Thrifted Fabric

I mentioned on Sunday that I'd gone thrifting. 

My favourite source of fabric is thrift store sheets.  They're wider than what you can find at the fabric store.  And if you work with the hems that are there when making curtains, you can cut your sewing time in half.

Sometimes it seems like all you can find are pilled polyester in unfortunate colours, but if you dig a bit, there are treasures to be found.  On Saturday, I found four cotton sheets in colours I could work with.  That's roughly ten yards of extra-wide cotton, for fifteen bucks. 

SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow I'll share my instructions for a lazy shower curtain.

Government Surplus Auctions - A Whole New Source of Vintage Finds

In the course of doing research for some freelance work, I stumbled on the wonderful world of government surplus auctions and just had to share!

Sites like Public Surplus list all kinds of cool and funky treasures for the home decorator.  Admittedly, a lot of it is downright weird, and it can take some time to sort through it all.  But look at the treasures you can turn up!

This could be kind of cool in a dining room, if you took off the tag and straightened up that shelf.  Current bid?  $3.75, going up in twenty five cent increments!

Current price on this one?  A BUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the perfect chaise for my bay window.  If only I lived in Maryland!

 

Just a word of caution.  This isn't eBay.  The sellers don't deliver.  Be sure you're within range of where the stuff is being sold  so you can easily pick up your vintage treasures.

Scarves: The Versatile Fashion Accessory

The house that we're staying in has sheer curtains on the bedroom windows.  The bedroom that's on the front of the house.  Overlooking the street.

I was raised to be a modest girl.  This was not acceptable.

I needed something quick and temporary, that wouldn't look, well, as ugly as the couch.  In stepped my collection of scarves.  Hung from the curtain rods, they filter the light, add a sense of privacy and look not too bad.

I've also used a scarf as a table runner, draped one across the foot of the bed, and made the occasional skirt, in addition to keeping my neck warm while looking stylish.

Try doing that with a pair of shoes!

Containers - Gardening for the Uncommitted

I said yesterday that I'm not a very enthusiastic gardener.  And that's true, when we're talking about working on open ground.

Container gardening is different, somehow.  It's more manageable.  More temporary.  Easier.

Plus it's a great excuse to buy up more rusty bits of junk...

Pretty!

Alan and I had our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary last month. 

I can't say "we celebrated" because we haven't done that yet.  We will, at some point, possibly once we get our heads around the fact that we've been married such an impossibly long time....

Our friends are a little more organized than we are.  Fiona came for dinner last night and brought us this.

Her mother received it as a wedding present in 1928.  It seems far too pretty to hold greasy buttered toast.  So I've put it on my desk to hold invitations.  I love that it's an upside down heart shape - seems perfect for weddings, yes?

 

Canning Jar Holder

Sorry if this looks funny. My computer has decided to take the summer off, so I'm working in Blogger, on my husband's computer. And I almost remember how!

I have a couple of these old canning jar holders hanging on my deck. They make great candle holders. But then I thought to myself, hmm...

Yup! They'd work in the bathroom to hold shampoos, etc. Or maybe in the kitchen, holding fruit or spice jars.

I didn't take a picture of one actually in my bathroom because we're trying to sell the place and I can't go putting extra holes in the wall.

Not even for this blog....

Easy Re-usable Place Cards

We had a dinner party Sunday night.  And I used these place cards.

Just second-hand tiles I picked up at the Habitat ReStore.  I chose plain white because it goes with anything.  But there are lots of funky colours available. 

Write peoples' initials with an erasable marker.  At the end of the evening, wipe them clean and put them away for next time!

Salvage Shark

I love this photo of a sculpture of a shark, made from salvaged materials, rusty bits of this and that, adding up to "SHARK".  I don't know about you, but I always admire the eye that can see those possibilities.

From Christopher Heschong's Flickr stream

Musee d"Orsay - Repurposing on a Grand Scale

You can't go to Paris and skip the Musee d'Orsay.  Even on our very first, three-day visit, it was on the agenda, and  rightly so.

Just across the Seine from the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay started life as a train station.  But as the population grew and traffic patterns changed, it was no longer needed for that purpose.  What to do?

This being Paris, the first thought wasn't, thankfully, "Let's tear it down and put in a strip mall!!!!"  It's a beautiful structure that needed some grand purpose to fulfill its destiny.

And what better purpose than housing an art collection?

The tracks were torn up and flooring put down, but you can still see that it was once a train station. 

*Update* I've just noticed that this post has totally replaced my last one, instead of just adding onto it, like they're supposed to.  Ugh!  I've mentally re-traced my steps and figured out what I've done.  I'll try to get the pics back up this afternoon, but don't think I can adjust the comments.  So Corine's comment and my reply are about that, currently invisible post! 

I thought I was being so productive, too, blogging in the morning.....

A Planter on Wheels

Work on the bedroom continues.  Right now, we've got plaster drying.  Which, exciting as it is for us, may not be such a thrill for you.

Thankfully, there's Flickr...

I love this idea!  And the fact that the pram is such a lovely shade of green makes the transition to planter seem like a natural!

Franklin seems to agree!

Photos from shnnn's Flickr stream

The Boo Boo Box

I've been doing a bit of sewing lately and thought you might like to see my sewing kit.

It's a family heirloom. When I was growing up, it held the first-aid supplies (most of them).

I'm the youngest of seven children and, man, we were a clumsy bunch! Broken arms, punctured kidneys, beans up noses. And endless, endless scraped-up knees and bloody noses. There would be a crash, followed by the pitter-patter of little feet and screams of, "Muuuuuuuuuum! Get the Boo Boo Box!"

I'm grown now and, thankfully, a little less in need of first aid (It's all a matter of knowing what to avoid. Like ironing. Or knives.).

Anyway, the Boo Boo Box is mine and it now houses my needles and threads and stuff.

I like that it's so small. This should help to keep my collection of supplies from raging out of control. If it doesn't fit in the box, it's time to get rid of something.

But no, I'm not taking the lid off for you.

Serendipity

Since deciding to open my shop, I've found it interesting to see what treasures I can let go and what gets under my skin and makes me want to keep it.

I found this in some junk shop or other. I don't really know what it is. Shotglass holder, maybe? A holder for shaving accoutrements? Who knows? I like it because it has a nice patina and I like the weight of it. So even though it had no apparent use for me, it never quite made it into the shop.

Then for Christmas, friends of ours gave us these tea-light holders and I thought, hmmm....

A perfect fit!

Not that I'm advocating holding onto things. Or at least, not TOO many things!

A Good Idea That Needs Some Work

Over the holidays, we went to visit our friends Jimmy and Daishi.

While waiting for coats to be taken and boots to come off, Daishi showed us the front hall closet she'd converted into a pantry. It's right next to the kitchen. And, while they entertain frequently, she cooks every day, so I agreed that it made much more sense to use the closet for kitchen-related things and to throw the coats on the bed. There's no rule that you have to run your house according to the builder's wishes!

One of the best ideas she had was to use an old dish-rack for storing all her serving platters. It makes them easier to access than having them stacked on a shelf somewhere.

I wanted to use this idea in my house. Currently, my platters are stacked on a bench that's supposed to be for extra seating at potlucks. But I don't have an old dishrack, or enclosed storage. Hmm...

I did have this old fridge shelf down in the shop. Since I'm closed for the season, I brought it upstairs.

And it almost works!

The wire uprights on the back need a space behind them so the platters can lean in securely. I'm thinking a scrap of wood, painted to match the wall should do nicely.

Sometimes it takes a couple of tries for an idea to work. But that's how we learn, right?

Hop Aboard the Guestroom Express!

Sorry about the title - the fun and festiveness of the season must be getting to me!

My friend Margaret bought me this train because I'd been waxing tearful about how it looked just like the one my Granddad made that I'd played with as a kid but didn't inherit because the man had sixteen grandchildren so the odds were against me.

It's very handy for storing stuff. In our last house, it was in the bathroom, holding my make-up. But this bathroom has SO MUCH storage that the train goes in the guestroom to hold nice things our overnighter's might need.

I know that lots of folks have started their Christmas holidays already, but please check back here through the weekend. If I can get everything to work, I'll be making an announcement tomorrow.

And I've found some really cool sites for my Lazy Sunday Links (there's still room, if you'd like your site added!)

And that's what's known as "creating buzz". Excited?

Easy Candle Holders

Tomorrow's the shortest day of the year and I'm all about the candle-power!

You can find these milk-glass vases in just about any thrift store. And they're still wonderfully inexpensive. Collect a bunch, pop in candles and enjoy the warm glow.

Sorry this post is so short. We spent yesterday finishing up at the triplex. This involved moving incredibly heavy doors and cleaning the basement floor. The basement with a ceiling that's roughly six inches shorter than I am.

Some days being a landlady is almost as much fun as being a boxer. A really bad one.

Strip The Bed - Set The Table

More thrifted Christmas ideas.

You can find nice old quilts at thrift stores and auctions. This one was a hand-me-down from my Great Aunt. If the stuffing's not too thick, they make cheery table coverings.

All of our dishes are thrifted. They don't have to match, though I think the table looks more elegant if they have something in common. In our case, we go for white backgrounds.

We also have two sets of flatware. When I set the table, I try to have matching pieces at each individual setting. I just find it easier to manoeuvre if the knife and fork are basically the same weight.

Flowers can be hard to come by this time of year. But you really can't go wrong with candles and a scattering of Christmas ornaments.

Tsing Tao Water Bottles

Caving in utterly to the demands of the season, I've decided to post a few ideas for holiday table-setting this week, using thrifted or, in today's case, diverted-from-recycling finds.

Someone brought a case of Tsing Tao beer to one of our monthly potlucks awhile back.

I love this particular shade of green glass, so I saved the bottles. I think they'll look lovely at our Christmas Eve dinner, one at each place as individual water bottles.

The stoppers are cherry tomatoes, to play up on the green and red Christmas theme.

Other Peoples' Castoffs

We're still working over at the other house.

The previous tenants (and probably other tenants before them) have left behind a lot of stuff. We've been sorting through it and trying to rescue what's salvageable.

One of the items I found was this - bedsprings for a single bed. It's not much use without a frame. The local auction house won't take it.

So.... come the spring, I think I'll stand it up in the garden somewhere and use it as a support for Morning Glories.

If I didn't already have one, it would also work as a message board. You could clip bits of paper to it with clothespins...

Another Fryer Basket

I did a bit of thrifting on Monday. And found this.

I really like the look of it. And the handle comes off, which makes it truly versatile!

I'm thinking as a basket, for storing small things. Or a candle holder. Especially if you flip it upside down over a lit candle (just be careful not to burn yourself!).

You could wire it up as a really nice hanging lamp....

Oh! The possibilities!


Or Maybe I'll Just Keep It For The Photographic Possibilities Of The Mesmerizing Patterns Inside!

Decorating With Found Objects - Part 5

Just a few last pictures and then a little homily (it's Sunday, after all...).

You see this idea everywhere. But it really does make washing the dishes a little more pleasant.

And more twigs. The first one is from a few years ago, when we were living with my mother. It was a really hot day and I was trying to catch a breeze. Normally we didn't tie up the curtains!




And a hook on the back of the bedroom door. It's sturdy enough to hold up my painting coveralls!



And now for the little homily.

I hesitated a little before doing this series. I don't want to add to anyone's clutter. I've had my own troubles with clutter in the past.

So saying "Hey! Save up your old bottles and containers and, oh, spare twigs you find on your daily walks," may seem, at first glance, a bit irresponsible, a bit adding to the problem, instead of solving it.

But here's how I make use of old packaging and stray twigs. I decide I need something first. As in: I need a hook for the back of the door. What can I find that will do? Rather than: I might need this someday, for something, so I'll tuck it away here, just in case.

Let me assure you, my method works well on two fronts. It keeps my house clutter-free (or relatively so - I still need to do regular clear-outs). And when I decide I need something, it really takes me almost no time at all to find the thing that will do.

So there you have it. Funky and vintage do not have to equal cluttered.