Cahaba Heights Thrifting

What's Monday a.m. without a little report on thrifting & yardsales? Found this pretty blue/white platter while yardsaling for $1.50. It's going above one of the doorways in the master bedroom, to go along with the other blue/white things in there.
I was so excited! I actually got to trash-pick something this week. We don't have bulk trash day like some of you girls up north have in your areas, where people put out piles of old furniture & a big truck comes by & picks it up. We have to haul our big things to the dump down here, so I was pretty happy to see this cute little wicker stand on top of someone's trashcan when I went out walking on trash day last week. I promptly picked it up & kept on walking! I'm going to repair the back by adding some bamboo placemats or something that will fit the back. I can tack something on there & then repaint the whole thing. It's not in bad shape otherwise...and it was free, so I have nothing to lose by fixing it!
Found this pretty little glass jar for $1.00. It's made in France, so I'm going to find somewhere for it. It says le Parfait on the front.

This is a cute little iron aqua bird that I picked up at one of my thriftstores in town. I'll take you on a tour, so keep reading. I just think he is so cute & he was only $4.00 & of course, he's right at home with my other aqua pieces & seashells.
This little lime/cream teapot got my attention & was 1/2 price at $3.00. This is a neat little consignment shop that I've browsed in before & I love to go & check out their wares.
As you can see, my new shelf in the diningroom is well on its way to being completed (thanks to Debra!). I'll find one more shelf to go above this one & add on to it like I did the other side. I found this round scalloped big bowl at an estate sale last weekend for $3.00 & it looks perfect here.
I love the detail of the edging. When I want to use it, I'll just take it off the wall.

There's a really cute, chic area of town called Cahaba Heights that's known for its antique & thrift stores. A fun place to hang out & browse for treasures. This one is called The Cottage at Streetwise & it's part of the main building called Streetwise, a consignment store.
The cottage is overflow from the main building & is all consignment stuff, with lots of neat things outside too. Lots of garden ornaments & furniture too.
Love this front door.
Streetwise Consignment. This is where I found the iron bird & teapot. They have lots of interesting things in here. You could spend hours looking at everything.
Here's the frontporch of Streetwise.

And just down the street is Treasures, another neat little shop crammed with goodies.
Outside is a treasure trove of old collectibles like these cool old gliders. Wouldn't you love to have one of these in your yard?
Inside is a feast for the eyes.
Lots and lots of goodies!
Painted furniture & something for everyone.

Hope you enjoyed my tour of Cahaba Heights antiquing. If you've never been here, you're missing out on some fun. There are lots more shops too in this area, so you could definitely spend all day browsing & treasure hunting, so anyone in the Birmingham area, put this on your list!

A Touch of Animal Print

I think you've all figured out by now (and by seeing my blog background) that I really like animal print...especially leopard...and enjoy using it sprinkled around my home. This seems to go back several years, as I can remember liking it for many years (even in clothes) and it has been in & out of vogue in fashion & decorating for a long time too. It seems to be a classic now and I'm glad! I just love how it goes so well with other fabrics (especially florals) & gives that nice bit of accent to a room. I wouldn't want a lot of it, but it's just that little touch that does the trick.


Above are pillows on my livingroom sofa. My mom made the needlepoint pillow for me after I got on a pillow making frenzy a few years ago & decided that I needed a lot of pillows. I collected some needlepoints thrifting & Ebaying & found some fabrics the same way & put together a lot of different pillows. I've kept the prettiest of them. The leopard pillow came from a yardsale & seems right at home with the florals & neutrals I have in the LR.
This throw came from Tuesday AM. They have some great sales sometimes & this one was a good one. I found 2 throws during this sale & they are both very pretty. I just loved the texture & pattern on this one & it's draped over one of my leather chairs in the LR.

Another yardsale leopard pillow on the other side of the LR sofa. You can see a peek of the needlepoint rug on the floor that I found on Ebay. I just love this sofa...it was one of the best things that came out of a short time I had working for Ethan Allen about 3 years. Got it at a deep employee discount right before I left. Working retail is hard work & I only made it for 7 months, but I got a nice sofa out of it, along with bunions on my feet! :( Another yardsale find, this is a zebra print runner that I think came from Pier One. I later found the matching placemats that are on my breakfast table at another yardsale.
This guestbath has the most animal print of any room in the house. I went a little crazy in here & have accessories, towels & rugs in it.
Found this cute little clock at a yardsale for 50 cents. And doesn't it go great in here? That vase I picked up years ago at Garden Ridge in Atlanta.
Yet another yardsale find, this little candlestick lamp was decoupaged with leopard paper & I already had the shade for it.

Box & the 3 decorative balls all came from yardsales. I added the braided trim to the box. This is an iron shelf in the guestbath.
Right after we moved in here, I painted the white laminate cabinets a deep chocolate brown, called Turret Stairs (by Ralph Lauren). I love how it changed the whole look of this bathroom. I've had the rugs (2 of them) for a few years & got them at Kirklands.
Guestroom with some leopard touches on the pillows. I found this fabric at a yardsale (couple of yards) and it's been great to use around the house. It has a wonderful texture to it.
Covered a yardsale lamp in the guestroom with it and I still have some left.
Wicker chair I've had for many years & spray painted black, it works well as a desk chair with another yardsale desk I found & painted. Now it's in a corner of the den. I found this leopard cushion at a yardsale too.

Don't be afraid to use little accents of animal print around your house either. It livens things up and is a wonderful compliment to a lot of fabrics. Hope you got some inspiration to bring some into your house too!

House Parts

About 10 years ago, I discovered House Parts & have been a regular ever since. It's in downtown Atlanta in a not-so-nice part of town, in a weathered old brick building with a lot of character. You have no idea when you walk in there that you're about to find so many treasures. I checked their website & they have been in business since 1979, offering historical, antique, & architectural reproductions of plaster, cast resin, concrete, fiberglass & high-density foam products. They also carry lots of drapery hardware. Many high-end stores in Atlanta carry their products. You'll also see some of their things sometimes in TJ Maxx or Homegoods. Someone told me how neat this place was years ago & once I went there, I was hooked! I think you can order from them without having a business license, but I've only shopped by going in person & checking out the clearance room...it's open to the public. The clearance room is a room where all the rejects & not-perfect items end up for sale at a really discounted price. That's my kind of room & that's where I've bought all the stuff that's ended up in my house. Most of it can be salvaged or repaired or painted & is perfectly fine. If you are in Atlanta & get the chance, visit House Parts! You'll love it! Here are some interior shots of the warehouse from inside, shows all the items that they have for sale in this showroom. (Click all pics for an up-close view)
I was facinated by all the neat things they carry from day one.
You can get very large items or very small items. There's something for everyone! See the lady statue in the middle? I have that one on my foyer table.
Another inside shot.




I walked around my house & took some shots of all the House Parts things I have in my house...it's a lot! I'm sure there's more, but this is just a quick look at them.

Drapery brackets & finials in my breakfast area. I painted these all to match. Check out my shop for a pair of these brackets!
Concrete little boy reading statue in a guestbath. I think for all of these statues I paid less than $10 each.
Plaster bunny in guestroom. Another little boy reading statue in guestroom. This one is cast resin, I think. His head was broken off (clean break) & I glued it back on.
Plaster Lady statue. This had some damage around the bottom & I repaired it with plaster of Paris.

Another plaster lady sits on my foyer table.
Cast resin bunny has a broken tail, which you can't see since he sits in the corner.
A huge plaster finial that was white when I bought it. I remember this piece was $15 & it is about 3' tall. I took it home & painted it & still love it.
This is a lightweight foam piece that looks just like concrete. I painted & glazed it & it fits over my tapestry perfectly. I think this piece was about $15 to $20 & had some very minor damage.
Plaque in the DR was $5.00. I think this one is resin. I was told their resin stuff is now imported from China, but it is still very heavy & well made. They do plaster, concrete, & heavy foam in house still.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of House Parts. While visiting Atlanta on Saturday, I decided to go & check them out to see what they have in right now. I'm never disappointed when I check out the clearance room & this time was no exception. Go and have a look at my shop & you'll see several items for sale in there. Most things are perfectly fine & I will note it if there is an imperfection, but I'm passing along some great things at really good prices.

Happy Shopping!

Daddy's 80th Birthday Fish Fry

My parents in 1955, one year after they married (left)

and 1996 (right). That's my sister in my mom's arms & I wasn't born yet. Don't they look spiffy?? I love these old pics.

My parents met at Bible College in Lakeland,FL. Both of them are FL natives, Mom from the Tampa area & Dad from Panama City. We are English on both sides of the family. Doesn't my dad look like an Englishman? He has red hair & fair, freckled skin & I got his coloring.

We had a wonderful 80th birthday celebration for my dad this weekend & enjoyed some long-overdue catching up with old friends from my dad's 27 years of pastoring in Marietta, GA. It truly was a special time of memories & laughs, celebrating my dad's big day. We don't always have big birthday parties, but it just seemed that an 80th birthday was quite a cause for rejoicing!

My dad is quite a man...as I'm sure many of you feel about your own fathers, mine is quite special to me, my rock & my hero. He really is a farmer at heart, but at the age of 23, he was saved & God called him into the ministry where he spent the next 40 years pastoring churches & ministering to people as only he can do. Daddy has a wonderful sense of humor & you will find yourself laughing at his stories & enjoying his story-telling style tremendously....he has a way with words & facial expressions to match. It was old home week, as several old members of his congregation & old friends of our family came to the birthday party & enjoyed a good old-fashioned Southern fish fry. Lunch was delicious & after we all finished eating, one of the ladies suggested that we should all take turns telling something memorable about my dad & the years he spent pastoring our church. These friends then spent the next few minutes telling personal stories of things that my dad had said & done that had touched them, made them laugh, or had an impact on their lives. That was such a fun time. We laughed & cried...and all left with a heart full of happiness that we could all get together again & celebrate the life of a wonderful man of God. He's been retired for about 15 years now, but people still miss his ministry. He does fill in teaching Sunday School now & then & everyone loves to hear him teach. I have a wonderful Christian heritage that I would not trade for all the money in the world. My

parents gave me & my sister a wonderful, strong & stable family upbringing that was built on Christ, the Solid Rock! We fried up speckled perch, homemade potato chips, & hush puppies that went along with cheese grits, baked beans & cole slaw. My brother-in-law also cooked some delicious chicken on the grill that was wonderful. We all got a good dose of grease that should last about a year or 2!
I made this delicious chocolate cake (and got the recipe (click link to go to the recipe) from another blogger, Amanda at Morning Glory Cottage). Amanda, it was great cake & everyone loved it! I added chopped pecans to mine & didn't do a layer cake, but put it in a baking pan. I'm all about cutting corners whenever possible, LOL.

When we got there on Friday afternoon, Mom fixed this wonderful fresh veggie meal & we gorged ourselves on that. My parents have a nice garden at their GA house & they also have a huge garden that's about an acre up at their house in NC. Dad is a happy man when he's on his tractor tending the garden. They go back & forth during the summer months from GA to NC & love spending time up there. My mom cans during the summer & so we all get to enjoy the bounty from their harvest. Mom is about the best Southern cook around. We had fresh green beans, squash, fried eggplant, sliced tomatoes & cucumbers, eggplant casserole, and creamy potatoes & dumplings. It just doesn't get any better than this! This is what I grew up eating & everyone who has ever sat down at my mom's table raves about her cooking. She doesn't cook quite as fattening as she used to, but she knows how to do it right!
Mom's hydrangea in bloom. She let me cut some nice full stems to bring home & dry. They are just gorgeous!
Me & dad on the back carport waiting for the fish to fry.
My niece, Lauren, will be 25 in August, but that doesn't stop her from sitting in my dad's lap every chance she gets. He eats it up! She's the only grandchild & is spoiled rotten, but in a good way. She's studying for the bar exam next week. Here's a link to my Mother's Day post, if you want to see pics of all the girls in my family. Poor dad is outnumbered with a wife, 2 daughters & one granddaughter!

Dad has several huge fig trees in the backyard of their home.
They live on 1/2 acre here in GA & about 1/3 of the backyard is garden space. He has been gardening for as long as I remember. When we were growing up, we hated having to work in the garden, digging up rocks, weeding, & picking vegetables. Oh, how I hated the bugs & how hot it was & got out of doing much of anything in that garden as often as possible. My sister and I definitely didn't appreciate it until we got older. Now, we love to share in it's bounty! We filled up bags of squash, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, & okra to bring back home with us.
Dad's muscadine vines in the backyard. He has always loved growing fruits too. They have some wonderful blueberries up in NC.
Lots of green tomatoes still on the vine. Luckily, they have started to get rain again, just in the nick of time to save his GA garden.
My farmer Daddy and my hubby, Peter, checking out the garden. You can see my Dad is tall, 6'5". I get my height & long legs from him, as well as my skin & hair coloring.

Thanks for wishing my Dad a Happy Birthday! I think he thoroughly enjoyed his day with friends & family. He loves for people to come & visit him at his house.

I will be posting some really neat things soon on my shop site, so please come by for a visit in the next couple of days. I made a trip to one of my favorite places to shop in Atlanta, House Parts, & found some great deals that I will share with you. I'll be posting those soon & I'll do a write-up about this fun place called House Parts. I know you are going to love these neat things!

Hope you're all having a great week!