cha-ching

...I have been thrifting in Portland. Why did I think this would not be a good idea? I have scored! I have vintage tablecloths to boot. A vintage toy printing press! A working Canon AE1! Cameo earrings! A brand new T-shirt for Steve from an Alaskan brewery. I cannot wait to show you my treasures.

Hope all of you had a beautiful Christmas! I have no idea if we are still in the thick of the 12 days of Christmas, but if we are, I am happy about that.

More thrifting seems likely today...believe it or not!

The same still goes for the New Year: cheers + be safe my darlings.

I miss it here!

*sob*

---break---

I am really happy with the progress of my new blog.

That said, I will be sad to neglect Solid Cherry for the next coming weeks while I'm on holiday in Portland. I will not be actively thrifting while I'm there. 1) It is competitive!, and 2) thrifting in Florida is better (lots of old folks live in Palm Beach County - this is good for thrifting, but not for driving). Besides, my favorite thrift store, the St. Vincent de Paul store formerly on the corner of SE Holgate and 82nd AVE in Portland is no longer (hasn't been for some time now).

But I do have some non-photograph posts in mind if I have the patience to battle dial-up, so keep coming back! Or if you would rather wait, I will see you next year!

Cheers + be safe!

edit 12/18: get your thrifting fix at foolish girl

< $1

I don't know the technical term for these glass domes, but I love them. Usually they come with wooden plates (that I assume are for cheese), but I don't know what one calls the complete set. Enlighten me.

I, however, prefer the glass dome on its own; I only have one of these domes so far, but they're always at the Goodwill. I thought about collecting them in various shapes/sizes; I have only seen them in the size and shape identical to the one I have - not that I couldn't have more, but I like variety.

What to use them for? I'm not sure; the glass is so beautifully thick and heavy...

Anyway, something to collect. And use.

$0

Take it from me: never go thrifting on a Sunday!

The experience is too crowded.

$20

Before:

After:


The bookshelf we thrifted appears to be homemade, but made really well with attention to detail. While I liked the color it was previously (khaki), I painted it an "antique white" with oil-based paint to clean it up (lots of scuffs) and give it some durability. It stands tall - 7'?

Yet another place to display all of my junk.

Bonus: Painting these shelves offered a lot of meditation for me; Steve was out of town and I kept myself occupied with a project while he was off taking pictures in the snow. My family of pets gathered round, we listened to good music, had some spirits and I quietly painted these shelves.

< $1

What do you get when you're thrifting for a radio but you do not find one?

A .69 glass for spirits (NWT), made in France, that's what!

$3

Last week, at my other blog, I posted a strong desire for this plate collection. My lovely commenters suggested I take the idea of twelve plates on the wall in my own thrifty direction. And when people comment, I listen!

I am going to take the idea of hanging twelve *somewhat* related plates on my kitchen wall. The only thing that will relate them, however, is that they have to be pink or brown (I will be happy to throw in any other pleasing color in the mix) and made in England. I found my first two plates at the Veteran's last week. Should be kind of challenging, but I am up for the thrill of the hunt.

When they're up and hanging, I will be sure to share.

$20

You might remember this from my other blog, but I wanted to repost here, from another angle. In fact, it's not the only thing thrifted in this picture; the basket was thrifted ($3.95) and the chair in the upper right corner was from an E-bay auction ($15.00).

This rug was thrifted via craigslist - and it was such a positive experience. Each time I am sitting in the living room I say "I love you, rug." I do. It is horrible to be attached to things, but this is just such a treasure to me (and Steve would agree).

Backstory: The rug was in a family for decades; it was purchased in Spain by the owner's parents, and the owner was moving and updating her look. She originally wanted $80, but discussed it over with her mom and lowered the price significantly. We didn't even ask her to do that; we approached her early in the week with interest, and when we revisited the idea of buying it, we asked again if it was still available. Oh, yes. And for $60 less!

Bonus: There are absolutely NO stains - it even has a piece of protective padding underneath it (included with purchase of the rug), in excellent condition.

For fun: A woman telling her true age is like a buyer confiding his final price to an Armenian rug dealer. - Mignon McLaughlin, Chicago Tribune 13 Sep 64. (Bartleby)

$4.95

Thrifting window treatments is not for everybody. It was not for Steve. I bought these curtains at the Veteran's for $4.95. These are very Madge - I like little florals. I am completely aware that they scream "Yo, Grandma Madge! You smell like cats." It was my original thought that we could put them in the front room where we have wood paneling; they would have been a nice complement to the honey color of the wood. As it is, there are two windows in that front room and the curtains only covered one window. Oh, well. Steve's power of veto won out: he thought they smelled and looked like Grandma Death no matter what. I stashed them away for my craft room.

Here they are up close and personal - but the colors are so pretty, no?:

$22

These 2 chairs were far too nostalgic to leave at the Goodwill. I love them. My great-grandparents had two kitchen sets in this kind of style - when they passed, the dining sets made it to the family's beach house in Oregon. So they remind me of breakfasts, lunches and dinners at the beach house...even though there was no Formica table to match, just to have the chairs was good enough for me. They're in excellent condition, save some age...

Also, does anyone know what this design motif is called? It reminds me of the MS screensaver, Beziers...

$0

Sometimes you can go thrifting without ever leaving your house.

Steve and I were desperate to thrift the perfect dresser for our clothes; we spent a lot of time looking for a piece of furniture that was both functional and quality and with deep enough drawers to fit two people's clothes - we didn't necessarily want a thousand drawers, just deep ones.

We never found that perfect dresser. Anyone that donates a dresser to the Goodwill expunges it from their home for good reason: it is really, horribly ugly and made of cheap-ola materials.

The people that used to live in the house we rent were both disgusting and stupid. It is for those two reasons that we got incredibly awesome rent and a dresser. Their nastiness is a better suited tale for my other blog. But their stupidness belongs right here at the Solid Cherry.

They too must have needed drawer space. In the closets, they spaced the pine boards you see in this picture with cinder blocks, creating the function of shelves and the wobbliness of master idiots. One night, when I was watching CSI Miami or something (David Caruso creeps me out like a train wreck), Steve had the idea to take these boards and use them to make a bookshelf. When he finished, he said something like, "Wow. What do you think if we used this for a dresser?"

Voila! We now have a dresser of sorts.
It is bolted to the wall - extra sturdy-like.

Also, will you please compliment my folding skills? Can you tell I used to work in retail for seven years? And please notice the extravagant number of T-shirts - they are collected from my two years as a full-time volunteer (Solid Cherry tip! If you are poor and need T-shirts, consider volunteering at race events, city/county/state environmental clean-ups, and other community events in your area - they're always good for free T-shirts) and my days of running 5Ks.

$0 : the mirage

This is a no-photo post to let you know about all of the good things coming.

I was driving around over the long weekend and discovered, of all things, a Goodwill store I did not know existed. Hooray for pop-up suburbs. They yield unique fruits, like Goodwill stores.

Later in the weekend, Steve and I returned to said Goodwill and spent $28-ish on heavenly things, including a brand-new copy of Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex. This particular store was outrageous in its asking price for furniture, but as far as knick-knacks & gadgets, it was so reasonable I couldn't believe our good fortune. Plus, the cashier gave us extra "it's the holidays, and I like you guys" discounts. Hooray for good cheer.

I have been painting a $25 bookshelf in my spare time - I need a place for all of my books and "goop."

Also, I have been crafty. I have been making gift tags for the holidays. I might post them here, so I remember what I've been so busy doing!

More to come, darlings. More to come.

Happy Thanksgiving

Of course, the thrift shops are closed today, as they should be.

I'm *not* going to go shopping on Friday.

I would rather bake, photograph, do projects, paint, write, bike, walk.

(I am doing my best to make my holiday gifts and to buy resale).

the sweater couch

Yes, this is a picture of a couch - a partial picture, anyway. And no - this didn't come home with us (it was too stained, and when we say too stained, you can trust it was beyond repair), but I loved the design and the color combo. Olive and periwinkle? Lovely! I think it would make fantastic wallpaper or a sweater for these chilly Florida nights.

$12

My mom collects vintage state plates; I have to admit, it's ridiculously fun to collect state/city plates if you're at all interested in kitcshy Americana. She used to collect only blue and white plates, but as of late, she confided that she loves all colors (red, green and brown are of the most popular, aside from blue).

Lately, at the local Veteran's thrift store, there have been endless state plates. At $3.95 a piece, it would be insane not to snatch them up - in antique stores, they are usually minimum $10. Wouldn't you know, I met my mom in New England this summer; we visited MA, NH, ME and VT. As luck would have it, I found state plates from these four states recently. Can you say, instant Christmas gift with sentimental value? Try finding that at Crate & Barrel, mmmmkay. Bonus: My $12 goes to the VFW.

Bonus for you: I just observed that everything in this photograph has been thrifted at one point: that kitchen nook table? Also $12 (I bought it two years ago - so those really sad water stains are mine - I think I can get them out with mayonnaise?). The chair? Free. It and two others like it were curbed for the trash guys, I just helped myself.

(We've got some before and afters coming, no worries...)

$9

Working typewriter; font is Script (how fantastic). In our quest to celebrate all that is analog, this makes a perfect addition to our collection.

$8

Before.


















After.













*You do see Jane Kitten, don't you?

solid cherry

Two thrifters, both alike in dignity,
In fair South Florida, where we lay our scene,
From Pier 1 Imports break to second-hand dreams,
Where thrifting makes civil hands unclean (trust us).
From forth the spare coins of these two heroes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers change their life...

I was completely prepared to do the entire prologue, but forget it.
You get the picture.
And besides, this is no tragedy.

Back in June, we (Madge & Steve) moved in together after having dated for a substantial period of time. Skip ahead a couple of months and two burglaries later, and we had to move our nest. We took the opportunity to also build our nest, as it was lacking in some areas. We didn't have a lot of cash to buy new, so we considered our options. And that is how we became die-hard thrifters (oh hell, who am I kidding? I've been thrifting since the fourth grade). We like quality. We like made-well. We like the thrill of a hunt. We love to thrift. Steve has immaculate vision when it comes to the big stuff (i.e. furniture), and I have decent vision when it comes to smaller things (i.e. housewares). I'm a shy bargainer, but I am really good at getting Steve to bargain. He is really good at bargaining.

Steve loves E-Bay, I hate E-bay. Losing auctions to tricky last-minute bidders? Shopping should not be so cruel! And what the fuck is up with those INSANE shipping prices?! The deal is awesome, until you have to sell your first-born to get said deal shipped to your house. I have to use all my senses when I shop, and I hate paying for shipping. For the most part, there will not be E-Bay goods/stories on the Solid Cherry.

Steve loves craigslist, I love craigslist. There will be craigslist goods/stories on the Solid Cherry.

We haven't done too many garage sales, but they are definitely in the forecast.

And so is the Under $500 section of the Palm Beach Post (don't see $500 and gawk, see way below $500 and grin).

It's hard, really, to say what we will and will not feature on this blog - we do a lot of before and after gigs with what we thrift, but sometimes we don't touch a thing.

Basically, we love to thrift. And we love photography! We hope you like to watch.

Also, what is the significance of Solid Cherry you ask? Are we perma-virgins or something?

No!

My desk is solid cherry. It cost $35. $35! Total thrift score. It does need some TLC. You'll see.