Books, Blanket, Basket, Burlap & Buttons

This loot is at least a month old at this point, but IF I'm ever going to have time to blog about any of my found treasures these days, that's usually how its going to be. Late if at all.

So hubby, kids and I all headed out one Saturday morning when one estate sale promised a whole room full of old books for $1 each. We didn't make many stops, but remember this - quality is better than quantity. Here's our loot from that morning.

First, the $1 books.

I snagged this one because of the beautiful brown and aqua cover. This will be displayed somewhere in my house. When I get to do that.

 

This one also had a pretty binding, interesting content, and an author I recognized. It could settle in nicely among the likes of these.

 



This last one I got mostly because I liked the cover. I thought it could be fun to add to a winter mantel display or some other winter decorating.

Here are the books hubby snagged:

The book room was packed with people and it was hard to get close enough to reach the shelves, never mind browse the titles. And when you could, there was usually this pushy guy in the way that smelled like he hadn't showered in a few months. We were lucky we came out with any books even though the entire room was lined with full shelves.

At the same estate sale I snagged this super-fun granny-square afghan that I just love! I'm always drawn to these old crotched afghans even when they border on ugly but I thought I could totally pull this one off in the girls room. The black background and the bright colors will coordinate with the fabric I picked out for making valances, pillow cases and dust ruffles in their room and it will tie in their black rug.

Don't look too close or you'll notice some squares are actually navy!

Now don't laugh, this is my lame attempt to throw together a super-quick mood board with the fabrics I love and some of my recent finds. I didn't bother to carefully crop out the blue carpet in the background of some photos. I didn't add in anything else I already have to go in my room plan.  It is what it is...

Here's a $1 basket I got from the same sale that will most likely be used in organizing linen closets again.

It's old news that I love to snag wallpaper at yard sales because it has so many uses, including wrapping gifts, but sometimes I even find unopened rolls of wrapping paper and I loved this gray and white lace design that was dirt cheap.

This huge burlap coffee sack put me back $1:

 

There are all sorts of creative inspirations to use plain burlap or coffee sacks for. My favorite blogger ever - Funky Junk Donna - has several to share here. So I'll keep it on hand for when the "need" arises.

 

This old wooden tool box was mine for $5.

 

My original intention was to use this toolbox as another rustic planter, but then a few days after I bought it I stumbled across this picture posted by Trash Find Redesigned and I immediately changed my mind. I SO will try it as a towel bar! 

 

 

Last but not least, I scooped up this little card with three boring, large, dark, gray buttons:

I can't get enough of these big plain "backdrop buttons" on the cheap for making my button bracelets. Which I still haven't blogged about. And I so wish I had time to make more of. Maybe this summer...

Here's another shot of most of the loot from that morning, for scale:

And then, last but not least, the following afternoon I did a spur of the moment pull-over at a yard sale in town and paid $5 for another hardware organizer that I will again clean up and transform into a button organizer for me.

That's all folks.