grey goose

It's Thrift Store Thursday,
only I don't have time to shop,
so I'm going to show you something
I bought at Goodwill
a couple of years ago.

Remember, I love unusual baskets,
so when I saw these
I knew I had to have them.

I guess you wouldn't call these "baskets",
but they are matching rattan suitcases.
How cool is that?!
They remind me of the kind of suitcases that
might have been used in the late 19th or early
20th century, by some rich people going on
safari, or to some exotic locale.
Since the style in my home is what I call
Old World Tropical,
these fit in perfectly.

I don't remember exactly how much I paid,
but it wasn't more than $10 each.
I didn't know what I was going to use them for,
but they were just too cool to pass up.
It turns out that these are great for storing those
odd items that don't really belong anywhere else,
such as items you're just holding
onto for sentimental reasons.

So....just today I decided to look for some
sort of label on these, to see where they were made,
or to get a clue as to how old these might be...

this is what I found....

Ha! So funny. Grey Goose Vodka.  I don't drink,
and I have no idea why they have this stamp.
There is nothing more to tell me anything
about them, so I'm going to assume that these
were made in France, but the rest is a mystery.
Oh well, they are still a great addition to my home,
and a really cool thrift store find.  

I finally have a piano!

I have always wanted learn how to play piano, but I have never been able to afford to buy one.
One Sunday about two years ago, my husband and I were attending Sacrament, when they announced that there was an old piano that the church wanted to give away.  I nudged my husband and whispered to him that I had to have it!

After Sacrament I made him go talk to the Bishop and make sure that we were the ones who would be taking that piano home.  I had never even seen it, but I knew we had to get it.

Three days later we went to pick it up, with the help of four strong young men, namely missionaries, who were helping us as a little service project.  That piano was so heavy, they said it was like carrying concrete.
But, they got it into our house and we looked it over.

It was pretty ugly.  It was a solid wood upright, with a blond, almost white washed finish. It was beat up from years of hanging around Primary and Sunday School class rooms. There were about 6 keys that made no sound.  In the next several weeks my husband was able to fix the insides and it turned out that it was in pretty good shape, and it was in tune!  The next step was to make it look like it belonged in my living room.

My husband and his cousin went to work, sanding it down and getting it ready to take a new stain.  I went to Home Depot and bought two cans of red oak stain and four cans of spray lacquer in a satin finish. They worked on it right inside of our living room, considering that the monster was so heavy, plus we didn't want to move it too much, that it got out of tune.  It took them two days and another day to dry really well, but they had it looking nice!

Now for the bench seat, which was just a plain wood bench with no cushion.  I went to JoAnns and purchased a yard of beautiful fabric that would coordinate well with my couches, plus a heavy duty clear vinyl.  My husband upholstered the bench and put the clear vinyl over it, so that it stays looking pretty for years to come, no matter how many sticky grandchildren hands come in contact with it.

I took 6 months of beginning piano lessons at the local adult school, and I have a great time, pretending that I can really play.  Someday I will have time to go back and get some real lessons, plus all the time it takes to practice.

 In the meantime, I have a beautiful addition to my living room.  Not only is it lovely, it turns out that it is super old, practically an antique!  According to the stamp inside, my piano was made in New York in the year 1916.  We took it out of a building that had been built in 1960.  I can only imagine how it traveled from place to place, finding a home in churches across America, until it ended up in my living room, where it is going to live out it's beautiful new life.
I can't find the BEFORE pics, but check out my piano now!