On the open seas of garage sails...

Yesterday John, my brother and I decided to peruse the open seas of Orillia's garage sales and, beginning at just after 10:00 AM, found pretty empty shores. I have friends who start bright and early at 7:00 - those ones get the good stuff - but I have only had one item on my find list all summer, and after dozens of garage sales just hadn't found it.

The item: A lamp. The more decoratively vintage-looking the better. (Read: The uglier the better).

Most garage sale lamps have been either plain, small, or pretty and that just wouldn't do. You see, earlier this summer I had found a massive (that's a little over the top) burlap lampshade on the end of someone's drive way and took it (after checking with the owner of the house, of course) with the intentions of adding it to my Reading Nook: Vision Of 2011.

The Reading Nook Vision Of 2011 started when, last summer (2010), I picked up the most comfortable and the most sad-looking chair that all Southern Ontario had to offer. It was free. From there, my husband and I moved in 2011 and multiple times, our gracious friends who had been so generous to help us move, told me to throw out the massive unsightly mess that was my RNVO11 chair. So my love for it of course became slightly more furious.

 I had plans to sand off the carvings in it (names, or 'you suck', or 'I love Jesus', mostly), paint it white, and sew some new cushion coverings. It's been a little more work than planned, but my Reading Nook Visionary Chair is about 75% finished and I'm now building my refinished furniture collection to work around it.

And for my Reading Nook, I will need a lamp.  I found it!

Voila. My lamp.

All in the details.

This is my new lamp. I purchased it from a lady who herself refinishes furniture (she's a little more veteran than me, as this is my first go) and had some great pointers on how to make it white (my goal): spraypaint it.

I was a little concerned about how well glass would take spray paint, but she advised that (like anything in refinishing) you need to sand it a little first. I love my sanding pads.

The final product (with a few character flaws). I love it!f

The awful quality of photo = I couldn't wait to take it in the day time!

While on our adventures, we also picked up our new coffee table. We (John & Andrew) needed to make it a little more sturdy - this thing is not for sitting on - but it'll hold coffee & photo albums just nicely.

Our new coffee table

John loves it for its story (it used to be a children's horseshoe table) and I love it for its look.

Total Expenses:

Lamp: $1
Spray paint: $4.50
Coffee table: $15 (we probably overpaid - it was originally $25)
Reading Nook Vision Of 2011: So close to being complete!