Copper Pot Spiffed Up

Last weekend when I was out garage-saling, I found this copper tub.  I paid $10 for it.  To say I was excited is a little bit of an understatement.  :)

My husband started to clean it up.  Now, I'm torn here.  I LOVED the patina, but it was really dirty and I did want to use it in the house...  So I'm sure some of you will think we are completely crazy, but we cleaned it up. 

I used Bar Keepers Friend and a blue scrubby.  In the cracks and dents I used a toothbrush with Bar Keepers Friend sprinkled on it.

After it was all clean, I used a microfiber cloth and put Brasso on it.



Now I have a place in my laundry room for dirty towels.  I used to have an Ikea laundry basket, and like this 100% better!! 



I did not get to the lid yet.  It is made out of steel, so will now look quite different than the tub.

I may move it to the family room and put blankets in it.  Right now I'm loving it here.

Thanks for your visit!

Pam


I am linking to the following parties:

Garage Sale Scores--Scale, Birdcage and More

I really found some fun things at the garage sales this weekend--a  great old copper tub, a wooden box, a birdcage, a scale and some drill bits for my husband.

I was thrilled to find this old Wayrite scale.  But....the biggest bummer of the day was that a girl right before me grabbed the cutest rusty old blue scale.  And she paid $3 for it!!  I would've preferred to have not even seen it.  :)  But, I keep telling myself that I have LOTS of scales, so it was not for me this time....  And, this scale that I did find is very fun!

Here it is in the house with some other recent garage sale finds (and a bird feeder from HomeGoods).

This little birdcage caught my eye.  I didn't care for it in black, but figured I could paint it.

Now it's blue/green.

I love this old box!  It's a perfect size to hold lots and lots of magazines.

 My husband is in the process of cleaning up the copper tub.  I will post about it when it's all spiffed up. 

Thanks for your visit!

Pam

I am linking to the following parties:

Neat Old "Maid of Honor" Sink

I was out doing my normal Saturday garage-saling this morning and not having any luck!  I probably went to six or seven different sales without buying anything.  I then went to the west side of the city where I have had pretty good luck in the past.  Yes, I found stuff immediately.  (hmmm, maybe I should start on the west side from now on!)

I met a lady who was selling beautiful jewelry.  She had some banana boxes and old metal stuff off to the side that really caught my eye.   At first I was interested in the banana boxes, and although they were fabulous, they were pretty big and pretty much over my budget.

I then asked her about this sink. She gave me a price and I told her I'd think about it. As I was driving away, I decided that I had to have it! I quickly ran to an ATM and got more cash and hurried back and bought it.

It wouldn't fit in my car, so we came back later with the truck.  She said that several people had stopped to try to buy it.  I'm so glad I went back immediately when it hit me that I had to have it.  :)

I cleaned it and brought it in the house for now.  I might use it as a party cooler or maybe put it out on the back patio with annuals set in the tubs.  In the meantime it's in the downstairs kitchen.

She asked that I please not paint it.  I promised her I wouldn't!   I love the patina and love the rusty legs and wheels.

She was so sweet that she even gave me this picture as we had discussed our mutual love of gardening earlier. I love garden friends!

What a fun day of shopping!  I love the fact that I'm not looking for anything in particular when I go out, yet I usually come home with something that makes me very happy.

Thank you for your visit.

Pam

I've been nominated by Palatin Remodeling, Inc for Best Innovative Blogger.  The voting ends next week.  I'd love it if you would vote for me HERE!  You don't have to sign up for anything, it's just an easy click!  Thanks!

I am linking to the following parties:

Ivy and Elephants What's It Wednesdays

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Fun Garage Sale Finds

I've been going out just about every Saturday morning to the local garage sales.  There are some weeks that I come home with nothing and some weeks that I come home with some fun things.  It certainly is an enjoyable way to spend an hour or so, and I rarely ever spend more than $10. 

I love this metal horse.  Actually there are two of them that fit together.  I now have two places I can hang them.  This one is in my living room.

.  I think these milk bottles and holder are reproductions, but I still think they're cute.

I went out to my side yard and cut some lavender.

And have a good smelling kitchen island.  :)

I love this old box.

I need more furniture like I need a hole in my head, but couldn't pass up this dresser.  Stay tuned for the redo coming soon!



And who can resist a lab in water??  :)

It's been hot, hot, hot here and Max knows exactly where to go to cool off. 

What fun things have you found lately? 

Thanks for coming by!

Pam

$2 Chair Transformation

 In November I was at a garage sale and found a chair for $2.  I was really excited about it, as it had so much potential.  My husband was mortified that I'd bring something that disgusting home.  (for the record, it was very, very worn, but not as disgusting as it could have been; however, it was not allowed in the house)  :)

 We started by removing all of the cording. 

  

 The filling was pretty awful.  We probably should've worn masks...  This particular part wasn't too bad.

 My husband spent hours removing hundreds and hundreds of staples.  They were spaced out about every millimeter and were in a groove, so it was very hard to remove them.  He eventually used a Dremel tool to clean out the grooves.  At this point, it was ready for paint.

 Several coats of white paint had it looking much better.

 We kept all of the old pieces of fabric in case we needed the patterns for the new pieces.  This is from the arm (yes, very nice old fabric--I'm sure you're wondering why we didn't use it!)

We did the arms first. 

We then started stapling the fabric to the back.  We got this far and decided that it needed to be ironed.  Ironing right there was our only option.  (this picture is pre-ironed)

I used an electric knife to cut the foam and stuck it in the back.  I used 2" foam from Hobby Lobby and it seemed to fit well.

 For the seat, I used 3" foam.  I also wrapped some batting around it.

 I decided that cutting the exact pattern from the old fabric wasn't great for this part as I needed some extra to allow enough fabric to staple into the groove.  This was before I did any cutting on this piece!

This was prior to gluing on the cording.  The hardest part of this was cutting the edges of the stapled fabric that were hanging out of the groove.  I used little tiny scissors and carefully cut it so it wouldn't be seen once the cording was glued in there.

 I'm sorry that I didn't get a picture of the next step.  It was gluing the cording into the grooves.  We used a hot glue gun and stuffed the cord in.  At the ends of the cord, we used a lighter to glob it together so it would cut without fraying.  Luckily it did not catch us on fire and it did firm up the cord quite well.

 I haven't quite figured out where to put it yet.  Here it is by the front door without a pillow.

  

 And with a pillow....

 Here it is in our bedroom, where it will probably stay.

So now my husband is impressed.  He had been telling me that I was crazy to have bought the chair thinking we could redo it.  (I figured we could, and if not, we were out $2!)  I think it turned out beautifully!  With the fabric, foam, and batting, I have about $35 in it.  

Thank you for coming by!  I really appreciate your visits and comments.   

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway    
HERE

Pam


I am linking to the following parties:

 

Potpourri Friday at 2805