Thrifty Thursday

Yep, it's that time again. . . Thrifty Thursday at Bloggeritaville and Thrift Store Thursday at Homebody Holly's blog. Here are the finds of the week.

Cute little blue knit dress for my 5-year-old daughter ($ 1.99)

I love the little flowers across the front. After all, every girl needs a little bling, even in Kindergarten.

Circo top in tip top shape for 12-month-old daugher ($1.00)

Mini muffin tin exactly like the one I already have. ($1.99) Yay. . . now it won't take me 2 hours to bake a batch of mini muffins. I'm such a nerd.

Empty grain sacks. . . oh yes, my friends. . . and they're not smelly, or moldy, or yucky in any way. I've got great plans for these. ($2.49)

Giant fork and spoon. LOVE THEM! I've had my eye out for these babies for a while now.

(.99 each)

And, last but not least, check out this sweet little girl that I picked up for only 50 cents! And you thought your neighborhood Goodwill was filled with treasures!

I'm joking, but the little gingham dress was originally a women's shirt ($1.99) that I refashioned into this sweet little dress using a tutorial taught by my pal Connie of Green Apple Orchard. She got the idea from her super creative relative, Dana of MADE. These gals are so amazing and so willing to share their great ideas!

This little pink one was my first attempt. . . the shirt generously donated by Connie herself. I love the belt made from the leftover sleeve cuffs.

Happy thrifty Thursday! xoxo

$10 desk: Before and after

It's time for thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh of Bloggeritaville, and Vintage Thingies Thursday hosted by Suzanne of Colorado Lady

Here's the before of the $10 desk, again. I don't know how old this is, but it has names scratched inside the drawers. I left them there. They're meant to be left there. I think this was an old teacher's desk. I really haven't done anything but this for the last 2 weeks, after all, it is 110 outside (and in the garage )


Here is a before of the office:


And, here's the after: (the office is a work in progress)

Here are the steps that were taken:

1. Removed hardware. Stripped the veneer from the top and sanded it down all over.

2. Filled large gouges on top of desk with Elmers wood filler

3. Sanded again

4. primed with white Kiltz stain blocker

5. painted with Behr Premium Plus Saturn Gray in eggshell

6. chugged at least 2 large bottles of gatorade. . . in a row

7. Primed hardware with Rust-oleum rusty metal primer

8. Sprayed hardware with Rust-oleum Metallic finish (Oil Rubbed Bronze)

9. Applied 2nd coat of Behr paint to desk

10. Distressed desk

11. Locked my keys in the car because it was in the driveway instead of in the garage. There was a desk in the way.
12. Top coated desk with minwax polycrylic. 2 coats

13. Lined desk drawers with scrapbook paper (mod podge)

14. Let's be fair, the Golfer re-attached the hardware. . . and moved the desk inside. . . and moved the old desk out. What a good hubby!

I love how it turned out! I especially love that I can fit my printer in the left side and the shelf slides out. I also love the drawer liners! Not bad for a $10 Goodwill find!

Giddy

We wandered into Goodwill on Saturday. . . it was meant to be. There it was, sitting there so lonesome, wearing nothing but a 19.99/week 29 sticker. "Don't worry," I said, "I'll bring you home with me." We took the ticket to the front, and, what do you know. . . it was 1/2 off! Turns out that week 29 was the special of the day. $9.99 oh bless my soul! The golfer and I squished it into the back of the trailblazer and tied the back closed (with 3 kids and me strategically placed in the leftover space.) Sometimes you do what you have to do to save an extra trip. . . even with the Goodwill employee eyeing you as though you'd lost your marbles. After all, he did hear me whispering comforting words to a desk.

In the picture, the front pencil drawer has been removed and is off to the side. The golfer had already started taking off the hardware. See, he was anxious too! (The left side is a door that opens up to reveal a slide out shelf. . perfect for the computer hard drive.) We stripped the cheesy veneer from the top to expose the lovely wood underneath and I headed to the store to pick up some heavy duty primer. The sides and back are wood veneer. I'll keep you posted on the finished product. . . along with a home office transformation. It's good to be back in creative mode.

Today's Thrifty Treasures

It's time for Today's Thrifty Treasures hosted by Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality.

My goal for the weekend was to find a desk for our office to replace our "college days" sauder desk. Don't get me wrong, our desk is ok, but I'd like something without a hutch so that I can follow through with this idea:

click on the picture to see it's source

I picked these up at Goodwill for .50 each. They can't wait for their much-needed makeover.

I had no luck with the desk, so I moved on to this little stool that needs some loving tender care. It is just the right size for a piano bench . . . that may be what it actually is. It was 3.00.

I also snatched up these cute little apples and pears, 1.00 for the whole bunch.

This little potterybarn frame was 1.00 also. . .in perfect condition. (16.00 at Pottery Barn)

I always show the Golfer my deals. This time he said, "Wow, great deals, but you're getting too many projects." Ummmm, no, a girl can never have too many projects.

This Old Chair

I'm joining in on Thrift Store Thursday over at Homebody Holly's blog. Here's my latest Goodwill find. This old chair. You may recognize him from the glamour photo above. He called out my name and I layed down the $12.00 at 50% off Saturday as ladies in line around me oooohed and aaaahed. Yeah, that's right. . . he's all mine. Of course, he was covered in cat hair and dead weeds, but the potential was too much to pass up. The golfer vacuumed him off with the shopvac and hauled him indoors for me. He'll be recovered shortly, though he's not bad as is. After all, he inspired the title and photo for this very blog. I scooted him through the store and loaded him up with various other 50% off items. (I'm not sure how this chair was dubbed as "he")

This cool textured ball was 99 cents. This little chicken wire basket was 50 cents.

The flowers were $1.00 for the whole bunch of 5 stems. The stems still had the tags on them for 3.99 EACH!

and these two birdcages totaled $3.50. I had just come from an antique mall where the birdcages were going for $37.00 each!

Last, but not least, was this little bench that I paid a little more for, but I justified it because it fits perfectly in our front hallway to hide our shoe basket. I have to give a shout out to Sally for leading me to it in the antique mall. I haven't decided if I'll paint it or not.