Category: Deals, Steals, & Thrifting

Good deals and thrift store shopping.

Shopping Trip

Published on by Our Humble Abode12 Comments

Warm weather makes me want to get out of the house, whether for a walk, watching V play at the park or shopping.  Of course, this is about shopping, because you probably don’t want to read about our walk or trip to the playground.  World Market sent me a postcard for $20 off a purchase of $20 or more, as a birthday gift.  How thoughtful, seeing as we barely know each other.  Anyway, the boys and I strolled over to World Market, postcard in purse hand.  Here’s what caught my eye.  The Josephine Desk for $199.99.  The design is classic and simple, but I know Ben could build something for less than 200 bucks.  This desk would also look great as an entry table.

This industrial chic dining chair for $109.99.  They also have a coordinating backless barstool.  I don’t think Ben would go for an industrial style, though.  Oddly enough, the man doesn’t like the manly look.  No, he’s not gay.  Haha.

We walked out of World Market with two green Velvet Toss pillows and a bag of chocolate pennies.

It was a toss-up between the green and Moroccan blue, but I think the blue was too similar to the pillows we already have.

And the yellow-green is the perfect spring color.  It reminds me of the first leaves after winter.

After WM, we walked over to Ross.  These lamps are great, especially for $29.99 each, shade included.  Am I the only one who thinks anything more than $30 is too much for a lamp?

My sisters just came out for a visit and we took a trip to Ross to find lamps.  Ash and I saw an awesome set for $45 each, but she didn’t know if her boyfriend would.  Upon his approval, she bought these:

When she brought them in the house,with all seriousness, Vincent said, “Oh my gosh!  Those are incredible!”  Can you tell he shops with decor loving parents?

I’ve been looking for a table to sit over the theater room sub woofer, which is smarter than your average bear (name that cartoon) taller than the average table, with little luck.  Every cheap table is just that, cheap.  I like the style of this table, but I think Ben would like to build something sturdier, even if it is $29.99.

Lastly, we dropped by Bed Bath & Beyond.  This pillow would be fun to duplicate.  If you think I’m cheap because I don’t want to spend more than $30 on a lamp, you know I’m too cheap to buy a $29.99 pillow.  At least I can’t make the lamp.

Josephine desk: $199.99

Industrial chair: $109.99

Ceramic lamps with shades: $29.99

Side table: $29.99

Textured pillow: $29.99

Mr. Ev with Mrs. Meyers: Priceless.

 

We’ve never used Mrs. Meyers’ laundry soap, so Vincent picked out a trial bottle for $1.99.  Then, Ev wanted it and wouldn’t let go.  Silly boy.

We love Ross for their deals on rugs, bedding, and housewares.  We’ve snagged a few friends from World Market and got a smokin’ deal on our dining chairs.

Have you seen new items that made your heart pitter patter?  Do you have a price your unwilling to go over for certain items?  Do you use Mrs. Meyers stuff to clean your abode?  Maybe you have kids who prefer strange items over toys?

Bench Warming

Published on by Our Humble Abode14 Comments

Earlier this spring, while my parents were out for a visit, my mom, the boys and I went for a walk.  On our route home, I spotted a neglected bench behind an AA meeting place.  I got closer and inspected the dated, dirty bench and realized it was an indoor couch left out over the winter.  It smelled off and had tons of gross stuff stuck to it.  But, it was sturdy and had clean, mid-century modern lines.  Because it was left outside for the entire fall and winter, I figured no one really cared for it.  I was able to find a phone number and called to ask if anyone wanted it.  My mom thought I was crazy to call about it.  I sort of thought so, too, but it’s worth a shot, right?  The gal I talked to said she needed to ask about it.  A few days later, I received a call from her.  Surprisingly, she said they didn’t see a problem with me taking it.  Within twenty minutes, Ben picked up the couch and had it in our garage.  He asked where I was going to put it.  I had the perfect solution.  On our front porch, of course, because for the past three years, we’ve had two chairs we stole from our backyard dining set out front.

Now, I know he desperately needs love, including sanding, refinishing and new cushions, but for the price, I couldn’t pass him up.  Yes, it is a he.  All men need a little work, right?  Haha.  Oh, and this photo does not do justice to the cushions.  in person, they look so much worse.  However, you can see the worn, uneven finish.

To make it look more like an outdoor bench and less like a Jeff Foxworthy “You might be a redneck” joke, I’m going to leave the back cushions off.

A deep, walnut stain, left over from the bookshelf I refinished last year would look great.  I have chosen a neutral geometric fabric for the cushions.  To jazz things up, I’ll sew simple pillow covers to change out when I change my mind.

It’s like that palindrome, a man, a plan, a canal, Panama.  Only, for me it’s a woman, a plan, a bench, pretty.  Or a woman, some fabric, a bench, bad weather.  Yeah, I couldn’t make it a palindrome, just like I can’t control the weather.  We’ve had nothing but rain this May.  Seriously, we’re usually at 2 1/2 inches for the entire month.  So far, we’ve had 5 1/2 inches and we’re forecasted for rain the entire week.  Once I find the time and we have decent weather, I’ll share more info on the update process and share after pics.  I still have to do some final number crunching to determine my best plan of attack.  Ben isn’t sold on it yet, but I’m 99% sure he’ll like it once it’s finished.

Until then, have you recently purchased or otherwise acquired outdoor furniture?  Are you sprucing up your outdoor space?  What is your must have outdoor piece this year?  I’ve coveted a ceramic garden stool forever, but I refuse to spend more than 25 bucks on one.  Call me a cheapo.  Have I sold you on the new bench?  Or do you lean toward Ben’s side?

Cool in the Shade

Published on by Our Humble Abode19 Comments

Have you found a great lamp base with an ugly shade at a thrift store?  I did, for ten bucks.  The base is great, but the shade has seen better days.

One support was broken, leaving the shade lopsided.  The bright teal, stained pleated fabric shade wasn’t doing it for me either.

So, I took the shade, er, matters into my own hands.  We had a small scrap of canvas left over from sewing a drop cloth curtain for our laundry room.  It was perfect.  Neutral and free!  I set to work on transforming the lampshade.  While my iron was heating up, I ripped all the teal fabric off.

I measured the circumference and height of my shade and cut a piece of canvas slighty larger, keeping one finished edge of the dropcloth.  Using iron on tape, I hemmed the edges to fit.

I clipped the extra fabric from the corners to cut bulk.

Now I was ready to start on the shade.  To cover the shade, first I taped my unfinished edge in place.

Wrap the fabric around the shade, smoothing out along the way.  Tape the finished end in place and in a few other places, just to prevent movement.  Hot glue the unfinished edge to the shade. 

Run a thin bead of hot glue between the edge of the lampshade and the fabric.  Press down to secure.

When you reach the finished edge, hot glue in place.  I was almost finished with my shade.  I still had to fix the broken support.  I dug a bamboo skewer out of the drawer and cut it to fit in the shade.  Then, I added a dollop of hot glue to the shade to secure the skewer.  Worked like a charm!

I popped the shade on the base and it looked like a million bucks.  And we finally have a lamp for the basement bedroom.

Of course, there are tons of options to update a lampshade, like dye, ribbon or coffee filters, to name a few.  Have you updated an old shade?  Maybe you’ve transformed a thrift store lamp or two?  We’d love to see your ideas, so share a link, too.

P.S.  I turn a quarter of a century old today, maybe I’ll have some b-day goodies to share with you…

Thrifty Thursday: March

Published on by Our Humble Abode18 Comments

More thrifting is going on.  This time, not only at Goodwill.  We have a new, huge store in town.  Individuals rent out a section of the shop and can sell anything home related in their section, so the diversity is great.  I found this white gourd shaped lamp with a broken (as well as ugly and stained) shade for 10 bucks.

It matches IKEA’s Persika vase I picked up last summer perfectly, though the lamp looks a little blue in the photo. 

Here are a few things that caught my eye, but my wallet said no.  This mirror is exactly the same as the black mirror in our living room.  We bought ours from a garage sale for $5.00.  Price comparision?  $78.00.  One point for Ben and Amanda, zero for the consignment shop.  Really though, even at $78.00, the price isn’t bad for such a large mirror.  And spraypaint could definitely modernize it.

I thought my sister would like this modern buffet.  What do you think, Ash?  If I remember correctly, it was $250.

How about a Versailles domed chair for $900?  Similar to this chair at Restoration Hardware and half the price.

If I had the space for a tall bench, I would love something with similar function to this piece:

It’s an umbrella stand, coat rack, mirror, bench and shoe storage all in one, but for $1700, it’s not getting in my house.  I saved the best for last.

Oh, I kid, I kid.  That was a little ‘What Not to Buy’ moment, courtesy of Goodwill.  Last week, you saw my obsession fondness of maps and globes, but I have never seen this before:

A moon globe!  I loved it, but not $42.61 kind of love.  More like $12.99 kind of love.  Now that I’ve shared some items from the new guy in town, I thought I’d share some finds from oldies, but goodies.  Cue the thrift store.

I found that black hanging basket for $1.50.  If I ever finish organizing our entry, this will go in our closet.  While my sister was visiting, we stopped in TJ Maxx, where I scored a large footed hurricane for $6.99.  Has anyone stored powder laundry soap in an open container?  I’d love to use a pretty glass container for storage, but I don’t know if we’ll have problems with the soap out in the open.  Please share your opinions and experiences, thoughts and concerns! 

Vincent picked out this birdhouse for $9.99, also at TJ Maxx.  He’s a strange kid.  Rather than ask for toys, he asks for a birdfeeder, or a bright orange, long handled scrub brush with a face on it.  True story. 

As soon as we pulled in the driveaway, we took the feeder out and hung it on our birch tree.  It’s a little early, but I love the pop of color and I think Vincent will get a kick out of seeing the birds. 

Also, if you’re in the need for frames, Michael’s has a good deal for you.  Yesterday, I bought a four pack of 8 inch square frames for $9.99.  Then, I saw they had a three pack of 8 by 10 inch shadow boxes, also $9.99.  I think that’s a smokin’ deal. 

Have you found any steals lately?  Ready for spring and a side of garage sales?  Ever stored your laundry detergent in an open container?  Want to buy some birdseed?  It’s for the birds.  (One of my favorite commercials)

Life’s Good

Published on by Our Humble Abode20 Comments

LG definitely has the right slogan.  Life is good with a new washer and dryer.  Are you ready to hear the smokin’ deal Ben scored?  Well, you’ll have to wait until I give you the back story.

Everyone knows Black Friday has great deals, right?  Well, we saw Home Depot had an appliance deal for Black Friday weekend.  A new, front loading LG washer and dryer was now only $1, 000.  Sweet right?  Yeah, I guess we weren’t the only people with that thought process.  When we went to place an order that Sunday, we were told they had sold their LG quota, so we couldn’t get in on the action.  We I sulked home, wishing we had ordered sooner, thinking we wouldn’t see another deal that good until the next Black Friday sale. 

Then, when Ben sprang this finish-the-laundry-room-thing on me, we picked up our search.  We knew we wanted LG.  Sears and Home Depot are the only places in town to carry the LG line.  Ben saw that Sears had a sale on the LG 4.0 cubic foot washer and 7.1 cubic foot dryer.  The price?  Originally $599.99 on sale for $509.99 each.  (Unfortunately, this seems to have been a week-long sale).

What did Ben do?  He called Home Depot to ask if they match the price of their competitors.  The nice man on the phone said, “Yep, as long as it’s the exact same thing.”  He proudly added, “AND, we beat the competitors prices by 10%.”  So, Ben filled the salesman in on Sears’ sale price and said Home Depot had the same set 10% off currently, but their price wasn’t lower than Sears.  So, Home Depot matched the $509.99 each price, and took another 10% ($102.00) off, bringing the total to $899.98!  Because we’re stacking ours, we had to spend another $48.00 on the staking kit for a grand total of $947.98.  seriously, it’s amazing what Ben can get stores down to.  If Ben didn’t get that bug up his butt, delivery was included as well as hauling away the old machines, if we didn’t sell ours.  The moral of the story: if you find a good deal, check to see if anyone can beat it.

Speaking of selling our old set, we listed those on Craigslist for $100.00 for the set.  They were sold and outta our sight within hours of listing.  So, it feels like we paid $847.98 for our new, front loading, Energy Star rated, squeaky clean, stackable washer and dryer.

Last night, Ben’s brother came over and helped Ben lift the dryer on top of the washer.  We did our first load of laundry, too!  Love them! 

We now have a ton of free space in the laundry room to add cabinets for tool and paint storage as well as Ben’s reloading system and supplies.

We also have poor lighting right now thanks to the stacked dryer.  We have wiring ready, just need to install the new light centered over the door.  You’ll also notice we have a pipe that hangs about one foot from the ceiling, so this will stay unfinished.

P.S.  Our washer door opened to the left while our dryer door opened to the right.  Not ideal for stacking.  It turns out, you can remove six screws, rotate the door 180°,  and reinstall the screws to change the door swing.  Just so you know.

What deals have you scored?  Anyone in the family a sweet talking, deal getter like Ben?