A few thrifting finds

When my husband's army buddy had been visiting only a few minutes, he looked around our living room/dining room area and said he loved the way we (we?) decorated the house. My husband's replay was, "Really?". He puts up with my English Country decorating when he would much prefer something a little more, um... less? Having said that, he loves it when people compliment the house.

I know we have nice furniture that we purchased when we had more money and we have inherited items but honestly, most of what makes the house look so warm and cozy came from garage sales, thrift stores, and Goodwill. I thought I'd share some of my latest finds (latest being the last few months).

Here's a picture of the tea set that I paid $12.95 for at Goodwill and found it is worth almost $100.00. Goodwill is funny about that, I've gotten great values there and I've also laughed out loud for what they were asking. It's a little difficult to take a picture inside that china cabinet so I'll plan on another one (outside) when I get a chance.


I bought this Christmas "grab bag" (you can see what is inside them) for $3.99 at Goodwill. I've already taken out lots of stuff that I don't want and given it back to Goodwill. :) The ornaments are gorgeous. To give you an idea how big this thing was, I'd say the vinyl bag once held a king size comforter! It is next to my dryer in the garage because I need to pack it up soon to protect everything.


The beautiful lace table cloth was $1.00 at the thrift store run by a Christian Mission in the nearby town. It has a couple small holes I need to mend and one area that has a bit of a stain (which is already lighter than it was). Nothing so bad I wouldn't use it for a dinner party! You can always set a bowl on the stain. I know I'm rushing the season with the autumn items in the bowl but I was just checking to see if the bowl was the right size. :)


I bought the beautiful item with the rose crocheted on it (are those once dish cloths?) at an antique store in Lancaster County on clearance. I'd just seen one similar at another store that I had pointed out to Stephanie, how much I'd wanted one of those to display in my kitchen. It was around $20.00 and way too much for my budget.

Low and behold, this one was only a couple dollars at the next antique store because it has a small stain (that one cannot see unless you get right up to it!). Steph found some great items in their clearance aisles, too... mostly around $1.00 each. She sent some tag sale items home with Christopher that I'm already enjoying.

It reminds me of Christopher and his swords he purchased in Baltimore, at the convention. He went to a few of the sellers as they were packing up (at the end of the convention) and asked what they would be willing to sell particular swords for. He bought five or six swords for a total of $50.00 (he'd been saving for awhile) and that is extremely cheap if you saw them. I'll have to take pictures because a few of them are stunning.

He's loved swords since I can remember, probably since he was in preschool and wanted to be a pirate when he grew up. I wasn't surprised when he chose to do fencing in high school. We spent a very long time studying the Middle Ages for History. He told me he was going to show the swords to his "girl that is a friend" and see what she thinks of them. That may be a test, should I worn her? :)

He's already told her he wants to name his first son Sven. She's still going out with him.