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  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle.

    You can find me writing for HGTV and DIY Network, follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

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G-Saling + Wood Chippin’

May 7, 2012

I don’t know what you did on Friday afternoon, but Pete and I ran furiously towards the weekend at full speed, both desperately needing a little break from sitting opposite eachother in front of our respective computers for 15 hours a day for this last week. Diving into activities on extreme opposite ends of the spectrum, we disconnected electronically (except for a little instagramming) and did some mindless garage saling and stress-relieving wood chipping all the live long day weekend.

Wood chipping: An exhaustive first hour.

Wood chipping: A rage-infused second hour.

Wood chipping: A rage-infused second hour.

An almost done, but our heads are really sunburned Hour 3.

Side note: We did the same wood chipping drill about a year ago, cleaning accumulated brush at Pete’s parent’s house with their industrial-strength chipper. I’d wood chip my heart out and host a wood burning party all day long if I put my mind towards designing a business plan. Who’s with me?

As a lighter, less splinter-and-scratchy activity, we also hit up one of the great big neighborhood sales in Rochester. With easily 30+ homes participating, it was great to roam around and admire homeowner’s gardens and landscaping and also explore through their clearance-priced belongings. I didn’t actually take too many photos during our afternoon walk, but I picked up a few select items that’ll be either useful, or just fun to have around the house as my own.

Never one to turn down a big woven basket, this 12″x18″ basket was $1, which is exactly $28.99 less expensive than an even smaller basket I just bought last week on overstock.com (smack me please). As far as I’m concerned, there are endless uses for big ol’ baskets; maybe to hold books and magazines beneath one of my bedside tables, maybe to hold extra throw blankets since they won’t need to be draped over the couch all summer long. Maybe to hold Julia’s Beanie Babies. It won’t go unused.

Big basket happiness.

Moving on through the neighborhood, I came across this phenomenal find from a man who priced his wife’s vintage fabrics well below what I would refer to as an “Etsy price.” For just $4, I hand selected 5 ginormous bolts of fabrics ranging in quality from cotton/linen to polyester to soft canvas. Each bolt is at least 3 yards, two of them easily 10. There’ll be plenty here for future slipcover/pillow/ottoman-covering adventures.

Vintage fabrics from a garage sale.

I pulled a rainbow of options, not being able to make up my mind. Very fitting, considering that my current house palette is much like a rainbow itself, although it would appear based on these purchases that bright pink and teal are going to be stamped in there at some point depending on how they get worked into projects.

Vintage fabrics from a garage sale.

Vintage fabrics from a garage sale.

One of my last stops yielded a few good finds. If you remember from previous garage saling posts like this one, you’ll recall that I go out of my way to collect good candles at yard sale discounts. This trio of 6-8″ candles (with ragged out but pretty candle holders included) cost 75-cents. Shown here pre-bath, the whites cleaned up to be flawless. Opaque whites are amongst my favorites visually, and the pumpkin-colored one smells lovely.

Cheap trio of candles and two hanging jars.

Finally, I never discount a roadside “free” bin despite risking looking like a bag lady. This time I was lucky, maybe, salvaging this wooden and plastic sailboat model which strongly demonstrates that whole “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” mantra. Refinished and reinterpreted, it’ll be a great addition to the home’s decor that so subtly has a beach-vibe thanks to the arm loads of driftwood and gigantic bin of beach glass.

Can you believe this sailboat was in the free bin? It's darling.

Also, in that moment of excitement about the sailboat, I also swiped up this free metal index card holder and shoved it in my shopping bag. Rusted unhappily but not to a point of disrepair so I’ll find a way to fix it up and make it useful one again.

Freebie index card holder. With rubber feet.

It has these cute rubber feet on it too so it’s not going to be all scratchy against whatever surface it lives on. What’s not to like?

Freebie index card holder. With rubber feet.

While we’re diving back into another busy work week, I also have some pretty great at-home projects on the agenda for when I can carve out some time to make them happen.

What were you up to this weekend?

(Reminder: If you’re on instagram, come find me. Easy to find, I’m @merrypad!)

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Being Thrifty  / DIY  / Tools

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. I've been a freelancer writer for 10+ years and you can find my work on popular home and garden sites, like HGTV.com. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note.

5 Comments


Mindy
May 7, 2012 at 11:22 am
Reply

WOW! Looks like you guys had a very good and productive weekend! Awesome garage sale finds! I love the blue fabric with the white flowers and the sailboat is adorable! Nice work!!!



    Emily
    May 7, 2012 at 11:43 am

    Thanks Mindy! I love that blue and white too; it’s really heavy-weight and will be great for something!

Kate
May 7, 2012 at 12:03 pm
Reply

I’m laughing at the captions that appear when you scroll over the photos. Ha!

I finally planted flowers (and am now crossing all of my fingers and toes in hopes that the chilly suburban Boston nights don’t kill them!). I also managed to snag a freebie from a neighbor—a small wooden bench/table that I plan to sand and paint. That’ll be a future weekend project!



    Emily
    May 7, 2012 at 12:08 pm

    Haha :) Glad you liked the captions. Sounds like you had a productive weekend – the bench/table for indoors or outdoors? I’m still looking for larger table options myself, even considering wooden picnic tables at this point. Needing inspiration.

    Kate
    May 7, 2012 at 12:14 pm

    It’s a pretty small table and kind of looks like a side table that you’d use outdoors. I might put some of my flower pots on it and have it be purely decorative. We’ll see. It’s part of a larger effort to spruce up my patio! As for your table, maybe you should build it yourself? Could be a cool project, and we all know it would end up looking fab. ;-)

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  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

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