Spotted: My Favorite Ever Thrift

Last weekend I drove to see my sister in Florida…just me and the fetus girl.  It was a spontaneous trip and a little babymoon for me before we are, once again, in the throes of having a newborn and I loved every minute of it except those first few minutes right after I left home.  I’ve never been away from all three of our kids for more than a couple of hours and it was SO. HARD. to leave.  I wanted to go so bad and I knew it would be so revitalizing but the thought of being without my little leeches for a few days was hard.  So weird, right?  I mean, there are days I think “man, I love you guys to the moon and back but I need a break!” and then that break comes and I get cold-feet and all sappy and emotional and I rethink my decision a thousand times and force myself to keep on driving when really all I want to do is turn around and forget about it.  Human beings are so complicated.

On the bright side, I have two sisters I love dearly and so getting to spend the weekend with one of them was just the best.  Farrah and I are Irish Twins – born 10 months apart.  Yep, 10 months.  I was born three weeks past my due date in February and at my mom’s 6-week post-partum visit they told her all the usual stuff and dropped the bomb that she was pregnant again (I’m guessing the whole routine urine test gave it away?)  Surprise!  Farrah was born two weeks early in December and so now for two months of every year we are the same age.  It’s as awesome as it sounds.  :)

We had lots of fun this past weekend doing things Irish Twins do – sewing, crafting, eating, relaxing, going on a 5-mile bike ride along the beach, and thrifting.  I didn’t really have a list of things I wanted to do while I was in her neck of the woods because all I really cared about was taking advantage of that little “break” I was on and spending time with her and her cute little family but I did make it a point to hit up my (our?) favorite thrift store.  We have to go everytime we visit her because it is hands-down thee best thrift store I’ve ever been to.  I don’t even know the name of it but we’ll just call it ‘My Favorite Ever Thrift’. 

Here’s what I spotted on this trip:

There are always a bundle of light fixtures when I go in - light fixtures I don’t need and that I have to convince myself to walk away from.  There were a few that caught my eye (and I actually did buy one that will be going up on our front porch one of these days) that had those great geometic lines I love and would’ve made great fixtures in a grand entry, over a dining room table, in a master bedroom, or used as a terrarium or decorative bowl.

This minty-green couch was something like $20 (50% off $40) and I wanted it.  Bad.  It needed it’s skirt removed to expose it’s beautiful legs underneath and to be set in a little girls’ room or a light and airy living room.  
This piece of art was really cool looking.  The colors got me at first.  With a white mat and light wood frame it could be the life of a room.
However, it was marked at $60 so that turned me away.  I didn’t do any research on the artist but my guess is that, at that price, maybe it was someone semi-well-known?

I thought this bamboo wine rack was cool:
With a coat of some bright paint color, it be the most fun your bottles of wine ever saw before they hit the recycling bin.

This fireplace set was gorgeous and in pristine condition.  Not to mention that the gold color was the most perfect champagne-gold.  I think it was around $10.  I would’ve snatched it up if our fireplace wasn’t gas.

These glass bottle toppers were all gorgeous.  There were about 30 of them in two baskets and I wanted a few so bad but had no clue what to do with them.  Now I think they’d be great just piled high in a glass jar on display.  If you wanted to be a little more aggressive, they’d probably make great knobs after a little trip to a glass store for a snip and the addition of a threaded rod and nut on the back. 

Cute little bamboo chairs get me every time:

And this wood bar stool was really cool too.  Set in the corner of a room with a cute little lumbar pillow or sheep-skin throw, it could hold its own.

More bamboo…
The color on this one wasn’t the greatest so it’d could definitely use a coat of paint but I liked the shapes on it.

And I’m still not sure how I feel about the curvy top of this one but in my head, I thought it’d be fun to paint and style all those shelves.

This was a cool little miniature rocking chair that could’ve used a punch of geometric fabric instead of that boring green.  I really comtemplated getting it because it was so different than your normal rocking chair…and then I pictured the fight over it and it tumbling over with a twin and…nope.

The best score of this trip:
Seven princess dresses – Belle, Snow White, two Aurora’s, Rosetta (from Tinkerbell…my girls are obsessed), Rapunzel, the Brave girl – and one white flower girl dress.  They were ONE DOLLAR each!  I know…take a minute and let that soak in.  A few of them needed a little TLC in the form of some hem and seam fixing but my sister and I did that in ten minutes one night while watching a movie.  Needless to say, my girls haven’t worn normal clothes since I’ve gotten home and I don’t see an end to that in sight. 

This chair was stylish and simple:
It needed a little bit of cleaning but it was microfiber so that would’ve been fairly easy.  I liked the straight edges and it was something like $40.  A little bit of nailhead trim might do it some good too.

Oh my gosh, this table:
Had it not had a sold sign on it I would’ve hard a really hard time walking out without it.  I would’ve figured out a way to somehow take it apart to fit in our little Corolla and take home with me.  Painted white?  A dream it would be with that gorgeous fretwork and my dining room’s first love.

This solid piece of butcher block was incredible:
Again, if I’d had the room, it’d be waiting to be installed as our bathroom countertop or on an island in our next house.  It was in excellent shape, the color was oh-so-good, and it was huge.  I loved the thin strips of wood too.  It had no price on it but it was probably worth every penny they were asking.

Last but not least, we found this faux leather jacket:
I couldn’t tell if it fit me well with this big ‘ole belly in the way so I selflessly let Farrah get it.  ;)  (Being selfless is super easy when you know she’d let you borrow it anytime so don’t worry, no holy points were gained over in this direction.  Ha!)

They have the best prices on clothes out of any thrift store I’ve ever been to and speaking of clothes, they had lots of great stuff but since my current state is stamped “pregnant”, I didn’t spend too much time sifting through those treasures.  I did very much regret grabbing a faux suede shift dress that I hemmed and hawed over though.  :( 

Anyway, it’s back to the old grindstone that I love and will probably never leave again (I’ll just take them with) so Happy Tuesday to you and yours!