an old piece of furniture

I love old things. Old farmhouses, old quilts, old pottery, old paintings, and on and on. And I especially have an affinity for old wooden furniture. In fact, it's one of the main reasons I go to thrift stores and antique shops.

Being that our home is only 1600 square feet however, it's not like I have an endless amount of floor space to put all that lovely old furniture I find while thrifting. I do have to be quite choosy, and it often means leaving behind pieces that are very hard to leave behind.

I think that one of the reasons I want an old farmhouse so much is so I would have lots of room to fill it up with old furniture!

When Brad and I built our home, we were a mere twenty-two years old. We had just started out in our careers, and so we built what we could afford. It meant that I scrapped the first two plans I took to our builder because they were out of our budget. I guess that we were both raised with the wisdom of living within our means. Besides, my ultimate goal was to be a stay-at-home mommy once we started having children, and I knew that this wouldn't be possible if we were tied to an outrageous mortgage.

So our house was built nicely, but very simply and economically. And we basically picked the most affordable options when it came to cabinets, counter-top, hardware, lighting, doors, etc. And when it was all done it was a wonderful thing to own our own home, and we had done it in such a way that it wasn't going to overwhelm us every month when the mortgage was due.

Now that we have been in our home over thirteen years, we are beginning to do some updating here and there. Right now it's just small things. We have some other bigger goals in mind that we are striving for financially, so we're dealing with the smaller, more affordable updates currently, but, Lord-willing, will begin some bigger renovations over the next several years. Basically, we want to add the character and charm that we love so much in older homes.

But for now, I like to bring those older, charming pieces into our home by means of furniture pieces. We've bought many older pieces over the past several years. Some I have refinished and some I have left in their original state. And it has happened that these pieces bring me more joy than any new pieces of furniture we own. I think of the homes and the people that owned them before us. I wonder if they had children like we do.

Right before Christmas, I was in a consignment shop that I like to stop into frequently. Brad and I had been talking about replacing the hutch in our dining room with a larger buffet with the hopes of Brad eventually building some old barn-wood shelves to hang above it.

I found a large buffet at the consignment shop, got measurements, called Brad to make sure it would fit in the space we wanted it for, and then ended up buying it because it would fit perfectly. The drawer space is amazing, and I love the little white ceramic knobs and dovetailed drawers. The carpenter that built the piece had also used wooden dowels to hold the piece together rather than nails as you find in most furniture today.

So now that buffet sits in its designated space in the dining area. I changed out all of the hardware except for the ceramic knobs. It holds my extra dishes and has some of my favorite things displayed on top. But I think my most favorite part of this piece has turned out to be all of those little drawers. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with all of those little spaces when I first brought it home, but I've since decided it would make the perfect place for my note cards, stationary, stamps, and other writing supplies. It's become my make-shift lady's desk.

Up until this point, I have always stored my writing supplies in a plastic bin in my closet. I love how everything is so organized and looks pretty (I do appreciate pretty things.) Now I'm just going to purchase some charming stickers and maybe some nice pens to complete the collection. 


P.S. - I am having a 35% off sale in my Etsy shop. Use the code NEWYEAR35 to receive 35% off your total purchase of all of my listed items. The coupon expires this Saturday. 

Some great finds and Molly...

A trip to the local consignment shop last week proved very successful. I got some great deals on some wonderful finds.

This HUGE basket. I love this thing.

I was so excited when I found these crochet-trimmed white pillowcases. I've been looking for pillowcases like this for TWO years. But I'm very frugal and could never justify the price that the various shops had priced them. I paid $2.00 for two pillowcases. Wow.

I also found this big blue-tinted Ball canning jar. I plan on adding this to my collection of old glass bottles/jars that I have displayed in my kitchen.

I also got something else I've been wanting for a long time. My sweet husband bought me (and the kids) her...

I named her Molly. Oh, isn't she cute! And she's such a good little puppy. She likes to play but she also likes to lay around and sleep. And cuddle. I love her. Thanks for bringing Molly home, honey!

Look at those sweet little paws!

Have a great Monday!

Thrifting Treasures...

Who doesn't love the abundance of yard sales during the summer months? And the thrift stores just seem to be overflowing with goodies.

Here are some of the treasures I've found thrifting this year...

I found these base thingies at two different thrift stores. The bigger one was a brown ceramic and the smaller one (actually came with another taller one just like it) was a crackled beige ceramic. I spray painted these two white and thought they would be lovely to set my white dishes on to serve on when I entertain.

When I'm not using the smaller base, it sets on my kitchen counter with a replica yellowware bowl on it. I usually put pears or bananas in the bowl.




The other base I spray painted black and it rests in our hall bathroom...




I found the white bowl below at a thrift shop for 50 cents. I thought it would be a lovely bowl to serve from when I use my white dishes.



I found the following little lamp at Goodwill for $1.99. I plan on covering the shade with red ticking fabric. The two little candlesticks I found at a yard sale for 50 cents. They were originally a dark wooden color; I spray painted them white.

Vintage napkins found at an estate sale this past weekend. The white set was unused and has a beautiful floral pattern. There were 15 of them! For $3.00! The second set of four I got for 50 cents.


I found the basket below at a yard sale for 75 cents. It was originally a brown color before I spray painted it ivory. The six fabric napkins were found at a local thrift store for $1.00. They each have a tiny flower embroidered in the corner.

Found this basket at Goodwill for 99 cents...

The following basket was only 25 cents at a yard sale!

The next basket is my favorite basket find! I found it at a thrift shop for $3.00. You can tell it is old but it is very sturdy and well-made. I have this setting on top of our tv armoire in the living room.

I purchased this great whicker rocker from a friend's yard sale for $25.00. It had been in their family for a while so it's old and has lots charm. It is in our master bedroom.

This last find is a sturdy little wooden stool for $3.00. It was an unfinished wood color. Pretty dirty as it was also from an estate sale and very old. I cleaned it up, spray painted it white, and then sanded some wear into it.

At the estate sale I went to last week, I also found a vintage baby doll cradle which I plan to clean up and give to Lily for C-mas. It was in awesome shape, and I was able to get it for $10.00! I was super excited because I've been looking for a nice cradle for Lily since before C-mas last year. I can't show pics of it because it's in hiding. :) I'd like to make some linens for it to give with it also.

Thanks for looking! This post just goes to show you that the old cliche is true... One man's junk is another man's treasure.

~Amber