Happy Halloween!

 Today is Halloween! This is one of my most favorite holidays.  My daughter, Katelyn was going to be a dinosaur but in the 2 months since I bought the costume,  she has gotten taller.  So she will be a black cat again this Halloween.  

In honor of Halloween we carved pumpkins.  My husband really loves to outdo Katelyn and I....can you guess which pumpkin is his? I hope all my friends and family have a safe and splendid Halloween!

Thrift Store Greed

 

 The Thrift Stores being greedy. I think they want to keep it all.

I have had a bit of writer's block lately.  There just hasn't been much worth writing about.  I guess maybe I am just a little discouraged about the vintage market lately.  Today I went to two estate sales without any luck.  The prices were RIDICULOUS!  The thrift stores in my area are going insane as well. Thrift Stores have become GREEDY. I mean why are they charging so much for stuff that is DONATED? I wonder if it has to do with the popularity of that "Thrift Shop" song.  Everyone is going thrifting now and the Thrift Stores know it. Prices have gone up so much in the past few months. BOO HOO!  Does anyone else feel this way? Is the market drying up? Or are the thrift shops just getting greedy?  I am hoping I am just having a "dry spell" and that the thrift stores will get it together.  I will defiantly have to hit up some garage sales soon! Hopefully they will have "garage sale" prices!

Thanks a lot Macklemore!

And the Winner is....

Congratulations Amber T!

 

You are the winner in A2ndlife's First Ever Giveaway.  Hope you enjoy your "new" vintage chevron afghan!  Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway and stay tuned! There are more giveaways coming soon. 

Amazing Spaces

Here are some amazing spaces that you can drool over! Each space has something in common~ COLOR!  Having bright and bold POPS of color in your home can make a boring room, F-U-N and instantly cooler!

Contrasting Red and Blue with little splashes of Yellow/Green.

There is a lot of neutral colors going on in this room with vibrant shades of mustard yellow and reds.

 I love that blue brick wall with the colorful artwork. Oh and the cat!

I really love the way they kept it simple. I have trouble keeping it simple when it comes to knick knacks!

 Another beautiful neutral space with POPS of colorful wall art.  I especially love the Fight Club portraits of Tyler Durden and "Jack".

SWOON!  I could really get crafty in this room! And would you look at that flooring!

All images courtesy of Pinterest

Thrifty Thursday

Lately, I have been thrifting a lot more than usual.  Maybe it's the spring weather? If I had a car I would be at   the thrift store everyday.  On days when I do not get the chance to go thrifting, I often wonder what treasures I have missed.  Here are some of the treasures that I have picked up in the last couple of weeks....

There are a few things that I can't part with!  Others will make there way to A2ndlife's shop!

If you haven't entered our first giveaway, you still have a few more weeks! Please tell your friends! Just click the tab at the top of the site that says "giveaways".

Amazing Spaces

  Pinterest is making my home wishlist a mile long.  Here are a few of the dreamy spaces that make my heart skip a beat...

 I seriously drooled when I saw this room.  It has everything that I want my living room to look like.  This room is perfect! The wall collage! That lamp! The pillows! Just the right amount of mismatched kitsch-i-ness!

 This room looks so warm and artsy.  I especially love the teal wall and all the gold accents. I would never be brave enough to go with that dark brown paint, though! 

 This space looks so comfortable! I really love the chairs and the way they decorated the bookshelf.  I love the controlled clutter!

 All images courtesy of Pinterest.

Hoop Art How to

This past weekend I got a little crafty.  I don't usually get to do this type of crafting with a five year old, two cats and a dog running around.  Although, one of my cats did try to hinder the crafting by trying to lay on all supplies and work area.  But I persevered!

My little TV wall in the living room has been begging me for some new art to fill up all the empty space.  I had been avoiding putting anything up because my husband always nags me when I put up anything to distract his eyes from the TV.  Fishing shows are very important, you know!  Gotta learn some new skills!

 He went fishing on Sunday so while he was gone I made some wall decor on the cheap! I had found three vintage pillow cases with floral print and some wooden embroidery hoops on Saturday's thrifting adventure.  These supplies cost me under $10 to buy.  CHEAP!

You can use any fabric to match any decor!  Such a great inexpensive way to add color to your room as well!  This is the way the TV wall looked after I hung all the hoops and some other thrifted goodies.  

I love how everything turned out! 

 I found the green soldier dudes at a thrift store already painted.  They are so cute!  My husband keeps telling me that they are staring at him!

I found this TV tray stand, globe and fancy little glass dome.  I bought it with the intention to sell, but I think I am gonna keep it!

Enter A2ndlife's 1st Giveaway!

One lucky winner will win this fabulous orange and brown vintage afghan.  This blanket is in great condition and would be a great addition to any home.  Give away starts this Sunday (March 17) at 12 am and ends April 17th at 12am.  Hurry while you still have time...
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Holy Brass Batman!

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Oh my goodness!  This past weekend my mother-in-law, Sherry, won a Goodwill auction for a butt load of vintage brass knick knacks.  We had seen the lot at Goodwill last Thursday and we decided to go in on it together.  I didn't get to experience the auction myself, but she did say that she had to battle it out with an antique dealer.  I am so excited that we won these fabulous treasures! I am hoping to get them all photographed and posted in my shop by the week's end.  Brass is back people!  My favorites would have to be the little deer and the unicorns.   Here are some of the brass goodies....

Insta Success

Ok, lets start off by saying that I am new to the world of Instagram.   I have tried selling on Craigslist, Ebay and of course Etsy. My most successful venue being my Etsy shop.   I am beyond amazed that there is yet another way to sell my items.  For the past week or so I have been browsing all the sales and even bought some cute Lucite deer.  I just can't pass up a cute deer!

I am trying to get to 100 followers before I have my first "Insta-Sale". Maybe I will even have a Giveaway!!
If any of my readers have an Instagram, please follow me (@a2ndlifevintage) I am hoping for some "Insta-Success"!

A Busy Week

I haven't done much thrifting this week.  Mostly because my husband and I have been redoing our hallway at home.  Here is a before and after picture....

You wouldn't think a little hallway would be hard to do, but it was actually harder than doing our whole bedroom!  I did take a quick trip to Thrift Town on Monday and found a few goodies.  I found some polka dot coffee mugs, some retro flower print coffee mugs and a gorgeous pink depression glass candy dish.

I probably need to lay off the thrifting for a while.  I have so much stuff that I haven't listed in my shop, that it is ridiculous! Lots of awesome vintage items are waiting to be found... if I would just make myself list them all!  So check out my shop over the next few days.  You might just find something that you have to have!

Thrifty Thursday 2

I got to go on a thrifting adventure today!  I think I scored big time. I found the prettiest framed needlepoint of peacocks in pastel shades of blue and pink and a framed crewel embroidery of a church.  Anytime I find crewel needlework, my heart flutters and I quickly grab it as if someone else might take it away.  You would think that I had struck gold or found a diamond.  I just can't get enough of crewel work!  I love the thought that a little old lady sat down, patiently stitching this gorgeous piece of art and probably proudly hung it in her home.  I bet the lady never thought that someone else would treasure her work.  Kind of makes me sad to think about it.  Usually I don't post my coveted crewel art to my store, but since my walls are officially full....this one will have to go.  

Some of the other treasures that I found today were a brown and tan coffee and tea service set, a set of mid century glassware, a California Pottery serving platter, a snack tray, some candle holders, a cool Samsonite carry on bag, and a cute vintage purse for myself! All in all it was a pretty successful day!

Bedroom Renovation

 We had a minor flood in our master bath last week.  It flowed out into our bedroom and further ruined the old and musty carpet that came with the house when we bought it.  We decided to check out the local discount builder's surplus store for some cheap flooring.  We scored some laminate wood flooring for $0.59 a square foot!! After tearing out the carpet, my husband discovered that our shower had also been leaking.  Long story short, he ended up having to tear out the Sheetrock to repair the shower, re-Sheetrock, and then mud and re-texture the walls.  I am so thankful to have a handy husband that knows how to do all this!

  I chose to paint the walls a soft gray color with bright white trim.  After a little lot of impatient banter on my part, we FINALLY were able to put down our beautiful flooring.  

After the flooring was installed, the fun part started.  I had been waiting for over a week to decorate!  On a thrift stop, that weekend I found some awesome vintage drapes in the softest shade of mint, a gold and cream patterned bed skirt and a gorgeous ornate mirror. It was so much fun putting together our "new" bedroom. It is so amazing what some new flooring and a new shade of paint can do for a room!  Before we renovated, I avoided our room at all cost, but now I want to be in there all the time.  I guess I just want to admire all the vintage treasures that we have pieced together over the past year to finally make our room feel like home. 

Minus the new lamp shades and some throw pillows everything in our room is either a thrift find, a hand me down or something we have had for years.  Pretty much everything is vintage as well! I am so proud of our thrifty little room!