Funky Junk’s Saturday Nite Special…

Hi all your clever creaters out there this afternoon!  While surfing this black hole we call the internet (do you ever just get sucked right in? The Vintage spot in Etsy could kill HOURS for me) and came across Funky Junk Interiors and she’s hosting a Saturday Nite Special (tonight) so grab a Mr. Linky and link up, or check out everyone else’s clever junk creations!

Let’s see what you’ve been up to this week!!!

ALSO

Flea Market Style is having a favorite find Mr. Linky party today and are giving away this sweet honey

How much fun are Mr. Linky parties I ask you?! I love finding other blogs I didn’t know existed (hello, black hole??? In a good way obviously… well good way to me, bad way to Mr. Pretties but I digress…) and seeing what awesome ideas everyone comes up with, there never seems to be a low supply of creativity in blogland so get clicking :)

Happy White Wednesday!

Good morning girlies, how’s it?  We’re doing another rendition of Faded Charm’s fabulous White Wednesday

Pop on by and see what white everyone else has going on this morning (afternoon?).

I’ll be honest right now, this is a recycled WW because my camera is on loan until tomorrow, so I was forced to scour the memory card for some white ;)  There’s so many things I want to share with you all that it’s killing me to have to share ‘reruns’ today.  Not to worry, it just means Thrify Thursday will be better.

On the left is an old piece of architectural salvage that we (I) picked out of the trash last winter.  This thing weighs a ton, no joke, and has made a fabulous plant stand, lamp stand, and currently, an aquarium stand.  It’s one flaw is that it’s missing a piece of it’s fourth leg so it’s best stood in a corner.  I still like it.

Our freebie dresser from some sweet friends who were going to Sally Ann her a few summers ago.  She’s got a before and after on the blog somewhere.  She’s our front hall dresser now and sweet as a button.

Not a fabulous photo (and wrongly time stamped I might add) but this washstand is the first old piece Mr. Pretties and I ever bought.  It used to have doors.  The drawer used to work.  We aren’t going to revisit why neither of those things happen now.  I’m sure I’ve blogged it before.  But even still, after all these flaws and six years, I still love her and will always find a place for her to go.  Please don’t mind the mess, we were storing quite a bit of furniture in our bedroom while we got some painting done ;)

One of the most gorgeous dressers I’ve ever seen.  My great friend Jess took this dresser from the rough and turned it into a piece of sheer french decadence.  No surprise it was snapped up in a mighty hurry along with it’s matching tallboy and vanity.  Her work is really so fabulous, she should open a shop!

And this guy is a soon-to-be White Wednesday participant, he’s coming home tomorrow night and going in for a makeover.

 

We’ll see how that goes, but I have great visions of this guy turning out fabulously handsome (or into a girl, once a piece is shabbied, does that automatically make it female? Probably, eh?) And happily last weeks White Wednesday dresser was sold this weekend so she’ll be delivered to her new home Friday night.  There really is nothing better than working really hard to make something beautiful and unique and have someone really, really love it.  Also walking around your house telling you how cute everything is doesn’t hurt either.  I love it when people ‘get it’.

I can’t wait to see what everyone else has dug up for today, I’m always amazed at how you all can keep WW looking fresh and new week after week!

See you tomorrow with some thrifty finds!

XO

Jenn

White Wednesday

Happy wonderfully white Wednesday friends! With another round of  Faded Charm’s White Wednesday I’m going to share some of my favorite white kitchen inspiration that I’ve collected here and there.

One of the sweetest vignettes from HGTV I am so in love with that bird, those books, and the rust old box behind it all.  What is it about these worn and rusted pieces that just feel so cozy?

I am so sorry, but I can’t find the sites I got these from, I tried retracing my steps (aka Googling Shabby/Distressed/Antique Kitchen images) so if anyone knows please let me know so I can link them up :) 

But truly, how adorable is that pink enamelware paired up with chippy white and cream? Yum! This photo is courtesy of Country Living, which is just one of my guilty pleasures.

Those cupboards I love more than is natural for any living thing to love an inanimate object.  Seriously.  Mr. Pretties would drop dead if he came home to cupboards like that, but they make me swoon…

This is such a fabulously eclectic mix, that old scuffy farm table paired with antique balloon back chairs, married to pink chandies, french throw pillows, and even some mod fruit baskets.  This all works so well, it’s eye candy to the max.

Look at that sink.  Are you absorbing it’s fabulousness? Talk about a time saver, when you’re done washing the dishes, you can hope in and take a bath! Kidding. Sort of.  And check those old glass cupboards? There is nothing I like better than those old glass cupboards with the latches, they’re just so sweet and wonderful, nothing can beat that.  Of course then we’d have to stop allowing clutter to accumulate in our cupboards.  Does anyone else have that problem or is it just us?

And for the most wonderful touch of childhood white whimsy click that little square of sweetness above to visit the rest of Sophie’s playhouse at Restyled Home if you haven’t already.  Not only do I want to get the LPs one,  I want two for myself. *Love*

And lastly, if you’d like to see an amazing house make over from shabby (bad) to white, elegant and wonderful, pop over to The Old Painted Cottage, it’s delish, you wont regret it!

So I’m going to get on my way now and see what other white treasures are out there this morning! I’m sure you girls have put on another wonderful show again today, chock full of inspiration ;)

XO

Jenn

Tattered Tuesday

How’s it girlies? Everyone get themselves a get themselves a cup of a cozy beverage this morning? I hope so, I’m certainly enjoying this spot of tea on this rather chilly morning!

So… a few weekends ago Mr. Pretties and I attended the Christie Antique show – which is big guns in Ontario.  For whatever reason we’d never attended before (could it be because the idea of taking the three LPs to an antique show garners images of small raging bulls in a very small china shop?) but this year the stars aligned and we were on our way!  To be honest, the enormity of it is a little over whelming.  But it was pretty amazing, so many birds of a feather, some unique and wonderful curiosities!  I took my camera with the full intentional of photographing everything in sight to share with you, but the weirdest thing happened, when I got there and got out my camera I felt completely awkward and like everyone in the entire conservation area was starring at me and thinking ‘she can’t possibly think it’s okay to take pictures here, can she?’

So I casually snapped this one photo, but to my chagrin I couldn’t get cloes enough to the owner to find out a name of this booth or the shop it came from, it had SUCH lovely stuff, even half way through the show!  She the most darling little tiny leather baby shoes from 1909 that I was tempted to buy, but didn’t, because then I’d have to explain to Mr. Pretties why I spent $20 on two 2” craps of worn leather.  I wasn’t in the mood that day, remember, overwhelmed (and frequently overwhelm causes migraines).  So this is the one photo I took:

It was just so romantically shabby and delicious!

One of the first booths we stopped in at Christie was the booth owned by Tattered and Torn (not the song by Slipknot, either) She’s at both Christie shows each year as well at the Southworks Antique Mall in Cambridge, Ontario.

Here are some of her photos of items she had at Christie this year that’re just yummy!

And just as an FYI, this is what my retirement looks like:

That right there gals, it my dream.  A truck loaded front to back with fabulous treasures.  That may actually be more furniture than I currently have in my house right now… and believe me, we can’t move in my house so there’s a lot of it!

What antique show or fleas have you really enjoyed in the past?  I would love to make a trip to Brimfield, Bonanza and some of the other American ones one day.  The french fleas and Portobello Road are on my list as well.  I swear I came across a popular blog along my travels (I think maybe it was linked to Friday Flea Market?) that was actually organizing a trip to Italy to go to the open air markets.  Can you imagine?! The price was quite reasonable as well, but there is no way on God’s green earth I could talk Mr. Pretties into funding a $2000+ trip across the world to bring more stuff home!

XO

Jenn

Junkin’ Monday…

Courtesy of Nice and Easy Antiques at the Cottage Charm and Family Inspiration blog, we’re going to start doing Junkin Monday!

How are all you gals doing this morning?  Hope you all had a very fall weekend and maybe did some treasure hunting as we’re all want to do?  Hopefully your Sunday’s weather was more cooperative than ours ;)  Sunday couldn’t decide between warm and sunny, or freezing with torrential down pours…  naturally as we pulled into the parking lot (field?) at Aberfoyle to visit our friends who were selling that day, it decided on freezing with torrential down pours…  Oy vey!

Southern Hospitality is done Thrifty Treasures Monday for this season, so I think we’re going to do a ‘before and after’ thread, except that I don’t have the real before pictures, so we’re going to do a ‘almost done and after’ posting instead ;) Hopefully that works for you all. 

We picked this depression era dresser up about eight (!) weeks ago and while it has lots of beautiful detailing, it also had lots (and LOTS) of thick glossy orange paint with an over coat of thick, drippy brown oil paint. Yum. The top needed to be chipped off, one inch at a time, no amount of sanding or stripper would do it (hey there, get that head out of the gutter! and believe you me, if I could find a stripper who could have stripped that puppy faster I would have!).  So after many man hours spent chipping, stripping, sanding, and several good coats of a very adhesive primer, we ended up with this little girl who showed her face on White Wednesday:

After this week did a few more light sandings, then added a couple coats of a custom blended antique morning cream high resistance paint, varnished the top with a satin varnish (non shiney), gave the entire body and mirror a hand rubbed coat of paste wax to absorb damage, and lined the top two drawers with sweet 1940’s sheet music love songs, and sealed them (c’mon folks, we don’t need to be sporting love songs on our knickers now do we?) up.

  Now this sweetheart is read to begin her new life somewhere else (or in my dining room… since we’re pretty partial to her… she can stay if she doesn’t meet anyone’s fancy on Kijiji)

I kid you not, Mr Pretties and I, and the three LPs all cram into this room to eat supper each night, the ambiance is so much nicer than the kitchen table.  Drop leafs are a god send when your dining room (closet?) has a space deficiency ;)

So what were you all up to this weekend, do tell! Are you fortunate enough to live in an area that has year round garage sales? Oh how I would love that (along with year round warmth and sunshine… and lack of snow…).

In addition, while walking home from school with the LPs this afternoon I spotted an old wooden vintage dollhouse.  In the trash.  And I scooped it up. In broad day light. With my children present.  Oh, and I’m not ashamed…  We’ll talk about that on White Wednesday, or maybe Junkin’ Monday next week ;)

Thanks for stopping by MMPretties, can’t wait to poke around blogland today to see what’s what with all of you :)

XO

Jenn

Welcome to White Wednesday #1

Good afternoon gals! Hopefully it’s a good one wherever you’re popping in from, it’s pretty grey and drizzly over here in Southern Ontario, so not so good on our home front!

Today we’re going to partake in Faded Charm’s White Wednesday (#15 for them, #1 for us here at The Pretties) posting, which I lurve because in the last few months not much in our house is anything but white ;)  Mr. Pretties says it’s like living in a hospital… Erm… I guess that could be so, if hospitals are now sporting chippy lead paint laden items, which I doubt they are.  Honestly, after all these years, he still doesn’t get it ;)

So on with the show we will! 

An old shabby birdcage, no bird lives here, but it’s so fun to have around the house, I think it’s lived in every room atleast once.

The detail on the columns holding up our cozy verandah, flaked with dirt and perfectly crazed white paint…

An old vintage rocker waiting for someone to come over and take a seat… in the mean time it will keep company with what’s left of this seasons flowers…

What used to be white, is now yellowed with age, old vintage love songs faded with time…

Weathered paint like this can’t be reproduced, one seasons of hard Ontario winters and summers filled will children’s comings and goings can give this kind of sweetness…

Rows of luscious vintage linen pillowcases with some of the most wonderful crocheted lace and lovingly embroidered hems, how delish to have them out drying on the line, collecting it’s warm rays…

And lastly, an old depression era dresser patiently waiting for the return of it’s hardware and mirror after it was given a new leash on life, soon she will be up for sale to live out her days in the adoration of others…

Happy White Wednesday!!!

XO

Jenn

Thrifty Treasure Monday!

Good Morning Folks! How are you all doing out their in bloggy land? Hand a thrifty weekend some of you?  I hope so as we're grabbing onto the tail of Rhoda's Thrifty Treasure Monday Mr. Linky party - the last of this thrifting season so it's a finale!! If you're like me and the next best thing to grabbing yourself some fab treasures is looking at others found treasures head over to Rhoda's blog at Southern Hospitality to check it out!!!

We're find garage sale-ing in Southern Ontario is really not so hot this year (Much like the summer…)!  We started the season full blast, we were up before the birds, grabbed out local papers, mapped out routes, and grabbed ourselves some pieces of marvelousness.  Oh wait, that last part didn't seem to happen for us...  Even our dear friends who sell at Canada's oldest and largest antique market (Aka. Aberfoyle Antique Market) are finding that finding stock is definitely not as plentiful as last year, or previous years, if not completely impossible! Could there be a shortage of junk?! Thoughts like that bring back plans to head over the border and take a visit to Brimfield, but I feel certain Mr. Pretties would not covet that plan quite as much as I would... What do you think guys?

Thank all things junk worthy that some dear soul invented Kijiji as that's where we get all our thrifty finds, along with splits and splots from the local thrift and benevolent shop that always have some little bits for a quarter or so - that's the kind of deal that gives you a good old fashioned adrenaline rush, isn't it girls?!

On Saturday (and Friday, but that's another story involving Mapquests inability to give accurate directions, or my inability to read them...) we headed out to Welland to pick up 35 old window sashes, Mr. Pretties thought I was kidding when I told him we needed to make a 75 minute trip one way to pick up old windows.

Haha, he should know better than that! I plan to use them as green houses/garden conservatories and tables - SO fun! The nice gentleman was selling these sweethearts for that big fat price tag of 71 cents each.  Yes, less than a dollar.  At the market they generally fetch $10 each, more if they're in as fine condition as these that also include all the latches, and hinges complete with the screws ;)  We managed to bring the first 20 home, we're going back Friday to grab the remaining 15 and then heading to Brantford to grab a dozen 120 year old wavy glass windows that will be a really fun find, and a thrifty treasure at  $1.66 each.  I really don't know what I'll do with those guys, but I'm sure I can find something...  I even though if they're the right size we could replace a couple of the outer cupboards in our kitchen with two of the wavy glass sashes and put some fab vintage hardware on them.

So here's the first part of our window stash:

I don't even want to think about the amount of spiders Mr. Pretties had to vacuum out of the car following this trip *shudder* but there they are! 

The best part is, we're currently negotiating a move into a bigger house, which means we'd get to move them all AGAIN! Isn't that the best?

This entire mantlescape (like tablescape but on a mantle, that’s okay right?) is all thrifted recently!

I snagged this set of four Arcoroc pink Depression Glass dishes for $2.00, the Crown 1950’s canning jars were $.50 a piece, the shabby lamp was $1.00, the enormous cutlery tray (I think it may actually be for tools…) was on it’s way to Aberfoyle with our friends but I scooped it up first and got a great day – FREE! It’s in the middle of becoming white as you can see ;)  This piece of salvage that looks like a mini barbell

came from the Christie Antique Show that Mr. Pretties and I attended for the first time ever (and maybe the last, it was crazy!!!) and I think it’s from a porch, but at $4.00 it was my one and only souvenir from Christie and I love it’s chippy, dirty goodness! And lastly is an old glassless window frame that’s chippy and crankly and always seems to find a place of prominence around here.

So gals, what did you thrift this week/month/year? We all want to know about it!!!  Myself especially since we'll be getting about 500 months of winter anytime now and wont even recognize a garage sale by next spring, help a winter burdened girl out!

Cheers!

XO Jenn ;)