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

  2. Sarah says

    I feel really grown up lately….we just purchased a new boiler for our house. Aside from our house and our used cars, that is the most expensive thing that we have ever bought. We will have energy efficient heat on Monday!!! yaeah!

    Sarah

    Reply

  8. Leigh Ann says

    Do you know the reference that is in the stamp on your mugs? It’s Portobello Road– one of my favorite places on earth! (I studied abroad in England, twice!) It’s a wonderful antiques market/street fair in Notting Hill. I totally would have bought them because they’re named after Portobello!

    Here’s a link: http://www.portobelloroad.co.uk/

    Reply

  11. esther says

    We were at the sollicitors office last week, signing the last paperwork for the new house (that is being build over the next few months, yay!) and handing over the first big bag of cash definitely made me feel like I was doing one of those almost-a-real-grown-up type of purchases ;)

    Reply

  12. Christi says

    I’m 37 and just bought my first set of matching towels! All the towels I had before were handed down from my mom. Ha!

    Reply

  13. jennM says

    not sure if someone posted already but whoever may want the pig speaker may still find it in stores. i wanted to get it online but saw its backordered til march 2012 so i tried my luck at a store near me in Paramus, NJ and they were tons of it so maybe other locations may also have it.

    love my little piggy :)

    Reply

  15. Ravenna says

    I had a total “oh my god we’re all grown up now” moment when my husband and I finally got matching dishes (white of course), including 8 matching coffee mugs. It *totally* makes the kitchen better :) Completely understandable.

    Reply

  17. Amanda Nowak says

    Just for the record, it makes me incredibly happy that people with such an awesome home buy things for $2 at Goodwill. Thanks for the inspiration :D

    Reply

  18. Hildur says

    Hi,

    I live in Iceland but I was wondering if you do interior designs for other people, maybe through email? Pleas email me if you do.

    I love you blog BTW!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      So sorry, we wish we had time to take on outside projects… but our house, our baby, our blog, and our upcoming book are keeping us super busy these days! Thanks so much for the interest though! Maybe try googling “online decorating help” or “design advice” to see what comes up?

      xo,
      s

  19. Erica says

    Hi guys,
    I know this has nothing to do with this particular post..but I was looking through your house pics and noticed you have the Karlstad Ikea sectional. We are thinking of getting one as well but when we went to Ikea today and sat on the one in the showroom it was really uncomfortable (pretty hard) and the back cushions weren’t very high (so didn’t give great back support)..the one that they had on display was not the dark grey one that you have and was a bit smaller..but we’ve heard that people have been really happy with the Karlstad and so we were wondering if you liked it and would recommend it?? Thanks so much!! I love your blog!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      No complains! We’re on it right now. Hahah. We hang out there every night and sink right in. It’s really comfy for us. My favorite spot is the chaise. So cozy.

      xo
      s

  20. Kylie Harbin says

    Hey! I just bought that circle mirror seen above the cut little horsey from Hobby Lobby. It was the last one and some of the finish has flaked off. Do you recommend anything to cover up those areas??

    Reply

  22. Christina says

    Where did you get the mirror above the desk in your living room?? I immediately rushed over to your “where we got it” page but the mirror isn’t mentioned. I even checked out your Amazon store hoping you’d have it there. Please pleeeease share!!!

    P.S. I’m hooked on New Girl as well. My husband thinks it’s dumb but it cracks me up : )

    Reply

  26. Jenna l Homeslice says

    Three things:

    I love the little rocking horse, how fun!

    The pig is hilarious! I totally want one, no wonder they’re back ordered until March!!

    And New Girl is rocking my world right now. SO funny.

    Reply

  30. Brooke says

    I was just perusing the One Kings Lane site and saw a golden fruit quite similar to your Goodwill find …. thought you’d like to know it’s retailing for $289! Quite a deal when you consider it’s marked down from $625?! (https://www.onekingslane.com/product/12384/347238) If you could bottle the feeling of buying a great item and finding out you also spent less than the general public…I’d be addicted :)

    Reply

  32. Holly says

    I’ve been wanting a speaker for my daughter’s room and I thought the West Elm ceramic pig would be perfect. I was so disappointed when I received it. I found the sound quality to be terrible! She has stuffed animals that have better sound quality. I’d return it if it wasn’t monogrammed :(

    I wonder if they’ve changed something since you received your pig???

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Woah- that stinks! I wonder if it got damaged in shipping or something! That doesn’t sound right at all. I would contact them and ask that they send you another one. Ours packs some great sound! It was even in House Beautiful recently for the awesome sound quality!

      xo,
      s

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