Thrifty finds

Hey y’all! Just wanted to share a few gems I brought home with me this weekend! I hit up a thrift store not too far from my house, in hopes to find some odds and ends for the kitchen, but I ended up snagging a few different things! I generally try to hit thrift shops every couple of weeks, as most “professionals” will tell you to go often, and it is a great tip! The good stuff goes fast, so you never know what you will find! If you have never tried thrifting/gragesaling/fleamarketing I would check out this oldie but goodie post with a bunch of tips!.

I found this really pretty basket for $3. I am currently using it as a place to hold my keys, purse, and mail on my table to make things look more organized.

I snagged this scoop-neck sweatshirt for $4. It fits perfect, seemed pretty new, and I am thinking it will be perfect for spring/summer layers.

I also grabbed these two jars for $2 each. As you can see, the first one is currently holding my oatmeal, and I am still working on the second one’s use. The design on the right jar really caught my eye. I have no idea what brand/style it is, but I remember my grandma had the exact same pattern in her kitchen. So I had to take it home because….memories.

Did you do any thrifting this weekend?

Your’s truly- M

#ThriftyThursday- My attempt at an end table DIY project

When I first moved out of my giant 5 person college house into my tiny 1 bedroom apartment, I came to the realization that I actually didn’t own any furniture. Everything in our house at college was my housemates. Most of my existing furniture was old hand-me-downs; my sister gave me her old coffee table, my parents upgraded their couch and gave me theirs, my dresser came from my grandparents house. Since I had such a mish-mosh of old furniture that I really liked, I didn’t want to go out and spend a bunch of money on furniture that I would have to try and match to my existing pieces. Since it was September when I first moved in, I frequented garage sales and kept my eyes open for curbside finds.

My two “thriftiest” pieces were a plant stand/small end table I found at a local Salvation Army for a few bucks while dropping off some old clothing, and a nightstand that my older sister gave me when she moved. Both pieces were in pretty rough shape, but I liked their shape so I decided to give them an upgrade. The night stand had a chipped off high-gloss black paint, and the end table was white with hand painted christmas trees on it. I took a sunny day and decided to make these babies like new.

The first thing I did was make a stop at Lowes. I picked up a plastic drop cloth, a cheap paint brush, a bottle of spray primer like this, and a quart of paint like this. I picked out a vibrant raspberry color since my living room was mostly muted colors I wanted to make them “pop”. So I went home and set up camp in an empty parking space in my apartment complex parking lot and got to work. I sprayed both pieces down with the primer twice and let them dry for an hour or two. Then I painted both tables with about 3 or 4 coats of paint before I got the deep color I was looking for and I could hide the nicks and imperfections.

When I was just about done, one of the ladies from the “holistic healing” center next to my apartment came up to me and was complimenting my work. At that point I really wondered why the hell did I paint these things bright magenta. But once I brought them upstairs and saw them next to my deep green couch, I loved the way they came out!

Overall, I probably spent about $20 and a Saturday afternoon on the whole project. The best part about revamping old furniture like this is that I know that I can always paint over it with a neutral color if I get sick of it, and if I find something that I like better, or just want to get rid of them and upgrade when I move, I won’t feel like I am throwing away money.

Have you worked on any thrifty DIY projects lately?

Yours Truly- M