Thrifty goodness

I love thrift stores. The joy of finding a treasure amongst junk. The pleasure of the hunt. Finding something that you will love and appreciate after someone else has deemed it undesirable.

Two weeks ago I stopped at a Goodwill store way north on my way back from visiting H & E in an effort to avoid the bad traffic heading into the city. And I found some fun things there. I was very excited about the Marimekko sheet. I've decided to buy myself new dishes with this pattern, so to find this sheet that I could make up into a tablecloth or some other fun things made me happy. I am slowly and finally getting a bit more settled in my apartment. It's about time, I know. And have been struggling with what to do in my bedroom as far as decorating scheme goes. At one point in the past five years I had a sage green theme. Then shortly before I moved to the new place I found a red quilt and had some red curtains up and so it was very red. I also bought a red rug for my bedroom from Ikea when I moved. But, when I found out that I was going to get furniture from the parental units I halted all decoration initiatives because that meant that my new red quilt wasn't going to work because it was twin sized and the new bed was full. And, you know, it was just all very troubling.

Along with the furniture for the bedroom, I brought back a few pieces of artwork by my mom and brother and I have some tulips my mom drew up in my bedroom and I like them a lot.

One day, not too long ago as I was wandering around Kohl's probably looking for bathroom stuff, I noticed a yellow comforter set and a) it was gorgeous, b) it was rather perfect and c) it was more expensive than I like to pay for anything but perhaps airfare or car repair. I just don't spend money like that on comforters when I have a perfectly good one (mom was kind enough to send along a comforter and two sheet sets and bedskirt and shams etc) already - even if it wasn't quite my style. So the hunt started - for a yellow bedspread or comforter with hints of red, orange and green if possible to match the tulips.

Then a few days ago I stopped at thrift store in Chicago that is known for being quite large but not always having the best prices as far as thriftyness. But still better prices than you'll find at most places. I thought perhaps I'd wander over to the bedding section. Perhaps they would have something that might work with my vision. And I found it - a yellow and white chenille bedspread. In fact, there were two of them but one had a black stain on it. But the other was in great condition so I snatched it up. I also found some vintage handkerchiefs and a cool sheet that I might be able to use to make pillows or something and two monogrammed pillowcases that work well with my stuff. It's all very exciting.