Sunday, July 26, 2009

Auction, Estate Sales and a Dumpster


Here he is! My $1 lion. I caught the end of an auction and spied this guy on a cart. His arm was broken off , the plaque and the arm were on the cart with him. No one bid on him, I wanted him but, always wait and act so nonchalant. I had that "ho hum" face and raised my number. I try never to get excited just in case someone else thinks that I know something. A security man helped DH put him in the truck. At home, Nate the giant took him off the truck for us. He said, "that must weigh 200lbs."! Saint Jim bought some landscape adhesive and fixed his arm. Haven't named the lion yet. He's second hand and I LOVE him. Jasmine was the name of the lioness in Second Hand Lions...maybe something related to that movie?
Next, does anyone ever wonder what other's work areas look like? Or do you all even have work areas? We have a large shop but, I TRY to leave that for Saint Jim. I have the workbench in the garage...besides, I've taken over the whole garage itself. I spraypaint outside when it's calm...on a stump. I knew there was a reason that we didn't have that removed when we took that Cottonwood down.

You can see the crate of spray paint on the ground, the drawers have tools and refinishing stuff, frames here and there as I paint them a lot....am always picking them up cheap for future projects.

I picked up this 1960's thingy at an estate sale for .50 cents. One day while vacuuming I thought, I'm painting that aqua!


There it is drying on my workbench. Nearby are frames that are now black. Against the wall is the starfish picture that I bought from OliveRue! It's going in one of the frames.
Here's a picture of the holder and bowls. The little dog cracker holder was at an estate sale, $1.50...it'll all be so much fun on my retro deck the next time that my girlfriends are over for wine and cheese.

Next picture:
Little cow for .25 at an estate sale. He can hold toothpicks. Next to him is a little travel S&P, .50 at an estate sale. I love that. When we travel by car, I like to skip restaurants and picnic in small town parks...that will be perfect. The little S&P's in the background were .50 for all. Nice when having a cookout with multiple tables.

And then, I can't just leave something in the condition that I got it in. I have these cast iron vintage looking stars.

Now all clean and new...in MY colors.

Below are some things...before I messed with them. The pink radio is from a dumpster down the street. It works...not to worry. I only cleaned that up. I had the cast iron bird and the spoon and fork for a little while.

Little bird likes being white now.
The fork and spoon are white and best of all, baling wire hangars.

This is a recent $5 purchace from an estate sale. I totally envisioned it painted black...and leaving the vinyl as it is. My 21 yr. old (Nate the giant) said, "NO, I like it the way it is"! Hmmmm.

23 comments:

  1. Love the $1 lion. A poker face is very important in many thrifty buying venues. Good going!

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  2. Jasmine, definitely. I love that movie.

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  3. Oh, and I agree with you on the chair. Paint it black.

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  4. Oh Cindy~~you.are.GOOD!
    LOVE the little pink radio and the blue cow!!
    Thanks so much for sharing your great treasures!
    Hugs,
    Lynn♥

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  5. So - - - is Nate the Giant going to get his way?

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  6. I love the painted fork and spoon. It looks so much better white. Great job. Can't believe you got that lion for $1 and I can't wait to see what you do with the chair.

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  7. I love the blue paint on the 3 pc condiment set. They are from the 50/60s. You did really well with all your finds. TTFN~Marydon

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  8. Cindy, I'm a minimalist..LOL..but I HAVE to appreciate your touch with the "treasures."
    I can see it brings you great joy!

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  9. I like the chair the way it is too. What a bargain!

    The aqua and red look wonderful together. The stars really popped after you painted them!

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  10. Fabulous lion!! And I love the aqua!!

    Amy

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  11. I love seeing what you and others can do with spray paint- it's inspiring! The holder and bowls are great, and I love that little cow!

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  12. The lion is cool. Great catch on that one.

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  13. Geez girl, you found alot of great things! First off, I love that pink radio! I just got one too. That little cow is so adorable, and what a steal on that huge lion! I agree, never let on that you really want something, or know it's valuable. I always play dumb! You're lucky you have a work area. I've come to realize, after accidentally getting spraypaint on cars and other things, that I really need my own space!

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  14. Love how that little bird looks, painted white. And are you going to let Nate have the chair his way? Or paint it under cover of darkness?

    Love the lion -- he's a great looking guy. You got some marvelous buys!

    Cass

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  15. Hello Cindy!

    Wow.....what great finds. I love the bowls done in aqua. My Mum had a chair that was nearly the same...my daughter painted the whole shin-dig aqua and had the seat re-done in cream and black damask...it is tooo darn cute. It was my grandpa's originally, so it's fun to see it have a new life.

    Have a wonderful weekend!

    Hugs,
    Spencer

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  16. I was going to say that I think the chair would look great in aqua, too. Great finds, all of them! $1 lion - wow! And the stars look terrific with their new colors. Aqua's my fave!

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  17. Never paint that chair OK?

    I LOVE that radio!!!

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  18. I just passed a little somethin' somethin' along to you over at my blog - - -

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  19. You truly have an incredible talent for terrific finds and great reincarnations of those finds! Awesome, beautiful and frugal! I wish I could tag along with you on one of your shopping trips!

    :)

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  20. Love the new colors of the stars! That pink radio is so cute too. I can't believe you got that lion for $1. He is so cute!

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  21. Fab finds! I think you should paint the chair black, too.
    (I'm a CS Lewis fan, so when I see the lion, I think Aslan right away...)

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  22. Love the pink radio and all of your cool finds. I also like the new colors for your stars.
    ♥ Rebecca

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  23. Love the lion! It's true that you should never get excited at an auction. Especially during the preview hour beforehand.
    Awesome find!!

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I'm happy to hear anything that you think! Thank you!