I love the tool box, desk and enamel pan...but that's because I LOVE Prims :) I have an old toolbox with the name of one of the local hardware stores on it that has since closed up! I bought it for like $5 at an antique store and it sits on my kitchen counter and holds blue Mason jars that I use for canisters! The enamel pan would be a lot more than $5 around here. The yellow and green stuff is more expensive because it's harder to find! I LOVE collecting that stuff. I have a good collection of red and white pans and some other stuff. I also have an old desk but it's the old kind where the guy in front of you has the desk attached to his bench. I bought that this winter and it is my endtable in the corner. I just love old stuff! I can't imagine putting it in the dump! Freecycle it nice....if it works for you. I have yet to get anything but I did get rid of about 6 things last week :)

Oh, my favorite topic and I love the projects pictured here -- nice work all of you! Legacybuilder, for me it's either I have something and want to re-purpose it, or I want something and can't afford it so I fake it. Sistersunnie, I would hardly recognize that 'throne' -- you did a great transformation. Alison, all of your projects are just yummy and you have such wonderful taste. I remember when you did that door. I love what you did with that computer desk - totally unrecognizable. Justgotabeme, I clicked on each of your pics and I marvel at your creativity. I never would have looked at a door and seen a corner cabinet - very clever. Franksmom, great lamp find. That little table came out so nice, the finish looks perfect. Amity, from microwave cart to vanity, who'd a thunk it? Good going, and it looks great. I hope you'll post more pics when it's finished. Inspiredisabel, nice job on the little dresser. Free is my favorite price too. lol Les, that sounds great. I was just thinking about you last night. You've helped so many of us and I was wishing to see pictures of your house and the things you've done. Could we talk you into starting a thread on that with pix? Zipdee, what to say? I love all of your projects. I have saved so many pictures of your work you wouldn't believe it. You are so clever. That turquoise dresser/pillows and the polka dots are SO cute. Did you sew the duvets at the foot of the beds? Did you paint the lampshades, or find the right fabric to cover them? Just wow. Nicole, wow on that lamp, it looks great. Your slip cover fits like a glove and is so pretty. Good sewing. I tend not to take before pictures (I'll try to be better in the future). This little bookshelf was a thrift store find many years ago. It was painted white and green and in my kid's room. I needed something for this spot and found this in the lawnmower shed. Sanded, primed, painted black, and bought the black baskets for it. The lion head handles were salvaged from the guest bath in my old house. They were rusted, so I wire brushed, primed and painted them. Sorry this pic isn't great: This was an old thrift store find, pretty dinged up and scratched, and the base was rusty. I fixed it up: The lampshade I made from a wire frame and a pile of fabric: I made this part of the beaded ringe myself (there are 3 of these on the lamp): When I found these two pieces in the deep dark basement of an antique store among things they had not fixed up yet, they were covered in the ugliest fabric imaginable and were FILTHY. They must have come out of someone's barn. I stripped them down and reupholstered them in this (which you see worn out in these pics): The sofa cushiones were covered w a flannel sheet and old crocheted afghan because the dogs had chewed off the piping. Here they are redone. I found the mohair velvet cheap on eBay (it normally goes in the hundreds per yard). This time I had them professionally redone because both pieces had serious structural breaks/problems that needed things like 7' clamps I didn't have. I got this piece through the Little Nickel years ago. It was covered in something that fought with the tones in the wood. I redid it in this: Last year it also needed structural help so went in for a pro reupholstery job because it clashed with my "new" sofa, and I picked this: There is more around here, but that's enough for now.

Maria, thanks for posting the link. I never thought to do that. Each dinner plate is different as are the sandwich plates and mugs. Cups and saucers do not come with the basic set, the mugs do instead. I like them better anyway, less to load in the dishwasher. I bought the rice bowls to use as soup/cereal bowls cause they are nice and deep. They are all alike in butterfly design, as are the dipping bowls (small squarish shape). I use them for fruit, which we have nearly every night for dinner. I also have the big platter and serving bowl, salt and pepper shaker, creamer and sugar bowl. I just found the little loaf dish at Belk's and I will probably use it for cranberry sauce or such at the holidays. There is a bread platter but didn't catch it on sale the last time I saw it. They do have matching napkins, placemats. However the only place I could find them was at Dillard's and they were so expensive. So instead, I bought the tablecloth, white with butterflies, to use for bigger dinners. (I found extra pieces at Marshalls so I now have a service of 8, basic set is for 6.) I found white placemats, bordered in green that I use just for us. At the time I couldn't find a matching green for the napkins, which would have worked since there is green on each plate. So I decided to mix up the colors. The napkins are either coral, a marve color pink, or a lavendar, medium blue or yellow. I recently also found the napkin rings at Marshalls and they have the same leaf pattern with ladybugs on them that the dipping dishes do. This past Christmas DH gave me the dessert plates. A set of 4 has a yellow plate, pink, green, and blue one. Each with a different butterfly in the middle. I see now they have the bowls to match and the mugs. Yes, DH is a sweetie. Especially when it comes to my butterflies. I bring in the eggs, caterpillars and raise them to chrysalis stage and release them when they emerge. Besides, it makes it easy for him to shop for me. Anything butterly-ish makes me happy. Jewerly, clothes, dishes, gardening. HA!

I've just found this thread. My best treasures from yard sales fall into 2 categories. - one is decorative things that completely matched the bill of what I was looking for, and had been unable to find at any price. I have a den that has an African/international theme. I wanted large art for the walls that had certain unusual color combinations and fit the feel of the room. AFter years of exhaustive searching in galleries and catalogues, I found a wonderful Eastern European batik - it's looks more African - yellows and reds, looks like a man and woman facing each other (similar profiles to some African carvings), with some fertility-like symbols. It was $4. I would have spend 100 times that and couldn't have found anything more perfect. Then a few years later, I found an Asian cloth painting - probably from Thailand. Again, perfect colors and fit. It was already framed and cost $5. Lastly, we were looking to replace an ugly offwhite accordian lampshade, with colors to match an atypical combination in our LR. Looked in lots of lamp stores, catalogues, art fairs. No avail. Then found one that was tailor-made - can't remember if it was $1 or $3. Hand-painted, colorful, but washed colors (like Alexnadra Julian watercolor sheets). - The other categories of great finds is all the toys I've discovered for my daughter (whose 5). At less than $1, I can afford to buy many things to find the few she might like. It's a great money savings. But mroe importantly, I've discovered toys I didn't know existed and some which are no longer made (like the English Bluebird polly pocket compacts). I love everything about yard sales. Exploring neighborhoods, talking to people, getting bargains, and finding treasures I might never have found elsewhere. pp.s. Oh, and boxes and boxes (hundreds of dollars worth) of Christmas village decorations for $20.