Thrifty Finds

Well folks, while I'm hard at work on my Christmas mantle I thought I would share some of my thrifty finds over the last several months with you!

As I mentioned in one of my first posts here, my sister-in-law, Robin, has shown me some great bargain finding spots and has given me some great tips! She took me to one of her favorite thrift stores...the local Goodwill. We have gone quite a bit and have found some great treasures for cheap! We've also scored some great deals at local garage sales. So here are some of my favorites! I will try to remember the prices for you, but just to give you an idea, most of the things I have bought from GW were around $4. Sometimes less, sometimes more, but the most I have spent is $9. And that was on a good sized picture. Let me start with one of my more recent finds that I love!!



I scored two SLAH (Southern Living at Home) sconces at a garage sale for $3/each. I am a huge fan of SLAH (now Willow House) so I was thrilled! I'm using them as shelves right now, but you can also take off the tops and put flowers or whatever in them!! My SIL actually has these as well and she has flowers in hers:-) Oh and I scored the two plates for a $1/each at a garage sale as well to go above them! I love how it turned out. The plates caught my eye because the colors go well in my living room. I also found them neat because they have French writing on them. I got a pig and goose. I already had the artichoke candle holders and I think they go quit well with them! And I switched them out for pumpkins in the fall:-)



One of my first GW finds was the above candle holders. They were originally brass and I spray painted them. My SIL told me about the Rustoleum hammered finish spray paint that she uses a lot! I tried it and was in love! I have used it on several things:-) Update: I recently broke one of these candle holders so I will have to find the remaining one a new home:-( I see some rearranging in my future! But my SIL has given some good suggestions...putting it in a little nook or small wall, separating two pictures with it, or putting it in the middle of a grouping of shelves. I'll let you know what I do!



Ok, these candle holders from GW are probably my favorite treasure find yet. I just love how they look in my dining room! And they're not something you can just go out and buy! They were pretty easy too because they were already spray painted! And it's funny because they look like they were spray painted with the same Rustoleum hammered spray paint I had been using! So all I had to do was touch them up a bit in some spots where the gold color was shining through. They make me happy when I walk by!



My SIL encouraged me to get this guy when we were at GW. I was apprehensive at first; I liked it, but it was big and I didn't know where I would put it? I decided for $4 it was worth a shot! She even suggested putting it over the toilet! So, that's exactly what I did! And I loved it!! I think what I like most about it is how unique and different is.



Well, I'm not sure how these finds ended up together on my list, but here they are both proudly displayed above the potty (that's my mommy talk)! I love this green glass thing I found at Goodwill! I say "thing" because I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to be? Candle holder? Vase? Whatever, I love it! And I'm currently using it as a candle holder:-) Side note: the Eiffel Tower pic is from an Estate Sale I got a couple years ago and the shelf was 50% off at Hobby Lobby. I'm not sure you can really tell in the picture, but the shelf looks great over the toilet! How did all this turn into potty talk, lol?!

P.S. Sorry the bathroom pics are not very good - it is challenging with no natural light coming in!

Ok, I just realized these are all pretty much candle holders, lol! I am obsessed. I blame Robin;-) Stay tuned because in the spirit of candle holders I may just be giving a very cute, trendy one away soon!!! And don't forget to check back for my Christmas mantle and a little something extra - my mistletoe balls!!