And let’s just say I’m an eternal, unapologetic, annoyingly chipper optimist. We’re back to share the cozy collection of odd little finds we picked up with a $100 thrift-shopping budget during our end-of-winter beach trip to Rehoboth. Since we stayed at John’s parents’ beach house for free (I have the best in-laws), spending a hundred dollars on light fixtures, wall decor and other small home items felt totally reasonable for two cheapskates who saved at least three times that by avoiding hotel costs and driving to the beach in winter instead. They’re not all showstoppers yet, but we have plans to paint, frame, hang, retrofit and generally revive most of them. Here’s the haul:
1. You already saw me gleefully clutching our $5 thrift-store mirror. I love it. The plan is a major splash of color — not sure which yet or where it will live, but it’s getting a makeover.
2 & 3. Meet the orange horse-head bookends (just $2.50 each). I’m thinking either a crisp white or a bold shade like navy or yellow. They’ll likely go up on the built-ins with my other ceramic animal friends.
4. This light fixture was hanging in an antique booth, plugged in and glowing like a little beacon. It pulled me in, so I grabbed it for $19. John was in the car with the sleeping baby, so I took a chance buying it sight unseen — luckily he loved it. We’ll paint the brass cap and chain and are considering hanging it in the little sink alcove in our bedroom, though the final spot is still undecided.
5. There’s some bee significance in our relationship, so I couldn’t pass up this $5 iron bee hook. I’m picturing it painted glossy yellow and mounted in the mudroom or laundry room to hold Burger’s leash.
6. I’ll probably paint this $7 wall-mountable iron horse white and install him in our bright blue hall bathroom, with a white hand towel looped through his mouth ring — it should be a sweet, quirky touch.
7 & 8. Two wood plaques at $3 each caught our eye. John and I thought they might look nice above our bed flanking our ram friend. Not sure yet if we’ll paint them or leave them natural.
9. A tiny (about 5″ wide) wall-mountable gold duck (or goose?) was only $3, so he came home to meet his older brother. We may not hang them together — this little one could tuck in among the frames in the hallway.
10. We shared this $10 green luggage rack for the guest room earlier; we might paint it and we’ll definitely replace the missing strap. It should be a handy and stylish addition to the guest setup.
11. You saw the $18 paper lantern earlier, and we plan to hang it in the playroom with a simple $5 light kit from IKEA. The heart details are adorable and will be a nice, soft focal point for the room.
12 (or 12–23 if you count each print individually). Possibly our favorite find: a vintage map calendar for $20. We’ll disassemble it, frame each page and hang them together somewhere — maybe the guest room, the playroom, or the frame-filled hallway we keep talking about. It’s a versatile set and will look great en masse.
So that’s what we bought for $98. Shopping in Delaware (no sales tax) meant that was our full total. Because I’m a dork, I calculated averages: about $8 per item if you count the calendar as one piece, or roughly $4.26 per item if you count each vintage map separately. Not bad for two light fixtures, a luggage rack, a mirror, two bookends and several pieces of wall decor (or many pieces if you include all the map pages). Woot! We’ll share more photos and details as we frame, hang, paint and install everything. For now, it’s back to the guest room — there are things to clean and paint swatches to consider.
Psst — we announced this week’s giveaway winners. Check the original post to see if you’re one of them.