RECENT THRIFT STORE FINDS

I've been having some good luck at the thrift stores lately. Stopped into some of my favorites last week and found this stuff! The vintage glass pitcher... $1... funky mid century yellow pottery dish... $2. Loving all the pottery planters (of course!) especially the pale blue one. Don't see too many in blue.

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS TREE STANDS

Another one of my favorite collections!

TRASH = TREASURE!

Found this great stick table in the trash yesterday! **LOVE** Not sure where it will go yet... or if I will paint it. I love it as is and with a little cleaning up and some minor sanding it could look great. I've also seen these painted so I'm still thinking! I may save it for a Spring project... once again, how could someone have thrown this out!!  :-)

TRASH = TREASURE!

While out driving one morning, my niece Amy found this great vintage cabinet in the trash! How could someone get rid of this! Excellent condition with the glass panel in tact... she got it home, sanded it down and refinished it with a rubbed red and black distressed finish. Gorgeous! Looks so beautiful with her collection of white ceramic pieces inside!

INTERVIEW!

DeDe from Vintage and Flea did this nice interview about me! Check it out! Thanks so much DeDe! :-)

TABLE SETTING

I love to use a mix of vintage restaurant plates from my collection to set the table for the holidays. My Thompson china is a favorite... and it's my last name! I also have some of the matching Thompson flatware which looks fun as accent and serving pieces on the table.

DARK GREEN POTTERY

One of the more popular colors for pottery... dark green! 

For some reason I was never a fan but now I just love it!! 

Shown here a few fav's from my collection!

THRIFT STORE THURSDAY!

I decided to hit a few thrift stores last Thursday in search of a birthday gift for a friend. Of course I did not come home empty handed! :-) As we headed to Care and Share in Souderton, we passed by a small thrift shop in Hilltown Township that's always closed every time I go by. Well, I got lucky and it was open and as we walked in George spotted yet another vintage trash can! $2! Yay! Also found these 2 nice pottery planters (at Care and Share). For a while now I have been searching for a vintage metal stool for my kitchen. I've seen many but not the right one. I was very tempted to buy one on ebay but some are quite expensive and I knew if I held out long enough I would come across one. So, on the way home we stopped at NOVA Thrift Shop in Dublin and of course there was the perfect stool! $5! Gave it a quick coat of red paint to keep the vintage look and it's exactly what I had in mind! Also found this cool red flour tin for $1. :-)

POTTERY in the BATHROOM

Even though most of my pottery collection is in one room, I do have a few pieces here and there. It does come in handy and adds color and fun wherever it is!

WEEKEND FINDS

Found these 2 McCoy planters at a yard sale this past Saturday and this large blue pottery vase at a church rummage sale for $2. Nice! Also, stopped into Black Rose Antique Center in Allentown on Sunday, one of my most favorite spots... and found this vintage tin trash can. Been wanting one of these for a while but hadn't come across the right one for the right price. This one is perfect and I love that it's yellow and green. Goes great with my vintage tin kitchen canisters and lots of other stuff too!

GREY DAY, GREY POTTERY!

I don't come across grey pottery that often... I love these 3 pieces though... especially the Royal Haeger piece on the left with it's chartreuse green interior!

GUEST COLLECTOR (AGAIN!)

Here is another cool collection from my friends Jenny and John. Back in June we had a yard sale and Jenny grabbed these colorful salt & pepper shakers from my table! I was so happy that she wanted them and knew that she would do something clever! Love it!

GUEST COLLECTOR

I'm happy to have Lea of The Collect Collective as a Guest Collector on my blog! She was nice enough to interview me about my collections on her blog this past summer. So much fun! Lea has been collecting things since she was a little kid. It started with rocks, snoopy, glass animals, yo-mtv raps/garbage pail kids cards to more adult themes; globes, black and white photographs, aprons, sticks and dried flowers. Currently she collects vintage tins and boxes, antique childrens toys (wooden or metal... best if they make music!) and paper moon photographs. The paper moons are her favorite and I have to say, a very unique collection! Who knew? She says they are hard to come by and loved the idea so much that she made a wooden moon for her wedding and guests sat on it and had their photos taken! She doesn't have the time, space, or money to collect all of the things that she's interested in and that is why she's been blogging at The Collect Collective... so she can share her thoughts, collections and connect with others who collect.

WEEKEND FIND

Drove through Chadds Ford, PA on Saturday and had to stop at a few favorite spots... one being Brandywine View Antiques. A big old house filled with all sorts of stuff. They have a great wrap around porch loaded with interesting things and that is where I found this cool vintage metal step ladder. I love that it's yellow and white and distressed just the way I like it! And, for $10, I couldn't resist. Another perfect display piece for pottery! :-)

VINTAGE CHAIRS

I love and eclectic mix of chairs around my dining room table. Almost all the chairs in my house were found in the trash with a few exceptions which came from yard sales. Some I like to paint, refinish or just leave as is!

GUEST COLLECTOR

I love to visit the home of my friends Jenny and John. They have a great house decorated with an eclectic mix of vintage stuff and very cool artwork! Both are super talented too. John is an accomplished artist and graphic designer and Jenny is great at refinishing furniture, making beautiful pillows with funky fabrics, renovating, gardening, decorating, baking... oh and she's an architect too! This past weekend I snapped this shot of her optic, mid-century glass collection. So pretty as it sits on top of a great cabinet that was stored away for years... and of course totally refinished in her style! I hope to get some more pics of their cool stuff for future posts.

YARD SALE FINDS

The summer yard sale season was great. Lots of fun stuff and lots of pottery which is always a pleasant surprise! Mostly green and some yellow... LOVE!!! And, great prices! YAY!! Looking forward to seeing what the fall yard sales have to offer!

WEEKEND FIND

I managed to get to a few yard sales and a church flea market this weekend before the hurricane hit... aside from a few clay flower pots I got these fabulous children's folding chairs! So cute! Half the size of a standard folding chair. I couldn't pass them by! And the price was right... $2 for all of them! Two were made by the Adirondack Chair Company in New York and the other two by the Krueger Metal Product Company in Green Bay Wisconsin.

YARD SALE FIND

Got this cool bench at a yard sale last weekend... the woman first told me $30, then $20... I ended up paying $5! Looks like someone may have made it out of old barnwood. I added some glass knobs. :-)

GOING GREEN!

After visiting my friends Jerry and Anna and seeing a great vintage porch sofa they had found in the trash and painted a beautiful bright green, I got inspired to paint these 2 vintage metal lawn chairs after having them in my garage for 10 years! I always meant to paint them but just never felt like doing it for some reason! I came across the little round matching table at a recent yard sale for $1.00... yay!! So happy with that purchase... I chose more of a lime green paint and am very happy with the way they turned out! So happy that I painted 2 metal tables that I had gotten at a flea market a few years ago and also a metal chair that I found in the trash. :-)

TRASH = TREASURE!

While out early this morning I spotted this fabulous vintage basket peeking out of someone's trash! Perfect condition!! See more from my collection here!

PRESENTS for ME!

It's great to come from a family of collectors! My dad is always thinking of me when he's out hunting for treasures at yard sales. He's great at finding the stuff I love! Check out these 2 yellow McCoy planters and little pink pottery vase **smile**... and this awesome vintage Christmas tree stand. This is a collection that I haven't posted yet but will soon! And, these great vintage wooden hangers with advertising. Thanks dad!

YARD SALE FINDS

There was a great yard sale right down the street from my house this past Saturday... lots of stuff... beautifully displayed... wish I had brought my camera... not much of what I collect but fun and interesting stuff to see anyway... I did pick up this nice green metal stand and this tiny rusty pot!

VINTAGE ENAMELWARE

Fun vintage enamelware... love it! Mostly I find these pieces at yard sales... and in the trash!

AN INTERVIEW with ME!

Lea, from The Collect Collective asked to interview me about my collections! Check it out! FUN! And check out the rest of her blog too! Thanks Lea!

FLEA MARKET on the 4th

Stopped by the Golden Nugget Flea Market in Lambertville, NJ... they were open on the 4th of July. Not all the vendors were there but it was still okay... although I came away with nothing! Oh well... maybe next time!

YARD SALES

The yard sales have been pretty good this season... I'm happy with these finds from this past Saturday... vintage enamel bowl for $1, nice Hull pottery planter with bamboo pattern for 25 cents, awesome green sprinkler for $1 and fun 70s plastic napkin holder in mint condition for 25 cents!

TRASH = TREASURE!

The trash has been great lately! I love the iron table with glass top! Can't wait to paint it! And how lucky to find it with the glass in one piece! Not sure where it will go yet... I have 2 others like it! Love these 2 floral tins too! And this signed, 1960s Mikumo Woodblock Japanese print, excellent condition, in a vintage bamboo frame!! YAY! How could someone throw this out? :-)

OLD STUFF in the GARDEN

I love adding rusty gates, old chairs and other cool stuff to the landscape. The old metal headboard is one of my favorite pieces.

SCENES from a YARD SALE

Last weekend we had a yard sale! Friends brought their stuff too. So much fun! :-)

I LOVE PLANTERS!

Another favorite! This ceramic bowler planter... dated on bottom 1957.

TRASH = TREASURE!

So yesterday George went out to get us some lunch. I was wondering what was taking SO long!! Turns out he was rummaging through someone's trash and came home with some good stuff! In the mix was this fabulous, vintage portrait!! Love it!

MADONNA'S

Look what showed up at my door the other day! What a nice surprise! Love them! :-)

THANKS SHAWN!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Fun Mother's Day cards using photos of my Madonna's!

The Madonna Collection...

Our Lady of Chalkware and Glitter and Our Lady of the Golden Halo.

GUEST COLLECTORS!!

Yesterday we visited the new (old) home of good friends Tom & Alan and of course it was fabulous. I knew it would be! Here is one of my favorite collections of Tom's... vintage cocktail shakers... beautifully displayed in this funky old cabinet.

MORE STUFF!

I love old picture frames with vintage moldings... and old hardware too! This stuff looks great mixed in with other collectibles. The fun never stops! :-)

MORE FROM THE KITCHEN...

Fun kitchen sifters :-)

SPRING COLORS

Happy Easter... Happy Spring!

POTTERY = HAPPY!

This is one of my most favorite pieces... I love that it's grey with green on the inside. I don't see much grey pottery around. Marked ROYAL HAEGER on the bottom. *smile*

TRASH = TREASURE!

The other day I was driving home and I passed by a neighbors house and saw some garden tools out for the trash. I didn't get a chance to stop but told George to stop on his way home... turns out the garden tools were junk but he did find this vintage wire flower pot holder! What a pleasant surprise!! I never even saw it! I love that it's red... most of my others are either black or green. I had a small piece of white Haeger pottery that fit right in! Love it! Thanks George!

SUNDAY ANTIQUING

I stopped in at another one of my favorite places today... Olde Knitting Mill Antiques. This is a cool old building on the outskirts of a cool old town. This place is loaded with good stuff! Next Saturday, April 16th, they are having a Spring Open House from 10-6. There's a coupon at the desk that entitles you to 10% off on any one item over $20 (excluding sale or no discount items). Check it out. Lots of fun! Oh, and of course I came out of there today with 4 really nice pieces of pottery! Yay! 20 East Bridge Street, Spring City, PA.