vintage finds: arch floor lamp

and this, my friends, is why you take your graphic-designer-artist husband estate sale shopping with you. we hit up this sale late in the day on saturday (we really went because it was in a house located on our very favorite street in all of the city), so the expectations of finding something were rather low. I headed straight for the kitchen as robert made his way to the living area, and bam! this vintage arch floor lamp screamed his name. ironically, we had been looking for floor lamp just like this, but they all seemed to fall way out of our price range. but with a little negotiating, we walked out with this beauty minus $60! talk about a score. here are some before + after pics below. 

{it was just waiting to come home with us}

{pre-clean up}

{the pole was really rusted & dingy}

{with a little #0000 steel wool & some wd40, it shined up like new}

{here's the base before. we cleaned that up as well, although it could still use a good coast of paint at some point}

{perfect fit in our home}

{before + after}

vintage finds: milk glass cups

I picked up these pretty white milk glass cups for a couple dollars a few weeks ago at an estate sale. for now I've been displaying them around the house by filling them with flowers from the neglected hydrangea plant in the backyard (neglected = I didn't even realize we had one).

vintage finds: letterpress drawer

robert & I stopped by an estate sale a few weekends ago right before it was over. the bad thing about going towards the end of a sale is that generally, there isn't a lot left. but the good news is that you can pretty much name your price on whatever is still there.

I noticed this shelf mounted on a wall that I thought looked really cool. upon further inspection, it turned out to be a tray from an old letterpress cabinet that was used to hold the components & plates for printing. it was in great condition - minus the $60 price tag. so I threw on some charm (or, used my "girl-powers" as my daddy would say) & talked the guy down to $20! I love it, but am not quite sure what I'm going to do with it. I've seen people use them to hold jewelry or trinkets. but right now, I kind of like looking at it as-is. I love all the different sized boxes & the natural color of the ink-stained wood. 

vintage finds: glass cake plate

I have a wee bit of an obsession with collecting cake plates. I have... well, let's just say... a lot. they are so pretty & delicate & hold cake, which also happens to be one of my favorite thing ever. when I find a cake stand that is different than anything I already own, I feel like I have to have it. robert spotted this one for me at an estate sale we went to a few weeks ago. I like it because it's simple & taller than any of the other cake stands I own. it has a few little scratches on the top, which just means it's been loved with a lot of cake over the years. and it was just $6.

"rick rack"

my mom & I hit up three estate sales over the weekend & I was lucky enough to find a little something at each one. I got a few really neat things for my sister, but I'm keeping them a surprise for her, so I won't post those photos just yet.

at one of the sales, there was an entire room filled with every sewing accessory you could ever image. the lady who had lived there had labeled each little bin with it's contents. my favorite was the was the tub labeled "rick rack". and not just because of the awesome spelling ("you can call me rack. rick rack"). it contained some beautiful trim & for $5, why not?

{"rick rack" -awesome.}

{this is seriously the tinniest ric rac I've never seen. how am I ever supposed to attach it to anything?}

christmas in july

my mom gave me a heads up about an estate sale in an older neighborhood across town. I happened to be in the area, so I stopped by. one thing that annoys me about estate sales is when the family puts them on & doesn't have the items marked with prices & then on top of that, doesn't want to part with anything because it's too sentimental. which I totally get... but if you aren't ready to part with things, then don't have a sale & haggle with people over every item that elicits some sort of memory. that's why hiring a company can be such a great service & well worth the money.

ok, enough complaining. so if you don't know, I love christmas. and these vintage santa glasses were just too cute to pass up. a lot of them broke as the family was pulling them out for the sale. and then two actually broke in my car. so I don't have full set of either, but I still think there's enough to mix & match for a holiday dinner party. 

I also picked up some vintage christmas ornaments. if I can find a few more boxes, I'd love to make melanie's ornament chandelier! $12 for everything.  not bad.

{love the progression of santa coming out of the chimney}

{dried pine needles & shiny tinsel of christmases past}

the blues

I found a great estate sale in the neighborhood last weekend (thanks, craigslist). the family didn't use a company for the sale, so everything was really reasonably-priced. I got this pretty, low milk glass cake plate for $5. then I spotted these blue glass canisters in the kitchen for $1 each. when I turned them over, they were made in belgium, so I was sold (we just got back from a trip to belgium). and I really like these blue cloth napkins - they will be perfect for eating out on the deck this summer & were only $1. oh, and the scarf is for my sissy. not sure if it's vintage or not, but I just loved that blue & green print!  and all of this for a crisp hamilton (I had to google that).