FABULOUS Freebies, thrifty goodness, and vintage family fun...

Happy Sunday! Thank you for all the wonderful comments, and new followers...It makes my day! I've been trying to keep up, but sometimes diaper duty/peacekeeping calls!

So, on my never ending Craigslist snooping I discovered..

An ad for a motel under renovation, promising FREE goodies...

Packed the kids in the truck and headed down there, about an hour and a half away. Our little town is an hour to the next nearest town, so heading out is always fun, it means we get to stop at Tim Hortons for coffee and tea, and I do some power thrifting!

The motel wasn't super exciting, it had been picked over pretty well, unfortunately...It was supposed to be a 2 day event, we got there 1/2 an hour before the start of the first day and the early birds has swooped in! Being my nosy self, I struck up a conversation with an employee, and learned they had more goodies hiding...I told them how far away we were, and they literally took me on a tour of freebies-LOL! Never hurts to say HI rather than just giving up and going on your way!

We left with 2 upholstered arm chairs that will go in the guest room, I decided to take the 9 drawer dresser for upstairs. It seems like such a waste to have all those empty drawers when we could use them! The chairs will go in the corner of the room where the dresser would have been, with a little table between them. It'll be a nice little nook for our kid-less guests to have some quiet time. The wood will need to be painted, and they definitely need to be re-upholstered. The furniture in there is shabby black french provincial, so I'm thinking black arms and legs, with a burlap/canvas material, sort of old grain sack like...I just saw someone out there do one very similar, but for the life of me can't remember where it was!!! If you remember, help a girl out? As I posted earlier, the room is still a work in progress, it looks a bit unfinished still.

The original finish of the 9 drawer dresser-it's friends are now the shabby black you see. I have 3 more drawers to finish, the main body, and the mirror. It's cold in the garage so I've neglected it for awhile! 3 of the drawer pulls were broken, so I have to replace them somehow. I'm thinking of replacing the top 3 drawers (or middle 3) with 2 crystal antique knobs, and putting an embellishment between the crystal knobs to give it some romance! It's a beautiful set, it came with the big dresser and mirror, nightstand, headboard, and footboard! There weren't any rails so I have to find a way to attach the footboard. One of my Dad's friends GAVE it to us. I love it! I couldn't believe our luck, what great bones it has! With lots of moves in our future, we need something that will last.

My thrift store adventures netted me this little wooden carry thing, and the shelf thing, $2 each! The carry thing can be used for many things in our house-diaper paraphenalia, towels, gardening supplies, I just haven't quite decided yet!

This shelf will go in our bathroom for some extra storage, it has very little, so it will help! I'm guessing someone handpainted both items, but the nice thing about giving thrift items new life is making it work for you-both were primed tonight and are awaiting a new paint job. (and a new handle on the shelf) Maybe some MOD PODGE! That tray was fun! http://shabbyserenity.blogspot.com/2010/01/bedside-tray-for-230.html

I like to do project steps all at once, so tonight was reserved for priming the last 2 dining chairs, and since I had the primer out, I did the frames I've been collecting the last few months. I'm going to make a little feature wall with the oval and round frames, the square one came with some beautiful vintage petit point and I'll be pairing that with some signed, vintage Emily Sartain (1841-1927) art prints. They were my great-grandmother's. They are lovely, still the original chippy paint on the frames, gorgeous! I think I paid $7 for all these (including the gorgeous petit point) if I remember correctly.

A couple photos of my great-grandfather and his brothers (I think) I found that are so awesome, I just love them! I think these 2 will find homes in the frames above. Aren't they hilarious??? Pure BOY. I can just imagine Cole being a goof like that with his friends!

My GG is the one on the bike in the first photo, and in the second photo he is in the back row, far right. He passed away before I was born, but my great grandma was with us until I was 14. I wore her wedding veil on our wedding day-that is a very cool story for another day. I think the photos will look awesome framed, I'm going to get a few more old family shots in black and white to complete the feature.

Off to bed now! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm going to send my Grandma a link to this to give her a chuckle! (this is her Pop)

Hi, Grandma! xoxoxo