What is a monkeybox?

When I was a little girl, we had a pet monkey named Amanda. My Dad worked in the produce business, so each night he brought home that days culls in a big box - spotty cucumbers, pithy apples, limp celery, moldy oranges and the like. We called it a monkeybox. It was really just trash, but my Mom would take each piece of fruit and trim it, pare it and cut it up to make a beautiful fruit platter for Amanda. Even though it was deemed trash by one, it still had life left in it and was good for the purpose we needed it. That's how I live my life - thrifting, yard saling, looking for another's trash to be my treasure.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Thrifting, Working, Thrifty Work

This weekend was filled with very little junking and lots of working. First the junking:

I spotted this sweet little vintage planter on the back of a flat bed trailer full of crap. The lady having the sale told me stuff was cheap when I walked up. But, when I picked up the planter, she gave me the "ebay" speech. "How much?" I asked? "Well now, that that little planter there is an antique. I looked it up on ebay and there is one selling for $29.00. Now, you could buy that and sell it and get $29.00 for it." I was about to set it down and walk off because a) I loathe the ebay speech and b) I assumed she was going to say $15.00 or so. But, she said, "You can have it or $2.00." So, I gave her two bucks and left before I got anymore speech's.

This old Scottie Dog brush holder came from a thrift. I couldn't read the price - it was either $1.00 or $7.00. I was leaning towards the $7.00 price, but my lady friend said, "$1.00, for you!" It's old and very adorable.
This frame is small, but insanely thick. Layers and levels of wood and plaster. I love it all banged up and chippy. I usually paint frames white, but this one is so old, I think I better leave it as it is. I found this at a sale at an old man's house with boxes of stinky shirts and stuffed carnival animals. Why I even stopped, I do not know. Oh, I know maybe it was to buy this frame for $1.00!

Now for the working part:

Actually, the working part starts with a little more fun. Thursday I made another trip to the casino. I went to meet my Dad for lunch there and I decided to spend part of my winnings from last time. The casino has been there for years and I have never been before and now I have been twice in two weeks. But, don't worry, this will not be a regular haunt for me. I appreciate my money too much to waste it away. I had fun on my two visits, but I am done for awhile....
I started with $65.00 and left with FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS. Woooooohoooooo! Now, I know that is not an earth shattering amount. But, it is big money to me and I was super excited. I decided on the spot to finally buy this family a new flat screen "welcome to the new millennium" TV with my new found money.
Hence the weekend of work -
We had been looking at new flat screen TV's forever. The main thing keeping us from getting one (besides the cost, of course) was trying to find a new entertainment center that didn't cost an arm and a leg and that didn't look new - but fit into my chippy, shabby look. Despite the fact that it wasn't going to fit into our current wall unit, I bought a 32" TV anyway. Apparently, our procrastination paid off - this TV was $750.00 a few months ago, but it had dropped to $448.00.
When I got home, I started looking at our current wall unit and thinking. I thought maybe I could deconstruct it and make it what I wanted instead of trying to buy something else.

Here's the way it was - totally crammed with my treasures. (It seriously looks way more packed in the photos than it ever did in my eyes.) I got out my trusty screwdriver and took off the top, then I removed the vertical divider and all the shelves until I had a big empty shell in the middle. The TV fit perfectly!

Then I went to Lowe's and had two long shelves cut and a new piece of wood paneling cut to fit the back. I have new black wrought iron pulls and hinges still to add. And, I need some moulding cut to put in front of the shelves to hide the raw edges. I''m happy with the overall look - it needs some tweaking, but that will come tomorrow - some shelf rearranging and moving of the DVD/VCR and cable box. I originally purchased the wall unit at a garage sale along with a set of old gym lockers for a total of $26.00. I sold the gym lockers the next day for $25.00. So, this was my $1.00 wall unit. See why I liked it? I spent about $50.00 for the wood, backing and hinges, so I still only have $51.00 invested. So, not too bad. And, the TV only cost me $65.00 of my money. That's being thrifty at it's best!


*On a completely unrelated side note - it is 52 degrees here in Arkansas on August 30th. It is completely bizarre! It should be hot as h*ll! I am not complaining -I LOVE IT!

7 comments:

  1. Great job on the big cashola winnings! Great remake on the cabinet to fit that new flatscreen!!! (now don't make that casina a daily habit....I prefer to see you fun finds)

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  2. please excuse the typos from the previous comment - I need to go to bed....

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  3. Nothing better than a 'successful' project! NICE job!!

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  4. You are so lucky, I need some of that good luck! TV cabinet looks great!

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  5. I love that frame!

    Your makeover rocks! I was ready to get rid of our beast of an entertainment center. Then we ended up with a beast of a tv. Seriously. 55 inches of massiveness. But it was free, so I guess I cant complain.

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  6. How completely hilarious--your "before" and "after" photos of the entertainment center look nearly EXACTLY like mine before and after the big screen tv--your old tv even looks like mine! And of course every square inch was full of my STUFF. Our center was free--my husband got it from a friend after it had been through a hurricane. Nothing wrong with it--the guy's insurance paid for a new one nevertheless. Watching TV on the big screen is sooooo awesome and you got a great deal, too!

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  7. First..WAY.TO.GO!!! That is a GREAT win at the casino! I won $1000 once in Vegas was excited for a week! LOL!
    The TV is great and I am completely impressed with what you did with the old entertainment center! So handy you are!! : )

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