Saturday Treasures

Well, now that summer is in full swing & yard sales beckon each Saturday, I thought I would share some of my more recent treasures!

My beautiful gravy boat!

Russell Wright Vegetable Serving Bowl $3!!

Beautiful buttery yellow Johnson Bros. Gravy Boat $2.

Large wicker tray $2, beautiful large white salad bowl $1 and vintage 1970's wooden serving set 50 cents.

Some beautiful vintage hand towels.

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Trying to decide if I should paint this $5 dresser that I love??

Window on a Window

Well, I'm not sure how others will feel about my latest little garden decorating. I have a nice big garage that also includes two huge ugly windows on the side of my flower beds. Until we actually renovate the outside, the windows are staying. However, since I moved in, I have hated them!

One of the things that came to me when I first moved here, was the idea of hanging an older paned glass window on top of the big windows...in hopes of tricking your eye into seeing something cottagey first before you notice the big ugly windows.

I had two larger old glass paned windows upstairs in the loft of the garage. I had wanted to paint onto the glass to give it some wow...but knowing how busy I get and how I procrastinate, I decided to just go ahead and hang the windows. Well, it wasn't so easy to hang them but I did finally get it done. Here is the end results and hopefully you will like it more than my husband and three sons...thankfully, my smart little girl ella loves it!

Oh, and yes, they are each a different colour which I will be fixing asap! I just wanted to tackle the whole issue of hanging them and having that problem solved. On the next sunny day, I am painting them to match each other! I am leaning towards the green because it matches the door...

before adding window

after adding the two windows





Got the double hammock up...we love our hammock!

More Treasures!

There wasn't many yard sales this weekend. It was at our last yardsale that we struck gold...we, being my mother and I is my yard sale side-kick! Sometimes she finds something I really, really love...but often we are both pretty content with our purchases. She totally understands my need to keep things moving along...and we bite our tongues when one of us takes to long.

I found this amazing painting done by a local artist! I was thrilled! I have it leaning against my mirror until I get it up on the wall.

This is another painting I purchased at the same sale...I plan to change the frame and hang it during the winter. It is by an artist from Chipman, NB.

This is another picture of my beautiful glass mosaic I found last weekend. I hung my summer curtains and bought new pillows for my couch in the states.

My Bedroom

My bedroom is large...and has neat angles and three windows! It also has two closets so I have lots of storage. However, all that we have managed to do so far, is to paint the walls, ceiling and trim...oh and the closet doors until we renovate the room the way we want to.

We plan to add an ensuite bathroom. The area we chose shares the wall with the main bathroom, so it will make plumbing the bathroom relatively easy and fairly inexpensive! All we need to do is add a wall to close in the space, install a pocket door and voila, we have a private space to transform into our own private bathroom! I know how I want my new bathroom to look and I can't wait till we tackle that project! But, it will all tie in together with finishing the renovations on our bedroom, so for now I wait.

I will show you my bedroom as it is today. I wish I had before pictures! My only reason for showing them is to remind you of the power in a paint can! I think we can forget how much paint can transform a room...it is fairly cheap and easy! I painted the ceilings a pretty blue as our house is on a treed lot and my bedroom is on the shady side. The walls are a pretty green...but you can't really tell from the photos, but it does look pretty with the blue. I consider it a quick fix as I had used the wall colour in my last house and it didn't involve much thought! I just needed to remove the blech beige walls that was a favourite of the previous owner. Painting the old mahogany closet doors, trim and windows to white really lightened and brightened the room.

I change my bedding with the seasons...that is my weakness...beautiful bedding! However, I haven't indulged for quite a while! I do love April Cornell linens...which is on my bed right now! Many of her prints are timeless...I have had this duvet cover for almost 10 years!!! Though, I haven't used it in a very long time and when I do, it is only seasonally!

To the right of the bed is the window with my much loved white cupboard. On the left, you can see my wicker chair which you can't actually sit in as the ceiling slopes to low. That is where we plan to build another book shelf so that they flank the window seat.

The cupboard was another yard sale find from years ago!

The cool chair I bought recently at a yard sale for $2! My other Heidi bag!

My husband's grandmother tatted this for me before she passed away. I cherish this!

This photo better shows the angles of the wall.

I love my vintage wicker chair & dresser!

These are more vintage pictures I bought at a yard sale. They are all paintings of Bermuda.

The window seat that we plan to make deeper. The seat has storage and is wonderful for hiding christmas gifts!

We plan to build book cases in under the eaves! For now, the tv and ella's barbie house own this corner!

This is the area that will be turned into our bathroom. It doesn't look large in this picture, but it will hold a toilet, sink & shower!

A small dresser I plan to paint. But for now, it holds my books which will someday be on the bookshelves that need built!





I love the old Limoge jug. The vase normally holds flowers, but ella takes them everytime!


I love this old vintage picture!



My old suitcases that hold more of my books!


Some of my favourite jewellery hanging from my dresser mirror!

Almost Finished...

Well, my boys room that we started way back in early June...is almost done! We worked in between my husband's shift work and a busy summer schedule. What we thought would be quick and easy...wasn't! However, the floor is laid, a new closet door installed, new trim throughout, new electrical outlets, new heater and many little nail holes (some not so small) are filled, patched and painted. I think the reality when you redo an older home is that it will always take longer than you anticipate. We are used to working in new construction conditions, minus flooring, furniture, etc...you go in and you create the room you want without many extra steps in between.

The room isn't a decorating wow by any standards! Especially compared to what I see in blog world. But, I do think it looks really good and the kids like it! I will fine tune the decorating as I go along. I think what you will enjoy about seeing the room is how cheaply we did it, yet I don't think it looks cheap! I really am a yard sale, on sale only shopper and that works great for us!

My other big fear in decorating is ever owning something that I consider more precious than my kids! You know what I mean, the stuff that can't be touched, sat on, set a drink on, etc.. Plus, the pressure to keep things perfect does some weird things to my personality, so I avoid perfection like a disease. I always like a little kitch or "huh"...why did she do that??

So, the room needs only one final coat of paint on the doors and then I am done for now. I still need to paint or remove the dresser and I may repaint the kids bookshelf. But moving hundreds of books doesn't inspire greatness in me, so that will stay as is for now!

So, hopefully within the next day or two I will put photos up of all my deals including prices and you can maybe be inspired by my thriftiness...

Yard Sale Delights

Life is good again....I have managed to go out twice this month to a few yard sales. It is a slow start this year....today it poured rain, it was cold....but we were up and out by 7:30am.

Today I found some nice jewellery that I am most pleased with and some pretty pillows.
Last week I found this most beautiful green tinware baking set. I imagine making rice pudding in it as my Aunty Jean used to bake her rice pudding in these lovely old yellow tinware dishes. I also found a lovely old glass pyrex dish...that I will get a lot of use out of. I want to try to get away from storing all my leftovers in plastic. Having dishes like these means you cook, serve and save all in the same dish.

I also found this lovely old wicker purse..though not at a yard sale. I found it uptown at Roy's Army Surplus. I love his store as he has so many neat things. I used to take Sam my middle son to his store as Sam has a major army memorabilia collecton. It was such a nice surprise to find this wicker bag tucked onto the shelf as I have been collecting them for many years now and they are hard to come by. I love them and I have quite a collection. This is a pretty one...though not overly impressive...but because they are harder to find I couldn't leave it behind...


Already I can't wait for next weekend...