this please pass along the original site!)

I didn't want to overwhelm the tiny window with a long, bulky curtain, so I thought I would copy that idea I saw and make my own Roman Shade out of the existing mini-blind. This is seriously easy and perfect for a renter with terrible window coverings!

Start by measuring VERY SPECIFICALLY! The piece really needs to fit perfect, so measure twice, cut once :) 

Then cut out your fabric and finish all four sides. My shower curtain was actually long enough for my window, so I only had to finish one side.

You'll need some paper clips - this is a box of misc paper clips that was on my grandfathers desk FOREVER.

After sewing you'll simply attach the panel you've just made to your mini-blind. It really is as simple as that! I attached the fabric on every fifth blind piece with paper clips on both sides. 

That was easy right? Now comes a little more complicated part. I used the shower hook holes to thread paper clips through like this (across the top). 

Then I pulled them open like this. 

I did that so they would stay when I pushed them between the top of the mini-blind and the top of the window frame. It really did work like a charm!

The finish project!

Tips for this Project

1. Take the wand off of the mini-blind before starting. You won't be using it anymore, but the curtain won't work with it still on there. 

2. Pull the cord through one of the button holes OR cut a tiny hole (which you could sew up in you were so inclined, in the top of the panel for the cords to come through. 

3. Iron the whole thing before you hang it. Mine is wrinkled and it makes me crazy, but I'm too lazy to take it down.

Total Project Cost: $10.71

Back on the band wagon...

... of yard saleing that is :) 

After a couple of weeks missing out on the sales, I was glad to get back at it again today. Here are the "scores"!!

Today I went to a mere 8 sales (normally I hit up around 20) and my mom came along with me. Because we are slow when we shop together, the eight sales took me what 20 normally take. Oh well, it was a fun morning for us that was finished off with coffee and looking at houses.

Here is everything I nearly stole today :)

Green Depression Glass Bowls                                             $5.00

Glass Salad Bowl                                                         $0.75

Matted Print of a store window with clouds                                     $1.00

Matted Black and White Picture of a Quilt hanging on the Line                      $1.00

Vintage Purse                                                          $5.00

Inside View of Purse

Ocean Painting (Oil on Canvas)                                               $0.75

(I'm going to use it for THIS project!!)

Sub Total $13.50

Coffee with my Mom $10.24

Grand Total $23.74

Rediscovery of a Chair

Well, yesterday I bought this sad fiberglass chair for a steal at a yard sale. Today I decided to not put off revamping it. 

We started with a sad yellow chair.