This Week's Work In Progress...

Now that I'm able to get up & around a bit, I can finally start working on 'larger' projects. Cue me dragging out this antique mirror to work on.

Yes, the veneer on the front is messed up, but the 'bones' of the piece are too pretty to let the mirror die a slow death in somebody's attic. (If you have removed antique veneer before, you know what a pain in the butt it is. I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess.)

And now I'm off to start the slow process of lifting off the veneer...wood chisel, iron, & relevant accessories in tow!

Looking For A New Home!

This small, chippy, vintage ladder came straight off a 100 year old farm in Lascassas, TN. From today until Dec. 31, it's only $20! I can meet in the Nashville/Murfreesboro area so you can give it a good new home!

These little guys are being used for all kinds of things these days, from being hung on walls as towel holders to being cut in half & used as small bookshelves. Yes, upcycling and repurposing really is that much fun. 

Interested? Please send me a message on my Facebook Business Page or email me at My Business Email

What To Do, What To Do...

So I made my last old window into a cute art type thing to hang in my extra bedroom. (Don't know what I'm talking about? Here is that story.) Anyway...I've got another window sitting in my garage, see?

Please ignore the old door behind the window. That is not the door that will be my headboard, it is a totally different door that is going to get some love sometime soon.

Since I'm not going to keep it, I'm trying to decide whether I just want to stencil something on the glass panes, if I want to straight out paint the panes, or if I want to ModPodge something on to it. I mean yeah, doing something custom for somebody is always fun, but at the moment I haven't had anybody that needs a super awesome window that Ginger spiffed up just for them in a while.

Hmmm...I'm currently stumped. 

New item up in my Etsy store this evening...

Just put up a really cool, retro-y vintage bun steamer. Ok, ok, you may make a few 'bun' puns, as most folks can't help themselves. More pics in my shop, go check it out.

Edit: Sept 25, 11am.....this item is SOLD!

Argh! Such a gorgeous piece!

While doing my regular Monday morning search for cool things to save/find/fix on Craigslist, I came across this 1920's Mantel . Gorgeous, right? Could be turned into something other than a mantel to continue to be a kick butt piece, right?

That's where the 'argh!' comes in...because I can't physically go grab it & bring it home to work on.

Craigslist, why must you have such cool stuff when Ginger cannot go fetch said stuff?! This is torture!

Finding This Place Made Me Sad

See y'all, when I found this place a couple months ago I actually cried by the time I was done crawling around the property. It's the kind of place that I wish I could have found & 'rescued' before it got to this point. Instead....it's mostly to the point of no return, & 90% of the stuff can't be salvaged after being abandoned for more than 10 years & having people use it as a place to 'party' & stuff.

All these clothes were just left hanging. As years went by people tore them down, took them, etc. How this sad little desk ended up on top of everything is a mystery, but I can tell it used to be gorgeous.

There was so much furniture that must have been gorgeous before it was left to fend for itself. This wardrobe was just falling to pieces....

Can you see the tall white skinny thing in the center of the photo? That's a door. It's still quite pretty. It's just standing there, all lonely looking.

Yeah, the whole property just turned into a place to 'party' & stuff. It was just depressing seeing something that used to be a well constructed home & property just reduced to a shell of a structure.

The roof/ceiling has collapsed in several places, causing all the things inside to be exposed to the elements over the years.

Yeah, there is no roof or ceiling left here. 

This kind of place. It's the kind of place that I want to prevent from existing. I don't want places to be abandoned to just fall apart when there are things that can be saved & loved by somebody else. See y'all, I want to find these before the only good option is to bulldoze them.

When I say I want to crawl around old barns, farms, homes, sheds, & shacks, I really mean it. Even if I can only save a few things, it's worth it to me. 

Shhhh!

Don't tell anybody I'm keeping the hardware that I pulled off my magical door from the World's Longest Yard Sale . I'm sorry, the detail work is too fun for me to part with. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with it, but I'll come up with something. I always do. I mean come on, look at it:

Ok, ok, fine, maybe you don't quite understand why the heck I love this thing so much. Just know finding/getting stuff like this that makes my day. I'm simple like that.

Now....off to see what else I can get into trouble with while still 'on the mend'.

You're probably wondering why you're staring at a bunch of boots....

There is an actual reason, I swear. I will be honest, I have tons of boots. (Sorry y'all, I wasn't taking pictures of all of them, somebody from the Hoarders show on tv could possibly show up if I did that. Ok not really, but you get the idea.) I love them. So much love for boots that I can't really put it into words.

Notice how all of them are standing up, even the tall ones? That doesn't happen automatically, & boots that are all bent over & taking up double the amount of space in my closet make me sad. I've been to places like Bed, Bath, & Beyond looking for boot holder uppers, & those dern things are expensive. Like, around $10 per pair expensive. I'm sorry, but that's just not happening.

I went to the place where all random problems are solved-Pinterest & started my quest for finding something that would make my boots stand up without having to pay $10 per pair to make it happen. And then.....the magic of a manila folder was introduced into my life. 

Holy crap, rolling up a manila file folder & then zipping it into my boots not only worked, but it didn't cost me a penny. (I'm one of those people with hundreds of file folders at all times.) Free beats $10 a pair any day of the week. I probably spent a good hour rolling up folders & stuffing them inside my boots, & I was so proud of this Pinterest experiment gone right that I had to post it.

For those of you without boots...just pretend that you think this is cool, ok?

Facebook: www.facebook.com/gingermadethat 
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/missgingerlee 
Blog: www.gingermadethat.blogspot.com
Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/missgingerlee 

These are pretty neat...

I'm mostly amazed that this tiny cardboard box from the A.L. Smith & Co. Drug Store in Murfreesboro, TN managed to survive more than 45 years after it was filled. I had no idea that prescriptions used to be done this way, I guess things have changed quite a bit the last half century or so!

Don't ask why this is so neat to me, because I can't really place my finger on it, but I kinda love it, in an odd way. 

What?! Even MORE cowbell?

Yep, in the box of randomness from the estate sale outside Murfreesboro, TN, I found yet another old cowbell. It's small than the other one I found, but dern if it isn't as loud!

This one is riveted, just like the larger one, but has aged differently, & the patina makes it look totally different than the other bell. I will be listing this on My Etsy Shop! in the next couple days, but I wanted to share it with my internet 'friends' before I put it up for sale there. 

(And for the record, it is going to be for sale for $20, with free shipping anywhere in the United States.)

When Ginger makes homemade Febreze...

I have a confession to make. I am one of those people that has an odd love of Febreze & Febreze type things. (Hey, washing 106 inch curtains on a regular basis gets kinda tedious, ok?) Anyway, I've seen all the 'make your own Febreze OMG!' type posts on Pinterest, so I decided that I may as well try it out and see if it works. 

Ready to get started? Awesome. Grab your empty ( or almost empty in my case) Febreze bottle & fill it about halfway with warm water.

Then grab some vinegar. Pop a tablespoon of this bad boy in the Febreze bottle. (Yes, there are versions that use baking soda, but I'm more of a vinegar type of girl.) Now shake the Febreze bottle **with the cap on** like it is going out of style.

Now go get some fabric softener. Any kind of fabric softener, but one that you are rather fond of fragrance-wise is probably a good idea. Put in 2 tablespoons (or 3, if you're using a rather thin version) of your fabric softener.

Got all of that put together? Alright, go fill the rest of your Febreze bottle with warm water, put the top back on your Febreze bottle, & shake like your life depends on it. Ok not really, but shake it until everything is evenly distributed. I shook for about a minute & a half, because I wanted to make sure I'd done all I could for this little experiment to work.

I waited about an hour or so & used my homemade Febreze concoction on the couch. Yep, this formula worked perfectly (and no, no vinegar smell for those that may have been wondering). It smelled just like the fabric softener, but once that dissipated all that was left being has neutral, clean smelling couch-ness. 

I will never pay for 'real' Febreze again. Yay for experiments that actually work!!

You can never have too much cowbell!

I think that is just a rule-there is no such thing as too much cowbell. 

Yes, this bell came out of the giant box of stuff from the estate auction outside Nashville. That box is the gift that keeps on giving, because every time I think I've made it near the bottom, I realize there is a whole bunch that I haven't even unearthed from it.

Cute right? (Yes, the answer to this question is yes.)

Discoveries, discoveries, discoveries!

So, I was given a few boxes of 'stuff' from an estate auction here in TN, but had no idea what the heck was in them. There were a few piece of obvious 'junk' (not the good kind of junk!), but there were also some kinda interesting things as well. The thing I'm loving right now is this bag (?) from the Markle Lead Works that used to be in St. Louis. 

It's been beat up a bit over the years, & has reddish stains on the side that has what looks like a drawing of the factory, but overall it's kinda interesting. I found a quote about the history of the company & such, but other than that most info about what I've found & how old it probably is just isn't jumping out & hitting me. 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this, but it's just too cool to throw away.

"The Markle Lead Works, National Lead Company, and the Hoyt Metal Company were consolidated into the United Lead Company in 1905. This plant covered 30 acres of land and employed 500 men who made lead bullets and pellets for shotgun shells. A wooden "shot" tower 90 feet high was used for making the pellets. At the top of the tower, molten lead was poured through a sieve device which allowed lead particles to splash into a water-filled tank at the bottom of the tower."--Quote from the book Granite City : a pictorial history.

Random Find In DC

While on my way to a salvage store in DC yesterday, I passed a home that was being taken apart. I saw they were just throwing everything away, & I couldn't leave without at least asking if I could save anything from the dump. 

This window was original to the house, which was apparently built in 1921. I'm loving it!

I couldn't help myself and went back this morning, just in case. I looked inside the rowhouse & it'd be taken apart all the way to just the foundation & support beams. I nearly cried when they told me they sent everything to the dump around 6am this morning. 

Yes, I have a weird love of trying to 'save' old things. It breaks my heart for some reason to see things that are still useful just being thrown away!

So much fun at the World's Longest Yard Sale yesterday!

Had so much fun at the World's Longest Yard Sale yesterday. If it weren't raining, I'd have probably ended up with a few truck loads of new treasures. 90% of the vendors had either packed up or had to cover up all their goods to keep them from the pouring rain, but the vendors that did stay were so friendly & willing to make deals that it was worth the drive.

I went from Albany, KY to around Crossville, TN, & I can't even try to imagine how busy it must have been before the bad weather moved in. Hundreds upon hundreds of places to treasure hunt, & I think I've fallen in love with this little stretch of 127.

Now I have so much to look forward to next year...

Did you go to the 127 sale? What section did you go through? Find anything totally amazing? Let's share our found treasures!

Ginger Rescues The Lonely Little Table

Remember when I went to Asheville, NC a few weeks ago? In between my photoshoots I had a bit of time to go treasure hunting, so I automatically decided the Habitat Restore as well as a couple Goodwills were on my priority list. The stock in these 2 particular chains is so varied that I honestly believe I could tour America going to nothing but Goodwill and the Habitat Restore and find everything a person could possibly need for their home. (It just takes a bit of digging sometimes!)

I fell in love with so many things at Habitat, I can't even begin to explain my love. It was a really, really nice store. Probably one of the best I've ever been to. If I had a Uhaul and unlimited cash I'd have probably almost cleared that store out. However...I'm a person on a mega-budget, so I got very, very selective...very quickly.

There were tons of mid-century tables, with all kinds of different details, finishes, and present physical condition. This little one caught my eye because of the details on the sides. After digging through the entire store to see if it had a mate, I conceded that it was all by its lonesome self. Picking it up, I marched toward the register & loaded my lonely friend into my car.

It is now sitting in my garage. Nowhere near as lonely as it used to be (part of the fabric bonanza landed on it), but not yet even fully cleaned off. I'm thinking some light tones, maybe a pale grey with a cool accent color to go along with it.....maybe. I've got to wait until it cools off a bit to even think about working on this, or I'll die of heat stroke trying to make old things new again. That doesn't do any good.

I am now in possession of tons of things to work on.

I will take pics & post them soon, I'm just exhausted today.

So excited to have all kinds of cool things to play with! (And thank you very, very much to the person that decided to let me have all of them.)