Auction Finds and Bench Inspiration

I did it.  I went to another auction.  Maybe I've turned a corner.  I bid more and won more.  The corner I turned may not be the best corner on the block.  I spent more on most of the items I won than I should have.  I came away with some things I like and a few things I plan to keep.

My first win of the night was another vintage wooden ironing board.  This is my fourth.  Now I have one that I actually use to iron, one for sale at Rockin' B, and two waiting on a small makeover.  This new one( the lightest colored one) is great shape.  Interestingly, all four of my ironing boards have different ways of opening and setting up.  I like the legs and opening mechanism of the newest one the best.  My first board (the medium colored one) is the widest and for actual ironing that's a big deal. The newest one has some sort of paper covering stuck to it.  I hope that comes off easily with water!

I am still in love with re-purposing vintage ironing boards.  If you haven't seen my post on ways to use them, please take a look!  If you like vintage things, then this may leave you in search of an old board for yourself.  The good news is, they are still fairly easy to find.

My next win was a tray of 4 bird figurines.  These are china or porcelain or pottery or something.  I fear I am really at a loss when there is no mark on the bottom to at least get me started on a little research.

 Only one of the pieces had a mark - Goldcastle Made in Japan.  After a little Googling, I found out that this piece was made in the 1950's or 60's.  I did a quick rinse on it at night, but after looking at these photos, it's obvious I need to go back and do a better job.

 I'll probably keep on or two of these pieces, at least for a while. My hubby seemed to like the brown speckled one that looks like a bird feeder. I'll keep it if I can figure out a good spot for it.  I'm also keeping one of the bird pairs.  It'll probably be the one without the babies, but I have to say those babies in the nest are adorable.  I generally don't like having a lot of knick-knacks around, but I'm having a hard time resisting bird things right now.  I hope I don't end up a little old lady living in a cluttered cottage surrounded by a million bird figurines!

I won a metal garden urn.  It's large - around 30 inches tall - and chippy in a perfect sort of way.  I saw it and fell in love.  It came with the  fake flower in a clay pot that you see in the photo.  I paid too much.  Apparently, someone else was also in love with it.  If I decided to sell it later, I might break even, but that's about all.  I don't plan to sell it anytime soon.  I'm picturing it with a lush red geranium inside.  Or maybe a purple trailing something or other.  Should it sit on the ground or be placed on top of a table?  I don't know, but I look forward to playing around with it.

I bought a wig stand.  Ordinarily, this might be a very odd thing for me to buy, but my mom has breast cancer and is going through chemo.  She's right in the midst of losing her hair and I must say she is handling all of that extraordinarily well.  We got her a wig (mostly for wearing to church) from the American Cancer Society.  The wig is beautiful but it looks really sad just laying down.  Now it will have a nicer spot to rest when it's not being used.  I was determined to win the stand.  Again, I had to battle it out with another determined person.

My largest item was a park bench. I fully intended to fix it up to sell, but I think I might keep this, too. (Oh dear. That's becoming a very bad habit!) 

Most benches like this have wood that's stained.  I want it to have some color. Maybe even a bright pop of color.  I was having trouble envisioning this bench painted, so I searched online for inspiration.  Truthfully, the cutest painted benches were all wood.  I did find a few painted park benches (cast iron and wood), but not as many good examples as I was hoping for.  Here are some of the painted benches I came across.  After lots of browsing, I think I'm leaning towards something in the blue family.

1. PhotoLori's Flickr site
2. My Crazy Container Garden - This wonderful gal has paint and isn't afraid to use it!
3. Country Living
4.  GreenCulture
5. Gates of Vienna - I got lost in this post and was completely sidetracked into the world of sonnets
6. Sixaguilar's Flickr site
7.  Coach O's Flickr site
8. Rosalind Creasy - You'll want to plant edibles all over your yard after visiting this site
9. How Did I Do It? see also Life in Sugar Hollow .

 

While searching, of course I was inspired by things other than color.

 Brittany, from Pretty Handy Girl, did a wonderful tutorial on turning a headboard into a bench.  I see these benches often at the store where I rent a booth.  Plus, I have one that I picked up at a yard sale.  

This bench from Eden Maker has a French poem verse written on the back.  

I would love to see a close up view.

I also came across a fun older post from Working Woman's Guide to Domestic Success about wishing she had a cottage by the lake.  She illustrates her dream with some really wonderful photos, all of which are wonderful. Here's one of my favorites.  It illustrates my love of having a totally unexpected color in a room.

 

I found the photo of a coatroom with a blue bench on CreateGirl.  The bench isn't anything like mine, but I love it.

Last, but certainly not least, I came across a wonderful post from Erin of  The Painted Garden.  Erin is a painter.  She creates her own inspiration in her garden.  She has been featured in tons of magazines.  This article was about her feature in the magazine, Container Gardens.  You know - I think I read that issue!

Wooden Ironing Board

Last week I found a fabulous wooden ironing board at an estate sale. I'll call this board #2 because I already have a vintage wooden ironing board (board #1).  What do I use board #1 for?  Ironing. 

My wooden ironing board - in the middle of the floor for some unknown reason

I bought a cute vintage looking cover for board #1 and blogged about it here.

Then I found some great inspiration ideas.  

There's nothing like a little inspiration to get you moving on a project!

There are lots of other uses for these vintage gems besides ironing.

Painted Ironing Board from The Hollow Fencepost

Used as a Potting Bench from  Playing in the Dirt

Used as a Side Table - Craigslist photo found on Flickr

Made into a steel guitar - from AQS Quilt News

Outdoor Wedding Decor from Casa Sugar

Painted Coat Hook from Folk Art By Donna;s Etsy Site

These aren't wood, but what a cute idea - cafe tables - from The Stir

Used as the bar at an outdoor party - from Country Living

Used as the dessert table at a Fall party - from Joyful Weddings and Events

Store Display from Jazzejunqueinc on Flickr

Porch Table  from My Southern Cottage

Painted in Tracey's fav robin's egg blue and Decoupaged at Notes from a Cottage Industry

By this point, I'm feeling inspired. I had been planning to put board #2 up for sale in my booth.  But on second thought, I should keep this and use it as a table in my laundry room!

The first thing to do is remove all the covers.  It turns out, this board had 10 - YES TEN!!! - covers over it.

I forgot to take a picture before I began.  This is when I'm down to the last 2 or 3 layers.

The oldest layers were nailed to the underside of the board. 

An hour or so later, I pulled out the last nail.  Time for the big reveal.  How will the top of the board look?  I hope it's in good shape.  Drum roll please.

Oh my.  Oh me, oh my.  I have a real mix of emotions here.  This is the original sticker that came with the board.  The whole sticker is there.  You just don't see that very often. So why am I also let down?  Because now I don't think I should keep it.  I cannot keep this board and put it out as a table where no doubt a cat or two will sit and damage this sticker.  I considered putting urethane on and using it anyway, but that doesn't seem right.   It's too wonderful to mistreat.  This needs to belong to someone who will appreciate it.  I guess it will be sold.  I am in mourning.  I sure hope the right owner will come along.  I hope some dingbat doesn't get it and rip off the sticker, toss it in the trash and then turn the board into something tacky.  I will likely never meet the owner, so when it sells I'm going to pretend it was bought by someone who will treasure it.

Isn't she a beauty?

 On the other hand, maybe I should urethane the top.  It would keep the sticker forever in place.  The top would be more durable and able to withstand tabletop use.  What do you think?

I have linked to the following parties:

Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Show off Your Cottage Monday at The House in Roses

Anything Related at All Thingz Related 

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm

Lucky Linky Tuesday at Lucky Star Lane
Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays at New Nostalgia
Weekly Treasures at Southern Hospitality
Take a Look Tuesday - Sugar Bee - Craft Edition  
Vintage Inspiration Friday - Common Ground

Wonderful Yo-Yo Pincushion

I'm so easily distracted! I've been dreaming up ways to add a little pizazz to my walker tote bags (which I've decided to continue making). I need more wool pieces before I have enough to do a wool bag with felting.

I came across something I had made with fabric yo-yo's and immediately knew that would coordinate well with some of my fabrics. Plus, it would be fun. I went to the computer and began looking through the world of fabric yo-yo's for inspiration. One thing I came across was this wonderful pincushion on the Simply Handmade blog. Ohhhhhh. How fun would this be!?!

Another good find - Lallee's Cottage has a good video showing how to use the Clover Yo-Yo maker, which is apparently a big hit in yo-yo land. She got my attention because she has an ironing board cover just like mine.
We both got them from Hestia Houseworks. I can't tell you how much fun is it to iron on a brightly coloring ironing board... especially after years of using an old basic silver cover.

New "Vintage" Kitchen Curtains

I had some very old fabric that came from my grandmother. I've had it for years and knew that I'd use it one day. Today was the day!

I had about 8 yards, but it was only around 35 inches wide. When I first saw this fabric, it didn't impress me. I loved the vintage look, but I wasn't crazy about it. Now, for some unknown reason, I really like it. It certainly looks good with my ironing board cover!


The fabric is Country Lane by Waverly. I have no idea how old it might be. I googled it and came up with nothing.

I decided on just a plain valance. This window faces east. I wanted the valance to be long enough to block with early morning (blinding) sun as it comes up over the trees. Here's the end result:

I love changing the items on the window sill. The sill is about 6 inches deep so it's easy to find things that will work. What's there now is the best I've got on hand for Fall. I'm watching for better pieces. Christmas is so close and I have a good many pieces that will look great with the curtains.

When we first moved in (almost a year ago!) I thought I didn't want any curtains on this window. I certainly exercised my prerogative to change my mind! It looks so much cozier.

Here are a few other kitchen sink areas I'm crazy about -
This is the kitchen of Tina Smith at Cherry Hill Cottage. Her sink and the curtain under the sink are so fabulous I nearly swoon every time I see it! The Eat Cake sign above the window is wonderful, too, and very fitting since Tina is always cooking up something wonderful.

This kitchen belongs to the people who own the Fresh Produce t-shirt company. It's in their beach house in California. I saw the article on their home on the Coastal Living website. Apparently, the article is no longer there. I love the bright green vintage-look counter top.

The photos below are more kitchens I love. Unfortunately, I no longer remember where the photos came from. I will try to find out and will update this page if I have any luck.

Ironing Out the Details

I now have 2 full-sized ironing boards. The newest one is about 30 years old. The newest one is from the 1940's. It's made of wood and is nice and sturdy. The other one wasn't rickety or anything - it just had no character. The vintage one belongs in my loft. I knew I would find one eventually. Actually I found two. The first was at a consignment shop in Newnan. It was nice, but it was priced around $70. That was definitely over my budget. I was content to wait. But I sure did keep thinking about it and picturing it in my ironing corner.

Surprisingly, I didn't have to wait long. I found my vintage ironing board in a little shop in downtown Senoia. I paid $27 for it.

An ironing board that wonderful just couldn't have an ordinary cover. I wanted a cover with some personality. I found my cover on Ebay. It's made by Hestia House. The seller is imadomesticgoddess. She has a number of fun prints to choose from. She also sells on Amazon and Etsy.

In the photo below, I moved the ironing board near a few other things in the loft to show how the colors play off each other. I'm still puzzled at how the fabric on the papasan doesn't photograph true to color. It is really much more vibrant than it looks in the photo.
The loft keeps getting better and better. I certainly am enjoying it and ironing, in particular, is much more exciting now.