Thrift Store Decor

    At this moment I should be either bathing dogs, cleaning the basement, emptying some boxes I have stacked in my living room, or cleaning something in preparation for my parents arrival this Wednesday.  But instead I'm gonna blog!  I had a few compliments today regarding my blog and it's made me want to share something!  I've decided to show you a few things I did in my living room.  Lots of pictures in this one.  I hope you don't mind.  I doubt you will.
    About three weeks ago I made a run to my local Goodwill and then JoAnns.  I love turning other peoples junk into my own treasure.  You can find some cool stuff at thrift stores if you use your imagination and think outside the box.  Oh, and if you're not afraid to use paint!  I spent about $30 at Goodwill and $17 at JoAnns (clearance and sale items only at JoAnns).  A couple of days after that I invited my neighbor and her toddler to Arc Thrift Store with me and my monkeys.  We had a great time going through the aisles and aisles and aisles of outdated decor.  The key is to go through twice.  You always miss something the first time.  In fact, I missed half of my items the first time.  And probably could have gotten more if I'd gone through again!  But I left with $30 worth of gooooood stuff.  Here's what I got in my two trips....

   The first pic is from GW and JA's, and the second pic is from ATS.  So I didn't use every bit of this in my living room, but I wanted to show you what all I got for the moolah!  The black bone shaped picture frames are gonna go in my groom room, and the books were just bribery items to keep my monkeys quiet and under control while I perused the aisles twice....or maybe three times.  They weren't totally effective.  I mean, it kept them occupied, but when I noticed a long line of people staring angrily at me because they couldn't get past because my 2 year old was laying flat on his back across the aisle looking at his book...I got a bit flustered.  Especially when his bones turned to jelly the moment I tried to lift him to a standing position.  Bah!  I just smiled and apologized to all the grumpy people passing by while my little one grunted and flopped and flailed in my arms.  I wonder how I'm gonna pay him back for that one when I'm old and he has to take me places with him.  Maybe I'll do the jelly bones maneuver and slide out of my wheelchair in the produce section at Walmart.  Then he can be the one to pick me up grunting and flailing while people just stare at him like he's an idiot.  Ha!  Anyways...back to my thrift store decor.  There are a few more of these items you won't see again in this post, but I'm using them other places or have plans for them.  So in a previous post you saw I painted the frames for my staircase wall.  In this post I'm going to show you two other items I painted with a pretty blue spray paint.  Unfortunately I didn't get an up close picture of the befores, but here are the afters.  First is a brass colored metal barrel shaped thingy.  I have absolutely no idea what it is, but I liked the shape, so I painted it, distressed it a bit, and threw some smell good pine cones (that I bought at JoAnns on sale) in it.

    I think it's cool.  Then I painted a small candle holder.  It's a pillar style, which I love, but it was dark wood, which I don't love.  So after painting and distressing it a bit, I put it in the white tray I had bought at JoAnns.  The tray was originally $17, but because it was cracked all the way across, they gave it to me for $4.  Score!  I threw in more of the pine cones, which covered the crack, and put it on my coffee table. 

   I love the pop of blue and the red pine cones!  Moving on.....did you see the "whiskey jug" I had gotten at Goodwill.  I loved the shape and I wanted to fill it with green peas to add some color.  However, I did not want to buy $10 worth of peas to put in my $4 jug.  So.......with a hot glue gun and some jute twine I already had I wrapped the bottom half of the jug with the twine and then shoved plastic bags inside.  That way I only had to buy half the peas and you wouldn't see the bags in the bottom.  Also, the screw lid on the jar was plastic, which I did not like, so I cut a piece of burlap I had to put over the lid and tied it down with more twine.  I decided it looked nice on my fireplace. 

 

     There are a couple of things I like about this.  The textures from the twine, burlap, and peas, and the colors from the twine, burlap, and peas.  They add so much to the already cool shape of the jug.  Love it!  Okay, so I'll try to wrap this up.  I wanted to put the rest of my super cool thrifty finds on my empty arch.

    Isn't it so sad up there?  But oh the possibilities!  Here were a couple of my favorite purchases....

    I love this little lantern!  It has a broken leg, but you won't be able to see it.  I absolutely adore the shape and glass and metal details.  Here's another cool piece....

    Eeeeeeeee!  I got so excited when I found this.  And look at that price tag...$1.99!  Soap and water and a magic eraser made this baby shine.  I stacked my goodies on each side of the archway.  I would love to have twice the amount I have up there, but if I'm patient I'll find the perfect pieces.  Here's how it turned out.....

    The two baskets and the greenery in the first pic were things I already had, so I stacked 'em up and threw 'em up there.  The cool basket in the second pic is a picnic basket I found at Arc.  The handle was broken so I just removed it.  I love that basket!  I'm aware that the blue barrel shaped thingy needs more pine cones.  I'm working on it.  I've mentioned before that my enthusiasm runs out.  It may take a few months.  I threw the greenery up there because it needed something.  I'd prefer a vase with some tall grass, but I didn't have one.  I guess that means I need to go back to a thrift store.  There's a new one on Lincoln I want to try.  Who wants to go with me?

Awaiting Your Invitation To Go Thrifting,
Rachel