Recent Estate Sale And Other Thrifty Finds

Hi, Friends,

How are you? I hope you are doing well? How's the weather?

You may have already heard of this app and website but I thought I'd share it anyway. 

EstateSales.NET is my go to way to find estate sales in my area. I love puttering around town on Thursday or Friday mornings to hit the sales. I've found some wonderful things recently. 

I'll start with my prize find so that you don't have to wait. 

I've wanted an old school hymn board for as long as I can remember. The estate sale company said it was for attendance but I don't think it is. I am over the moon for this one. The letters are hand painted. They have wonderful patina and a naive quality to them. It fills a spot in my living room that has had me perplexed for years. It was better empty than with the wrong thing. It was $125.00. 

The blue floral needlepoint was a recent antique store find. I saw it and passed but then decided it was perfect. It was still there when I went back. I stitched it into a little square pillow. 

It was $12.00, I think? 

At the same sale as the hymn board, I found a darling brown transferware teapot. It was only $5.00. The brown bottle was $1.00. Browns are a staple of our fall decor so these two cuties will be perfect. 

Another pair of unclaimed ancestors reside in an Art Nouveau style frame.  It was only $3.00. 

They couple died in the 1920s. 

This was an interesting sale full of wonderful primitive antiques. The wife died. The husband remarried. He was giving the house to his daughter. The garage was full of Hallmark ornaments and figurines. 

The muted tones on the needlepoint in the above photo spoke to me It was only $7.00 however, it was very dingy. I washed it in the sink to restore some of its color even though it still has a faded quality to it. I love it. I've already showed the quilt. Blue and white quilts are rare so I was thrilled to find this one. 

I'm trying to plan my fall decor around these two pretty pillows. I doubt I'll be ready to put them away next month. 

There was a huge pitcher for only $10.00. (Sorry old lady hands.) 

The Blue Danube mug was only 50 cents. The salt box was $35.00. It was a little more than I hoped to spend but it was still a fair deal. 

Two lamps from the thrift store received a makeover. I'll show those in another post. 

I still need to locate a shade for one of them. 

Bill scoured an aqua glass syrup pitcher. I love it. 

The huge white ironstone tureen was an antique store find. I think I paid $30.00 for it. This is such a simple centerpiece but it is refreshing for this very warm summer. 

That is about it. I've had fun restyling things in order to tuck in our finds. 

That is all for now. Thanks for stopping by. 

Katie 

Blue and White In The Garden Room

Hi, Friends,

How are you? I hope you are doing well. 

Thank you all for your kind words concerning the loss of our sweet Dixie. We will miss her. 

We're still in the midst of a major heat event here in Texas. It is awful. It's discouraging to think we could have at least five more weeks of this. 

Let's cheer things up with a garden room post. We love the garden room. 

I brought out some blue and white decor in order to cool things off inside the house. Yellow had been my spring color this year but it's just too hot for yellow. My mother collected blue and white for my grandmother so a lot of my pieces belonged to my grandmother. My penchant for collecting comes from my mom. Of course, I've added to the collection over the years and some of my pieces came from my dad's side of the family as well. Blue and white is a classic scheme. 

I didn't overload the kitchen with it, so there was some of it left over. Once a flow blue platter was placed in the hutch, I was sold on the scheme in the garden room as well. 

Green goes well with a touch of blue. 

The hutch holds most of my garden, bird, and decor books.  Blue and white accessories are nestled within. 

The pitcher is reportedly Mary Gregory glass but I don't have enough experience to know if it is authentic or reproduction. Either way, it is stunning. 

I just noticed my roses have faded but I don't care. They are still beautiful. The print came from a book printed during the 1920s. 

I went upstairs to grab some pillow covers and a few quilts and coverlets even though we don't need them in this heat.

White couches are my favorite because they can be transformed just by switching out pillow covers. These floral pillows were from IKEA a few years ago. They have a 90's big floral feel. A friend's mom made the other one. 

I scored a blue and white quilt last Friday at an estate sale. I was thrilled. 

It's fairly worn but it's lovely. It's so soft. Washing it was a risk but it was one that I was willing to take. 

My machine is low water usage without a lot of agitation so excess water doesn't damage the fibers as much. 

Dog hair can get in the strangest nooks and crannies so I took the opportunity to clean as I styled. 

Dixie was a short hair dog but she shed as much as our Border Collie. 

A neutered stray has started coming around more lately since Dixie is not here to scare her off. 

She will let me sit on the other side of the glass but I can't get near her. I've offered food and water. Shortly after I did, I saw her hop over the fence with a tail of something hanging out of her mouth. Caroline plays and nuzzles through the glass. It's one of the craziest things. 

The chest on my side of the sofa came from my great grandparents. It was part of their wedding suite. 

It's new to me from my step mother's house. 

A pitcher and a creamer bring the color around the room. 

I moved the pie safe into this room after putting the painted desk in the kitchen. 

Rabbit wire inserts were replaced with these metal cloverleaf sheeting panels. I spray painted them gold. These doors aren't in great shape so I'm not sure they would stand up to the weight of glass. I'd love glass but screening the interior means that it doesn't have to stay as neat and tidy. 

The weird device on the wall is the mini split. It's an air conditioner but it's also a heater. It keeps this room comfortable all year long. 

My flower frogs are corralled in a flow blue vegetable bowl. 

That's all for now.  I'm enjoying this fresh color scheme. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed a look at the garden room. 

Stay cool. 

Katie 

Keeping Cool With Blue And White

Hi, Friends,

We are doing our best to keep cool during this horrendous heat wave.

On Sunday of last week, we came home from East Texas to a warmer than normal home. The A.C. is now fixed but I woke up one morning with the desire to remove all warmer tones from the house. 

The bedroom was first to get a cool down. 

It felt oddly cooler even though that is not possible. It made me feel like I was doing something to combat the heat. 

Our collection of blue and white is pulled out on a rotating basis. 

I've been picking it up here and there for almost 40 years but when I get tired of it, it gets packed away. My collection has been edited with only my favorite pieces making the cut. 

The kitchen was next on my list. 

Earlier in the summer, yellow was the primary color scheme. It is way too hot for yellow decor.  

Blue and white checked valances replaced yellow floral valances. 

Blue and white transferware has been sprinkled about. 

A Blue Danube trivet is a great solution for the missing brass tray on my French scale. 

The kitchen is neutral enough to receive a new scheme just by switching out accessories and the valances. 

It's perfect for a chronic redecorator. 

I've wanted a French salt box for a long time but I couldn't find one for a price that I'd pay. 

One of my favorite shops had a reproduction but it was black and white. 

I decided to add some blue and the word sel which is salt in French. 

The imperfect quality to my painting technique gives it an antique look, at least that is what I'm telling myself! I do like it until a French antique is found. The funnel is a Swedish antique. 

That is about it for now. I've been working on the garden room. I'll show that soon. 

I'll be back. 

Stay cool. 

Katie