twig and sparrow: Vintage Bike Project on Its Way at Last!

So I bought a bike. Like, two years ago when we first moved out here. It was during one of our many, many, MANY estate sale outings we like to do on Saturday mornings. The drill always goes as follows: we pile the kids in the car with muffins and sippy cups of juice and milk; we arm ourselves with Craigslist listings and our iphones for GPS reliability; then we driiiiiive.

On this particular Saturday, we just had to go down the street. Estate sales are a little bittersweet for me. You can find amazing and one-of-a-kind treasures, yet you don't always really know the whole story. Today it was an elderly couple. They told us that they were moving into a smaller place, easier to manage.

The woman had a lot of great vintage linens and picture frames. Usually, I like to hunt for china, cakestands, and platters. You really will not believe the places I have found Haviland china (trailer park, anyone?).

Milk glass cake platter! A dream come true! This came from the wonderful estate sale company Odekirk's. They host sales Friday through Sunday. Sunday everything is half off, and sometimes they will host Mondays, where everything is 75% off. That is how I scored this lovely gem! I have used it for several birthday parties, it is just so pretty.

Anyway, I decided to take a chance and go out to the garage. This is usually Carey's territory. He has found some amazing antique tin signs that we now have strewn in our garden and the garage. In this garage, I saw a lonely bike, sadly leaning on one of the walls. I asked the husband how much he wanted for it, and he said 'TWENTY BUCKS'. I liked the shape of it...not mountain bikey, not road bikey, but that old, yesteryear type of silhouette, the kind that screams for a baguette to be strapped to the back of it.

Another famous protocol of ours when we go thrifting is the arguments. It goes a little something like this:
'Carey'
'Yeah?'
'Look'....then he looks, and pauses. He says nothing. Ugh.
So I continue,
'It's only 20 bucks, I can do a lot to it'.
'It's a piece of shit, lookatit'
'Yeah but you know me, I can fix anything, it will look so good!!!'
'It's going to sit in our garage for months before you touch it' (ok, ok, so he was right!)
'No, no, I can soooo do this!'

Then he takes out his wallet and the man helps us put it in the trunk.
Yay!

I have to interject here and say that EVERYTHING that we buy at estate sales, or that I want to repurpose, or that I want to decorate and/or design in our home, Carey MUST give me the third degree for it. But you know what? He always loves and revels in the finished product, then wants to do more.
Case in point below (which, by the way, he enjoyed doing the whole time with me...and has recently informed me that he is 'itching to do another project'. Whatta guy!!!):

Before: $20 table from Craigslist

After: Fabulous kitchen island!!!

I digress again, so sorry! When I talk about DIY projects, I get a little crazy and giddy and my mouth starts to water. HERE IS THE BIKE:

Dusty, grimy, dirty, smelly. What a beauty! I go all My Fair Lady on it and make it soooo purty!

I wanted to buy all new accessories for it, like new brake calipers, hand brakes, pedals, etc. But instead, I decided to try something. A wire brush.