New Living Room Drapes- aka hanging 1950s pinch pleat drapes without a traverse rod

Some of you may recall that I recently thrifted a set of 1950s drapes in their original packaging. Four panels of vintage atomic printed barkcloth in orange and brown tones!

Well, as luck would have it, they match my living room perfectly. I hung them this morning and they look awesome! I had been putting this off for a while because I didn't have a traverse rod system set up, but I figured out a way to hang them without it.

First I had to unpack them and take the paper wrapping off. Hehe, not a bad problem to have!

Don't forget to read the instructions- probably would have been helpful if I was installing them on a traverse rod.

Then I attached these little clip on rings I had in a bag of drapery hardware I bought at a yard sale.

And threaded them over a standard white expandable rod. 

And they are hung! I do have those cornices to cover the rods, although they are still left over from my 'rustic cabin' phase. LOL. Maybe I will upholster them in a matching fabric...

Now, this is a bit of a teaser, because I have never really done a post on my living room, especially since we have almost completely changed it around lately. That will come; but I wanted to do a separate post on hanging these drapes first.

Rummage Sales Everywhere!

This is my favorite time of year! Yard sale season is heating up, people are doing spring cleaning and donating to thirfts, but best of all, church rummage sales begin!

I have been doing a ton of shopping (probably too much- when does one cross the line to becoming a hoarder?) and have loads of goodies to show you all, so I'll probably have to do a couple posts to catch up.

Thursday was my town's big semi-annual church rummage sale, where I always have good luck. I usually get there before the doors open at 9, and as I was standing in line, I noticed a few familiar faces- some friends and some local dealers. I guess I can include myself in that group as well, since I have the antique booth and some of these things will end up there.

These are ceramic wall hangings; I LOVE these so much. They are staying right here with me. The background is a really pale green that will be so pretty in our bedroom, right next to my Turner airbrush painting.

I've been collecting these biscuit tin "baskets" for a while, but they're not usually cheap anymore. This one was, though- only $1!

This sweet family of ducks (and one chick, or is it the 'ugly duckling'? LOL) are candles- all for $1. Going to the Etsy store!

Since I was one of the first in the door, I scoped out the Pyrex first (I'll get to that) and the vintage tablecloths 2nd. I took all they had- three Christmas ones. Now, I need another Xmas tablecloth like a hole in the head, but am definitely keeping this first one. (The others may go to the booth.)

I love the old timey Holiday vignettes, and Santa dancing around the tree!

These two are more typical of mid century linens, not much to note about them except the price- $2 for the top one (a couple stains) and $5 for the bottom one. Of course the one with the stains is the only one that actually fits on my table....

And the Pyrex. The Verde (or is it Spring Blossom/Square Flowers?) Cinderella bowl was $3, which is astonishingly high for this sale.  It's not even in great condition- quite a bit of wear to the handles and utensil scratches which came out with a little BKF. It just goes to show that people everywhere (even little old church ladies) are onto those of us that collect it!

Friday I went to another church rummage sale. Thankfully the lime square baker was only $1 at that one. Apparently those little old church ladies are still in the dark! 

This is my second piece of lime (found the round cake pan about a month ago) and my 4th utility dish-  I have a flamingo lasagna pan and lidded casserole. But do you think I could find a pink or lime pie pan? No... still looking after all these years!

April Showers

After years of drooling over some of the amazing vintage patio umbrellas seen in blogland (shoutout to Zootsuitmama and MaryDeluxe! :) I finally found my own! I have literally been looking for one of these babies for years. I've seen a couple, but only in antique stores for $$. Never while thrifting or yard saling.

But today I had a few minutes to kill and stopped in to my favorite local thrift. I was just in there on Tuesday  and so I didn't need to really spend a lot of time looking- just kind of cruise around and see if there was anything new... and look what I found!

It's turquoise with a fringe!

You know you want a close up of that amazing underside:

Tropical hibiscus in pink and white? Yes please!

And it has this giant long spike on the bottom so you can drive it into the ground when you're at the beach or the lake. (Not that I'm going to be doing that anytime soon, mind you.)

It didn't have a price on it- apparently they had just put it out and I had to drag it up to the register to find out if it was even for sale. Eight bucks later it was mine!

And as if that wasn't enough turquoise and pink flowers for you, I also found this adorable laundry hamper too, for $4. It's from the 40s, and wicker on the sides and back with a hand painted metal piece on the front.

Here's hoping there are a lot more blue skies and pink flowers on the way!