Archive for the ‘thrifting’ Category

Custom chair action

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

I got this vintage gold mid century chair yesterday and loved its retro shape – especially the flared armrests. I kind of hate the fabric, but don’t have the time or money to reupholster it, and the fabric is in pretty good shape.

Iggy loves it. Every new chair I bring home he claims for a few days and then loses interest.
The bottom skirt kind of gave the chair a seventies vibe I wasn’t digging. It had wonderful mid century peg legs underneath, so I decided to remove the skirt and give the chair a cleaner look.

First I cut off the skirt leaving a few inches of fabric to pull underneath and staple to the bottom frame.

I used an electric staple gun to staple the leftover fabric to the bottom of the chair. It was really easy, just pull it tight and staple.

The legs unscrewed so I pulled them off, cut around the base for the legs and then screwed the legs back on top of the leftover fabric to finish off the corners.

So this is the final result! I like it a lot better and the shape of the chair really stands out now.
Maybe one day I’ll get it reupholstered, but for now $20 and 20 minutes of stapling really worked out well.

Gold Chair before….and Gold Chair after. What a sassy little minx.

Thrifty!

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

I went to my two favorite thrift stores in town after work yesterday and found some great stuff.
I guess it makes up for not going thrifting in Nevada…

A little mid century wire drink holder thingie. Salvation Army, 50% off sale on all bric-a-brac (my fav word) $1.75

Royal Haegar leaf plate. $1.75 at the Salvation Army bric-a-brac sale.

I’m going to use it for the Boys keys and misc. crap he likes to throw on the desk.

Salvation Army – $2.50 for the Genie lamp, because it was marked as bric-a-brac for some reason, and $13.55 for the white mid century lamp. I really like the second one and its in great shape.

Angel View Thrift. Pyrex bowls – $6.00 for the set of three. I’m actually not sure what to do with them, this is the first time I have purchased Pyrex. I just loved the color and funny pattern.

Angel View Thrift – $21.00. Love the gold chair!
I made a few changes to it, and will feature a little post about its transformation.

Thrifty!

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

Oh man. It continues…
I actually day tripped out to Palm Springs to check out the local thrift stores. Overall they were good and it was a fun trip, but PRICEY. They know what they have and aren’t afraid to price it.


Sorry, these were not thrifted – they were gifted by my mom, and I love them.

Palm Springs art. $12 for the Roadrunner needlepoint at Angel View, and $20 (yikes, but it is big) for the Eskimo at Revival (a new thrift chain pointed out to me by a local).

Salvation Army – $1, they were having an art sale, couldn’t pass it up.

Angel View, Cathedral City – $4.99 for each table. I LOVE the little white one. That is exactly the kind of patio furniture I want. Also, you can see part of my collection of vintage planters…its planting time!


Salvation Army – $3.55 for the vase, $3.55 for the Lucite mirror. Looks like an 80’s coke party!


Salvation Army – $3.55 for each set of glasses. I love the pink elephant cocktail glasses and hope to find more.

Angel View, Palm Springs – $5.99 for the big mid century planter (and it is big), and $4.99 each for the smaller ones. I think I want to paint them a fun color. Someone painted them black and the paint is chipped and peeling, but structurally they are in great shape.

Jesus, Angel View. $2 and his face is caved in so it looks like hes watching you wherever you go.
Hes SO creepy. The Boy has forbid the installation of Jesus anywhere in the house, so I might use his cupped face as an ashtray.

Salvation Army, $5.75 for the pair. The women behind me in line asked if I had “one of these at home” and I said no. She asked why I was getting them if I didn’t have a German Shepard, and I said that I loved their creepy red eyes and that everything scary and weird is better in pairs. She stopped talking to me after that…but its true! I totally stand behind that belief, just look at all twins. So creepy.

Not really a home thing – but I bought a bike. Hospice Thrift – $20. Its a Schwinn Breeze and its in great condition, except the gears stick a bit and the seat hurts my butt. Gotta love the basket.

Well this wasn’t really thrifted…I bought it off a guy who was hanging out at the Fireplace Shop in town. I went to get a quote to clean my chimney and ended up talking to him about vintage mid century freestanding cone fireplaces. I’ve ALWAYS wanted one but at around $600 to $1000 they were always out of my price range.

He pulled it out of a house when they installed a new fireplace and its been sitting in his garage for the last 5 years. Its in almost perfect shape, and has a pipe (its been windy so I took it off and put it in the garage). I LOVE it, and can’t wait to get the patio all set-up. I paid him $200 for it, and even though it breaks my hundred dollar rule, I just couldn’t pass it up.

Saving the BEST for last.
Nameless thrift store on the side of the road – just called “Thrift”.

Vintage George Nelson Bubble Lamp – the “Lantern”. Still has the Howard Miller Clock Company tag. In PERFECT condition – I mean flawless, never installed, with all the original mounting hardware.

I was driving along and did a double take on my way to get coffee in town. I saw it on a table full of junk at the roadside “Thrift” shop and was like – no way – couldn’t be. On my way back, all jacked on coffee, did some crazy Dukes of Hazard stunt driving to u-turn across a couple of lanes of oncoming traffic to get a better look. I pulled up and asked the woman in charge how much for the light – and she said, “oh, that things a light?”

“Oh well, you can have it for $6.”

SOLD.