Thrifting Thursday

Some people are distracted by shiny things.

Not me.

It's the rusty, flaky things that grab my eye.

Peeling paint, nail holes, rusty metal.  It all makes my heart race and my pupils dilate.

Raise your hand if you know what I'm talking about.

So for any of you like-minded individuals out there, I thought I'd take you on a little tour of my thrifting process.  Most weekends I head over to a local antique mart.  They have bigger things in the garage, an assortment of nice-ish pieces in the front of the house, but my favorite is the back of the house, with several aisles of $4 items, 2 for $7.  Squee!

Let's look these things over, shall we?

One of the first things I came across were these burlap sacs.  Not antique, to be sure, but I really liked the look of them.  I'm thinking they belong in glass picture frames as message boards,  a la dry erase.
They were not in the 2 for $7 section, though.  They were $5 each.  I grabbed them up and figured I'd think while I browsed.

I made my way over to the cheap seats, and found this old feed sack.  While I loved the vintage look, it was more stained than I would have liked, and I decided to pass.

Interspersed with the rustic was the repulsive.

Then there was this little gem.  I had seen it the week before and decided against it.  This time I snatched it up.  It won't be a flip piece, though.  My next house will sport a dining room with blue dishes, I've decided, and this hen and her chicks will find a spot there.  You're coming home with me, little ones!

What about these pretty swans?  A quick coat of silver spray paint could modernize these little beauties.  I'll take 'em!

These wooden spools caught my eye.  I thought perhaps they would make nifty little kitchen towel holders.  I could thread twine through the center holes to hang them.

But alas, the other ends were in bad shape.  Pass.

Old metal hooks that made my hands dirty when I picked them up.  Love!

This little double metal bucket caught my eye.  I'm thinking a little paint, a little distressing, some flowers.  Perfect small project.

Oooooh, toooools.  Rusty tools.  I want to pick up everything. But I recently found a fantastic source for FREE old metal parts.  And you know, why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?

What's this I spy?  A copper kettle?  My word.  Come to me, Mama.

Oh.  Sigh.

This here horse is bee-you-tee-ful.  But too pricey for flipping.

Chuckle.

I'm ALWAYS on the look out for wooden boxes, but all I see today is little cigar boxes and the like. Too flimsy for what I'm looking for.

Later I had a chance to stop in to Habitat for Humanity's "Restore".  I almost always get some good deals there, and today was no different.

I love to check out their pictures, because no matter the print or painting, I can get some terrific frames.  Like this one.  Nice size, good shape, ready for repurposing.  Problem is, I have way too many frames stockpiled right now, so I must walk-on by.

I love these fake flowers.  For $1.00, including the vase?  I'll take them, please and thank you.

Here's another vase that looks nice at first pass, but on closer inspection it was poorly painted and the paint was flaking off.  Not in a cool old way but in a shoddy workmanship way.  I'll pass.

Paints!  These were like 50 cents for the little cans.  Perfect for mixing up some DIY chalk paint.  I found a nice grey and a soft yellow to add to my cart.

So that was my thrifting.  I spent in the neighborhood of $25 +/-, and got several project to work on, some supplies, and a little pretty thing for myself.  I ended up keeping the two burlap pieces, but found another at a different shop that when combined with these first two, brought the average price to $4 per piece.  I can live with that.

When I finish the projects, I'll try to remember to show the before and afters.  I even have at least one piece that could use a couple of those hooks, so I'll show that, as well.

Thanks for stopping in, and happy thrifting!