Thrift Store Finds

The stuff of life has been happening in an exponential way.  I'll not speak of all of it, but the periphery of people in my life continue to experience difficult things.  I am simply helping them through it as best I can--to include trips to emergency rooms (to include an all-nighter) and a trip to the oncologist (which I expected to be  worse news than delivered).


The noose tightened around me this weekend.  I was thrifting over at the CHKD Thrift store.  It was a hot day, and I found several things at the store to include an old nightstand for $10.  As I was checking out and holding out my furniture tag, I said, "I might need a little help getting this into my car."  Well, I was quickly informed that I would have to sign a form that would put me personally responsible if an employee hurt themselves while helping me load something into my vehicle.

Given all that had transpired over the week (opening paragraph) coupled with a hot day, I became rather irate over this 'policy'.  So irate, that I basically said, "just take it off my ticket."  I was informed, "We'll have to re-check you out."  No, I would have none of that.  "Just keep it.  My donation."  (I was seriously PO'd at this point, and not proud of it.).

I load my stuff in the car.  Fumed for 30 seconds. Ultimately, my inner Armenian rug trader didn't want to let my my $10 (less 25% due to promo) nightstand not come home with me.  I wanted it to serve as my TV stand after I had given it a freshening up.  I went back into the store and asked if they had a hand truck.  They did.  I asked them to simply hold he door open for me and proceeded to fetch, wheel and load the nightstand into my car. 

All was well.  I apologized for being so pissy.  I'm not typically abusive to any paid help, but this policy just hit me wrong.  I always get help from from stores, so this one--particularly given that I donate to them and purchase from them--just hit me wrong. I didn't denigrate any; but I was unpleasantly grumbled.

Well, as soon as I got home and got out of the car, I realized what a foolish thing that I had done loading that thing on my own. My back hurt. Badly.  So while not totally sidelined this weekend, I had to spend some up close and personal time with ice packs on my back. I sprained my back badly several years ago water skiing.  I knew the drill and hit the therapy quickly.

 Below is the  offending piece of furniture.


It's an ugly thing to be sure, but solid as a rock.  The unit has MDF composition, with at least 1/4" veneer overlay--which is thick..   It has an interior shelf, so perfect to  hold the cable modem and other accoutrements.  I pulled the back off (non structural) so that the TV can sit on top and there is easy access for all of the cords to connect x to y.  It is a perfect makeover opportunity.  My TV is currently sitting on a 1980's grey laminate printer stand (remember those?). 

I am painting it Benjamin Moore City Shadow which is a dark gray with lovely green and blue undertones.  It is a full spectrum paint from the Aura collection.  On the website, it was paired with the Yellow Topaz that I'm painting my walls, as well as the Crisp Linen, which I'm painting my trim (and the interior of the unit.  I like a light interior when electronics have to be viewed!).  I would not recommend painting furniture with Aura, but I had the big idea that I would paint my interior doors this color and decided otherwise.  I didn't want to let this paint go to waste.

So while I had an achy back, I managed to get the transformation of this piece underway.  I was reminded how much I enjoying undertaking transformations.  I'll post a pic when I'm done.

Time to reach for the ice pack.

PS: Of my finds, I nabbed:

  • black funnel for the garage
  • a set of 16 mini aluminum trays with duck motifs.
  • handmade bed spread in a lovely cream with hand quilting of large flowers.
  • cereal container, new
  • outdoor flower pot
  • round Crock Pot insert (I use these for dog water bowls)
  • Russel Athletics shirt
  • Vintage leather + canvas tote
  • night stand
The price tag for all was $54. 

Pimpernel Placemats | Thrift Store Books

Pimpernel placemats: I'm just loving my thrift store Pimpernel placemats.  Not that placemats are an exciting thing in the least.  My excitement is that I've only had cloth placemats which require......washing.  Having a super-large coaster type placemat means that a mess is just a spray and wash away from full eradication of all stains and crumbs.

More so, placing these on your beloved horizontal surfaces for both protection and style, are a useful thing indeed.  They are flat, stable and attractive. High praise indeed. 

Thrift Store Books:  I was doing a little more thrift store grazing as I had to have my annual mammogram (which I last did 2 years ago).  I bought several vintage cookbooks.  When looking on line for them (after purchase)  I found Thrift Store Books.  My goodness....you spend $10 and get free shipping!  If you love books and appreciate a good value, I hope that you will check them out.  I might have save a few bucks--but let's face it,  the hunt is cheap entertainment.

On my thrift store jaunt, I found some cheese markers from Pier One(new in box), a mini wisk, 6 cookbooks of repute, a beautiful pottery vase, 4 pieces of artworks (signed by artist), two feather pillows (decorative), and 2 vintage duck plates made from JKW  pottery in West Germany (a common item it seems). 

My cookbooks have been a pure joy to read.  My motto is that if I get 2-3 recipes out of a cookbook purchased, I've done well.  From my initial mining, I made some very auspicious purchases!

Finding the perfect Yellow Orange

Since giving my furniture to my daughter, my wall color, Pineapple Grove (BM), is far too cool for the current inhabitants of my great room.  When we built our house in 1985, we were way ahead of our time--we had an open floor plan where 75% of the downstairs was open:  foyer to great room to kitchen.  Only my office was securely walled off and included the half bath.

Pineapple Grove
My former sofa was black with vibrant yellow, green and red floral pattern with two guest chairs that complemented.  Oh how I loved it!!! However, once the sofa fabric wore out (and I was on the 3rd reupholster), I decided that we would get a leather sofa--and the two chairs would just no longer work with that.  I gave my daughter the set of furniture which she was willing to have upholstered to suit her needs.  It was a smaller scale that worked perfectly for her home.  Sniff...how I miss it.

Hannah Banana
In the transition time between the old and the new, we sat on a terribly uncomfortable couch (in an off white that quickly turned dingy from dirty dogs and people!) that I had bought in brand new condition from a thrift store to stage homes with. A reminder that quality construction that melds comfort with durability is worth paying for.  But, with staging, I need good looks and cheap price, and this sofa had it.  I paid $150 for it and I used it to stage 3 houses.

After months of looking, I found a beautiful gently used high-end leather sofa on Craig's list in a a reddish tan leather.  It had not sold because they were asking too much money for it.  When I inquired, it was still for sale, and they were eager to find a deal.  Unfortunately there is no indication on the manufacturer's color on the leather swatch on the seat.

Shortly thereafter,   I had to throw out another piece of beloved furniture (green, sueded leather love seat) where 17 or so years of sitting wore out the seat.

After much searching (prior to tossing the current occupant!)  I found a beautifully upholstered couch at a consignment shop that complemented the Classic Leather sofa's colors. (No small feat).  I like buying used furniture.  With the exception of the leather love seat, nearly every piece of furniture in my home is second hand.  Any I never buy anything unless it is steeply discounted.  Consignment shops are great--there are so many beautiful things that were never used.  I have to say, that just about everything in my house gets used with impunity!

With the new occupants in place,  I was then left with a paint scheme that was garish--too cool a color on the walls for the warmer colors in furniture.  I also have 4 large framed liquor prints which had all of the vibrant colors of my prior upholstered pieces. I did not want to replace those, but rather keep them.  The daily jarring too my eye was just too much.  I had been putting off finding the right paint color because I know that finding the perfect color (though many seem to do it with ease) to me feels Quixotically like jousting with windmills.

Hannah Banana appeared to be (at that time yesterday!) the perfect color to tie in the old with the new.  It had more red It is considerably darker on the walls than Pineapple Grove--a light reflective value of 77 v 54 for the new color.  However, the room is such that there is very little wall space although the room is quite large.  I have very large windows on the north, west and south side.    So there is probably 60/40 wall/window--so darker colors work. . . or not....

My husband has been making indirect comments about the color. Frankly, after having had the Hannah Banana color up on the test spaces for 12 hours, and then visiting it again this a.m., I began to have some doubts myself--my commitment to bold color flagging mightily. I called my Benjamin Moore store, and picked a color in a lighter shade:  Yellow Topaz (CSP-945) for a test run.

Compared to CSP-955  I got the warmth that I was looking for and boosted the LRV to 62.9.  I went with the pick for the trim paint--Crisp Linen (CSP-305).

I painted the color here, there and the everywhere on the area framing the large door unit going to the deck.  My daughter came by (who although a teacher, could have been a designer as well).    She agreed with me that the Yellow Topaz was a good pick.

Now I simply have to prepare my surfaces and get ready to paint.  My wood trim is painted in an oil base, and I'm not going to continue that.  So, I will sand out the imperfections from the last painter (who did not prep so well nor paint so well (she was the girlfriend of the painter), ensure that all of the surfaces are deglossed, and then paint away.

Oh Boy.

My advice to any is to to go ahead and pay the money and get samples of paint (after you do some research and narrow the field) that you have narrowed as your finalists.  Paint it on your walls in different places so that you can see the effect of light on the paint in your room, amongst your furnishings.  Though a pain, it is worse to invest in paint and find that you are just not happy with the overall look.  It's like dating a color before making a commitment.








Tree Frog

Tree Frog, Virginia
Pulled off the grill cover and found two tree frogs.  Oh, how I love them so.  One was quite a bit larger than the other and was clearly asleep.  The little guy, who I photographed, was awake.  I had a damp towel to gently remove them from the grill (so I would have fried green frogs!).  Both squirted a copious amount of liquid.

We used to see them clinging to the windows, gobbling up the moths that were attracted to the light (from the outside).  I remember seeing as many as 20 among 3-4 windows.  Now, it is a rarity.  They are fresh, bright and a true delight.



Thrift Treasures | Microwave Woes

I visited my FIL today.  We went to Williamsburg to have lunch.  I had been far too busy last year, and didn't not make or have, I'm unsure which is correct, time for such a visit before now.  Because of my crazy work schedule, weekends were spent working, etc.  I ended up with a large hole of undone things at my home.  (I did host Thanksgiving, though).

Outside of Thanksgiving, I've been MIA.  So, I both had and made time today to visit.  On the way to his house, I stopped in a Thrift Store in Providence Forge.  My last visit yielded some silicone bakeware which I use, and some beautiful crafted in Germany cookie cutters. 

Today's visit yielded a microwave turntable that fits my Panasonic, because it is from a Panasonic.  It was a whopping $1--the replacement turntable costs $33.  I managed to break mine in in a freakish accident where I pulled out my dish, but pulled the glass turntable out with it.  It crashed to the floor and broke into 1245 pieces or so.  Luckily, I had kept the turntable from my expired microwave.

Which brings me to a second expiration of a microwave.  My first expired microwave was 8-10 years old.  I consider that pretty good service for something that I use every single day.  The microwave that I replaced it with died within 2 months.  Now that is quite uncool.  And it died 5 days before my dinner party.  It just stopped acting like it was getting any electricity.

It's within warranty obviously, but nothing was going to happen to fix this within the time that I had.  So...I simply bought another microwave.  Panasonic customer service is running at a snail's pace.  They are supposed to be contacting me for sending me a shipping box to ship my old microwave back in.  For this, I was told that they will request my credit card number and charge me $50 in liquidated damages if they send the box out and I fail to send the microwave back. 

Well, I'm still waiting for them to call me.  There is something seriously wrong with their work processes as I filled out a form, and then somebody called me and asked all of the same questions.  I was on the phone for almost 20 minutes and I still don't have a frickin box or any outreach that will connect me to one.  I was told that once I ship it back, I will get it back within two business days.

Toe tapping....waiting for call.

The second thing that I got at the thrift store were two sets of 4, one burgundy moir  and one blue moir s Pimpernel placemats (hard placemats with cork bottom).  These are vintage 1990's; still had their original box and the inserts; appeared to have been little used.  They were $3 each, or $6.  I feel like they were quite a find, and they will be perfect for saving my Stickley dining table.  I use cloth placemats, but these will just need to be wiped down.

My dinner party has come and gone.  Thank goodness I had a new microwave.  Not sure what I will do with 2.  But when you have many things frozen (dogfood!) it is very inconvenient.  Paying $130 for a new microwave was not welcomed, but necessary.  The outlay surely saved me that much in inconvenience.



Sourdough Waffles

I've found several recipes for sourdough waffles in my quest to have a way to use up unused sourdough starter.  I made a couple of modifications to this recipe from Serious Eats (http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/01/bread-baking-sourdough-waffles-recipe.html#) to come up with my preferred preparation method.  In my method, I used both baking soda and baking powder and cut back on the salt. I should note that my method is not designed to maximize sourdough flavor, but rather to use sourdough castaway to feed new starter in an efficacious  crisp, light and  magnificently delicious waffle.  Also, I feel that anything north of 4 oz of butter/oil is unnecessary in a waffle.  This recipe uses 3 oz. which is perfect. (Same can be said for some biscuit recipes--as always feel free to modify to suit your family's preferences.)  I noted my modifications from the original recipe.

Leisa's Sourdough Starter Waffles

5 ounces all purpose flour (see note)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda, modification from none
1/2 teaspoon salt, modification from 1
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
8 ounces (by weight) sourdough starter
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Combine dry ingredients in a batter bowl--whisk to incorporate evenly.  In a separate bowl (4 cup measure works well) add melted butter to milk and stir.  Add eggs to milk mixture and mix well.Add starter to milk/butter/egg mixture and mix well.  Make well in center of batter bowl and pour in wet ingredients.  Mix gently.  Transfer to plate (or wire rack if freezing).  Freeze uneaten waffles in a resealable freezer bag.  Reheat in toaster oven.

Note:  The original recipe calls for 1 cup of AP flour, but the weight of that is 4.25 not 5 oz per packaging and other sources.  Also, you can substitute flours to include whole wheat (I never do).  I also like to add 1 T replacement of AP flour for yellow or white cornmeal.