My love affair with Silver continues...

I just can't get enough of Silver and Crystal. I'm utterly and completely obsessed. There just might be an intervention at some point in the near future. Damn you Centsational Girl!!!

So today I continued my quest for the perfect dresser and nightstand for our bedroom at the thrift stores. I found the dresser and a temporary nightstand and will be converting them to Tarnation style hopefully over the next couple of days.

But I found more than just that.

I hit the motherload. Well, the motherload for a silver and crystal obsessed person like myself.

Today was the most random day ever. I started off at one thrift store and found three silver/crystal coasters that I couldn't live without. Here they are after a little lovin' from my trusty silver polish. ($2.99 for the set)


Then I found three beautiful crystal wineglasses at $2 a piece.


Then I ran over to another thrift store close by and couldn't believe it when I found 6 more of the matching coasters (which were also $2.99!!) and the fourth matching wine glass!! I was giggling like a maniac and there might have been some awkward glances in my direction.

In my euphoria, I almost missed my next find.



It's just a beautiful little ashtray. The top of the globe flips back to reveal the frosted ashtray inside. I think that it will be perfect on my desk at the office holding paperclips. Oh, and did I mention that it was $4.99??

Here is that ashtray after some much needed beautification. It's got a silver engraving on the bottom saying that it's William Adams, Made in England. It's Copper Plated Silver and I haven't had time to do a lot of research yet.



I just about called it at day at this point. Because after the insane find on the dresser, nightstand, coaster, wine glass and ashtray I figured that there was just no way that I would find anything else and I would be wasting my time even trying.

But I'm addicted. I couldn't just walk out at this point. I was committed. I just knew that there was another treasure waiting for me to unearth it.

I almost missed it.



In case you can't tell, it's a wine / champagne bottle cooler with a liner to keep your special bottle cold. How freaking amazing is that. For $8.99. Seriously. I kid you not. Unbelievable. $9 dollars. I love thrift stores.

Here it is after some polish


This piece is marked as Sheffield Silver Co., which is out of Brooklyn, NY and is just gorgeous. I'll be doing some research on this piece to see whether or not it stays with me as one of my most treasured possessions or whether it will go up for sale. It looks a little small in these pictures, but it is a full sized bottle cooler.

I couldn't boil the silver to remove the tarnish on the coasters or the wine cooler due to the glass on the coasters or the liner on the cooler. So it involved some elbow grease, but was well worth it.

Tomorrow, the kids go to school and I have a lot of painting to do. I've got a buffet table, dresser and side table to beautify... wish me luck.

Tarnish be gone...

I bought the most amazing candelabra from a thrift store the other day for $2.99.. I knew that there was silver somewhere under the black tarnish but man was it hard to see.

Of course I was so excited to get started on it that I didn't think to get a picture beforehand. I just went ahead and grabbed that bottle of sterling silver beautifier and started working. But after about 15 minutes, I had a teeny little spot uncovered.

This was not going to work.

So I turned to my trusty google and came up with a promising answer...

It involved tin foil, baking soda, water and a big pot.

I put the tin foil down, on the bottom of the pot, covered the candelabra with water and then slowly added the baking soda.

The secret is 1 cup of baking soda per every gallon of water used.

Here is where the light bulb clicked and I realized that I should be taking pictures...



Here is after about 20 minutes in the pot. I didn't have a full cup of baking soda so I'm sure that it would have been faster and better if I had. I've read that you want to add it really slow so that it doesn't spill over.



As you can see, when I pulled it out, there was a thin film over it so I grabbed that trusty silver beautifier and buffed my little heart out... After a couple of minutes, here was my end result:

Silver Candelabra
Thrift Store - $2.99



It's now got some beautiful red candle's in it and it's adding some glam to my dining room and I'll be on the look out for some more beautiful silver pieces to boil up. I've been scooping up crystal and silver and I'm excited that now I can stop using elbow grease to banish tarnish.

And I've heard from Missives from Suburbia that 3M makes anti-tarnish strips that sit under the piece to keep it from becoming tarnished which I'll be picking up when I get some more baking soda.