Stealing off Craig's List

As we plan for the wedding, I'm faced with finding inexpensive accents for the celebration. Since our theme is a vintage rustic approach, I've been on the hunt for old mason jars to use as flower vases and candle holders on the tables throughout the reception. This is clearly a popular use for maso jars right now because anyone who has any sells them for pretty steep prices. Luckily, I happened upon a Craig's List ad for old, dusty mason jars, 40 in all. I offered the man selling them $25, and he accepted. I figured they were just regular ol' mason jars that he had found in his barn. He told me that I had to be prepared to carry them out of his barn (which made me a little worried that he was an ax murderer), so JD and I headed over to check them out.

What we found was a wonderful surprise.

Two full crates of dusty, dirty, rats' nest filled mason jars. But I knew instantly that the man selling them had no idea what he was actually selling. While he sold them to me for a little over .60, he could have sold them to me for $4-5 each. These jars, once cleaned, revealed themselves to be very old antique jars. They're in all shapes and sizes; jam jars, pints, quarts, circles, squares ... everything. And they're going to be absolutely perfect for our wedding. Hopefully I can get my hands on about 10-20 more, I'll be ecstatic.

While we were rummaging through his barn (thankfully he didn't turn out to be an ax murderer), I set my eyes on two old wooden boxes. I wasn't sure what they were or what I would do with them, but I instantly knew I wanted them.

Box #1

Box #2

Box #1 from the top

Box #2 from the side

We offered the man $5 for them (which he took) and loaded them into the car. As we drove home, I started thinking through what I wanted to do with my new finds. With a little sanding and polyurethane  JD and I decided that they would make great pieces for the house. The low box with the divider (Box #1) was covered with a wallpaper-like material, but we were sure that we could transform it into a tray for our ottoman. (We already have one on the ottoman in the living room, but it's nothing interesting or conversational.) The larger box with printing on it (Box #2), with a little work, would be perfect as a card box for the wedding. I set out to sanding them when we got home, and JD worked on them today outside in the sunshine. They already have started to look pretty good, and I'll definitely post pictures when they are all done. 

Of course, as soon as I told Mom and Dad about our awesome finds, they called us "pickers" and wanted to know when our episode was airing. Whatever. I'm pretty excited about getting such awesome stuff for $30!