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Thrifted Finds: August 2011

I went thrifting on Saturday. I hadn’t been in two weeks which is a long break for me. I usually go every week and sometimes twice a week. But I had a little break and so it was fun to jump back in. I didn’t find a ton of stuff but I did find a few things.

First on the list, I found two chairs that look like this:

They are nice solid chairs and I loved them. I have been collecting chairs this summer because I am hoping to have a variety of styles and then I will paint them all black and use them with a table outside on my patio. These two chairs were perfect because they fit my criteria. First criteria is that they had to be under $5 a piece. Second (and last) criteria is that they have to be wood. These chairs were only $1.99 per chair! Amazing for such a cool style and so well made. There were actually 5 of them but I only got two because I want the chairs to be mismatched and I thought having 5 the same would defeat the purpose. So far I have collected 7 chairs! I just need a few more, I’m thinking I want 10. Another cool thing about these chairs:

They are from our local college here in town (which is now a University). I loved that little detail :)

And a bonus… with every purchase you got 3 free children’s books. I loved these vintage encyclopedias and I can’t say no to free items! They have some really fun illustrations which will be fun for scrapbooking and such. In fact, that is where I got the star chart that I recently added to my gallery wall. I have already put these free books to good use! Here are some other pages:

Another favorite page…

Cool, huh?!

I was also super stoked about this bracelet I found for only $1. I actually found it a while ago but I hardly ever wear yellow because it doesn’t look good with my skin tone and so I thought I wouldn’t have anything to wear it with. Then, I was getting dressed one day and I threw on my yellow heels and I had a duh moment and I realized I needed this bracelet! Thankfully it was still there!

And lastly, I found something for my Mom:

She wasn’t with me, she is on vacation, but I found these and thought they would look good at her house. They are brass but aged to perfection resulting in a gray brown patina. I called her up and asked her if she wanted me to get them for her and she did so they came home with me. I really hope she likes them :) At least, I think they will look great at her house! And the best part? They were only $7 bucks each. You gotta love a deal like that!

A disclaimer: the candle part in the closest one isn’t really crooked, they hang freely when they are on the wall so since they are sitting on the ground they have rested on one side.

And that concludes my thrift finds for this week. Anyone else finding anything great in the thrifting world? Do tell!!

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Tagged: Thrift Finds

Junk Finds: Door

We have lived in our house for just over 5 years. Ever since we moved in, I have wanted a different front door. My dream door was a door that was paned like our windows so that it would let in more light into the entryway. I love having natural light streaming into our house and I would add tons more windows in a heartbeat if I could. But, doors are expensive and our door was perfectly fine so we allocated our budget to other house projects. But that didn’t stop me from wanting a different door :) As a reminder, here is our entryway:

When the door is open a ton of beautiful light streams into the house. Many times on nice days I just leave the door open (we have a glass storm door too), it just feels so happy to have that extra light :)

Yesterday, my wish was granted… sort of. It didn’t come in the form of a brand new door but it came in the form of a new-to-me door. Yesterday when we were driving home, Jason spotted this door on the side of the road (pardon my messy garage where this photo was taken!):

Free door! Exactly what I wanted! It appears that I can’t get much better than this :) I know that it can be difficult to fit an old door into an existing space so I’m really, really hoping it will work. I did some quick measurements and it appears it might be just the right size, we shall see. It needs a little bit of TLC but that’s what I’m good at so I’m pretty sure I can spiff her right up. I’m super excited, can you tell?

And maybe, just maybe, I will paint the inside of the new door a bright color. I already have the color in mind. We shall see :)

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Tagged: Don't Cost A Dime, Thrift Finds

Thrift Finds 07.29.11

Yesterday I went to a church garage sale and found a couple of things for good prices. Sometimes I think that church garage sales are the best. They get so much stuff that it is usually worth it to check out. They also aren’t usually priced as high as some garage sales because there is no sentimental attachment. We have plenty of churches here in the South so there are plenty to go to. This one happened to be just down the street from where we live, even better!

Before I show you what I found yesterday, I realized I forgot to show you this paint by number that I found a few weeks back at Goodwill for $1:

Actually my Mom found it for me. We were together and she saw it first. Thanks Mom! I have been wanting a paint by number and the price was right. Sorry the photo is out of focus but I didn’t feel like retaking it. Ya, I’m lazy like that! That’s what happens on Fridays…

Okay, now onto my garage sale finds:

Do you remember when I complained about not being able to find a horse? Now I see them everywhere! This little horse bookend was only 50 cents so he had to come home with me. He is going to get a nice coat of matte black paint and then maybe he will resemble the new horse bookends at West Elm. Do you think I can pull it off?

And lastly, my super duper find of the day was this:

Isn’t it wonderful? It’s solid wood, perfectly mid-mod and I love it! It has some major blemishes on the top and I really want to keep it unpainted but it will require some elbow grease. But it was worth it because guess what? It was only $5. A steal. I’m still pinching myself!

And those are my finds from the church garage sale. Seriously, if you haven’t ever been to one, you better check them out! Maybe there is even one this weekend…

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Tagged: Thrift Finds

Kellie Loves Neon

So… remember my little obsession with neon? And remember me saying I wanted something neon for my house, not just my wardrobe? Well, I have accomplished that goal. I have something neon alright. And I love it!

Awhile back I picked up a lamp at Goodwill on their half off day for $3. I didn’t have a shade for it and so I kept it in the basement for a while until I found a shade at the thrift store which they threw in for free since I was buying other stuff. Sweet! The lamp I figured I would leave as is because it was already a great color. Here it is to refresh your memory:

I really love white lamps. I mean you can’t go wrong right? And here is the lampshade I found:

Yikes! I knew this little guy would work out but he’s not so pretty to look at in this picture!

As I was contemplating how to add neon to a room, this lamp came to mind. I almost never paint over white. Heck, I’m usually busy painting everything else white! But I really wanted to try and give this lamp a kick and so… I painted it neon yellow. Crazy? Yes. But fun! It’s bold and you might want to wear sunglasses to look at it but it’s different and that was what I wanted.

Then came the shade. At first I thought I would go for a white shade to balance out the neon. But it just didn’t feel right. I also had some gray and white zebra paper lying around that I thought would work. To test all of these options out, I do what I always do. I put the lamp in place and lay the material over the lampshade. Then I take a picture so I could see what I thought. Here is the zebra paper lying over the shade:

Just not quite right. Although it would do, it wasn’t the look I was really going for. And then it clicked with me… the fabric that I used for the silky pillow would be perfect! So I grabbed some and threw it over the shade:

Just right! Next, I sprayed the lamp with spray adhesive and glued the fabric onto the shade. I basically did the same thing that I did with this lampshade for Jason’s office/library. Here is the finished product:

I really love it! The dining room previously had no color in there at all so this bright piece of sunshine really stands out. It’s exactly what I was wishing for in that room.

Now I really want to paint my little credenza. It will look even better and the look that I am going for in my head will come together :)

I also want to show it to you in conjunction with the living room but you will have to wait because there are some other things happening in there right now and I don’t want to reveal it quite yet :)

So what do you think of the neon trend? Do you love it as much as I do? Would you paint something neon yellow for your own home? Do tell :)

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Tagged: Before & After, DIY, Thrift Finds

DIY: Glitter Purse

As I said previously, I recently found a few fun purses at thrift stores for good prices that I wanted to tweak just a bit. It has been fun to see what I can do with them and I like how they have all turned out. This week I worked on the last one I had left by using a technique I have been wanting to try out. You can see my other thrift store purse remakes here and here. For this remake, here is what my purse started out as:

I really liked the style and color of this purse but as you can see it had quite a few scratches in the leather, just on the flap. The rest of the purse was in excellent condition and so it came home with me and I brainstormed how I might fix up this little guy. I could tell the purse was of good quality and when I researched the brand I was happy to find that these can be expensive purses. Who knew? The brand is LaMarthe and you can find their website here.

After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to glitter it. A girl can always have a bit more bling in her wardrobe, right? I can never have too much that’s for sure :) I found a tutorial for glittering shoes here and I followed the same steps with this purse. I had always wanted to glitter something but I thought it would make a mess and I figured the glitter would get on me every time I used the purse. But with this method, you mix the glitter in with the Mod Podge and paint it on. That way, the glitter stays on because it’s actually mixed in with the glue instead of applied as a top coat. Here is how my purse looks:

In real life the glitter is darker but it caught the light in these pictures and makes it look more silver. In reality, it looks much like the gray of the purse, just with more sparkles :)

Once the glitter glue dries you apply a top coat to keep that stuff on. Really, the process couldn’t be easier.

I love my new blingy purse and I’m excited to use it. Maybe even this weekend :)

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Tagged: Before & After, DIY, Thrift Finds