Magpie Ethel

Paint is Magical....Painting the Beach House

We bought the beach house in May and the past few months have been a whirlwind of projects.  Lots of interior work, but also we had a new roof and gutters installed.  Our last big project before winter came was to get the exterior painted. 

This is the photo of the house a few moments before we got the keys.

I wanted a really fun bright color that when you pulled up to the house it just smiled at you.  I got just that. (landscaping is a next year project)

Tom and I spent five days painting.  Long days of painting.  I had never painted a house before.  I don't want to ever paint another one.  We rolled and brushed it.  We thought about spraying, but it is windy at the coast and the neighboring houses are close.  (with a color this bright you KNOW if there is overspray on a neighbor)  

The front porch is so welcoming now.  The front coral colored door just pops.   The color is called Coralina by Benjamin Moore.  The house color is called Everest.I got an old plastic seahorse and had Tom drill a hole in the back of it.  Perfect door accessory.

These plastic fish are vintage paper plate holders.  When I got them they were turquoise and I had them hanging in the same spot.  After painting the house almost an identical color to them, I spray painted them yellow so they pop.

I have two concrete lighthouses (one was FREE!) and hope to find one more big one to round out this little scene.

Both the front door and the side door were painted an eggplant color.  For the side door I used one of the extra paint sample quart colors we were choosing from for the house color. It is a similar color and I like the contrast...plus I used up some paint.  The metal feed trough will have daisies bloom again next spring.

The back of the house.

So fun to have a little patio spot and an outdoor shower.  It will be fun to work some more magic in the backyard next year.

Of course I had a couple vintage towel bars in my stash which promptly got hung after the paint dried. Hello outdoor shower.
Our garage is covered in weathered shingles...a super popular beach house look.  I LOVE, LOVE the shingles and wish that the house had the same. We would have shingled the house, but after the roof and gutters it made money sense to just paint.   Next year I may paint the door to the garage the same blue or maybe add some shutters in blue to tie it to the house a bit more.  Another project. 
I found this little shelf for $5.  It holds some of my many sand dollars perfectly.
Such an improvement with the paint.  Paint really is a transforming, magical thing!
It is my happy house.

 

 

 

On A Roll In Estate Sale Land

I hit four estate sales this weekend.  Two on Friday and two on Saturday.  Some were better than others, but it was definitely a good weekend of junk.   At the first sale I hit on Friday I was the first person in the door. There were only about 3 of us when they opened the door early and it was ceramic figure heaven. (A few of these were from the other sales too)

It was good for beach house bound fish.  The figure on the left is a seahorse but for some reason I cut the head of this shot!

TweetI got a whole bunch of new kewpies from one sale.  
Vintage craft supplies and a couple of scotch tape dispensers.

This owl has a rotating head.  It will join three others that are heading to my Halloween Booth at Junk Bonanza in October. I also foumd a cute pose doll couple.

These vintage wreaths are great colors. I have one more in blue that I have had in my studio forever.  I think this is the year it will get gussied up and these will head to my holiday shows.

It was a good day for deer.

A gal (who follows me on Instagram) came up and handed a pair of swan towels to me at the estate sale.  She knew I loved swans and said they should head to the beach house. I think she is right. I also found another fishy beach towel. This crazy beach towel came home with me too. Ive been using my collection of them at the beach house.  I'v either been making pillows out of them or they have been hanging as wall art.

This little sailor doll baby rattle made my day with her cuteness.

I found a whole bunch of boxes of vintage greeting cards. I also found a whole bunch of loose cards....various holidays.  This is my favorite kind of thing to sort through while I watch television.
I was in the bathroom at one of the sales and a woman was rummaging through a bin of random.  She found a pair of false teeth and said "Who on earth would buy these?"  I would of course. They add some fun to Halloween decorations.

I did okay with vintage Christmas. After last weeks Putz house score, I was pleased to add a few more to my crafting stash.
This funny little holiday scene lights up.

On my second round of one of the houses I found an old campfire vest hanging with the womens clothing in a closet.  I am always happy to find campfire beads for crafting.
A sweet little bead couple I will add to my St. Patrick's Day decorations.
It was a good weekend in estate sale land.  The season should be winding down soon, so I feel lucky with the what I have found the past few weekends.  Nice to stockpile some stuff for the holiday season and for crafting.
Hope your weekend was happy too.

 

 

Estate Sale Saturday In The Rain

I hit one estate sale this weekend.  I got there early and stood in the rain and waited.  The photos online looked promising and I had my fingers crossed.

I have not hit a great estate sale in awhile.  This one was good.

One of the photos that enticed me to this sale was that of a whole bunch of Putz houses.  I wanted them.  I got them. I think I ended up with 24 of them.  Perfect for holding flipping for Ethelville. The wire rack they are sitting in was also a great find.  I got another spinning rack as well.

It was a good day for holiday blow molds.

This was the second phase of this sale. (I did not go to the first phase)  The attic and the basement had been cleaned out for this round and the sale was pretty much toys and Christmas.  

A forest of bottlebrush trees.

I really like finding the littles for Putz house flipping.  Unfortunately all littles are not created equally and some end up with REALLY bad paint jobs.  That strand of wood beads was also a perfect find for my spun heads.

It was a good day for all those little ornaments I love to find and craft with.

I did find some fun Halloween.  Lots of older trick or treat bags.  A great cardboard witch.  I also picked up a couple of old Halloween costume witch capes (they are in some of the other photos).

A pair of celluloid soldiers and some old Hazel Atlas Jingle Bell mugs.

A pajama doll with a darling, darling face.

I pick up nativity scenes all year round and then sell them at Christmas in groups of three.  I have never found one as large as this one before.

I think I have a new collection with vintage aquarium pieces.  I dug these out of an outdoor pond at the estate sale. I have a few more at the beach house. Over three...officially a collection now.

It was a good day in estate sale land.  The paying station was outside and I got wet while waiting to pay.  Luckily my hair is curly and just curls up more in the rain!

I  hope you found some treasures this weekend too. Happy day!

 

 

Halloween Etsy Reminder

TONIGHT!  5:30 p.m. (pacific time)  Lots of Halloween goodies. 

Black cats may cross your path.

Witches may be flying through the skies.

Other unusual creatures may show up as well.

Also a reminder that an item is not safe in your Etsy cart till it is paid for.  (something can be in multiple carts at once).  I will reimburse postage for multiple orders.  Hope to see you tonight to join in the spooky fun.

 

 

Halloween Is Keeping Me Busy

This Halloween my crafting has been popped up a notch.  In addition to my regular Halloween on Etsy I will have a booth at Junk Bonanza that will be Halloween themed.  A mix of vintage and crafted.

The Junk Bonanza show will be October 14th and 15th at the Clark County Event Center in Ridgefield, Washington (a short drive over the river from Portland).  I've never done a Halloween themed booth and am excited to see it all come together.  I shopped this show last year and had a great time...fun vendors and great vintage shopping!

Of course I have been crafting for Etsy too and I'll be listing it on Thursday, September 15th at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time)

If you follow me on Instagram you saw that I set aside the whole month of August (minus one week to paint the beach house) for Halloween crafting.  It was fun to share as I crafted and what fun I had in the studio.  I've divided up my inventory so some will head to Etsy and some to Junk Bonanza.

Excited for Etsy.  Excited for my Halloween booth!
Lots of spookiness to help decorate for the holiday.  I'll be listing more than I have pictured here.

Come join the Etsy fun on Thursday, September 15th at 5:30 p.m. (pacific time)

Happy Halloween