Completely Unofficial Macklemore Thrift Shop Challenge

I recently went thrifting at our local farmer’s market again, and although it was BEFORE Young House Love posted the (Completely Unofficial) Macklemore Thrift Shop Challenge post, it fit right in, so I decided to share my goods, despite it being a bit after the fact. And then I did another thrifting visit after that, so you get to see what I got with my $20 twice! YOU are pretty lucky. (Please excuse all the crappy cell pics in this post.)

First of all, I gotta say I am out of the loop with this song. I don’t have satellite radio in my car (Will has it in the truck and I am totally jealous, but I am holding off on it until I get a new car after the truck is paid off in a couple years). And since there are basically only country music stations down here, that means I only listen to my ipod in my car. Which means any music after, say, 2004 is a complete mystery to me. I have to have friends tell me what the kids are listening to these days. (Also, my ipod has been acting up this week, so I have had to listen to local radio and ughhhhhhh.)

The farmer’s market trip was planned because I needed some new chairs to go with my new thrifted table (which I still have to post about…I keep forgetting to get a good daylight pic of it during the weekend, when  I am actually home in the daylight!). Right now, we’re just using 2 chairs from the old table, but they don’t really match the square table because they are all roundish. We’ll give those back to Will’s mom once we get new ones – she took the table and other 2 chairs. I’ve stalked several on Craigslist, but for various reasons, they haven’t worked out (one of them KEEPS POSTING and I KEEP REPLYING that I want them and I get no reply back…mystifying). SO ANYWAY. I needed chairs. My friend recently got married, so she and her hubby are working on upgrading their house from a bunch of random, donated, free furniture to stuff they actually like and picked themselves.

My friend scored a TON of stuff and got a great deal. For about $300, she got (all in very good to excellent condition): a solid wood sideboard/buffet, a solid wood end table, a tiffany style glass lamp, a solid wood tall skinny dresser thing, and a very cool stained glass style mirror. I kept telling them what a good deal they were getting, because her hubby was having a bit of trouble pulling the trigger (but he is also a GREAT bargainer!).

I was not as much of a high roller as them, but I did get several things (not chairs, unfortunately).

My first purchase was this hat. $9. It was cold, and for some reason I didn’t pack a hat (that’s Ainsley’s in the background). The guy I bought it from made fun of me when I said I didn’t need a bag because I was going to wear it. WHATEVER.

I actually stopped by a nearby thrift shop before going to the market (I was waiting for the friend). Hooks and Hangers for you locals. I got this fun green necklace from there for $3. I’ve gotten lots of jewelry from there over the years, some fun costume jewelry like this, and some nicer pieces (silver!).

I also got this cute little vintage suitcase. I am using it in the newly orange bedroom to store some scarves that don’t otherwise have a good home. It was only $3! There were some nice bed headboards there, too…but they were all for smaller beds (full or twin).

Ohhh, and what is that on the left, there? The buy of the day, folks! That is an enamel cast iron chicken fryer, and it is heavy and awesome. The sweet old lady told me it was a Griswold from the 50′s, but some research after I got home tells me that it is actually another brand – probably an early 1960s Krane modeled after a Birmingham Stove & Range Co. Either way, it’s worth at LEAST 2x the $25 I paid for it! That same lady also had a wonderful jewelry collection that I made myself NOT look at. I definitely need to go back for another outing soon…or when it gets warmer.

Oh, and those lamps I referenced in my last farmer’s market post? Still there! I’m actually glad I didn’t get the glass one – I thought maybe it was too small, but it’s actually WAY huge and just not the direction I think I want to go in. (I’m obsessed with tripod lamps, but the only cheap model I can find it a Target one from a few years ago that of course they don’t make any more. I can’t spend more than like $40 on a lamp.)

So anyway…I made a trip to another local thrift store yesterday with $20 in tow.

I look so shady here bc I took this in my work parking lot and people kept walking by. That’s also why I have after-work-shiny-forehead.

I’ve had a trunk full of junk (ha) to donate for about a month now. The new rule is donations go straight into the trunk rather than going into the shed and then just…sitting. Unfortunately, the store (Vintage Values in Lexington Park, for you locals) was about to close as I walked in, so I rushed around and didn’t really get to take any pics. (Sidenote: there was a woman shopping wearing an emerald green one-piece suit with rhinestones. So clearly it’s a classy place.) This store is great for furniture and “stuff”, but not so great on clothes (see: green lady). They even had a nice little pile of “fake art” that would be cute in the right place…imitation Van Goghs and stuff with actual brush strokes. Kinda cool. I was at first kind of excited by this chair on the left…but it was still a bit too curvy for my liking (though I really liked the legs). Plus there was only 1. I would be fine having 2 unmatched sets, but would prefer not to have 4 oddballs, or eventually find a set of 4 and then just have this guy. There was a set of 2 chairs with straighter lines, but they were reaaaaaaally rickety.

Then I turned around and saw this little guy. I have been half-heartedly looking at wooden high chairs to replace our space saver one that takes up a lot of room for a while now. There were actually some nice ones at the farmer’s market, but most were a little more ornate looking than I’d prefer. This guy? Cuuuuute.

I looked it over and it was in need of a good wipe-down and maybe a new crotch latch thing (what is that called?…a piece of something between baby’s legs, so they don’t slide out…the buckle was there, but the piece had been cut). But other than that, it was in good shape. I inquired about the price and it was $15. SOLD.

I also got a small silver tin pitcher that I forgot to take a pic of in the rush. I have a glass pitcher that was my Granny’s (thanks, Aunt Deb!), and also a steel one that I got as a wedding gift…but the steel one always looks kind of crappy bc it gets water spots on it. So I might actually donate that one and use the tin one now. It kind of works anyway, because that tin kitchen stuff always reminds me of my other grandma (I have a big pot I got from Hooks and Hangers over the summer), Mom Mom. So a pitcher for each grandma! The pitcher was $5, so I spent my $20!

I also then stopped at an antique place next door where I have gotten cute things in the past. That was a bad idea, because the nice shop owner guy talked to me and then I felt like I had to buy something. I’m not the only one who does that, right? Ugh. Well, there was a really cute small copper pot that I ended up getting for $7 (I am sort of doing copper accents in the bedroom, so it works). I had to write a check for it and felt dumb, though, because I spent all my cash at the other place! Anyway – that band around the top is also printed on the inside, so it’s pretty cool.

Also, ha. So he had been giving me info on some of the copper stuff he had after I expressed an interest. When I picked this, he took it and turned it over to show me the little feet (hard to see in the pic) on the bottom, and said “this one is very interesting because it has these tits….er uh…” lol. I called them feet and got him out of the sticky situation. It was amusing.

So anyway. I brought it home and inside and cleaned it up with some Honest All-Purpose cleaner (love that stuff) and a magic eraser on the slightly-texturized vinyl seat. And it’s soooo cute…but also weirdly sized? It’s several inches shorter than A’s existing high chair (I need to get a pic of them side by side), but still juuuuuuust too tall to be able to push under the table for storage. Also, the tray is a bit high for her to eat at now. The tray flips all the way back, so it would make a nice booster seat eventually. (Ignore the mess on the counter, please!) I think it came here with a military family, because it has an old moving company sticker from CA on the back.

What’s your favorite thrift find lately?

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