Mirror, mirror on the wall (before and after)

A few weeks ago I shared this mirror I found at a garage sale for $5.



What I like about it is that it's an antique...meaning it's heavy duty with a real wood backing. This sucker probably weights at least 20 lbs.

However, I don't really need another plain old mirror. I wanted to jazz it up a bit.

I started with this F that I printed out from my computer. F being the first letter of my last name, though I guess it can stand for anything really, like friend, fabulous, freak... Then I cut it out with an X-acto knife.



I used a combination of redline and painter's tape to make frames around the monogram. I would have liked to have done something a little fancier, but I wanted this to be as quick and painless as possible, so straight lines it was.



After a few coats of Valspar Frosting spray, this is what I got.



Who knew it would be so difficult taking a picture of a mirror? The middle square is slightly tilted. Which really irritates me because I measured and measured again before spraying. Eh...I'm still fairly pleased with how it came out.

But since it's so heavy, hubs had to hang it with some sort of special toggle bolt. And he said he's not moving this thing EVER. So I guess it's here to stay. ha!

This has been a good week for thrifty treasures

(my good camera had dead batteries, so I had to use the little cheapy camera to take these pics. so you'll understand why they stink. not that I take great pictures with the good camera...)

Between hitting up a schmancy neighborhood community garage sale and a few thrift stores, I got a few cool things for almost no money.

Friday morning I hit up a few sales but didn't find much that I needed/wanted. I did see this pair of nesting tables and pounced on them, even though I knew hubs would roll his eyes and say that we don't have room for any more furniture (which is exactly what he said when he saw me unloading them from my truck).



But I loved them so, and they are solid wood and oh so cute. I couldn't pass them up for $10. I admit I stood there for the longest time debating on whether to bring them home, because I didn't know where I'd put them (it's true, we don't have any more room for furniture). Then I remembered there's a perfect spot in our master bathroom between the cabinets and the tub. I can put a basket with rolled up towels on the little table and it will be perfect.

Unfortunately, our master bathroom is halfway gutted right now, so until we finish that project, I put the nesting tables in the corner of my dining room with a couple of plants on them. It works for now.



I saw this mirror at a g-sale and it was half price, so I paid $5. It's hard to tell from my picture, but it's quite large and is one of those old mirrors...you know those heavy, wood-backed mirrors that would kill you if it fell on you.



I was lucky and found another piece of vintage Pyrex. This pattern is called Town & Country. It's a large sized bowl and was only $1. Yay! I've never seen this pattern in the thrift stores.



I found two cloches and another floral frog that I'll use to make my beaded wind chimes.




Even though I was out late on Friday night, I drug my sore, tired old bones out of bed at 7am to make the schmancy neighborhood garage sale on Saturday morning. They hold it twice a year (spring and fall).

My FAVORITE find is this pair of lamps. I thought they were so cool and funky. They are glass with a neat etched pattern. It's pretty difficult to photograph these, especially with a stinking cheapo camera. I have absolutely no idea where to put these, but I had to have them. They were only $3 each. I consider my style to be eclectic, but even so, I don't know how these will fit in with my decor. Eh, what do I care, I love them! And isn't that what really matters? :)





I was able to find another piece of Fiesta. I know some folks just collect them, but I use these as my every day dishes.



I love these ceramic candlesticks. There are actually three of them, but the small one had been broken and glued back together. It's still usable, but I don't need it right now.



Not pictured: a tripod for my camera, a linen table runner that is the perfect shade of green for fall ($2.50), a super cool pearly-type beaded scarf-style wrap necklace (love my description, don't you?), a Nordic Track that hubs has been wanting forever (got that for $10...he's used it twice, so I guess we've already gotten our money's worth..ha), a smaller camera bag for $1, and some really cute clothes...too many to take pics of...

Did you have any luck this week thrifting?

A shopaholic I am not

But you probably wouldn't know it by the last few blog posts I've had. ha! Seriously, I'm not much of a shopper. But I am a thrifter, and I think there's a big difference! :) I'm frugal and like a good bargain. Who doesn't?! Besides that, it's not necessarily the "things" that make me happy. I enjoy the process. I love scouring obscure places or piles of junk for some sweet treasure. If I don't find one, that's ok. I enjoyed it nonetheless.

This last week, hub's band was in the studio in Ft. Worth recording a new album. On Wednesday I went with him, and after spending a little while in the studio, we hit the town. We spent some time doing some fun things (more about that another day), but we took the opportunity to hit up the Ft. Worth thrift stores!

Hubs found some really cool pearl snap shirts and vintage coats that he can wear to his gigs. We also found this vintage Samsonite suit case. It was only $5! He thought it would be a good case for a snare drum. Which it is, because those suitcases are nearly indestructible. When we got it home, I thought it might be too small for a snare drum, but it was a perfect fit. I think it's very retro and cool!



This time of year seems to be good for finding holiday items on the cheap. I guess people are cleaning out their closets and getting rid of stuff, not realizing they'll probably kick themselves come holiday time, wishing they'd kept everything!

I found a cute metal halloween cat, and a cute metal sleigh that I can think of a gazillion ways to use.





The little silver tray came from the Goodwill ($2) and I bought it with a specific project in mind (no, not a chalkboard project that is all the rage right now...you'll see!). The little cone shaped basket came from an antique mall in Ft. Worth. It was something like $.50.



At that same antique mall I found a metal wall basket, which I've been on the lookout for quite a while. But I never wanted to pay the high prices. This one was under $10. It's black with an ugly gold tone, but I've already taken care of that with a little black paint.



While in the antique mall, I saw a lady trying to move a big piece of furniture. She wasn't having much luck. There were several people, including some strong men, that walked right past her without offering to help. So I did. Turns out, she's a dealer at the store and was moving it from one of her booths to another. She was so thankful that she offered to give me some candles from one of her booths. I told her it wasn't necessary, but she insisted. She ended up giving me about 7 or 8 yummy cinnamon candles (my favorite!). While talking with her, I learned that she just went through chemo for breast cancer, had back surgery last year, and is about to have hip surgery. I told her whenever I burned the candles I'd think of her and say a prayer that she has good health. Very sweet lady!



Yesterday I went to a local antique mall to just walk around and look for ideas. I found a few things on sale: a cute little heart ornament for my valentine tree, some halloween mask floral picks for my halloween tree, a cute little felt halloween pillow and a metal "believe" sign for Christmas. In total I think I spent less than $7.





Here's my fave purchase. I saw this huge glass jar that just spoke to me. It's so funky and squatty and I needed it. And, I think it was only $10. I mean really, could you have passed that up? I'm not sure if I'll put it on top of one of the armoires or maybe on top of the cabinets in the kitchen. I think this sucker weighs about 50lbs. Not really, probably only 40. ha



It's almost bigger than Cissy!



I found these two gorgeous red silk pillows at a garage sale for $2/each. That same night, I saw some similar, if not identical, at Target for $18/each. *pats self on the back for finding such a good bargain* ;) (again with the puke yellow walls? I don't know why that keeps happening in my pictures!)



In an effort to get out of the house today (I finished my housework yesterday and wanted something to do), I went to our downtown courthouse square to look for inspiration. The little shops always have such great displays and are spilling over with ideas. And I found a couple of little things I couldn't leave behind because they were such a good price. One antique store is going out of business (the building was bought by a church and is being turned into a coffee house...never mind there are already THREE coffee houses on the square! I hate that all of the antique stores are being run out!) and everything was on sale. I got this plain window for $6 (I have a project in mind for it) and a "big bag of Christmas garland" for $5!! That alone made my day. If you know me, you know I *love* decorating for Christmas, and this bag of garland would have probably cost a TON brand new. I think the dealer used it for display purposes during the holidays. You can't really tell from the picture, but that bag is filled to the max with garland...tons of it.





The little nest on an old rusty spring is new (funky, I love it!), as is the metal saucer. The cloche is not.





I can't believe it's almost the middle of August. This year has flown by. I think school starts up in a couple of weeks, because hubs said parents are calling him to get their kids back into drum lessons again. It's hotter than the surface of the sun outside, too. Seriously, it's suffocating. The A/C in my Xterra seems to have gone caplooey. Well, it's still blowing air, but it's warm air. So hopefully hubs will have that fixed sometime this week. I need to get out in the yard to clean up some flower beds, but honestly, the heat is wearing me out. I can't exactly weed beds at 3am when it's finally cooled down to a frosty 90 degrees outside! Anything interesting going on with you this week? Before we know it, it will be time to pull out all of our fall decorations and start planting mums!

I'll be linking up with Rhoda at Southern Hospitality when she gets her "thrifty finds" post up later in the weekend. If you have anything to share, be sure to stop by her blog!



Here's the link...Join the fun on the Southern Hospitality blog! We're sharing our garage sale and thrifty finds!

Patience and frugality pay off big time

I'm so stoked I can hardly stand it! This week has been a great week for thrift stores and garage sales. I don't know what I did right this week, but it paid off. Yeah!

First, my BEST garage sale find EVER! I've been wanting a chimenea for years. But I could never justify spending $200-$300 for one, so I have waited patiently. Last night I was scouring Craigslist for local garage sales, and one of them had a chimenea listed. Even though I was dead tired, I got out of bed early, made a run for the coffee shop to get my chai tea latte and headed to that sale first. I had the address, and I had mapped it out. However when I got there, I didn't see any sign of life. There weren't any signs in front of the house, and I couldn't figure out how to get to their alley where the garage/driveway is located. I thought maybe I'd mistakenly written down the wrong address, so I started to leave the neighborhood, but decided to go back and park, walk into the alley and make sure I wasn't missing something. Sure enough, I found them. And the beautiful chimenea was sitting there. I asked the lady if it was still available, and she said yes. It was only $20! Twenty dollars people!!! I just about peed my pants. She said the only reason they were selling it was because they were having a built-in fire pit put in. Score for me! I walked back out front to get my SUV and pull around to load it in. When I pulled up out back, another couple of people were looking at it and asking her about it. So I got there in the nick of time! This fall we'll really enjoy sitting on the patio with a nice fire going.



At that same sale, I also got these cute pair of wedge sandals for a couple of bucks (LOVE wedges!). I don't think they've ever been worn. I also bought this adorable lamp for $2.





At another sale, I found these great leather boots for $2. I love the grommet detail at the top and on the toes. I don't think these had ever been worn either. I'm a boot junkie. Heck, I'm a shoe junkie, but I've noticed I have quite a "collection" of boots going on.



And lastly, I found this set of three ceramic jars. I don't know where I'm going to put them, but I set them temporarily on top of the chifferobe in the living room. I can't say that I love them there, but if they have a temporary home, Hubs won't complain as much. See, you have to be smarter than the average husband! ;)



Now, earlier in the week, I went to a couple of thrift stores because I needed to get out of the house. I found this brand new metal hook rack for $3. I plan on hanging it outside on the fence so we can use it to hang our pool towels.



These cool metal "things" were a dollar or two each. They remind me of those retro star bursts, don't you agree? I've painted them already and am just waiting for Hub's opinion on where to hang them. I'll show them next week, along with that ugly mirror rehab.



I found these fun denim espadrilles, a Union Bay long-sleeve shirt, a funky t-shirt and a cute Gap linen skirt. Not pictured is a pair of denim bermuda-length shorts, two gorgeous vintage rhinestone pins (one was $2, the other $4...I've seen these same kinds at antique stores for $30 each) and a $2 bag of beautiful shells to finish the wreath you all convinced me to make for my living room.









I've had a great thrifty week. The chimenea is my pride and joy though. I can't believe I found exactly what I was looking for, and at such a great price! Did you get any good deals with weekend? Do share! :)

Join the fun on the Southern Hospitality blog! We're sharing our garage sale and thrifty finds!

Garage sale - before/after projects

This weekend we saw that a neighbor was having a garage sale, so we stopped by to see if they had anything I couldn't live without. I found a couple of things...both are things that I'd been searching high and low for, but never wanted to pay full price. Patience paid off.

First I found this set of nesting wrought iron outdoor side tables. Aren't they cute? They match my patio furniture PERFECTLY. And at $10, I couldn't leave them behind. However, they were the wrong color and the paint was a bit rusted.



After a little bit of black spray paint, they now are the perfect partner to my patio furniture! (the morning light is not great for these pictures, but you'll get an idea of how they look)



I've also been on the hunt for a pair of chunky funky candlesticks. This is something that can be very pricey, and because I'm frugal, I haven't wanted to pay full price. Besides, I change my mind on decor so often, it doesn't make sense for me to pay full price for anything. And because I worked in advertising for so many years for a major retailer, I saw the enormous amount of mark-ups that were given, I just can't bring myself to pay for anything at full price EVER. ;)

So that same garage sale had this pair of chunky funky candlesticks that I've been dreaming of. They were a really tacky gold/brass/patina color. I love a nice patina as much as the next girl, but I am not much into the gold/brass look. At $4, these were a steal. It would have been a sin to leave them behind!



I couldn't decide if I wanted to paint them black or brushed nickel, but since I had the black paint already out for the tables, I just went ahead and painted them black. I also bought two pillar candles for 50% off at Hobby Lobby. Then I added these really funky beaded garlands. I've been saving these for a long time, just waiting for the right project.







Unfortunately, the pictures aren't great. The lighting in my house is terrible for picture taking. I wish I could get a good picture of these, because they turned out really cute.

I found the garlands in Salado, TX at one of the many cute shops. They were only $6.50 a strand. I bought one green, one "topaz" and one pearl. I decided to save the pearl for another project. Those shops in Salado have these in every color imaginable, and they use them in such cool ways. They string them on anything you can think of. The best way I saw was on a chandelier. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it to show you all. Here in my town, I did see a couple of strands of these garlands at a boutique on the square, but they only had one or two color choices, and they were $14 each! Insane!

I'm pretty pleased. I wish the photos would do them justice. But then I never claimed to be a photographer. ;)

Latest weekend garage sale finds

Well, this weekend I went to a few sales with Cissy the garage-sale-loving rat terrier. She loves going to sales, but never seems to buy anything. Hubs had been out of town, so he stayed home and slept in.

I saw lots of really good things, but not much in the way of what I needed/wanted. I did manage to pick up a couple of things.

Technically, this isn't a garage sale or thrift store find, but I did get it for a good price, so I consider it a thrifty deal. I collect vintage stained glass windows. I don't know why. I just love 'em. I hang them in my windows around the house. I'm starting to run out of windows to hang them in! :) I found this one at a local antique store. I thought the design was so sweet. I even ignored the fact that there's a crack in one of the clear pieces of glass. It's from England. Since it did have a crack, I asked for a discount and got it. Usually, around here, these windows for for $90+, even with cracks. I got it for $32. For that price, the crack doesn't bother me that much. It's character.



Here's a canvas I found for $2 that I plan on recycling. If I'd bought a canvas this size for new at the store, it would have been at least $20. See, it's even already sitting on my crafting table, ready for some gesso and paint! :)



I found these really cool iron things...I assume they are drink holders, but could also be used for candle holders. She had 10 of them, but I only bought 5. They were $1 each. I stuck them in the Indian Hawthorne for the time being.





For $1 I found this wood/metal frame. I'm going to put it on the patio with a little pot filled with trailing flowers or ivy. Cute! (See my new glider? I've been on the hunt for one of those for several summers and have never been willing to pay the price. Found one this year for a good deal. Love it!)





And lastly, two metal plate/picture frame holders and a sweet little basket. Each was a quarter. I'm going to take the checked bow off the basket and put something more "me" on it, then hang it by the garage door and use for extra sets of keys. I also found a set of king sheets, but no pic.



Did you find any good deals this weekend? Join the fun on the Southern Hospitality blog! We're sharing our garage sale/thrifting finds!