Thrift Store Find Turned Tablescape Goodness

Don't you just love it when you stop off at your local thrift store and score big time?!!  Well, I had that happen last Friday.  Earlier this week, I showed you my nifty little owl that got a makeover in the post HERE.   If that wasn't exciting enough, during the same stop last week at my local Goodwill Thrift Store, I also found six very eye catching amber chandelier globes.  They were sitting all alone without a light fixture.

They were marked $1.50 each, which made me stop and ponder.  What could I do with these harvest colored crackly globes?  After all, they felt so seasonal with that amber glass.  In my thoughts, I new they would reflect light lovely since that was their original purpose.  Plus they were cheap, so I decided to grab them up and figure it out later.

After clearing away all the Halloween decorations, I needed to re-work my farmhouse table.  Let's be honest...I was sick of the Halloween stuff and wanted it put away!  Oh!  I was so very sick of it.  Cute at first, gaudy and annoying as the days dragged on.  I needed something simple.  Something just to set on the table so it didn't look abandoned, but wasn't too much either.  Enter....the globes!!!! Yeah!

I put a simple table-runner from my stash across the freshly cleaned and dusted table. (Did I tell you I was sick of those Halloween decorations?)  I then placed the globes with six red votive candles that I picked up at some point from The Dollar Store and half burnt this past year inside each globe.  Ahh! Fresh, clean, clear, sparkly and simple.

I will probably work in some fresh greens and berries for my Thanksgiving table later in the month.  For now, I am so enjoying lighting them each night and enjoying the harvest glow from my little fun thrift shop find.  Have you strolled your local thrift shop lately?  It's fun, relaxing and has the potential to provide something special for your table.  Enjoy the day!

-The End-

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Happy Hall-Owl-weeny!

I stopped off last Friday at my local Goodwill and look what I found.

If you have been following my blog for a while, you understand why this was such a monumental find for me. I collect ugly, ceramic owls and give them a more updated look.  I talk about this often, like in the blog post, Woodsy Perch Hops, Keeps Watch and Finds Some New Friends.   I have these little owl friends scattered around as parts of vignettes and tablescapes, like this one to the right is on my bedside table.  Sweet, don't ya think?!!

So....back to my Goodwill stop.  My heart started to race at the sight of this one. I mean, what kinda of luck was this?!! And on Halloween weekend, no doubt!  He was 2 bucks...bought!  

Of course he got the obligatory 'makeover ' which constitutes a bath and a redressing with Vaspar White Spray Paint in Satin.  

He is perched here waiting to hoot and howl tonight for all the little ghosts and ghouls.  What a little devil, er umm, owl.

Happy Hall-Owl-Weeny!

-The End-

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Nightstand Upcycle...I'm Over At dreamingincolor Today Too!

This little nightstand was something I picked up on a neighbor's trash pile.  I revealed it on the same day as a guest post over at dreamingincolor.  Hope you enjoy the following post. 

"Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test.  Tie your napkin around your neck, Cherie.  We'll provide the rest!" Okay..okay.  I will be quiet. Sorry.  Sorry.  It's just that I have been singing that song over and over out loud to myself.  Why you ask? (You did ask, right?!)  Well, I'm so excited! Yeah! I'm a guest today over at my friend Deneen's blog, dreamingincolor!  She was nice enough to ask me to introduce myself to her followers.  If you want to see my Yak Attack over at her blog click HERE to go there.  But remember to come back because I have a furniture reveal today!! 

The Furniture Reveal:

A Curbed Night Stand Gets A Makeover

If you are visiting here from dreamingincolor or one of the linky parties that I have joined this week, Welcome!  In anticipation that some of Deneen's followers just might have wanted to take a peek at The Homeless Finch, I planned a furniture reveal for today.  Fun!

If you have already been following my blog, I don't expect you to remember a post I wrote months ago about a trash pick nightstand. But if you remember ugly things, you might!  I picked up the beast out of a trash pile in a neighbor's front yard about a block away.  Well, the nightstand has sat in my garage for months.  I ignored it.  I pretended it wasn't there.  I had no idea what I wanted to do with it.  I dragged it out this week and decided to just go for it.  I mean, what do I have to lose?!! 

Here is the before photo I took months ago the day I trash picked it.

Before

Before.  Pretty...NOT!

I know.  It's ugly and why on earth would I have brought this little disaster home?  Well, I saw promise.  I saw opportunity.  I saw something going to a landfill and wanted to do my part to save the environment.  Yep. I know.  I'm nuts.  But that's me and I am very excited with the results.

I bought a yard of fabric from Joann's with a 50% off coupon and decided to put a base coat of white on the nightstand.  After I painted it with two coats of Annie Sloan's Old White, I cut out the fabric to fit the sides and the inside bottom of the nightstand and used my Modge Podge to fix it into place making sure I used my scraper to smooth out any wrinkles and tightly affix the fabric to the surface.  I also hand cut out motifs from the fabric and used them as accents on the table top. I painted the hardware with a satin finish black spray paint.  I finished the piece off with MinWax Wipe On Poly to give it a little more durability. 

Here are the results...



 I am so please with the results.  Best part? This little gem will live to see another day, not our local landfill!  Win win I'd say.  I want to again give a HUGE SHOUT OUT to Deneen over at dreamingincolor for hosting me as a guest today.  This is the first time I have ever done something like that and I am grateful to her for the opportunity.  PLEASE don't leave without following my blog.  I would love to have you stay and hang out for a while. Heck...maybe someday we might even meet for coffee!!

-The End-

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This post is being featured on Roadkill Rescuer!!!! See the link below..

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Finding A Treasure While Shopping Yard Sales

I wasn't even going to get out of the car.  Nope. Wasn't.  I felt sorry for the two ladies dragging a very tired bookcase out of the house to join what looked like a lame yard sale.  I decided just to jump out and take a look.  I was sure that there wasn't a thing for me.  Oh, I pretended to be interested, exchanging pleasantries about the day...the heat.  I picked up a few things and endured the lengthy description from the one lady about why I should buy it even though I knew I wasn't buying.

But then something interesting happened.  The other lady, a neighbor to the gal throwing the yard sale, started talking to me.  I can't recall what stopped me initially.  Although I do remember asking her about her Southern accent and found her response to me about growing up in Tennessee 'cheeky.'  (insert smile)  She was adorable and her conversational way had me captivated.  She told me that her name was Inez and that her husband had recently passed.  Her honesty was so refreshing.  She openly admitted to having issues with loneliness and she expressed it in a way that wasn't sad, just honest. 

I stood in the hot summer heat for a full hour, ignored two cell phone rings and listening to her stories and laughing about her take on issues in our community.  She seemed unfazed by the perspiration beading up on her shoulders as it ran down to be soaked into her pale blue tank top.  I thought that if she wasn't fazed, I would ignore my t-shirt as it became soaked. 

As I stood there, my mind briefly drifted as I realized that time was wasting.  I made the decision to spend the time that I could have spent at three more yard sales, soaking up a treasure that no one can buy.  The gift of honest conversation.  The gift of a real exchange with a sincerely sweet human being who was lonely, who just needed this moment to feel, well, alive. 

Having run out of time for shopping, I drove away without having bought a single item at the yard sale.  I glanced over and on the passenger seat was just one purchase from a previous stop. A neat painting on handmade paper of two finches.  I smiled at those two little birdies as the wind blowing through the open windows of my car helped cool my sweat soaked clothing. They were completely different breeds, but were sharing the same space for a fleeting moment in nature. Naturally, I decided to entitle the painting...Lesley and Inez.

I have thought back on this hour all weekend long.  I wonder if Inez has too.  I wonder if she realizes that she gave me a greater gift than I did her.  She reminded me that life's greatest treasures are not something you can buy at a yard sale, but the sincere exchange between two on a hot summer day is what makes this life oh so rich.  Remember, stop and take the time to connect.  You may just be glad you did.

-The End-

A Match Made in Heaven? Trash Pick to Treasure

Yep!  I'm up to it again! Trash picking!! My neighbor was throwing out an old french window frame a few weeks back and I snagged it up. It is about 2 by 4 feet and is missing the glass.  His son actually saw me taking it from the bulk trash pile and asked me why I wanted it.  I laughed at the sight of his puzzled face and said, "I am a studio artist who likes to re-purpose trash."  His face didn't change.  There just isn't any explaining this.  After all, they saw the frame as trash.  I chuckled, got back in the car and drove the three houses down to my house.

The frame had a funky faux blue and white paint on it that I knew had to go.  I really didn't know what I was going to do with it.  I was pretty sure it would play a supporting role in a table scape, sitting behind a few little whatnots. Without a makeover, it wasn't coming into the house! I saw it as an experiment at this point.  I started by painting it with ASCP in Emperor's Silk red.  I wanted to test out the chalk paint in this red color. 
As it turned out, I wasn't getting very good coverage with this paint....but I pressed on. 

The previous paint kept bleeding back through.  Guess I should have used primer?  Didn't think I had to with chalk paint. Oh well......put yet another coat on.....

I put on a super thick layer and left it for over a week to cure and came back and put yet another coat on the frame.

At this point, I threw in the towel and just tried to go with the mottled finish that this paint gave me.  I let it dry and placed it up in behind my little metal tug boat that I picked up on my recent trip to the Florida Keys.  It looked better than I could capture on a quick snap shot.  The walls are a bright lime green just to give you an idea how 'off' these images are....

Sitting up there.....just didn't do anything for me.  I tried it set in all different ways.  I just still didn't like it.  While looking at this pic on the little screen of my camera, I had a thought...  See that little painting to the right side of the image?  Right there....on the right?  With the color blocks and rectangles?

I painted this little piece a few years back when I was having painters block and just decided to paint 'whatever.'  I do that from time to time when I am blocked.....I paint something.....no rhyme or reason.   Somehow, just after we painted this room, I hung it here "just to put something there" using a thumb tack, not even a nail to hold it in place.  I knew it wasn't staying. One because I wasn't necessarily proud of it and because it was too small for the space.

So while looking at the previous image I think to myself, "What if I layered the red frame behind this little painting??  Wonder what it would look like?"  I thought that the straight horizontal and vertical lines of the frame might pair well with the structure within the painting.   So I got the frame back out and went to work.  This is what it looks like now....

Pretty cool..... I like the added presence that the red frame lends to this painting.  It is almost like they were destined to be together.  Just like people.... Sometimes you just never know where some one's best pairing will come from.  I thought to myself, "Oh. How cool is that?!  This sad little unloved painting and the sad little unloved french window pane have been rescued and have found each other!"  Yes....I know....I'm crazy. But it is the way I think.  No sense hiding it.

I got a little touch up to do on the frame and I want to disguise the nails I used to hang it.  But, I kinda like it.    What do you think?  As always.....a work in process..... 

-The End-
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