The Return of Trash-picked Tuesday!!!!

Hello Friends, it's good to have you here!

Well, since the kiddos went back to school yesterday I finally have a chance to get to work on some of my personal projects. I have so many things that I get started and then never finish because I get interrupted, or have to run out and do something, etc., etc., ad nauseum...

And one of those things is blogging!

So, longtime readers may recall that I spent a whole year (2011, 2012??? I forget) doing posts on trash-picked or free items every Tuesday. I am never above trash picking a great find or at least something that needs a little work to be cool. Even now that my kids are approaching pre-teen years and this probably embarrasses them soooo much.  Hehehe...

Last week we took the kids down the Shore for a day and on my way down there I noticed an old springer/motel chair out for the trash. It wasn't just sitting there; it looked like it had either fallen out of someone's truck or someone had jumped on the seat and caused the whole thing to collapse. I figured if it was still there later on when we came home I would grab it. And so it was.

Like a bad blogger I neglected to take a picture of it "before"..., but imagine this chair with the legs completely collapsed and almost touching the bottom of the seat- sort of like it was folded in half. (which was kind of a good thing, because I don't think I could have gotten it into the car, otherwise.) Also, the top was faded red and the bottom was faded so badly it looked gray. There was plenty of rusty spots on the legs also.

We managed to get the legs about 85% straightened out, and everything sanded and primed. Then after I put the kids on the bus yesterday, I went out and chose this pretty color of blue, Rustoleum's Ocean. Several coats on the seat, and some white on the legs and it was ready to put back together. I think it came out pretty well for something left for dead.

And here is it with its life partner- eventually I will paint the other chair to match!

Lucky in Lighting

Hello friends, it's good to talk to you again!

I hope I remember how to do this blogging thing...haha! Anyway, I have been spending a lot of time on facebook and I realized that 1) while fun, it is not the best venue to go into lengthy detail about my projects and finds, and 2) probably a lot of my "regular" friends do not care about all that stuff. But all my blogger pals might and I miss you guys! (And if you want to be fb friends leave a comment below, and I will message you.)

Of course I still thrift a lot and frequent as many yard sales and flea markets as I can. In the last couple of weeks I have been really lucky to find some really cool stuff that I wanted to share. One of the things I love to find is cool mid-century lighting.

Now, the thing about lighting is that if there are any issues with the wiring you have a situation on your hands. A bad one. So I always make sure that the wiring is good and replace it if necessary. It is a good thing my brother is an electrician because he is always on hand to advise me!

I have been looking for a cool atomic lamp for our bedside table. Actually I would have loved to have found a pair of lamps, but anything was better than the crappy 80s brass faux-Stiffel lamp my husband was using. (Did I mention he won it in a poker game? Well, game ON!) Anyway, I grabbed this awesome lamp at a flea market for $3. It was marked "Miller 1955" on the turquoise ceramic part. It was also covered in mouse poop and super nasty.

Yeah, that bottom is supposed to be shiny metal. I think I actually hosed it off with a pressure washer- clearly it had to be re-wired in addition to completely cosmetically restored. 

I took it apart and repainted all the metal parts with gold spray paint. Instead of going to the hardware store and buying a $10 lamp kit, I went to the thrift store and bought a donor lamp with a good socket and cord for 99 cents.

After putting it all back together and testing it out- success!- it was time for the fun part: trying on shades. I may be a bit of a vintage-lampshade-hoarder...

 I really wanted the larger tiered shade to work, but it sat too high. I may try again if I can find a smaller harp. I ended up going with the green fiberglass shade on the right. I actually like the look quite a bit and to my relief, the light in the room is not actually green.

Since we have a lot of green, including the bedspread, in our bedroom, it works well.

 My second lighting score was just the other day. I went to a thrift store I haven't been to in a while. (Basically they price everything "vintage" ridiculously high, like 3x ebay prices, so I just haven't bothered going.) But for some reason I decided to go. And whadyya know, I actually found a something!

I bought these two Mid Century Modern pendant lights for a song. They even have their original ceiling plates. After doing a little research, it looks like they might be by designer Paavo Tynell. They would be so cool in someone's MCM house, so I listed them in my Etsy shop. Here's hoping Katy Perry buys them, lol.

I did test them out and they work great!

Now, my third adventure in lighting is a little bit different. No fab modern pieces here- just trying to update a fixture on a budget. We have a bit of a rustic vibe up at our cabin. At least I have been trying to get that going. And clearly this fixture above the sink that my mother-in-law picked out was not working for that look. (She picked out all the finishes for the place about 15 years ago after she retired from working at a bank, where she was in charge of the appearance of all the bank branches. I tease her that her house even looked like a bank.)

Maybe it's because I grew up in the 80s, but I cannot stand that shiny brass look. So now that the place is all ours, I have been doing what I can to get rid of it, but without spending a lot of $$. I discovered Rust-o-leum hammered bronze spray paint, and painted all the shiny brass cabinet knobs last year. I figured, why not try it on the light fixture as well? So I took it down, lightly sanded it and painted it. I left the frosted glass globes off entirely and swapped the bulbs for Edison bulbs, I think it came out pretty well, and definitely cost less than a brand new fixture!

A Red Letter Day

Hello friends, it's good to have you here! I know, I've been a bad blogger and haven't updated in a while. I hope you are still reading!

I have been getting out to the thrifts again, after taking a bit of a break in December. I just have way too much stuff and when I got the holiday decorations out, I realized I have to clear some stuff out. So a lot got donated- things that didn't fit or had issues, and I couldn't sell them for what I needed to get. There are some that believe in thrift karma; that is, when you donate good stuff, you get good stuff. Well, I think that was the case with today's excursions. I took a bunch of stuff to the thrift store and came home with some better stuff!

It was a banner day for MCM, as you can see. But first, the Pyrex, as always. I have not been finding a lot of Pyrex lately, mostly because I know some of the thrift stores I frequent have been putting it all on ebay. Which kind of sucks, because that is what primarily gets me in the door right now- if you put it all on ebay, I have little reason to come and shop the rest of your store. But some always slips through the cracks and dinnerware is a prime example of that. The lime plate is actually a chop plate or a platter, and I don't have anything that size (it's over 12" diameter- that's a regular dinner plate in front of it below) so I bought that. I would like to find more lime plates to mix in with my turquoise- I love that color combo.

These turquoise melamine dishes are Russel Wright- I love this style and have a few other small pieces, but nothing close to the whole set. It would take me forever to collect it, most likely, so I may let these go. But right now the little handled bowls are getting a lot of use holding snacks for the kids.

At one of the thrifts I went to, someone had donated a whole Mickey Mouse collection, including a lot of older pieces from back into the 60s. I picked out this gumball machine and will try to resell it in my booth- we'll see how it goes!

All right, I know you all are here for the Finel bowl, so I'll get right to it....

 But first, I did get a Fire King Blue Heaven custard cup- isn't it cute?  :) hehe

OK, so I have been seeing these online for a long time, and loving them. The graphics are so amazing on all the Finel Arabia bowls, and the heart one is so iconic. I read on the Recycle-ista's blog about her finding one after imagining she would and it got me doing the same thing. I was reading her blog, thinking, that's so cool that she found one just like she had been hoping for, wouldn't that be neat to happen next time I go into a store...?

And what do you know...there, in the middle of the Valentine's Display it sat. I have never seen one in person, so I was surprised at how large it is! But now I have one, and I promise you I am already dreaming about my next find, and hoping that dreams will come true all over again!