Young House Love

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A Few Thrift Store Finds

I have been meaning to update you guys on four thrifty purchases (well, technically there are nine of them, because I got six of one thing) so let’s get into it. First we have this gilded pineapple vase that I found for $4 at Goodwill. Can you guess what I love most about it? Yup, the hex pattern all over the body of the vase. Even though it’s clearly pineapple influenced, it felt so “bees” to me (more on why we love bees here). And the antique gold finish is really pretty in person. Not too bright and shiny – it feels timeworn and authentic.

Brass Bees1

And see those three jars around them? They were sent over by a friend (ohmygoshIlovethem Amy – thankyouthankyouthankyou!) and they look perfect with my new vase. The color of the pretty lids are exactly the same antique-gold color and… wait for it… there are little bees on the lid of each one. I also love the criss-cross glass effect.

Brass Bees2

They’re sitting on our desk to the right of my computer so I can glance over and smile at them every sentence or two.

Bees 3

Not kidding. That happens.

Second of all, this guy is ours. And he’s also something that now lives on our desk and gets lovingly gazed at:

  WestElmPig

The minute he popped up on West Elm we put in our order (we knew he’d be the perfect way to enjoy music in the office and much cheaper than a Bose stereo or some of the other docks on the market). He was actually back-ordered for a little while, but he finally showed up and we love him (update: we hear he’s now back-ordered until mid March of next year! Crazy!).

The sound quality is great – and of course the white ceramic animal feature is our favorite. He definitely adds some sense of humor and some festivity (thanks to the fun music that we can now play while we type away). Oh and his name? Humphrey. He’s a total Humphrey.

  WestElmPig Butt

PS: Here’s a link to the music video for for the She & Him song that we were listening to. Zooey Deschanel is in all of her awkwardly weird glory, which we love. PPS: You should totally be watching New Girl.

Thirdly, I couldn’t resist bringing home six of these babies for $2.99 a pop from Marshall’s (originally $8 each).

Mugs Side View

I’ve never had matching mugs. We have one of those mish-mash collections that I never really minded (no more than two of the same kind) but I love that the next time I have John’s parents or my parents over we can all sip tea/coffee from the same mugs (and I still have my random mismatched mugs to use whenever the nostalgia hits).

It might be an embarrassing thing to admit, but they’re the first item of “china” that we own with a stamp on the bottom. All we registered for when we got married were basic white plates from Linens N Things without anything written under them.

Mugs Bottom

Is it weird that this is one of those purchases that makes me feel like a grown up? And it’s kind of unnatural how excited I am to toss these up on the future-open-shelves in the kitchen with all of our everyday dishes and cups. If gazing up at them while eating breakfast at the peninsula is wrong, I don’t want to be right. Has anyone else out there made any “I feel so grown up” purchases lately? Like a fancy sheet set (still don’t have one of those) or plush new bathroom towels?

But wait, it’s time for thing number four. It was a small (maybe about a foot long) thrift store rocking horse (also from Goodwill) that I grabbed for $1 because I knew that I could modernize the country-ish “outfit” that he was wearing for zero bucks. I stupidly forgot to take a before picture of the guy, but he was sort of faux finished with lots of paint and decorative details on him like the pony below (found here).

Horse Before

The scribbly blue stuff that I photoshopped in around his neck is supposed to represent the blue raffia around the neck that was glued with lots of globby mounds dripping down my guy’s legs. Hotness.

First I named him Bosley. Then I got to work. I ripped off the raffia wreath around his neck and used an exacto knife to peel/scrape as much of the glue blobs off as I could. Eventually I had a nice smooth finish going on. Then it was time to spray prime the guy (since he was made of raw wood, I thought I might have bleed-through issues if I skipped right to painting).

Horse Sprayed

After a few thin coats of spray primer and gray spray paint that I already had on hand from a past project, he was quite the looker. A bright color might have been fun too – but I opted to just use what I had for now. I’m loving the deep charcoal finish so far, but if I get antsy and Bos ends up hot pink I’ll be sure to tell ya.

Horse 1

He’s currently hanging out on the desk in the living room but I picture him traveling all over the house for a while (perhaps landing on a shelf in Clara’s room or the top of a desk or dresser in the playroom someday?). So far Clara has shown zero interest in him, but I have to admit that I got him because I hoped that someday she’d put a Barbie on him and gallop her all over the house. Yup, Bosley is perfectly Barbie-sized. We’ll have to wait and see if Clara is as crazy about this idea as I am…

Happy weekend everyone! Do you have any thrift store finds to share? Or new mugs with words on the bottom that make you feel oh-so-civilized? Or Barbie-sized anything? Lay it on me.

Comments

  1. Kim says

    Great finds! I LOVE goodwill. I have found so many great things and clothes there. I go every couple of weeks, but I only buy things I love. One of my faves is a rock that holds a small candle-very zen like, which is our thing. Even our daughter (12) has the bug; she was so excited to find an American Girl horse for $4! (she used her own money).
    We just purchased a REAL dining table and chairs from a relative. It’s a Stickley mission style. It will replace the ikea table we have had for a couple of years-practical, but nowhere near the quality. We finally feel grown up at 43!!

    Reply

  2. Alison says

    HEY! I love all your awesome thrift store finds! Around here (Orlando) there are not a lot of thrift/antique stores to go to unfortunately. I normally have to slug it almost three hours to a little flea market that is only open on Mondays from 8am to 2pm.

    Also, didn’t know if you knew, but She & Him just came out with a Christmas album! It is amazing!

    Love all your posts!

    Reply

    • Kathi says

      Ah – that just killed me – I bought 2 of those a while back for the foot of our bed, but I paid full price :( – I’m glad I got them when I did b/c I haven’t seen them in any of my local Targets since, but you can’t beat half price!

    • Randa says

      So sorry Kathi – didn’t mean to kill anyone with that info! I hate that “I could have bought it for less” feeling too, but sometimes you just gotta buy it when you see it, like you said.

  6. Katie says

    She & Him is my absolute favorite band (and I am also loving New Girl!). If you haven’t already checked out their new Christmas album you should. My ears sent me a thank you note the other day for busting out the Christmas tunes a little early. ;) Also, my recent thrift store find that I am loving right now is a little salt pig and a mantle clock with 3 faces, clock faces not people faces (that would be real creepy). We have family in several different time zones so it is quite practical for us. Happy weekend!

    Reply

  7. Veronika says

    Hey $herdog! Remember how a few posts before i said i don’t get your love for ceramic animals? Well take that back cuz that pig is freakin’ awesome! maybe i’m more of a ceramic farm animal girl, haha!
    oh, and you know the sentence that thrilled me most in this post is “I don’t wanna be right!” Did you write that while smilingly gazing at your pig? I should make that a quote on my wall!

    Reply

  10. cheryl says

    Good lord I thought that rocking horse was kid sized, something Clara could ride upon until I saw it on a shelf. Weird. For a long second you all owned the Jolly Green Giant house. Ha.
    Love your bee obsession. I can relate since our wedding had quite a few a gingko leaf references so now I am likewise obsessed. I’m sure bees are easier to find.

    Reply

  12. Tara says

    I love that you are listening to She&Him…and that you are watching New Girl…i have a whole new respect for YHL now:)

    Reply

  14. ali says

    You guys should pick up today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, there is a “GREAT GIFTS” insert, and in the back a 20% off your entire purchase coupon for Habitat Restore – instantly thought of you!
    I felt so adult when I bought a bar from Crate and Barrel to hold all our wedding gift drinkware, wine, etc – it looks so fancy when opened up for company! And the top flips out to make an instant buffet station for holiday dinners!

    Reply

  15. Sierra says

    “I wanna take him down to china town and slice him off a piece of this pumpkin pie!”

    Sometimes I say it outloud just for fun. lol!! New Girl is my favorite show besides PAN AM.

    Thrifty finds give me a better rush than crack, er…I mean caffine. ;) Love your scores!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yes, I still love it but can’t believe it’s only 18″ wide! I like 30″ mirrors so they’re nice and big (so they can hang by themselves instead of in a grouping). Sadly it just wasn’t meant to be…

      xo,
      s

  19. renee says

    I”m squealin’ like a stuck pig:

    “Showtime Networks has ordered two more seasons of its award-winning, top-rated drama series Dexter! Production will begin on season seven in 2012. Seasons seven and eight will consist of 12 episodes each.”

    Reply

  20. Emily F says

    My husband and I LOVE New Girl! It is perfect. I feel like they just said ‘Here Zooey, take this tv show and do whatever you want to’ and it turned out funny and awesome. Love her music as well!

    Reply

  21. Ashley C says

    It’s funny that you should mention mishmash collections:

    I realized after I moved out of my mom’s house that one of the bizarre things I missed the most was her random collection of glasses (no more than two of the same, like you said). Once I realized that and told her about it, we started getting with other a random glass or two each Xmas, so I could start my collection and she could keep hers fresh. I just bought hers yesterday, and then today you talk about your mismatched-collection-of-things-people-drink-out-of. Too funny! :-)

    Reply

  25. brianne says

    When I saw the first photo/image of the horse I expected that it was sized so that Clara could play on it and then in the finished photo my brain couldn’t quite process the scale, haha. Kept reading and it made so much more sense – love it.

    Reply

  26. Carla says

    Man, I was worried when I saw that darn horse thing you bought. But now it looks like a rocking steed and is very sauve in charcoal gray with the black main.

    Reply

  28. Luke says

    Not sure if it counts, but I bought a nice dinner for a client, which felt very adult.

    Love the bee jars – I want to try that tutorial apartment therapy posted a while ago with plastic animals glued to jar lids and then sprayed.

    Reply

  30. Kristal says

    I love what you did w/the rocking horse! And “New Girl” is one of my fave new shows. I love Zooey Deschanel…she’s so awkward, cute, and funny…if we ever met in real life I’m sure we’d be great friends. :)

    Reply

  32. alex says

    On catalogliving.net they had a hilarious caption with that pig…haha.

    Also, weird suggestion…if Clara has the attention span…the new Winnie the pooh movie is like an hour long and pretty hilarious AND zooey deschanel in all her cute, hipster holiness does the music. And its awesome. But even if she doesn’t watch it, its still pretty funny in a classic kind of way.

    Reply

  33. priscilla says

    ohhh, you MUST get some fabulous high thread count sheets ! I promise you that you will be so happy wrapped in that soft cotton every night. Just think, we spend almost a third of our life sleeping (well, we should, but maybe you guys are short on that right now ), and it’s SO worth it~~

    If you can’t spring for them yourselves, they would make a great Christmas gift from family. You won’t be sorry!!!

    Reply

    • Chrissie says

      Haha so true! When I first moved in with my fiancé he was sleeping on low thread count poly-cotton.

      I have super sensitive skin and could not sleep on polyester sheets, so one day in a grouchy, sleep deprived state I impulse bought a set of 250 thread count pure cotton sheets – nothing too fancy but not bottom end either.

      Well, I created a monster. Now he scoffs at 125 thread count sheets, and since getting a new bed we’ve worked our way up to 500 thread count (yay sales!).

      One day I plan to treat him to some really nice sheets haha – that would make an odd Christmas present for a guy, right?

  34. Deborah says

    Have you used the Ikea Lack shelves that you had in your dining area at your old house? Or did the shelves stay at the old house?

    What open shelves do you have in mind for the kitchen?

    Love the rocking horse & the bee jars!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Those conveyed with the sale of the house (so we left them behind) but we are planning to add deeper shelves (those were just 8″ so to work with our dinner plates we’d like 12″). We liked the clean lines and the chunkiness so the ones that we build will probably be very similar!

      xo,
      s

  36. Chrissie says

    Oh my gosh, I love Bosley! He looks so dashing now, definitely elegant enough for Barbie to ride!

    I’ve fallen a little in love with a metal Ferris Wheel cupcake holder on Etsy. It’s so beautiful and looks really well crafted, but at a couple of hundred dollars it is definitely not a thrifty find :-(

    Reply

  37. Shady says

    I am so stealing Bosley AND Humphrey as names for my next fosters. As dog people, I hope you don’t mind your creative names being used for cats :)

    Reply

  39. Emily says

    It’s so refreshing to hear, er, read that I’m not the only one in their 20s still naming things. :p On a thrify note, I recently picked up the best mirror ever. As in ever, ever. Check it out at the bottom of this post:

    http://accordingtoboyle.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/can-you-repeat-that-please/

    And a rocking chair that I can’t figure out what to do with…any suggestions?

    http://accordingtoboyle.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/this-just-in-rock-on/

    Have a wonderful weekend!
    Emily

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Such awesome finds! What if you painted the whole chair white and then just did the top “stripe” part of the swirly legs in black? Might be awesome and kind of look like calligraphy or something!

      xo,
      s

  40. almk42 says

    Yesterday I bought a real pair of drapes from the JC Penney’s window treatment department. They had to order them from the warehouse and everything. Every other pair of curtains I’ve ever had were either hand-made or purchased at Target or Bed Bath and Beyond or the like. Well, we bought our first house last fall and I finally decided the naked sliding-glass door in the family room is just too drafty. I would have happily made curtains, but because I wanted them thermal, and JC Penney’s is perennially having a sale (and if you buy something and do a survey on the back of the receipt you get a 15% off coupon) it was actually cheaper to buy them, especially if you count the time to sew. Which, with an 11-month-old is a big deal. I haven’t even finished his baby quilt! Anyway, that made me feel like a grown-up this week.

    Reply

  43. Tara says

    I saw this post soon after you put it up, and it totally inspired me to make a Goodwill run of my own (it’s dangerously down the street from my office…makes an easy lunchtime stop!) I bought a cute metal tree branch candle holder. It was black, but I’m currently painting it brown to match my decor.

    I love those jars! Super cute!

    Reply

  46. Sara says

    That pig is so awesome! Definitely my favorite of the bunch.

    Just wondering if you guys have heard “Bumble Bee” by Joseph Vincent? …since bees are your thing and all. :) It’s a cute, soft & sweet song. He was a youtube sensation featured on Ellen last year!

    Reply

  47. Sarah says

    My boyfriend and I recently moved into my first ever real apartment. Before that I’d been living in a string of student housing and rented rooms for about six years. I love having a real home, but we haven’t exactly gotten around to making it look like civilized people live here.

    Two days ago we finally hung up the wall of frames I’d been planning for over the couch. It’s not much, really, but I actually said to my boyfriend that it made me feel really grown up. I’ve hung individual things on walls before, but this seems so…deliberate.

    I can’t wait for our Thanksgiving guests to see them so I can tell them all about each piece and why we picked them!

    p.s. I just watched New Girl the other day, and it’s really funny! I love Zooey Deschanel

    Reply

  48. Stacy says

    Ha-Ha! Love the pig. I can’t see him living here though as pig butt jokes would never cease ( yes, husband and teen son are never-ending sources of butt jokes whether it’s about a pig or anything else for that matter) but he is cute.

    The only adult purchase I’ve made lately if you want to call it that is I walked out of Rite Aid the other day spending a total of a dollar and change for 2 packages of Scotch Bright sponges and two 96 oz bottles of bleach thanks to coupons and left over UP rewards I had. The candy bar I bought ended up costing me more than the cleaning stuff. Once I get my rebate back on the bleach, I’ll have made a dollar.

    The real adult purchase will come after Christmas as I’m finally taking the plunge and buying a Vitamix. I enjoy my time in the kitchen, but I’m so done with with prices of peanut butter and other things bouncing around all over the place. It will be cheaper and healthier to make my own, so while I’ll pay the price up front, the Vitamix will pay for itself in less than a year.

    Good job on the rocking horse BTW.

    Reply

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