A Place To Land

I have never been successful at creating a welcoming entry in this house. Because of the constant projects on the go, my front hall has been sorely neglected and is often a pile of strollers, renovation supplies, shoes and sports equipment. Until this week, though, when I finally got to do a little decorating in the space. Remember that green school chalkboard I found a few weeks ago? I figured out where to put it!

I also found those long baskets this weekend at a garage sale (can you ever have enough baskets?) and the bench and bucket I've had for a while. I love that it has a little schoolhouse/ industrial edge now, don't you?

New Fruit Basket

Something about this fruit basket grabbed my attention on my Saturday morning thrift...

 

It has to be those cute atomic style legs and feet! In other news, we hung a shelf in the kitchen to display some kitsch. I think it adds some much needed colour to my favourite corner of the house...

Hope you had a great weekend!

OK, I Think I'm Good For Now

Or maybe not. My obsession with chalkboards continues, as I picked up these two for a mere $1.50 this weekend....

I justify the purchase because over the weekend someone wrote 1+1= 11 and my son's name wrong on it...perhaps this will help. My only dilemma is where to hang them, because I already have chalkboards in the kitchen and the playroom. The front hall? The kid's room? Help! I also picked up this sweet little coat for my pony loving daughter...

A vintage tailor made riding jacket. Of course, she will be 8 by the time she can fit into it, but it was too sweet to pass up. Score any finds this weekend?

Thrifty

I had a great time at garage sales this weekend, mornings like these make all the other early mornings worthwhile. I gathered lots of goodies, especially from this lovely sale put on by a family who is moving their mother in her 90s closer to them. I imagine this lady to be quite glamorous in her day...

 

I know, quite silly wearing a fur collar in heat like this, but I had to give it a try. I imagine it with a sleek black, high necked dress at a winter party (because, you know, I party all the time, ha ha). The scarves have already got their wear as my girls were trying them on all day yesterday. As for the gloves, I don't know if I will have the guts to wear them again, but I'm partial to them because I used to sport them all the time when my husband and I were dating...

 

Silly little log pot, I don't know why I love you so much...

A girlie little tray to put my perfume on, I couldn't say no...

These little embroidery prints will find their way into Holly's room, I feel like I finally know the direction I want to go in there. It may not happen in this house, but light floors, walls and maybe a Scandinavian inspired wallpaper on one wall with light furniture and a vintagy eclectic vibe (does that make sense?) is what I would like ideally. I picture a lovely shared room with matching beds in the next house for the two girls, but maybe that's a dream. Still, I think some vintage pieces are essential to any kid's room to give character, don't you?
Well, that about sums up all the finds of the weekend for me, did you go thrifting this weekend?

Thrifty

Hello friends! I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was full of swimming lessons, bicycle races and fence building (not me, of course). Unfortunately I was too exhausted to get up to do my Saturday garage sale ritual (I need to ease back in to those early mornings!). However my Mom was nice enough to pick me up something special on a whim (does that count?)

A mint vintage Pyrex bowl, no scratches or chips. I need to put some shelving in my kitchen to add some colour to the walls, and this is definitely going up!
Did you go thrifting this weekend? find anything cool?

Happy Blog-iversary!

It's hard to believe Leila and I have been working on this little ol' blog for a whole year! It's been an exciting and productive year for the both of us. Let's take a moment to recapture all of the fun moments of the year:

We started off the year with a bang with Leila's popular book sling hack;

We celebrated with Holly's tea party and Emmett's fabulous moustache party!

I showed you the before and after of Henry and Holly's playroom, also featured on Ohdeedoh; where you can find the DIY play kitchen Santa made for her:

There was lots of thrifting...

and yummy cooking...

some furniture makeovers...

And as always, reno updates!

Thanks to all our friends who read this blog regularly, we love you all. There is still so much to share with you, so we hope you tune in as we continue our blogging adventure!

I Think I'm a Little Obsessed Now...

I can't help myself. I know I'm not the only one who thinks matte black is one of the sexiest colours of all time. So when I kept looking at this one dollar garage sale bowl which has been acting as a space filler on my sideboard (I really can't stand the finish of it), my mind was battling between sending it on the next Goodwill trip and painting it.

Thanks to some leftover chalkboard paint, painting won...

That is one sexy bowl. You'll have to excuse me now as I go look for other stuff to cover with chalkboard paint.....

Score!

Just when I was about to give up thrifting (at least for a while), I came across a box full of goodies:

All summer long I was coming home empty handed, and I was starting to wonder if those early morning Saturdays were worth it. I still persisted into the fall though because these church bazaars are kind of like an early holiday tradition with me and my mom (and now my sister too!). To get to the point, I was going in with low expectations so you can imagine my shock when I opened this box on the floor (under the table) to discover these:

I started to get a little panicky as I was sorting through them, trying not to let the box get discovered while I chose which ones to buy. Finally I asked the lady running the table "how much for the whole box?"
4 Dollars.

These are a huge addition to my Christmas collection (last year a few of my vintage ones broke, leaving me quite upset). Totally worth all the effort hunting!

A Vintage Road Bike in progress

I wanted to find a vintage road bike for my husband to ride for fun. He has a very sensible hybrid bike which he uses for year-round transportation (including through the harsh Canadian winter!). He also uses it to tow our kids in the Chariot. But, like lots of people he does like to go fast sometimes. I think it irks him that old men can pass him on the bike trail as his main bike is a total slug.

As I've mentioned before, he's a rather leggy and tall fellow so finding a bike to fit can be a challenge. So I was pretty happy to find a diamond in the rough on kijiji:

Whoa, I hear you say! To say it was a filthy mess was an understatement. But underneath all the grime there was a pretty good bike. Mieles are a Canadian bike company and used to be very high quality. This bike seems to be a mid-range, mid-eighties road bike designed for really going fast. Plus, the chrome forks really do it for me.

So what I did next was a huge learning curve for me and quite a lot of fun. I took almost everything off the frame - the pedals, crank etc. I then took out the bearings and cleaned and greased them. I also got to buy some cool tools, like a crank puller (I think this is the funniest name for a tool ever). I have also been spending way too much time at the bike shop (Rachel's husband's one, natch) watching them work and asking my stupid questions. The thing was so crusted with filth that I had to use a screwdriver to carve the old grease out of the nooks and crannies!

Anyway, it is almost done! Here is what it looked like a few days ago:

Quite an improvement, wouldn't you say? Since then i have added white bar tape. New brake hoods are on the way. But what I really need is a nice white vintage saddle for it.

Stay tuned for the next installment!

More Thrifting!

Thrifting! You might have guessed that both Rachel and I love it! Here are some recent scores - teak salt and pepper grinders ($1), and a nice glass lemon juicer for $1.25!

But here's what I am really after:

Etsy

...a teak handled covered butter dish that will take a full pound of butter! And I want the thrill of the hunt so I don't want to buy someone else's find from etsy.

What are you looking for at the thrift store these days?

New Toy Storage for Henry

Remember this?

 

Thanks for the wonderful ideas (particularly the one about using it as a towel rack, awesome!)After a lot of thought I've decided on chalkboard paint! Since it is going in a boy's room I thought it would make it a bit more edgy....

I love that I can change up the labels when I need to, and that it is the perfect size to fit into a little corner...What do you think?

My $2 Porch Perch

I've been looking for some porch furniture for quite a while,  but nothing's really piqued my interest. I didn't really want to do modern (unless it was teak, lovely, and probably from DWR) and I hadn't come across a nice, inexpensive vintage set.

That is, until recently. There's a guy on my street who casually deals in Mid-Century Furniture. I'll call him Marty because, well, his name's Marty. I bought my orangey armchair from one of his garage sales. Anyway, I was driving home after a concert the other night and screeched to a halt because he'd put this lovely vintage chair out for pickers (like me). Perfect! The seat needs a bit of work (which will be very difficult!), but for now it's fine. I love the lines of it and it is very, very comfy!

The little table came from a rummage sale for $2 and I think it's just charming. I think it's supposed to have a glass top, but it's fine as is. I especially love the pattern on the tabletop!

What's on your porch?

Thrifting: Spraypaint Edition

Hello friends! I need your help; my shed is full of stuff like this, and my husband says it may end up at the curb if I do not decide what to do with it!

 

This funny contraption was found in the garbage one night by my parents (I must have inherited it from somewhere, right?). It must have come from a variety store to hold candy, but I was thinking it could make a cute toy shelf or a place for books. It has that cool industrial vibe I love for Henry's room...What do you think: bright red? pop-y yellow? orange? chalkboard perhaps?

 Next is this lovely little table; I got two of these (one is smaller but the same) for $5. My husband insists they are the ugliest things he has ever seen, but they stole my heart from the moment I saw them! This bigger one has the perfect spot beside my couch and the smaller in front of it. After priming the large one, I almost feel glossy white may be a cool option, and pink or yellow for the little one? Still trying to gain some colour in that living room...

Finally, these mid century outdoor chairs. I absolutely love these. Can not for the life of me decide on a colour though.

What do you guys think? I would love to get a little bit crazy with them and I love colour at the moment. Send me your suggestions!