New Table Top and Stove Board...

I thought I would give you a break from thrifting posts and share with you two projects my dad did for me. The first is a new table top for my kitchen table. It lengthened my table by a whole foot(so now it's 9' long) and it gave it the wood top that I wanted instead of the painted black top. I did paint the legs black though. And it will age nicely over time, after all, kids don't hurt country furniture, they only enhance it.

And that is the dough bowl, now painted black sitting on the table.
And here is the huge dough/stove board that my dad made. My dad had never seen one and kind of misunderstood me about the dimensions, so instead of sitting on my stove top, it completely covers it. But that is totally fine and I love it! And there is Mr. piggy from one of my previous posts.
He even built the board to sit on the counter on each side so that it is slightly raised off the stove, just in case I put it back on before the stove is completely cool, which makes it a bit safer.
Have a great weekend everyone!!

Tiff

Thrifting With Mom Part 3....

Mom and I hit goodwill multiple times during their visit. Here are my treasures, my mom found plenty of her own but I don't have pics of hers.

This first pic is a cluttered with stuff, I was in the process of painting things and quickly cleaned off the table so we could eat and the mess ended up on the floor. Anyway, I got a wood basket, several wood candle holders, a wood spice/paper towel rack,and a small doll chair(all to be redone and for my sale). The little high chair is from another excursion months ago.

This pic shows a small basket, a box of vinatge chenille stems, a star candle holder, and 5 packs of basket making supplies and instructions.
I found a new oil lamp(never had been used, and will be great for when we lose power in the summer with thunderstorms) and this cute wood boat shelf(that is going to my friend Anatoli).
Lots of crocheted items...
A solid copper bowl for my collection(a steal at $2.99) and a Peterboro basket and casserole dish that is also a lazy susan, it still had the original tag on it(I will admit that I paid more than I should have for it, but I still think it was worth it, $19.99)
Went back another time and found another box of chenille stems(I love the box and the fact that they are made in the USA). Also found some stripped wool.
And last but not least, this hooked rug for $9.99. It was in an aweful dirty state. But after a night sitting with Borax all over it, then soaking it with rug cleaning and jet spraying with the hose, then sitting in the sun for 3 days, it is beautiful. This is a before shot, I will share an after shot later. I am amazed how after a good cleaning that the color came back, almost as good as the back of it looks and it smells totally fresh. I'm sure if it had been cleaned, they would have asked a lot more for it.
I still have a lot more to share from yard sales and junk shops. Right now I'm trying to put it all away and figure out what will be getting redone and such.

Have a great day,

Tiff

Thrifting With Mom Part 2....

This day of junking happened by total accident and was a result of a miscommunication. I thought my mom wanted to go back to a junk store that we had been to the day before, but my mom thought we were heading to a yard sale we had seen the day before. My wrong way led us by a house that had a gentleman carrying a white dressing table to the curb. My mom yells "Turn around quick!!"(I get my junking spirit from her), so I did. Turns out that the wife was there too and the couple was cleaning up the outside of their rental house. They said we could take whatever we wanted. So here is our haul....

A dozen or so garden tools. Which I put a few out as decor around my picket fence and the rest our going to get bird houses attached to them for my sale in November.

An old tool box, flour sifter, and miter box(all getting made over for my sale). Two big pots, which geraniums will be going into. A muffin pan and colander that my mom took. And a bog old basket that I have already spray painted in a pretty nutmeg color(I'm keeping it).
And of course the dressing table, which the drawer was filled with old sewing supplies, including a red painted wood sock darner. I was going to redo the table and put it in my youngest daughter's room, but she doesn't want it, so it will go to the sale after a makeover. Oh, and a blue glass canning jar.
So our little miscommunication turned out pretty well :) Oh, and we ended up going back for a 12' wood ladder and a pair of wood steps. My dad cut down the ladder for me and it's in my kitchen now(pics coming later) and the wood steps were redone and now are steps into the playground area. Have to love FREE!!!

Have a lovely day and stay tuned for more of our thrifting,

Tiff

Thrifting With Mom Part 1....

The past week and a half has flown by with my parents here. My dad has been busy doing projects for me and me and my mom have been junking and thrifting.

Our first haunt is always Goodwill. We went to the big new one that opened up recently. While I found it a bit dirty and very crowded, I did manage to find some things...

I found this old hearth basket, in the same patina as some of my other old baskets.

A wood match stick box, a small broom, a wood embroidery holder, and 2 battery candle sticks.
This neat wood and metal candle holder.
A wood plate rack that I was going to prim up. Turned out that my Pfaltzgraff Folk Art dishes wouldn't fit properly in it, but my mom's Village dishes worked, so I gave it to her.

And last was this gorgeous tablecloth that was in perfect condition.
After GW, we found a yardsale that was all new stuff from the Sturbridge Yankee Workshop. I got this long dough bowl for $10 (which is now painted black, I'll share pics later)...
This wood trash bin for $10. We are using it as a can recycling bin. I may paint it black or red, I haven't decided yet...
And this metal chalkboard pig for $10. He is now hanging above my stove.
My mom got a pig, a shelf, and a lovely camel back bench. The bench retails for $279, but she got it for $40.

This was just the beginning of our finds, stay tuned to see the rest!

Have a fantastic day,


Tiff

Thrift Finds, Crafting, and Answers...

Happy Wednesday everyone! I'll warn you, this is going to be a long post...

I'll start with answering some questions from the comments....

About my front door vegetable garden, this is only the 2nd year we have had it. Last year we learned what did and didn't work for us, so this year we are only planting green beans, zucchini, squash, beets, tomatoes, and an assortment of herbs. The boxes in the middle are approximately 5'x5', I wanted to make it so I could easily reach the middle of the boxes on all sides for easy weeding and picking of produce. The long boxes along the fence are about a foot wide and that is where we plant the beans. The boxes are made of the cheapest rough sawn wood at the lumber yard(not pressure treated) and are nail gunned together. We then put weed blocker and mulch on the pathways. This is just a small garden to produce a small supplement to our food bill in the summer. I'm not a gardener by any means, so this is all I can handle right now.

About me and my family, nope, we aren't Mormon. I just like kids and like making things.

And about the ketchup and the tin foil trick. You just rub some ketchup onto the rusty chrome and gently rub with a wad of tin foil. Wipe away the residue and continue until the rust is gone(doesn't take long). If the rust hasn't eaten through the chrome finish, the piece will look like new(as was the case with the bell on the trike). But if the rust has eaten through the chrome, this will only take off the rust and you will see the metal base below, but at least the rust will be gone. This also works with coke and tin foil, but I find the ketchup easier to work w ith. It's something about the acid in the ketchup and I'm not sure why the tin foil, but it does work.

I found out yesterday that my parents will be arriving a day earlier, which is tomorrow!! So I am in major panic mode and am running around trying to get the house in order. So I probably won't post again until the weekend, after yard saling and thrifting with my mom.

Oh, and did I mention my string of household unfortunateness(is that a word?) ? First, I lost one of the diamonds in my wedding ring, which hasn't been found. Then our dishwasher broke this weekend and hubby can't find out what's wrong with it. And my one of my rear tires keeps going flat. So after spending $50 at the auto shop this morning, he couldn't find a hole in it but tells me I need a whole new set of tires soon. He was surprised they passed the state inspection last week. So that is close to $700 !!! UGH! I just hope that hubby can get the dishwasher figured out this weekend and this is the end to this streak.

And Catherine, if you are reading this, I promise I will email back you this weekend!!!

Now for the pics...

Here are my GW finds. A wool blanket...

These old wood skis, I Love the pointy tips on them and they still have their leather bindings...
A whole bolt of quilting fabric(11 yards) and a bag of tin cookie cutters....
Then my yard sale finds. A very old rocker that is so incredibly comfy and totally hand made...
A wood trunk with some history. Written on th inside it says it was bought for Calvin Stone of St. Johnsburg, VT in 1811. Then in another person's hand writing are different dates of when and where it traveled. Plus, it has its original first coat of paint on it. And I did some research online and this person really existed.

Oh, and I found this basket at GW. It was an ugly 70's ratan color, so I spray painted it chocolate brown...
Now for the quick craft I had to do at 10 last night because my 3rd grader needed a going away gift for his intern teacher. I made a tote bag and put the work "inspire" on it. I just stitched the word on and them cut away the fabric and left it fringy...
Lined the bag in red dot and added a pocket.
And I couldn't let another week pass without sharing Mason with you all. Here are two pics from this morning. He was being goofy and smiling at me and making faces. I just love black and white pics lately and love picnick, it makes it so easy to change pics....

Have a great week everyone!!

Tiff

Brotherly Love 3...

Another Sweet Shot Tuesday and the last in my theme of brotherly love. My youngest daughter and I made a quick trip to GW yesterday afternoon and we found this Radio Flyer tricycle for $5.99. We knew my 3yr old would love it and it turns out we were right:) We washed it up, used ketchup and tin foil on the rusty chrome parts and it was good to go. Of course he couldn't wait to try it out, so even though they were already bathed and in their jammies, we ended out on the driveway taking it for a test spin. He even shared it with his brothers and let them go along for a ride.

Here are my 6 yr old and 3yr old sons....

And I thought the striped jammies on these two looked cute in black and white, so here is m 9yr old with my 3yr old.
And the proud new trike owner...
I found a few other great finds at gw, which I will share with you tomorrow.

Have a fantastic day,

Tiff

Picket Fence and Kitchen Chairs...

We worked in the yard again this weekend. Pulled a ton of weeds from the flower beds, painted the new fence, replanted some plants, added some dirt, stirred up the mulch, and cleaned out the garage. Here are some pics of the new fence surrounding my front door vegetable garden(which won't get planted until May)...

And my 16 yr old painted my kitchen chairs for me. Yes, they are red and No, I'm not crazy. I wanted a change and some color in my kitchen. I think they will look nice when my dad redoes my kitchen table for me. He is going to redo the top and make it look like an old farm table with pine boards. And thank you to Andy for the inspiration for the chairs, she has the same ones but painted hers black. I had never thought about painting mine until I saw hers.
Have a lovely day,

Tiff

Hallway Corner...

Thank you for the suggestions for my decorating dilemma. Here is what I have come up with for now, I seem to have a bit of decorator's block, so while I'm not thrilled with this, it will have to do. I'm also struggling with style dilemmas. I love the pure primitive look, but I don't have all the stuff to make that work. But I also like the "just old fashioned" look, like Road to Avonlea or Little House on the Prairie, which I have some of. So I tend to have a mix of both. Which I guess is fine, I just need to go with the stuff I love and not worry about it, right? It's my own style. Ok, so I'm really just justifying things in my own head right now, sorry for the rambling. Now on to the pics...

Here is the view walking up the stairs. I ended up stealing the table from my bedroom, it was the only one in the house that really fit the space....

I framed two samplers that I made a few years ago and hung them on the walls, added a cheap little tin light from The Christmas Tree Shop, a tin pitcher of flowers, a crocheted long doily a friend made me,and a wood silverware tray...
Here is a view with the overhead lights on...
Lights off..

Closer view of the samplers. They are not framed properly, but it works and looks old. The one on the right is in a nice old oak frame I got at a yard sale and the one on the left is just on fabric that I put in an inexpensive frame(I'm going to look or another Oak one at sales this summer). Actually, getting these up and on the walls finally has me inspired to make another sampler, maybe that will be my next evening project.
And I know some of you suggested putting family pics on the walls, but as you can see in this pic, another wall in the hallway is reserved for that:) That's Phoebe walking by...
I hope it stops raining by tomorrow, I have a lot to get done outside.

Have a terrific weekend,

Tiff

Ps, Mason had his 2month check up today, where has the time gone?! Anyway, he is doing great and getting to be a big boy. His Dr just kept holding him and saying how cute and perfect he is, which of course we think so too!! Poor little guy got three shots though and was not a happy camper.

Granola and a Decorating Question...

Happy Thursday everyone :)

In an effort to lose weight and eat healthier I'm trying to buy less processed foods, which is hard when it's so easy to shop in a grocery store filled with convenience foods. BUT, I'm going to try. So the more something is in its natural state, the better. Our bodies don't need all those preservatives and chemicals, if your liver is processing those, it can't process the fat properly, which makes it harder to lose weight. OK, I'm not becoming a health nut, but I am getting older and I'm tired of feeling sluggish and carrying around this extra weight.

Anyway, here is my first attempt at homemade granola. My family loves granola bars and they are an easy thing to throw in the lunch box, but they are not the best thing for you, especially the kinds we usually buy. So after searching recipes for healthy granola, I made this batch last night. I didn't follow any one recipe(I never do), just used most of the basic ingredients I found in most and came up with this. It isn't in bars, just lose, so next time I will try and make bars. It is actually quite tasty and I must say, whatever recipe you follow, definitely add sweetened dried pineapple, it is so yummy!! I have found myself picking at the pineapple pieces all morning.

Now, on to the decorating question...

Since I moved my black grandfather clock downstairs to the little sitting area, I am left with this blank corner in my upstairs hallway. I have no idea what to do with it. Any suggestions? Should I put a chair? just hang pics? a small table?

Here it is from the angle of walking up the stairs, my room is the door on the left and the kids bathroom is the door on the right.
Looking at the corner from the laundry room door..
And looking at it from the other end of the hallway.
It's not a big area by any means, but it does seem a bit sparse right now. And it doesn't help that I am in major house panic mode since my parents are coming to visit next week. I have so much cleaning to do and I want to just freshen up some parts of the house. I know they are coming to see the kids and meet Mason, but the house still needs to be good too.

Off to do laundry...

Have a great day,

Tiff