Shades of White Winter Mantel 2016

2016 Christmas Mantel ...
 

I had already removed the little red truck; some bottle brush trees and snowmen from the full picture above.

THEN ... my Christmas mantel was pretty easy to change to ...

a "shades of white"  Winter Mantel

I left the three beautiful white wooden columns on the right for the birds to perch on. The tall one with the finial top is a architectural salvage newel post ... the short one ... just a piece of a column and the third one toward the center was a vintage 1950/60 table lamp.

 The two wooden white trees hung around a little longer for a white wintry look. I added a plug-in night light behind the columns.

 

On the left side, I use two vintage ironstone pitchers, one with white, yellow and green pip berries. The chippy terracotta riser gives height to balance with the tall columns.                  

I found these two fan-shaped architectural brackets in my storage and they were the perfect backing for my antique kitten doorstop. 

Of course, I have to leave my tiny white lights because the mantel is so dark without them. 

 

In the middle under the beautiful carved wooden frame, is a vintage oak-splint market basket filled with faux, dry-look hydrangea. The frame was left empty for awhile, but just had to add my dried artichoke bunch tied with a burlap bow that I made years ago.

(hot glued to the rock) 

 I had to replace several missing pieces of the splint and paint it white. Hope to post how I replaced the pieces in another blog. I added a string of white lights in the basket and pulled some up into the flowers.  Love how the light shines through the basket. 

 

To get the aged look, I did a wet-wipe while the paint was still wet. 

The wooden tree is in two parts and just slides together.

More architecture pieces on the hearth.

 

 Still enjoyable at night.

Thanks for your visit.

Hope you will let me know you were here.

Audrey Z. 

Linking to:

Lets Add Sprinkles ... Monday Social #22

Dishing It & Digging It Link Party #135

 Snickerdoodle Create, Bake, Make link party

Vintage Charm ...

Embracing Change Creative-Inspirations Linky Party 189

Waste Not Wednesday #37

No more Garage Sales ... breaking the rule and WHY

Well, I did it ... I broke MY rule of "no more garage sales".  

In fact, this is the first garage sale I have been to in a very long time ... not saying I have not been to Estate Sales and Thrift Stores ... just not to family run garage sales. Don't get me wrong, I love these sales, but there are so many and I spend way too much time and money going to them. I am really trying to stop buying so much stuff, and get rid of what I have collected.

BUT ... you know how it is. When I saw this little yellow sign with   SALE    written across it and that deserted looking old house,  I just could not resist checking it out.

I am glad I did. This house belonged to this guy's grandmother and now his mother ... both hoarders. (he said that)

I did not get there until after lunch and the seller said all the antique dealers had been there at 8:00 and bought all the good stuff.  

I knew the house was crammed full as stuff was piled up against the windows. They were only bringing stuff out of the garage. Besides this house, his mother has two more houses and several storage units ... guess what ... all full. 

Nothing was really organized and boxes sitting around to dig through. Yuck ... I needed rubber gloves. 

Anyway ... I did find a few things that might have some value and a few things I just like for myself.  

The prices were GOOD ... 

Three Audubon birds ... hand colored engravings. 

I don't think they are prints. 

I hope they are original engravings. Cost $1.00 each.

They are in narrow gold leaf frames under glass but have  age damage mainly on the backing (mat) paper. 

Not matted, just attached in one spot to the sheet of paper that looks like a mat.

This one is Ivory Billed Woodpecker. 

By research; I was able to identify it, as it is not titled.  

Not my favorite, but may be the most valuable, 

if any are !

 Titled Passenger Pigeon ... 

 Titled Cape Turtle  ... my favorite 

Size of each is 8" x 11"

More research needed before they will be for sale on eBay. 

Now the fun stuff ...

Does this even hint that I love old wooden stuff?

The small dough bowl in the back has aluminum handles attached, which does not look original. Round wooden bowl, once hand painted, it will be sanded down and oiled. 

Small lidded box may have been a shipping box for ammunition. Old Parker super chrome jet black ink bottle and box without the lid. "writes dry with wet ink" ... still has ink in it. Love, love the long  handle wooden paddle ... oiliness on the paddle and part of the handle makes me think it is a butter paddle. Small brush with the softest bristles and really smooth handle. An artist brush?

The dough bowl, about 18" long and 9" wide has notched-out finger grips on the bottom.  

I removed the aluminum handles, treated it with HOWARD Butcher Block Conditioner 

... and it is beautiful.








before and after ... 

The lidded box and the round wooden plate are waiting their turn to be on the AFTER stage.

Butter paddle and brush have already been added to my collections.

Then ... Christmas ornaments ...
 
The unusual bead ornament was likely made in Czechoslovakia? Reminds me of a peacock. Perfect to add to my candle in our bathroom. The gold bell is very thin glass, just needs a hanger top.

Santa, Drummer Boy, Snowman and the Angel are small wax ornaments likely from the 1950's. 
   
The snowman needed a new broom head and the little angel had lost her head, so I took a piece from the angel wing to make the snowman a broom. I already have a set like these, but just had to rescue these from the dirty old box. I still need to clean them up a bit. Wax ornaments are a little rare, because the kids would chew the wax.                      

Remember the old wax lips?  


Sandi at  Barberry Lane Designs
found this beautiful complete set of wax ornaments at an  Antique Market. She has posted some good information about them.

Sandi is a new blogger ... you might want to go show her a big warm welcome.

(photo courtesy of Barberry Lane Designs)

I also bought twenty-two pieces of vintage restaurant ironstone, and a large china platter.  
Most of the pieces were small bread/dessert plates which I use all the time ... 3 little butter pats; plates; 2 little bowls ... and one very large bowl which I sent home with my daughter ... with a loaf of fresh strawberry bread/cake that I had baked for her birthday. She was kind enough to take a picture of it. I think they liked the bread. Almost all gone.

She found the marking on the bottom very interesting. It is dated Nov. 23, 1940 which makes the bowl 75 years old. 
U.S.Q.M.C. ... United States Military Quartermaster Corp.
from Google....The United States Army Quartermaster Corps is a Sustainment, formerly combat service support (CSS), branch of the United States Army. It is also one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Transportation Corps and the Ordnance Corps.

I paid  $10.00 for all the ironstone and $10.00 all the other stuff.  

Thanks for your visit. I hope you will stay long enough to say hello.
 Audrey Z.

Linking to:  

Vintage Charm ... Cecilia  @ My Thrift Store Addiction 

Cozy Little House ... Tweak It Tuesday #168

Thrifting finds ... just what I was looking for ... and more.

We had a huge garage sale this week-end and after seeing how much stuff I have, I was not much in the mood to go thrift shopping for more ... but Wednesday is MY day to go to Fabulous Finds Thrift Store 25¢ Sale. I always find something I can use and 

Mr. Z. and I have a lunch date every week.

Today I found something that I really needed.

                                        

I am building a floor lamp chandelier out of recycled lamp parts which I had hoped to finish for the garage sale ... but NOT ... and I was looking for SIX chandelier shades for it. It also has the sixth light on the top which was added after this picture ... can see it in this picture with the shade. It will have lots of prisms. Beautiful, like new shades for $1.00 each. I may paint the red dots black. The metal parts are oil-rubbed bronze, but look black.

I hit a snag in finishing it, but will blog about it when finished.

 
 The small ironstone platter was 25¢ ... nice old green bottle, thick glass and lots of bubbles, was $2.00 and the large, solid terracotta pear was $1.00. 




 
The Wm. Adams & Sons platter was the only item I bought in the 25¢ sale ... the

rest was bought inside the store. 

These look great on my ladder shelf in front of my large Apple Cider sign that I have had for ages. Mr. S. had apple orchards for a while and this sign was where his apple cider was sold.
It is huge (cut from a 4'x8' piece of plywood)


Last week: $3.50 bought seven nice heavy ironstone bread or dessert plates and the little creamer was 25¢ ... and they look so pretty under the wire trash 
basket cloche.

Remember the 
wire trash basket cloche light 
I made?

... well I had another thrifted basket

 ... cut the bottom out of it, shaped the top, spray it silver and made another cloche with a lamp part piece for the finial ... 
it looks so pretty on the stand I made from spindles and a round wooden disc.

Happiness is when find just what you are looking for when you go 'thrifting' ...

Linking to:   Revi's Revisionay Thrifty Life Thursday 




Knick of Time Tuesday Vintage Decor  

Dug-out Wooden Trough Fall Table decoration

This old 4" x 8" x 42" piece of cedar board has been exposed to the outside elements for several years, maybe even fifteen. It was, at one time, destined to be a garden bench.

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THIS BLOG POST WAS FEATURED BY:

Wow us Wednesday@ Savvy Southern Style

Home Sweet Home #142 @ The Charm of Home

Home and Garden Thursday @ ADelightsome Life

Share Your Cup Thursday @ Share aCup with Ms. Olson

Be Inspired Friday @ CommonGround

Thanks ladies ..................................

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This year, my goal was to clean out my collection of wood ... 

either use it or toss it. 

I tossed a lot ... 

 ... really, I did ... but 

I have also been trying to use what I can.

Mr Z. likes to carve so I took this to the workshop and ask him to carve out the middle and make a trough. 

Duh, do WHAT ... how?  This is not his idea of 'carving'.

Together, we worked out a plan ... 

Mr. Z. sanded the top so he could mark the cut lines.

Now keep in mind that we did not have the proper tools to carve out the center, so we used what we had and did what we could.

We used a Skilsaw to make deep cuts in the drawn-off area. 
A narrow board was used as a guide for the saw.

 We used a jig saw to cut across the two ends.

This was not easy, but we sure created a lot of sawdust. Cuts were not even, nor on the lines, but we got it where we could break the pieces out.

We used several different tools ... chisels ... pry bar .. hammers and was able to break the pieces out.

Not every piece broke even at the bottom, but that will not be an issue and it will always have something in it. We had to chisel-out the wood in the ends where we were not able to get the jig saw in there that deep.

I am sure there is an easier way to do it with the correct tool. 

It did not take us long to get all the pieces out.

 I loved how the wood had aged so I just cleaned it a little and left it natural.
It could be oiled, but for now, I like it like it is.

  

I wanted to keep it simple ... so not to distract from the character of the time-worn wood, so just piled it full of faux apples ... yep ... took a lot of apples, but they were almost free ... recycled from several wreaths that were discarded.

I thought it looked pretty nice. 

I am using my Welch Hutch in the entry for display. 

The colorful leaves under the trough were bought at Dollar Store last year and they are so nice. 

But then I thought I would try these cute aged resin pumpkins I bought at Dollar Tree Store for $1.00 each.  They were bought to be used to decorate tables for a luncheon ... which didn't happen.

They looked okay ... but just needed something ... height maybe and some softness.

Love all the wood showing ...

Soooo ... I took my chicken wire cloche I made out of a lamp shade frame (see HERE) to use for height ... placed a carved wooden pumpkin in it which I stole off the front porch ...

and for softness, I borrowed three faux hydrangea out of my Fall table decoration seen HERE. 

Keeping the color tones the same looked really good.

Love how the ends weathered over the years.

Looks good with burlap too ... this is landscaping burlap from Lowe's or Home Depot.

Soft and easy to work with.

This end had a little rotted wood from standing on the ground so long.

Just more character to enjoy.

Several knot-holes which add to the character. 

Making it pretty ... 

Hope you enjoyed this little project ... just one more thing re-purposed to a good use. 

Your comments make me happy.

Which display do you like the best ?

Apples ??

Just Pumpkins  ??

 or

Pumpkins with softness and height ??

I can even use it outside with my cement Fall decorations.

This project can be seen HERE.

Blessing,








This bog was featured by:
  
        







You can find me at these fun parties ... hope you will visit.

Fall Junkers United
 You are Gonna Love it Kathe with an E

Knick of Time Tuesday Angie at Knick of Time 
Party Junk @ Funky Junk Interiors 
Wow us Wednesday@ Savvy Southern Style
Home Sweet Home #142 @ The Charm of Home

Home and Garden Thursday @ ADelightsome Life

Share Your Cup Thursday @ Share aCup with Ms. Olson

Frugal Friday @ ShabbyNest

Feathered Nest Friday @ FrenchCountry Cottage

Be Inspired Friday @ CommonGround

Thrifty Things Friday @ TheThrifty Groove  
Nifty Thrifty Sunday #141 @ Nifty Thrifty Things