Procrastination

I have a three or four assignments due next week. Big ones. Naturally, that means I need to update my blog. Because – you know- I cannot work knowing that my blog is behind. Or when there are dirty dishes. Or when there are nine recipes on Pinterest that I haven’t tried yet. Makes perfect sense, right?

Isn’t she a beaut? About 22 inches across and maybe 36 tall. It was love at first pineapple! (ignore the blue painter’s tape).

So I promise this will be a quick one. More of a promise to myself than a promise to you. You may or may not have a 20 page paper due on Thursday that you only started a day or two ago. If not, lucky you!

A few weeks ago, boyfriend was out driving around and spotted what appeared to be an awesome yard sale. He kindly called me out from my studying cavern and said we should go. (Thanks, baby! I know you think I like weird old garbage and have way too many pieces of furniture/decor with animal motifs and probably too much gold, but you told me about the sale anyway. 🙂 ) This yard sale was awesome! Some dude collected other people’s vintage junk and was selling really nice pieces for next to nothing. I basically wanted to buy pretty much everything he had, but I recently downsized from a three bedroom apartment where I lived alone, to a two bedroom apartment where I have a roommate. Basically, I already have way too much furniture.

Don’t you just want to eat that little hand-carved pineapple?

BUT – a girl can never have enough mirrors. Especially if the mirror is awesome and has darling little birds. Even more true if the mirror appears to be hand carved, made of real wood and has actual gold leaf on parts of it (not just gold paint). And you can never get enough mirrors like this when the price is only $10!!! Are you joking me?!? Of course I will give you $10 for that mirror, sir! I would have paid much more (like up to $20… I am a student after all).

So we forked over the cash (and also scored some awesome ornate picture frames for $1 each!) and headed on our merry way. The top woodwork needed a little repairing, but it was nothing that a little wood glue and a staple gun couldn’t fix. That is why there is blue tape in the photo. I put tape on for support until the wood glue dried.

Oh, hello lovely little birds flying around with branches in your beaks! Would you like to come home with me and stay with me forever?

Can anyone help me identify the genre? I am thinking it’s art nouveau, but it’s a little more structured than art nouveau, maybe? And when I try to google pineapple feet, I get all sorts of weird stuff. If you have any ideas, let me know!

And for dessert we have another adorable pineapple foot to drool over!

Anyway, I should probably get back to work. Or back to cleaning so I can get back to working. Or back to baking cookies, and then cleaning up after myself so then I can get back to work. Or back to finding the perfect cookie cutter on amazon.com so I can get back to baking, and then cleaning up, so that I can get back to work. Or… the possibilities of things I could be doing other than studying are endless…

With love,

Rachel

More Thrifty Finds: Meet Chloe

School has been a little insane, which has impacted my blogging and my crafting/DIYing.

But, I did get a chance to do some fun thrifting. I found this adorable owl plate for $0.79 at Salvation Army. Her name is Chloe.

Chloe was a major score!

Chloe goes perfectly with my decor too.

And I found this lovely green pitcher for $1.50, I think:

I am loving these two ceramic horse heads. I am not sure what they are. I think they might make really cool book-ends. They aren’t quite heavy enough, but I can fill them with sands.

What color should I paint them? I am thinking gold. Thoughts?

I am loving these ceramic horses. Cannot wait to paint them. They were only $1 each.

This darling little plate was only $0.49. I have nothing else like it, but I hope to someday.

Check out this sweet rhinoceros! $2! I may also spray paint, but I am not sure yet. It’s just so interesting and adorable.

And the last great thing I found was this little cloche. The plate is heinous, but cloches are lovely no matter what. I may just get rid of the plate and keep the cloche itself. $3.

Well, that’s all folks.

Maybe I will have something more interesting in the future. Also, let me know what color you think I should paint the horse heads.

Love,

Rachel

I’m Linking Up (To the tune of “I’m Coming Out”)

No Minimalist Here

I love me some free stuff…

Before I start in on the good part (free stuff), I will warn my growing readership (yay!) that I may be playing around with different appearances on this blog for a bit. Trying to spice things up. Thanks for your patience. Any feedback always appreciated.

Onto the free stuff! Who doesn’t love it? A while ago I had some major scores, but have neglected to share them with you. Until now. I’m first going to post all the before pics, and then, show you what I did with them. I can guarantee that for some things, you are going to say: “Rachel, of course that crap was free. It’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.” And then I’m going to BLOW YOUR MIND. Trust. Or at least, I will make you reconsider, even if your mind isn’t entirely blown.

I believe the secret to good free stuff is karma. And being in the right place at the right time (which I am going to attribute to karma). I think you get good free stuff karma if you give stuff away – on craigslist, on the street corner or to your local thrift store. I believe it all comes back to you.

Back to the story: One weekend, boyfriend and I were driving around Princeton and happened upon TWO awesome free find locations. The first was a guy cleaning out his garage. I initially thought he was having a garage sale because the amount of stuff on the curb was impressive, and because the guy was out in his garage. We stopped, and it turned out all the stuff was free. Boyfriend mumbled a little as I loaded all my treasure into his car, because boyfriend, sweet as he is, sometimes doesn’t share my vision. Few truly do.

Anyway, I got this cool silver tray.

Free!

I got these weird figurines.

Free!

I got this lamp.

You guessed it, also free!

I also got some picture frames that have yet to be dealt with or photographed. Score!

Later that day, we found this magazine rack on a curb. It was super dirty, but I could tell it was a great find. It’s really old, and already had an awesome chippy paint finish.

Free!

Dirty, but that’s what soap and water is for, right? This is a picture of the top.

The dirt was free too!

Now see what I did with all this cool stuff:

How to Upholster a Blue Velvet Chair

Some of you may remember this chair that I found at a garage sale for only $10! (If you recall, I turned into a cartoon wolf and my tongue rolled out of my jaw like a carpet unrolling, and I had to use my hand to roll my tongue back up and then to shut my jaw. The metaphor was maybe a tad long, but what are you gonna do?)

Here is the chair again.

The guy I bought it from had already removed the previous upholstery and had started putting on some new upholstery but hadn’t gotten very far. Something amazing about this chair (I mean, besides the fact that it’s beautiful and everything)? The padding is actually HORSE hair! That’s how you know for sure that it’s an antique. It’s maybe a little gross, but it also means that this chair is pretty darned old. And I’m going to pretend like the horse hair was washed and stuff before they used it for the chair. Don’t tell me otherwise.

Here is what I turned it into:

Some of my readers may also remember that I am SUPER into blue velvet. I was visiting my ‘rents in the Bay Area, and my friend, Molly, and I were driving from San Francisco back to the East Bay when I saw a discount fabric store that was having a sale. Though Molly and I were supposed to meet a friend for lunch in like 15 minutes, I flipped a U-turn last second (ignoring Molly’s screaming protests that we did not have time). As I parked the car (while Molly kept asking, “Rachel, are you serious?!?”) I told Molly that I would be in and out in 10 minutes. Max. I just needed some blue velvet. Real quick. Just a blue velvet fix and I’ll be damned if you stand in my way, Hussie!!! Just a yard. Or seven.

Why I LOVE Garage Sales

This weekend was epic for garage-saling (garage-sailing? like the boat? I glide and tack from one sale to another?… Anyway…). I think that as people realize summer is over, they are getting more anxious about finally having that garage sale that they planned to have back in June. Or maybe they know that Princeton is crawling with poor grad students looking to furnish apartments. Whatever the reason, I am thrilled to reap the rewards.

Garage sales can be hit or miss, which is what adds to the excitement. You never know what you are going to find, or what you will see and fall in love with. And how little money someone is willing to accept for you to take away their trash treasure. In addition to the adventure, usually the people selling are friendly and helpful. One of this weekend’s garage sales even include free iced tea. Score!

There are two good times to go to a garage sale: First, RIGHT when the sale STARTS. That’s what you have the best pick of all the stuff.  Oddly enough, the other good time to go to the sale is RIGHT at the END of the sale. By that time the sellers are tired. They don’t want to move their crap back into the garage, or load it into a car and drive to Goodwill. So they are vulnerable and desperate  very willing to bargain. At the end of a garage sale, sometimes almost everything becomes free. Or large portions of it. Paradoxically, it’s best to be at a garage sale both first and last, but not in the middle. Good things come to those who arrive super early, and/or to those who wait. Go figure.