NE Junk Jaunt!

I spent the 3-day weekend at the
   Nebraska Junk Jaunt - a 300 mile loop
covering the middle of the state.

A true 'Junker' starts scouting for sales at the crack of dawn!

I'm not THAT ambitious -

but I did see this bright Nebraska sunrise!

Traveling along the Interstates may get you

 to the places you want to go faster, but navigating the

country back roads in search of  'junky treasures'

is WAY MORE INTERESTING!

 

Sure, you might see a lot of this...

 



And encounter some of this...

 

Railroads seem to be prevalent
in almost every NE town.



This could be a bit of a wait,
 with a LONG string of cars full of coal!

 

On country roads you'd also get to see this...

 

 a few biggo barns - most of them not being used...

 

 

and a lot of these abandoned farm houses,

thanks to big corporate farming.



 



 

AND THEN - I SAW IT!
A SIGN FOR A JUNK JAUNT SALE!
 

This was my first stop!

WOO-HOO!!

Rusty, crusty, dusty treasures!

Really old (and uncomfortable!) tractor seats!
 

Old farmhouse furniture - so cool!
 

DOORS! As you may already know, I have an

unusually strong attraction to old doors!


 

Another back-roads place full of 'junky finds!

In two days of back road driving, I visited
about a third of  the 35 participating towns,
 and a select few 'junky' places
in each one!

I ended up with a few special finds
most of which I intend to
re-do for myself!

Marathon junking can be exhausting!
After a full day of driving, enjoying some
very scenic country, and seeing fabulous junky stuff,
it's great to get back to the hotel
to relax and unwind!

A beautiful Nebraska sunset is the perfect end

to an exhausting, but fun 'junky' day!



 

 

 

XOXO

Blood, Sweat, and Tears (not the rock'n'roll band!)

I put a lot of thought into each one of my projects.

It takes time to figure out what repairs

are needed and how to fix it!

As I'm working on those things,

my mind is creating a finished image

of color, finishes, and embellishments.

 

The 'Trash Day' cabinet was my most recent challenge:

 

The biggest issue was the

doors were missing antique swivel hinges.

Efforts to find replacements

weren't successful.

Luckily, I know an expert

who can fix anything

and he solved the dilemma!

 

GOING TO A NEW HOME!

Once destined for the landfill,

this antique cabinet

will be useful once again!

It will have a long happy life

with it's new owners!

 

Don't you just love HAPPY ENDINGS!





XOXO

Life is short - eat dessert first!

Rustic tarts are very popular now - I've discovered that I much prefer to make them than pies!
They're also referred to as 'Galette', which makes it sound even MORE decadent! It's quick, no need to be perfect, and oh, so yummy!

Here's one that sounds good...

Apple Tart

What a great Fall dessert!

 

It looks so good, you can almost SMELL it! Yum!

 

 

 

 

 

I love these tarts - they're the perfect size.

My favorite Rustic Tart, so far,

 is made with fresh peaches and blueberries...

 

See, they don't have to look perfect!

 

I make it even easier (and quicker!) with

 pie crust dough from the

refrigerated section at the grocery store!

 

For the filling:

 

* 4-5 Peaches, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices

*1 Cup fresh blueberries

*1/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar

*2 TBSP flour

*1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon

*1/8 tsp Fresh Nutmeg

*A pinch of Kosher Salt

*3 TBSP Peach & Mango Preserves, warmed up

 

Mix together and place in center of

pie crust, then fold up the sides

pleating every now and then.

Brush with warmed

peach & mango preserves.

 

Easy Peasy!

(And delicious topped with ice cream!)

XOXO

Fall - ish

I usually have more than one project in the works at a time. I work on one while paint is drying on another piece - sounds kinda boring, doesn't it! - and then there's those projects that come to a complex point that I have to ponder over, so it helps to tackle something else! Most of the time, different scenarios run through my mind to remedy the issue and I can continue on.
As with ...

The tall antique cabinet with the glass inset doors.

 

The original piece had swivel hinges which

were missing many parts.

After fruitless efforts to find replacements,

 I thought perhaps

regular door hinges might work -

 which would require some adjustments

to the doors - as in: cutting

the doors to make them narrower!

 

 

 

Since I have no table saw,

 (and I know who does!)

I loaded the cabinet and doors into my truck

and hauled them out to  ask talk Richard

into figuring out

how it could be done!

 

Being the "Mr Fix - anything" kinda guy he is,

he had it figured out in no time, put hinges on

and voila! now the doors are on and I'm

ready to finish up this piece!

So, I loaded it back into the truck and brought

it back to my garage!

(I've gotta stop finding these heavy things!) 

 

Back at my garage, I'm ready to paint the

entire piece,

sand it down, and apply a wax sealer.

It's looking more like I envisioned it!

The original shelves were pretty rough looking

- like they used any old warped pieces

of wood they could find!

 

I decided I'll put in new wood shelves.

I wanted it to look fresh and neat.

The exterior has a very distressed look -

which I did on purpose -

due to the condition of the wood.

It'll be perfectly-imperfect!

I'll post photos of the final debut!

 

*************

 

 

I have a love of old antique

dressers with mirrors.

I found this one at the thrift store!

So many mirrors have

been lost or broken

but this one was intact.

 

BEFORE:

It needed some TLC!

I stripped off the old varnish finish,

got new hardware for the

mirror harp,

and new drawer pulls to

compliment the new

stain and paint accent color.

 

AFTER:

I chose a lighter wood stain

and a beautiful

dark teal color to accent

the trim and the mirror frame.

 

Side view of the dresser.

 

The porcelain knobs

add a unique and

perfect color combo.

 

*************

 

In between working on larger projects, I create some

smaller things with items that have been waiting

 to be started or pieces that need to be used up!

 

Having one left-over old shutter

from previous projects,

I turned it into a

 chalkboard/message holder.

 

 

An old door screen I got at the

NE Junk Jaunt last year

still needed to be turned into

something useful..

Not knowing exactly what

to do with it, I

thought I'd try to paint

something fall-ish

on the screen!

 I took it up to my condo

where it was easier

to work on!

 

And came up with this!

It could be a great

addition to a porch fall décor!

 

 

Here's something I threw together

using some old barbed wire

and a plaster cast of

antlers and flowers

that were just waiting

to be paired together!

I embellished it with artificial

succulents and bright poppies.

It's kind of rustic/vintage looking!

 

Keep checking back in

to see what's going on

in my 'junky' life!

 

Until next time - be happy!

 

 

XOXO