Boo!

Well it's just past 7:30 p.m. here on Halloween and nary a trick-or-treater in sight! We got a handful earlier but the circling cop cars lead me to believe that the holiday was not being supported by the local authorities this year. The worst part is the large bowl filled with chocolate within reach of me right now. Last year we had tons of kids come by, so I bought accordingly. Great. I think I feel my butt growing already.

I thought I'd show you what I did with all of the decorations I found in the trash during the summer.

I stuck the legs in my mailbox, and the ravens are perched on a branch I dragged home while on a walk with the dog last weekend.




I did buy a pumpkin, and used two of the buttons I bought in Brussels as eyes.



That way, tomorrow I can take the buttons off and the pumpkin will be able to hang out on the porch through Thanksgiving.

I did buy this flag, but for $8.95 including shipping (eBay) I think it was a great purchase.


This little guy was in my box of trash treasures, and he's perfectly at home climbing the flagpole.


And let me tell you, a little cheesecloth goes a long way! I bought four packages at the supermarket and cut and shredded it over almost everything in sight. It was a cheap and easy way to make a splash. And a home for Mr. Spider.


The nighttime photos don't do my "project" justice. The house is rigged up with blacklights and strobes and tombstones that "talk" when you walk past them. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. Here's a couple of shots...





Mr. Ghost is a damask yard sale tablecloth ($3). I always snatch those up. You can use them for everything from the intended use to craft projects (pillow backers or tote bag liners) and Halloween decorations! Plus they are totally wash and wear -- a little Oxi Clean and they look like a million bucks. Or at least more than the three or four dollars I pay for them.

He also got a pair of eyes, compliments of my Brussels button collection.


Inside the house I put together a few little vignettes with more cheap and found stuff. This curly branch came off the tree in our backyard. I have no idea what kind of tree it is (curly and thorny branches) but I love using the branches in flower arrangements and here I thought it looked holiday-appropriate all by its lonesome. The black candles are from the Dollar Store.


My great-grandma's cut crystal bowls glow thanks to these battery-operated tea lights, two for $1.19 (half off last weekend at JoAnn's).


In the photos you can see the tea lights, but in "real life" you don't see them at all; just their soft, flickering orange glow.


A vintage trick-or-treat bag turned art:


And a little pumpkin from the farmer's market (50 cents) rounds out the little scene.


I hope you're enjoying a safe and happy Halloween. And that you're not stuck staring at a bowl of chocolate like I am!

Rockin'.

Our lovely neighbor across the street is moving. She assured me it had nothing to do with us. (We seem to be losing neighbors like leaves off an autumn tree! I'm starting to get a complex...)

The one and only good thing about her moving was the sale of her house's contents. In addition to scoring a shelving unit for our basement and a much-needed dehumidifier, I bought this purple velvet rocking chair for $100:



I didn't buy it right away, but after seeing this Victorian glider at a local auction earlier this month...

...and falling for it but not for the $275 it sold for, I had vintage purple velvet rockers on the brain. So when the neighbor's rocker didn't sell the first weekend of her sale, I went back in the second.

The woodwork is in great shape, and has lovely detail:

And while at first I wasn't 100 percent sure where I'd put it (oops), after some shifting around it found a perfect home in our almost-completed master bedroom next to the dresser that is still one of my favorite thrifts:

This makes the MBR almost ready for prime time. The one "situation" that still needs to be addressed is the closet doors:

When we moved in the room was what I would describe as Very Dusty Rose, and the metallic lilac-washed (!) closet doors with lavender (!!) curtain panels seemed right at home in the pink palace. Mike's first reaction was to rip the doors off the hinges. But they are old and charming (I could insert "just like him" here but I will resist the temptation. Oops! It slipped out...). Just look at the doorknobs:

The people we bought the house from salvaged the doors and the knobs (separately) and built the closet around them.

I started my long-awaited door improvement project this past weekend by sewing new panels out of inexpensive white faux linen, which definitely softens them a bit:

Now, do I paint the doors white? That was my original intention, but with all the dark woodwork I fear they will stand out like a bad set of over-bleached choppers on a Hollywood starlet.

Any ideas? Stripping the doors is really not an option, I don't think. With all of the layers of paint on them it could take me into 2013 easily. As it is, scraping paint off the glass took me about six (wo)man hours.

Did I need these lamps?

Of course not. But when I saw them sitting in all of their vintage goodness (while I was out Christmas shopping. You know - that time of year you're supposed to be shopping for others?), I decided they had to come home with me.

I had the perfect place for them:


They need to be polished up and one of the lamps could use a bit of rejiggering (there's a loose socket that I think I may be able to fix myself) but I like the light they bring to the room, especially at night. The black shades tone down the too-blue walls (you can read more about my master bedroom paint drama here) and almost turn them the grey-blue I was hoping for.

Any impulse purchase(s) for you while you were "gift" shopping over the holidays? Go ahead, enlighten me. (Har har.)

Favorite thrift?

OK, asking me for my favorite thrifty find is somewhat akin to asking a mother who her favorite child is.

But since Southern Hospitality has asked us to make this difficult choice (for her online Thrifty Find party), I’ll skirt the issue a bit by showing you my most recent favorite thrifty find, Lady Liberty:

I got her during what can best be described as a two-week long eBay bender. I was obsessed with finding mates for a Statue of Liberty I bought for a couple of dollars at a yard sale (two summers ago?). I found the perfect spot for her in the shore house, and early last month became obsessed with acquiring an entourage of vintage Lady friends. Here’s my collection to date, all under $10 a piece:

The funny things is, since I work in midtown Manhattan I could probably go to any tourist store on 5th Avenue and save myself a lot of time! But that’s no fun, is it?

The Statues of Liberty are in a bathroom that we’ve only done some minor work on to date. Three of the walls were covered in a toile print that we both kind of liked, so we painted the wall behind the (clawfoot! yay!) tub a deeper brown color to complement the darker shade in the toile. We also removed a nasty laminated kitchen cabinet “situation” that was going on above the w.c., and it made a WORLD of difference. We’re very curious what’s lurking under the very, very bad vinyl sheet floor but have been frightened to lift it. I will share our findings when we lift it to take our first peek in the coming weeks, but here’s a little preview the very little bathroom room so far:

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite shore house thrift to-date (we’ve had the house since the start of the year, so it’s still a relatively new score), my fabulous femme:

I love her so much I’ve already mentioned her twice, including a stand-alone post devoted to her fabulousness. At $10 for her and the nice old chippy black frame she came in, it was a no brainer for me.

And, my all time favorite thrifty find was made on February 17, 2007. I found this one in a cage in a shelter, looking a little lost. But like all thrifty finds, when you get them home and clean them up, they look SO much better!

(Maggie on move in day.)

She hardly cost more than a decent meal, and let me tell you – this old lady doesn’t owe us a dime.

Today, I will be happy.

I wish this picture were a bit sharper but it conveys my feelings precisely. Plus, I'm feeling a bit fuzzy myself today so all more the apropos.

Wow...thanks to so many people for stopping by my tent tour via Hooked on Houses'! I really didn't expect so many visitors, nor the amazingly kind words about my tour. Fascinating stuff, right? I thought I'd lose everyone with the history lesson (if you're new to my blog, I'm a woman of *many* words, and I can't seem to help it), but was pleased to see how many people hung in there. I swear, at one point I felt like I was back in school writing a thesis or something!

Your way-too-kind comments have really made my day (week! year!). I said to the mister last night that I thought I should start a blog for work. You know, where colleagues could leave comments and say nice things about me. So I would feel better about myself and like my job more. Things like:

"Amazing job with that business plan outline, Laura! OMG...it was so creative!"

Or:

"LOL...that direct mail piece with the fireworks photo was HILARIOUS! Good work!"

Wouldn't that be cool? (Except for the fact that some of the people I work with are not-so-nice, and say not-so-nice things about my projects. Behind my back. It's like being in high school all over again. Lucky me! But, as usual, I digress...)

So a big, fat blog hug from me to all of you who stopped by, left comments, and/or enjoyed the tents. For those of you who fancy online tours, tomorrow Southern Hospitality is hosting a "Favorite Thrift Store Find" hootenanny, and God knows I've got the goods to participate in that one. I'm hoping to pick myself up by the bootstraps and pull a post together tonight, but be sure to stop by Southern Hospitality to check it out.

And if you like the french fry poster above, check out Studio Mela's Etsy store. She has fantastic, high quality signed and numbered prints made from her original designs, like the "I Love Your Eggbeaters" print I own and mentioned the other day:

And other motivational mantras like these: