transgendered.

remember this little guy? all masculine, dark and rough around the edges.

well, he got a few procedures and has now made a transformation to a woman. she's gorgeous now! amazing what a little upgrading can do:)

this was one of my estate sale finds from when hannah and i hit up newton. a little paint here and some staple gun-ing there and she's a BEAUT!

my original plan was to use this for my desk chair, but since i failed to measure (surprise, surprise....) i got it home and found that it didn't fit. bummer. i refinished it anyway and now i'm just trying to figure out where her new  home will be.

any ideas??

why, hello there....

...five dollar craig's list chairs.

thank you so much for finding your way into my living room. i happened upon your pictures and just knew i needed you. for five bucks a pop, what could go wrong? although slightly torn in a few places, your olive green upholstery had me at 'hello', as i am a sucker for anything green (and cheap).

your sweet, little legs have seen better days and i am still contemplating giving them a quick and easy makeover.

thank you, sweet chairs, for not bringing any unwanted insects or bugs into my home....though it was questionable at one point. your previous home lacked any sort of cleanliness, so i gave you a nice vacuum or ten and Fabreezed the heck outta ya. so far, so good.

i hope you enjoy your new life here. i promise to be good to you:)

and thank you to craig and his list. i couldn't be more addicted to that thing.

you guessed it...delicious deals!

so i was going to take a break from my weekly estate sale brags, but since hannah posted on our weekend adventure, i had to follow up and show the world my treasures.
i think i could go to these sales everyday....but my problem is saying "no". the voice of logic whispers, "maggie....walk away from the vintage glass and put down that hideous, but potential-laden gold picture frame." but that other voice seems to win the majority of the time. at least it has lately. BUT. just because it's 50 cents doesn't mean it worth taking up space in our garage. i have promised my sweet and understanding hubby that i will stop buying for a while:) besides, i have some projects to start on!

here is what came home with me:

this sweet, little chair. i take that back....sweet, but not little. this thing weighed a ton. made of solid wood and screaming to be recovered. it was mine for $10. i wanted to find a lone chair to put with the desk i am currently upgrading (more on that later). but i got it home only to find that it was too wide to slide in under the desk....poo. i'm gonna work with it though. my mom suggested putting it in our bedroom in the corner, as a place to sit and put on shoes, etc. i like that idea, mom, but i thought you knew me..... that poor chair would end up buried in clothes within a day. i didn't inheirit your tidiness gene:)

next up--a vintage piece of clothing! my very first:) lucile (the woman whose estate we were raiding through) had some style! or at least hannah and i thought she did. while hannah was digging through her jewelry, i was in her closet, where i found this number! i was definitely bummed that her feet were half the size of mine, because she had some fancy shoes. can you imagine?? i never, in all my 25 years, thought i would be sharing a wardrobe with a senior citizen. and a deceased one, at that! man, my tastes have changed...what has happened?!

(side note: this post has made it sound like han and i were some kind of crazy scavengers. i promise you, we kept it classy.)

 this would be my third of the table set that rachel, hannah and i split. i am going to keep it "as is" for now, until i decide what color to paint it. it might just grow on me and stay the way it is forever, you never know.

another table that needs some new (not metallic) paint. i might spruce it up a little and sell it. any takers?

my "gold" treasures of the day. lucile liked to decorate in gold, from what i gathered.

you saw hannah's keys in her post and this is mine. haven't shown it to brandon yet, and it might just remain my secret for a while:) i don't know if he would see my vision, so i will have to "wow" him with the final product someday. i love the idea of this in a picture frame collage.

this is a detailed, wooden plate. in all honesty, i have no idea what i am going to use it for. that's whats so great about it! i might put it on my dresser, to hold some jewels, or i may hang it on the wall. who knows?

this golden, decorative accent piece (what in the heck do you call that thing??) was for my mama. i'm gonna spray paint it black for her, since she's been looking for something to hang above some pictures. she came over at 6:50am to hang out with peyton for the morning, so it was the least i could do. thanks, mom!

super stoked about my new frames. i am planning a photo collage wall so i'm going to instill some help from rachel, the photo collage queen:) she knows balance so well and it comes to naturally to her. plus, it's always good to have a second opinion.

hannah had some jewelry that was similar to something that she already owned, so she gave this to me. thanks, han:) you know i'm a sucker for green! there are so many ways to wear this string of beads, but i opted for the knotted look.

my world market bowl. $1. i like to accent in orange, so this was perfect. plus, it would have been $14.99 at world market...yay for cute and cheap!

orange jar. i'm not sure the brand name on this, but it was part of the many pieces of a glasswear collection. i picked this one because of it's shape, it had a lid and i knew it would look cute in my bookcase. at the sale, there were collections of glasswear in every different color. it was like candy! i honestly don't know where it was all stored or if it was even used?! it's a good thing that kind of thing doesn't temp me (not really my taste), or else i'd be keeping a few more secrets from my hubby:)

i forgot to take pictures of two old cigar boxes (hannah suggested that they're a unique way to give a manly gift) and some small pyrex bowls (nothing exciting).  my camera died, otherwise i'd snap a few right now.

so that's it! hannah and i had "too much fun" (as the lady at the sale pointed out) and we had rachel there in spirit (and via photo texts). my new obsession is taking over my garage and i have projects on the brain...i will share when i get them done!

seriously sweet deals - part 2

in continuation of last week, here are a few more delicious deals i have found from estate sales:

disclaimer: many of these items are currently living my ridiculously cluttered and messy garage. please do not judge:) 

a cast iron skillet and fitted lid for $22.50. this may look pricey compared to some of the other items, but my determined hubby wasn't going to let it slip away. this was at the auction and there was one other person who was bidding against us, which explains the higher than usual price tag. brandon has been pining for a cast iron skillet for years and this was his chance...he can't wait to use it over the camp fire:)

a cute, green vase for $1. fun color, can't-beat-it price....i'll take it!

small table with "flair" for $10. this table will most likely get a makeover and will probably go to live with someone else. i've been having a hard time wanting to part with all of my furniture finds, but in order to be able to use my garage again, i have come to terms with selling a few pieces here and there. i think it's the perfect little side table to display a vase, picture frame or hold a lamp!

vintage ice cream maker for $8. this old thing came with the original recipe book from the 50's! although it's not near as cool as the crank-it-yourself ice cream maker, it comes pretty darn close. i grew up on homemade ice cream and nothing can beat it....i see lots of homemade ice cream in our future:)  (plus....i can't get enough of that vintage turquoise...love!)

this already primed table (sorry for no before picture) is ready to be painted. mustard yellow is what i had in mind. it supposed to be a coffee table, but the scale wasn't right for our living room, so to the basement it goes! it's the perfect height for little people to sit at and color or eat. we got this for a whopping $4! and a matching end table was thrown into the deal ta boot! now i'm on the hunt for some little chairs....

this last item was the entire reason why we attended the estate auction in the first place. i walked into one of the bedrooms and was staring at a gorgeous four poster bed. i knew i had to have this because, not only was it pretty, it was the exact replica of the bed that i had grown up sleeping in. the twin to my childhood bed! this is extra special because my bed was passed down from generation, as it had originated from my great-grandmother's house. it was my grandmother's childhood bed and was then given to my parents. my mom and i figured that it's at least 80-90 years old, if not older. i spoke with the woman at the auction, who told me about a similar time frame of her bed. i knew that i had to get it for peyton. i love knowing that she will grow up sleeping in the same kind of bed that i did as a child. i will eventually paint it white, just like mine was when i was growing up. we paid $27.50 for this. honestly, i was ready to pay hundreds, just for the sentimental value.

i've still got more to share....look out part 3!:)

some seriously sweet deals -part 1

brandon and i have ventured into the world of garage sale-ing. but not just any garage sales...estate sales. we hit up our second sale this past weekend and now our garage makes us look like we should be on the show Hoarders. 
i have always enjoyed scoring a good deal. it's definitely in my blood and my thrifty mama has taught me well. she scours the ads for sales, looks for clearance, stocks up on coupons and never buys anything full price. there is definitely something exhilarating about saving loads of money when purchasing an item.

enter estate sales.the two that we found were in a home of an elderly person who had died and his/her children were trying to get rid of everything in the home, usually at a very fair price. although i am no estate sale connoisseur, i have a feeling that most estate sales are of similar circumstance. elderly people who have either died or need to leave their home to be better cared for elsewhere. and from our experience, senior citizens have some pretty awesome things in their home! i have a new found interest for antiques and vintage items....especially when i can find them on the cheap. makes my heart flutter:) i guess you could say i have jumped on the "vintage" bandwagon...let's face it, old is the "new" new. (does that make sense?!)

the estate sale from this past weekend was a little different. it was an auction estate sale....which is even cooler. sunday morning, i looked up "estate sales" on craigslist and this auction sale was the only one that came up for that day. it happened to be right around the corner from my parent's house and directly across the street from my elementary school. i'm sure i have driven past  it millions of times. but today, i got to go in.  van metre acution company, based out of marshalltown, iowa, came and auctioned off TONS of stuff. and when i say "stuff", i mean STUFF. these people were some serious collectors. i should have taken pictures...there are no words to describe. and the funny part is, the auction company had already had two previous auctions for all the other things from this home. two other auctions!?! we had walked into the "leftovers"....but those leftovers were pretty sweet.

we ended up buying so many things that i will post on this multiple times!  but for starters, here is a few of the gems that we walked away with:

some cute apothecary jars for $1 total. they are so versatile and can dress up anything. any suggestions on what i should put in them?

a desk globe for $1. my brother had one of these in his room and i remember playing with it a lot as a kid. i have seen some cool things other people have done with them (like paint them with black chalkboard paint), but i may keep mine "as is" for now.

a box of various sizes of blue ball mason jars for $7. 18 jars total and all with original lids. um, these babies are in high demand right now! i have seen many different prices around town, and personally purchased some in the past. except i paid $12 for only three jars. i am still debating if i should sell them or keep them....
side story: a cute, old man at the auction saw us carrying them to the car and said, "looks like someone is going to make some jam!" ....ahh! i wanted to squeeze him:) but he did make a good point. i could always do some canning in my free time. i now have the supplies!

a mini Jaymar piano for $1.  this ended up in our car without me knowing:) brandon saw it and put in a bid right away. i'd like to think he bought it for peyton, but he seems to be enjoying it just as much, if not more than peyton. i am all for music education, but this toy will soon be living in the basement, with all of it's other music making, obnoxious friends:)

a turquoise serving dish for $1. this could be used as a serving plate for food, part of decorative center piece or even mounted on the wall as part of a collage. i have currently placed it on the console table (another auction find) as a catch all plate for keys, wallets or loose change. i love that color and you can't beat that price.

a patio set for $20. crazytown! brandon and i saw this at the house and jokingly said, "hey, maybe we can bid on that..." later in the afternoon, i went to pick up peyton from my parent's house and brandon called from the auction and said, "i got everything on the deck for twenty bucks!". at this point, it was hilarious, because we had bought so many big pieces, we would need a u-haul to get everything home. five car loads later, everything was home (thanks to my dad for his giant SUV).
the great thing is, we have been talking about getting a patio set for quite a while. this was impeccable timing for upcoming summer season. plus, there was no way we could spend $500 on a new set. there are four chairs and a chaise lounge chair, (all with outdoor cushions), a small side table, a large round table and an umbrella with LED lights for some "mood" lighting at night.

and that's just a few things:) stay tuned for my next post. yes, we got a little carried away, but it was fun feeling like we were on an episode of Storage Wars (definitely watch that show...is on A &E, i think) and we couldn't pass up some of the things that were for sale. even if we didn't buy anything, an auction is an experience in and of itself. there's a constant adrenaline rush and you have to be quick on your feet (thank goodness for brandon...i am way too much of a people pleaser to bid against anyone).

brandon and i have had a blast at these sales, finding bargains and poking around in other people's things....this may be our new hobby. just call us estate sale enthusiasts:)

to all you (dare i say "old") older generation folks: do any of these vintage items look familiar? or are these items a generation beyond you? do you think i have anything that has any value? (aka, i would hate to be letting my toddler pound on a thousand dollar miniature piano.) i need some answers, all you baby boomers!

Sweet Deal on Amazon

My awesome bro clued me in on the fact that Brett Dennen's newest album is Amazon's MP3 of the day for $3.99! Click here for the link.

If you don't know Brett Dennen (or if you do), either way...you HAVE to take advantage of this album!

Enjoy :)