For Pickers and Trash to Treasure - ers

[crowschmo]

Does anyone like DIY projects? Or just going to yard sales or flea markets and the like and finding interesting objects? Have you come across decorative plates? Salt and pepper shakers? Fishing lures? Duck decoys? Yard ornaments? Holiday decor? Old furniture you've redone? (Be they heirlooms or roadside finds).

Put some pics up here of rooms or yards you've redone, or things you've upcycled, or neat junk you've found on your travels.




I like decorative plates, swords and old advertising signs. Most of my signs are reproductions, but I found this neat sign. It's 24" x 30".

[crowschmo]

This was my grandmother's chair. When she passed away, it was sitting in our basement for years. I repainted it and reupholstered it with a nice fabric I liked from Joann's Fabric. I'm pretty sure I took a before photo years ago. If I find it, I'll add it to this post.

[crowschmo]

This was being thrown away outside a restaurant. I smelled it to make sure nothing (or no ONE) peed on it, checked to see if it was in decent shape, backed my car up to it and loaded it up, wiping it off somewhat.

I plan on painting it. The wood is not that bad, actually, a bit scratchy and dinged up, but, hey, that's part of the charm. I may just polish it up and paint the vinyl part and put on a decorative cushion. I was planning on painting the top part black to look like wrought iron. Then I was going to paint the rest a deep turquoise or maybe a teal and put something decorative on the sides and maybe near the head part. I might get some ideas from Pinterest.

What do you the viewers think? Something Mediterranean? Beachy? Should I paint the body of it or leave the wood? Anyone have any good ideas?

I'll put the after pic up when I finish it.

(Edit: A couple of these pics are blurry, sorry).

(Another Edit: There's a box in the background labeled "glassware", I notice it looks like "assware" ).

[crowschmo]

^^^^^Well, I guess I'm not painting it. My father saw it and was like "don't ruin that wood".





Here's another thing I picked up a while back. Pretty kitschy, but for some reason I liked it. What am I going to do with it? *shrugs*.

[crowschmo]

The plate on the left is the one which got me started collecting them. It was many years ago, don't even want to think about how many. I was vacationing in New Hampshire. There was a woman who sold desserts from an outbuilding on her property, I'm pretty sure she called it "The Dessert Factory" or something along those lines. She also had a barn she sold antiques from and I saw the plate and liked it. I forget how much, maybe $20, maybe more.

Quite a few years later I saw the plate on the right at a tag sale, for like, 50 cents or $1, whatever. I liked it, and thought, "oh hey, that's similar to what I bought a few years ago". (I had had it in a cupboard, not out). Low and behold it was not only similar, it was the same exact design from the same company. Just different years. The left one was an older rendition, and the other a cheaper, newer print.

Well, that was quite the coincidence.

[crowschmo]

Came across this cute, little painting in an auction warehouse. The second picture is blurry.

[Afgncaap5]

Nice stuff here! (Sorry I don't have a lot to add, I'm not a huge collector of such things. Though every once in a while I do enjoy browsing through antique stores and the like if I see 'em.)

[crowschmo]

^^^^ Yeah, there's a fine line between "collecting" and "hoarding". I may have passed the threshold.




There was an antique and collectibles place nearby that specialized in Asian collectibles. I'm not a big fan of the blue and white vases and plates and such, but, there were some really interesting things in there. Sadly, it vacated the premises.

This is a neat box I found. I just thought it was beautiful.

[Afgncaap5]

Decorative boxes are a weakness of mine. They can just contain anything...

[crowschmo]

Here's another item from that same shop. It's this big, decorative barrel.

[crowschmo]

All the sides are different. (It wouldn't let me do all of them in one post).

[crowschmo]

So, I'm the only one with junk, I guess.



I was reading a Scottish life magazine and saw a picture of a plate in someone's house in the background of the picture, and I thought, "hey, I'd like that plate."
That very weekend I was at an antique shop that had vendors out on their lawn as well (they do it every Sunday except in winter, I think). And lo, and behold...

I saw it and was like, "no way." But: WAY. (Wish I had been thinking of a couple of million dollars instead, right?)

So, of course I had to get it.

[crowschmo]

Saw this at an antique/collectible store that sold estate sale stuff. How often does one come across plates with kangaroos on them? (This was a few years ago).

[crowschmo]

An old chocolate mold. I actually put chocolate in this one year for my sister and bro-in-law. (That's a lotta chocolate).

[crowschmo]

I don't still have this, but my great aunt had this exact thing. Where it ended up, I don't know. It must've gotten sold or trashed or something.

On another note: When I think of all the funky, crappy '70's furniture and decor that my family had when I was growing up - that I think of as pretty awful and tacky now - if we still had that stuff we could sell it for quite a chunk of change with that mid-century modern craze going on.