weekend fun

This past Saturday, me, my mom and aunt hopped in the car and went to a barn sale out in the country. It was only half an hour from my house, but that half hour further west makes a lot of difference in the landscape as far as open land goes. 

The house and grounds were so beautiful. I could definitely live in a place like this.

Check out the cute shed!

Couldn't you picture relaxing around this fire pit on a cool October evening, talking and laughing with friends or family, having a glass of wine or beer and making s'mores? (No phones!) 

Just gazing around at all the beautiful, open land makes your blood pressure drop. I sure wouldn't mind this view from my back yard instead of neighbor's houses.

We were greeted at the entrance to the barn by a pair of turkeys.

Before I went into the barn, I went to the side where the turkeys started heading and I found more turkeys and some ducks. Pee-yew, was it smelly over there! And turkeys are noisy. I had no idea.

That did it for me - I headed quickly into the barn where I had a more pleasant greeting: free coffee and make-your-own Bloody Mary's!

 

The barn was filled with antique furniture and all kinds of vintage and antique treasures for the home.

This piece already had a sold sign on it. I wasn't surprised. I would love something like this in my kitchen instead of the tall, narrow china cabinet that's currently there.

Me, my aunt and my mom.

After the barn sale, we went to a couple of nearby shops in town to peruse more treasures. Here's a few things I came home with, both from the barn sale and the shops ~ a gorgeous made-in-England pitcher, antique french lace wooden pins, and a small piece of pottery. I also bought a vintage glass deep pie dish and a vintage blue and white speckled pottery mug (RRP Pottery, Roseville, OH) ~ not pictured. I love different coffee/tea mugs in general and have far too many, but my tastes change every so often and now it's leaning towards the pottery ones.

More fun on Sunday with going to see the Linda Ronstadt documentary ("The Sound of my Voice") with a couple of girlfriends. It was excellent! If you get a chance to see this movie, I highly recommend it if you were ~ and still are ~ a Linda Ronstadt fan.

Hope your week is off to a good start. We've had sunshine and temps near 70 so far this week, but rain moving in tomorrow night (which is the last thing we need) and then cold this weekend. Not ready for that!

vintage findings

Yesterday it was damp but temps were 52 degrees - which is basically a heatwave for us in January. I opened my living room and kitchen windows to air out the house. The air smelled like the promise of spring. The cats kept sticking their noses in the open windows, too, sniffing all that crisp, fresh air.

Today, we woke up to this.

Ah, Illinois weather...you keep us on our toes.

This weekend, me and my mom popped into one of our favorite antique shops. Not only did we find some pretty treasures, but everything was 20% off. This vintage tablecloth is in perfect condition and fits my kitchen table just right. Monkey gives his approval.

Don't mind the tags sticking out of the back of the chair cushions. Those are new ones from IKEA and I wanted to make sure we really liked them and wanted to keep them before removing the tags. We do indeed like them - they are very comfortable and I think they look good - so the tags are now cut off. Just a heads up to anyone looking for kitchen chair cushions: you can't beat the price at IKEA. These were only $5 each. Our previous foam filled cushions were from Bed, Bath and Beyond and were $15 each. The foam in the cushions flattened rather quickly and became hard and uncomfortable. 

Close-up of the tablecloth. Looks spring-like, doesn't it? Only 55 more days, but who's counting? ;-)

I hesitated about this Limoges dish. I've always been attracted to Limoges. I love the patterns, the delicacy, the gold rims. Limoges was my maternal grandma's favorite, too. I'd never seen a piece like this before.

One edge curves seductively up. So unique. So, why did I hesitate about buying this? After all, the price was only $8. Because I didn't know where I was going to put it. I've been more aware of what I'm bringing into the house, especially since I've been working on decluttering and donating. I had the owner of the shop put this aside for me to think about as I looked around. In the end, Limoges won. And now sits on top of a table in our spare room, showing off its delicate charm and beauty.

Isn't this a cool vintage tin? It was made in Massilly, France. I'm using it to hold pens, a dry highlighter and sticky page markers. It sits on top of my current reading pile and notebook on the coffee table in the living room. Pretty and handy all at the same time.

In a little nook in the back of the shop, sat this rag rug on top of the worn carpet. I didn't realize it was for sale until I saw a tag. The rug was dirty from customer foot traffic, but my mom said I could easily throw this rug into the washing machine. I loved the colors and had a feeling it'd look good in my kitchen. Sure enough, it washed fine and I hung it to dry. I think it looks great by my side kitchen door and it adds cheery color and texture to the room.

Have you found any vintage treasures lately?

saturday antiquing

It was the perfect, sunshiny spring day to go antiquing and treasure hunting with my partners in crime: my mom and aunt. I discovered a new-to-us antique shop in a nearby town on Facebook. I read the Yelp reviews (sheesh, what would we do with social media?!) and they were all 5-star and said that the owners are helpful and friendly, the selection was fantastic, and the prices very good. We had to find out if that were true. ;-)

We were greeted outside the shop by a wide selection of outdoor decor...bird houses, baskets, plant stands, lamps, wagon wheels...

and plenty of galvanized watering cans and planters.

This old wheelbarrow would be beautiful filled with flowers.

The inside of the shop was filled with so many wonderful things, that the three of us kept calling to each other to "come and look at this!" Every time we thought we were done looking in a particular spot, we'd look again and find something cool we missed the first go-around. We spent so much time in this shop that it was finally lunchtime. We had started making a pile on the checkout counter, so we told the shop owner (who was as pleasant and friendly as the reviews suggested) we'd be back after lunch to look around a little more and finally check out. I only got a few general photos of the inside...it was crowded and I didn't want to get people in my photos.

So, here's the treasures that came home with me. I know this box isn't too exciting, but for some reason, I was drawn to it. The owner asked what I was going to do with it and I told her I didn't know; that I had to "play" with it.

For now, I have it on the top shelf of my ladder bookcase. I put some of my rocks and an antique key in the cubbies.

A piece of pottery, not marked on the bottom. I'm assuming Shawnee.

A pretty little bird, Occupied Japan.

A rooster egg cup - not sure who it's made by. The glass is thick and the piece heavier than it looks. The marking on the bottom is worn and unreadable.

This beautiful McCoy piece is what I passed up. And it was only $14. (It did have a tiny chip on the rim though.) The only reason I passed it up is that I have nowhere to put it. I am more discerning about bringing lots of stuff into the house nowadays, especially larger pieces like this.

Hope you have a wonderful week ~ spring has finally truly sprung here!

weekend round-up ~ treasure hunting

 Despite the cold day here this past Saturday, the sun was shining and I was on my way to meet up with my mom and aunt for a day of treasure hunting and going out to lunch. Who cares about the cold on a fun day like that, right? As I was rounding the corner by my house, there were two sandhill cranes in the field. One good thing about living far away from the city is seeing creatures like this close to your house. Sorry for the poor photo quality - I rolled down the window of my car and zoomed in with my phone camera to get a photo. It was only when I rolled up my window and looked in my rearview mirror, that I noticed there was a van sitting behind me. I am so glad the driver was patient with me and didn't honk their horn. I gave the driver a friendly wave as I went on my way.

 The first shop we went to was one I had heard about and always wanted to check out: Lucky Junk. To be honest, we were expecting more of an antique shop where we could hunt for our little treasures, so we were disappointed. Yes, there are antiques in this store, but it's mostly repurposed vintage finds and they're quite pricey. The one thing I did really like in this store was how they made a chandelier out of branches and little clear lights. The owner was friendly and welcoming and I had a short chat with her about how I was familiar with her store due to reading about it on some local blogs.

Our second stop was Vintage Deja Vu.This was more our type of store...lots of vintage things stacked all over the place, so everywhere you looked there was something to discover. We looked through the same areas several times over because we'd find things we missed the first go-around.

 

I loved this retro pink kitchen! And yes, that's a real kichen from a house that was demolished.

 

 My eyes were drawn to that red, blue and yellow metal recipe box in the stack in back. The colors were perfect for my kitchen. The price was a little high, so I was debating whether to buy it or not. Then I heard another customer asking the owner of the shop if her prices were firm. She said no, that they were negotiable. (Hooray!) I asked her what was the best she could do on the price of the recipe box and she knocked $5 off. Sold!

 The recipe box is now in my china cabinet on top of a stack of cookbooks. Loving these colors!

Well, here it is Monday and what a difference a day makes. It's 57 degrees with the sun popping in and out. I opened the living room window to let in some fresh air and as you can see, Clementine and Monkey were enjoying their bird and squirrel stalking.

Here's hoping that you had a wonderful weekend and that today is the start of a new week of dreams and possibilities.

just a few treasures ~ and the reason why

Remember how I used to frequently show you all my latest thrifting treasures?

Notice I haven't done that lately?

There's a good reason: I've only purchased a few goodies in 2-1/2 months!

Here's the few things I've found at Goodwill since the beginning of August.

(I found a beautiful light blue Laura Ashley cardigan and olive corduroy jacket

from the Gap at the local Savers right before it went out of business, but I 

normally don't take photos of clothes.)

I'm a big fan of Lisa Lill Studio handbags. She's a local Chicago designer.

This small velvet handbag will be perfect for dressier fall occasions. 

 I've been carrying this heavy cotton Lisa Lill bag this fall and love how it's

casual, sturdy, and pretty. I've gotten lots of compliments on it. There's nothing

like pretty bags ~ especially when they only cost $5!

 These lovely plates were only 99 cents each. They'll be pretty on the kitchen

table in the summer.

 Many years ago, my aunt gave me this August teacup for my birthday.

I was thrilled to find the matching plate last month!

 Of course, I couldn't pass up this cute, colorful kitty print. It's hanging in the 

main bath.

 Love these pretty teacups and saucers made by Grand Duchess Taste Setter

 by Sigma (Japan). 

 So...there's a reason I haven't been thrifting much. When you've lived in the same house

for over 24 years and you've raised two kids in that house, you accumulate a lot of stuff.

When my friend moved this summer, I saw how much stuff she had to (and wanted to) get

rid of. She said it was very freeing, and I believe it. I know how good it feels to get certain

spaces cleaned out and to let some of that clutter go. I was determined to stop bringing

in so much "stuff" and to continue decluttering ~ especially my messy basement. I just

donated 14 bags of miscellaneous household items, books, and clothing yesterday.

Here's the neighbor's maple tree today. Such beauty.

 Happy almost-weekend!