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!