Thrifty Thursday & the one that got away

As any of you Craigslist-ers, yard sale-ers, and thrift-ers out there know, this hunt can be hit-or-miss.  I can search Craigslist for a month to no avail, then BAM!  This happens.

I had a "bam" moment recently that I feel inclined to tell you about.  I've been searching for a dresser for the dining room (you know, a buffet, or whatever), and suddenly one afternoon I came across this:

That's right.  This.  Magnificent Mid Century Modern beauty.  For 50 bucks.  The stars had aligned,   the clouds opened up and a beam of light shown down on me sitting in front of my computer screen.  And I'm pretty sure I heard angels singing, too.  I almost pulled a finger muscle hitting the "reply" button so fast.

Then I realized the beam of light had actually been shining on some other lucky a-hole.  Someone had beat me to it.  I wanted to cry.  Like a young, spoiled child.

But don't think I didn't get back up on that horse.  Like a gambling addiction at one of those quarter pusher machines, I became obsessed.  Furiously searching Craigslist, I decided this unfortunate situation would NOT happen again!  (stomping foot and shooting fist into the air).

On the bright side, I did manage to rake in a handful of other bargains that are attempting, unsuccessfully, to fill the void left by my dresser (yes, mine).

Exhibit A.  Hello, little cabinet.  I nabbed this guy for $40- probably more than I should have spent looking back, but I was rebounding, people.

He's a little worse for the wear, so a paint job is in order.

I plan to put him where the little grey cabinet is under the window in this picture.  Then the dresser will go under the chalkboard.

I also snagged this sweet quilt at a neighbor's moving sale.  I bought 6 dresses and 2 pairs of earrings from her for $8 (because when you're as freakishly small as I am and you find anything remotely cute at a good price that fits, you buy that ish).  She tossed in the quilt.  Fo' free.  Whoop whoop!

The last addition is this ginormous beast of a trunk.  It had seen better days when I bought it.  A couple of boards were loose, and the trim on the lid was coming off.  But as mentioned, it's gargantuan.  And only 20 bucks.

A little hole-drilling and nailing got this baby into workable shape.  I've been considering a paint job, but I'm kinda digging the beat up, rustic look.  At any rate, it holds a ton of blankets, which until now were kept in giant crates in the office.  Also, don't mind that crater coming from beneath the window.  The glories of old-home-ownership.

I did spot this great MCM sofa as well, not long after the dresser catastrophe.  A bargain at $90, and new upholstery would make it a beaut.  It didn't really "get away".  I actually emailed the person selling it, had plans to reupholster it myself (oh yea, and learn how to reupholster a couch, because that's also important), and was figuring out a way to haul the thing back to our house.  Then my brain came out of hibernation, smacked me in the face, and asked me why in the heck I would buy a couch.  I freaking love our fantastic Chesterfield.  And I no longer have an extra 3000 square feet of space to just... fill.  Poo.

So what about you?  Any celebration-worthy finds recently?

Thrifted Kilim Rug

Sometimes I browse through a thrift shop and leave completely empty-handed.  Other times, I find a cute pair of champagne coupes.  Or the perfect piece for a Mardi Gras costume.  Or an inexpensive terrarium jar.

Then, there's the rare occasion when I hit.  The.  Jackpot.

And I celebrate in a fashion that looks similar to this.

What makes me dance uncontrollably under a spraying bottle of champagne, you ask?  Okay, there's usually not champagne.  But I can't help but do a little jig when I find something like this.  Meet Kilim rug.  From Goodwill, no joke.  He's been walked on a lot in his day (and he's a little wrinkly in these pictures), but I adore his every flaw.

You may remember our previous rug... from Lowe's originally.  It can be seen in a million old posts, but here's a glimpse of it in our old apartment, in case you don't remember:

Worked well for our house in Indy, and I actually still liked it.  I just really wanted some color.  And this new fella does it for me.

Since I didn't have another good spot for the old traditional rug, it got a new home via Craigslist.  And this guy took over the dining room.

Last weekend we finally got our reclaimed dining table, by the way.  I can't wait to show you what it looks like on this sweet rug!

So what about you?  Any great thrift shop finds these days?!

Tr(ay)s Chic

Since day 2 in our new place, I've been planning to create a mini-bar here.

It's really very simple.  I just need a couple of shelves, some wine glass holders, and voila.  But I just haven't made time for it yet.  New Orleans and I are still in our infatuation phase.  There's so much going on every day, I can't tear myself away to do anything at home... such as cleaning... for instance.  I realize that's comparable to complaining about having too many ice cream flavor options, but it's really just out of control.  I need an intervention.

So I'm starting small.  Meet tray.  I bought tray about a gazillion years ago at a thrift shop for $3, with plans to add some pretty paint.  

It's finally tray's time to shine.  The basics may still be necessary to make this area a bar, but for now, we'll at least have a tray for serving and entertaining.

To begin, I coated the center with a couple layers of white spray paint.  After it dried over the weekend,  I used Frog Tape and newspaper to cover the center while I spray painted the edges and handles with gold.  Simple, but it made a big difference.

I just tossed these glasses and napkins on for the picture.  Imagine these glasses full and a plate of cheese on the side.  Aaaaand my forever-procrastinated shelves and wine glass holder on the wall above it.  Yea, it's coming along.  Slowly.

In other news, I just bought paint for the sideboard I posted about recently!  If it takes me all summer, I will make some project progress!

Happy almost-weekend, folks :)

Slap a Little Paint on It

I showed you my Craigslisted cabinet in this post, but I haven't gotten around to showing you the finished makeover until now!  

I started with this guy for $20.  Shabby, right?  Someone loved that green/gold spongepainty look at one point, but it wasn't working here.  

And check these out.  Especially the ones in the background.  Falling a little short in the leg department?  

Here's what I had to work with.  

• 6 little legs from Lowe's- $1.50 each
• $3 sample container of Valspar satin paint in "Almost Charcoal"
• foam paint brush
• mini foam roller- the same kind I used for the kitchen cabinets
• fine grit sand paper- I used 220, because the original paint was flat and I just needed a little roughing.

The new legs.

After taking the lion pull off the front (which is completely awesome, by the way), I sanded the whole thing down.  Next, I wiped over the surface with a damp cloth and got to painting once it was dry.  I painted the new legs separately, then added them on at the end.  Total cost for this little cabinet including facelift?  32 bucks :) 

The mirror came with the buffet we have in the dining room.

I've been getting a lot of questions about the next giveaway- For those of you wondering, we don't have a date nailed down yet, but there's some good stuff coming your way in March!  Stick around!

Chester for Cheap

As I discussed in this post, I've been doing a little more thrifting and Craigslisting lately.  I am seriously on a roll this month though!  If you remember, I was gushing before about how super-duper amazing it would be to find a Chesterfield sofa for less than... ya know... 1000 bucks.  Ohmygoodness did I find the perfect piece!

I happened to look at Craigslist Saturday morning just seconds after this post was written:

Umm... a Chesterfield sofa AND 2 chairs?  For... $169?!  Holy moly was I on it!  Naturally, I professed my creepy, stalker-style, undying love for this sofa to the guy selling it.  We stopped by Monday afternoon to see it, and the seller told us he had gotten over 50 responses in the first 3 hours and had to remove the listing.  And yours truly was the first to respond!  Woop woop!

Tuesday evening we rented a Uhaul van for about $30 to get the thing home.  And here he is.  Chester.  My lover.  Isn't he handsome?!

Now that our furniture family is complete, what's left to do?

1. Tile the fireplace.  I'm thinking small white and grey marble, like this, this, and this.  And I'm also loving the different designs from Home Depot, like this one and this one.  For such a small area, price won't be much of a factor.
2. Spruce up the floor tile around the fireplace.  I'm thinking about painting it.  We'll see.
3. Replace the curtains with something darker and heavier.  I considered painting the walls darker, but curtains are much easier :)

Don't forget, the Etsy Valentine's Day Giveaway ends Thursday!  Scroll down to get your entries in before it runs out!

Thrifty Things

I've been doing a little thrifting and Craigslisting (yep, it's a word) lately, and I've gotten pretty lucky with a few pieces.  Here are a couple, with a slight lamp facelift and another makeover on the way.

Sweet little candy jar with scoop for $3 at a thrift shop east of downtown.  I have absolutely no idea what I'll use it for yet... but we had a love connection, so I'll come up with something.

Thrifted Houndstooth Skirt

I've had a recent obsession with all things chevron and houndstooth.  So when I spotted houndstooth fabric across the room on a recent thrift shop spree, I was all over it.  I picked up this black and white beauty for $4, knowing I could probably make it work.  Here's the original- quite a few sizes bigger than normally fits me... (excuse the funky coloring)