Thrifting Scores and a Sad Day for Local Fabric Lovers

I cannot believe September is coming to a close already.  This month is always intense for us, but this go around was particularly crazy!  I look forward to sharing some of the happenings with you in the next week or so.

Besides birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, and the like, I’ve been doing a lot of thrifting lately.  With Xander back in preschool, Milly and I have several hours a few times a week to run errands and get our shop on. 

I’ve found some pretty amazing deals the past month.  The wicker chest I picked up at my local Red Racks for $9!  Obviously it needs some work, but I love the wicker details and the hardware is pretty amazing.

Now, who can tell me how to clean this stuff?  It’s funny how most items have that “I’m one-of-a-kind! I’m a good deal!” glow until you get home.  Kind of like when you try on a pair of really great shoes in the store.  They never feel uncomfortable in that intoxicating moment, it’s when you get home and the newness rubs off that you realize they aren’t very comfortable.  I remember seeing that the hardware was a little worn, but I certainly don’t remember it looking this bad!

The white wicker feels a little dated and too beachy to me.  I’d really love to paint it in something dark and moody, but the only reason I could justify bringing it home was to make it a toy chest in Milly’s room.  I’m thinking maybe a glossy grey would look nice and modern against the brass hardware.

I have one of these champagne chillers in silver and it houses an orchid.  When I saw the gold at the Salvation Army, I snatched it up.  It’s great for ice, plants, ornaments at Christmas time.  I paid $0.25 for this little Beethoven at an estate sale last weekend,
and I think he’ll look really fresh with a little spray paint.   My parents have several busts in their home: Chopin, Beethoven, Einstein…I’ve always wanted one, but have never come across one at a decent price…I would say a quarter is a good deal! 

I love it when I find art in a thrift store that speaks to me.  There is some really terrible stuff, and I rarely find anything worth a second glance.  That’s what is great about art though.  It really is very personal, and I might see something really beautiful in a painting that someone else doesn’t find so great.  The colors in the street scene spoke to me, and I thought the ballerina painting and frame were strangely pretty – I kind of like strange things and I’m OK with that.  I never took dance (ask anyone who knows me how graceful I am), but I’ve always been fascinated by ballet.

A cute little brass street car.  Very Emily Henderson, if I do say so myself.  

My favorite scores from this month would probably have to be these two lamps.  The solid brass, Greek key detailed bass on the left lamp screamed my name from across the smelly thrift store.  I think I paid $6 for it.  I know some people would leave that Chinoiserie on the black base, but I just don’t know that it works with my home.  I’m still debating what to do with this beauty, but I couldn’t pass him up!  The mid century mod, white lamp was $3 at the same estate sale I got the bust from.

While there is a lot of good that comes out of thrifting: money saving, one-of-a-kind, nice for the environment, one thing I don’t love about thrifting is the scenario where you must leave a beautiful piece behind.  The truth is, I don’t have room or money or time/knowledge to fix every piece I come across.  Therein lies the danger.  I can walk into a Salvation Army to look at their art and Bam! out of the corner of my eye I spot amazingness such as this…

$40 folks.  That’s it and this could have been mine – $30 if I would have found some senior citizen to give me their discount for the day.  But I don’t have anywhere to put it, nor did I need to spend the money.  Trust me, I mentally ran through every nook and cranny of our home.  It couldn’t easily replace a piece we already have, it couldn’t fit anywhere.  For a few reasons I had to walk away, and then circle back around, then walk away again, then come back, then run out of the store.  It’s times like these I have to remind myself that it’s all just a bunch of stuff, and it’s not going with me when I leave here anyways.  (You can follow more of my thrifting finds and failures here.)

I have some rather sad news to report.  One of my favorite fabric stores is closing it’s doors in the Kansas City area!  Home Fabrics’ lease is up at their Overland Park location this month.  Saturday is their last day to be open, but the good news is that everything must go and most fabrics are an additional 30% off.  I stopped in the other day and got all of this for under $40.

Most of these fabrics were $3 a yard.  I believe the most I paid was $6.  Besides some pillowcases, I am using some of it for my sister-in-law’s baby shower this weekend and can see some really great dresses for a certain little girl.  There was still a lot left, so you might want to fit a trip into your schedule if you’re local and a fabric hoarder like myself.  If you would like to see the owners open a new store in a different location in Kansas City, they are considering it.  Maybe a nudge from some locals would help.  You can plead with them, like I did, here.