Second Sunday of the Month

Once a month on the Second Sunday of every month in Midtown Sacramento, there's a huge antique faire held under the freeway { Mon - Friday its a parking lot } I've been wanting to go to it, for like ever :) and finally this past Sunday we went. There were a ton of vendors all with a wide range of items from sale from nick knacks to mid century modern. These old school suitcases started at only $ 10 bucks and up.

So stealing this idea. Large glass water bottle + wine corks = goodness.

I love these vintage crates, don't they remind you of the ones Pottery Barn sells? They would be great in a kids room for storage and adding wheels would be even better. Next time we go, if I can locate the vendor I might get one.

I fell head of over heals in love with this Mid Century Modern sofa and love seat. When we came around for a second look there were sold. Oh well, that's the way it goes at Antique Faires. I was picturing them on our patio with the wood refinished and the cushions slip covered in outdoor fabric.

The star burst clock also caught my eye, I'd prefer popping out the clock and replacing it with a convex mirror. Maybe it will be there next time? The large shop fan? Was also cool.

We all had a fun time, looking at all the goods and plan on going back soon. It's a good way to spend a Sunday morning with my family. If you live in the Sacramento Area of Northern California like we do, you can check out more information about the Sacramento Antique Faire here. We ended up buying a cast iron grill press and a vintage ice cream scooper :)

What was your last vintage purchase?

Thrifty Loot

On Saturday my mom and I decided to do a little thrift store shopping. We only stopped in two thrift stores { Goodwill & St. Vincent }, but walked away with some thrifty loot. That's one of the biggest reason I love shopping at thrift stores, you never know what gems you might find. I found this great ceramic bird, that just needs a coat of primer and white glossy spray paint. The little bird was only 2 bucks. I also bought the little wire basket for fifty cents to go in my garages laundry area { a simple way to keep my laundry products together} 

I love this little lion I found at the register while buying my stuff, I got it for my husband for his nightstand. Not only is it cute, its a nod to his astrological sign in the not so obvious way.

I also found a wicker and glass vase, perfect for the summertime and fall decor. I also came across a little stainless steel berry colander. One of the quirkier finds of the day was the little black bull head, that I plan on leaving as is.

Out of all my thrifty loot, the biggest score of the day were the vintage looking Halloween plates that were $1.00 each. Oh and they were from Pottery Barn, and I think brand new because they still had cardboard divider between each plate. I love these plates, they are super cute.

 

I'm glad I found a some fun items for our house, because the last few times I've gone thrift shopping, I left empty handed. Have you been thrift shopping lately and found some great loot?

Artful Updates { Part One }

One of the best place to shop for interesting and sometimes original artwork are thrift stores. I'm sure we've all seen our share of craptastic 80's art and fuzzy art posters at thrift stores. However, when you take your time digging though the unwanted and no longer loved art work, you just might find a special piece for your home. Last week I was shopping at my local Salvation Army, hoping to find some thrifty finds. When I saw a bird print that caught my eye, meanwhile Mr. CLH spotted a black and white print that caught his eye. He didn't dig my print, but I loved the print he found! My print was $ 4.99 and the print he liked was $ 4.99 too.  It just so happened we popped into the Salvation Army on a 50% off day for the entire store! We paid only $ 4.99 for both pieces of art work. Bot have nice frames and glass!

When we brought the frames home, I did a quick assessment of the changes we should make to each piece of art work.  First up the bird print. I like the style frame it was in, but knew it would look better a glossy white, that way it would match our existing frames that we have in our house. In addition to painting the frame white, I planned on using caulk to fill in the miter edge, the seam looked wide. I love this bright bird print, but the fake matte and border made the print look so cheap. The only way for the print to standout and look amazing was to buy a new crisp matte.

Up close you can see the miter corners that need help & the tacky fake matter and border that makes the bird print look silly and cheap.

Next up the tree art work my husband found. I'm still shocked he found this & that we only paid

$ 2.50 for it! It's a nice size piece 22inches wide by 19 inches long. We both loved the picture, but thought the mustard yellow matte was taking away from the print and not enhancing it. I also loved the heavy duty well built frame, but knew the color was too dark for our space. Again I knew a white coat of paint would be bring new life to the frame.

Another plus, is the tree art had been previously custom framed, talk about a score we got.

Because both framed are in good condition { minus } there color, I knew the only extra cost to the art update since we hoard white glossy spray paint in the garage would be mattes. Since both pieces of artwork are old size and not stock matte sizes, I knew I would have to order custom mattes. That's just what I did, I stop into Michael's framing department and placed an order for two custom mattes. I've always feared getting custom anything related to framing, because custom framing is expense!

After I came home from Michael's. I began the task of removing the paper backing on each frame along with the old hanging wires. The bird frame, had a really nasty backing on it full of funky stains.

I carefully removed each picture from the frames. Under the paper backing on the tree picture, I found a stamp saying Cresent. More than likely its Cresent City, California. I've been there once its very pretty. The city is right on the ocean and is almost on the California / Oregon border. I'm guessing the picture was taken in Cresent City of maybe even in the Redwoods { which are amazing!}

Next, Mr. CLH will be spraying painting the frames and hopefully our custom mattes will be ready for pickup tonight. I'll have a budget breakdown in part two.

What do you think of the thrifty art we bought? Have you found art artwork from a thrift store that was fab or needed a little artfull update?

PS: Don't forget to enter the CLH Giveaway: For your chance to a Win a print from

 Our Humble A { bowe } d! Click Here to Enter.

Saturday Morning Thrifty Finds (2)

Don't you love coming across an item when your not looking for anything in particular? On Saturday on the way to do errands, my family and I stopped at a three family yard sale. I was browsing around and not seeing anything that really caught my eye, until I spotted a lamp. Not just any lamp, but the perfect desk lamp for my sons room. It's an old school 'Bankers Lamp' with a glass shade. I picked it up, it was super heavy and nice, just needed cleaning and a new look. The best part of it, I snagged the lamp for $5.00 and it works! Lamps Plus, is selling a similar lamp for $79.99! I so scored a bargain for my sons upcoming bedroom re-do.

 The lamps Temporary home out living room

Now that you've seen the lamp, I have a few ideas to make it more youthful. I'm going to spray paint the base of the lamp a bright color or antique oiled bronze color and I want to spray paint the glass shade a glossy white of frost the glass shade to tone down the green. BUT is possible to paint the glass shade? So if you have painted a glass shade I need help...can this be done?

Four Books For Five Bucks

I love to read, I read anything from Jane Austen (love her and the movies) to John Grisham. I often read up to 45 mins per day, How? I take the train to work which allows me to read at least 45 mins a day. So last week I stopped in a local Goodwill looking for thrifty finds, and I didn't find anything! On the way out my son wanted to see what books they had, he was hoping to find a few Captain Underpants (great book series for 4th grade boys) books he doesn’t have. When I started browsing books for myself and came across a bunch, I've wanted read or looked interesting to me.

I was able to buy four books for five bucks!

The Books

Baby Proof, by Emily Giffin
Knitting Under the Influence, by Claire LaZebink
In her Shoes, by Jennifer Weiner { I love this movie! I've always wanted to read the book }
The Nannie Diaries, by Emma Mclaughin & Nicola Kraus

I can't wait to get started on one of these books (I'm currently reading The Gold Coast). Have you found any great books from Thrift Stores are used books sotres lately?

Sunday Morning Thirfty Finds

Mr. CLH and I stopped in the Goodwill this morning looking for Thrifty Finds for our house. Here's some items that caught ny eye.

A wide selection of great frames, think paint = promise.

I even saw some reproduction oil paints for $6.99 each. One bad thing about the Goodwill near me they over price ALOT of thier frames

I loved this little nigthstand perfect for a little girls room or a master bedroom. Mr. CLH thought it was a little too girly, marriage is compromise! Oh yeah it was $15.99

What was my favorite find of the day? This amazing China Hutch, we're currently on the look out for the perfect China Cabinet for our kitchen. We really want a Butler's Pantry in our kitchen when we re-do it. We'll either use a China Cabinet or Custom cabinets. So looking forward to a new kitchen. This cabinet style is a serious contender. It was so many petty details.

Mr. CLH fell in love with and old school Polaroid Camera. It actaully works! It came with film, now the search to find more film will start on Ebay { crossing fingers }

Sat Morning Thrifty Finds

Mr. CHL & I set off on Saturday morning to find some great pieces of furniture we can redo from thrift stores. We stopped in our local St. Vincent De Paul store, I saw a couple of great French dressers - but they were way over priced. After being disappointed with what we were looking for, I went over to the kitchen section and found trio of great buys.

I found this 5 piece set of cute white little dishes, perfect for small bites and personal dips for $2.49

A mini milk jar; the jar reads I.X.L Creamery Inc. Friendens, PA

The jar was a measly $0.97

The best thrifty find of the day was classic posy vase, its a nice solid weight. The vase bears a striking resemblance to the Kate Spade 'Sweet Pea' vase from Macys for $35.00

I paid $3.97!