My cousin's cottage...part one

When Jennie and I went to Round Top last weekend, we stayed at my cousin's little cottage in a small town outside of Austin.  

This is a real authentic cottage.  

I took a ton of pictures of both the inside and outside because it's just so darn cute.  

It will take a few posts to cover it all so bear with me!

I do need to say that my cousin, Gale, is genuine thrifty person.  Pretty much every single thing in this cottage was purchase at thrift stores, flea markets, found for free or given to her.  She was even thrifty picking out this house about 15 years ago.  She paid about $7000. for the cottage and the two lots around it. She comes by this all naturally since her mother and my mother were some original junkers back in the day.  I hope you enjoy the pictures over the next few posts.

Here's her cottage.  I love the picket fence, little gate, front porch and detail on the windows.

My favorite thing though is the perfectly aged metal roof.

She bought this little number from a friend for a few dollars.  When I told her 

I could sell it for a small fortune in our antique booth, I don't think she quite believed me.

This little cabinet is tiny; probably about 12 x 18 inches.

This is a cool carved piece hanging on her wall in the dining/living room.

This is a tiny child's or doll's chest of drawers with a great globe on top in front of the mirror.

Notice her original beadboard ceiling painted in soft blue.  She has a 

collection of little baskets hung above a closet that's behind those doors.

This is her master bedroom.  I should mention there is no staging here.

This is how it is all the time.  This is how she lives...so pretty.

She has her bed at an angle in the corner with a small table behind it.

She has a cute little lamp on the table and a small wreath above it.

She has used tulle to frame it out creating a soft canopy effect.

Old small houses don't have the best storage.  In front of this chair is a

big storage basket/crate thing that she has put a quilt over so it acts as an ottoman.

If you lift up the quilt, all of her shoes are stored in the basket/crate.

Gale collects quilts, linens and fabrics.  You see the corner piece of furniture?

If you lift up the little linen curtain at the bottom, her cat's bed is hidden in there.

Her cat loves to curl up in the cozy little space.

She has several really pretty chests of drawers. 

 Some she has painted and some are in their original paint.

I like the top of this one with the semi-circular top shelf/drawer.

Here's another cute one.

Love the worn places on the mirror.  Sorry for the quality of pictures

but most of these were taken in the early morning hours around dawn.  

You know we had to leave early to get back to Round Top!

Here is an inexpensive chandelier she painted white.  

She wrapped the cord in tulle and then put little hooks in the ceiling

so she could gather the tulle at the top.  This picture doesn't do it justice.

It is so soft and pretty in person.

Love this cabinet.  It doesn't have any glass.

She didn't do anything to it.  This is actual naturally worn off paint.

I work so hard to try to recreate this look on a piece of furniture and

she just finds them this way.

Aren't these the coolest pieces of hardware?

So there are the first batches of pictures from her house.  I'll post some more tomorrow.

I'll also let you in a very interesting little fact about Gale.  I think you'll be surprised!

New finds: Part Two

Part Two: the rest of our junkin finds
So as I mentioned in my last post, Jennie and went junkin last weekend and found some great stuff.  Here are the other things we found:

Jennie found this cute sign!  She'll be cookin' dinner at least once a week now...on Thursdays at 7!

I found this great galvanized metal tool box.  (It came with bow; I just haven't taken it off yet.)

For now, it's sitting under my bench in the entry.  That probably won't be it's permanent home.

love the tough rusty handle and I have a cool old lock for it (but no key so I'll have to be on the lookout for an old lock WITH a key)

Jennie found this cute little sign.

I'm really liking that cute little sign. 

Jennie also picked up this cute little old metal shovel.  It's a little apple green at the top on this side and orangey-red on the other.  Our favorite part?...the two little black stripes on it.  We loved those little stripes.  (we're crazy and we know it.  Who else would get so excited about two little stripes)

I got this weathered blue shutter. I love the color but it was really chippy as in chipping off everytime I moved it.  So, I had to seal it well before moving it into the house. 

The big glaring wall space between the chest of drawers and the clock was awful.  The shutters seem to fill it in without taking away from the clock.   It looks much better in person.  I just couldn't seem to capture it with my less than spectacular photography skills.

There you have it.  That's all the stuff we've found lately for cheap.  Oh wait, there is one more thing...but I'll post that on another day because we actually need some help with it.  We're not sure what to do with it and we'll need ideas so I'll save it for it's very own post later in the week.

I'm linkin' up to Funky Junk's SNS #53!

front porch makeover for spring

It's the weekend before Spring Break and we have beautiful weather here in Cowtown (that's Fort Worth, Tx's nickname).  It was blue skies, sunny and 70!  Perfect day to make over the front porch.  I spent less than 20 buckaroos to redo it.  I bought new flowers and some dirt for my pots.  That's it.  Everything else was already there, came from other parts of the house or were odds and ends I've picked up along the way. I have a lot of pictures but maybe that means there will be a lot of ideas...or maybe I just have too much stuff on my porch.  Oh well, it's how I like it.  So, let's take a look at the sad before and then the pretty after.

Before....

and now, the After...

I painted this pot with cream paint, then crackle medium and then wiped watery brown paint on and wiped off.  I added the red band at the top (also craft paint).  This was a few years ago and they've aged well.

the little red tables are vintage metal pop-up tables used for camping or tv trays; I got both for $20. last year

picked the metal G up years ago at Pottery Barn; previously hung in my son's room.

I painted these cheapo terracotta pots with craft paint a few years ago and then let them age naturally outside.

I like to use river rock around the plants to help keep the soil from drying out so fast

by the way, notice the nickel hardware and kickplate on the door?  It's ugly brass spraypainted with nickel paint.  We did it two years ago and it still looks great (or at least better than it did)

Got it on clearance a few months ago.  If it gets yucky, I'll hang it on the wall inside and

call it architectural salvage!

sorry for the blurry picture...photography skills have improved but have a long way to go

my favorite picture...that little rusted welcome sign in the ivy!  I can't believe I took that.

(Kim M., you're rubbing off on me)

little red rooster pillows in the old chippy rocking chairs.