Fruit, Flowers, Wood and Glass

I finally got around to emptying the bags from last weekend's junk adventure on the Oregon coast.

Sweet plate painted with hydrangeas and figs.

White porcelain French plate with gold polka dot trim.

An old painted cedar float used for fishing nets. (Still smells a little briny!)

Milk Glass candlesticks...I'm thinking turquoise candles.

And Hazel Atlas glasses with a garden theme...including a white picket fence. (Does it get any better? I think not.) The set was priced at $1.99, but that day, blue stickers were 75% off. So that means....Wait, I have to do math, I'll be right back.

So that means, I got both of them for 49 cents.

A Stack of Strawberry Goodness

One of my favorite junking spots on the Oregon Coast is the Kit & Caboodle Thrift Store in Tillamook. (Yes, as in the cheese.) I stopped by yesterday and found a boatload of stuff. This was my favorite find. Look at those delectable berries!

Recently, I have been drawn to strawberries in a way that I can't quite explain. So my heart skipped a beat when I saw this...

4 dinner plates, 4 salad plates and 2 bowls.

I would have been happy to pay the sticker price, but it was my lucky day. It was the annual "1/2 Off Everything Labor Day Weekend Sale". My heart skipped another beat.

You know what this means, of course. Yet another collection. Please don't tell my husband.

P.S. One Gal's Trash is a finalist in the Country Living Blue Ribbon Blog Awards! Please click on the Reader's Choice Award and cast your vote for yours truly. You can vote once a day if you are so inclined. Thank you and xo!

Pam

The Artistic Glory of Garbage

On our recent trip to Cart'M, we found out we had missed the party of the year that was held the night before. It's called the TRASH BASH. Lucky for us, the art show was still in place.

Here's some of what we saw...Keep in mind, all of this gorgeous stuff was made with poubelle...which is the French word for garbage and sounds a lot more elegant.

It's blue hour.

A fiesty Fido made from an enamel roasting pan, rusty tools and casters.

A huge, creepy, crawly arachnid.

Lovely assemblages made by a local artist...



and my favorite objet...a dress made from wire and blue & white tulle. Someone actually wore this fabulous frock the night before at the "TRASHION SHOW".

Now, that's an event I will never miss again.

Dig Girls, Dig!

We were at the beach over the weekend and naturally, I made my regular stop at Cart'M. The place was packed!

There were lovely items in the home decor department.

I spotted a bin crammed full of craft stuff. On the surface, it didn't look very promising...cheesy 1980's needlework kits and the like.

But look what I found when I dug to the bottom with both hands...

A large stash of vintage Aunt Martha's iron-on transfers, all in unused, pristine condition.
Hip Hip Hooray for Cart'M!

Next post: Scenes from the Cart'M art show

The Other Stuff...

Last weekend I went to the beach and did a little junking. I do that sometimes. I showed you some of my booty here, but the (mostly) bigger stuff has been held hostage in the back of the Dodge due to days of relentless rain. Today we had glorious sun, so I unloaded the rest of the junk.

Vintage cookie cutters just like my mom (...or was it my grandma?) had.

A boat motor blade...it weighs a ton. It's destined for the garden at the hut.

Somebody's grandpa made this charming blue bateau a few decades ago. It's a little rough around the edges. I am totally in love with it.

Wooden buoys of every hue. Note the nautical theme here?

There's nothin' like junkin' on the Oregon Coast

Have a seat girls, and let me show you some of the treasures I found...

Gorgeous and ginormous paper flowers (pink!), a dainty pile of 6 vintage slips and camisoles that were so cheap, I'm embarrassed to tell you what I paid for them.

Santa S & P, a sweet sewing basket, a box of old dominos, vintage ribbon, floral Italian coasters, Anderson tartan playing cards and a bag o' colorful vintage appetizer picks.

Colorful jig saw puzzles, doily shaped game pieces and fabulous snowman ornaments. Note: I still haven't put this year's Christmas stuff away...so please don't tell my husband I just acquired more.

Pretty girl figurine, Mad Men decanter, Chambord bottle, vintage picture blocks and a deck of playing cards that don't have numerals. I have never seen these cards before...does anyone know anything about them?

The beautiful box that holds the picture blocks.
Which is your favorite?

Thrift Store Pricing - A Bitch Fest

I have something to say. I'm noticing that independent thrift shops have started using Ebay and/or Amazon as a "guide" for pricing. For pricing stuff that has been donated.
You know, as in free.

Let's take a recent example, shall we? Record Albums for sale at a thrift in Tillamook, Oregon.

Strauss Waltzes and Andre Kostelanetz records.

The tags compare the Amazon or Ebay price compared to the store price, as if this means something.

O.K.

1)You're not selling on Ebay. You are selling out of cold, dingy converted quonset hut in the middle of nowhere. And playing awful religious music. Loudly.

2) People who are looking for waltzing records go to Ebay in order to find said waltzing records. That's the whole point of Ebay. How likely is it that a dairy farmer from Tillamook, Oregon is going to wander in, looking for Strauss and Kostelanetz records?

3) Did I mention the stuff you are trying to sell has been donated?

Girls, don't make me go through this alone. Chime in here.

A Junking Excursion

These are the things I did NOT buy while junking on the Oregon Coast this weekend...

Creepy:

Creepier:

Creepiest:

These are the things I DID buy while junking on the Oregon Coast this weekend....

Red kitchen chair/stepping stool, green wire basket (sold in 10 minutes) white hobnail lamp, paint by numbers garden, vintage hat with veil, metal matchbox and a wood "snack" bowl. Not creepy.

A Blue Diamond in the Rough

I took a short road trip to the coast and stopped by Cart'M. I spotted this blue (vintage! enamel!) gem from 50 paces....

An hour later, it was in the garden at the hut, filled with Nasturtiums. May be the best $5 I ever spent.

I also shopped a fab estate sale in Wheeler and met my next husband in Rockaway Beach.
Which story do you want to hear first, girls?

Chez Pre-Fab Update

Just about a month ago, our new hut looked like this. Cute, but she needed a little personality.

So I started to dig in the dirt.

Mark put up vintage turquoise shutters and painted the trim a crisp, beachy white.

Now that's more like it!

Wanna get closer?

Pretty amazing since this is what things looked like just a year ago!

Junking on the Oregon Coast

When you junk on the Oregon Coast, you get views like this:

And stuff like this:

Deer antlers, 2 wrought iron plant holders, vintage hummingbird feeder, metal desk caddy and a chippily gorgeous green floral pot. Not including Bambi's headgear, I got everything for $15.

Here's the stuff I got at the Kit & Caboodle in Tillamook. I won a drawing for $25 worth of free stuff. Hooray!

This lovely vintage photo of early settlers in Oregon. Or at least that's who I decided they are. They don't look very happy. Maybe they just found out that it rains 9 months a year here.

See the guy with the big nose and the tie blowing in the wind? He's hot. He reminds me of someone...can't put my finger on who...Any ideas, girls?

I also got two of the most fabulous children's books I have ever seen.

The White Bunny and his Magic Nose.

Inside the front cover. Charming.

The animals on the left page are flocked. In pink. I'll say no more.

Harry the Hairless Horse which....

features a pop-up horse inside the front cover!

The Kit always has great stuff, I rarely leave empty-handed. As a bonus, all proceeds benefit developmentally disabled people in Tillamook County. It's like junking with a purpose...Awesome!