Estate Sale

Sunday's paper ran an ad for an estate sale of a woman who was considered a master quilter and baker.  Estate sale + sewing + someone who loves sweets?  Yes, please.

I just had to go check out this curious adventure!

Apparently the woman had 5 children and she and her husband built their house which was secluded among the trees on 26 acres.  Her sewing room was huge and included french doors that opened up onto a second floor deck with views of the thick woods and large creek in her backyard.  Sounds romantic but the house was a complete mess!  I believe she was a bit of a hoarder!  I expected to be the only crazy person who would travel way, way, out of the way to get a bargain, but the house was packed with lots of other crazy people just like me.  What fun Wade & I had scavenging for a bargain!

Here are a few pictures of the randomness that was this estate sale.

Wrapping paper, anyone?

Vintage sewing machines

There was an impressive sale on fabric. 

Yes, that is a tree trunk in the center of the room. 

I scored two bundles of striped knit fabric. 

Several yards of charcoal gray and red velvet - thinking about making some matching Christmas outfits out of the red for Mc and Wade. 

I fell in love with this childish flannel - it has a little boy dressed as an astronaut and his dog shooting a rocket. It looks vintage, but I have no idea. 

I spun the flannel into a blanket for Mc with soft minky fabric on the reverse side. Wade's matching blanket is in the works. 

If you are as curious about this estate sale as I was, and would like to see the pictures of the merchandise before it was picked over, click here.  You won't believe your eyes.

Vintage School Desk

You'll never believe what my friend Lacey found at a yard sale!

Check out this amazing old school house desk she picked up for a mere $6!!!!  What a steal!  Somehow she knew that I was looking for one and snagged it for me.  Thank you Lacey!  I owe you big time!

McCord helped me scrub it down before he got distracted with playing with Rocky and the hose. 

And Wade supervised our work from the back porch.

Right now the desk is being used as a bedside table in the kids' room.  I plan to paint the metal portions of the desk and chair a high gloss fire engine red.  I've been inspired by these photos I found on pinterest.  Many, many thanks Lacey for sharing this great find with me!

McCord's Tractor

A water line broke outside our house last week during routine maintenance, so the City sent a truckload of workers out to do the repair.  It took several days, and McCord couldn't have been happier about that.  For 3 straight days we had a parade of tractors to entertain us.

You'd never know it by his expression in these photos, but Mc was having the time of his life.  He carried his own excavator out onto the scene - you know, just in case.

I'm thinking about creating a canvas for his room of one of these photos.  He loves to look at these pictures!  He studies every angle.  There's a great deal on 8 x 10 canvases from this site if you have photo projects you're working on.

Finders Keepers: Campaign Dresser

Guess what the Habitat Restore was throwing out last week?!!!  I found this fabulous solid oak Drexel Campaign Dresser under a pile of goods waiting to be discarded on Thursday.  I spoke to the store manager, and he said that they couldn't sell it because it required too much work.  My mom who was with me convinced me that I could handle refinishing it, so I inherited this dresser for free and have been working on it over the weekend.

This gorgeous dresser from Lonny Magazine was my inspiration.  This image has been popping up all over blog world and pinterest and I couldn't get it out of my mind.  

Here's the before picture.

And still wet with paint, here's the after.

It's in the sewing room for now, but may find it's way up to the kids' room.

My Wagon Gets Around

: : A Post By McCord : :

A few days before Thanksgiving, my mama and I took my wagon to Ikea so we could do a little shopping.  As you know, my wagon gets around.  She wanted to post about this shopping excursion several weeks ago, but it's been pretty hectic in our house between renovations and sewing and getting ready for Christmas, so I've hijacked her laptop to share a few photos with you. 

Here I am getting ready for my first Ikea experience.  We arrived early before the store opened so we could get in a full Ikea lather with all the crazies. 

And here I am practicing my Ikea happy dance. Inspired by the music video Thriller.

It helps if you get your mouth involved in the dance too.  Just let it all out! 



Now that we've gotten that behind us, let's shop!

Here are a few pictures my mom took of products she was tempted to buy...

This big stripe runner for $35

And this one for $39

She loved this fixture and I think she wants to go back and get it for the new room I'll be sharing with baby brother or sister when renovations are complete.

And she liked this too - but couldn't figure out where to put it.

She did a little Ikea dance herself when she saw that this fixture was drastically reduced from $90 to $40.  She really debated but....



...decided to go with this large pendent instead.  I'm really glad she chose it, but we'll see how long it takes her to assemble it.

The wagon was perfect to lug around all of our loot!



I'm a lover, what can I say?  I hug and kiss everything. 



After a full morning of shopping, we refueled in the cafeteria.  I had a fine meal of chicken fingers and fries. 

And then I made some new friends in the kids' play station in the cafeteria.  This little girl has 5 brothers and sisters!  Her mom brought all of them to Ikea. 



This friendly guy is one of her siblings.  His name is J-A-A-D-E-N.  I know because every time he told me his name he spelled it out for me.  

After we played, mama loaded me back in the wagon and proceeded to take the tray with our dirty dishes to the tray station.  Right then, J-A-A-D-E-N came running over to me to give me one last hug.  As mama was turned around to watch us, she must have forgotten about the tray she was carrying while pulling the wagon, because it tipped forward, and she dropped the whole thing on the ground.  Dirty dishes and all.  And they all shattered to pieces of course.  It was kind of embarassing.  All I could say was, "uh uh uh uh uh uh uh OH!"

And here's one thing you should know about taking a wagon to Ikea.  If you do something embarassing, and then decide to go hide in the crowds of shoppers and act like you're a normal human being, the wagon will give you away.  Not that we tried to do that or anything.   

Mama also contemplated these fun panels for the playroom.

And I'd love to have this swing in my bedroom, but mama said we should wait until I'm a bit older.



And this one's pretty cool too.



Check out the little boy in the background.  He's checking out my ride!



I dedicate this post to Papa and Gee Gee for giving me the wagon for my birthday.  As you can see, it was a perfect gift and I'm thinking about decorating it for Christmas.  It's kind of like my sleigh.

Vintage Finds for Mc's Room

Today was a great day to visit the Habitat ReStore.  McCord and I came home with two matching chairs in a beautiful peacock blue for $85 each.  Here's a picture of McCord checking out one of them.  Both chairs are in great condition and appear as if they've never been used.  I love the piping and tufted back cushion.

 I debated on which room to put them in, but McCord seems to think they're his, so for now they are in his bedroom.  They match perfectly with the fabric I've picked out for his window treatments. 

His room is still a work in progress, but it's slowly coming together.  We also bought a couple of framed puzzles for Mc's room.  Both are replicas of vintage ads for the Barnum Bailey circus.  I forgot to photograph those pieces, so I'll have to post about them later. 

I found this vintage paint by numbers picture at a yard sale last weekend.  The frame is a little damaged, so I'll have to do something about that, but I love the image, and for $1, I couldn't pass it up.  Perfect for a little boy's room.  

I've been working on our kitchen/desk area.  It's kind of a mess.  If you've been over to visit you know what I mean.  It's a large space, but inefficiently planned.  A kitchen reno isn't in the budget with the loads of other items on the to-do list that are demanding attention right now, so instead I'm trying to divert attention away from the wonky kitchen with fabric.  Sounds desparate right?  That's about how we feel.  Anyway, here's a chair I purchased at a thrift store for $10 that we'll use in the desk area that juts off of the kitchen.  I just had it reupholstered and can't wait to show you the after picture.  Will try to post that later this weekend. 

For now we are busy sprucing up!  Doe Doe is coming to visit this weekend to help us fix stuff!