Every Saturday, Daniel and I scour all of Pittsburgh in search of treasure! We find the most goods in Mount Lebanon for some odd reason. Daniel's explanation is, "It is where Pittsburgh's old people have come to die." According to the map on the
Pittsburgh Estate Sales website, most sales are located south or southwest of Pittsburgh. So our theory is that at some point in the 50's/60's a lot of new couples moved to these areas where they developed new and affordable housing. They made babies and raised families and settled, while amassing furniture, glassware, jewelry, tools, clothing, and a lot of other junk. Now, after retirement or sadly, death...they have left these houses stockpiled with things. Their grown children, overwhelmed with the situation and with the stockpiles, hire outsiders to take care of the job for them. This is where Daniel and I come in, because when we get there the junk becomes treasure, the outsiders make a buck, and the grown children have less to worry about. Everyone wins! Well, except for the person who used to own all these things...but anyways...Look what we found this weekend!!!!!!
From Top Left: 2 paint brushes (50 cents ea.), wire basket ($1), 2 collar necklaces($1 ea.), vintage liquor box ($1), produce market basket ($1)
From Bottom Left: cloth tracing paper (50 cents), 3 vintage dress patterns (50 cents each), ornate upholstery nails (50 cents), Rembrandt pastels ($1, made in Holland)
Handmade Prairie Dress (50 cents). I bought this dress in the last house we went to, which is where I got the other clothes below. The previous owner had such GOOD taste in clothes. There were beautiful vintage dresses, shoes, belts, and coats. But unfortunately, she was slightly bigger than I, size 10 and size 8 in shoes. Everything was 50 cents. These were the only things that fit.
Vintage dress (50 cents)
Vintage Strawberry Sweater (50 cents)
And the best finds of the day were this white leather chair (slightly dirty, minor rips, but can be cleaned and repaired) for $5 and this mid-century modern wooden lamp for $15. These pieces are going to be in my husband's man pad. He is happy.
Hmmm...wonder what we will find next time!!
Mmmm...yuuummm...
From Top Left: 2 paint brushes (50 cents ea.), wire basket ($1), 2 collar necklaces($1 ea.), vintage liquor box ($1), produce market basket ($1)
Handmade Prairie Dress (50 cents). I bought this dress in the last house we went to, which is where I got the other clothes below. The previous owner had such GOOD taste in clothes. There were beautiful vintage dresses, shoes, belts, and coats. But unfortunately, she was slightly bigger than I, size 10 and size 8 in shoes. Everything was 50 cents. These were the only things that fit.
Vintage dress (50 cents)
Vintage Strawberry Sweater (50 cents)
And the best finds of the day were this white leather chair (slightly dirty, minor rips, but can be cleaned and repaired) for $5 and this mid-century modern wooden lamp for $15. These pieces are going to be in my husband's man pad. He is happy.
As my very manly husband is downstairs yelling at the television (the Philadelphia Eagles are losing...), I am wrapping this very manly but stylish present for his birthday coming up. Notice the paper of choice. Very manly. The ram, a male animal, represents strength and dominance. Blue, the color parents choose for baby boys and is therefore a more masculine color than red or pink (which is very random to think about, because it is strange our culture gives colors gender connotations). The button, not manly but has a nice touch. Twine, rough texture and with knots. Yes, I think this manly wrapping will tickle his whimsy of manly things. Now that this is finished, I will go downstairs. The game is done. The Eagles have lost. And, my hubby will want me to hold him.
I once saw this great idea for wall art on the internet once but cannot find it again. Some person had arranged vintage matchbooks in rows and simply framed it. But it turned out uber awesome! My husband and I found a huge jar of old matchbooks at an antique store several weeks ago, and we bought three frames. We decided to arrange the matches in rows of color for the biggest frame and just used double stick tape to set them in place. However, one matchbook has come undone now, so we might have to go back and use a dab of glue.
"Think small." Our absolutely favorite matchbook because of it's shape, simple design, and mostly because the ad was reference in Mad Men. :)
The finished product! It was actually very easy to make. The fun part was digging through the matches and picking our favorites to be put on display.
We also made two more wall hangings, so the pictures could be displayed altogether as a set. Some of the matchbooks had such interesting colored matches like the ones above. I opened them to expose the colors and funny messages inside when they were framed.
Daniel really liked the idea of grouping the beach scene matchbooks together. A pretty cool theme.
I love the library! I can't believe something like this institution exists and citizens are allowed to take advantage of all it's benefits. My favorite is when I can make an account on the library's website and request books. Then I wait for an email saying I can pick them up. It's like Christmas! Or shopping! Except everything's free! And you don't need a receipt to return it, even though you've used it.
The trial: I let my husband pick out his favorite design in the book (which is the picture above), and I made it for him! The bottom picture is the finished product. I tweaked some directions because I was missing one of the size needles, but it still turned out satisfactory. Handsome handsome! mmuah!
Wonderfully morbid; rooibos is the tea of choice for this floating trinket. [by Pablo Matteoda, via Matteoda's blog, Trends Updates]
I like round things... tea infuser and sacuer [via Arta]
Just plain cute. The Better to Brew You With Teacup and Infuser [via ModCloth]
