Thursday, June 5, 2014

Goodwill Lovin'

Does anyone else absolutely love Goodwill?

Saturdays are my favorite days to go. Ours puts brand new Target items out every Saturday for a fraction of the cost of what you'd pay in the store. Cue heavenly music now.

My other favorite place to look at is their furniture section. My husband actually spotted these beauts!



We were in desperate need of nightstands, and these old end tables were the perfect fit. The tables themselves cost $20.00 a piece. The picture only shows one, but we did score two of these bad boys. Best of all the removable marble top is extra durable, so it can handle my sweating sweet tea glasses at night because, who wants to use a coaster?

We used a very light grit sanding blot just to take off the years of accumulated gunk. Next we went to Lowe's and picked out an off white paint and scored some grey sampling paint off the "oops" Isle. We grabbed a few foam brushes, and with some tape and a little patience they were finished in just a few days.

So my question is, where's your favorite place to score old furniture? Goodwill, flea markets, yard sales?

2 comments:

  1. Hi there, I found you via The 2015 Thrifty Decor Chick blog question. :)
    [using Anon option because I'm shy and other posts to other blogs have attracted spammers; it happens.]
    I'm usually a silent reader, but I feel I can answer your question above.

    Goodwill-
    *we have one for lamps- amazing unknown cast metal in bad shape- Rewired and spray painted into looking like bronze.
    * same store has a section of picture frames- be choosy and get the cheap frames there and clean, prime and pain. I filled mine with freebie clipart from Graphics Fairy. I needed something for the 15 foot long solid white brick and solid white rough hewn wooden mantel.

    Salvation Army- The big furniture version is a big distance in the metroplex area from us- nothing met our needs that day. Darn. Smaller satellite stores coughed up another lamp we repainted and rewired.

    St. Vincent _________ - big store in scary area has all the furniture, but again, a good drive and nothing matched our needs. Closer satellite store had no furniture but our brass buffet lamp. it needed new wiring, shade, and the faux blue lapis marble vinyl section painted.

    Our secret Thrift store place:
    Habitat For Humanity's ReStore- we have two in our county.
    *The farther store has a better display area; warehouse to the extreme. Found our "landing pad" in a beat up old bar piece. Hubby chose a shade of red for the outside and I picked a shade of gray for the inside. l love the light interior. We did learn when repainting doors you need to be careful of the number of paint layers where the doors meet and under the door edges. We added the magnetic door catch inside, far more function.
    * the nearer store had the set of end/side tables or nightstands in the perfect depth for us. Haven't redone those yet- varnish is missing on the tops of both and they are used in a knotty pine panelled room.

    This location also provided our newest table lamp, 19" tall ginger jar style. I'm in the final stage of spray painting outside today with the perfect dry and warm weather. $25 for lamp and shade on sale from $29.99. Ceramic finish is scratched, and brass base is spotty. Brass is turning into copper and turquoise ceramic is becoming Valspar Leafy Rise with a clear coat. We already have the 3-way bulb wiring kit. I cleaned the shade using a DIY site's tips for whipped dish soap in hot water and a rag to apply and other to rinse it off. Had a few rusty stains and the shade is a Stiffel, worth $25.00 by itself. Cleaned right up.

    I started redoing our hand-me down bachelor wood furniture. One piece had burn marks, missing stain and varnish, wood grain contact paper peeling off the drawers and so on. I couldn't do anything worse to it. Leafy rise with a copper leaf pen on the finer details and drawer pulls. needed a bit of paste wax on the drawer runners. The unstained drawers had markers and you really need the oil primer to block that. I learned the hard way- Binz spray can worked the second time. This piece now looks like the modern $$ phone tables you can buy online.

    The side table had been a raw piece originally and someone slung stain on the visible parts only and varnished it with drips. I used the same Leafy rise and copper leaf pen.

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    Replies
    1. Wow, you are full of fantastic ideas! I've never thought about redoing an old lamp. I could paint it and my husband could rewire it. I don't have any lamps in my livingroom, partially because I'm too cheap to buy them, and partially because I haven't found one that fits perfectly. I love the idea of doing it yourself though! That's great.

      We have a Goodwill and Salvation Army here. Goodwill is my absolute favorite. I buy almost all of my projects from there. In my opinion, the Salvation Army is a tad bit pricey for what it offers most of the time. Sometimes I find a good deal, but it's usually hit or miss.

      I'd love to see some pictures of the furniture you have refinished. It sounds beautiful!

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