Treasure from the Antique Mall

No yardsales for me this week.  We woke up Saturday morning to some much needed rain, so it was nice to just stay put and enjoy the drizzly day, cozy and dry inside the house.

I did manage to find a treasure though on Friday.  I might have mentioned that we just got a 32″ flatscreen TV for the master bedroom.  Are we the last people on earth to get a flat screen?  🙂  My hubby’s TV in his office is on the fritz and is about to go out.  It was a $40 yardsale find from 2 years ago, so we got our money’s worth out of it and it was time to retire that one.  It seemed the best thing to do would be to put the new TV in the bedroom, since that is where we seem to gravitate for most of our TV watching.  So, the old armoire and TV in the bedroom went to hubby’s office where it fits in just fine with his colors too.

This left the 32″ flat screen with no where to land.  It’s sitting temporarily on that $5 yardsale bamboo table tray I found.   So, on the hunt I have been for the perfect piece to hold it. On Friday, I hit the Bama Antique Mall in Leeds and came across this little gem.  Now, this pic goes to show you that you do, indeed, have to look past what something looks like to see the potential in it.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I would much rather find something used that is a solid piece, rather than a brand new piece of crap. 🙂

This piece is from a child’s room, but it’s the perfect height, width and depth for what I want AND it has storage.  Extra points for that handy little door on the right.  Lots of storage there.   Those airplane knobs didn’t deter me for a second! 🙂  Nor did the little ugly doodads sitting on top.  It even had a matching changing table, but I felt the need to leave that for someone else. 😉 For $100, I bought it, stuffed it in my trunk and brought it home.  So, here’s my painting project for the week.  It’s going to be painted a pretty soft blue/gray color, lightly distressed and some of my beadboard wallpaper will go in that door inset.  I thought about adding some grasscloth wallpaper, but I just can’t see spending $25+ for a whole roll when I have extra beadboard wallpaper in my stash. It’s all wood, in good condition and very solid.  Perfect! I love the feet too.  You can usually pull out drawers and look at the back of a piece to determine what it’s made of.  Most of the time peering inside behind the drawers and looking at the drawers themselves will give you a great idea of how sturdy a piece is.  This one has all wood drawers and all the hidden pieces inside are wood too.  Score!

It probably wasn’t a super expensive piece to begin with, but again, what can you buy brand new for $100?  Not much at all, as you know! And those cute airplane knobs?  My friend, Sarah, said she loved them, so I’ll be shipping them off to her.  She has a little boy, after all.  I’ll be hitting up Hobby Lobby’s 1/2 price knobs and find some extra special ones for this piece.

So, in case you were thinking that if you saw a piece like this, you would only think “baby’s room”, I hope you’ll think again.  Never just look at what a piece looks like at the moment.

Always look at the bones. Ask yourself these questions:

Is it a good size and shape for what I need?

Is it solid?

Can I personalize it for my space?

If the answer is yes, yes, and yes, then go for it!  I love finding used pieces like this for much less than some MDF crap that you will find new.  You just can’t beat shopping 2nd hand!

REMINDER from last week:   I’m going to end the Thrifty Treasures party at the end of September for the season, so looking at the calendar, the last one will be scheduled for September 26th.  I know you all love it, but by then it’s time for me to take a break.  Hopefully, I’ll bring it back again next Spring!  It’s been a fun party, but a break is good too. 🙂

Now it’s YOUR turn!  What have YOU found lately? Add your link to the Linky list and remember our guidelines for the party:

1. Add your permalink to the link list, which is the actual post that you did for this party, NOT your general blog url. To get the actual post, after you publish the post, just click on the title and THAT will be your party post url.  PLEASE try to get the correct url in the first time! 🙂
2. Please add my button to your post or blog OR at least link back to this post in your post. That’s all I ask. It’s common courtesy to link back to the person having the party, so that all of your readers can find it too.
3. Please do NOT link to an Etsy shop or something similar (even if you think it’s a fabulous deal) or I will delete the link. This party is for sharing thrifty finds from yardsales, thriftstores, or something along those lines. If I see that your post is not really on track with this theme AND you don’t link back, I’ll delete your link. Sorry, but I’d like to keep the party consistent! IF YOU SEE THAT YOUR LINK HAS BEEN DELETED, IT IS PROBABLY BECAUSE IT IS NOT IN LINE WITH THIS PARTY THEME.