Thrifty Sunday - April 25, 2010

I seem to be channeling my inner Martha Stewart these days. I have always been interested in crafts and decorating but lately my interest seems to be heading into the kitchen. I am suddenly fascinated with dishes, table settings and tasty recipes. With that in mind, I seem to be drawn to all things glass.

I want to apologize in advance for my pictures. At this point in my life, I am living in a 10x 10 foot room. I used to live on a boat so am used to small quarters, but it doesn't leave me much room to stage great pictures. The lightning in my room consists of large flouresant fixtures and a stain glass lamp. I am usually taking my pictures at night because I am working all day and my bed is the largest surface available. I hope to find a proper home of my own by the end of summer and be able to display everything as it should be.

My entire blog is coming to you from this room.

This half is the kitchen/media center:

and this half is the bedroom

I barely have enough room to turn around in here, so needless to say, producing crafts and cooking extravagant meals is a challenge. Finding a few square feet to photograph the results, almost impossible, so please bear with me.

These sweet little jars were my first find of the day. I wish I had a set of these, I can picture serving a yummy dessert in them. As I only have two tho, I think they will end up in the bathroom as useful containers.

I found a few more cloche type pieces to go with the one in the middle that I found a few weeks ago. I love the one with the crackle glass

I couldn't get the right light to photograph this piece but it is very pretty and will go with my new collection of serving dishes for outdoor dining.

I found four of each of these plates. I love the white ones for salads or appetizers and the other one to go with the ceramic set I am putting together. To bad there was only four of them, but I don't really mind as I am not above mixing and matching to create a dish set.

I like these decorative square plates to go with the glass set of dishes I seem to be aquiring

This juicy little ceramic box will go with this wonderful ceramic sink I got for free on Craigslist

Another ceramic bottle for vinagar to go with the oil bottle of last week

A variety of stands that I will glue to the bottom of various plates to create cake stands and such things. The two metal ones in the middle were actually found in two different stores. I couldn't believe what a close match they were when I got them home

Again couldn't get a good picture of this plate but it is a cool green colour which goes well with the metal stand

Some glass stands

The one in the front will be glued under this pretty frosted serving plate

I found these stands to hold cards. I often have buffet type meals and always wanted to put cards with a description of the food in front of the dishes that wern't so obvious what they were, or what was in them. I have often passed up what were probably tasty dishes at parties just because I wasn't sure what it was.

This cute candle holder, it is a little on the tacky side but I am planning a bedouin tent,pillow room type bedroom with lots of red indian style rugs, so this will go with the lighting decor

More dishes....sigh

Two sweet glass bowls with pretty designs in the bottom and seven pink plates sitting on top of a cranberry glass cake plate

and last but not least, my prize find of the day, is this wonderful fountain. It had just come in the store and hadn't been priced yet. The salewoman didn't know if it worked or not and it was in pieces. I offered her 10 dollars as is and she agreed. I went home and googled it and found the exact same one for about $ 250.00, here is the link if you want one of your own

Moonshadow Fountain

And here is mine all set up ...and it WORKS!!

Happy thrifting

This post is linked to Cindys My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday

Thrifty Sunday April 17,2010

It's funny how one day you spot something in a thrift store that catches your eye. Your not sure why you have to have it or what you are going to do with it but you buy it anyway. Then the next thing you know, every time you walk in another store you keep seeing more of the same pattern or style.

 A few weeks ago, I picked up a large serving platter. I had actually seen it there for a few weeks in a row and it caught my eye every time but I didn't have anything else to go with it so I never bothered to get it. Then finally I almost felt sorry for it and feeling flush that day I threw it in the basket.

The next time I went in the store I saw a few more pieces that would go with it, so grabbed those too.

 This week, the run continues. I picked up this large bowl and oil bottle and didn't even realize they were a set until I got them home and posed them for this picture.

                          I also found this charming olive tray to go with the set

 
 

These coasters also  go with my new theme of dishes with fruits and vegetables on them

A few weeks ago I also found a wonderful glass dish with an inlaid ying/yang sign. Again , don't really have a set of clear glass serving dishes, but that is quickly changing. I love this beautiful platter and side dish

and this sweet dish with a heart in the center

This dish is another " not sure why I got this item", but I liked the lion faces on it and could see it doing duty as a dish in a bathroom to hold something

I can see this painted white with a candy dish on top

The best deal of the day by far though was these wonderful cabinets. I have been searching for something similar to put my spice jars in. I wanted to replicate something that would look like my friends funky spice cabinet.

 I was losing hope of finding what I wanted ,so had asked  a friend of mine to build me a cabinet. Before he could start on it though, he found these two cabinets in a thrift shop. They are solid oak spoon racks with glass doors. The racks will be removed and shelving put in their place. They can hold 24 jars each and just need a slight modification to adjust the depth. I am thrilled to pieces with these and can't wait to finally have the spice rack of my dreams.

On that note, I need your help. I found 16 of the spice jars but now I want  32 more. I don't know if there is a store out there carrying them, but if anyone sees any more like these, Please tell me where I can get them, Thank you so much!

This jar is a HomeSense find for 6 dollars, I love purple and this one is a gorgeous colour which looks even better in real life

I picked up these for my kitty while I was there, It's almost a shame to cover up the picture with food, they are so cute.

I found this as well. I am not too sure what it is to be honest. What would you do with it?

It's not very big and is made of cast iron or something,it weighs a ton. I think it may be for displaying dried flowers or something . If anyone knows please tell me. Or if you have an interesting idea for what to use it for, I would love to hear it.

My friends that found the spice shelves for me have this wonderful display in their kitchen. I got totally stoked when I saw it. I always see these copper baking forms but never thought to buy them until I saw them displayed like this. Wonderful kitchen art, must have this!!!

                           Now I have something else to look for, can't wait to see what I find

A pretty picture showcasing some of last weeks finds.

Happy thrifting!