Yesterday, I did something I love to do each month and that is to go thrifting.  I set out on my typical round visiting the four thrift stores I ordinarily visit when I’m in the mood since they’re all within 15 miles of my house.  I work fast and I can scour all four in less than two hours. 

I’ve been asked to feature a “what would you do?” tour of thrift stores by some readers, so I’ll take you on yesterday’s adventure and pretend you’re all with me to show you what I look for, what I reject, and the thought process along the way.  Here we go.

When I go thrifting for furniture, I’m looking for something with good quality construction and cool or classic lines.  Hidden adjacent to and among the yucky stuff are diamonds in the rough – I look for those pieces and in them I see potential. 

With furniture, the first thing I do is give a cool piece like that hutch a good inspection.  Pull the drawers, test the hinges, and check for dovetail joints on the drawers since they are a sign of quality construction.

This one looked really good and was $75 so I considered it a good buy.   I think it would look great painted any classic color, black, white, cream, gray, blue, whatever.

Sometimes I spy pieces that should really be in antique stores but just need a little TLC.  Like this vintage dresser.  Remove the dated mirror, add new knobs and bam, a totally gorgeous addition to your home.

I spied a bowfront chest in the window of a favorite store, lovely right?  It looked a little beat up but some Restore-A-Finish may be all you need to bring it back to life. 

I loved this cabinet with fretwork detail and I can see it painted a Chinese red with antique brass pulls and a Lucite tray on top with barware above and inside too.

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Did you think I was referring to the past American Idol winners or teen stars of a popular 80s sitcom or flick?  (I love those shows by the way).  No, I’m referring to something else, but first, there are some questions that come to mind when I look at this image.

What ever happened to Emilio?  How is it humanly possible that Rob still looks so amazing?  Who else loved Ralph on Dancing with the Stars?  #ageless  How unforgettable was Patrick as Johnny Castle?  Who’s that guy in the middle next to Matt?  Will Tom ever convince a gal to become wife #4?  These things I wonder about. 

Back to my point.  I was asked the other day about all that furniture I’ve dragged home from thrift stores and revamped over the years, so I’m here to answer the question, where are they now? 

These are the pieces I still own and have sitting somewhere in my house:

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It’s a habit that can never be broken, and that is my constant need to visit to thrift stores in search of cool pieces.  Four out of five times I walk away empty handed after seeing a lot of junk, but last week was a gold mine at my local St. Vincent de Paul.  On the floor were no less than five pieces I would have loved to buy, including a beautiful French buffet plus a few fab armoires.  At one point, I heard two college girls discussing a six drawer dresser and they said “We can prime and paint this, I saw it on a blog” which made me feel proud of us DIY bloggers!  I departed with my favorite find, a fab little mid century style chest, and since it was 50% off day, it cost me $20 bucks.

I thought this little chest of drawers would be absolute perfection for my hub’s office – for storing extra office supplies.  Matt has his own small real estate office and all of the furniture is dark wood, but he’s a dude and he likes it that way so I don’t mess with that preference.  But I couldn’t pass up this perfectly sized piece that screamed “make me wonderful” so I brought it home and gave it a facelift.

He used to give me the hand pinching the top of the nose plus creased forehead combo when I brought beat up stuff home years ago – but no more.  I snuck this revamped piece into his office while he was out on an inspection and then got an email three hours later when he returned that read “LOVE it.”   Mission totally accomplished.

I’m a big big fan of the wood + white combo (hello, these tables and these shelves) so again I’m up to my old tricks.  I was inspired by this mod Austin Dresser by DucDuc and all the wood/white combinations – check out the reverse too!  The real wood drawers on this particular piece were just too amazing to cover up, but the laminate faux wood grain top?  Um, no.  Goodbye and good riddance.

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Hello everyone, how are things? I’m busy busy busy with a very cool new project I’m working on, I’m very excited to share it with you, that’s coming next week.  Meanwhile, you may recall this $7 thrift store chair I scored a few weeks ago.  Well lah dee dah, look at her now!

She was all by her lonesome at a local thrift store and I adored that scroll back and figured she’d be a great piece in my neighbor’s daughter’s room.  Now she’s all fancied up with some paint, new fabric, and (ooh la la) gold leaf on that gorgeous scroll.  It’s the perfect little desk chair for this space under the window. The room is mostly white and turquoise, so we were going for a dash of glam, and as always metallics will do the trick – this time it was gold leaf.

It was sanded lightly then primed with my fave primer – Zinsser Cover Stain. (You can see how gorgeous this chair would be in white too!)

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