better than i expected

 I'm glad we chose to paint this old cupboard white!

 It fits our space beautifully

 and fulfills an important storage function in the dining area of our kitchen.

SO happy we lugged this cabinet home from a garage sale!

just imagine

Well, now that you've seen how we restored the (free) vintage stereo,

just IMAGINE how this cabinet will look restored!

Seen here lying on its back, it stands up beautifully 

and has several shelves to its credit.

I can't wait to show you how it looks when my husband is finished with it.

(It was discovered in the very back of a garage of a house uninhabited for nine years

as friends conducted a garage sale before auctioning the house.)

smitten

 From the bare-bones bookcase purchased for $5 at a garage sale...

...to this sweet beauty, fashioned by my husband.

It is painted a very pale baby blue, slightly distressed and waxed to a smooth finish,

I'm smitten!

ta-dah!

Finished.

(My prior post shows it in process...)

sell or keep?

 The price was right on this little Mersman table

we found at a garage sale Friday.

 I'm trying to decide what color to paint it...

I think this shell design will show up so well!

The size of the table makes it quite versatile

Wonder if we'll sell it or keep it???

not perfect, but better....

 Yesterday, my husband brought this dollhouse into our living room,

lifting the wing of a gate-leg table we'd recently moved in to set it on.

He spent a couple of hours repairing/re-doing parts of the

partly assembled piece I'd purchased via a facebook garage sale site
earlier this year.

 He's a patient person, this man of mine!

He's at it again this Christmas Day--at least until it's

time to drive the hour distance to spend the afternoon with my parents.

"Not perfect, but better," he pronounced as he stepped back to

view one of the improvements....

seller's remorse

I definitely had it - seller's remorse, that is!

My husband took a $2 (or was it $4) find

and found this incredible design under the brown paint 

which he then proceeded to carefully remove.

He crafted a door to replace the missing one.

I listed it on a facebook garage sale at a rather high price (I thought)

thinking it wouldn't sell

and then I could keep it.

It didn't happen that way.  Maybe I should have asked more for it!

bazaar-ing

 Doors opened at the first Bazaar at 8:00.  I was up and ready before light dawned!

My friend arrived, and we started our Holiday Bazaar tour,

beginning with one in our small village

and then to two others in a nearby small town.

 While the main items were homemade crafts and baked goods,

I was ecstatic to find several curtain panels

made of vintage barkcloth (above).

 Children in the Sunday School at one church made nativity ornaments like the one above

which was worth the price just for the pattern!

I think I'm going to have supplies with me when we meet with our 11 grandchildren
later this month so that each one can

 make one to hang on their 2013 Christmas tree.

The way home took us past a large moving sale.

The frame was on the free table right inside the entrance. 

I grabbed it!

 And though not a strong cake-baker,

I couldn't pass up these two vintage cake carriers.

($1 each)

 The beautiful pink table cloth has only one small flaw in it.

Half a dollar purchased much pink pleasure.

 And the vintage Jim Bean decanter matches another one I have

 packed away SOMEwhere here at Gatescroft...

Finally, this retro chair caught my eye.  It was almost free!

Another chair for my collection.

Bazaar-ing with a friend was a great way to spend a cloudy, autumn morning!

re-cycle

I think it was the belt I bought for a quarter that I'm trying to show off here...

or maybe the Worthington (brand) skirt that was $1.25

at my Favorite Thrift Store.

While I'm at it, I'm excited about an old wash stand

we purchased at a garage sale this week.  

Gnawed by rodents while it sat in a barn,

it is now undergoing an extensive renovation at the hands of my husband.

Just look at those great "pulls"!

 I couldn't pass up this mirror, either.

 I sold it quickly to a friend who is putting it in her shop.

I suspect it is up for sale again.

The RE-cycle continues!

the pleasure of a panel

 It's just about impossible for me to pass up vintage curtain panels.

 I'm especially fond of this print...

so cheerful!

Fifty cents was a small price to pay for the pleasure of this panel!