Treasure Box Wednesday: Demonic Decorating with the Winchester Mystery House

Welcome to Wednesday, my thrifty, nifty friends! While the thrifting this week was slim, never let it be said that The Thrift Shop Romantic lets its online buddies go eye-candyless on Treasure Box day.

So as Halloween approaches, I thought we would celebrate this spooky season in a way that combines both design and diabolic fun through this History Channel tour of the Winchester Mystery House.

Sarah Winchester, heir to the Winchester rifle fortune, believed she was cursed by the souls of the people the Winchester guns had killed. Her penance? To design and build a home that was never, ever finished.

The result became a startling mix of traditional Victorian decor with architectural madness-- staircases to nowhere, doors that open to nothing, winding hallways and mystery around every corner.

I think you'll enjoy this Weird U.S. video. Kinda makes our homes' own little quirks seem mild by comparison...

I mean, in my area just getting a contractor is difficult enough! :)

Autumn Tablescapes: Fun in the Fall

How can you decorate for Fall on a budget? I had fun with it this year using some vintage Carnival glass, and a few discount rack items from Bed Bath and Beyond.

While I love the marigold Carnival glass, orange is not really my favorite color. I think I was scared by Harvest Colors as a child in the 70s...

So my base colors in Autumn are usually sage green and purple, with the Carnival glass serving as my warmer tones. I got the set of Jeannette Glass plates in the Anniversary pattern from Graham's antique mall in Ligonier...
And the grape patterned goblets and centerpiece bowl were thrift store finds.

The leaf placemats were a little over a dollar a piece at Bed Bath and Beyond.

The chair covers are actually 90 inch round tablecloths I got from BB&B's discount area. While chair covers were running a too-pricey $20 a piece, these were less than half that, and I just pinned them at the back with vintage brooches I already had....

They help protect the chair from my enthusiastic kitten friend, Alice...
She's not allowed up on the table, but she feels the need to supervise all activity for quality control...
We're still working on a few things. (Like "no climbing on the table.")

I'm also still working on the Halloween mantle, but you can see where I'm going with it. I need to find a permanent home for that lamp, but it's just so darned pretty I haven't moved it.
The little papier mache style decorations were largely from Tuesday Morning a year or two ago, just after the Halloween season.

And that's what I've been up to this week. I realized that as of September 11, The Thrift Shop Romantic was officially four years old! I'm not sure what that makes it in blogging years-- but I suspect it's about entitled to Social Security benefits.

So have a piece of virtual cake and celebrate with me! And I hope to see you again on Wednesday!

Treasure Box Wednesday: Vamps, Lamps and Halloween Camp

As leaves turn from green to gold and swirl in the chill air, Route 30 takes on a solemn, almost lonesome tone. Yet the thrifting there this weekend was bright and inviting. It, in fact, marked an unheard of three-lamp Saturday.

Those who have read me for a while know I have Lamp Addiction. I fix them up, sometimes I give them to people. I see a good lamp and it needs to come home with me.

Well, at the Salvation Army near North Versailles, I got my prized lamp of the day. This transfer rose beauty, with handpainted detailing...



You can get a closer look here...


I loved the subtle tones of color-- and also that it absolutely matched my diningroom. I've been moving other lamps around to accommodate it. But that's the beautiful thing about decorating-- nothing is etched in stone.

My other lamp score came in the form of two vintage cherub lamps at just $4 a piece and completely rewired...

Take a look at these funny fellows...


And while we're on the subject, I was thinking I might paint these an antiqued white, instead of this gold-- what do you folks think? Leave them as is, or paint them?

At the Ligonier Fleatique I got this excellent tole cake box. It needs a bit of gentle cleaning, but at $5, it's going to be a nice addition to the kitchen...


At the Goodwill in Irwin, I found these tin deer-printed salt and pepper shakers. I may give them to a family friend. Right now, they need a good cleaning.


And at the Salvation Army in Greensburg, I uncovered this nice green Depression glass juicer...


Last of my thrift finds for the week, are these two vintage-style purses. You might be able to tell I'm already thinking ahead to summer, but it's better to plan ahead than be wishing I had them later...


Here are just a couple of closeups on the beadwork on the one...


And the needlepoint of the other...


And just for a change of pace, I thought I'd tuck in today some pictures of my Halloween decor as it's coming along. As you saw up top, this is in my entry way...


The black candleabra I found at the Goodwill. The raven was a Target find. The moving picture portrait of Dracula was $1 from the Giant Eagle grocery store last year after season. And the Poe book? That's just for readin'.

Here's a pic of my Halloween dining table in progress... You can see where those crystal dishes I'd bought went to...

I saw a set of them in one of the antique malls and they were listed as being candydishes/ice cream bowls. I hadn't thought of them for ice cream, but it would make sense why they would come en masse and in different colors.

And that closes the Treasure Box for today.

• If you missed Sunday's post on humorous ads from the 60s women's magazine, The Workbasket, click here.

And this coming Sunday, why, I'll be here if you will. Happy Wednesday to you!

Treasure Box Wednesday: Halloween Creeps Along the Mantle

Since it was a low-thrift week, this Treasure Box Wednesday I thought you all might enjoy seeing a decorating work-in-progress, with my dining room mantle. Here, you can get a sense of the long-view (please pay no attention to my streaky, streaky mirror!)...



You'll see some green foam pumpkins courtesy of Michael's, a couple of thrifted candlesticks, my great-aunt's carnival glass bowl, a terrific carnival compote I got for my birthday last year, a little folk art and my beloved little papier mache friend with his pumpkin wheelbarrow.

I was really happy how the red of my mixed media portrait-- "Ellerey," from Audrey Eclectic -- and the little costumed boy seemed to just mesh so well.

Some fresh gourds seemed appropriate, too, in this carnival bowl. I don't know why, but I am particularly fond of the ones that look like teeny pumpkins. And the more petite, the more I seem to adore them...


Here, you can see a cl0se-up of my little Halloween devil. I found him last year at the L&L Fleatique for $6, and I haven't seen his like anywhere yet.


These carnival glass plates will adorn the table, once I get my butt in gear and set it. I have some gold chargers that I think I'll use and-- well, we'll just see what kind of centerpiece moves me this time. I really never know until I play around with it.

Oh, and while I remember-- off the track of Halloween now and on to some minor thrifting-- these luster teacups were a recent thrift find. These were from St Vincent dePaul...

And here-- the small pottery face was a Salvation Army find. The larger vase was from an antique and craft mall in Monroeville. It hasn't been open long, and they seem to have some nice things. I couldn't pass this up because of the great color and the unusual shape...


So, that's Treasure Box Wednesday for this week.

If you didn't get a chance to read all about The Thrift Shop Romantic's trip back in time to the Greater Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival, click here.

Or-- you could get comfy and have yourself a favorite fall beverage of your choice. Can you believe it's autumn already?

Ah, well. I guess that's what happens when you time travel. :)

Thrifty Halloween and the Orange Evasion

I am not the biggest fan of orange. In high school, we were “the Tigers” and our colors were, yes, orange and black. This meant things like orange band uniforms. Orange school jackets. Orange gym clothes.

Now picture that I have red hair. A tall and clumsy teenage girl with red hair in a bright orange gym uniform is not exactly inconspicuous. One’s lack of athletic ability cannot slip under the classmates’ radar when you are day-glow in your entire person. It’s pretty much the equivalent of entering Jurassic Park with a couple of raw filet mignons tied around your neck. You are ASKING for trouble.

It does not endear a person to the orange.

Add this to my mother’s fondness for Early American decorating in harvest colors, where shades of orange, avocado and marigold lit up every room, and you can imagine my worldview has been a bit like the inside of Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater’s wife’s domicile…
If, you know, Pete had a bit of a 70s retro-Colonial bent.

The thing is, avoiding orange for Halloween and Thanksgiving decorating is not the easiest thing to do. And so I find myself using my comforting friend Purple, and my buddy Blue to help me compensate for the necessity of the less-appreciated shade.

I have also almost conned myself into believing that I don’t decorate with orange at all. It is “amber.” Or, in a very slippery moment, “topaz.”

(I’m in marketing professionally, so semantics like this help me get through the day.)
But thrifting this year really came through for me in terms of creating a harvest look for fall while practicing a reasonable orange evasion.

A few weeks ago, I found these marvelous Imperial Grape tumblers in blue carnival glass for just $0.99 a piece at my favorite Salvation Army store.


This was followed by recent adventures in the Pottery City Antique Mall, in East Liverpool, Ohio, where I managed to pick up a set of six more glasses, PLUS a pitcher, for $30—more pricey than the average thrift, but a lot of pieces for the money. I’d also grabbed four amber Carnival glass goblets (yes, I know they LOOK orangish, but humor me) for $8 at Vivian’s in Columbiana, Ohio.

And then this very Friday, I struck gold at the Salvation Army again. Beams of heavenly light and a chorus of angels didn’t QUITE erupt as I entered the store and saw the grape-patterned Carnival centerpiece bowl and matching lidded candy dish that went with my set….

But it was close.


And there WAS a brief moment of thrift-induced hysterical laughter in the car.

So I’ve been noodling around with my new goodies to pull together a Halloween-acceptable look that is more harvest than haunted. You can see the centerpiece bowl in action here, filled with some brightly colored beaded fruits I sometimes use for Christmas displays. The plates are my great-aunt’s Haviland Limoges in a pattern called Aquitania.



In addition to some shiny purplish-blue curtain sheers I’m sneaking in as a makeshift tablecloth, I’d added a little embroidered tablecloth and some embroidered napkins (thrifted at a quarter a piece!) to enhance the sense of abundance.

I’ve added similar pieces to the mantle—this is the beloved candydish of Friday, along with some of my more harvest-looking Victorian whiteware pottery.




And here is my new friend, a papier mache boy in costume, who just tickles me to no end. I don’t think he’s old, but he looks it. And he was $5 at the L&L Fleatique in Adamsburg, Pennsylvania.

I love his sweet little face.


Other inexpensive ways of carrying the Halloween and Harvest theme through without over-oranging myself have been through some cute signs I’ve picked up at Michael’s and Big Lots-- like this one on the front door…


In the kitchen...


And on the door to my attic... (Reads “Ghost in the Attic: Antiques and Books”-- and yes, there ARE a lot of books up there! )


Lastly I got these fake pumpkins in white and green. I’m not really happy with them here in my entryway-- I probably need to move them to somewhere in the diningroom-- but this gives you an idea, anyway.


So while I know I’m probably in the minority for not caring a lot for orange, it is possible to decorate for the autumn holidays without relying TOO TOO much on, er, amber... topaz... or um, marigold.

If you missed last year’s more spooky holiday decorating, you can see that by clicking here.
Otherwise, have a happy Halloween, a great week, and I’ll see you again next Monday when I think we’ll talk about my latest decorating swap!

Spellbound by Savings

Thrift stores and Halloween go together. Like the Blair Witch and shaky camera angles. Like Scooby-Doo and musical chase scenes. Like Bruce Campbell and sarcasm.

Thrift stores are where you go for that shirt so campy, you just have to build a costume around it. Thrift shops spawn gypies, hobos, and disco-dancers. They're the places where bridesmaid dresses are fit for a queen. And a Western shirt can make you The Duke.

And if you're short on time or creativity? Stores like the Goodwill or Salvation Army often have ready-made costumes available, donated from stores like Target, or smartly gathered together by staff throughout the year. Adults... children... pets.... hey, there's something for everyone here.

Speaking of pets, meet Paddington, a friend's cat, as she silently... DEEPLY... resents her thrift store chapeau. ("If I WERE a witch, I'd turn you all into mice and EAT you!... Stop laughing, it's not funny. NOT. FUNNY.... Oh, get a hobby!") The schadenfreude we experienced over this alone was worth the 59-cents for the costume.

But say you're not into humiliating your pets. Say you're more of a Halloween decor person. Well, a savvy thrift tore shopper can still find what they need to celebrate the season, either ready-to-go or by letting the imagination run free.

I'd estimate a good 50% of the items I used for my Harry Potter party came as thrift store finds, including these candlesticks and potions bottles.

The potions bottles were just plain old jars, bottles and decanters in their previous life. I made the labels for them in Microsoft Word and adhered them with a glue-stick. Alone, they're ho-hum, but together and filled with questionable potions (the Polyjuice Potion is Nickelodeon Gak), they really do the trick.
So to speak.

By the way, craft stores are another great source of inexpensive Halloween decor. The photo at the top of the page, and here below, shows my dining table decorated almost exclusively in craft store and thrift store items. The faux pumpkin, chargers, mirror and assorted creatures all came from craft shops (heavily discounted and well before the holiday! LOVE it!). The table cloth isn't a table cloth at all-- it's purple velvet curtains I bought at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store.

So if you'd like to get into the spirit of Halloween, but you're spooked by the prices in traditional stores, thrift stores and craft shops can offer some very devilish solutions!