My all time favorite (thrifty) vintage finds!!

We woke up today to our first snow day... The kids went out as soon as they could get their winter clothes on!! (note to self: make a bag for Goodwill with outgrown winter clothes...). It was very cold and they had to come in periodically to warm up. I love snow! The first time I saw snow I was in my late teens... I don't know who gets more excited, me or the kids!! Of course the best part of the day for them was when they found out that school has been cancelled for tomorrow!!




















































A great day to stay home and catch up on some things I've been wanting to do... I was planning to go to Monticello but quickly changed my mind when I saw TV reports on how messy the roads were!! So, instead, I am posting about some of my all time favorite thrift finds!! I am sure I am missing some, but it is a start!







I found this adorable vintage chair at a rummage sale a year ago... I paid a whopping $5.00 for it!! I was going to sell it, until I decided it would look great in the master bathroom
































I love this little aqua dish with tole painted roses, very reminiscent of french toleware... I found it at a thrift store for 99 cents!



















The large mirror hanging in my foyer was a put-together project. I found the large frame (with an old faded Paris print in it, which I later sold) for $5.00! The mirror was found at a garage sale for a couple of dollars, it was larger but I had a glass shop cut it to size for me (they charged only $6 to do so).
Considering that I sold the print that came with the frame, you can say I got the whole thing for free, and still made a few bucks!!





This is one of my favorite lamps... I paid only $2.95 at a thrift store! It does have a small piece of the base missing on the side, and one of the cherubs had his head glued back on, but I don't mind!! A great way to expand a collection without spending too much money is to buy less than perfect things, with cracks or chips!! I get them for the look, and not for the collectable value... My home is full of less-than-perfects (starting with me)!!!

On the way out from an antiques show, I spotted this old album... Not much from the outside, but when I opened it, I was so excited to find a scrapbook full of old postcards, clippings and calling cards from the turn of the century... The best part was the price: $7.00!!

I found this vintage framed painting at our local American Cancer Society a while ago. I was on my way out when I spotted this painting on the floor leaning against a wall... It was marked $5.00! It has been added to my growing collection of rose paintings!












Some of my favorite vintage finds cost me a little more than a single digit number, but I still am so excited about them!!

This is one of the first rose paintings I ever bought. It is a yard long watercolor and it cost me $36 at an antiques show, still a great deal, I believe!!!






I absolutely looooove this victorian fireplace screen, with gorgeous hand painted roses!! I paid $30 for it at our local flea market, from a lady who was liquidating her mom's estate (I have a fireplace which sits up high and is flush against the wall - not MY kind of fireplace, too modern for my taste!).


























And, of course, this is probably my all time favorite find, and the one I have used for my blog banner!! I have always loved vintage baby and doll buggies, and when I saw this one, my heart skipped a beat!! And pink, on top of everything!! When the lady asked me $15 for it, I paid quickly and walked away happy, happy, happy!!


Last Thursday and Friday I had, as you know, jury duty!! I served my country but I have to admit it wasn't much fun... The good thing is that the Courthouse was around the corner from a few antique malls (Le Stuff and Snyders Antique Mall in Hillsboro), so during our lunch break I did some shopping!! I am very excited with what I found! Many booths had big sales (everyone is trying to survive in this difficult economy...), so I found some things to keep and some to resell...

I love this old tin and I have a collection which I have displayed on top of the guest bedroom canopy shown here.

This vintage pink radio is adorable and was a steal!!

One can never have too many hatboxes!!

At a lovely shop called Auntie Addie's Attic, which specializes in vintage clothing and linens, I found 5 great vintage dresses, including an old wedding dress, all for an obscenely low price!!

... from their pile of "Seen Better Days" linens, some great gently flawed pieces at incredibly low prices!!

This amazing floor lamp with vintage glass lampshade was maked down so low that I had to bring it home!! There is a part of the glass in one pane missing, but I don't care!! Less-than-perfect right at home!

But my latest favorite find is this great old wooden loveseat I found on Craigslist for a song!! The lady I got it from told me that it actually came with her ancestors in covered wagons!! It even has casters (one is missing)!! Now I just have to figure out how to upholster it...