Large wood utensils before and after!

For the past few months, I've been seeing those old, large wooden forks and spoons all over blogland. When I first started seeing them on the internet, I wasn't sure. I remember my grandparents having these!! LOL!! But they grew on me...

I squealed when I went thrift shopping with my cousin Claude last week and came accross this set for 2$:


But that totem thingie HAD.to.go. Not my style at all.

A little paint, some jute and some distressing and we now have this:

MUUUUCH better dontcha think?!?!

Here are some close-ups:

This post is part of the Metamorphosis Monday party at Between Naps On The Porch! Come join us with your before and afters, and take a look at what everyone did!

What Fifteen Bucks Can Buy.....

It's amazing how fast a week can fly by isnt it?
It's Monday again, and Monday NIGHT at that. *sigh*


It's also Autumn. How can that be? (Or is it tomorrow? I'm never sure anymore). *triple sigh*





Anyway... here are my thrifty finds for this week. Of course part of Rhoda's TTT :)




A gorgeous wood branches basket. It's thick and dark and the bottom part is about 8.5x11.
1.00$



A super looooong wooden planter. Bare wood.
FREE- Curbside find!!

look at the sweet detail in the corner!

Oh you know this will be getting some stain and/or paint!!


One Vintage cookbook, and another with a vintage *look* but is recent.

1.00$ for the vintage book

0.50$ for the recent book

I just FELL IN LOVE with the cover of this book!! The colours are GORGEOUS!! I cant wait to put it on display in my soon-new kitchen!!


It dates from 1958 :)

The other book is recent, but I also just LOVE its look!!

The back really hooked me, too! Suppers in a few minutes? YEAH!!

Patty Trio moulds

50cents

I had some of this a few years ago. I actually used to make sandwiches in them, flattening the bread. Kids love it. ANd that was before the actual "bento" craze! ;)

This awesome frame is made of metal, and its off-white colour and distressing are a perfect match for my decor!

1$ for the frame

50 cents for that little metal owl. I have no clue what it used to be, and there appears to be a missing piece to it. But it's an OWL people. I HAD to have it! LOL!

I went to a kinda estate sale this weekend in Montreal, I saw advertised on Craigslist. Lots of junk: good junk and bad junk! Some stuff was seriously overpriced, but some was good. I was looking for some skeleton keys, but didnt find any.
But i DID find these:

At 50 cents a piece, they obviously came home with me!

EDITED!!
THanks JJ for pointing out that they should be hung the other way! I did not know that. I'm not super superstitious (lol) but I figured a little more luck cant hurt right? So I hung them upside down this morning. I'm just too lazy to upload new pics here!

All rusted and old, love it! I'd been looking for some horseshoes!!

This below was a sentimental buy:

LOL, I know what you're thinking!!
But!!! My parents had one JUST LIKE IT!! Except I believe ours was avocado green? I havent seen or thought about it in like 25 years. And I saw these at my fave thrift store. The set for 1.50$ total. I didnt buy them when I saw them. Then I came home and they were on my mind all night. SO I went back the next day... phew, still there. Oh these are just BEGGING for a makeover, but I'm happy to have seen them this way, just for the memories, until then!

And some more apothecary jars.... for my main floor bathroom:

1$ each for the big ones, 50 cents for the small one. One holds soap, the other cotton balls, the other Q-tips :)

And now my FAVOURITE find in a LONG LONG time!!

I've been looking for something like it:

Ain't it a BEAUTY?!! It's for candles :)
I paid just 5$ for this! Oh how I love it!!

So I paid 15 bucks for everything in this post! Not bad huh? Gotta love thrifting! Imagine how much it would all have been elsewhere!!

Nautical table before and after

This summer, I found the nicest nautical themed end table.

I paid just 5$ for it.










Since I love anything beachy, nautical, it came home with me, of course!





But... it just would NOT fit anywhere in my house. 1- the dark cherry coloured wood does not fit any other wood I have. It really clashes. 2- No actual place for a table. I tried it next to my sofa to replace one I had found in the trash months ago. But it just did NOT look good!



I was sad! I loved it so much and yet had to keep it in storage because it couldnt work!





And then I had a AH HA moment!





I removed the legs (which will probably become another project! ;-) ) and kept the top and am using it as...


well, instead of telling you, I will just SHOW you! :)




Likey???





Me, I LOVE it!!


I simply spray painted it white and distressed it a bit for that cottage-y look.



It hangs in my bathroom now and everyone will be able to admire it (because, really, everyone eventually has to use the bathroom, right? ;-) )





So, what do you think???





I'm posting this to Met Monday at Between Naps On The Porch

Key hanger before and after

Earlier today, you might've seen this key, which I posted in my Thrifty Thursday post.


I got it for a mere 50 cents. But I hated the gold. I like gold jewelry, but i hate gold *anything* in my house. So it HAD to go!

And that chain HAD to go too! Too much visual clutter for nothing!

Here it is now:

And in context, in my entryway:

Oooh I loooove it now, it's so purty! :)

(please excuse the wall paint that needs touch-ups! That's what happens with 3 wild kids in the house!)

ANother one for the Met Monday party :)

Blackboard before and after!

Years ago, I bought this blackboard @ Winners (Canada's version of TJ Maxx!). I don't remember exactly what I paid for it, probably about 5$.
It's about 3 feet high?
Anyway. I loved it. But about a year ago, I just could.no.longer.look.at.it. Too.... I dunno... country-ish for my current taste? And, well... I just cannot stand green at this moment.


So today was the day it was being re-born! Here's the after:


A closer look:

I spray painted it turquoise, then distressed it so the green shows thru (our kitchen will be white, turquoise, dark brown and sea foam green). I love that it shows thru quite a lot.

I took a page out of a book:

I had found this book at a library book sale this summer (fill up a grocery bag for a dollar!!) I loved the book because of all the gorgeous drawings!

Ironically, the picture was exactly the right size for the opening on top! kewl beans!!

I adhered that, then added jute around the picture and around the blackboard.

It still looked a bit bare. So I turned to my scrapbook supplies!!
I found cute scrolly chipboard shapes. I first inked them in green, then spray painted them turquoise, then distressed them, so they'd match the wood. Added some on top, some on the bottom corners.

And then, I needed something for the chalk, right? I remember seeing, sometime this week, somewhere on a blog, someone taking a Scrabble tile 'holder' for this exact purpose. I cannot remember WHERE I saw it, so if it was you, PLEASE tell me so I can give proper credit! I thought that was just GENIUS. So, I took an old game (bought 2 years ago for a buck) and used one, which I painted the same as the chipboard shapes.

ANd that;s it! A much nicer, softer, beachier look! :)

This post is part of Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On the POrch!

Thrifty Thursday

I visited 2 of my favourite church basement thrift stores yesterday.

I found Quiksilver shirts for both boys (50cents) and 2 shirts for dd (also 50c each). I dont usually share my clothing finds here, because i'm keeping this blog more decoration-oriented, but seriously, people!! There are some amazing finds in thrift stores! My younger 2 (now 10 and 8) get nearly all of their clothes from thrifts. At 15, my oldest doesnt, but I always manage to find a few items for him too!

Anyway, here are my home decor finds for today!!

At 50 cents, I couldn't pass up this cute lighthouse birdhouse (say that 3 times fast LOL!)
It's missing a piece of the anchor and 2 pieces of the wheel, but I will fix that somehow!



Also 50 cents, this big gold (ack!) key from which we'll hang our keys. Stay tuned later today for a small makeover for this. Because you KNOW I didnt keep this as is... I hate gold anything in my house!

And now... this AWESOME wooden boat. A bit pricier than I usually pay for thrift store finds, but I just could not pass it up. It was 5$ and it's HUGE! It's 2 feet tall and abou 1.5 feet long.

It comes from Percé, which is a beautiful town in Quebec, where I would LOVE to go some day.

And my favourite find of the day, this iron scrolly thing! You know how much I love this type of thing! It was 2$ and is about 3 feet long! It's GORGEOUS!!

Don't forget to check out everyone's thrifty finds at:

Thrift Store Thursday at Homebody Holly:

Thrifty Thursday at Bloggeritaville


And stay tuned later today for a couple of transformations!

Sewing Box Transformation

Months ago, in the trash, I found a great vintage sewing box.

I never took a close-up picture of it. (What was i thinking? Ugh!)
But you can see it in the picture above, just in front of the wicker vase.

It sat in my living room for a while. Not sure what to do with it.

Last week, I spray painted it white.
Nice, but not quite "there" yet.

This morning, I realized all it needed was a little distressing.

This is it now:




I loooooove it! The distressing really shows off all the details.

I will be using it for scrapbook storage. Much cuter than dollar store plastic stuff, no?!


This is my contribution for Met Monday @ Susan's @ Between Naps On The Porch!
(see, Susan! I was able to find SOMETHING for this week's party! teehee)