Farm Chicks Giveaway!

The Farm Chicks, whose blog I have referenced in the past and who have an amazing antique show, are having a giveaway!!! Not sure what it is but I bet it will be as cute as their site is. Stop by their blog, leave a comment with a link to an article you wrote about their giveaway in your own blog just like I did. Join the fun!

Favorite Find Friday

I admit I have become addicted to Craigslist and have to monitor my use of it or I could spend all my time and money running around to pick up things. I am going to blame my mom for this addiction as she got me started on it a couple years back. She insists you can find anything on there and she is so right! We are often sending each other items we think the other might like. I will have to take some time to write a post about all the fabulous things I have found on CL to furnish my home but today I will share just one.

Yesterday evening I was bored and gradually browsed my way to the free section of CL. One of the first items on there was the beautiful armoire/wardrobe!!!

I was so excited to find out it was only 15 minutes away so of course I picked up the phone and called to reserve it. I was the first to call so I immediatley flew out the door knowing there would be a number of interested folks begging to come get it before me. I was right because when I showed up the gentleman it belonged to said he recieved 7 calls in less then 2 minutes after I hung up from talking to him. We quickly loaded it in the truck and drove off with my happy find!

Ok now I recognize it has some flaws but c'mon it's free!!! It does have all it's orginal hardware on the outside and even the original rod and hooks for clothing on the inside. Besides some loose trim pieces and some nicks and scratches it really is in very solid condition.

I'm not sure what I am going to do with it yet but you can bet the ideas are flying around in my head. It's so pretty I hate to paint it but it could look really great in the right color. The part I am most excited about being creative with is the center portion where a mirror used to be. Now of course I could just put a replcaement mirror in there but I'm not sure I want to be so typical. Any ideas???

Well that is the first of my Favorite Friday Finds...I can't wait to share future fabulous finds!

Phase 3 - A Place for Everything & Everything in it's Place

After sorting everything into it's respective category I went about finding the perfect size container for each grouping of items. Of course many items fit nicely into the drawers and cabinets in my extra large hutch.


The shelves were great for my magazines,...

scraps of fabric...

and a variety of vintage trims.

I found some cute little wood baskets for storing bits of sewing trim and such at Ross which I hope to stencil descriptions on in the decor portion of my studio makeover.

Some more generic baskets were the perfect size to tuck under the lower portion of my cabinet and held much larger quantities of things.

And of course my vintage expandable sewing box is now brimming with goodies that I found around the room...might be time to start using some of those!

This little cabinet was a $20 find at an estate sale...I love all it's shallow drawers with the tag holders on the front. It had been floating around my home in hopes of finding the perfect place to land and I believe this is it. It is ideal for paper and as you can see my printer/scanner tucks in right on top and underneath my fabric shelves.


Now speaking of fabric...yikes I have a lot!!! A local fabric shop was kind enough to give me some empty bolts that they were planning to discard. It never hurts to ask and my large amounts of yardage are now tucked safely in a basket neatly rolled on these cardboard bolts.

Then I found this vintage gold display shelving that was just right for all my smaller amounts of yardage.

Lastly, I put a vintage fruit basket to use for all my hankies, doilies and scraps of fabric.

So nice to have this tedious part of the process over!!! It feels so good to have a place for everything. Now I can't wait to get started on my favorite part of the process Phase 4 - Making Things Pretty. And as I teaser I leave you with a sneak peek into one of my first projects that is the jumping off point for my color scheme.

Early Spring Cleaning

With only a few days with no rain in the forecast and even the sun peeking out from behind the clouds most people ventured out to enjoy the weather this weekend. I on the other hand planned a garage sale. I just couldn't wait to get rid of some of the items from my office purge and I had a number of other items sitting around that just needed to go. It was time for an early spring cleaning!!!

Of course a garage sale is always a decent amount of work but oddly enough I actually enjoy all aspects of planning a garage sale...the set up and display, the tagging, the bartering, the interaction with a variety of people, even the packing up the leftovers and dropping them off at a local thrift store. Am I crazy? Perhaps. But if this is crazy I'm enjoying it!

I knew it was a bit early for garage sale season but I also knew that die hard thrifters, not unlike myself, would be glad for the opportunity to shop for some bargains. I was not expecting to make a lot of cash but was more then pleased to clean out items that I no longer needed. It really was not the type of annual garage sale that I usual have though as I never made it through all my antiques and collectibles...hmmm...now I'm thinking about a fancy "antique sale". Now that would be really fun!!!