Antique and Thrift store shopping

I really am not much a mall shopper but it's hard to drive pass an Antique or Thrift store. It's like a treasure hunt and you never know what you may find, for me it's the thrill of the hunt.

It's interesting to see what people throw out or put up for sale. Sometimes I look at something and think about the story that's behind the piece. I think about who might have cherished it and how it wound up on a shelf in a store. I send out hope that it will be bought by someone else that will cherish it. If you have never seen the movie "The Red Violin" I strongly recommend it, it's the story of a violin spanning several centuries.

The above pictures are of recent finds...the silver bowl is a $6.00 thrift store find. I really should have taken a before picture, believe me it did not look anything like the picture. It was almost completely black and I couldn't see any marks but I fell in love with the shape and intricate top. Plus I didn't have a silver bowl a lot of silver trays and a couple of tea sets. After round one cleaning (not finished yet) I found a mark! After some research I found the silver bowl was manufactured in the states somewhere between 1870-1879. WOW! It's not perfect but in great shape given it's age. The cutie pie birds are a find from a local Antique Mall, my husband bought them as a present. Lucky me! They do not have any markings and I know nothing about them other than they make me smile. So I promise to take care of my treasures and cherish them.
Hmm, wonder where they will be in 100 years from now?

My Favorite Room

This is my favorite room in the house. When we first moved in we had to use this room as our bedroom. The main bedroom was not usable at the time, so we just threw the bed in there and had to put things on hold while we fixed up the real bedroom. This room would be considered the front parlor, it has 2 pocket doors. One set opens to the foyer (our TV room) and the other set opens to the dining room. The room was painted an off white with a hideous light fixture, the only saving grace was the hardwood floors and the huge front window.

Well the room is painted, curtains and shades made and I made a slipcover for the thrift store sofa. The slipcover took me over a month to complete. Our old sofa which was fairly new was not a good fit for the house it was big and more of a southwestern feel to it. But mostly big! So I found this sofa with horrid fabric but could see that it was the perfect size and shape. I think I paid $75 for it. The white (I know WHITE!) fabric is a canvas that may be washed and bleached as needed. The end tables are also a thrift store find. I really really want to paint them white, what do you think? Or maybe a robins egg blue? Any suggestions on this project would be appreciated. I still need art and odds and ends but overall I'm happy. Oh I do have a couple of thrifted chairs to show later. One of which has fell into a battle with Boris. I'll save for another post.

If you didn't comment yesterday go read previous post and comment if you want to play!!! Still have a place for one more.