Organized Clutter

In January, I was contacted by email by a Wall Street Journal reporter.  To be honest, at first I thought it could be spam.  I called the phone number he had given me, and he was in fact a Wall Street Journal reporter. I had recently posted a washboard project on my blog, and apparently he had ran across it. He was in the process of writing a story on the last washboard company in America.  The story was posted both online and in the print version in late January. Although the final story did not include the photos I had emailed him, it did contain a couple paragraphs about me. So far, I have completed nine washboard projects for my blog.  Keep scrolling to see all nine here!

One of my bathrooms still has it's original tile, tub, toilet and sink!   It's definitely not for everyone.  At times I want to renovate it myself and replace the coral wall tiles. Over the last 30 some years, I have decorated my 1950's bathroom with vintage decor including lady head vases.

In 2017, I purchased new furniture for my living room, including a  Flexsteel Sofa and Chair and a Half.   At the time I had a white shag area rugs and the floral pillows that came with the sofa. Read on to see how my living room looks today.

Today I'm sharing some of my recent thrift shop & garage sale finds. This wooden magazine rack with tooled leather sides was found at Goodwill.  I may remove the leather or paint it as it smells sort of musty.  I paid $7.99.

My daughters picked up a few things at Goodwill in the Twin Cities over Christmas for me to upcycle. This Mikasa wooden silverware caddy was one of them.  

 This year's summer covered patio is rustic but simple.  It has "just enough" stuff.

 Garage sales are pretty much done for the season here in Minnesota.  Here are some of my later season garage sale and thrift shop finds. A wooden calendar with hand painted months and days.  My first thought was to use it as a Church sign for hymns.  Not sure yet, but it's a fun find.  $9.99 at Goodwill.

Hi Everyone! I spent the day putting together a video garden tour!  I hope you will enjoy it!

 I finished planting all of my annuals the first week of June.  It has been a cool/cold spring with frost even into June. Over the years, I have accumulated several old galvanized scrub or mop buckets.  They work as annual planters just like my galvanized laundry tubs and feed buckets.  This old bucket is planted with two red  Nemesia annuals.   Nemesia has become one of my favorite annuals.

I am a Baby Boomer!  That means I was born between  1945 and 1964. I was a child in the late 50's and the 60's, and I am drawn to Christmas memories of my childhood. I found this trio of choirboys last week at the thrift shop for $3.  The trio is unmarked, and has a music box in the back, that still works.  I think they were made in Japan.

Today I'm sharing my junky rustic Christmas outdoor patio decor for 2018! It's like junk gardening, only it's winter, so there are no flowers!  But, I get to put together a few vignettes with my favorite junk. I hope you will take a look!

Do you remember my coffeepots on stakes ?   In that blog post from 2016, I also debuted my  Old Sign Stencils' National Brewers Coffee Sign on barn wood. Today I revamped the sign.  Take a look!

I moved my mom from a senior apartment complex to a much smaller assisted living apartment at the end of July.  She will be 87 next week, and needs a little more help than the senior apartment complex offered.   She fell and broke her hip, AND got a partial hip replacement.  She's in rehab and waiting to get back in her apartment! My mom has always been a garage sale and thrift store shopper, even auctions in her younger days.  Even though she had been downsized once already, moving from her house to the apartment, she still had a lot of stuff.  This dress form proudly displayed her grandmother's wedding dress for many years.  She had it in her bedroom.  I folded up the antique wedding dress (that was paper thin) and put it in storage.  I brought the dress form home.  Still thinking about up-cycling it or selling it.  I know my mom paid like $70-75 for it.

 I purchased this vintage Samsonite suitcase at a garage sale recently. First, I washed the faux leather suitcase down with warm soapy water.   I used a little Soft Scrub to get the scuff marks and grime off of the light colored plastic.  

 I really have no business dragging more stuff home this week.   I am still very busy cleaning out my mom's apartment.  I have until the end of August, but it is making me anxious.  I have at least 4 pieces of mom's furniture that I plan to makeover.  (More on that later) When I saw a moving sale in the local newspaper for my collecting/church friends, I had to attend. I remember these cement pumpkins on sale on a local FB group two years ago.  They were $25.  This one is a little faded out but only $1.  With fall right around the corner, I bought it!  I couldn't make one for $1.

My mom is in her new apartment at assisted living, but I am still busy cleaning out her old apartment.  Luckily I retired July 1st! My mom has a lot of stuff!  She has loved to shop at thrift shops and rummage sales her whole life.  (a few auctions too)  She has downsized once already going from her house to an apartment. Anyway, I am sorting things to sell, keep and throw away.  This crock with a wooden spigot is one of the items I am going to keep. 

I purchased this fishing sign at a church rummage sale a couple of years ago. I first tried to resell it at my booth, but it didn't sell before I closed my booth. See how I worked this sign into my garden decor.

Yesterday, I attended the annual Littlefork, Minnesota, citywide garage sales.  Littlefork is a very small, northern Minnesota town in the heart of logging and farming country. One of my favorite purchases was this antique cream separator.  The handle says "60 Turns A Minute".  I think it might be an Economy Chief Jr.   I paid $10 for it.

Do you like vintage embroidered linens?   I used to pick them up all the time, but lately, I've slowed down.  I bought these cute embroidered dish towels at the thrift shop for $2 each.  The line drying and ironing themes seemed perfect for my laundry room. Because my laundry room is right next to my kitchen, I decorate with farmhouse style kitchen/pantry/laundry room decor.

I love container vignettes!  Here are 16 of my favorites. Besides being visually appealing, they are so portable!  If you need to clear off your coffee table or dining table, with all the decor corralled in a crate, it's a snap. Use what you have!  Like a button jar!