What Ana Does

My Mom tends to find things at thrift stores and drops them off at my house. A few years ago, I got this framed picture of a gazebo that's so far from my taste, I almost threw it out immediately. But she pointed at the frame and thought I could make something of it. So it went in my basement and there is stayed for a few years. For whatever reason, I thought of this framed picture while in Mexico and thought I could use it as a wipe board in my basement gym. It's So Ugly I Didn't Bother Turning It Around So, I pulled off the paper and removed the staples holding the back in place. It was really no problem. The frame was no longer in great shape, but it's a exercise board for the basement, it doesn't need to be gorgeous. I dug out my old freind Rusoleum in a hunter green color -- the darker to hide the imperfections of the frame -- from my spray paint collection in the garage. While I waited for that to dry, I gift-wrapped the gazebo print in cr...

It's still a freezing March day and, after huge sandwiches at The Picnic Basket (yummy), we decided to walk off lunch in the shops nearby. We dropped by the kooky little thrift shop where I picked up  this framed print  last year and found it was going out of business -- the owners are moving to Texas -- so everything in the shop was 50% off. The place is usually hit or miss, so I was delighted to find this pretty treasure of a print. Cuca Romley From a Thrift Store Beautifully-framed with the artist's name embossed below, the price of the whole thing was $25! And the colors go perfectly in the dining room -- lots of grays, blues and greens. Some Googling of the artist, named Cuca Romley , uncovered the print's name "Place Furstenberg" -- a charming square in PARIS! The artist is Spanish and born in 1933. This print is from a series of etchings she did of sweet European squares. And I love it all the more. I proudly brought it home and wiped clean the ...

Love the Colors and Style Leah and I have tried to check out this funky little thrift shop called Treasures and Trash in Libertyville three times in the last few months and it's always been closed. Once we went and we were informed by a paper note on the door the owner's kid was sick. Friday was my last day home with Leah in the afternoon before starting work, so we went out to lunch in Libertyville and checked out the thrift place. And it was finally open! The store is like most thrift stores, brimming with old stuff and oddities. I was struck by this framed piece of abstract art at the front of the store. We wandered around a bit, I picked out some cool wooden candlesticks and Leah found a domino set. At checkout, I was charged $2 for the candlesticks, $1 for the domino set and $30 (splurge!) for this framed piece of signed art. Turns out it's an original Marko Spalatin signed serigraph called Trygon. And if you were buying it new , you'd be dropping $1,20...