Crazy for Aqua!

I originally thought this post was just going to be about the aqua touches I have been adding to my front porch. I started adding my new favorite color last year with this vintage chair I got at a barn sale for $2 and the reproduction vintage watering can I probably paid too much for! This year I have just gone more crazy for aqua and keep finding new ways to add it in.

And, as I was working around the yard and even when I went for a walk I realized I had even more aqua to show you.

 

Starting on the front porch....

 

 

I saw this idea for a colander planter a while ago and I just happened to have picked up the aqua colander purely for it's color. I found the weighing plate of a vintage kitchen scale at a local vintage/gift shop. I had a hook on the front porch just waiting for something new. I planted Lobelia in it and now I am just waiting for it all to fill in and out.

 

 

I found the chair with the rush seat on the side of the road last year and immediately painted it in aqua chalk paint. Picking through my own basement turned up the 80's style birdcage that got a quick spray paint of a lighter aqua.

 

The nest was found in our yard under the pine tree and the paper mache birdie was already in the cage.

Even my little hand painted flower pot has aqua flowers!

I found this great iron wall hanging at a yard sale last year and it just ended up in the basement. Finding it again in all my porch stuff was fun and I knew it too was going to get a coat of light aqua. I only did one coat and kinda liked how the original dark color came through. I left it like that for now and hung it up.

A close up.....does it need another coat?

 

The original brass house numbers are in an odd spot and so darkened that no one can find my house! I got the brilliant idea to paint them aqua! They show now!

 



 

Just around the side of the front porch is a small area where iris are planted. I stuck this hand made teacup garden stake in there. The plate and hand painting just happens to be aqua!

Down the side of the house are massive amounts of greenery and varieties of foliage that were here when we bought the house. These cute Forget Me Nots are aqua and I love when they appear every year.

There are some on the other side of the yard too!

Another item picked from my own house is this wire planter. I spray painted it aqua last year when the aqua craze started. The Lobelia is starting to fill in.

 

This chair was lovingly painted aqua last year and then it got quite worn over the summer from all the rain. I took it out this year to repaint it and decided I really liked the bare look with just a hint of color. Those huge impatiens better fill out to 12" wide like the girl at the garden center told me!

 



 

I have decided that I love all shades of aqua....pale, like on the birdcage, to the bright, rich aqua like on the colander and all the other shades in between.

 

I recently bought a pair of Skecher's for a diabetes walk I was going on. I chose them for the color of the shoelaces.

 

Aqua!

 

I would love to add aqua somewhere inside the house, and I have a plan in the works, but that is for a winter project and a future post!

Is there a color you just can't get enough of?

AnnMarie xoxo

I am linking up with these fun blog parties:

 Share Your Style
What's It Wednesday
Chic By You Wednesday Linky Party
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop
 Home and GardenThursday
Vintage Inspiration Party
Share Your Cup Thursday
Best of the Weekend
Bouquet of Talent Linky Party
Anything Blue Friday
Something to Talk About Link Party
Make It Pretty Monday

One for You and One for Me

I have been thrifting and picking for a LONG time. At first it was to decorate a 100 year old farmhouse and I filled it with primitives and charming country items.

Now I thrift mainly for items to sell in my Etsy shop.

I realized after accumulating some really fabulous pieces to sell, that I had lost that zeal for decorating my own home with newly picked  items because my focus was all on my shop. I live in an 1870's Victorian now and it is a mix of primitive, country, Victorian and shabby chic!

I had been reading lots of decorating blogs and was so drawn to the ones showcasing all white rooms and chippy painted items. I looked at my home with new eyes (us pickers have eagle eyes!), and as my decorating taste changed, so did the items I began offering in my shop.

I have evolved from loving the primitive and country reproduction kind of look to not being able to get enough of the rusty, shabby, chippy painted look that comes naturally with age.

This stool and planter is a keeper!

So, this post is about the great vintage finds I am keeping for myself (sorry!), some I WANT to keep but have no room to put, AND about the duplicate items I found so that there is one for you and one for me.

I cannot resist most things red, so when I saw the larger red metal 1960's lawn chair I couldn't resist. The $8 price helped too! I thought about selling it but when I put it in my garden behind the Hostas', well, there it stayed. It was too big to ship anyways!

So, don't I find a child's size metal chair very similar....in red! I paid the same price but I totally intended to sell this one. Not too big to ship, desirable, great condition. Until I put it in the garden next to the Mama chair. Yeah, these fall under the "keeping" category!

I used to cross stitch samplers so I know the work involved in one this size, 11 x 14. This one is gorgeous! It would go so perfect in my cobalt blue and white kitchen. I found a chippy wood frame in turquoise that just frames the other colors perfectly. How cute is the saying? I have to part with it though, so for a closer look, it is available here.

If you're a thrifter, maybe you can relate to this. You know how when you walk up to a yard sale and the owners are elderly? You figure they don't know much of the value of their old things these days. Well, I got this particular spunky little lady wrong! I tried talking her down for this fabulous white and cobalt blue colander. She knew her stuff and wouldn't budge. She told me that it is pretty rare to find that color combination in a colander, and she's right! I paid her price and knew I was keeping it. Did I tell you my kitchen is cobalt blue and white?!

When I saw this tulip light in a thrift store I immediately thought "yuck, gaudy" and passed by. On my second trip around the store (I always take a second look while picking) I looked at it with renewed interest and saw how unique and really fabulous it is. It is in great condition and although it would go great in my cranberry and pink parlor, I have to part with it. For that retro, 70's look, it can be all yours here!

Before my head was totally wrapped around my Etsy shop and buying goodies for it, I found this fabulous hand painted Ransburg cookie jar at a barn sale. I grabbed it not knowing, or caring, where I would use it in my house. I used it for awhile on the front porch for a plant but then, because of it's Fall color palette, decided to make it a permanent part of my dining room, which is decorated in Fall colors. I thought about selling it but, NAH!

Then, at another barn sale I found another cookie jar almost identical. Same maker, age and pretty hand painted look.The colors are a little different. Since I am trying not to be a hoarder, I knew I had to sell it. Find this beauty here.

I never intended to keep this cute, 1950's rooster metal tray. Until I set it up on the top of my cupboard while looking for a box to ship it in (it's 19" in diameter!).  I loved it there and there it stayed. I really like how the gold trim and accents go with my cupboard and how the red just makes it pop off the wall.

I kinda stopped looking for a large enough box for it until I found another tray exactly like it recently. I grabbed it for my shop and now there is one for you and one for me! As of this posting I have not found a box so it is not listed YET, but it will be there for you soon I hope!

This final item is a keeper for me although I really did intend to sell it when I found it. It is already hung in my kitchen!

I actually took all the photos for the listing and set up the page to fill in the description. I went into the kitchen for something, looked at the glass curio cabinet hanging between the two doors and that is when my mind started to work. "Hmmm, I wonder how that fabulous, old kitchen cupboard drawer would look hung on my wall filled with the same things that are in my cabinet?" I thought. I shared my thoughts with my husband and asked if he would help me find out. Within a few minutes, it was hanging and I love it!! It is helping to create the look of that all white, vintage clean look for my kitchen. Well, cobalt blue and white since I won't be changing the tiles anytime soon!

It is getting harder and harder to resist keeping things that I find but space and common sense helps with that! I have over 430 items in my shop and the space to keep them alone is running short! I can't help it though, I've got the bug and I can't stop myself from hunting for that next perfect vintage item.

Will I keep it or sell it? Or will I find two so that I can share....one for you and one for me!

AnnMarie xoxo

I am linking up to these great blog parties:

Adorned from Above
Wake Up Wednesday Linky Party
Vintage Inspiration Party
Anything Blue Friday
Freedom Fridays with all my Bloggy Friends
Pink Saturday
Vintage Inspiration Party
Make It Pretty Monday
Treasure Box Tuesday
You're Gonna Love It Tuesday
A Return to Lovliness