Lucky find today!

The Wallace Woods Community Yard Sale was today and because the chairs needed more time to "cure", I decided to shop the sale rather than participate.

My budget was $21 and some loose change.  I headed down the lane and looked at sales in front of two houses on my street - not much, but I found an old wooden paper towel rack for 75 cents that has possibilities.  

I walked up another street and found a large metal planter wrapped in sea grass for $1, two mirrors for a total of $3 and, one of my favorite finds of the day - a large collection of turn-of-the (20th) century sheet music. Original price was $10 and I picked it up for $5. This is really great, one-of-a-kind, decoupage material.

I walked down the other side of the street and found an old suitcase for $2. Great finds for $11.75.  I picked up another item for personal use, and still stayed under budget.  A good day!

My Prep Process

Some information about my prep process…. All wooden pieces are left out in the sunshine for a minimum of three days and put in quarantine in order to check for bug infestation. If the piece does have bugs, it is discarded. NOT ONE PIECE HAS HAD BUGS! 

Next, the items are cleaned with an environmentally-friendly TSP substitute and Murphy’s Wood Soap and warm water until the water runs clean. I work with environmentally-friendly materials whenever possible.

I use water-based latex paint and primer and mix my own chalk paint; even the paint sticks are reused for other projects. My goal is to create as little waste as possible. Even rusty hardware is reused for accent pieces, shadow boxes, etc.

The fabric I use comes from upholstery samples, vintage fabric from old clothing, and my own collection. I have a fetish for textiles. :-)

It’s time to get busy sanding and painting!  

I found some cool stuff!

The past two weeks have been great ones in terms of finding interesting and, in some cases, vintage furniture pieces. Some of the items include a set of kitchen chairs with rush seats, vintage aluminum bar stools, a storm window frame from a 19th century house, a silverware box, and a low round coffee table. 

 I was also fortunate to find two console TV cabinets. I am ALWAYS looking for wooden console TV cabinets – even the ones from the 50’s and 60’s. I can’t wait to show you how these are being transformed!

Below is a sneak peak of some of my finds "before" transformation.

Next, I'll write about my prep process.