Thrifty Decor

A few days ago I started working on a project for our bedroom (ooo it's a secret!), but I ran out of supplies halfway through. Since I was visiting at my parent's house, mom and I drove into town to get more things and happened to stop in at a few nearby thrift stores afterwords. Thus began our 4+ hour shopping trip. We didn't end up getting home until after dark and since my project needed to be worked on outside, I couldn't finish it (oops!). But I did score some great little do-dads I'm so excited to decorate with. Plus they were easy on the wallet! Here are my finds for the day:

A scalloped milk glass teardrop compote. I think this would be lovely as a serving piece for fruit salad, or even filled with ornaments for a Chirstmas tabletop decoration.

A Vintage FTD (Fostoria) Oak Leaf Milk Glass Compote. I saw several of these while shopping around and may end up going back for more. I was going to use this one in a Christmas tablescape but perhaps it would be nice to have a set for serving hot soups one could drink right out of the cup!

A pair of ceramic quails/partiridges. I'm considering painting them white but their gold tones look so nice mixed with the white compotes for the holidays. Perhaps once Christmas has passed...

A ceramic pear.


A small cakestand. I love its smokey color and endless possibilities. I can see a pile of fluffy white peonies resting on top, or perhaps used as a serving piece with an added glass cloche and some fine cheeses.

Or it could be used to display fruit!
Little did I know thrift stores would be a great place to find ribbon. I'm always in need of ribbon and when a bag full of different kinds and colors popped out at me for only $4, I nabbed it. Later on I added up the cost if I were to buy each spool of ribbon new (the price per yard stickers were still on the spools and I tallied up how many yards each had left) and the total came out to $82.21. What a huge savings!

A metal bowl. I love how it is reminiscent of vintage trophies with its elegant handles.
I painted it a flat black and plan to distress it to bring out the rich browns underneath.
A striking piece of coral.
It now rests on top of a pile of my favorite books on our glass coffee table (the table was a craigslist find for $19), along with the numbered linen coasters I made.

Some glass jars with corks. I already had one similar to the larger one in this picture. You might remember seeing it from my DIY Bulletin Board project.
I'm now using them as a chic way to store office supplies!A candle holder. The black scraggly tree with orange beads reminded me of Halloween and I thought it would make a great decoration.
A pair of brass deer. Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year and I'm always on the lookout for new decorations. These stags had seen better days, but I couldn't resist getting them.
I would have loved to keep them gold but a fresh coat of white paint hid their chips and blemishes and gave them a more modern look. I can't wait to use them on my fireplace mantel this winter!
Can you guess how much I spent on all of these thrifty finds? A total of $52.26 after tax. Not bad for several decorations I'll be sure to use for years to come!