Organized Clutter

This wooden "in box" was one of my  August Thrift Shop & Garage Sale Finds.    I sprayed many coats of Zinsser Clear Shellac Spray  to cover some ink stains in the bottom of the box first. The next step in my upcycle was to paint the box with Dutch Boy Chalky Finish Paint in Antiquated Lace .  I purchased my paint at our local  Menards.

Do you remember this little stool from my  August Rummage Sale & Thrifting Finds  blog post?  It is a sturdy little stool with a metal tag in front that says "Chester" by Ty Sundberg.   My upcycle of the stools follows.

It's time to share my 2017 rustic, vintage, fall covered patio decor!  I love this windmill canvas print from Hobby Lobby.  I didn't find it in their fall section, but the colors said FALL to me.  The "Vintage" hang tag is the repurpose of a cutting board.   I stuffed raffia in the barn wood shelf.  Raffia screams fall to ME!

 I found this vintage sewing basket on legs at a yard sale for 75 cents.   It has some issues.  It has no handle and the cover is a little warped. There is also an ink blot stain inside.   Did you know this bucket style is called a firkin ?   I didn't,  but I googled vintage bucket sewing basket and Etsy has quite a few for sale, and they refer to them as firkins.

Back on August 24th, I re-purposed this vintage vegetable safety grater into a "pumpkin" photo holder . Today, I   up-dated   my re-purposed grater pumpkin into a jack o'lantern.  

Cabin and northwoods style are all around me here in northern Minnesota.   This Falls City Alumi-Lite minnow bucket is a great candidate for a stencil as it's not the more desired, older, galvanized type.

You just never know what you're gonna find at a garage sale or thrift shop!  Many of you are amazed at my finds.  The key to finding great stuff is persistence.  If you go thrifting or garage sale-ing infrequently, your chances of finding something unusual are about nil.  I stop at our two local thrift shops almost every lunch hour, and when I attend garage sales, I am one of first attendees.  That all being said, the above, was a recent yard sale purchase.  I paid $10 for this bathroom towel holder.  My first thought was that it was an antique, but now I think it's a homemade item.  But still a pretty cool find.

This framed winter picture was in my August thrifting and rummage sale finds  post. This picture is also from a rummage sale.  

Do you remember the four pig cutting boards from my August finds post ?  The one on the far left has actually been used as a cutting board and the three others were cut out and never used.