Re-upholstered and Refinished Dining Set

I am really proud of what I have accomplished last week with the help of Bob (hubby).  We bought from a garage sale an oak dining set, 4 chairs (bought a year ago) and a round oak table 2 weeks ago.  Thought that they would match, so I washed and cleaned them up with Murphy's oil and dried them...last Saturday, I went to a hardware store without my hubby as he has his own hobby of rebuilding cars and motorcycles...bought Minwax red mahogany stain and polyurethane for durability and to avoid from scratching....I stained the chairs and table Sunday and left them for at least 72 hours to dry up....Bob and I took out all the seat cushions and I started to re-upholster the chairs with a material that has been sitting in my sewing room.  He showed me how to use a stapler gun...stapled the new cover and put more padding on the chairs....plus made pillow cushions on each chair....ran out of same material so I used different checkered material for the cushions.......these were the finished products of my project....this dining set will be given to Haley Green (Bob's daughter) for her new pad/place.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An old T-shirt

Another item that was in the box full of old shirts, t-shirts and many more, I love the color of this shirt....made it into a girl's dress.  Elastic was placed in the back of this dress up to the side front...I made an applique to enhance the color of the shirt.  The original shirt shown...

 

An old dress refashion into a baby girl's dress plus matching headband

A neighbor across the street had a garage sale last week, she asked me if I wanted some of her items that weren't sold, these were old shirts, dresses, and many more....she brought 3 boxes to give them away...that was very nice of her.  I was elated as I can do a lot of things to these old clothes, some of them will go to good use....here was one of her old dress, a floral print dress with an a-shape skirt.  I cut up the upper front and used the buttons, cut up some portion of the bottom skirt and used them as headband as well.  I also cut up the original sleeves and used them as sleeves as well.

Original dress

 

Re-fashion baby girl's dress with hemmed ruffles

 

Headband  matches with the dress

 


Up-cycled polo shirts made into baby girls dresses

I am having fun checking and looking at Bob's closet as his closet is full of polo shirts that he hasn't used for ages....here were some of his polo shirts made into girls dresses...;-) Refashion polo shirts into dresses...

 

 

 

Recycled, re-purposed, and Up-cycled T-shirts

My daughter gave me a great idea how to recycle and up-cycle old T-shirts...these are some of them that I had made for my granddaughter.  An excellent idea for those who hoards their clothing and t-shirts...why waste them if you can make them into useful dresses or something else.

 

 

 

 

 

Cathay Blue Teapot and Dish by Barker Bros

Estate Sale ~ Picked up a set of Cathay Blue Danube Dishes by Barker Bros.

When I saw these sets of dishes where they have a 'estate sale', told myself, "I want them", picked up the tag and show the ladies that I would like to buy the set...... As far as these sets go, they're rare and very hard to find and replace.  I had seen some of them at EBay and they're quite expensive....some of the sets EBay are selling were either used....These are collectible dishes made by Barker Bros of Staffordshire, England.

 

 

Fine China Teacups added to Collection

Today, I went out to look for some garage sales in our area...I found a place where they have these teacups made in Dorset, England, floral designs teacup, no saucers to match, still a good buy for $1.00 for 5 teacups.....no chips or scratches....

 

 

Collection of Fine China

Since childhood, I love collecting fine china, my late mother was a collector and thought about them when I came to Canada.  Growing up in a huge family, we have different sets of china.  We had a kitchen hutch showing all my mother's fine china.  What I had started to collect was in early 70's when I came to Canada....these were Queen Anne's designs, "spring bouquet" and more.....I do not have them here as I am living now in the US...while in Canada, I started to collect them since I came in the early 70's .........then I found out that my husband had some in the basement and these were classic as most of them were made in Europe...these are the fine china collection I have started here in the US and some were from my husband's collection.  What I love about them were the designs of flowers...."roses" mostly..

 

 

 

GUESS WHAT I'VE FOUND AT THE GARAGE SALE??

I am really enjoying summer as there are a lot of garage sales here in the vicinity where I live....these are the few that fascinates me the most....these floral or rose design plates are made in US and they looked somewhat vintage.  They were only 2 left when I asked the lady who they belong to, she said they belong to her grandmother which was passed on to her, obviously these plates were vintage ....to add more to my adventure of garage sales, I picked fine china teacups and a creamer there were no saucers to match with the teacups....also found a white and blue ashtray which was made in the middle east....

 

 

 

Garage Sales

That being said about garage sales, here are some of the few items that I purchased for minimal amount.....the English Style Bowl with cover and 2 Wooden Bowls

 

 

 

made in Hawaii....see images below....

"Yard or Garage Sales"

I am really enthused and excited when summer comes, I get the chance of looking for bargains.  The best days to look for bargains at a garage sale would be either Friday and Sunday....Saturday would be the day when a lot of people comes out, look for bargains at a yard sale.  I was driving along to purchase some fabrics when I came across a quiet and beautiful area just west of where I live....this area I believe were mostly family oriented ~  something caught my eyes when I was passing a yard full of beautiful furniture and some knick-knacks...I stopped and parked about 2 houses down under an old oak tree.....walked to check out what they have to sell for.......seen beautiful dining chairs, made of maple wood with synthetic cushion on it for $25 a set (4 chairs), if I am not mistaken perhaps made in the early 80's or late 70's...they're old style but for me this is classic that I can re-upholster and re-polish the color of the varnish....then I saw 2 end tables also made of maple wood for $5 a piece....thought this is a real bargain....then I moved towards the garage saw an antique English bowl with a cover....thought that this might have been bought way back in the 60's (remember these are retired couple selling their stuffs).  I asked the "wife" if they're moving out, she smiled at me and said, "we're trying to get rid of some of our old stuff as our son and daughter had moved out and had their own family...."  I said, "oh, can I look around?"  Then told her that I would like to take 2 corner tables, an old English bowl, and wooden bowls made in Hawaii...one of the corner table was made by Broyhill......some has scratches, but that can be easily polish and re-varnish.............see images below

 

Recycled, Repurposed, Repainted, Reused Fire Pit

My husband wanted me to discard and throw away our "old fire pit" I told him that I can repaint it and perhaps reuse it again....photos of our fire pit sitting in our deck before and after.

 

Rusted fire pit before I repainted them above. Below after repainting them with "fire resistant" spray paint. Why throw away something when you can repaint, reuse and repurpose?