December Thrift Store Finds

December was a borderline chaotic month and that all seems to be spilling over into January. Chaos, though, is a good reminder that life isn’t boring, right? Because of said chaos, I didn’t find many things in December, which I am not complaining about – that kept the chaos down! However, out of the few things I did find, a couple were pretty house-changing. I say house-changing since it’s hard for me to refer to a piece of furniture as life-changing.

One of those “house-changing” pieces of furniture was this $9 dresser-thing. It is without a doubt handcrafted – it has all of the “character” of a handmade item. It was also evidently neglected – most of the drawers wouldn’t open without a little force due to water damage, and the ones that did open showed signs of creepy crawlers.

Once I brought it home I got to work making it safe to bring indoors; I vacuumed every nook and cranny and crevice then wiped every inch down with a vinegar-water mixture. That sounds much easier in text then it actually was. Imagine me with a perma-nose-scrunch while vacuuming. I even busted out in song – my very own version of “I See A Roach”, which is basically just a loud repetitive holler with traces of Native American noises.

In the end it was all worth it – this thing is stunning! It is easily my favorite piece of furniture in our home. Besides my bed – I love to sleep.

I also found this chair, which isn’t that old but has pretty details and was only $4 thanks to a 50% off sale.

It will be easy to reupholster, but I haven’t decided what I am going to do with my growing collection of chairs sitting around our dining table. I’m tossing back and forth between painting them all white or sanding them down and leaving them in their natural wood glory. But let’s not get into that now…

Of course I added to our book collection; a handful of old children’s book including a fun pop up book and a few Dr. Suess books, as well as a neat America, Inc. book, a poem book and an old Robin Hood book.

These Tinkertoys are missing some pieces, but are still a blast. I personally am smitten over the typography on the container.

I’m assuming this Snow White puzzle is missing pieces but we haven’t put it together to find out. One of these days we will.

Lastly, I brought two accordion rulers home with the cubby-dresser – which I actually included in my crafty gift guide.

They’re both really awesome but I’m partial to the one above. It is harder to open than the one below, which I may be selling on my Etsy shop Smithly’s. I’m so indecisive, though! Hashtag hoarder problems.