Young House Love

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A Day Of Thrifting

Occasion: The thrifting bug struck on a lazy Saturday morning

Location: All over Richmond to six of my favorite thrift stores with the hubby and toddler in tow (Burger very smartly stayed home to nap)

You know we love a good thrift-fest (like these thrifty adventures of yore), so let’s go secondhand window shopping, shall we? First we went to Love of Jesus (on Midlothian for any locals who are wondering), which is an awesome place for larger furnishings. Of course like most thrift stores it’s hit or miss, but when you hit, it’s a good time. We actually got a lot of pieces that we transformed for our book here (like a $15 desk and a $10 headboard). Fun, fun, fun.

Love Of Jesus Sign

We’ve mentioned that we’re in the market for some sort of buffet/sideboard/dresser to convert into a media cabinet for the living room, and these long low cabinets were cool, but a bit too low for our liking. At $30 a pop (for six awesome drawers of storage) I thought they were a pretty great deal though. Hope someone snagged them!

Low Console

John found this and it took him a little while to figure out what it was. At first he was all “ooh look at this cool bright yellow table or island- wait a minute, is this one of those… OBGYN things?” But the color was fun! Maybe just for inspiration…

Yellow Ob Table

This old $5 chair looked like it could use some love. But picture it refinished in a rich stain color or painted navy or emerald green at a crisp white parson’s desk. Could be cute…

Little Chair

John loved this old orange hardcover book. You know the guy loves his maps. And as “well loved” as it looks in this picture, it actually didn’t smell musty or feel sticky or anything, so it totally could have been a cool find for a bookcase or coffee table – or even for wall art if you framed a bunch of old covers. I think it was under a buck. Now I wish we had taken it home.

Orange Book

These lockers would be awesome in a mudroom or playroom. I forget the exact price, but they were cheap. And if gray’s not your color you could always spray them glossy white, happy yellow, bright red – anything really.

Lockers

Then we headed over to Family Thrift on Midlothian near Love of Jesus. This was the first time I checked it out and the prices were awesome. This entire set of six chairs was $75. That’s $12.50 a chair! And they’d be so easy to paint and reupholster. I liked their lines too. Sort of art-nouveau-ish.

Six Chairs Eventy Five Bucks

They also had these cheeky tennis glasses for 45 cents each that I thought were adorable. If only I played tennis. And had a cool headband like that.

Tennis Cups

 Then it was over to the Salvation Army Family Store on Midlothian.

Salvation Army Sign

I thought this $49 cabinet was awesome (don’t the handles looked like the Apartment Therapy logo?) but we aren’t currently on the hunt for anything like that, so I passed him up.

49 Dollar Chest

This wooden rocker was sweet, and marked down to $25 I think. It reminds me of a Jenny Lind crib, so I’m picturing it in a nursery painted in a soft color like white, celery, aqua, or yellow.

Rocker

And then there was this sexiness (I didn’t even know that John had instagramed this exact same mannequin a few weeks back when he was in there snooping around). We’re meant to be. And oddly enough, no one has bought the outfit in all that time. Strange…

Sexiness

Then it was off to Diversity Thrift on the Northside near The Diamond. This doily stretcher (no idea what that is, other than guessing it’s how people make or stretch doilies?!) was $4. I think it makes such a fun and interesting piece of wall decor to lean or hang. I totally got it. Sorry for the blurry picture, I owe you a crisp one of it hanging or leaning somewhere in our house when I find the perfect spot…

Doily Stretcher Five Bucks

I also thought this sofa was pretty, even though the upholstery wasn’t my style. I can totally see someone like Emily Henderson working it out and making it look super fresh with turquoise pillows or even a coat of glossy navy paint on the wood parts.

Sofablue

There was also this little (needlepoint?) scene that was actually really charming. I think it was ten bucks. I know you might think I’m crazy, but just imagine it hanging in a collection on a wall like this one in Will’s room. Could be cute, right?

Knitted Art Thrift

Oh and there was this faux-wicker yellow and white tray (the design was printed on it, so it wasn’t bumpy or anything). That section was 50% off, so the $2 sticker is wrong-o and it was actually just a buck. I grabbed it. Could be cute in the guest room with a pitcher of water, some books, and a bowl of candy.

Yellow Tray

Oh and I mentioned that Clara was with us, so you might wonder how she likes a weekend thrift-fest. Well, let’s ask her. Clara, what do you do when you see something you love? Her answer? I go “oooh” and then I go “ahhhh!”

Clarathrifting

Next we swung by Pass It On in the Lakeside Towne Shops near Lewis Ginter, where I fell in love with these guys. They were still a bit too pricey for me (since I’d want to buy the whole set, and I think they were around $100+ total) but how awesome are they? I’m sure someone will give them a loving home.

Trunks

Then it was over to Consignment Connection, also on Lakeside. Clara usually comes into stores and pokes around with us, but this store is waaay too full of breakables and she had actually fallen asleep in her car seat, which was perfect since John could stay in the car with her while I ran in to see what I found.

Consignment Conection

This gorgeous table was already sold but I loved it. Picture it in a sunroom with the base painted a crisp white color. She was a beaut.

Thrift Table

And I actually bought this guy for $19 for Clara. Definitely steep for a globe, but it was a white globe with a ton of bright colors (which I’ve never seen before) and it was BEING HELD UP BY A WHALE. Which just happens to be one of Clara’s favorite animals since our trip to Hawaii where we went on a whale watching boat. So I just couldn’t leave without it.

Whale Globe

When she woke up from her nap and saw it sitting next to her in the backseat she was elated. And the checkout guy said he was so glad someone was getting it because he was in love with it and couldn’t wait for it to get “adopted.” Haha. It was meant to be.

And so ends our little thrifty adventure. Wait, first I’ll show you where our little whale globe landed:

Globe Hallway

Yup, he’s hanging out on the console table in our hallway full of frames. But things tend to move, so he might not be there for long…

I’ll have to share photos of the rest of our thrifted booty in our house whenever they find a place to live (like the doily stretcher and the yellow tray). We also got a small table at Love of Jesus thrift, but I took so many photos of it that I decided he deserved his own little post this afternoon (complete with my cleaning/restoring ritual for old musty wood). In the meantime, have you guys been thrifting? Find anything good? Have you ever seen such a happy yellow OBGYN table? I’m telling you, that doc must have been whistling while he or she worked.

Psst- Still in a thrifty mood? Here are a bunch of our other secondhand shopping trips. Whee.

Comments

  4. Misty says

    Oh, the globe is so cute… are you leaving the wood… or are ya thinking of painting it?? I sooo want to paint it a bold colour!

    Reply

  6. Paige says

    Very cool globe! Great pic. I love moving things and rearranging things in my home that I already own! My hubs will come home from work to find that something that was in the guest room is now happy in the living room. Ha!

    Reply

  7. Emily L says

    Cool! My husband is from Chesterfield, and I hit the thrift stores there every time we visit (I was there two weeks ago). I usually go to the Goodwills, though, since I like to buy clothes. I went to the Love of Jesus once, but didn’t find anything. I’ll have to go again, and try out Family Thrift. I just go off by myself with my GPS and go thrifting for hours. I just imagine that one day, I’ll be driving along and out of nowhere I’ll see a brick ranch with a bright yellow door and I’ll geek out so much that I’ll run my car off the road. Yeah. That would totally be me. :)

    Reply

  8. Angie Lee says

    I haven’t been thrift shopping in quite a while so thanks for taking me along with you, if only on the internet. I didn’t even have to burn any gas or get in and out of vehicles and my feet don’t hurt either. Plus, I saved a boat load of money by not being tempted! :)

    Reply

  11. Stephanie says

    You guys seriously must have the best thrift stores down there. I went to a couple up here and found nothing really good. I can’t wait to see what you do to that table. I may or may not have a couple wood pieces I haven’t touched yet…

    That couch looks HUGE. Is it the angle or was it really deep? Either way, it’d be gorgeous with the right accessories in the right setting.

    Reply

  12. Janelle D says

    Your thrift stores look amazing for furniture. We have some great thrift stores but mostly for clothing and odds and ends. In fact, I just bought a gently used Banana Republic tee for onlny $20. Must have been $50 originally. My love and I are currently on the hunt for a kitchen cart/butcher block for our new apartment. Our kitchen is tiny and the counter space is non existent! Haha. We will make it work though.

    Reply

  13. Robin @ our semi organic life says

    I love LoveofJesus! They have such cool things, they do tend to have random thrifted medical stuff (dentist office equipment, random medical tubing and supplies etc) but I always find their very cool chair collection is pricey. Too bad.

    I once in a random thrift store in NC found a giant bin of speculums for sale for .25 each. Really? Weirdest find ever.

    Reply

  15. Diane says

    Great finds, Sherry!

    My grandmother had the same Doily Stretcher! I was in charge of dipping laundered doilies into starchy water and stretching the doilies into shape to dry. Tee hee.

    Reply

    • Debbie says

      Yeah! It’s a process called blocking that knitters use to form doilies into their shape after washing….basically you lay it on the stretcher and use straight pins to hold it down until it dries. :-) Of course you can also use syrofoam for this purpose….

    • Amanda says

      My grandma has one too! She used straight pins to hold the doily on there while stretching it out.

    • DJ says

      My great grandmother used a large piece of cardboard during the summer to starch & stretch her doilies on to dry in the hot Texas sun. That was in the ’50s before someone had the idea for a board–guess it made it more even to stretch on a grid.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Sadly enough my mom is here visiting and staying in our guest room and it’s just sitting on the kitchen counter! Next time I’m totally getting it into the guest room before the guest comes. Haha.

      xo,
      s

  18. Sue says

    The bright yellow OB-GYN table is so killing me.. thanks for the morning laugh!

    Side note, you can totally tell you’re a mom (besides the obvious reasons) when you spend $5 on yourself/the home and $19 on something (albeit awesome and educational) for your kid. I do the same thing with my daughter all the time.

    Love your blog – it’s the best!

    Reply

  19. Elizabeth says

    Nice finds! Wish I had that doily stretcher…I just crochet a square doily and had to “block” it (get it wet and stretch it into the proper shape) using an old piece of cardboard. I didn’t know those things existed. Now I’M on the hunt! :)

    Reply

  21. Aimee says

    The doily stretcher is definitely for well, stretching doilies ;) When you knit/crochet or tat something, you wet block it after to open up the lace and get it to stay in a certain shape by soaking and pinning it til it dries. So the doily stretcher would help make sure the doily was the right size and perfectly round.

    And I love the whale globe! Globes are seriously overpriced here-like 59 bucks(!!!) and our stores are no where near as goodie filled as yours.

    Reply

    • Sarah says

      Yep I came here to say the same thing!! I’m knitter, any lacy or open-worked project has to be blocked after washing to open up the lace work. I don’t do doilies, but I do do shawls….and they usually need a much larger blocking surface (like a bed or a yoga mat). I suppose since doilies were on a table you had to wash them a lot more often!!

  22. Allison says

    I went thrifting over my beach vacation and I went gaga over all the chairs, including a robin’s egg blue hanging egg chair that made me think of you guys! (I blogged about it if you care to have a look.) I picked up a few goodies – brass pear dinner bell, anyone? – but had to leave the chairs behind :(

    Reply

  25. DeeJay Conley says

    I live in the thrift store armpit of the world. So jealous! Srsly want that dresser. The hardware on it is fabulous! Maybe I should share a pic of my thrift store (?) cabinet find.

    Reply

  26. Lauren says

    fyi the link at the bottom for your other thrifting post just leads back to this post.

    I am in LOVE with that globe.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes if you scroll down it’s all of our thrifting posts in a row (starting with this one because it’s categorized as thrift, haha). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  27. Alison says

    There is another new, little great consignment shop in the Lakeside area. It’s called Select Consignment. It opened back in the late spring. It’s right near Dominos pizza. You should check that out the next time you go out thrifting! I’ve gotten some very cool pieces from there.

    Reply

  28. Monika says

    The exam table is just way too funny. I have never, ever, ever noticed what the color of table was during my ob gyn appointments. Other things on my mind. Just sayin’… LOL

    Reply

  29. Ginny @ goofymonkeys says

    The OB table was fantastic – who’s going to buy that?? One shudders to think about the possibilities LOL

    I haven’t been thrifting lately (don’t really know any good spots nearby), but I am in the midst of my first ever CraigsList purchase! Hopefully I’ll pick it up on Saturday morning – I’m so excited. I feel like I’ve won the lottery :)

    Reply

  30. Ellen says

    My favorite thrift store (Laverty’s in Waco TX, FYI) has been closed recently because of owner illness, unfortunately. They do open up once in a while for a few days, but it always seems like I only hear about them opening up on the last day of the sale and then don’t have time to swing by. Man, I love that place.

    Reply

  31. Sarah says

    My hubby and I sell lots of vintage goodies on our blog, so I am lucky enough to get to go thrifting every weekend. we usually go to estate sales, but mix a thrift store in here or there. I absolutely love it and it never gets old!

    Reply

  33. Maria says

    This sounds so high maintenance (which I’m not!), but I have to be in the right mood to thrift. And the stores cannot be crowded and I must have a lot of time on my hands in order to enjoy it. Once I have the trifecta, then, it’s go time!

    I just redid a little nightstand table (an Ikea Lack hack), so I’m excited to see what you do with your little table!

    Reply

  34. The Mrs @ Success Along the Weigh says

    Man, now I want to go thriftin’ this weekend but the Mr is working from home and it’s no fun going by myself. I’ve seen the old stirrup horses from OB’s offices at places too and the one place mad it into a foyer setup (cushion had been removed and wood on top) and had COATS hanging on the stirrups!!

    Reply

  35. Laura says

    Ahh I swear my grandmother had that exact needlepoint hanging in her house (which I’m sure she made herself). If I were a little closer to Richmond I’d come down and snag it for nostalgia’s sake!

    That yellow obgyn table was a frightening sight!

    Reply

  36. Lizzy says

    haha! that OB table is awesome – as long as those stirrups can come off and you can somehow mask the fact that it was originally an OB table!
    i can never find the cool furniture that you seem to come across. maybe we just dont have good thrift stores around where i live (southeastern massachusetts)?! all of the thrift stores that i come across are mostly clothes.

    Reply

    • keri says

      I am in SE Mass/Northern RI too! I was just thinking the SAME thing. I went to a ReStore out toward East Haddam in CT that wasn’t too bad – but had a lot of stuff made of particleboard. I’ve hit up the Savers in the area – which are AWFUL. Salvation Army in Attleboro – I’ve gotten a few chairs but that’s it. On the flip side, I work right near the Salvation Army in Pawtucket – it smells AWFUL and has almost no homegoods. I need to go on a good thrift hunt!

  37. Eileen says

    My mother owned that set of blue suitcases with the white trim … this was in the late 50’s and early 60’s and I remember seeing them around as a kid. The ones in the picture look in fantastic shape.

    Reply

  38. Chelsea says

    There is a big salvation army right by my office. I popped over during my lunch break a couple weeks ago and (in my opinion) scored HUGE. Somehow I started a collection of the old melmac heavy plastic bowls with all the crazy swirly colors. I do use them in the kitchen but also just like to look at them. So, I noticed one in the kitchen section and grabbed it like 75 people were also going for same thing but no one else was even in the isle. I think I might have gasped in excitement but o’well. It was only $1.99. Made my day!

    Reply

  39. Brenda says

    This post has so much awesomeness going on. That yellow OB-GYN table, Clara’s oohing and aahing, that fantabulous leopard outfit, and that pretty globe! I’d say it was a very successful day of thrifting. :)

    Reply

  41. Liz C. says

    I first read “doily stretcher” as “dolly stretcher” and I was disturbed…even more disturbed that you bought it until I re-read it. HAH!

    Reply

  42. Kristin says

    I need those chairs! PUH-LEEZ tell me that you were just there on Monday so it’s likely that the chairs are still at Family Thrift. I’m salivating.

    And thank you for the fun tour!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I hope they’re still there! Maybe try calling first to check? I would describe them as being at the top of that high shelf and hopefully they will know what you mean! Good luck!

      xo,
      s

  43. Marilyn says

    OMG – my mom has a doily stretcher board!! She crocheted doilies and sells them at craft shows. It’s a lost art of crocheting with that tiny thread – but she loves it.

    Reply

  44. Sandra T says

    OMG! That yellow exam table! How crazy is it that it had a “feminine hygiene product” cushion on top?? Too much. How come John doesn’t know what stirrups look like? Well, I guess he does now. ha ha

    Reply

  45. Jenny A. says

    I’ve never seen an OB-GYN table at a thrift store, however, our neighbors down the road cleaned-out their barn and found one in there. It was really old, mint green in color and rusted in a few spots. We agreed it was pretty creepy and immediately went all “Dexter” with our thoughts. They ended-up putting it out for the trash. I don’t know what the trash guys thought when they found it the next morning, ha ha.

    Reply

  48. Suzy says

    Also in love with the globe. Love Clara’s ooh’s and aah’s.
    Gotta start ’em young I always say. She will grow up to love hunting for those thrifty treasures just like mom. My 13 yr old is getting so excited about her bedroom redo. She has picked out colors and we hope to do a large chevron wall using those paint colors. We need John’s mad math skills to tape off the pattern so it looks good….love the post!

    Reply

  50. Lauren J. says

    Hi! So that needlepoint scene you saw, was actually hanging in a frame in my childhood home!! My grandmother was stitching that very scene before she died, and didn’t finish it. My Mom had it framed for our living room-as is unfinished. I just showed my mom this blog entry and when she saw the pic of that scene, she gasped like she’d seen a ghost or something! Anyway- so fun to see that somewhere else in the world (we are in Chicago, my grandma was in Memphis at the time she was working on that btw)!! Thanks for sharing- love love love your blog! Oh and my daughter Ingrid, who’s just a few months younger then Clara, loves watching Clara videos and often asks for “Baby Key” as she calls Clara!! Thanks again!

    Reply

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