It seemed to be the general consensus that once thrift stores opened up again after the COVID shut down that they would be packed to the gills with fabulous finds. I believe the thinking behind that was that people had nothing better to do while sheltering at home, so they were cleaning out closets, attics, garages, etc. Once the thrift stores opened back up, I also heard tales of cars lining up at Goodwill to donate items.
So I was optimistic when my sister picked me up to head to a few thrift shops last week.
Unfortunately, I did not find a bunch of fabulous stuff. I really didn’t see piles of extra items on the shelves. In fact, one of the Goodwill stores we visited had semi-bare shelves. My sister speculates that they don’t have enough staff working to get the newly donated stuff out to the shelves very quickly, which is certainly a good possibility.
I did come home with a couple of fun things though, so I thought I’d share them with you today.
I always hope to find vintage items while thrifting, but more often than not I only find ‘new’ things, like this adorable jug.
How cute is that?
I also purchased this Hearth & Hand with Magnolia recipe box. I dressed it up a bit with a Classic Vintage Label transfer.
Also under the heading of ‘new-ish’ is this galvanized container thingie with wooden handles.
I painted the wooden handles in Dixie Belle’s The Gulf, and then added a fragment from a transfer that seemed totally appropriate. This container is going to work perfectly for a birthday present I’m putting together for someone, but I haven’t given it to her yet so I have to keep that under wraps for now.
This faux copper french flower bucket got a paint job too. I painted it in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth and then added a transfer from IOD’s Classic Pots.
I may need some sort of intervention on this next item because I’m dangerously close to starting a new non-collection.
This is Oxford Stoneware. It’s not terribly valuable or anything, but isn’t it the prettiest shade of blue? As you can see I already had one just like it and I keep my pens and pencils in it on my desk. It paired really nicely with my blue & white Staffordshire pitcher. I really don’t need a second one though, so I’ll probably take it in to the shop to sell.
Last, but not least is this … um, what do you call these? A mini-greenhouse?
In addition to being quite dirty, the off-white metal parts were weirdly discolored. You can’t see that very well in the photo, but in person it was quite obvious. I’m guessing this item sat in a sunny window too long. Also, those silk flowers leaned a bit towards the tacky side.
So I started by removing the three flower pots. Then I decided it would work best to spray paint the metal framework and that meant either taping off all of the glass, or removing it first as well. Luckily all of the glass was held in place by little bendable metal tabs, so it was fairly simple to take it all out.
Once I’d done that, it was simply a matter of spray painting the metal frame, washing all of the glass, and then putting it back in without breaking any of it. I always hold my breath a bit during that phase. I’d hate to break a piece of the glass.
But I managed to get it all back in safely. Once that was done, I pulled out some transfers to add some pizzazz. I’d had such good results with the bee transfer on the bird cage that I shared recently, so I decided another bee was in order. The bee transfer is part of the Classic Vintage Labels set from re.design with prima.
The “Curiosities Collector” wording is from a Tim Holtz transfer set that I found at Hobby Lobby last week.
I’m sure you’ll be seeing those metal tags on a few things soon too.
If I could find a magic lamp that would grant me three wishes, I think one of them would be that Tim Holtz would make larger versions of his rub-on’s. They would be so fabulous on furniture, if only they were bigger.
I also used some of the vintage French ephemera paper that my friend Terri gave me to line the inside, along with some more October Afternoon scrapbook paper.
I didn’t put the three metal pots back inside. This way you can use you imagination when it comes to deciding what to display inside.
I’ve added a pair of vintage books and an old black and white photo held up by a flower frog. That’s my grandparents by the way, with their two older children in front of their house in south Minneapolis. I’m guessing this would have been taken in the late 1920’s. My mom didn’t come along until 1940, her brother and sister were in their teens when she was born.
I’m working on another pile of stuff to take into Reclaiming Beautiful and a few of these items will be added to the stack.
I’m afraid I am not going to manage another week of 5 posts this week, but I am going to throw in a post on Wednesday about the road trip we took last week with my niece and sister so be sure to stay tuned for that. In the meantime, how about you? Have you been thrifting lately? Has there been an influx of goodies at your local thrift store?
q is for quandie 
Oh I used to have a little greenhouse thingy like that! If only I had seen your ideas for remaking it! It’s absolutely adorable!
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Thanks Kathy!
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Love your make overs! I had great luck at the thrift store after reopening! I found 3 items on my list for years! I could not believe it! I almost squealed with delight as I left the store. Never have I had such luck!
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Nice! I’ll have to try my luck again 🙂
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I have a little greenhouse too, and in the winter I put a pile of fake snow in it and bury a little battery tea light for a soft glow. At Christmas I add a vintage ornament and replace with a bird nest and tiny bird til spring. Now I know what to do with it for spring and summer!!
Have you checked Facebook marketplace for items? I find way too much😉
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Love the idea of adding some faux snow for a Christmas decoration!
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Re: the “galvanized container thingie with wooden handles”, if it is a square shape it may be a paper napkin holder. I have one. You put the paper napkins inside and rest the handles on top of the napkins. It keeps the napkins from blowing away when you’re dining out side. Now I may have to class mine up like yours!
Love your finds and have really enjoyed your daily posts. Wish you could post 7 days a week! 😉
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Oh … of course! That’s exactly what it is. Thanks for that Linda 🙂
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Love your findings Linda! I really like the white bucket, and the green house is adorable!
Thrift stores disappointment me these days as well – no furniture, no small wooden items etc. But just to compensate that, I’ve found a few things on the curb – I guess people just put their unwanted stuff for free pick up instead of taking it to the Thrift Stores. So I do my around-the-block-thrift rounds on garbage collection days 🙂
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I don’t seem to find much at the curb here. Prior to COVID, some of the local communities had specific dates set up for ‘trash to treasure’ days where people could put stuff at the curb and others could drive around picking it up. But of course those events have been canceled this year.
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Same here in Canada – all cancelled, and i miss garage sales so much! Let’s hope it will be back to normal.
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Love the little green house and love how you look at Tired items and repurpose Them to look so amazing
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Thanks Stephanie.
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I’m not finding anything at thrift stores. In our region we had terrible flooding city wide a few years ago, so I wonder if that destroyed many vintage items that would have gone to thrift stores. So I really don’t find furniture at all.
All the ideas here are cute and I bet a lot of people have fun replicating the look.
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Oh, that sounds likely doesn’t it? Especially if things were being stored in a basement.
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Our Goodwill is absolutely horrible – I have never seen such junk I hate to say 😦 We do have a Catholic thrift store that is 3 floors and pretty great, but I seldom go as their prices are normally pretty high, especially on anything even remotely valuable. They are very nice people though – I donate some of my nicer things to them and should make a stop there although their hours don’t correspond well with my work. Love that little greenhouse and I will have to check out those transfers from Tim Holtz! Thanks for the tip!
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My go-to thrift store closed last year, and it was the one where I was most likely to find things. I’m still mourning that loss and trying to find a new favorite thrift store because I’m not a huge fan of Goodwill either.
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Love the little greenhouse, but let’s face it . . . I love everything you do!! I spent 5 minutes in Goodwill in western Washington state this Saturday and nothing, nada, zippo. So much for great treasures or else they beat me to the punch. Lots of empty shelves, lack of inventory, scarcity. Makes me glad I’ve been hoarding the last several years – lol. Did get a large ornate frame and one cedar-lined cool wood box – now to to “Quandify” them both, or try to anyway.
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Some days I am regretting not being more of a hoarder 😉
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Hey Miss Quandie! Our Goodwill stores here are kind of “meh” and they’re not even open anyway here in the Soviet Republic of California……I’d love to know if there’s a Reclaiming Beautiful-type shop around here…..haven’t seen one; I love what you did with the French flower pot and with the little greenhouse……I’d keep that one cause it could be used so many spots! Really cute (-: (-: (-: And, well easy come easy go with the daily posts! )-:
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I have heard that California closed all indoor businesses again recently. I hope we’re not headed in that direction here in Minnesota.
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Well first off….I tried my new Prima classic vintage labels transfers this weekend!!!! I painted some old buckets and used some of the transfers on them and they look amazing! I am just looking around to find more things to use them on! My husand better not get too close or I may put one on his forehead! LOL
I have not checked our thrift shops. Goodwill knows what they have in my area and price things too high! Sometimes the Salvation Army has things, and we do have another thrift shop, but it is mostly clothes. Just hoping garage sales will be popping up! We are still trying to stay home, as the COVID is getting worse! The auction prices here are through the roof, no good deals there at all!
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I’m so glad you’re having fun with the transfers! Yep, you’d better tell your hubby to sleep with one eye open just in case you are tempted …
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Hi! I really have enjoyed your makeovers. You always seem to find the perfect transfer words to put on them. I have gone to Goodwill one time and I picked up a few things but I haven’t gotten around to doing anything with them. Thank you for all your inspiration.
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You’re welcome Cheryl!
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As usual your thrift store updates would be right at home in my home! Yesterday I went to a resale shop and a Goodwill. I bought a canning jar, a crockpot to use in removing paint from furniture hardware and a wooden box to upcycle. In the past I would have purchased a basketful. Here’s my take on why the shelves are empty. 1. They are only putting out what they can sanitize. 2. They are short on employees. 3. Fewer people are donating, due to the economy they are trying to sell their thing themselves. I don’t expect it to change much until things are truly back to “normal”. Anyway I love all your projects and I’m going to purchase the Prima labels transfer because it looks so useful! I, too, wish Tim Holtz made larger transfers, stencils and maybe even those wonderful tags.
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I hadn’t thought about the sanitizing thing. I bet you are right about that Laura. And you’ll love the Classic Vintage Labels!
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I have one of these little greenhouses that I was going to fill with shells and take into my booth, but your idea is so much better and I happen to have transfers on hand.
This is why you remain my crafty blogger idol!
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