In continuation of yesterday’s post, I’m going to share with you some more transformations I’ve been making in our home with objects found at garage/yard sales, thrift stores, antique stores and Craigslist.
I love the look of vintage birdcages, either in their rustic metal form or painted white. But they are sooooo expensive in the antique malls (and I’m soon finding that while great for some finds, it’s technically “retail” on everything else and if I want to get things on the cheap, it’s gonna have to be elsewhere).
So last weekend, David and I took off on our first venture together going to garage sales up in the mountains. We mapped out 7 locations that were publicized and found several more pop-ups on the way. We were pooped by the end, but got some excellent deals on some small items.
One of them happened to be a decorative birdcage! But it was hideous. Case in point.
But you can start to see the potential in this concoction of metal and wood, right?
So I cleared it out, brought it to bare bones and….wait for it…painted it of course!
Much better, don’t you think? So I got my birdcage and it only set me back 3 bucks.
I have it on my dresser now which I’ve also restyled. Before it was a collection of rocks (I’m a rock hound and keep interesting found rocks in every room of our house), assorted picture frames, a wood jewelery box and a candle.
Now it contains the picture frame I talked about yesterday, some vintage book I found for .50 each, a vintage camera that I plan on using for TTV (through the viewfinder) photography but makes a great lil’ prop meantime (I love double uses for things!) and that wooden box that I remade a month or two ago (it was a hideous green and red and I painted a crackle white with sage green accents).
And then remember that wreath I made last week? Well I can’t seem to stop making cones for more wreaths, so I hung up a couple off my mirror. The sheets are from an early 1900 book that was falling apart that even the sheets are this beautiful translucent, aged quality (the brown crimped stuffing came in a tin can I bought at a garage sale, so instead of throwing in recycling bin, I used to fill these).
Easy peasy. And too much fun. I’m looking at every room in our house with a new lens.
So check out this great Craigslist find:
I’ve been on the lookout for an antique seltzer bottle but most of them are over $50 so I figured I’d let that idea go! Lo and behold, some young guy was selling a beautiful blue, barely etched seltzer bottle paired with another beautiful blue canning mason jar together for $15!!! We looked up the seltzer bottle online and it’s selling for upwards of $80. When I asked the guy where he found it, he said goodwill. Oh the treasure! (I think the treasure hunter in me is what gets so excited at all of this, but I need to take care to not go overboard less I appear on a future episode of hoarders!).
I have another fantastic, if not quirky, Craiglist find to share with you, but it requires refurbishment, so that will be saved for a future date.
So tell me, what have been your favorite finds at the thrift store, at garage sales or on Craigslist?
