I found another wool blanket while thrift shopping. I feel like I should mention that I don't thrift shop 24 hours a day. I just go at night when Aubrey gets home from work so I can just have some alone time and clear my head after a day of running after Oscar. I generally just hit up one Value Village, walk around and come back empty handed. But lately I've found some pretty fun stuff. Like blankets.

In my defense I don't have this colour as part of my collection so I felt that it was ok to bring it home with me. I love blankets - I'm one of those people that sleeps with the window slightly open in the dead of winter as it's so nice having the chilly air while snuggled under some cozy layers. I brought it home and popped it into the wash - a cold setting and gentle cycle. We have top loading machines which isn't ideal - I worry that they may ruin these but so far it hasn't and, well. I have no other option. So cold wash, gentle cycle and hang to air dry. And as someone mentioned in the comments awhile back - they smell pretty funky when coming out of the wash. That's just the wool. While it was washing that night, I sat down with my new House & Home magazine and turned to this page....

So there you have it. It's ok to be a blanket hoarder. I was debating where to put my new blanket, but when I came home on Tuesday night .....

Oscar had claimed the new blanket as his own. (This is storytime in our house - reading under a blanket with a flashlight.) Anyhow, the blanket is now Oscar's.

I think I'm almost done my collecting of blankets. Maybe.

I've been a little obsessed with checking out the thrift shops lately - if you follow me on Instagram you may have caught on to this obsession. It's crazy what you can find! Some days are a hit, and some days a miss but for the last few weeks I've always come home with something fun.

Above is a set of three marble candlestick holders. They were five dollars for the set if I recall correctly. I found those when i was on that coffee date with Debra last week. Love them. And I kind of love Debra for not fighting me for them. (Thank you Debra) You can see that I had them lit in my living room last night in this Instagram shot. 

I'm still obsessed with vintage blankets and have scored a few more. After a number of washes and hanging them to dry they are going to be wonderful additions to the home and to our cottage. Above is a pretty masculine one that I found yesterday, and below are some reds that I found last week...

Check out the tag - A piece of Canadian History.

Most of the blankets sit in a basket in our TV room for chilly nights when we curl up on the couch. Oscar loves pulling them out to sit with when watching TV.

I almost passed the jug below but on a second look the green and the straight lines won me over. The one thing I love about our all white kitchen is that I can bring crazy colours like this into the room and it totally fits in. But I can also take it out when the colour starts to get on my nerves.

Anyhow, those are some recent finds. Do check out your local vintage shops and go in without any reason whatsoever. You'll be surprised at what you find. :)

Over the last year I've become a little obsessed with buttercup yellow. When I spotted these four bowls and plates at Value Village they went straight into my basket. I think I got the yellow bug when I spotted a yellow headboard in Margot Austin's PEI place. I've also been smitten with this bedroom design for awhile now....

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Since I don't have any furniture I can paint yellow so I like to find little pieces that can inject a colour I love into my home without a major investment or commitment. I would love to get something major done in yellow in a room, but alas, we have no spare room to decorate. This is when I itch to start decorating our cottage, or changing things up in our home. Anyhow, here are some fun yellow finds on Etsy.

My family loves tea, and we have all said that we think tea tastes better when served in a formal bone china tea cup. Although I do have a set of formal tea cups that match - I think that there is something delightful about having mismatched tea cups for a tea party. Some of you even said that you too look for tea cups when you go thrifting when you were letting me know what YOU thrift for. My goal is to build up my collection and one day host a tea party for some lady friends. So whenever I'm at Value Village I check to see if I can find a teacup that has a nice pattern, handle, and is bone china...

I found the little teacup above for $5.99 and added it to my basket. The handle was a nice size (so your finger fit through it comfortably) and it was bone china. So keep your eyes open for the sweet little teacups when you visit the thrift store the next time. Here are some tea sets that have caught my eye over on Etsy.... Granted, they are typically more expensive on Etsy than if you should go into a thrift store and score one yourself, but there is a pro to being able to lie in your pajamas in bed, and sift through great photos and let someone else do the dirty work. ;)

Ps., Are you someone who calls it "High Tea" or "Afternoon Tea"? This is a little pet peeve of mine. I often see magazines promote "High Tea" which actually isn't a nod to a "fancy" tea - it actually means supper. ;)

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As I wrote last week, I did some shopping trips to Value Village (contest winner to be announced shortly!) and wanted to show you my finds. But I wanted to show you why I picked certain items. Today is my blue and white finds. See, I have a love affair for blue and white pottery. Here are some pictures I've saved on Pinterest have fueled my love affair. Sadly, I don't come across blue & white pottery often while thrifting. But when I do, I snatch it up. When I was hunting Value Village I came across these blue & white candlestick holders and four plates..

I can't tell whether these candlesticks awesome of if they are weird. Weird? I often debate putting things back as I wander the aisles- but really, the prices at the store are always so reasonable that it's worth it to just get it and get it home to see how it looks. I'm thinking on their own they may be strange but paired with other blue & white pottery on a table, they may be beautiful. And the plates - Although they are too busy for my own daily meals, I thought for a dinner party of four, I'd take some inspiration from my pinterest board and set a table around these plates. 

On Etsy, I've been collecting blue & white pottery and table settings in my favourites for awhile. The ginger jars are always selling quickly but they are relatively expensive so I rarely bit fast enough to get one for myself. One day I'd love to host a party and set the table with blue and white plates like above.

So a little find, but worthy enough to pick up and add to my collection. :)

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etsy vintage finds 

Do you love to thrift? I do. But you likely know that from reading my blog. Our home is a pretty good mix of DIY, thrift store gems, and splurges when we can afford to do so. Back in the Spring, The Value Village sent me a gift certificate to go thrifting in my local Value Village location. (My kind of shopping spree) And it wasn't until just recently I finally got an opportunity to go and do a serious walk through of my local store. Within 15 minutes of walking in had my basket filled (and I mean filled) with finds.

The gift of the shopping spree came at a good time (one because we have no money after that bathroom reno) but also because two, lately I'm really being inspired by Eddie Ross. To give you an example of how he can pick - take a look at a collection he did for One King's Lane - it's a great example of how he can pick great items that add personality to a room.  Although I've been an admirer of his for awhile I've lately been following his instagram feed and love seeing what he finds and how he uses pieces in a room. So inspired by him, and itching to get my shop on - I headed to my local Value Village to find some awesome pieces and I think I was pretty successful. But I'm not going to show them to you....yet.

You see, I want to show you what I found but also give you background as to *why* I picked them. So next week I'm going to post all of my finds, and show you why I picked items that I did.

But here is the twist. I find I get the best value for my dollar by going into a Value Village to find items. But I also shop Etsy for vintage - so I'm going to combine my love of Eddie Ross + my love of thrifting in Value Village with with showing you similar finds that you can find on Etsy. I know lots of people that shop Value Village and turn around and sell it on Etsy so I think the combo will be pretty cool. So next week will be a Thirft Store + Etsy week.

But before I post about my finds - which I've decided to break up into a few posts because I want to show you *why* I picked things, I thought I'd start with the best part and do a giveaway.


The Value Village has generously given a reader a $50.00 gift certificate to win on my blog. Do you know how far $50.00 will go in a Value Village? You are going to have SO MUCH FUN.

How to Enter: Comment below and let me know what you would love to find while thrifting. I'll show you what I personally picked up next week, so join in and tell me what you hunt for. Furniture? Tea Cups? Pottery?

Contest closes Friday, September 13th. Winner will be posted here. Please use a valid e-mail in your comment so I can also reach you. Thanks!

Ps., Next week I'll show you what I picked any why. 

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! I finished painting the lower cabinets in our kitchen and I'll share some photos after I install the hardware, but I love the new colour.

Today I'm sharing a quick DIY project from my closet makeover.

I bought this grimy wooden dish at a thrift store for $1. I honestly can't remember when I bought it, other than that it was a long time ago (like several months, maybe a year?). Anyway, I finally got around to painting it so I could use it as a jewellery catch-all. It's such a simple before and after - just some primer and a few coats of craft paint - but I love how it turned out!

Thanks to everyone who commented or tweeted with your two cents about my headboard dilemma. Almost all of you said I should paint it, so that's what I'm going to do. I even bought the paint this weekend :)

Remember that Kijiji find I teased you with back in August? It hung out in our living room for a bit, until I figured out that it really belonged in our dining room. The best part is that now I can stare at it while I'm sitting on the couch :)

I found the Dwell Studio pillow at HomeSense for a steal. I think it adds interest to the room and the colour of the applique ties in with our living room couch, helping unite the two spaces (now that I'm sure I love it, I should probably remove the tags). The vintage enamel jug was another Kijiji find.

 I've been wanting to add a snake plant to our house for ages, but for some reason I never buy them when I see them for sale, and then I kick myself later when they're nowhere to be found. Home Depot had a few tropical plants on sale for under $10, including one snake plant, so this time I made sure he came home with me. Still need to transplant him into a prettier pot.

How was your weekend?

I scored this little gem on Kijiji today. I'm not sure where it's going to go yet, but what a great start to the week!

Happy Monday! xo