Thrifty Thursday

Thrifty Thursday – Toy Chest

The final piece Griff’s boys space room was missing was a toy chest for all those rocket ships and aliens. On my weekly trip to the thrift store, I stumbled upon this beauty.

It looked to me to be a handmade wooden box for storage. The only issue it had was one broken hinge. It came home with me for $10.00. I purchased it to transform myself, but my dear husband had the week of Thanksgiving off, and was not only completing the stuff on his “Honey Do” list, but also tackling the projects on mine. I didn’t mind so much. It was cute to see him trying to see the vision I saw in the box. First, it would take a new coat of paint. We picked a burnt orange to match the accent sheets on the bed and the big planet on the wall.

I purchased the cheap paint, and it took 4 coats to actually cover the red. Dear Hubby also changed out the hinges to larger more durable ones and painted the top black to match the rest of the furniture. Once all was dry, we moved it into the space.

It fits perfectly at the bottom of Griff’s bed. Price: $10.00, paint and hinges $9.00, total investment: $19.00. The whole room has really come together. It is so gratifying when a vision comes out better than you expected, isn’t it?

Now, to get to hemming those darn curtains!

Any good thrifts lately?

 

 

 

Thrifty Thursday – Frame of Mind

Okay, is the title too corny for you? Well, I do hope you like the thrift. I found this beautiful lithograph nicely set in a large 36″ by 30″ frame at my local thrift store. I like the print and I like the frame, just not together.

Shutterfly was having  a sale on enlargements. So, I did what I do and ordered my favorite shot from this summer (Griff playing on the covered bridge). It took some work to get the original print out of this frame. It was mounted very professionally. That’s what made the frame look all the better. Here’s the finished project…tada!

Frame was $10.00, print was $3.00 – total = $13.00. I still have the lithograph, I need to find the right frame for that next!

What did you thrift this week?

Happy Thrifting!

Thrifty Thursday – Tray Transformation

I have wanted to make a chalk board tray for my dining room for a long time. I first saw this project done on a fellow bloggers site a few years ago. So long ago, in fact, that I can’t find the bookmark from the site it was from *blush*. I want to give credit for where this fantastic idea is due, so please if it was your site, let me know so I can link you into this post!

The blogger had painted an old oval ceramic serving plate with chalk board paint and placed it on the sideboard in the dining room. In following posts she used it for menus, lists and other creative ideas. I have been keeping my eyes out in the thrift stores ever since, for the perfect oval platter. I knew I wanted one that was large and preferably metal, not ceramic. Last week, I finally found a large medal serving tray. It wasn’t much to look at, a dingy yellow with lots of chips in the paint, but I knew, for $2.00, it was perfect.

After two coats of chalk board paint, it is a fantastic addition to my dining room Halloween decor.

I already have Thanksgiving and Christmas ideas for using this tray. It was a great addition to the dining room for $2.00!

Have you thrifted anything good lately?

Thrifty Thursday

I thrifted these great curtains without knowing what I was going to use them for. They were a funky shape at 12 inches wide and 26 inches long. But, I really loved the color and pattern, so I purchased them.

Once I got them home, I realized they match my downstairs bathroom perfectly. It just so happened, I wanted to add a simple valance to that window. I thought with a little transformation, I could make them work. I removed the tabs and the top decorative fabric from the top of the curtains.

Then I reworked them onto the long side to make it fit my window.

I sewed the decorative fabric back on (taking it up another inch to show more of the under curtain), added it to a curtain rod and tada…

Not a great picture, but not bad for a $1.00 investment.

Happy Thrifting!

Thrifty Thursday

A good day at the thrift store this week:

:: A 5 cup sifter

:: A wide and flat wooden spoon

:: Some nice vintage fabric

:: A large quilting hoop

:: Total Spent: $4.25

**Don’t forget to check out my Pay It Forward- Handmade post. Leave a comment so I can send you a gift!

Thursday Thrifts

Something about this teapot spoke to me. Sitting atop three pedestal feet, this solid brass pot is colored with inlay and beautiful flower etchings.

The wooden top shows signs of wear where the stain has been worn off, but I don’t mind.

I am not sure what it is about this pot exactly, but I knew I had to have it. It feels very at home on the shelf in my kitchen.

What have you thrifted lately?

Happy Thrifting!

Thrifty Thursday

It’s been about a year since I converted my office closet into a studio space. In the last year, bins, boxes,and piles of disorganization have taken over. This is a space that needs to serve as a “work from home” office and craft studio. I am struggling to find an organized space that can contain all that creativity, while being professionally inspiring.  So last weekend, I started to purge, organize and reorganize. There was a large need for space to organize some of the excess “inspirations”. I found these great picnic baskets at my favorite junque store downtown.

In them, I was able to store extra resource books, yarn stash, fabric stash and many other things. The bottom basket is my favorite. It is obviously a very old picnic basket. It has metal handles and even has the original wooden cover with spots on the inside cover to place all your utensils. It made a great space to organize some of my quilting tools.

I thought they were so inspiring and functional. I can’t wait to show you more pictures of the finished room. How do you contain your “inspirations”?

Happy Thrifting!