Thrifting | Like a Saturday - DIY, Crafts, Recipes, Shenanigans

November 12, 2012
by likeasaturday 8 Comments

Thrifted Milk Glass Lamp Revamp

I’m so excited to share this project with you! Recently, a new Goodwill opened up near us, and it is GOODWILL GOLD! Seriously! Every time I walk in there, I have to show some restraint and not grab all of the goodies I find. When I saw these lamps, I showed absolutely no restraint. I practically ran to them (you know, in case one of the other 2 shoppers wanted to fight me for them). I love all things milk glass and hobnail, so I was really excited when I scored these lamps for $4.99 a piece. I wasn’t even sure of what I would do with them, but I knew I couldn’t walk out without these pretties.

They were clearly old, and needed a little lovin’. I found the perfect spot for them on our bedroom night stands. We started out with some really cheap, small lamps around the house at first, and I’ve slowly replaced them as I’ve found good deals. Pretty lighting does not come cheap! I knew these bulkier lamps would be a better fit flanking each side of the bed. They also bring a little feminine, and vintage detail to our brown and blue, straight lined bedroom.

The wood parts of the lamps had definitely seen better days, and wasn’t the right color for our bedroom. I decided to spray paint the wooden parts gold. I’m all about gold and metallics these days. I lightly sanded each part and then covered the glass in plastic. First, I taped off the edges to make sure there wouldn’t be any bleed-through, then I taped plastic grocery bags around the glass and to the tape already there. I usually like to use the Frog painters tape, but I couldn’t find mine so I just used masking tape. I’m totally not a patient DIYer. Go with the painters tape. This is one of those “do as I say, not as I do” moments.

I sprayed a few light coats of a metallic gold by Valspar. I’m not super in love with their cans because I can’t use my gripper attachment , but it wasn’t too bad since it was such a small project.

Once I was done spraying them, and they had time to cure, I pulled off the plastic and tape and scrubbed down the glass. I waited to clean the years of dust off of the glass until after they were painted. I figured if there happened to be any paint bleed through (and there wasn’t! yay!), I’d only have to do one scrubbing. I just used a magic eraser and a little water and they looked brand new!

I’m in love with them! They are the perfect addition to our bedroom. The gold looks great with my metallic sunburst mirror above the bed.

Have you made any small additions to your home that have completed or changed the look or feel of a room in your home? Sometimes it’s just the little things!

Have a beautiful day!

October 8, 2012
by likeasaturday 345 Comments

31 Days to a Stress-Free Holiday : Plan Your Holiday Wardrobe {Giveaway CLOSED}

Hi, y’all! I hope everyone had a nice restful weekend and that you’re ready to tackle another week!

Now that you have your calendar worked out and know which events you’ll be attending during the Holiday season, it’s time to take a look at our wardrobes. Assess what you have and see if you can get a little creative by piecing together different items to create new outfits. Find a few outfits you can wear to different Christmas parties and events throughout the season. It’s ok to recycle outfits. You can always freshen up the look by changing out your accessories. I’m a big fan of The No Brainer Wardrobe. Hayley over at The Tiny Twig put together an awesome eBook that is stock full of helpful tips .

While you’re in your closet, if you find anything you don’t love, don’t wear, or doesn’t fit, go ahead and toss it into your giveaway bin. There’s no sense in something you don’t need taking up precious closet space.

Now, figure out what items you need to purchase for your Holiday wardrobe. Remember what your clothing allowance is in your Holiday budget. There are a lot of ways to find the clothing you are looking for at an affordable price. Just this weekend, I was shopping at Goodwill and found a bunch of really cute dresses that were either hardly worn or brand new for around $10 a piece.

Planning your outfits ahead of time and making sure you have all of the pieces you need will eliminate so much Holiday stress. I have far too many memories of myself trying everything on in my closet, throwing it all on the floor and claiming that I have nothing to wear. When I do that, I usually end up late to wherever I’m supposed to be and grumpy because of the less-than-pleasant getting ready experience. (And then I come home to a huge mess. Blech. I hate hanging up clothes.).

How would you like a little help with your Holiday wardrobe? I’m excited to be partnering with Shabby Apple for today’s giveaway!

Shabby Apple is an online clothing boutique that offers an array of fashionable, vintage-inspired dresses, blouses, and accessories for women. Besides their beautiful clothing, I love that Shabby Apple gives 5% of their net sales to help empower women across the globe. That is something I can get behind!

Shabby Apple has everything you need for all of your upcoming Holiday events!

They have gorgeous cocktail dresses…..

…including plenty LBD’s.

They have more casual options, like their shirt dresses….

…or adorable blouses.

They even have a great selection for my preggo friends!

Shabby Apple is offering a grand prize $75 gift card. You can choose anything you want in the store with this awesome prize !

All you have to do is check out Shabby Apple’s site and leave a comment here telling me what your favorite item is. You can earn additional entries by liking Shabby Apple’s Facebook page and liking Like a Saturday’s Facebook page as well, and then commenting here to let me know that you did. Remember to leave a separate comment for each to ensure all of your entires are counted!

Now, we don’t want anyone to be left out, so Shabby Apple will also be offering a 10% off discount for all Like a Saturday readers for the next month! That should help with your Holiday budget! All you have to do it enter the code below at check out.

The giveaway will close on Sunday, October 14th at 9 p.m. (central time) and the winner will be announced here on the blog Monday the 15th.

***Note: This giveaway is only open to U.S. residents.***

UPDATE : This giveaway is closed. Winner announced Monday, Oct. 15.

Good luck to you all, and happy wardrobe-ing!

August 24, 2012
by likeasaturday 2 Comments

Thrifty Finds Extravaganza 2 : Home Decorating Staples

Happy Friday everyone! I’ve got a few more great, thrifty vintage finds for you today! These are some of my favorites, as they are great decorating staples to have around the home. There are so many different ways to incorporate them into your home decor.

I snagged this beautiful, vintage printers tray for only $5 one Saturday morning while garage sale hopping. These usually go for somewhere between $40-50, so I was thrilled about my deal! These trays can be purely decorative or functional. There are about a million and one ideas floating around the interwebs for these.

I love incorporating pieces like this that have great texture and a story to tell. They can really warm up a space and add character.

Globes and maps are another great way to bring texture and character into your space. They come in so many colors and styles, they can look awesome in any room.

I found this globe at a small flea market in Austin. I bought this plus a vintage scarf and a couple of milkglass bud vases all for $15.

Flea markets are fantastic places to find deals on vintage and statement pieces for you home. You can usually bargain with the sellers, and if you go at the end to the day you might score and even better deal! Many times, sellers don’t want to lug all of their stuff back home, so they’ll be more willing to part with some items for less money. At this same flea market, my sister got a hot pink vintage pyrex dish for practically nothing, because the seller hated hauling them back and forth.

Vintage books are one of the best, cheapest items to pick up at thrift stores or garage sales. They also bring in some great color and texture, and come in handy for adding height, etc.

I bought this book [Lord Hornblower] for $1.39 at Goodwill. I decided to do a publication date/Google check to see what kind of deal I scored. I found out that this book is actually a first edition, and is being sold online for $40.

Y’all have a great weekend and happy thrifting!

August 7, 2012
by likeasaturday 6 Comments

Thrifty Finds Extravaganza

How was everybody’s weekend? I hope it was amazing, and that the start to the week was kind to you as well. Ours was crazy, busy, full, and wonderful! It was the kind of weekend where your days are so jam-packed full of people you love, great food, projects, and fun events that you just barely make it into your bed at night because you’re so exhausted from all of the goodness. It was the perfect mix of fun and feeling like I had accomplished enough on my to-do list. On the same note, I can’t wait to share with you some of the projects I’ve been working on!

I got a little thrift shopping in this last week. I found a few gems in the midst of all of the junk and dust. I’ve had a lot of luck finding some great vintage pieces for a fraction of what they are worth at thrift stores, garage sales, and flea markets. You just have to set aside your fear of germs and dig.

I think my greatest find was my set of vintage, cornflower blue Pyrex mixing bowls. I laid my eyes on these babies from a couple of aisles over and practically pushed every other shopper out of my way Jingle All the Way/Tickle Me Elmo/Furby style (not really….there was like one other lady in the whole store, but it sounds so much cooler). The price tag read $8.99 for the whole set. That’s $2.25 a pop. I did a little happy dance right there in the middle of Goodwill. I have no shame.

Once I got my preciouses home, I did a Google search to find out the name of the pattern, and to get an idea of how much this particular set usually sells for. People! This set was running anywhere from 80-100 smackeroos! I could not believe myself. When my husband got home I did the whole “Guess how much money I saved today!” and then he says, “First of all , how much money did you spend?”…you know, the usual….but I think he was genuinely impressed with my amazing shopping skillz. (Yeah, with a Z).

I would encourage you to always do a Google search after you get home to see how awesome you really are. Occasionally, you’ll be able to find an inscription on your find that will give you a little more information, like the milk glass compote dish I found this last week. I flipped her over and found the name of the company, an item number, and location of where it was made. I then found that my beautiful hunk of milk glass that I paid $1.99 for usually runs around $15-20.

Most times you won’t have that much info to run with, so a good description of what you bought should at least pull up a similar item in Google images. That’s how I found out that this cutie vintage, hobnail, milk glass lamp that I only paid $2 for also runs in the $15-20 range.

So, what are my tips for find these great steals?

1) If the dirt, dust, germs, or overall clutter freak you out, just throw up a little prayer.

2) Know what you like and what fits your style. Keep your eyes open for the kinds of items that strike your fancy. Don’t buy something just because it looks vintage and you want to become famous via the Antiques Roadshow. It will only end up weighing you down by taking up precious space in your home.

3) Look for patterns. I noticed that in one particular Goodwill store, I was finding more Pyrex and other vintage kitchen items than I normally would. Odds are, someone in the area is decluttering their home bit by bit (and clearly have no idea what they’re giving away). Same goes for clothing — like my friend who always finds nice Banana Republic clothing in the same size at one particular store.

3) Do your research! Life and shopping are so much more exciting when you know you got an amazing deal! You may even learn a bit of interesting history on your way.

If you’re still not convinced, I suggest you check out this article. Amazing.

What fun finds have you come across while thrifting? Do you get as excited as I do from the “thrill of the hunt”?

Happy thrifting, everyone!