One man's trash...

My nunnie used to always tell us a story about a brass umbrella holder she kept by her door. It was scratched at the bottom from years of use.  When she couldn't revive it, she brought it to the local thriftstore-- cast off with the other unwanted items left for sale. 

Weeks later, she was out shopping at a nearby  pricey antique store.  She spotted a similar umbrella holder-- same size, same shape, same color.  When she looked more closely, it had the same scratches inside-- the exact same ones which caused her to give it the boot.  There was her old umbrella holder, same scratches and imperfections, for sale with a hefty price tag.  One man's trash...another's treasure,...another's profit. 

As someone who frequents thrift stores often, I'm all too familiar with the feeling of complete joy I get from snagging up someone else's unwanted and cast off items.  Reviving them, bringing them back to life, sharing the story of the hunt with visitors and friends.  

So, imagine my shock while on my weekly thrifting trip, I spotted a fireplace screen that I bought years ago for the first apartment Josh and I lived in. It was a well loved piece in our apartment-- it held votive candles which we often lit. After years of use, some of those votive holders fell off. When we moved, I donated it to a local Goodwill. 

At first, I figured it couldn't be ours.  I donated mine to Goodwill, and I was in a Value Village. When I looked closely, though, I noticed it was missing the exact same votive holders.  It was ours alright-- it had seen Christmas parties, pizza nights, and the first years of a couple living together.  And here it was cast off and selling for a few bucks at Value Village.

I was still skeptical that it was our same screen until I looked across the aisle to see a mug with a beaver on it from Fort Lauderdale.  It was solidified-- the mug was ours as well.  We bought it at a little dive bar on a vacation to Fort Lauderdale a few years back.  This was no coincidence.  Those were my cast offs, full of memories, for sale for someone else.

I thought about buying them back for the fun of it.  For some reason, seeing them for sale made me a little nostalgic. Probably not nostalgic for the things themselves, but the memories they represent.  I decided against it-- maybe they'll bring someone else some joy in a new and different way.  Maybe they'll tell their friends about finding them in the thrift store-- cast off by someone else.

It's funny how life comes full circle sometimes. 

And I did walk away with some new-to-me treasures....but this has been a long post, so I'll save them for next Thrift Score Thursday.

Ft. Lauderdale dive bar

On the shelves at the thrift store 

Fireplace screen at our apartment 

There it is at value village

Spare room plans

I took an interior design class at a local community college this past fall.  One of my favorite parts of the class was laying out our design boards.  I loved pulling together different fabrics, finishes and paint colors to create a cohesive room.  It was amazing to see how switching out a rug or a piece of artwork could totally change the direction and feeling of a room.

When I found this amazing queen bed at the thrift store, I couldn't wait to start planning for the design in our spare room.  This room which has received no love in our nine months at Chaney, despite quite a few overnight guests.

While I'm committed to going dark on the walls to contrast with the light wood of the bed, I'm a little nervous to go to this dark slate color.  I went dark in the dining room, and it is my favorite room in the house, so I know it can work.  At the end of the day, it's just paint. Laying out a design board ahead of times definitely helps me feel more confident in the choice.

I can't wait to get started on the room (and convincing Josh that a pink rug is a good idea).  Has anyone reading ever painted a bedroom this dark? Any tips?

Thrift Score Thursday

Some of you may have seen this score of the century on Instagram.  I literally gasped when I saw it-- which happens in thrift stores more than I would like to admit. It's a raw wood, Drexel Heritage, wingback bed, and it's perfect, and it's huge-- but more on that later.

In general, I have three rules/ guidelines when it comes to thrifting. The first is that the more frequently I go, the better my odds.  I try to hit up my normal spots once a week.  The vast majority of the time, I walk out empty handed, but going more often definitely yields more finds.   My second rule is that, if it looks decent in the store, it will look great in the house.  This bed, for example, was surrounded by ratty rugs, socks, mattresses, and general thrift store chaos.  I can pretty easily see past the clutter and imagine the object in my house.  Lastly, I can't go thrifting with a certain object in mind-- because I'll never find it.  I have an ongoing list of things I need for the house, and I keep all of my measurements in my phone in case I need to check on the size, but generally, I go thrifting not looking for anything in particular.  It's beyond frustrating to be looking for a dresser and find anything but.

That's the thing with thrifting-- you have to enjoy the hunt. For me, the story behind many of the objects in our house is what I take pride in. Sure, I could go to HomeGoods and buy what I need (and trust me, I definitely LOVE me some HomeGoods), but I know my best and most interesting pieces are the ones that are collected and have a story.

This bed is a great example.  After having weekend visitors, our upstairs spare room bed broke!  So, when I saw this bed, with all of its beautiful wood grain beauty, I knew I had to have it.  One problem--it was gigantic, wouldn't fit in my SUV, my husband was out of town, and our best friends with a truck were on vacation.  I knew if I didn't snag it up right away, I would be out of luck.  With a $200 price tag, this beauty wasn't lasting long.

So, I did what any desperate normal person would do-- I walked around the parking lot until I found someone with a truck and offered him $30 to drive it to my house. Duh.

I'm still alive and typing this.  All good.

So, with a beautiful new bed, I'm getting ready to tackle our guest bedroom.  Right now, it's a horrible sage green, but I'm excited to roll my sleeves up and get to work.  I'm thinking dark slate wall to contrast with the light wood. The image below is my inspiration right now.   I've got the most important part, so the rest is just the fun stuff!

Client Project: Painted Bamboo Entry Table

Sorry for the delay in posting!  Spring is such a busy time!

I thought I would share a project I just finished up for a client who connected with me through a yard sale website on facebook (side bar: do you all do the yard sale websites on facebook? They are THE BEST!)

Bamboo furniture is trendy right now.  I have two pieces and I get tons of compliments on them. Rebecca's piece had amazing details, but was definitely stuck in the 70's with its beige and black speckled finish.

Love the bamboo details-- not so much the beige!

Rebecca had an awesome inspiration photo, which let us work from a common shared vision:

Love this style!

So, after we aligned on what Rebecca wanted, I picked up the piece from her house.  I did a standard painting procedure-- sanded down the whole piece, primed, sanded again, painted with Design Master's Raspberry paint and applied a shiny coat of poly to seal it off.  I used this method from one of my favorite bloggers to strip the hardware-- the handles were painted with the same paint as the piece.  I put the hardware in a crockpot over night and the paint just fell off, revealing the original, amazing bronze.  We decided to finish them off with a gold spray paint to give them that extra shine.

Here is the finished product styled up at my house

It was a blast to work with Rebecca and help her achieve her vision for the piece.  I can't wait to see it styled up at her house!