Thrift Redux on a Summer Sunday

Lazy!  That's me.  I'm repeating a post from August 2009; if you've read it already, go play pinochle or sip a summery beverage while you read a trashy novel.

But if you are in New Jersey, do so indoors

as it's raining cats and dogs today.

(August 18, 2009)

On Friday, I put a bag over my husband's head

and stuffed him into the trunk of my car -- 

I had found out that a thrift shop that's usually excellent hunting grounds

(and which is closed for the summer) was going to be open. For. One. Day. 

We were going.

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As it turned out, Howard had a blast. He found a brand new Gevalia coffeemaker -- the kind the coffee company gives away with its coffee -- with a thermal carafe, and it's perfect for Anne's new apartment. Way to go, Howard. Not worthy of pictures, but ... a good find.

I found more picture-worthy things.

I love white platters.

This one, at $5.00, called my name:

I used it on Sunday for some nibbles for our dinner guests.

They liked it!

On Sunday I also used these wine glasses:

There were 5 of them, $2 each. I bought them for Anne.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. But -- luckily, she doesn't like them,

so I think they will stay right here at That Old House.

I love the bubbly glass, the funky shape, the swirly stems, and the colors.

Some are aqua, some more a sea glass blue.

But wait! There's more!

Earlier this summer I brought home some double old-fashioned glasses from the beach house, that my parents used in the 50s and 60s. The glasses have white and gold leaves on them -- very Mad Men -- and every time I look at them, I get the ghostly scent of Scotch.

They are spike heels, shirtwaist dresses with big bouffant skirts, cocktail rings, and Chanel No. 5.
And I found their near-twins at the thrift.

Slightly larger, slightly less gold, but worthy of anyone's mid-century style bar setup.

8 of them. A buck apiece.

And these Annie does like, so off they'll go to her new apartment.

And that's it!

(Except for Howard's favorite story, at the bottom of the post!)

No ironstone, no milk glass, no painted plates, and I resisted an adorable chubby silverplate tea -- maybe coffee -- pot, with "Gimbel Brothers" stamped on the bottom. I wonder if it was used in the restaurant at Gimbel's, or if it was used in the executive dining room?

Bonus Round!

This is Howard's favorite part of our thrifting adventure.
As we were checking out, the petite, elderly church lady volunteer remarked on the aqua blue wineglasses.

"Oh, so summery!" She wrapped the first one.
"Have you tried that new cocktail?" she asked, still wrapping.  "I can't remember the name, but it's got --- " and she paused in her wrapping to rattle off a quite long list of major alcoholic liquids that, combined in a cocktail, would knock an elephant right onto his big floppy ear.

"It's quite delicious," She smiled sweetly, "and it would look just lovely in these glasses!"

Yes, Howard wants to come with me again. This time I won't have to stuff him in the trunk.  -- Cass


P.S.  An update from 2011 -- despite Howard's enjoyment of our thrifting trip and his amusement at the hard-drinking church lady, it's so far the one and only time he's come to a thrift shop with me.  Goodwill doesn't count; he can find guy stuff there!

Link Parties!

Chari at Happy To Design hosts Sunday Favorites, which gives us the excuse to recycle a story.  Click here!

And The Tablescaper is our host for Seasonal Sundays.  Click here!

The Life Of A House

Once upon a time, 
That Old House was a working farmhouse.

The family who built it owned most of the land at this end of Main Street.

From June, just after the painters finished.  The day before our daughter's wedding!

Bit by bit, the land was sold off, other houses built -- hundreds of them --

and a big sprawling high school built on the hill above.

On this side of the house, our property ends quite close to the sunroom.  There is more lawn on the other side.

The previous owners further parceled up the land, taking the last

intact 3 acres and dividing them into 4 three-quarter acre lots.

That Old House, in its new white coat, hosted an After Party the night of the wedding; I got no pictures of it!

That Old House sits on one of those lots.  Gone are the barns, the greenhouses,

the wells and pump house, but we feel lucky that the house is still here.

A Greek Revival country farmhouse, recognizable.

Well cared for by generations of families.  Yes, we do feel lucky!

Yup, that window on the bump-out IS that crooked.  You should see the others.

But we mostly live inside of our houses, so come on through

the newly-painted door.  They tell me it's yellow.

I had threatened to paint the door pink, so I didn't get too many arguments on the bright yellow.

A big part of the joy of living in an old house are the

echoes of past lives that you feel, or that you wonder about.

This past June, I wondered how many other brides

had come down those front stairs in the last 179 years:

How many sisters had stood together in that parlor,

with one fussing over the other's gown?

How many other bridal parties posed for their picture in the parlor?

How many other daddies have hugged their little girl on her wedding day within these four walls . . . 

. . . and then left from the old house for a last ride together, as that little girl begins a new life?

I wish I could say that in the month-and-a-half since these pictures were taken,

that we'd ordered and had installed the reproduction shutters for the house,

and painted all the porch furniture, and planted a few shrubs in the front bed . . . 

I wish I could say those things, but we haven't done much of anything.

Maybe it will take another wedding to get us off our kiesters and into gear again!

Oh please . . . not yet!

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I meant to show our mostly D-I-Y interpretation of a

farmhouse kitchen for this post.  But the post had different ideas.

Maybe next week.

Meanwhile, I'm linking to a few Linky Parties today.

LaurieAnna's Vintage Home is sponsoring a new meme -- Farmhouse Friday.  Click here!

At My Romantic Home, it's Show And Tell Friday.  Click here!

It's Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage.  Click here!

The Charm of Home features Home Sweet Home on Fridays.  Click here!

It's Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground.  Click here!

 Now one more thing ... if you are interested in those wire baskets -- or the little pumpkins -- that I blogged about yesterday, Thursday, I forgot to say that you can buy them online, have them delivered free to your local Dollar Tree, and pick them up there.  No running out of stock, and they will now break up case lots for most items.  No Dollar Tree near you?  They'll UPS it to your front porch.  No front porch?  Sorry.  Can't help you there.

Anywho -- check it out at Dollar Tree Online.

 To go right to the wire wastebaskets, click here!

I didn't get any compensation from Dollar Tree.  I mean, really . . . it's Dollar Tree, folks!  -- Cass

Get Thee To A Dollar Tree!

Hold the presses.
Dollar Tree needs to be on your
List Of Places To Visit, Soon.

I went yesterday; hadn't been in donkey's years.

Or, maybe, Dion's ears.

Anyway, it was a long time.

I walked in, veered to the right, saw this, and it was in my cart before you could say,

"HeyladygetyourmittsoffthatcauseitisMINE!"

 What is it, you ask?

 It's a wire basket.  According to its tag, it's a wastebasket, and yes, I think it would fulfill

that job description admirably in a bedroom or office.  Can't you just see

crumpled, discarded pages of The Great American Novel spilling out of the top? 

I thought that was a better image than used tissues in the bedroom.

You could also park home dec magazines or naughty novellas in it.

This is my clever way of letting you know how big it is.  So tiresome to write, "11 inches tall."

  It looks like it's made of chicken wire.

Refined, civilized, citified chicken wire.  Because, it is.

 I do believe that in one of those fancy-pants Frenchy-decor stores, it would have a price tag

on it that would be more than ONE STINKIN' AMERICAN DOLLAR!

But wait!  There's more!

It multi-tasks.

It can also serve as a pedestal for one of the other things I got at Dollar Tree.

Perhaps -- not.

 But -- you could weave ribbons through it, or hang fiddly bits of beads or crystals off it for some bling,

or attach big happy buttons with coat thread for your sewing room wastebasket,

or do some poofy lacy swaggy thing around the top with a flopsy bow,

or spray paint it in Schiaparelli Pink or--or--or! in a lovely Autumn orange and add a bit of raffia . . .

You know, this all seems like work, and since I am bone idle I will wait to see what you do with your

Dollar Tree Frenchy Chicken Wire Basket.  

By the way, it also comes in Black.

Tres chic!

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 Meanwhile, at our Dollar Tree, it's already Autumn.

The pumpkins are a-popping out all over the DT store.

I happen to have a lot of faux pumpkins (Le Blog is still in Frenchie mode), and I found

more faux citrouilles when we cleared out our basement for the French drains last month.

I had to Google two things for this post: the spelling of Schiaparelli

and the French word for pumpkins.  I like to look smart, but my computer knows better.

Anyway, I could not resist these chubby lovelies.

 Creamy white, with soft green leaves.  Hmm, how big are they, you ask?

 Ha!  Another graphic demonstration of size, using one of those

dinky wee tissue packets we all keep in our purses.

They're little fellows, but their future is all planned for them.

They are going to replace last year's itty bitty orange raffia pumpkins on Jabba the Hutch,

in our kitchen, when Fall really begins.

 Somewhere near the end of October.  I am a stubborn summer-hanger-on-er.

So, my question for vous today is:

When are you going to get a Dollar Tree Frenchy Wire Basket,

and what are you going to do with it?

And . . .

is it "Frenchy" or "Frenchie" or neither?

Actually that makes two questions.  No, three.  This is why I don't balance the checkbook.

Now, get thee to a Dollar Tree!

Only, not the one near my house.  That one is mine, and I want all the good stuff

and am not above mowing you down with my cart to get it. This is New Jersey, after all. -- Cass

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Time to put your Linky Party hat on!

Join Leigh at Tales from Bloggeritaville for Thifty Thursday.  Click here!

See how Leigh's hubby and kids designed their own family room.  It turned out great!

And at Faded Charm Cottage blog, there are loads of other white wonders to admire.
Visit the White Wednesday Link Party.  Click here!

Yes, I know I'm late for this one.
My excuse?  I was shopping!

I'm Paintin' In The Rain, Just Paintin' In The Rain . . . .

On Friday, Anne and I loaded Dion DiPoochy
into the car and set out for the eastern end of
Long Island, where our family has a beach house.

Howard took the Hampton Jitney from mid-town Manhattan
on Friday night and joined us.  It was so good to be out there.
I had not been out since the end of May.

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On Saturday, we did some antiquing and yard-saling.

No finds!
But I did pick up a few things at the Riverhead Home Depot; I had painting on my mind.

On Sunday, it rained.  Buckets.

Dang.  Spray painting and high wind and rain aren't natural partners.

We spent Sunday morning inside the house with coffee and toasted bagel thins and books.
In the afternoon, Anne worked on pieces for her Etsy shop.

Howard did some of this, which is a time-honored beach house activity,

while I turned my head lights on that green chair in the picture above, and its three siblings.

I have been itching to spray paint them white.

But even I am not chuckle-headed enough to spray paint in pouring rain and wind.
I took a video of the rain from inside the house.

I turned my head lights on other things needing painting.

Small things.

Last spring, the oak master bathroom vanity was painted in Benjamin Moore's China White.
I didn't want to put the old oak and antique brass hardware back on; I envisioned lovely shiny nickel or chrome pulls.

But this weekend I noticed that the hinges on the doors are darkened brass, and look bronze.
Maybe shiny chrome wasn't the right choice after all.

Hmmm . . . what if I took the old hardware and spray painted it in Oil Rubbed Bronze?
I could do that in the utility room, despite the rain.

I set up a paint box, with a very old quilt for any overspray, all on top of the dryer in the utility room.

And Presto-Change-o!  Done.

Well, not quite.  It was so wickedly humid on Sunday that they stayed too tacky to re-coat.
That's a project for the next visit, and then we'll put them here:

And they'll look smashing.  Or, at least, they will work and they were free.  We loves free.

That was my neat and tidy painting project on Sunday.
When the rain let up and the sun poked through,
I decided to tackle the chairs.
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Some decisions are wiser than others.

I put a big piece of cardboard down on the (wet) grass, and upended one of the chairs.
Sprayed the bottom, sort of.  See, the rain had stopped . . . but the wind had not.

I flipped the chair upright and continued spraying, until I heard my husband calling from the garage,
"Are you nuts?  You are in the middle of a cloud of paint!"
And so I was.
Which may have explained the coughing.

Well, I tried.  I put the partially-painted chair --which did dry in the sun and wind -- back at the table.
Check out those sexy shabby chic legs.  Hey, it's hard to spray paint legs in the wind.

Just a sketchy first coat, but how do you like it in white?

I like it.  Anne's not sure.  I don't think Howard cares much one way or the other,
as long as the chair still works for sitting on, at meals.  This is a good thing in a husband.

Okay, chairs.  You have two weeks left before your worst nightmare
shows up again, armed with several more cans of spray paint.  You have been warned.

It's good to be back home.  

That Old House is tactfully pointing out all the painting projects

waiting here for a nice dry sunny day.  She's such a nag.

But she does have a point, and it is indeed a nice sunny day! -- Cass

Linky Parties!

Linda at Coastal Charm features loads of bloggers' thrifty finds at Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays.  Click here!

At Sugar Bee Blog, it's Take-A-Look Tuesday.  Click here!

See You Monday!

The title says it all.

Have a lovely weekend!  -- Cass