I'm a Picker!

I love watching American Pickers on the History Channel. They find amazing stuff! Because I don't have the means to travel the US picking for stuff, I get to stalk my neighborhood and Craig's List. In fact, a few blocks away, there is a section of old fencing laying in someone's yard and I want it! It would be a perfect headboard. Do I dare just go knock on their door? You bet, I just have to get enough nerve first...

The coolest "pick" I ever went on was in response to an ad posted on Craig's List for "Barn Wood." Paul and I got a baby sitter and drove about 45 minutes to a small town in Nyssa, Oregon. We drove 'Ol Yeller so we can load up our treasures.

My heart skipped a beat when we pulled in to this old house. There was not one, but two old barns that we could get wood from. Turns out these people sold their property and the new owner was just going to demo everything! If I had my choice, I would have stayed for hours prying pieces of wood off that old barn. We didn't have a lot of time but we did come back with a truck load of stuff...

In that truck bed is a old ladder, I want to go back and get more wood BUT the ad is no longer posted. Good thing I remember how to get there because I'm so just going to drive out there and say hello. I know my Sister in Law Bonny knows EXACTLY what I'm talking about!!!!! What a rush...

Here's whats in the back of 'Ol Yeller. Some old milk crates, a wooden ladder, old feeding door, a gate, a milk pail and a old molasses container. Here is where some of them found a home...

Old galvanized bucket and the molasses container, I love all the rust!

The milk pail!

Some of the old wood used to make a birdhouse

Old fencing, now the top of our media console, I LOVE the authentic bite marks!

I grabbed some other smaller items, that I have yet to find a place for. Not sure what the spring thing is but I have two of them. When I saw this chain just sitting on top of a post the guy probably thought I was crazy for taking it. Life's too short to worry what other's think about your junky picks right?

I just love these mini enamel dishes! They are rusty and chippy and so tiny I have no clue what to do with them...

Here is the rest of my collection today, just waiting for new projects. It's a small start and I can't wait to add to it.

My thoughts for today...BE INSPIRED at everything around you! This pile of junk and old wood inspires me to create something out of nothing.