Dime Store Chic

Transformations of Fun Finds

Hello, My Friends!~~

Recently I hit a fun estate sale with LOTS of goodies packed inside. I did a whole lot of digging and founds great goods including two great pieces that I used to make two new Dime Store Chic creations!

The cutest ceramic snail pitcher was just perfect for resting on a fun vintage feedsack pin cushion with lots of millinery and mushrooms all around!

 

A fab vintage tin scrolly metal chair I found provides the perfect resting spot for a perky poodle and lots of vintage holiday cheer!

Both just listed in Dime Store Chic!~~~Thanks for stopping by!~~XXOO, Beth

Big Flea Highlights

Hello, My Friends!~~

Hubby and I hit the DC Big Flea early and cruised the aisles for about two hours. Pretty much all I bought were vintage holiday bit's n' bobs--well, lots of them. I don't have photos, but imagine dozens and dozens of shiny tiny glass ornaments.

There were lots of cool vintage wares but, alas, the price range and the size of our house prevented purchasing them. You know how that goes.

I snapped a few photos with my phone to share you some of the day's highlights...

I don't know why I got this photo because this particular vendor specializes in vintage Christmas, but her prices are too crazy for my wallet.

Hubby gave this tall industrial desk a second look. I know he was contemplating where it could fit in our wee house. It did not come home with us.

Neither did this cool lamp. I love it though!

This is the always awesome Truffle Pig's booth. Eye candy and a feast for crafters and collectors!

I loved Liddle Kiddles as a child. I was drawn to these cases but since I no longer have these tiny dolls, no need for a case.

Just a random shot of the vastness of the space where the DC Big Flea is held several times a year.

From across the crowded aisle, I caught this dove cage (I think that's what it is). I really wished I could have brought it home. Maybe I need to loosen up my wallet a bit...just a bit.

After shopping, we skipped out and walked to our very favorite place nearby for lunch. Delish! Home by 12:30. What a fun morning!~~~XXOO, Beth

 

Estate Sale Adventures: Private

Hello, My Friends!~~~

Just a couple of minutes from my house, I popped into a fun family run estate sale. They had orginally advertised the sale beginning tomorrow (Saturday) but their sign advertised the sale starting today. I only saw it because the house was on the way to the post office where I was headed. I did a fast (and safe) quick left turn, parked, and fast walked up to the door. And would you believe it? I was the only one and the first one there!

The family running the sale couldn't have been nicer. They were spread out all over the house, giving rock bottom prices on everything I touched. But what I mostly touched was the array of vintage Christmas in the basement. I asked one of the guys down there how much and he dashed up stairs to ask his sister. I slowly stacked boxes of ornaments praying the price was right as I waited for the guy to return. He stomped back down the stairs with a large empty box and said: "If you take all of the Christmas it's $20 for everything." He didn't have to tell me twice. He was so super nice helping me stack the ornament boxes into the box he brought down, and he and his son hauled that box and the two others of vintage Christmas to my car before I even paid!

I poked around all alone at the sale, not believing I had the house to myself, like a private sale. I found more treasures for nice prices, but the Christmas goodies, which I need badly for use in future crafts for two shows I'm doing this holiday season, was the real score.

Allow me to buy and brag here and show you what $20 worth of vintage Christmas from the "private" estate sale looks like:

Lots of lovely vintage ornaments, light strings, and tree stands!

A great stash of holiday cheer destined for fun holiday creations!~~~Thanks for stopping by!~~~XXOO, Beth

What Were They Thinking Wednesday: Broken

Hello, My Friends!~~

Welcome to the third installment of "What Were They Thinking Wednesday", a weekly (hopefully!) post on the Dime Store Chic blog. WWTTW highlights an item at a thrift store, flea market, estate sale, and antique mall that I think is over priced. I am out "in the field" every week hunting down treasures but sometimes the prices I find just leave me scratching my head. You may feel the same or not. You decide!

This week is a piece that is all bright, shiny and broken! It even has a note taped to it declaring that very thruth...

The sign says "spout doesn't work". OK, well, isn't the point of a coffee urn to have the spout/spigot thingy working? This piece is silverplate, pretty but still the essential part is broken. I don't know if repairs could easily and cheapy be made, but a broken piece none-the-less. How much is this thrift store asking for big, shiny, and broken?

$95.00. There you go. What were they thinking? That's what I asked. Perhaps you are asking the same thing too.~~~Cheers!~~Beth

American Junk: Mary Randolph Carter

Hello, My Friends!~~

I took a quick trip from our vacation home to White Stone, VA (and thrifted along the way, of course) to a wonderful shop called FARM. FARM is run by Emily, the neice, of Mary Randolph Carter who was there signing her new book, but more about the book in a minute. If you love vintage and junk, I know you know Mary Randolph Carter! Originally a Virginian, she makes her home in up state New York and NYC where she works for Ralph Lauren as Senior Vice President of Advertising. Most important to me is that "Carter" has published books that I consider inspiration for Dime Store Chic: "American Junk", "Garden Junk", "Kitchen Junk", "Big City Junk", and "For The Love of Old".

Carter has released a new book that beautifully embraces our love of "stuff", why we love our things, and how fabulously they fit into our lives: "Never Stop To Think Do I have A Place For This?" The pages and pages of eye candy kept me slung back in our vacation home hammock for hours.

If you love vintage, you NEED this book!

What I adore about Carter's aesthetic sense and that of the folks presented in the book, is the approachability. I look at every page in this book and can feel the emotional closeness from the owners of the things arranged in the interiors. Anyone with a love of vintage, things with history or a personal story, and a sense of adventure in seeking out what calls to you, would feel content in the rooms on the pages. Approachable, comfortable, warm like a hug, doable.

Please allow me to express how lovely it was to meet Carter, her sister Nell, and niece Emily at FARM. Great to speak to Carter about our love of junk and the junk that means so much to us. We laughed about this now gone dime store in a nearby town had ladies stationed in every aisle who would watch you to make sure you didn't steal anything. I gushed and most likely prattled on a bit, because really how often do you meet your inspiration?

Carter offered to have Nell take our picture out in FARM's wonderful "junk yard". Hair in a ponytail, wearing my junking clothes, I couldn't think of a better idea!

Don't you just love Carter's vintage charm necklace made from things she loves?

If you love to collect, and we all do, please grab yourself a copy of Mary Randolph Carter's "Never Stop To Think Do I Have A Place For This?" You DO have a place for this wonderful, inspiring book!~~~XXOO, Beth

Estate Sale Adventures: Cove Corner

Hello, My Friends!~~

Even though we're spending Fourth of July vacation in Virginia's lovely Northern Neck, our second home, happily estate sale adventures still press on!

In a tucked away piece of Lancaster, VA, we hit the second day of a fun little estate sale in a house called "Cove Corner."

Love this sign by the side of the road! The house had a lovely view of a small creek. I love an estate sale with a view.

That man by the dock shed is Hubby checking things out, looking for treasure no doubt.

Here is a partial view of Cove Corner from the short dock.

And here is Cove Corner, creekside view, tucked among the pines. We got to the sale about ten minutes before opening and there were about 6 people in line in front of us. The super nice folks running the sale just let us in early and said everything with a price tag was half off, AND you could fill a bag with anything not priced for $5 a bag. Awesome!

We found lots of fun goodies. Hubby was excited to find shoe laces and a metal shoe horn. Whatever makes him happy makes me happy!

Now back home I see the same faces at estate sales over and over, and I didn't think I would see the same folks over and over at sales in the Northern Neck. Wrong! I keep seeing these same 2 ladies at every sale I got to. They have a big white van and an aggressive shopping style but not a rude one. When one of them heard about $5 per bag at this sale she yelled for her partner to hurry up and get a bag! I never saw an old woman move so fast! Good for her. I caught them loading their van from inside the house.

They enlisted one of the estate sale guys to help them. We didn't need help with our two bags of treasure.

On the way from the estate sale, we stopped at a thrift shop I had never been to before.

This sweet shop is run by the Corrottoman Baptist Church. It is run by the nicest ladies. I found a few treasures there too! And it is a way out of the way but worth the drive.

Just down the road is a charming garage/car repair shop which Hubby insisted on seeing and I snapped a photo for him. In my mind I re-imagined this shop as a cute vintage store--wouldn't that be cool?

The car repair guys were doing a good amount of businees for being so out of the way.

We also stopped by the Mollusk Post Office so I could mail a few bills. The town of Mollusk is pretty much just this, a cute tiny post office.

I loved our estate sale adventure in the country. Pure bliss!~~XXOO, Beth

Why I Like Summer in the Country

Hello, My Friends!~~

Once again we are happily having vacation in our summer house in the country in Virginia's historic Northern Neck.

Here are a few reasons why I love coming here...just a few, and I saw them on a hot and humid evening walk.

Wild bunny in the clover.

Super tall corn along the side of the road.

 

And the huge hydrangea that is at least 40 years old and blooms year after year by our neighbor's pump house.

Thanks for stopping by and "What Were They Thinking Wednesday" will resume next week!~~~XXOO, Beth