What is black & white and vintage thriftiness all over? Not to mention one heck of a lawnsale find.

You know I love my orange ......... you have all seen my orange plates and orange mushrooms and will be seeing (subjected to) more of those orange beauties. So it is rather surprising that for Halloween I prefer a more subtle black and white scheme. Today I thought I would share a display a la Tim Burton from my shop. It is black & white, of course vintage and all so very thrifty, perfect for Linda @ Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays. (Please click here or on Linda's button on my sidebar for your invite to the party) So please join me for the tour.

I used several smaller tables in the shop all placed together to create one large display but with different levels. This photo shows hobnail milk glass, vintage ladies hat with black veil and a pair of paperweights.

The paperweight on the left is the Courthouse, Toledo, Ohio. The one on the right shows a man and child in a cemetery.

I am mesmerized by this one. The man appears to be wearing a World War I uniform and there is crescent moon in the upper top right ....... very eerie. These two paperweights were found at a church sale for $1.00 each. (I know it feels like I am stealing from a church.)

These fun loving little ghosts are sitting on top of a vintage black hat box. Both the box and the ghosts were Goodwill finds. You might remember the shoe flower piece as decor from the Bridal Shower I did last Spring. (Please click here for instructions) It seemed a perfect fit for my black and white tablescape and a very thrifty re-use. Yes that is an actual skull in the background. It is a coyote skull from a neighbor's woods.

More milk glass vases and lamps and candlestick holders. Several of the pieces are marked Fenton. Also from the shower, I have re-used the large black Gerber Daises.

I couldn't find white pumpkins so I painted Dollar Store mini pumpkins to achieve the look I wanted. (Very thrifty) Here is a cute pair of carved owl figurines. I am not sure what they are carved from, they are quite heavy. Their eyes are glass.

Another shoe design and white plates. The bottom three plates are Ironstone.

These Buffalo China plates are sitting on a small, what would have been boring otherwise little table that I painted with blackboard paint. Boring no more. All these dishes were Goodwill finds.

Here is a side view of the middle table. I thought the fringe of the shawl was reminiscent of a spider's web. The shawl was a lawnsale find for $.50 cents. The small skull that you see, belongs to a raccoon. That one came from my back woods. I remember when my daughter, at the time 7, and her little friend made this discovery one year after a spring thaw following a wicked brutal long winter. As spring progressed into summer, nature took its toll on the poor little creature. By fall we ended up with just the skull, so of course it needed to become a decoration. What else would one do with a raccoon skull? Do you honestly have to ask.


The vintage M.I.T. plate shown below, (Goodwill) already sold. It was from the 1960's. The woman who bought it, her dad was at M.I.T in the 60's. I never get tired of hearing these stories.

A close-up of the skull. I just love these silhouette pictures of the little boy. A lawnsale find for $2.00 for the pair.

This plate is also a favorite of mine. Purchased at Salvation Army for $.79 cents. It is Harkerware from Harker Pottery. I love anything with pine cones, being from the State of Maine. After all, the White Pine Cone and Tassel is our State's flower.


The black berry and mini witches hats wreath was a Goodwill find. The sparkly spiders were 6 for $1.99 at Wal-Mart. If you are going to use spiders, make sure they are bling worthy.

These two platters are Homer Laughlin, and lawnsale treasures.

Black licorice "spiders legs".

I forgot to mention that my cloth on one of the tables has black roosters and pumpkins, kind of a toile feel, and perfect for my display.

More flowers, spiders and skulls, oh my.

Speaking of skulls, I have saved the best for last. Allow me to introduce you to Georgette.

At first I thought it was George; however, an Anthropology major up at the University informed me that George was in fact a she. Isn't she beautiful. You may be wondering where does one find a human skull. Believe it or not, at a lawnsale. For $20 dollars, she was mine. Usually the lower jaw, being detached from the rest of the skull, is missing. She is gloriously intact.

Now I am not sure if the skull constitutes being thrifty, but for my $20, I think I got a good deal.

I just discovered a new party that I am joining today as well. Please be sure to say Hello to Selena @ Apron Thrift Girl for her party Thrift Share Monday. (I bet no one else will have a skull.) Have a great day everyone and be sure to stop over at Linda's and Selena's parties for a little thriftiness.

Got it at Goodwill
Sherrie

Family Room Redo

This summer, my daughter experienced a road trip to Maryland from Maine. Just because I am the mom and the fact that my daughter had never driven further than Boston....I really couldn't relax the whole week my daughter was away. So of course that meant I needed a project to keep my mind from worry. The family room had been the first room done when we moved into the house in 1993, it was time for a change. I wish I had the before pictures of the room, but think green and harvest gold stripped wallpaper, heavy wooden cornices over the windows, heavy drapes, and dark harvest gold paint on all the woodwork. My house was built in 1853 and the first owner, a judge, had used the room as a study. That is where I took my decorating cue from, making it again look like a "studious" study. The floor to ceiling shelves were laden with books, antiques, my pottery collection....way too much stuff. I decided for a complete change, the paper came off, walls and ceiling were patched and painted as was the woodwork. If that wasn't change enough, the shelves got decluttered and replaced with some new fun collectibles. Here is a look at how it turned out.

Ilove the lamps. The one on the Eastlake piece is from the 50's. It was so dingy when I found it, I didn't even know it was cream color. The lampshade is a .50 cent lawnsale find. The other lamp, an early 50's find, is a table and lamp combo that makes a perfect end table. I got that at a church sale for $8.00. Actually, the whole room was done in less than a week and for real cheap. The ceiling paint was a simple flat paint, cheaper than ceiling paint, the wall paint was an "oops" paint from the local hardware store, the woodwork paint I already had. The drapes I made from a $1.00 a yard fabric.....I couldn't have bought 4 pre-made 93 inch panels for any less. The large pillow was also $1.00 a yard fabric and the trim was a total of .75 cents. It matched perfectly. The little pillow was actually covered in a different fabric and when I went to redo, got a nice suprise that the original pillow underneath (a lawnsale find for .50 cents) was already a perfect match. I just added some of the trim to make it coordinate even more.

The room went from a dark, heavy, and over stuffed room to light, bright, clean and crisp. The first thing my daughter asked when she returned home....."didn't sleep much did you mom."