Category: Home Decor

August Thrift Haul

The thrifting gods have been smiling on me lately. Last month I found that fabulous $335 Hugo Boss skirt for just $8 and WAIT until you see what I found this month! I didn’t try anything on in the store, so I did a quick try-on when I got home before everything went into the washing machine.

Here’s what I found:

Boden tank top, $6

Boden jersey tank tops range from $40 – $75 on their website (I know, crazy right?!), so when I saw this one in perfect condition, I grabbed it up. I’m normally a 10 or 12 in Boden, so when I saw this was a US 8 I was crossing my fingers that it would fit. Luckily it fits great, except for a little snugness under the arms. I’m planning to wear this tucked into a skirt with a cardigan for work, so if it’s too annoying I’ll do a little tailoring to give myself a smidge more room.

Mystery skirt, $6

This skirt truly is a mystery. The tag has been cut out and there are no other tags inside. So, there is no size and no brand. However, it’s a MAGICAL mystery skirt because it fits perfectly. It feels like a heavy cotton/linen kind of fabric and washed up great on cold (I hung it to dry). I love it!

Here it is for my try-on:

And here it is in action for a weekend outfit:

Jones New York dress, $13

I liked the abstract design of the fabric and the faux wrap top with a self-tie waist. This is a perfect work dress for fall/winter and will look equally great with flats or tights and booties.

MNG by Mango dress, $13

I was super excited to find this dress because it is an ‘almost dupe’ for a dress that has been showing up in my Instagram ads. The ad that keeps popping up is a lady in a very similar dress showing four different ways to style it for all seasons and I’ve been very tempted to buy one of my own. This one was MUCH cheaper at just $13! It has a cute drawstring so you can adjust the waist as you’d like.

I recently shared a reel where I decided to flip the dress backwards for a more flattering neckline:

Talbots leather belt, $5

A thin braided leather belt has been on my thrift list for a couple months now, so I was thrilled to find this one still new with tags. It sold at Talbots for $44.50 and I scored it for just $5. This is perfect for what I wanted and I’m so happy that it was at the thrift store waiting for me to find it.

Eileen Fisher silk skirt, $12

YOU GUYS. This is absolutely the ‘score of the month’ for me! This is a 100% silk perfect condition Eileen Fisher skirt and OHMYGOSH it’s fabulous. A similar skirt is selling on the Eileen Fisher website for $248, so $12 is a steal. I was worried I’d have to send it to the dry cleaner, but it said it was ‘handwash cold’ so I stuck it in the washing machine on ‘light wash/cold’ and let it hang dry. The skirt is so beautiful and lightweight and just my style. While I’m typically a large, Eileen Fisher runs notoriously big, so it’s a bit loose at the waist. I plan to wear it with a belt to keep it a little more snug and secure.

Pallet picture, $6

I thrifted another pallet picture this month with the intentions of painting it for an art project. However, I’ve recently collected a few pairs of earrings and had the idea to make a quick and easy earring display.

I love how it turned out:

Antiquing Fun

I had a surprise open weekend day the Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend, so I decided to grab my friend and do a little antiquing in Deale, Maryland. We LOVE shopping in Deale because there is such a fun variety of antiques, consignment stores, and local artist shops. On this trip, I actually had a few things I was looking for, but when it comes to this type of shopping… you just have to trust that the right items will find you.

Here are the treasures I found:

Linda Lloyd Etchings, $28 each

I initially pointed out the chipmunk etching to my friend, because her boyfriend has a pet squirrel. But then, when I was doing a second loop of the store, I saw the bird etching by the same artist.

The artist, Linda Lloyd, was famous for her wildlife etchings and from the research I did, I’m guessing these are from the mid 70’s. The bird is 95/100 and the squirrel is a one-of-a-kind artist proof. I love them both and they will be perfect in our living room once I put it back together. The chipmunk has a crack in the corner of the glass, so I’m thinking of changing out the frames to something a bit more gold and gilded. I’ll keep you posted on where they end up!

Hamilton Letterpress Drawer, $21

I love this little letterpress drawer with all the fun sized little spaces. If you tilt it on its side, there are even handwritten letters on each spot that shows which letter lived where.

One of my loves is typography and graphic design, so this find was a perfect fit for me. I’m thinking I will hang it up and put little stuff on display – perhaps a mix of small gemstones, lego people, whatever else catches my eye.  Fun fact: there is actually a Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum in Wisconsin and I would totally go if I lived closer.

Original Oil Paintings by Glenn Stewart, $25 each

I’ve purchased a small oil painting by Glenn Stewart in the past and I love his little creations. He paints up a storm and then drops a stack of canvases off at a local art studio. I went through his latest pieces and found these two, which I love.

I’m not entirely sure where they will end up in my house yet, or if I’ll leave them unframed or mat and frame them. All I know is if I see affordable, original art that I love… I’m going to buy it and add it to my collection.

My Office/Exercise Room Hybrid

With the demolition of my spare bedroom to become a master bathroom and walk-in closet, my ‘exercise room’ needed to find a new home. With everything being displaced for the renovation project, space is at a premium… which means my office needed to work double-duty and it became an office/exercise room hybrid.

My office is a room that already has a lot going on. On one side of the room is my sewing table and organizer that contains everything crafty.

On the other side, is my desk where I telework 2 days each week.

I started by cleaning out the closet (it’s not in the photo, but it exists on the wall to the right of the desk) and dragging my gigantic filing cabinet over to live in there. It’s not SUPER convenient, because I have to remove a bunch of bins in order to access the lower filing cabinet drawers, but eventually when the walk-in closet is done there will be a little more breathing room. Also, it’s nice to have the filing cabinet out of the main room.

I also moved the black storage table that holds my printer to the right side of the desk and moved the white drawer set over next to the sewing table.

This freed up just the perfect amount of space so that I could add my Peloton and mat to the corner of the room.

Other tricks to make the most of my space:

Trick 1: I bought The Pivot for my Peloton screen, so that I could flip it around and do my weights and yoga sessions in the open space in the middle of the room.

Trick 2: I hung my bike shoes on the back of the bike, instead of having them take up space on the floor or in an organizer.

Trick 3 and 4: I rearranged my craft storage to open up one cube, which is where I now store my hand weights and bleach wipes. I also used the spare bit of space next to my cube bookshelf for my yoga mat, yoga blocks and foam roller.

This is the long-term situation for this room, so I’m happy with how it all turned out. Here’s the before & after again:

Organizer side of the room:

Desk + bike side of the room:

I have space to comfortably use the bike and now that I can flip my screen around, I have room for yoga, stretching or weights sessions. The best part is, everything is out of sight when I have to log into a Zoom meeting from home!

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