Flea Market Find

So I will admit from that start that this find may not be for everyone, but for avid mid-century collectors it is quite a score. 

While the family was at the Super Flea over the weekend Eric and I employed a divide and conquer method. We each took one child and wandered through the stalls. We each have a system at this point and we know how to quickly scan a booth or even the theme of a booth. Our method is fairly efficient.

Anyway, I was rounding a corner with Elise on my hip. She was cradling a golden deer we had picked up for 50 cents. I spotted it, a sad looking vintage Weltron Space Helmet Radio/8track player sitting next to a "collectible" box of Corn Flakes.

Now we don't need an 8track player at all, but we could use a radio and the aesthetic charm is always welcome. I asked the woman how much she wanted for it and she informed me that her husband had looked it up and it was worth $80.

I said that it was collectible, but hers was in such rough shape that I was only willing to pay $5. We haggled for a moment and I ended up buying it for $15 with several 8tracks. Eric and I lugged that thing around the flea market for a while, but man it was heavy, so we soon left.

When we got home I set to work cleaning the thing, wondering if I could rescue this treasure (which is worth $150 in good condition) or if it would end up in the trash---a thrifter's gamble. 

Please excuse the blurry phone pic, but you can see what I was working with.

The couple who sold this to me told me that they'd had it for their entire relationship, since the early 70s. It was clear that it had been well used in the past decades. I cleaned off gunk, grime, funk, food, dust, dirt, and a variety of mystery samples. Finally though I had the whole thing cleaned and sanitized.

Look at that beauty! The whole thing is in working order and now a part of our home. Thrifting success!!!

A Month With Less

So we have less than a week left in our month with less. If you are just joining me then let me catch you up. My family has spent the last three weeks and two days without buying anything new! Obviously we aren't homesteaders so we have purchased food, medicine, hygiene products (toilet paper!). I also have a confession of sorts, I accidentally purchased glasses. I piked out my new glasses without realizing that they were over the cost of my insurance covered glasses, so we did pay the difference.

Since I am going to live with these glasses for a loooooong time I didn't feel very guilty about it. 

Cordelia is happy to support my decision.

Anyway, when the last week has ended I will share with you just how transformative this experience has been, and it has been pretty amazing!

A Month with Less: $20 Thrift Store Challenge

Since the family is doing a month of not making any new purchases (with the exception of food, personal items, meds if needed) I thought it would be a great time to show what you can find at a thrift store if you put your mind to it!

I usually go thrifting with some ground rules:
1. Don't buy it unless you are sure you will use it.
2. Set a budget. I rarely spend more than $10 when thrifting, most of the time is spent hunting.
3. Have a long term list of items you are hunting for, perhaps it will take a while to find them, but someday you probably will and the victory is sweet my friends.

I went to the local Goodwill this week and set a limit of $20 for myself and just wanted to see what I could find off of my "thrift store list," the list in my head. I spent about 30 minutes looking around and managed to score quite a haul.



First I found this orange fondue set, a complete and totally perfect set. I have been browsing Esty for an orange fondue set for about six months, but couldn't bring myself to pay $30 + shipping for a set, so I put it on my thrift list. I was pretty jazzed to find it in an awesome orange color too!

 
I found this sweet mid-century lamp, it had an absolutely hideous shade on. I will begin hunting for a cool replacement shade now. Not from this thrift adventure, but previous ones, the chair, mid-century speaker (one of two), and records are all thrifted.

I didn't photograph these as they are in the wash (always wash thrifted clothes before wearing), but I got Elise a pair of jeans and Cordelia a red polka-dot skirt.


I wanted an earthy vintage vase for outdoor use this spring and I found this handmade beauty there. The artist has signed the bottom so we can research that on a rainy day. Also, I would like to note that the flowers were purchased before we started our experiment...they are two weeks old and still hanging on!

All items were things that I have had on my mind, not impulse purchases, very important in thrifting!

So here is a run down and total.

Vintage Handmade  Vase $2
Fondue Set $5.75
Pants for Elise $1.35 (who makes up the prices?)
Skirt for Cordelia $3
Mid Century Lamp $6
           Grand Total $18.10

What have you thrifted lately?

A Month With Less

I think most anyone who knows Eric and I can tell you how thrifty we are. We generally buy second hand. Today my entire wardrobe (unders excepted) is thrifted. That is usually how we do things. It is economical, less wasteful, and generally cool. Eric and I started thrifting in earnest in high school, though I was raised a thrifter. I thought thrifting was an awesome way to wear clothes that didn't look like the same thing that all of my peers were wearing. In case you are wondering I was indeed the only girl in my high school who wore a 70s ball gown to school. I am sure my parents were happy that my thrifting style was sort of like a protective shield against boys.

Now, well into adulthood our thrifting and scavenging has expanded to include our home (couch was a curbside find at out neighbor's house), for our kids, our art. I have evolved from the 70s ballgown (more or less) and now I mix and match thrifty with new bits here and there. Eric does the same. 

With that said, we still do buy a lot of stuff brand new. Just a Frozen movie here, some new shoes there. You know, stuff. Eric and I have been talking a lot about the stuff that we choose to have in our lives. We are pretty good at editing ourselves with the exception of creative supplies, but we still could be a bit more mindful about the things that we choose to bring into our home.

The only relation to this post is that this was in a thrift store.

Eric and I decided that we are going to challenge ourselves to go a month without buying anything new. Obviously there are a few caveats. 

1. Food, we don't have a homesteader setup. We will be buying food. However we will work to buy more whole foods, something we are already pretty good at.

2. Hygiene stuff. I am not making my own toilet paper. There are a few other products that fall into the hygiene category that I don't really need to outline, but I think you get the idea.

3. Art or craft supplies. We will try to find alternatives first, and we already have a strong stockpile, but if we sell a piece that needs a frame we have to frame it. Sometimes it is difficult to find the correct size frame second hand...then you have to  refurbish it with paint. 

So. We are taking this weekend to prepare. This means we are advance buying a couple of birthday gifts for people who probably wouldn't appreciate  handmade. I am also going to buy a new pair of shoes, try finding vegan size 12 lady shoes at a thrift store! Then, on Monday we are going to start a month without buying anything new. I will report back to you as the month goes on. Care to join me?

Around the House: Projects and Acquisitions

I can't say if it is due to my new found freedom now that I am done teaching until fall or if it is pregnancy/nesting related, but I have been a whirling dervish of craftiness. Most of my craftiness has been related to the home and improving our space so I suspect that it is probably more nesting related than anything. Perhaps it is because I realize that from July-October I am going to be spending a lot of time at home and I don't want to sit around and think about all of the stuff I need to do and won't be able to. Who knows?

Then, in addition to the home projects, we have had a few amazing finds as well so our house has made a few jumps that we are excited about.

So here is a little show and tell from my recent projects and acquisitions. I promise that I will keep this limited to just a few selections as my craft projects are too many to cover in one go. I will try and share some tutorials over the coming days and weeks.

Do you remember this post? Near the end of the post I asked for some help in choosing a paint scheme for my hutch. I decided to tackle the project in increments, so I started by painting just the interior. I chose a baby blue that we had left over from painting the basement bathroom. I am all about using what you have, plus I like to have colors and themes repeat throughout the house...a little continuity and good flow in my opinion.



We removed the glass panels, opened the windows and I started painting the hutch. Once I was done I was mighty pleased with the result. Eric really likes it as is and I think I should paint the rest of the hutch white. What do you think?

While I had the paint out I looked around the room, searching for something else to paint. I painted a frame (not shown) and then I spotted our ugly door stop. The door stop is one of those rods that you put in a sliding glass door as an additional lock or something. Anyway ours was super ugly and boring.



I painted it white first. Then, when that was dry, I taped it off randomly and painted over it in blue.



The results aren't going to change my world or anything, but it just made my home a bit more of my own. Plus I am a firm believer that it is those little touches that truly make a space.

Speaking of little touches. We were given these wonderful mid-century salt and pepper shakers. Cute huh?!



Another mid-century gift, given to me by Victoria while we were in NM is this great planter. I added some succulents and really find is quite charming. Goes right with our style!



Finally, the big finish....a few years ago we found these chairs in Denver. We grabbed them and since that point have been looking for a matching table. We certainly could have purchased a new table, but we knew that eventually one would find us. So we just had to bide our time. Well, that day finally arrived. We purchased this table and 4 more chairs at an estate sale for almost nothing---actually the cost was just a donation to the humane society so it was a double victory. WOOO!



So, there you have it a little update on recent projects and acquisitions.

Thrifty Finds and Living Room Sneak Peek

Yesterday we went family thrifting; it's a sport around our house. The goal was to find a new bedspread that would go with our mid-century vibe and to find Halloween costumes. We had no luck on either front. Although Eric came excitedly over to me to tell me that he found an adult sized Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume. He was very excited...anyway we went to survey the costume only to discover that it was not, in fact, an adult sized costume---rats.

While we didn't find what we were looking for we found some other major thrift scores. Here they are in order of appearance:


We spotted an awesome lamp that had time traveled from the past to find us in our local thrift. Eric and I instantly agreed that we HAD to have it. New lamp total cost: $2.95

I also approached a stranger and said, "You look cool," and pretty much forced her to be my friend. She was lovely and kind about being approached by an outgoing lady with a wild haired toddler. New friend total cost: $0...well technically the cost of a business card so we had a way to stay in touch so perhaps the total cost was something in the range of $0.00001


Finally Eric found an amazing vintage chair and I think that I may have squealed in delight when I spotted it, it is perfect for our style and home. New chair total cost: $4







Also, you can see that we've been rearranging our living room. Perhaps I will have to give another tour now that things are looking different. So there you have it, our most recent AWESOME thrifted finds! Have you been thrifting lately?

Thrifting for the House

I was introduced to thrifting as a very young girl. I would say that it has been something I have done for my entire life. I got really into it in high school, it became an inexpensive way to express my own style. I would scour thrift stores in search of polyester bell bottoms and ball gowns. I would proudly wear them and I am sure my parents secretly breathed a sigh of relief that I was going in a different direction from the popular style at my high school of dressing like a teenage exotic dancer (yuck!).

Anyway, my thrifitng evolved beyond a desire to own exclusively polyester clothing (thank goodness) as I grew into an adult. While I still do most of my clothes shopping at thrift stores I also love to look for some vintage finds for around the house. My years of experience coupled with my education (history and art history--who says those degrees don't pay off?) have made me pretty good at spotting some awesome finds. I have some rules when looking for new items:

1) Do I really like it? I mean will it haunt my dreams if I pass on the piece?
2)Does it have a function? Sure the function might be to look cool, but I need to know what I am going to use a given item for.
3) Does it fit in my home/wardrobe/life? Sometimes I find amazing pieces, but they just don't work for me and I have to pass on them. I don't want to turn into a weird hoarder.
However, it isn't enough to just find a cool piece---I have to be able to incorporate it into my life.
4) Does it have real value? Really this is where our education has been useful. Eric and I are able to discern items of value, particularly with regard to artwork.

Here are a few of my favorites---or at least the ones that I felt like photographing today:

We found this Lester Varian set of prints in Denver, already framed and matted!


The pitcher was a gift from Eric and the table cloth was a thrifted find


Bread box


This hat box holds my yarn


Phone, handkerchief, record player, records


Ahhh, look at this orange beauty set along some gorgeous vintage books!

I think we are finally creating a harmonious balance between old and new in our home. I do love the sense of history that a vintage piece invokes.

Do you incorporate vintage finds into your style? If so do you have a favorite piece?

Friday

Friday started a little crazy. I had set the alarm, but of course I didn't sleep in to hear it go off. I was up and going pretty early. The rest of the house was going early too. I was dressed. Bode was dropped off for dog sitting. There was chaos. There was some toast and juice and then I was out the door, driving toward the mountain. I chuckled to myself as I thought, "Hurry up and relax!"

Jess

I met up with my friend Jess at the base of the mountain. We hiked, we chatted, it was so gorgeous! The temperature was perfect. The birds were singing, the flowers were blooming and the conversation flowed easily. Couldn't ask for a better start to the day!

I came home and Eric told me a woeful tale about a previously eaten plastic bag that Bode had given new life to if you get my drift (read the next part in a whisper...poop story).

Eric, Cordelia and I visited a new thrift store later in the morning. I got this saucy vintage mixer and a retro red and white Avon dress. I may have to wear the dress on the 4th.

Vintage Mixer

Red and white dress

After lunch I went for a drive and talk with Sam. We have coffee and drive around as Cordelia usually snoozes (bored by conversation that doesn't involved water or planes), we check out areas of our community that normally go unnoticed.

The rest of the day was dedicated to normal activities: weeding, planting, bathing a girl, cleaning, etc.

How did you spend your Friday?

Susan the Elder

You may be asking yourself why there is a picture of a poodle up here today. I can try and explain, but I am not really sure myself.

Last year we were at an antique store just looking around for some small treasure. I turned a corner and there was this lovely hand-painted photo of someones poodle. You can't tell from this picture, but the photo is contained within an elaborate gold frame. This was obviously a real treasure to someone, presumably an elderly woman. After a good chuckle we left the antique store and went about our business.

For the next couple of weeks I kept thinking of this photo. I truly couldn't get it out of my mind. I decided I had to go back and see it. I figured it would be gone and I could let go of this strange feeling I had. However, that was not the case. She was still there, proudly poised for her unseen photographer. I knew then and there that I was the owner and I just had to admit it to myself. So, she came home with me and now watches over us in her own special way.

The weirdest part is that I am not a poodle person at all. Don't get me wrong, I love all dogs, but I am a very tall and very clumsy girl. I feel as though I may accidentally injure such a delicate breed as I fumble about my daily life. So, naturally, I was surprised by my need for this pooch portrait.

I named her Susan the Elder. She sits like a royal in her gold frame, passing her silent judgment from beyond the grave.