Thursday, May 27, 2010

~Thrifty Thursday~

Hello friends!

My apologies for not getting back sooner but this week has just been insanely hectic! We made it back from PA safe and sound with our new camper in tow and a boat load of prim goodies to boot! I’ll have to share about that later though because it’s Thursday and I want to share last weeks Thrift store finds today! It was a good thrifting week last week! I’m very pleased with my findings!

So lets get to it!

An overview…

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Of course the primcats are always willing to lend a helping paw for picture taking time.
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Hmmmm… seems Chen is slightly annoyed. What, do tell, is this dog atrocity doing in our house??? lol!
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Well Chen… it’s cool pottery... for $1.50. I’m sure we have a friend somewhere with a doggie who might be deserving of this fantastic little crock!
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Next up… this great teal Crate for $2.50. An adorable Red rocker for $2.00 and a fantastic set of Wrought Iron utensils for $3.00. Good stuff!
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Cant decide where this should go. In the kitchen? Or in the living room by the fireplace? Time will tell…
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An amazing Pineapple cutting board for $2.00!! I love this! I’m gonna stain it and then hang it in my entryway!
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A Le Bistro Bell™ Crock from Butter Bell for $3.00. I’ve wanted on of these for a long time! Retails at 21.95. Can’t believe the deal I got! . YAY!
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A wood frame for $0.50
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A vintage electric Iron for $2.00.
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A cute little shelf for $1.00
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A wood tissue box for $0.50 that I’ll prim with paint.
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A great little cranberry scoop for $2.00. I already have 2 others of these. Three makes a collection so I think I’ll hang them all in the bedroom. 
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My favorite find. A huge game board for $2.00!
It has small spaces on one side…
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And large spaces on the other…
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And it comes with all the chess pieces. A fun find!
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A large wall board to hold paper or a calendar. I don’t have a place for this yet… but it was only $3.00 so I couldn’t let it go since it’s fully primed up already!
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Five great little pastry molds for $2.00.
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And lastly 2 baskets. $1.00 for left one and $2.00 for the lidded one. Super cute!
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So there you have it. Last weeks goodies!
I can’t wait to get the dining room paint finished so I can start putting this house back in order! Going out of town last weekend to pick up the camper really messed up the schedule! We did manage to get the front yard of the property mulched Tuesday night and now we have the back half to complete. Hopefully we’ll get to that tonight or tomorrow night. Saturday we have a big Memorial ride on the Harley so the painting of the dining room is going to have to be pushed off til’ Sunday or Monday. Sometime then I also need to get the gardens planted! And then maybe I’ll be able to start decorating again! Geesh! Life has just been crazy lately! Good crazy… but crazy none the less.

Hope you all have a lovely day filled with peace and love!

Until next time…

Carmen and the Primcats

Thursday, May 20, 2010

I’m a Harley Girl!

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Ok... I confess I’m a biker chick! Breed, born and raised on a Harley. Way back in the day, when I was just a wee little infant Dad would hop on the Harley and Mom would jump right on the back with him and they’d smash me right in between them! Have mercy if we saw someone doing that today! But that is what they did and that is how I spent the first 5 years of my life, smashed between Mom and Dad on the Harley. I loved it! I still remember riding that way even though I was so young.
Once mom and Dad separated the bike rides were few and far between but never far from my heart. When I met my husband he had a “bullet bike”. Not exactly my cup of tea but hey… wind in the hair is wind in the hair, right? We rode a lot the first few years together. And then for whatever reason, I don’t even remember, he got rid of the bullet bike and I was bike-less again. 
Until 2005 when I spotted a beautiful black and chrome Harley Davidson Road King sitting in someone's yard for saleon my way to work. That was it… the ONE! I think I did something like that car commercial where the girl runs up to the car and licks the door handle to claim it as hers so no one else buys it. lol! I knew it had to be mine!
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So… we bought it and that was that. I was again a biker babe and loving it!
We’ve logged a lot of miles on our trusty Road King. Long rides short rides… doesn’t matter. I just love to ride. Love to get out on the open road and enjoy the world. Love to hit the roads less traveled and enjoy the fresh air. And most of all love hitting all the little ma and pop antique shops along the way!!! Hubby loves that too because I can’t buy up the whole store when we’re on the bike. lol!
I am such a biker chick that for Christmas one year… hubby surprised me with my own Harley Sportster! I loved being behind the bars! It was awesome! I rode for a year on my own but in the end decided I liked being a passenger more so I sold my Sporty to my Dad which worked our perfectly because then he was back on a bike and he could ride with us!
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So being that I love to ride I have felt for a long time that it was time to upgrade our trips a bit. I finally found what I wanted so we could do that at a price I am willing to pay and we are super excited.
It’s called a Time Out Trailer and it’s a small pull behind camper for the bike (or car). We are going to pick it up this weekend.
Watch this short video and see how cool this little thing is!!!


Isn’t it CUTE!!!
Closed it looks like this. All small and tiny! 8 feet long by 3.5 feet wide.
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But that cute little box turns in this HUGE camper!!!
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Screen room.
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Or awning.
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Inside the main Camper area.
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So there it is! Our new toy! We are so super excited to go pick it up. Because guess where it is???
Just north of LANCASTER, PA!!!!!!!!!
WooHoo!!!! Side trip!!! Hopefully I'll be coming home with a camper, and some prim goodies!!!! Yay!!!!
Hope everyone has a great day!
Carmen

Favorite paint? and dining rooms half way there…

Hubby and I painted the top half of the dining room cream last night. Sorry… no pics yet. We were so tired when it was done.  The color is great!! I’m very happy with how it looks so far. I unfortunately need to go get another gallon of cream as the green is still peeking through even after two coats. Boo! I’ll run and get that tonight. Doubt I get it painted though so the house is just going to have to stay torn apart for a few more days because we have big weekend plans which I’ll post about later. 

Paint. Ahhhh Paint. It can be great or it can suck. For the first time I bought Pittsburgh Paints Paint from Menards. I’m usually a Sears Easy Living Paint girl… mostly because for the last 15 years that is what was closest to our home and honestly I love how the paint lays down. I have never had a problem with it. But our local Sears Hardware went out of business and now it’s closer for me to drive to Lowes or Menards. I went with Menards because I’ve always heard great things about Pittsburgh paints.

Well… my review is this… It sucks! It’s super thick and gooey and stringy and even though it’s thick it does NOT cover in one coat. Even if you were painting light color over light color it STILL would not have covered it. Also, it’s so thick that it takes way to long to dry. I’m used to making one pass around the room and then starting my second and final coat as soon as I’m done with the first. That did NOT happen. The paint was still goopy and wet on the wall and we had to wait almost an hour in between to start the second coat. The long dry time also caused problems with the edging. We edged but then as we rolled it was taking the paint back off. Not good. And big bummer because all that meant we didn’t get done til late.

2 Thumbs down to Pittsburgh Paints.

So… my question to you is this… What is your favorite paint brand , why do you like it so much and where do you get it?

Have a great day friends!

Carmen

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Whatcha’ Workin’ on Wednesday…

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Well… the rain has gotten in the way of our original Wednesday/Thursday plans. We were going to start mulching our property, no small task. But with all the rain it just isn’t practical. It will have to wait until next week. So tonight we paint the dining room! Bye Bye green… hello cream and blue! Yay! Pics soon!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

What I didn’t buy at the Springfield Antique Show…

There was SOOOOOOOOO much I would have liked to buy but didn’t or just flat out couldn’t…

Like this amazing stack of firkins! $895.00. Wowsa. I’d love them in my home… but I think I’ll stick to my thrift store ice bucket Firkins and Good Will cookie jar Firkin make over’s instead! LOL! I would NEVER in a billion years spend that much money on those, no matter how much I love them.
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Next up is something I should have bought because I really DO want them and this is the only place I have seen them at a decent price.
Two Beautiful and HUGE trenchers! Loved them! $90 for the big one $80 for the small. I like the smaller… Wish I would have gotten it. I’m kicking myself for leaving that behind! Kick Kick!
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A random pic I took of some farm stuff to send to hubby. That’s the big saw I ended up getting him. 
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Another item I’m kicking myself over. A set of Folk Art Canisters. He had them at $75.00 and marked them half off to $37.50. I asked him if he would take $30.00 and he got kinda pissy with me over my offer so I walked away. It *IS* a flea Market after all and every other vendor I bought from either offered themselves to take less when I was paying or accepted my lower offer without a second thought. He was just rude so I walked away. Now I’m mad for not getting them. LOL! I was buying them for my step mom as a gift and she would have loved them. Oh well. Maybe he’ll be back for the fall show and still have them and maybe he’ll take my offer then!
FYI: I was rather disappointed that this was the only Folk Art I saw all day sans one other cookie jar (I already have 2 of them anyway) that was ridiculously priced at $150.00. Um… no.
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This BEAUTIFUL butcher block. DARNIT! I really loved this and it was only $350.00. I’m sure they would have come down on it too. I passed it up because we saw it early in the day and I was saving my monies for that hopeful piesafe find. Now… I wish I would have gotten it. It would have made the best island in our kitchen!
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A cute little crow shelf.
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Another Kick. I was going to buy this cabinet. It wasn’t perfect but it was Cheap. He only wanted $125.00.  I loved it but passed it up again because I wanted a pie safe and was holding out until I walked the whole show.
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My bestie for life, Tammy, was also at the show with her husband and kids and later in the day at closing time she texted me she had found the best cabinet ever for $100.00. It was the one I wanted. LOL! Funny how we have the exact same taste. At least I still get to see it in her house!
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Tammy also got this cute little Pear Crow tree.



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My friend Jamie got a cool 8 gallon crock for $20.00, a fake firkin for $5.00, a huge washboard for $10.00 and some other goodies.


Over all it was a great day! I highly recommend going if your are anywhere around Ohio. It’s worth it!
Blessings!
Carmen

Monday, May 17, 2010

Dining room paint colors and chair molding height question?

I’ve finally narrowed down and chosen my paint colors for the dining room.

Here is the before Green paint that went with my Pfaltzgraff Naturewood dishes.

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And I’ve chosen two new shades to go with my Folk Art. Cream on top, blue on bottom with a wood chair rail in the middle. I’ve never done a split color so I’m looking forward to it.

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My question is this… what is recommended chair rail height?

Thanks,
Carmen

Springfield Extravaganza ~ Antique Show and Flea Market

(Warning: Picture heavy! YAY!)

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My friend Jamie and I headed down to Springfield Saturday morning for the show. I had been told about this show for years but I’ve never made it a point to get there… well that all changed once I walked through those gates! I won’t ever miss it again! There were so many amazing goodies I didn’t even even know where to begin my shopping! LOL!

My mission when I went was to find a true Antique Southern Pie safe (the ones on tall legs)… and I am disappointed to say that even though I found many beautiful safes none were up off the ground like I want. No worries, my carpenter is still working on one for me so I’ll have it one way or another. I was also looking for some nice dressers and while there were many beautiful dressers… again… not exactly what I wanted. It’s hard when you know exactly what you want in your mind and are looking for it. But it’s ok… I came home with some great smalls!

Here’s my goodies!

A wonderful Braided rug! Love the design on this. They had the traditional ones, rectangle and oval, but I thought I’d try something new. $75.00! A Steal! Love it! And obviously Chen loves it too! Hubby Put it in the kitchen but I have to say I’m not really all that happy with it there… so we’ll see where it ends up.

Also picked up two table runners one oval and one rectangle (above the rug) for $4.00 each. Great deal. Wish I had bought one of each color!!!! They had chair mats for $4.00 too… regret not getting some of those. Oh well… maybe at the fall show.

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Stacks and stacks of runners!!! I want them all!
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Here’s where the rectangle table runner landed… as a mat for my new bench. Love it! Except now you can see how faded my floor rug is. LOL!

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Here’s the rest of my goodies!

First… lets talk about my Noodle Board!!! Oh My Goodness! I have wanted a stove board for so long and just couldn’t bring myself to pay $60 bucks for one. I found this beauty for $35.00 but I offered $20 and they took it! Woohoo! What a deal!!!! It’s beautiful!

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It ended up here. It’s not decorated yet but it will be!

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Perfect! 

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And just look at these cool details!

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Next up… a scale for my new collection. Two is a collection… Right? ;o) Missing the glass but I like it anyway! Was $12.00

But they took $10.00.

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It ended up here. I added a pint of strawberries after I took this pic. Really Cute!

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Five lovely bobbins for the laundry room. $5

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A cute little candle thingie. Was $2.95. She gave it to me for $2 even.

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A great big rolling pin for my collection! Love it! $5.00

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Two wooden feet. $2.00 for the pair.

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And a cute Shelf with plate. $11.00

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And of course the primcats, Tracy and Poofie, helping me take pics!
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The larger items I bought were a 8 foot two man saw. Hubby has wanted one of these for a while so I picked it up for him. $30.00
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And two ladders for $15.00 and $10.00. I have no idea where I’ll put these but I love them!

Please excuse the garage mess, I’m still unpacking!

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So there it is! All my goodies! Not bad I think. I’ll be back soon with another post with random pics from the show and things I wish I would have bought!

Hope you enjoyed the pics and have a great day!

Carmen