Kitchen corner decor

It was an unexpected find, like most of those type of finds, discovered at a yard sale. I had an idea of what it might be, but wasn't really sure. This piece of ornate black iron looked old, and victorian, and with the $1 price tag, I knew I 'needed' it! When I got it home I realized coming up with a bracket to attach it to the wall, that really looked appropriate, was going to be a challenge. So I set it aside and tried to imagine the 'right' look. And to my amazement happened across a black, ornate iron bracket at another yard sale just a few weeks later. Of course, when I got it home, it was close, but not quite right. Enter husband + tools! He did a bit of grinding, bending and painting and voila! It is just a hair off from looking perfect - that's close enough for me!
I love the way it looks. Oh, and the kerosene lamp was a gift from my daughter - maybe 8-9 years ago.


I may have to do some rearranging in that corner, but I love all the pieces....the doorknob key rack, the iron plate holder, the brown drip plate, and the brown pie plate on the bottom - all from yard sales. The yellow platter was a pass-down from a dear friend that I see only once or twice a year now.

Weekend Wrap-Up

It has been a good weekend!

Got an early start Saturday morning with my 2 daughters and 2 grandaughters for a morning of yard-sale shopping. One daughter found the bed frame and dust ruffle she had hoped for, the other found an ornate iron bookstand/art stand to hold cookbooks or her latest painting. The grand-girls, ages 7 and 3, tried to purchase something at every stop, and came home with many toys, stuffed animals, fun keychains and hair accessories. I happily dragged home a wonderful old wooden stepstool I'll use to display planters on; some rusty cast iron goodies - stars, keys, butterflies and coat hook; some brown drip pottery to feed that obsession; and a variety of colorful bowls, cups and plates that will hopefully go into my mosaic designs sometime this year. Oh, and an old portable typewriter that I can make jewelry from the keys, or sell the keys or complete typewriter on Ebay.

In the afternoon I got out in the garden and transplanted hyssop, and sowed more cilantro, nasturtiums, marigolds and basil. And enjoyed those wonderful Wisteria blooms that have been such a grand surprise this spring. Sunday turned out cold, drizzly and gray, so I spent most of today indoors cleaning house, which was a very good thing. I started at 5:45 am and only quit because I was too darned tired to do anymore! Plus one of the boys and his son came out for the day and stayed for supper, and I fixed the Morel mushrooms we had found earlier in the week - yum!

Annual garage sale preparations

It's only a few days away - our annual yard sale! My oldest daughter lives next door and has the perfect place for a garage sale. So every year we fill up her garage with our items and those of a few other family and friends and then turn around the next weekend to go spend our earnings at the citywide yard sale in a town just 20 minutes from here. It's a lot of work (I spent most of today locating items and pricing them, and still have tons to do!), but it certainly helps get rid of some of the clutter, and allows us to shop without guilt the next weekend. My stuff is mostly clothes, but also some other good stuff, like the beautiful yellow quilt I bought last summer that my younger daughter didn't like. And the brick-red chenille bedspread I bought for our bedroom that my hubby disliked. And all the chenille spreads I bought at yard sales last summer because I was so sure I was going to create some wonderful things with them. But I had to make a decision about where I'm going to spend my very limited spare time, and the garden won, so out goes the chenille.
Maybe I'll buy flower pots or garden tools with my chenille profits.....

Vintage Aprons

Textiles - I find myself drawn to them when rummaging at yard sales ... tea towels, aprons, curtains, rugs, and so on. Old chenille bedspreads and quilts and comforters have several entries on my list of purchases for this past year. I've never paid much attention to aprons until this year, and though I only bought 5, they were wonderful finds. The first was a snow-white cotton bib apron with Battenburg lace accents. Then at one sale I got all of the other four:

I had never seen one of this sort before. A city on the shores of a sea or ocean, in what seems to be a view from above, as though I were looking down from a hill. Grapes or berries, growing on an arbor or garden gate, frame the view. I get a Meditteranean or Italian impression, certainly unlike the fabric of the aprons Mom or Grandma wore when I was growing up!

Now these two do remind me of my childhood - the red ric-rac touches bring to mind my grandmother, and the more contemporary, zig-zaggy stripes remind me of Mom's aprons.

And this adorable child's apron in a filmy, satiny, see-through fabric (chiffon?) looks like something some little suzy-homemaker might have enjoyed in the 50's-60's. The pocket is embroidered with "I Love Mommy" inside a heart bordered with roses - for Mommy's very own little cook-in-training. I have the black apron and the ric-rac apron hanging on the buffet in my kitchen. The other two just don't seem to fit in the old farmhouse feel, but I've kept them, just because I like them I suppose. I don't think either one would be easy to sell (the striped one is a bit faded and the child's apron has two tiny snags), and I certainly never bother to wear an apron, so I guess they are just another hang-up of mine!

Favorite yard sale finds

I have been on a mission this year - to hit every yard sale I can - and it has been a blast. I've bought over 450 separate items at sales in 2007 and still have 6 weeks to go! Of course, the sales have dwindled to nearly nothing lately, and the goal isn't to break some kind of record for number of items, but to find things that I love, or that one of my kids or grandkids will enjoy, or something that will save money I would have spent anyway, or to even help my Christmas fund. No doubt I'll have plenty to share in future posts, but this one is about some of my favorites from this year - items I love and have kept for myself.

Bowls! Why do I have this crazy hangup about bowls? Glass, ceramic, pottery - mixing or serving - I love 'em. The white with blue stripe is a set of 3 nested mixing bowls. The yellow looks old but is in great shape and we use it often. The blue spongeware is probably part of a pitcher & bowl set, and isn't old by any means but I love the look of it - makes a great salad server. Not pictured is a Betty Crocker mixing bowl with handle and spout, and a couple of the opaque white mixing bowls that were popular in the 60's-70's.
And I had made up my mind it was time to find an old pie safe or china cabinet or some piece of furniture for displaying stuff, in my farm kitchen. I got rid of the cheap old baker's rack, made of green and gold tubing, that had been tolerated but never loved, during our yard sale in April of this year. I was keeping an eye out for that wonderful piece that I knew was just waiting for me to find it...and then in June, there it was! I went to a garage sale at a huge house and was taking my sweet time since I didn't have to be at my job for a couple of hours. The owner started visiting with me about all the items she had in the house that she wanted to sell...leather chair and sofa, huge TV armoire, solid wood computer desk and matching bookshelves....and then she mentioned a buffet and got my full attention. I don't intend to leave it the color you see here...however I was surprised that it didn't clash in my kitchen. Good thing since I may not get around to painting it for several months yet. It holds a number of treasures I've picked up at sales - an old aluminum colander, several vintage aprons, a tin watering can, the bowls I bragged on above, a picnic basket from a thrift store, and more, more, more. The plan (as of right now) is to paint it a rich chocolate with an antiqued cream color on the interior display walls, leave the unpainted wood as is, and replace the plain wood knobs with white porcelain ones (already purchased at another yard sale).