Thrifty finds...changing the mantel.bottles.birds and balance

Changing the Mantel ... 

I love my green bottles and needed something light, airy and cool looking for the mantel because it is just so hot and dry right now. 

  

Featured by:

Thanks Revi ... such an honor... 
if you have not visited Revi at Revisionary Life please take a minute to do so. Small but fun party.

Not lucky enough to have fresh flowers to display, so silk will do.

 This is a tall fireplace so this piece of decorative fence works really well to draw the eye up and add height in the center.

The pretty little bird always seem to find a place on the mantel. Here he sits atop a fragment from the bottom of a cement bird bath. I thought it was interesting and just could not discard it. 
The darkness of the beautiful antique frame anchors this center section.

 The concrete yard art that I made (here) complements the two cement birds and the cement fragment. 
 

 The split bamboo bird cage has been around for a long time and just sits around waiting to be used somewhere.

Night shot ... a string of white lights is needed for an otherwise dark fireplace. 

90% of the items used in this decoration were thrifted. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Linking to: 

COZY LITTLE HOUSE: tweak it Tueday

Revi's Revisionary Life Thrifty Thursday

Selling, purging, donating and going to a garage sale.

We had just had a subdivision garage sale two week prior ... 

I sold a ton of stuff.

I purged a lot

donated two loads to the Thrifts

and 

here we are at a neighbor's garage sale.

 She had taken part in the neighborhood sale but she is moving and had a ton of stuff. This was the second day and she was pricing out at 50¢ and $1.00.

I had picked out eight things, plus some jewelry and I figured it to be $8.50 ... but she charged me $5.00.

I offered the $8.50, but she refused. 

  The silverplated cake stand was still in the original plastic and original box.

Did not even need to be polished. Happy !

The large silver tray with attached bowl 

was selected by Mr. Z. ...

he polished it and he gave it to our daughter. 

 Solid brass and quite old ... considered for eBay sale.

Nice vintage wooden tray ... 

handles are knotted on the bottom and make feet.

decals will be removed and may be painted 

for a coastal (beachy) look.

 Just could not resist these little vintage glass hobnail trays.

May use for a votive candles as they are indented in the middle.

Costume jewelry will be used for crafts.

 Then when leaving, I spotted this garden bench ...

$10.00 

how could I pass that up? 

Well, I should have ... 

rotten boards and a lot of work.

We replace all except the two boards in the back.

They were bad, but I filled the weathered cracks, a lot of sanding and they looked okay. 

The pieces for the circles had to be special cut. 

A little problem with that, but got it done using our band saw on a 5% bevel cut.

Mr. Z. cleaned up the metal frame and I did the boards. 

 
Painted it barn red and sprayed it with poly. 

Dry brushed the flower basket with white to bring out the design.

Remember the before ...  

And now the after ...

 

 Sitting pretty in front our wood-working shop. 

Have a little more landscaping to do. 

Some bloggers have expressed interest in the pitchforks so here is a link to a post I did when I first started blogging.


Yes, that other garden bench to the right is next in line for a make-over. We used to have a fish pond in front of it and our grandson and I usually ate our lunch there everyday and watched the fish. (he recycled aluminum cans to buy fish)

Thanks for the visit ... 

would like for you to stay awhile and have a glass 

of Texas sweet tea?

Blessings,

Audrey Z.  

Linking to: 

Knick of Time Tuesday

The Dedicated House Before and After

 Revi's Revisionary Life 

Thrifty Life Thursday

Cast iron sinks ... Thrifted and RePurposed fountain and potting bench

I thought I would share with you today this little space at the back door of our workshop that I turned into a potting station, fountain and photo shoot area.

Our friend and neighbor (92) was moving close to his daughter and had a few things to sell. Sitting behind their art studio was this table with yellow cast iron double sinks ... wow, was it ever heavy! He said it was their fish-cleaning sinks but from the traces of paint on it,  I would guess it was where they cleaned their brushes. 

For $15.00, it was coming home with us. We removed the vintage faucets, replaced some rotten wood and painted the stand.


We poured this small slab by the back door of our workshop just the width of the ramp that was already there and put the table there. It sat like this for months. Even the nice wood gate that we built out of reclaimed wood just leaned up against the wall ... too heavy to hang and it covered the electric plug that we always needed to use. It was a nice backdrop for photos.

I am safe in saying that everything that you see here was thrifted or repurposed.

 I could put a cover over the sinks and use it for a table for taking photos. The lighting is perfect until the sun starts going down and then there was too much sun. 



BEFORE 
 Photo shoot of blue tool box.


I used it like that for awhile and then I found this perfect faucet to just sit there for looks.

  

Then one day decided to make a little fountain out of it by putting a bucket of water on the shelf below and adding a recirculating pump to connect to one side of the faucet ... thus, it became a fountain. Having running water is nice to rinse my hands. 

I still use it for photo shoots by laying a board across the sinks.

 Today, was hot but I decided to make that area presentable even though it was not visible from the street.                                        
Cute little thermometer for 25¢

With old gate hinges, I mounted the gate to the wall and made a perfect screen for that one end. 

I hung the glassless window frame that had just been sitting there on top the bucket bench for weeks and added a few more plants. Window frame was a curb-side find. 

The bucket on the shelf under the sinks holds the pump and catches the water. A nice estate sale rocker needed for a short rest.

Old wire fry baskets hanging inside the old window with garden tools, clay pots and Sweet Anne adds interest and a place to store potting stuff. Just straighten the handle on the basket for an easy built-in hanger.

My new friend Cecilia at My Thrift Store Addiction.
inspired me to cut some rosemary and make a swag for my glassless window.  Hope you will hop over to her blog and see her beautiful Rosemary wreath tutorial.
It is so beautiful ... 

 

The awning may not look too pretty from this angle, but it sure helps to drop the temperature. I think it dropped about 4° in just a few minutes after I rolled it out.
 

Just a few steps away is our Windmill water fountain that runs through an old metal water faucet, and adds a pleasant sound of running water. This is where the deer drink and the large birds love it too. Next to the old ranch fence is a vintage metal animal water trough planted with several kind of wildflowers. 
8' trough was $10.00.

 

Thanks for the visit ... hope you leave a note to let me know you were here.

Blessings,

Linking to: 

Revi's Revisionary Life: Thrifty Life Thursday

Angie's Knick of Time Tuesday Vintage Inspired

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