Thrift Scores!

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

Well, I've missed blogging a bit and don't think it's because I don't want to, but (you know there is always a 'but...') I've been crazy busy lately and haven't had a chance. I've been working on my Etsy store quite a bit, and all that photographing and listing takes time. I don't know about you, but I am way better at acquiring stuff than selling it! My downstairs has been taken over by the stuff I have bought to resell. Plus, I'm getting ready to sell at a flea market for the first time, so there's a bunch of things in my basement waiting to be priced, etc. I have a high tolerance for clutter, but this is getting out of control. (Shield your eyes- reality check follows!)

In case you are wondering what it is like to be a vintage hoarder seller, this is what it looks like. It is a lot of fun, but more work than most people realize. And this is only a small part of the mess- my storage and packing stations are elsewhere!

But that also means I've been buying a ton of cool stuff, so I thought you might like to see some all cleaned up and ready to show off!

I just bought this amazing antique chest yesterday. It had been sitting in my local Salvation Army for about a week and I kept passing it by because there was no price on it. (You know they won't sell stuff without a ticket on it, so I kept waiting.) It finally got priced yesterday and it was $6.99- seriously! Even at that, I hemmed and hawwed at it because I didn't think I could fit it in my car. And I was right...hehe.  I somehow wedged it in the trunk of my Chevy Cruze and drove it a couple miles home with the trunk lid open.

I bought it to use outside on my patio I was thinking as a potting bench or outdoor bar. It's not in great condition, but for outside it will be fine- I wish I had a covered porch to keep it on! It makes an amazing photo backdrop for some of my listings, which is exactly what I needed. Unfortunately, nothing will help my lame photography skills, though. Selling on Etsy is so dependent on taking great photos, and I definitely know that is my weakness.

I pass up enamelware all the time- not quite sure why I suddenly decided to buy some. Except that these are awesome pieces and I love red. The platter is so cool, and it was only $1, the bowl still had some of the original label on it and it was $2. (See how easy it is to rationalize...)

I love vintage lawn furniture and have quite a collection at this point. I bought this little strap chair for my daughter to use. It was only $2! I use the bigger one in the back all the time- they are so much lighter and more comfortable than those stupid chair-in-a-bag things. All this green and turquoise furniture is so cheery, plus it matches my vintage patio umbrella I thrifted last year. I can't wait to get it all out- will definitely have to do another post on that!

This camera is one of my favorite buys from the last few weeks. It's a Polaroid Land Camera with its original case and all the accessories. My son and I actually went in on this together because I didn't have enough money on me to buy it that day. My 9 year old (known to many of you readers as "Eagle Eye") bailed me out! LOL But since he loaned me 1/3 of the purchase price I told him he could have 1/3 of the profit when we sell it. So look for it in my Etsy store soon, and help support the next generation of pickers! 

The time to buy holiday stuff is just after that holiday is over! I bought these Beistle leprechauns at the pound store. One is on  a skateboard- argh- the cuteness!  So they basically cost me 6 cents. And the Marvin the Martian lunch bags are still in their package. I can't decide if I want to sell them or let my kids use them for school, but I don't think 3rd graders appreciate the coolness factor here.

The same goes for this Sylvester the cat bookbag. Way too cool for school- and already in my Etsy store. Want it? Enter coupon code PIT20OFF and you get 20% off!

And it wouldn't be a thrifting post without Pyrex. Lately the greens just seem to follow me home. I don't collect either of these patterns, but I know a lot of folks do, so here's hoping I can resell them. The cinnamon mugs match my favorite pattern, Autumn Harvest, though, so they might be staying. LOL, who am I kidding, it all might be staying! ;)

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!

Burning Ring of Fire (aka The Tiki Pond Project)

I've mentioned a few times lately about the pond project we've been working on. Well, it's time to show it off! It's about 95% done, with only a few small things left to do, so here it is.


We had been talking about putting in a pond for years. We always wanted a water feature for our yard (I made a patio fountain last year, but that was a tiny project) and love fish and frogs, so figured we'd do it eventually. My son Jayson really started pestering for it this spring, so we got started on it Father's Day weekend.


We had a nice flat spot in our yard just below our existing patio area that was a good location. While it may look like the whole family helped, really it was just Jay and Jayson that did the digging- all by hand. Jayson really helped a lot and he deserves as much credit as anyone for getting it done.

Here it is all dug out. At this point we needed to put in a liner. Problem was, Jay did not have any sort of plan (which is typical, isn't it?) for the shape of the pond, and dug it out without planning based on available liner sizes. So we had to order one off the internet in a custom size after the hole was in the ground. You can only imagine what that might cost to ship, since it weighed almost 75lbs.... Thankfully we didn't have any rain before the liner arrived.

With the liner in, we had to build up the side with rocks to create the waterfall. That was more difficult that in might seem, because we don't have a lot of large rocks laying around. And they are surprisingly very expensive to buy from a landscape place. So we went down the road and asked a guy that has an excavating and topsoil business if we could have some off his refuse pile. He agreed and it worked out great, except for the 10-12 trips the boys had to take with my small car's trunk filled with rocks (#@#%!) The waterfall box and tubing we got for free from a guy Jay knows with a pond- he wasn't using it and gave it to us.

We added a small seating area with leftover pavers we had from the original patio. I also pulled some aquatic plants out of a nearby boggy area in our neighbor's field to get things started. The boys took a net down to a nearby farm pond and brought back some native fish as well.  A pond is not cheap to put in, but we tried to be as thrifty as possible (except for the liner deal!)

We ended up ordering a second pump for a fountain because we were having an algae problem. I guess this is common in new ponds, but once the pump with the fountain and UV light was running, it cleared up. We also got a truckload of river rock to fill in the area around the patio and pond. We added some landscaping plants that we divided from others in our yard, like hosta. And last week, the fabulous MaryDeluxe, a pond pro, came for a visit and brought us some water plants out of her pond. They all look great now!

I added a couple of tiki touches, like the torches and plastic flamingos. The new pump also came with an underwater light which we put a red lens on to look like a volcano. I think this really looks cool at night and will be on the hunt for some outdoor tiki statues now!

A snowy day

I've been busy thrifting and stocking my Etsy store, so those of you starting the hunt for Viva, head on over and check it out! If you see something you like, enter coupon code PIT20OFF for 20% off your purchase!

I have a whole bunch of neat purchases to show you, but I'll save those for Thursday.

In the meantime, enjoy these photos of my daughter, aka "Mini-me", walking in the snow. We just got a dusting yesterday, but she wanted to go outside and play in it. She was enjoying making tracks through the yard. I think this sequence of photos captures that perfectly:

Trash Picked Tuesday: Cage Free

I have been looking for the right object to use as a side table on my patio for quite a while. I have tried various items, like old wooden milk crates (too small) and upside down galvanized tubs (too low). I kind of like a vintage/industrial/found object vibe outdoors, but nothing really worked.

Until I found this out by the curb a few weeks ago:

At first I thought it was an old lobster trap. Then when I actually got the car turned around and pulled over (in, like, 15 seconds), I realized it was an old rabbit hutch or chicken coop. It's made of weathered teak with wire sides. After a thorough hosing down (it wasn't really bad- hadn't been used in years, I'm sure,) it fits perfectly, and I love its rustic look!

My view on things...

This is for those of you that commented on my backyard view in my outfit post ;)

Nice, huh? That's our garden and my washline as well as our "porch swing" in front of the barn. The patio view would be off to the left of the picture- nothing but open fields and trees. If you look real hard you can see a double rainbow...

Sunday Outfit Post

I hate taking pictures of myself, but just to prove that I do in fact wear vintage clothing I'm going to try to do outfit posts more regularly!

The dress is the one I picked up last weekend at Reading's WWII weekend for just $10. The red and brown stripe goes all the way down the front. The button detail at the top is adorable- too bad I didn't get a closer shot. The shoes are spectator oxfords from the 1980s in tan and white and the bracelets are bakelite. I have lots of bakelite in yellow, red and brown, so I can really wear a lot with this dress! I just got my hair cut in a 1930s fingerwave style, but the humidity was really making it frizz. I've found that to be a problem as I have gotten older- my hair is getting curly when it used to be stick-straight!

Weekend patio and potting shed makeover!

After such a long, cold winter it sure feels good to get outside again! I love sitting out on my patio and working in the garden, and being a vintage lover those things are even more fun when I try to incorporate some of my finds.

You all probably know I have a thing for vintage lawn furniture and my collection grows all the time. You may remember some of my finds from last winter- it's so frustrating to get cool lawn furniture and have to put it away until warm weather!

Finally I got to bring them all out, scrub them down and put out the cushions!

In the back left corner is my weekend project. I always wanted a water feature and figured out a way to use some of the things I already had to make one.

The fountain was a tabletop fountain I got as a wedding present (almost 10 years ago!) and is no longer practical to have indoors due to the little ones knocking it over and making a mess. It had been sitting in the basement for years unused. I picked up the galvanized washtub last fall at a rummage sale for $1- I love its patina. (I have a fondness for galvanized stuff, as you will see...). And the washtub stand I pulled out of the neighbor's dumpster last Mother's Day. The plants were free- we have a boggy area in our backyard and just picked some horsetail rush and the leafy stuff (that's the scientific name, LOL) there. So the whole thing cost me $1 to make.

It added the perfect element of bubbling water to the patio without costing me a fortune or looking too "new" (I hate that).

That done, I turned my attention to the potting shed, or barn, as we call it. The barn is really just that; when we moved in the previous owners had kept a pig in there. It's quite large, probably 400 sq feet and three rooms but only one story. We can park our tractor and all our outdoor furniture in there, and it's where I keep my larger treasures until I can use them. We put quite a bit of work into this building the first year we lived here, adding a new roof, siding, and rebuilding the back wall that had been constructed out of an old Gulf billboard. (Wish that still had the graphics but it had been painted over-you could just make out the outlines of the letters.) I tried to keep the vintage bones intact, though.

It is also the place where the kids keep their bikes, wagons, Tonka toys, Power Wheels (for a while we had 4- now we're down to 2), etc. It kind of just became a mess of junk. And the whole thing was home to numerous birds and mice. Blech.

I'm sure many of you subscribe to Country Living and Flea Market Style magazines, and like I, you probably fantasize about having some of those outdoor spaces. I'm sure many of them are staged just for the magazine and are not normally as fascinating as they look, but it's good inspiration, nonetheless.

So I spent a long afternoon on Sunday with a shop vac and rags cleaning up the mess and organizing my part of the shed so I have a place to work on my treasures. I think it cleaned up pretty well- and wish I had taken some "before" pics. I need to add some softer touches with linens and things, but it's on its way:

Told you I love galvanized stuff! And that thing on the right that looks like a giant eyeball is a searchlight off a Navy ship. It works- someday I will find a use for it!