Thrift Store Finds - Gotta Love Em' - I know I do!

I took Stacey to my local Thrift Store here in London and I found some wonderful goodies. I think I was squealing and grabbing at everything. Stacey probably thought I was some maniac (lol). She picked up a few things as well, but I ended up spending more money. I ended up spending around $10.00 for all of this stuff. Are you ready to take a look? Well, my first buy is this dry erase/chalkboard for Cameron. It was on 90 cents. I had to write you all a little note on it (lol).

I am so silly........for one split second I thought I was a teacher (hahahaha).

Anyway, I thought he could take it on road trips and color away. I knew he loved writing on Daddy's dry erase boards in Daddy's classroom so I knew he would love to have one of his own. The neat thing is that the chalkboard part pulls back for storage of chalk and markers. Any kid would love it and for only 90 cents - well, you can't beat that!!
My next find was this old spice rack. At least I think it is a spice rack and for 50 cents. Uh yeah, I knew I could do something with it. I thought I could put some more bowls up there for display, but we will have to wait and see. I see great potential with this puppy!!
This one "might" be my favorite find or maybe it is my last picture. Anyway, I thought this one would look great painted a prim color with some cuties displayed on the top and maybe some sweet annie sticking out of one of the drawers. I am definitely going to look for new knobs. For a price $2.92 - well, you couldn't find something that cute in a prim store for that price. A little sanding, some black, yellow ochre or barn red paint and some new knobs and it will be prim perfect!!

It is super heavy too which made me look instantly in the drawers to see what was in there, but I guess it is just made out of some hefty wood. It appears to be in great shape minus the white paint on the front and those pull knobs. The knobs are barely hanging on so I know I will be ripping those off real soon. I guess you could say that I am quite excited to give this pretty little thing some attention (lol).

I have been looking for new molds for pantry cakes and I found another one so I had to pick it up.
AND........ This is probably my largest purchase for the day. This ended up being around $4.00. I don't remember the exact price, but it was probably closer to $5.00 then $4.00. Anyway, as I sit here and ramble on, I get quite excited just looking at this wonderful beauty. I am pretty sure that it was used as a medicine cabinet which would be a nice idea, but I am just not sure I will use it as a medicine cabinet. I was even thinking that I could take off the door and it would be cute just like that, but then I realized that I liked the door too much to take it off. So, I guess I will just have to play with it a little bit and try to figure out what I want to do from there. I should have taken a picture of the inside, but it has 2 shelves and then that little area at the bottom which would look cute holding some sweet annie and some candles or some dried flowers. This beauty definitely has wonderful possibilities. It just needs to be primmed up and decorated. Don't you love it?!? Stay Tuned for the make-overs coming soon. I am sure you all can guess which one/ones I will makeover first. Hmmm, decisions decisions!
I also wanted to let you all know that Cameron's fever is gone. I am just making sure that he rests today and still drinks plenty of liquids. I can clearly tell that he is feeling better. He is currently watching Blue's Clues and screaming at Joe about where the clue is on the wall. He cracks me up!! Anyway, I am just so happy and relieved that his fever is gone and hopefully it stays that way. Nothing worse then having to worry about your little one. Thank you for all your sweet comments regarding my son. I appreciate it very much!! Hope you all have a wonderful week. I will hopefully be back soon with a makeover or two. Which one do you think I should makeover first? You know what..... I will let my prim friends decide which one I should makeover first so go ahead and leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts. Thanks Ladies!!

Wonderful Things & A Trip to the ER

Last night we had to end up taking Cameron to the ER. He has been running a fever since Friday, but yesterday evening it got as high as 104.7 and I was starting to get worried to say the least. Anytime he is sick......it always happens on the weekend when his doctor's office is closed. Imagine that - right? Well, I called the doctor's office and since it was after hours, it rings directly into the nurse triage at Children's Hospital. Well, they told me to bring him in if the Motrin wasn't kicking the fever so after about an hour and his fever not going down and him burning up...... we decided to take him in to the ER. I am glad that I did because it definitely helped give me peace of mind and help me sleep a bit better. Turns out that since his lungs were clear, no runny nose, no coughing and his ears looked ok and the strep test came back negative then they said it is probably a viral infection. I was happy it wasn't anything severe, but almost wish that they could have given him an antibiotic. I know that when it is a viral infection that they can't give an antibiotic that it just has to run the course, but it definitely doesn't make things any easier for him especially when he is miserable, restless, cranky and totally not himself. So, today we are just taking it easy, allowing him to rest and keep alternating the Motrin/Tylenol as frequently as he can take it and needs it.

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Shawn's cousin came to visit yesterday. Stacey has her own blog, but isn't on it that much anymore. Anyway, her and I share the same love for primitives and she was so sweet to bring me some treats yesterday. Doesn't this plate of goodies look so yummy and delicious?!? She brought me a yummy cinnamon roll, an M&M cookie, a peanut butter cookie, chocolate chip cookie and a snickerdoodle cookie with icing. Mmmm, I pulled them out of the bag and this WONDERFUL aroma hit me smack dab in my face. Oh, it all smelled so good and just as I picked one up to take a bite, she informed me that they were fake. Yep, you heard me correctly! They were on a cute little prim plate and they were as fake as could be, but looked and smelled SO VERY REAL. Believe it or not, they are made out of cloth and well I couldn't believe how real they were. Don't they look real? If you get real close to your computer screen then you might possibly be able to scratch and sniff and see if you too can enjoy this wonderful aroma (lol). Just kidding (hahahahaha). Funny to think that there might actually be people out there that think they could do that - ya know?!? Oh my - that is funny!!

Thanks Stacey for the wonderful treats even if they were fake (lol). You are too sweet and didn't have to, but I love the fact that you did : ) Hope to see you again soon!! Thanks for everything, but most of all for your wonderful friendship. I love hanging out with you and I hope you enjoyed your tour of North Shore Primitives!! I am sure you did - who wouldn't - right?

Shortly before we went to North Shore Primitives, I met a gentleman that was selling some ladder back chairs on Craiglist. I wasn't too crazy about the idea especially after you hear so many weird stories, but DH took me and Stacey and Cameron were along for the ride as well. I mean for $25.00 for a pair of ladder back chairs...... uh, I thought that was a deal that I couldn't and shouldn't pass up!
I picked up the chairs and fell in love with them. I am going to end up painting them black to match my farm table, but aren't they just great? They are in wonderful shape and so sturdy. I think I will probably end up putting them on each end of my table once it is made and if I can find more then great, but if not, I will just make some benches for the sides of the table. I guess I will have to keep looking. In the meantime.......Let's take a closer look - shall we?
Oh my - so sorry for all my squealing, but I am just SUPER excited about finding these wonderful beauties. I was SUPER excited when he told me that he would sell me one for $15.00 or two for $25.00. Uh yeah, I think I will take both of them thankyouverymuch! So, what do all of you prim ladies think of my ladder back chairs? Do you like them as much as me?

Stacey and I went to the Goodwill Store on our way home from North Shore Primitives and let me just tell you that I hit the jackpot!! FINALLY - I was able to hit the jackpot and I am thrilled to show you those goodies, but I must first let you soak in all of this. So, enjoy this post and my lovely goodies that I had to share with you and I will be back here sometime tomorrow to share with you all of my TS finds and trust me......there are some good ones. Ok, they are all good, but you must wait til tomorrow. Right now - I am off to snuggle with my sick boy. I hate it when he is sick, but I must admit that I love the snuggle time!!

Thrift Store Thursday

I definitely haven't had any luck what so ever when it comes to thrift store shopping lately. I decided to take my Mom and show her my local thrift store. Well, Mom isn't too into thrift store shopping. She pretty much thinks it is all junk, but you never know when you might find some gem that you can re-do to look brand new. Mom must have been my good luck charm because when I took her to have a tour.......well, I found a diamond in the rough. I had passed it and then I was looking back and noticed this gal looking at something wooden. I asked my Mom what it was and she said that she wasn't sure. Well, the nosey person that I am had to check it out. I knew that I didn't want to miss something so I headed back to see what it was. This is what I found........

It definitely needs to be cleaned up. My Mom thought that I was crazy for getting such a dirty thing and paying $5.00 for it, but I told her that with a little scrubbing and sanding and a new paint job that it would look brand new in no time flat! I am pretty sure that it is a trash holder and that is what I tend to use it for. I thought that I could put my trash can down in there and hide it away from everyone. Seriously...... who wants to see some ugly and dirty trash can sitting out in plain site? I had a friend of my Mom's make me a trash can, but she made it so small that you could probably get a few tissues in it, a roll of toilet paper and an empty box. Ok, it isn't that small, but I must admit that it is REALLY small.
I am definitely looking forward to starting on this little gem. The possibilities are endless to say the least and I can paint it any color and I could even add a stencil or two to give it a little pizazz, but I guess you will all have to wait and see what I come up with. I know how you all love to wait (lol).
Well, it is 7:00 in the evening and the sun has FINALLY decided to come out. We needed the rain that is for sure, but I am happy to see the sunshine. I am definitely a sunshine type of gal. I had some new daylilies bloom yesterday while it was raining so I had to snap a couple pictures of it to share with you. Hope you enjoy them!!

Until next time......hope you all are enjoying your summer and enjoying some sunshine! ((HUGS))

What a Wonderful Time & A Funny Story

Well, I am sure that you all know by now that this is my beautiful Mom. I was lucky enough to have her come here to my home to visit me for a couple days and we had such a wonderful time. My DH and I met them halfway and DH drove one car and I drove the other. We tend to do that to help my Mom out since my Dad is unable to drive due to health issues. Anyway, I was so excited to have them come for a visit and even more excited to share with my Mom everything that I have done inside my home over the last 6 months or so. I have made so many changes and she was pretty excited to see them. She first of all couldn't get over my kitchen makeover. She said that when she moves she is going to have me re-do her kitchen cabinets like mine and also install wood countertops just like mine. I always joke around with her and say that I won't do it, but to be quite honest...... I would do about anything to make my Mom happy and to make her smile. I love her to pieces!!

I decided that we definitely had to go to North Shore Primitives and indeed she fell in love with the shop. Mom is so use to shopping in Amish Country, but she admitted that North Shore took over the reigns as the best prim shop that she has been in. It is definitely a great place to shop in and if you all have to come through Ohio sometime then you should make a point to stop by there and check it out. My Mom wanted to buy me something and well she ended up buying me this beautiful punched tin light. Don't you just love it? I am absolutely in love with it and it is even more special because it is from my Mom. Thanks Mom - I love it and will cherish it always!! I Love You Mom with all that I am and I am so very happy and blessed to have you in my life!! Thank you for everything.......
Do you all remember this light that I purchased at a thrift store? Well, I bought it for $5.00 and as I was re-finishing it....... I noticed the sticker on the bottom that said "Pottery Barn - $29.00".

Wow, can you believe that I found a Pottery Barn light for $5.00?!? Pottery Barn definitely isn't me, but for me to find a light that is regularly $29.00 and to get it for $5.00 - well, that is awesome!!

Well, after searching for a lamp shade for this light at North Shore Primitives...... I decided to go with a red shade with white stars. Doesn't this lamp look great now? Definitely gave it a much needed and well improved look - don't ya think? At first I wasn't sure if I liked the worn off look on the light itself, but this is what it currently looks like. Do you like it this way or do you think it would look better all black with no worn edges? Please be honest!!

Here is a close-up of the lamp shade that I picked out. My Mom and I thought it was too cute and it will look perfectly in my family room. I have never really shared pictures of my family room because I literally have toys all over it all the time, but perhaps I will share it with you all someday.
I never get worked up over the toys because to be quite honest with all of you....... I waited years and years to have all of these toys all over my family room and someday soon I am sure that I will miss seeing them everywhere. Soon, very soon, I will share some family room pictures with all of you. I know that alot of you have been curious as to what type of furniture I have and I will be honest with you........ it is a comfortable couch and 2 recliners and they are quite comfy. I have prims and antiques here and there, but the furniture is not at all prim (lol).
Another funny story to share with you........ the other night when my Mom and I were out back looking at my flowers and watching Cameron play, we noticed something that instantly caught our eyes. My neighbor whom I really don't care for all that much was talking rather loud and was carrying stuff out of her garage. Well, you never know what she is gonna pull out of there and I wasn't paying any attention to her since she is normally drunk off her rear 24/7. Anyway, I was cutting the dead off my flowers when my Mom said "Oh My Gosh Lisa, look at what she has over there". Well, my Mom and I continued to pretend that we were still cutting the dead off my flowers when we were really be two nosey prim people. Well, it appears that good ole drunkin granny next door has had 6 beautiful and very old ladder back chairs stored in her garage with a beautiful old table to match. My Mom and I couldn't believe our eyes!!! I couldn't believe that she was selling them to someone and I had no flippin idea that they were even for sale. Oh - if I would've known that they were for sale then I probably would have bought them. Heck, these people probably got some heck of a great deal seeing as though granny was as drunk as a skunk and had to idea what she was doing. Anyway, it was funny to see my Mom and I pretending to cut flowers, but staring across the backyard to see what she was carrying out of her garage. Oh - trust me ladies....... you all would have been slobbering just like my Mom and I were. Yep, my flowers didn't need any water especially after all the slobbering we did over those ladder back chairs (lol). Oh how I wish I could come across some ladder back chairs myself.

~ Kitchen Countertop Big Reveal ~

Well, I guess it is better late then never. Right? Well, it has been quite a stressful day for me to say the least. I got up this morning early and took advantage of Cameron sleeping in until 10:00. Oh how I wish I could have slept in today. Anyway, my mind was racing and there was no way I could sleep since my project wasn't done and complete. So, I got up and completed all of my caulking that I had left to do. I also had to apply some stain where the countertop got nicked up while my FIL cut out the hole for the sink. Oh - I was sick about the nicks, but everyone reassured me that it would just make it look more prim. So, I applied the stain and had to apply a couple coats of the poly over top of that. Unfortunately, I applied the poly and it dried cloudy. Hmmm, that had me baffled because it hasn't dried cloudy at all with the 4 coats that I put on it. So, I sanded off those sections again and reapplied the poly. Luckily, it is drying clear this time so hopefully I can apply one more coat in the morning and it should be complete. My husband was able to get the faucet in with his Dad walking him through everything which I was so thankful for. He is becoming quite the handyman and I am so happy and thankful for that - Thank you honey!! Well, let's get to what you all have been waiting so patiently for.......my new prim wood countertops. Definitely a stressful project, but well worth it in the end. Hope you enjoy the pictures!!

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BEFORE PICTURE OF MY OLD FAUCET

~ Ugly and cheap ~

AFTER PICTURE OF MY NEW FAUCET
Take a close look - Hmmm, what side do you prefer?
Here are the pictures of my new countertops. ENJOY!!

~ Thank you for being so patient ~

Hope you all enjoyed the pictures. I think I am headed to bed for tonight...... I am exhausted!! My parents come to visit tomorrow so I still have cleaning to do, but hopefully I can get all that done tomorrow morning. So, are you all ready to transform your kitchen?

Techinical Difficulties - Could Create a Delay!?!

What a crazy night last night. We ran into a few snags here and there with bringing the other large countertop in, but we kept plugging away. I had to go back and touch up a few areas of my countertops by staining and adding more poly and I still have to caulk so I am getting ready to do that. Hoping that Cameron stays asleep a little while longer. We 'TRIED' putting in the faucet last night and my poor FIL was down under the sink until almost 11:00 pm trying to get the darn thing to stop leaking, but too no avail. Here is the faucet that I picked out. It really looks great up, but I think it was missing a washer or something because it wouldn't stop leaking for anything. So, we had to tear the darn thing out and we need to go replace it. So, with this technical difficulty currently going on........well, it might delay the BIG REVEAL. Sorry ladies, I was just as excited to share it with you, but I of course want thing to be perfect before revealing my new kitchen countertops to you. I better get to work and take advantage of Cameron still be asleep and get some work done. See-ya!

TS Finds & A Barn Sale

What a fun day today!! My husband took me to Lowe's today where I picked up my new faucet for my kitchen. I was so happy that they had it and of course I had to look around a little bit more. I am keeping my stainless steel sink so I wasn't able to get the faucet that I really wanted, but this one will do for a couple years or so. I had to go with something that I had the money for plus something that would go with my sink that I already had. I would have really liked to have gone with my brushed bronze, but it was out of my price range. I am pretty happy with what I have though......definitely a big change to the cheapie I have now.

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Well, we were driving to some of the Thrift Stores in the area and I saw a huge sign for a Barn Sale. I asked my DH if I could go and look and he so kindly drove me there. They had all sorts of stuff, but once again....... I only had so much money and I loved that they were so reasonable. My first purchase was this old lantern. I ADORE IT!! I love that it is red and rusty and it will go perfectly in my home. Don't you love that it is so old? I got it for $2.00.

This item was actually a Thrift Store find for $2.00 - Don't you love that it is so old?

I bought this box full of old silverware at the Barn Sale for $3.00. I was going through the box and looked at 2 pieces of silverware and noticed that they were Rogers & Brothers silverware so I bought the whole box full of old silverware for $3.00. Got home and realized that the 2 pieces that I looked at were the only 2 pieces of Rogers & Brothers silverware. The other is Oneida silverware, but it is old looking and that is all that matters...... I guess.

This was another Barn Sale purchase for .50 cents. I am seriously thinking about painting it and distressing it and putting a battery operated candle in it. I thought that would look nice and prim on a shelf or something and for .50 cents - well, you can't beat that!
Oh - this is a TS find. I bought it for $5.00 which is kinda more then I wanted to spend, but I have been looking for a wood light that I could re-finish and make a bit more prim. So, after biting my lip and handing over the $5.00 I was able to bring it home. Stay Tuned for the make-over! Now to find a prim looking shade to go with my light.......hmmm, I am thinking about making it black. Doesn't black go with everything?

Well, I was gonna show you all my one section of my countertops today, but I decided against it. Sorry ladies...... I just thought that if I mixed things up with the countertops then the other stuff wouldn't get the recognition that they deserve : ) Ok, ok that was mean of me, but you will see it tomorrow - I PROMISE!! Oh - it is SO WORTH THE WAIT!! Our garbage men are gonna love me....... I can see it all now on the 6:00 news - Weird Things are happening across the USA tonight.......the local garbage men are complaining that everyone is tearing out and pitching their kitchen counters. What in the world could possibly be going on? Yep, you all are so gonna wanna hop on the bandwagon or at least my prim friends will (lol). Stay Tuned!

Great Things Are Happening!

Well, for those of you that love posts with pictures..... I am sorry, but this one does not have one. I am happy to report that my 1 section is complete and I will be placing all my prim pretties back on it tomorrow. I can hardly wait to see it with everything back on it. I caulked around the backsplash today and it is currently drying. The other section will be worked on tomorrow and I should have everything complete by late on Saturday with a BIG REVEAL some Sunday or late Saturday. Just kinda depends if I can get everything back on it without wrecking my caulking (lol). Have I told you all that I really dislike caulking?!? Well, I am definitely NOT a fan of it to say the least. I have already been making plans for my farm table and I also want to make myself a microwave cover. Does anyone have measurements for a microwave cover or has anyone made one before that would be willing to share some helpful hints with me? I just want to hide my microwave behind a cute prim cupboard and I am just not sure where to start. Oh - I also wanted to tell you that I was FINALLY able to get my knobs on the drawers in my kitchen and I did it all by myself. I know it isn't that big of a deal, but I am so proud of myself for all that I have done lately and my DH is catching on. He cut some wood for me today and even put up the backsplash and well he never does any of that stuff. So, thank you honey for everything you did to help me and make me happy. It turned out GREAT!! Well, I will hopefully be posting pics soon. Just be patient for a little while longer. Trust me - it isn't an illusion (Janene). You silly girl.

A Little Bit of This & That

Well, I wish I had some great TS goodies to share with all of you, but it has been slim pickins in my area lately. I thought it would be getting better since the area behind our neighborhood just had a garage sale, but I guess perhaps people just keep stuff until the following year and try to sell it again. Me on the other hand....... I pack it up and take it to the Goodwill Store. Why would you want to take it back into your home when it is already out PLUS you can get a tax write off. Hmmm, I say donate!! Anyway, the only thing I found that was worth buying was this old grater. It was 90 cents and she gave it to me for 32 cents so I was thrilled about that. You know how I love stuff for the kitchen. Yep, that is indeed my favorite room in my home. What is yours?

Do you remember this spoon rack that I received from Beth during her giveaway? Well, I have added a few more pieces of old silverware thanks to Char. Char was kind enough to contact me and tell me that she had some old silverware that she would be willing to part with so she sent me everything in the top row. Thanks Char.......you are too sweet and thoughtful! I think I am gonna add a small amount of sweet annie to it and see what that does for it, but it seems like it is still missing something. What do you all think? I don't know about you all, but I love old silverware!!
Oh yes........ I didn't think, couldn't possibly imagine that I would be smelling so much of this stuff lately. Oh, I will be glad when I am done with it for a little while. I must say that this stuff has worked beautiful magic with my countertops. I love it and I love that it is FAST DRYING too! Did I tell you that I am already planning my next project? Well, I already have the plans in the works for me to start a farm table for my kitchen as soon as I am done with my countertops. I am going to make a 6ft long table by 4ft wide. It may not seem real big, but compared to the table we have now..... it will be just perfect! I am currently using the table that was my grandparents and I love it however it is just too small and when you have company - well, it doesn't really help. I am going to use two of the chairs from my grandparents table/chair set, I might try to use the legs from the table and then I will also make benches for each side of the table. I will probably stain the top of the table to look like my kitchen countertops and then paint the bottom half black. Anyway, I will keep you all posted on that.
Oh - here is what my countertops look like with the FINAL coat of the polyurethane on it. I ended up putting 4 coats of poly on each countertop. It doesn't give it a real shine to it, but enough to give it that protective barrier that I want on my countertops. Yep, I am definitely pleased.
Do you remember me sharing with all of you where I came up with the idea on my kitchen cabinets? Well, my inspiration came from a prim shop that I recently came across. North Shore Primitives is definitely a prim shop that you all would go crazy in and the owner (Vickie) is just a sweetheart of a gal to work with. Anyway, here is a picture of the kitchen area that she has setup in her shop. Oh yes, I was totally in love when I saw it and now I get to share it with all of you. I received this pamphlet in the mail the other day and it looks like they are going to have a Fall Open House in August. Yep, I think I am gonna have to go and check it out. I think I am going to have to take a visit over there early next week too. My parents are coming in to town and I can hardly wait to show my Mom the shop. I am sure she will love it as much as me. I am just so anxious to spend time with my parents. Don't forget you can click on this picture to take a closer look. Trust me - she has lots of prim goodies if you can get past the writing (lol).
I better run for now. I think we are going to pick out the faucet tomorrow night or Friday during the day and the BIG PICTURE REVEAL will be this weekend so stay tuned!! Thank you as always for visiting and making my days so bright by all of your sweet comments. I really appreciate all of you and your friendship. Until next time........ have a wonderful rest of the week!

Just What the Doctor Ordered.....

If you read the title to the post then you know what I mean when I say that this project is just what the doctor ordered for me. I must say and I am sure you haven't heard this before (lol), but I love the fact that I have a new project to work on. It keeps my mind busy and going and it also helps me keep my mind off the fact that my parents were once again turned down on a contract for their condo. Seriously, I don't quite understand why in the world they can't get a contract! My parents condo is currently up for sale for around $250,000 and they were even willing to drop it to $220,000 for these people when really they already dropped it from $289,000 to $250,000. They are about ready to just give the thing away practically, willing to sell furniture and everything and not a single soul likes it enough to buy it or even make an offer. I try to tell them to change realtors, but they won't and the daggone thing continues to be on the market 3 years later. Hmmm, something just doesn't seem right to me.

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Anyway, today was a busy day for me. I stained my last section of my countertops, caulked and even added some polyurethane to the first section. OMGoodness, it is looking so good! I know you all are probably tired of hearing about it, but it really looks great. I bought the backsplash today.......we decided to go with a 1x6 board and I will start sanding and staining those tomorrow. Hopefully by the end of this week, things will be done and we will just have to put them in along with my new faucet. Here are a few sneak peeks of my countertops AFTER one coat of polyurethane was brushed on this evening! WOW - Isn't that wood beautiful? Look at it up against my cupboards? Yep, I heart these cabinets and countertops together!! I must say that I am VERY proud of myself.

Well, that is it for tonight. Stay Tuned for more coming real soon to a blog near you (hahahaha).