Wild Rose Vintage: 2013

Green Willow Pond for What We Accomplished Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Monday, November 18, 2013

Did I really need more stuff?

Wisconsin Barn Sale!

Just what I need...more stuff...I guess if I have to be addicted to something, better this than something bad! LOL!

I've been to this one a few years ago but I thought they had quit...I'm glad they did not!

I've found some pretty good treasures in the past.

I love this perfectly crocheted pillow. At the very bottom of the picture above are a pair of pink slippers with ruffly pink flowers. The instant I saw them I remembered my mom had the same thing when I was young and she loved those slippers! These are in great shape and for $2 it was worth the memory.

I never pass up small ornaments if they are cheap, a couple of Gurley candles and some ruby glass found at the thrift store near the barn sale.

I love the old rose picture

Then we went to an antique shop in River Falls. I can't pass up vintage flower hats if they are cheap, a pretty crochet pot holder in the lower left corner and the little silk satin drawstring bag that was too adorable to pass up for $1.

Vintage crochet thread. I always grab that if it's cheap.

The chippy green tote will go on top of my chippy white hutch.

A girl can never have too much vintage stuff!

Right???

Thanks for stopping!

I'm linking to these parties;

From My Front Porch To Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday

Ivy And Elephants for What's It Wednesday

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Barn Fresh Chippy White Cabinet

Every year for 4 years I've been buying myself a birthday present.

(That was a couple of months ago, I'm just finally getting it on here)

I decided each year I'll find some chippy white painted piece, wood, metal anything white and chippy, big or small.

This year I found this awesome old chippy white cabinet in an antique store in Wyoming called The Hen House.

I almost fainted when I walked in and saw this. The man had just brought it in the evening before and I happened to stop in the following morning right after he opened the doors.

I could NOT resist it!

I think I was the first person to see it, it was meant to be and it would not have lasted the day.

The price was really fair, around here it would have been almost double.

It needs a little push on the lower left side and a bit of glue and then the doors will hang straight.

Look at the cutouts in those cupboard doors!!!

That's what really got me and each one is positioned differently.

The drawer pulls are original and cute.

The little twisty thing at the top to hold the cupboard doors shut. The glass is missing but that's okay because I would just as soon not have it there.

It needs some cleaning inside because it was BARN FRESH!

I plan to store my hand dyed wool in the upper cupboard.

It will be so pretty against that old chippy white wood.

I can keep my dyes and dye pots in the bottom cupboards.

Once the 'bunkhouse' is finished I have a perfect spot for this.

A side shot. It appears to have a pale blue/green paint under the white so where the white has crackled the green shows through.

You can't do a faux finish like this one!

It's pretty primitive, I wouldn't want my entire house like this but a few pieces here and there is fun.

I love this chippy treasure and I can't wait to get it set up in the bunkhouse.

Thanks for stopping!

Ivy and Elephants for What's Up Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

The Brambleberry Cottage for Time Travel Thursday

From My Front Porch To Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Pretty Little Dish

I'm back!

At least that is the plan!!! I've been away for blogging for so long that I almost forgot how to blog!

Life has been awfully busy the last few months, nothing bad, just lots of 'stuff' going on.

Why is it the older I get the less time I have for fun stuff? I don't get it, I thought when I hit 50 I would have all kinds of time to do what I want, I'm past that but it just gets busier and busier.

I had a birthday in August, didn't do a single fun thing for it, but my friend Stephanie sent me this pretty dish for my birthday along with some pretty vintage crochet thread in soft cream shades.

She was using it in her Etsy shop, Exuberant Housewifery, as a display piece to show off her vintage buttons that she was selling.

I commented once on what a pretty dish it is and low and behold it showed up in the mail!

I love it!

Thanks Stephanie!

This is what we woke up to this morning...but happily (is that a word?) for me...it's melting and the sun is out!

Linking to;

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Vanity Remake, faux chalk paint and finishing wax for $10 total

I wish I could show you the end result!

With the sink and faucet!

I started to work on this to use as a vanity in the bunkhouse (cabin) we are building in Wyoming.

Unfortunately things did not go as planned with the carpenter and we are way behind.

Next year my husband will install it in the bathroom.

I found this buffet at a flea market a year ago for $10

I knew right away what I wanted to do with it.

It was a pretty piece in it's day but it has had a hard life and was beyond repair, just what I felt comfortable about painting.

I can't take a good piece and paint it...just goes against my grain.

My grandfather was a carpenter and craftsman, he made a few beautiful pieces and I own and cherish one of them...but that's another story.

So I made my own chalk paint by adding plaster of paris to the white paint.

About 3 parts paint and 1 part plaster of paris.

Add water as needed because the faux chalk paint thickens quickly.

It took about 3 coats to cover.

I then sanded to distress it.

I used Minwax finishing wax, applying it liberally and then hand buffing it using cheesecloth. I set the can in the hot sun to soften it. It makes it so much easier to apply.

Seeing as my husband had not cut the hole out on top for the sink I painted everything but the top figuring he would scratch it anyway while cutting.

That became an accidental surprise.

The whole thing was white except for the top, he cut the hole out and we both thought it might be nice to leave the natural wood top.

So he sanded it down past the finish and turns out that it had a beautiful dark wood grain.

I applied a clear stain and it was just gorgeous.

I then applied 3 coats (while sanding in between each coat) Minwax fast drying polyurethane.

Here is the 'almost' end result.

I couldn't set the sink in for the picture because he has not cut out part of the drawer to fit it yet.

But the white sink against that dark top is just beautiful!

It was missing one drawer pull so I filled in the holes in the top drawer and only used 4 drawer pulls.

Total cost of project $10.

I get all of my paint and finishing supplies at the recycling center near our home.

Gotta love that deal!

I can't wait to get this where it belongs, I have the entire bathroom pictured in my head, exactly what it will look like. I even have a white crystal chandelier!

It's mighty hard to wait until next summer to finish!

(if you click on the picture it really shows up!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking to;

Brambleberry Cottage for Time Travel Thursday

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Things are happening!

Pretty puffy clouds over the Big Horn Mountains.

Things are rockin' at the bunkhouse!

That is...the sheet rock is going up, braces are up

link is HERE

I found a few treasures the other day at the antique shop, I'll try to post them in a day or so.

So much happening here! So little time!

Monday, September 9, 2013

Out in Wyoming

It's been a month since my last post. I had planned to write about our continued building adventures but things are not going well...not well at all.

This is us when we left Minnesota.

For those of you who have been following the building of the bunkhouse here is a link to my latest post on everything that's not happened but was supposed to be finished by now.

The Bunkhouse

I should be priming and painting the walls but we still have no walls.

The bathroom should be finished but we have no bathroom!

I did find some real treasures at the local antique shop that I would love to post but I haven't been much in the mood to post.

Maybe if things get rolling like they were supposed to today...10 am and 1 out of 5 guys have showed up but thank goodness it was the plumber who had vanished for 4 days.

I'll be back later....

Sunday, August 11, 2013

That old chest of drawers painted Hawaiian Sky and what I did with it....

Remember the old chest I found at a garage sale for $10?

I repainted it and stenciled it for $0 using paint from our local recycling center.

It's in my bedroom closet piled full of vintage treasures.

It makes me smile every time I walk inside, I should have taken a before picture...it was an embarrassing mess.

I hung an old chippy white shelf above the chest.

The Bakelite rhinestone bracelet was mine when I was little and this is one of my favorite shelves.

A vintage chocolate box, I love this box!

(sorry about the glare but being inside a closet I had to use clamp lights with daylight bulbs.)

The old bowl was found at a flea market for $3

The mother of pearl opera glasses were my moms,

the black perfume bottle was found at a yard sale in Wyoming last summer

The pretty vintage Tiffany box was purchased empty! That is the only Tiffany thing I own!!!

the back box holds a rhinestone heart that was also mine when I was little.

The vintage blue glass hatpin holder I love, I have no idea how it originally was intended to be displayed but I temporarily attached it to a glass coaster to prevent it from tipping over.

My favorite Seneca rhinestone clock (I only have 2!)

and the rhinestone hair comb was my mothers.

Another favorite shelf, I love the crazing of this old bluebird bowl filled with lavender buds.

This blue box was put together using vintage pieces, it was a horrible shade of yellow so I painted it with the same blue as the chest of drawers. The vintage glass knob came with it and now it looks so much better against the light aqua.

I leave one drawer open so I can see all the pretties inside.

Sometimes it's this one with my favorite vintage embroideries and a bit of crochet inside...

(that monster rhinestone brooch was my Grandmothers, down on the lower right, hard to see here)

Sometimes it's the second drawer filled with vintage lace and crochet...

Sometimes is the third drawer filled with vintage crochet tablecloths and a few other treasures including hand knit wool baby socks and booties...

Or the fourth drawer filled with vintage embroidery to stitch,

I haven't a place for this vintage satin yo yo pillow and this little hankie holder yet...

beneath them are the ready to stitch embroidery pieces.

The dancing girl is a pair of pillowcases waiting for the crochet edge.

A peek at a shelf to the right full of 1920's beauties that I will post in the future.

A pretty never used apron I found for a steal at a garage sale nearby.

It is draped over a quilt I made several years ago using Aunt Gracies reproduction 1930's fabrics.

Under that are my clothes!

And here is the entire shelf along with my 1920's bedlight.

It's too delicate to hang over my bed and I want to protect it from the sun so we made a wooden holder for it, I covered it with muslin and hung it over the shelf. It does work but I tucked the cord behind the box.

The entire thing, it sure looks cluttered here but I guess that is my personality coming out!

Maybe I'll remove the crochet bags someday but I kind of like seeing them too.

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. If you click on the pictures you can really see what's inside those drawers!!!

Linking to;

Green Willow Pond for What We Accomplished Wednesday

Green Willow Pond for What We Accomplished Wednesday

So much stuff happening lately, I might be absent from blogging for a while and I'm missing your posts but when I post again it should be from the bunkhouse in Wyoming...I can't wait!

See you all later...

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Little Log House Pioneer Show

I can't believe how fast the summer is slipping away. So much to do and not enough time.

I've been neglecting my blogging too much lately!

We always go to The Little Log House Pioneer/Farm Show in Hastings Minnesota. It's usually hot and humid but we lucked out this year, breezy, partly cloudy and cool.

I love their farm-y flea market but it seemed a bit sparse this year.

But I did find 2 things that I was looking for!

I have been keeping an eye open for this drying rack for years.

They are always either too expensive or have broken, warped or replaced dowels.

After inspecting this one it appeared that it had hardly been used.

$20!

I just love the look of it.

A pretty piece of embroidery for $2

How it looks collapsed, it has a tripod base and that folds too,

pretty compact!

A man had this old Big Ben alarm clock with no price, when I inquired he said it doesn't work (like I care!!!) $2!!! I reached for my $2 mighty fast!

Then the other thing I was looking for an old wood wringer to hang in my laundry room.

I have always been drawn to anything laundry room related, old wringer washers, wash boards, clothes pins, anything that reminds me of the 'good old days'.

If you have been following my blog from the beginning you know I have several old wringer washers...including my grandma's and my moms Maytag's which is what I used when I was a youngster and still do use in Wyoming!

You can see my little collection of wringer washers HERE.

For those of you unfamiliar with them, the laundry comes out so clean. I can do 6 loads in a quarter of the time it takes an automatic. Yup! You throw in a load and when it's ready to run through the wringers I put it through 2 rinses and then into the laundry basket. When I was a kid we used the old metal kind on rollers with the cloth basket that everyone wants so badly now.

We always washed the towels and then sheets first and then moved onto darker items.

We threw in another load and then went outside to hang the laundry on the clothes lines.

By the time we finished hanging them, the 2nd load was ready to hang out so we repeated until we were finished.

We could get it all done in the morning and then in the afternoon we would breath the fresh smell as we took down the dried laundry.

Nothing better than fresh sheets on the bed!

I found several old wringers that day but I liked this one the best and the price was the best at $20.

When we build the new house, I will have a pretty laundry room off the kitchen and this will hang on the wall so I can see it when I walk in the door.

Yes, I can see it all in my head...hope it really happens!

The last thing I picked up was this big old tin or zinc box, no clue what I'll do with it but I thought it looked kind of cool.

We are busy as bees packing and planning. It's time to load up 2 trailers full of stuff to haul out to Wyoming.

We'll be working on the inside of the bunkhouse and also bringing fill dirt into the pole barn to level out the floor.

I have lots and lots of staining and painting to do, hopefully that'll get me back in shape and lose a few pounds!

Thanks for stopping!

Linking to;

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

$10 chest plus free paint! Total cost $10! Super Thrifty!

We stopped at only 2 garage sales so far this spring, I spotted a chest of drawers for $10 and knew right away I could do something with it.

I really needed somewhere to store my vintage lace and embroidery.

I sure wish I had taken a picture before I put my freshly painted chest of drawers into my closet!

What a pain to try to get a good picture with artificial light and have it turn out to be the color that it actually is, sorry about the glare but I just can't seem to fix that.

It's actually a very light aqua and all 3 photos are off.

This one below seems to be the closest to the actual color.

But...back to the paint job. We have a county recycling place close by where we can pick up paint, stain, polyurethane, bug and weed sprays, deck wash even books all for FREE!

We stop in about once a week and stock up because we have a ton of projects coming up.

I found a full gallon of exactly the color I had in mind for this chest. It was Dutch Boy and called Hawaiian Sky. Doesn't that sound pretty!

I also found a full gallon bucket of Plaster of Paris...it's amazing what people don't want.

Well, I have never seen (other than on blogs) anything painted with chalk paint.

Now I know I'm supposed to distress the furniture but on some things it just doesn't feel right and this one is so plain that I decided to leave it alone. But I still wanted to find out what the faux chalk paint was like so I looked around online and found that I could mix 1 part Plaster of Paris with 3 parts paint.

(Be sure to mix the amount of plaster of paris with a little water first 'before' adding the paint or it will be lumpy, add a little water to the mixture as needed while applying onto your project because it can thicken a little bit as you use it)

I do like it because the Plaster of Paris gives it some 'tooth'. It seems to adhere well and cover well. I can see it would be great for distressing furniture but wasn't necessary here.

I found that the Plaster of Paris causes the paint to sand off more easily...great for easily distressing but not so much if you just want to give the paint a light sanding...the paint sands off very easily. But at least now I have an idea what all the rage is and I will use it on future distressing projects, but I'll stick with my thrifty 'free' supplies. (At $40 a quart for 'real' chalk paint...I'll save that money to buy vintage treasures!)

I then stenciled dragonflies here and there using free white paint (I already had the stencil).

I did apply a coat of wax (already had that) because the paint is 'softer' with the Plaster of Paris in it and it needed something to seal it.

I was going to put on glass knobs but decided I liked the old wood ones.

The before...not bad looking here but it was painted green and blue, pretty nicked up and a bit dirty.

I even sealed the entire inside using 'free' water based polyurethane because I wanted to make sure I didn't bring any 'bad' smells into my closet.

I just love this...$10 chest plus $0 supplies...total remake...$10!!!

How can you beat that!

Now I'm in the process of filling the drawers, I have vintage crochet table cloths in one, vintage embroidered linens in another, it's so nice to be able to open a drawer and see what I have so I can stop buying more!

On top I have vintage goodies and an old chippy white shelf that I am putting more treasures on.

When I get it all looking good I'll post it...soon.

It really makes me smile every time I walk into my closet, straight ahead is the pretty dresser and all the lovey vintage treasures.

Check around and you may have a recycling center near you....

and if I decide I don't like a color of paint I brought home, I can bring it back and they will recycle it again!

Now that's being thrifty!!!

(I wonder how many times I mentioned free!!!)

Linking to:

Green Willow Pond for What We Accomplished Wednesday