Thrift Shop China

Over the past few years I’ve collected china teacups and saucers for my friends to use at my annual Jane Austen party. I’m getting a nice little collection.

For quite some time I’ve considered collecting more china pieces to use for little get-togethers. The big hold up was that I wanted pieces with red. Well, it seems that the only china to be found with red in the design is Christmas china. Either that or people love it so much they don’t give it to thrift stores.

I don’t have a new china set of my own, a situation I hope to remedy in the future, but in the meantime I finally decided to give up on china with red in it, and just collect a few larger plates to mix and match.

Now every time I go in the thrift store I look to see if there’s a plate or two that strikes my fancy.

I love mixing and matching and stacking the plates. The plates can look so different when paired with another style that you notice new things in the design with every stack.

-Lynnae

A Pink Fiesta

Look what I just found!

Fiesta ‘Flamingo’!

This will be a great addition to my lovely rainbow of Fiesta dinnerware. I’m so excited!

The color is still in preorder but I ordered a few to add to my collection. I’m so excited. They look so lovely!

In other news…. Our England trip is less than a month away. I’m freaking out a little bit right now. And I’m so very grateful I have a sister who lives there to not only invite me, but be familiar with the area a bit. It’s strange to travel without my husband.

Speaking of his deployment, he ate camel meat. Can you believe it?

And on the home front, today is the last day of school. My daughter went to the park with friends and I brought them a bag full of treats to celebrate. And in an unusual twist for Washington, it actually LOOKED like summer. Hoorah!

-Lynnae

Living Room Corner

For a while now I’ve been working on this little corner of my living room. I had this crazy idea to paint an ugly 70’s lamp, so of course I did. My husband HATED it. Oh well. I was sad but more determined to put it front and center. I returned two shades to the store as ‘not quite right’ before my sister and I stumbled upon this one at a local Goodwill. It looks like it was made for my room. Once the lampshade came home everything else started to fall into place.

  I did try two or three ‘objects’ to set on the books, moving them from other locations in the house and nothing looked quite right. Then, while eating Thai food and thinking about the neon sign of our local Thai restaurant, with it’s mommy and baby elephant, I got the idea that what I really needed (OK, maybe not NEEDED) was a little ellie of my own. The next thing you know I come across this ceramic elephant on the clearance shelf at Michaels. Happy me.

Our Kana Poster is from our stay in Japan, and the Heywood mirrored bedside cabinet in from Pier One (there’s a similar on the other side of the piano).

How do you like it?

Intricate and Beautiful

Look at the lovely screen I picked up on my last trip to Hobby Lobby. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it when we were on a trip to Utah. We came home and I dreamed about it for the next two months. When I went back to bring home my college girl I made a trip to Hobby Lobby in Orem with my sister. I picked up a few iron easels for the wedding reception. I also saw ‘my’ screen again, and it was on sale. It’s a lovely green color that looks fabulous in my house, and looks great against white walls too.

Since bringing it home I have tried out several locations. I love this area in my living room, and it’s stayed here the longest, but I really would like it in my family room just so I could stare at it more.

What do you think?

-Lynnae

Vanity Project.

I was looking for a new vanity dresser for my bedroom. I couldn’t face another summer of getting ready for church at my sink in a busy, humid bathroom. But I was hoping to go the cheap route, with either an inexpensive new vanity dresser, (under $150ish) or a thrift store desk that I could fix up cute and add a mirror to.

But low and behold, one day at the thrift store I found a darling vintage vanity. It wasn’t a cheap desk to fix up, but it fell within my loose budget for a vanity. I was hoping for something with character that I could paint a charming white, or a sassy black, and it would look so good in my bedroom. I debated for a few minutes, and then, assisted b the encouragement of a gray haired lady who was also shopping there, I bought it.

All the way home I went back and forth between white and black paint. But you know what? The more I looked back in the rear view mirror, the more the sunlight caught that wood grain, the more I knew I couldn’t paint it- yet. There’s no rush. It’s great as it is. And I’m a sucker for a glorious wood grain. And, just like the white or black paint, the wood grain would look awesome in my bedroom. (That’s the beauty of having a turquois bedroom!)

So, for the time being the vanity will keep it’s grain. The wood is in great condition, except for the table top area, which I can cover until I choose to fix it. The furniture is sturdy, strong, clean and well made. I am so excited to ‘girly it up’, like a cross between Elizabeth Taylor’s vanity in “Whose afraid of Virginia Wolf”, and Molly Ringwald’s cheery dresser in “Pretty in Pink”.

This………

plus this……..

will someday soon be mine!

Other things on my agenda:

My Army Man husband has been gone for a month for training. It’s good to have him home!

Also, my daughter’s bridal’s are coming up, and wedding plans, wedding plans, wedding plans!

-Lynnae

Lovely Finds

I was at the local Ben Franklin store to get a few items for my daughters costume for the school play and ran across these lovely, old carved wood print blocks. They were in a bin in the back, dirty and well used and absolutely beautiful. I had to get a couple to display around the house.

They had a lot of other great things there too. I feel lucky to live close to a Ben Franklin store, and just need to get there more often!

Aren’t they gorgeous?

-Lynnae

Stand a Little Taller

I saw this cute sign while I was out shopping the other day. I don’t know what I like more, the cottage style, the Empire State Building, or the cheery message.

“Stand a Little Taller- Make Each Day a Little Better Than the One Before”.

That’s just what I need to see when I come down on a groggy school day morning.

I bought the sign at Cost Plus World Market. They had a lot of merchandise out for spring and I couldn’t resist a photo of these brightly colored decorations.

It’s good to have your camera with you.

Last week I also got a little tired of the shelves in my family room. So they went from this……

To this…… I need to switch out some accessories I think, But I only can seem to get a little done at a time, so it’s a start. To some people (like my sweet husband) it may seem like I randomly pulled out some paint and started painting something, but this shelf has been bugging me, and I’ve been thinking about painting it for a long time.

Not that there’s anything wrong with randomly painting something……

-Lynnae

More Thrift Store Finds

Today I was out shopping the thrift stores looking for a dress for my daughter’s Halloween costume. Once I had a good dress in hand, I had to do a little searching for myself.

I found two small Battenberg style tablecloths, perfect for my next Jane Austen party, $3.99 each. And then…..and then I saw this lovely beaded scarf, excellent embroidery, excellent color, oh…… from the moment I saw it a regency ball gown developed in my head with this beadwork gracefully flowing down.

Not like anything I had planned to make for this year, so whether I can make it into something in time for this year’s ball I don’t know, but it will be made at some point. The scarf is long, about 8 feet, and a lovely ecru color.

The cost for this piece of loveliness? $4.99.  Score!

 

Thrift Store Find

    I had a few minutes to kill down in town and decided to check out Goodwill. I like to go there presumably to look for frames I can use, but always look at the furniture, and I saw these cute little turquoise chairs. I knew they would look great in my breakfast nook. The paint is a little chippy, probably from being repainted without a primer. That look is in though too, so I will live with that for a while while I decide if I want to touch them up. After having a mish-mosh of chairs all these years I love seeing matching chairs in there. And the best part…. four chairs for $3.99 each.

Left: old chairs. Right: with the new chairs.

A Fashionista Shout Out

  Ladies, if you have never been to Reachel Bagley’s Blog,
 Cardigan Empire, go pay a quick visit. She gives great examples of styles to fit your personal figure, do’s and don’ts, great links to outfits, and more. And she does it all with sweetness and charm, including answering reader questions and offering a style booklet for your own body type. Check it out!

-Lynnae

Thrift Store Find

I decided to join up with Junkin’ Monday today because I have the most awesome find. My Halloween costume.

Usually I don’t dress up much because I’m pretty busy trying to round up stuff for the kids. My husband will either wear a gross clown wig or put one of those nails with fake blood on his face (or both). But a while back he commented (teased) about how I like to get dressed up in dresses. This got me thinking……why not do it for Halloween? So I went about trying to find the perfect flouncy poofy skirt that I could put some tight princess like bodice with to create the ultimate girly costume- a Princess Angel Fairy.

 

Once I decided I wanted a poofy slip the thrift stores where I usually hunt for costume supplies had none to be found.

And then last week I was across town and happened to check the Goodwill, and I found it! My dream Princess Angel Fairy dress. And it fit. And it was el Cheapo!

I can’t wait to put the whole thing together. I can’t wait to answer the door to trick-or-treaters in it! Fun!

Junkin’ Monday

Click to link to Junkin’ Monday.

Junkin’ Monday is a chance to show off cool thrift store or garage sale finds. I get so many cool ideas from creative ladies out there in blogland, making things much cuter than you can find in stores, and at such a low price. It feels so wonderful to find cool things cheap, and to make old things look cool.

I do have to say that my dear sweet hubby, while he’s a wonderful man, hates old stuff. He Hates. Old. Stuff. So I try to restrain myself from going vintage shopping or over to the Goodwill too much.  But sweetie. Don’t be hatin’.

This past week I went to Goodwill looking for a trench coat for my daughter’s spy costume. I ‘spied’ this AWESOME vintage globe. It’s about 3 1/2 feet high and has a cool turquoise color that didn’t come across too well in my picture. I knew it would look great in our family room. Alas, hubby kindly suggested it would be a neat thing to have in my craft studio. So there you go.

 

I always have to look through the frames, because I have paintings and frames are so expensive. A couple weeks ago I found this gorgeous chippy gold mirror over there for nine bucks. The thing is heavy. It too will look great in my studio. And if you read Somerset’s Belle Armoire you know why I hunted out a few vintage slips. I am dying to dye them!

Drop me a comment so Sweetie knows I’m not the only one in the world who likes these things.

-Lynnae

Anastasia’s Attic

Anastasia’s Attic was the highlight of our Saturday shopping spree. OK, it may have been more of a looking spree. Traveling home by plane has its benefits on the pocketbook. But I did manage to acquire a few objects small enough for my carry on.

           

The front porch of Anastasia’s Attic, displaying Halloween wares.

This lovely shop can be found in Gardner Village in West Jordan, Utah. The situation is ideal- a collection of tiny cottages once built by a polygamist to house his various families. The quaint homes and mill have been refurbished and now house a collection of charming shops.

Anastasia’s Attic is full of romantic home furnishings and lovely gift items. I went with my mother and daughter and this was our favorite stop on the trip.

Left, with my mother.   Right, My daughter Hillary.

As we entered we met the lovely store proprietor, Tara Starling. She greeted us warmly and gave us each a star of fairy dust on our cheek. She even paused for a photo with me.

I am on the left, with shop owner Tara Starling on right.

The shop was a feast for the eyes. Honestly, when I entered I just had to stand still for a moment and look around. I was so excited!

While I loved all the soft pastels and romance, the jewel tones of this front room really spoke to me. Look at all the treasures!

Next time you are in Utah, Anastasia’s Attic is certainly a must visit!

My New Favorite Store

While I was down in Utah for Thanksgiving my sisters introduced my to my new favorite store, Tai Pan Trading. There's not much on the website but here it is anyway...
http://www.taipantrading.com/
Forget the smiling Marie Osmond on the site with her arms full of delicate Christmas gifts...picture me in a state of shopping...euphoria/panic, clutching a shelf thats too big for the cart but I'm not setting it down for anything!
I had a great day shopping with Mom and a few of my sisters, and though I didn't stay within budget, I wasn't too bad for a first timer.
Picture me entering a huge store full of cute must-have housewares, being offered a free piece of fudge, that can hardly compete with the smell of the cinnamon rolls....
I did score some cute Christmas decorations, but the fun part is that the other things havent even been unpacked yet. I was waiting for Christmas to be over before I worked them into the decor. So I still have some of the exitement ahead of me!