Wilmington Thrifting/Antiquing Trip

We just got back this week from vacation in Wilmington,NC, visiting with my BFF, her sister and their little girls! It was a blast!

I'm soooooo blessed to have a hubby who puts up with my love for shopping! But perhaps its because instead of visiting all the expensive botiques, I'd rather go to the little antique shops (and mostly just browse!) and hit up all the thrift stores!!

We made out pretty well!! The hubby even picked out some stuff!!

We hit up several adorable antique stores, BUT we went to the thrift stores first!! That made the prices of some of the adorable antique stores seem outrageous!

Here's some of my cute antiquing finds, that I loved but didn't purchase!
(click on the names of the stores for more info on them!)

Shop of Seagate

This was my favorite store. On the small side, but gorgeous stuff, some expensive, some super affordable! I wanted to buy almost EVERYTHING there!!

Adore everything in this window display!

Gorgeous, chunky, shabby blue frame! (Hubby thought it was a mirror at first glance!) I could totally see this surrounding some starfish, sand dollars, or something else beachy/nautical! I might even have to make something like this for myself! And there's a peek at a cute bench to the right of it!

They also have a separate room of just furniture that was fantastic! I loved this cute little writing desk!

Thrill of the Hunt

Wish I'd snapped more pics, but I was sooo busy looking! They had amazing displays plus areas you really had to dig through to see all the great stuff! They had tons of brightly colored furniture with starfish on the knobs! So much gorgeous and funky stuff!!

The Ivy Cottage

This place has THREE buildings plus a warehouse, jam packed with gorgeous vintage and antique stuff!! Sorta pricey but some stuff was definitely affordable! There's soooo much to look at! Lots of china, glass, furniture. Beautiful stuff!!

I adored the chippiness of this multi-colored cabinet, and saw several pieces like it!

And here's what I did purchase!

Shop of Segate

I loooooved this little bouy bird house!! The hubby was actually the one who pointed it out! It was way up high on a shelf! The shopkeeper actually said she had just noticed it and marveled herself at the $9 price tag! It's worn, chipping, rusty, and just wonderful!! That cute rusty plaque on the back says "BARNSTORM."

Goodwill and Salvation Army finds

I noticed Goodwill prices in Wilmington to be SOOOOOO much cheaper! While they seemed to have less homegoods stuff to go through, and it wasn't that organized- it was MUCH better selection that my stores at home- or else no one in Wilmington has my taste like it seems people in Nashville do!

Here's the breakdown:

Salvation Army

• $3 -Elephant picture frame (great chunky frame that I'll prob whitewash)
• $1.99- Teapot (can anyone tell me what this is? my mom has bowls like this which is why I loved it but I don't know what it is!)
• $.49 ea Milk glass vases (eeewww dirty, but cleaned up perfectly! I saw the same ones at my Good will for $1 more!)
• $.29 Widemouth Ball jar (hello cheapo!)

Goodwill

• $1.99- Cream and sugar pots- that perfectly match the teapot! What luck!
• $1.59- Wine bucket
• $.59- Halloween candy bucket- perfect for Baby Girl this fall!
• $.69- Snowman bucket
• Lighthouse welcome sign (a little rusty painted part but cleaned up great!)- $2

Vintage Values Finds

This store was GREAT!! It's Goodwill-ish looking and prices on vintage stuff!! Some stuff is a little more expensive because they KNOW it's vintage, but it was still a much better deal than true vintage/antique shops! These stores in Wilmington benefit domestic violence shelters, so that makes it even better!

While I liked all of the stuff from Goodwill and Salvation Army that we bought, I LOVED all of these things!

I'm not sure what the cute little boats are made of, aluminum? They are really cute though! They say Nina and Pinta, but there was no Santa Maria or I would've bought it too!! I just saw bigger boats like it at my Goodwill for quadruple the price! The books are old and amazing- good tiltes even! The little coke canister is from 1992- so practically vintage and it was a steal! The hubby picked out the beer stein- much better than the $40-$65 ones we saw at antique stores! And I think I will shabby up the wooden shell candle holder!

Price breakdown:

• $2 each- Vintage books from 1945-1952 (there will be no tearing up of these! They are still readable classics!)
• $1.99 each- Nina and Pinta boats
• $4.99- Beer stein (steal!!)
• $1.99- almost vintage Coca-cola tin
• $1.99- wooden shell candle stick

I'm sooooo happy with all of our purchases! I really feel like I got more bang for my buck too with finding things in thrift stores vs buying from antique stores! (They just may have had to wipe up more of my drool over all the antique stuff!!)

Most of these things were unusual purchase for me, but they were all things that I loved! I picked up so many more things that I liked, but if I didn't know what I would do with it or if it didn't go with stuff I already had, I put it back! I think I made out pretty well, what do you think?!

I'll soon show how I'm using some of these things!

Linking up!!

Apothecary Beach Display

I'm getting pretty tired of decorating in my dining room- switching it out for every season. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but I just need a change of pace/room!

Inspired by Emerald Cove's post on her apothecary jars in her bedroom.....


I thought I'd see what I could do with mine on my bedroom dresser! I posted about my recent Goodwill apothecary finds here, and decided to use them with beachy finds like Michelle did!

By the way, GOOOOOO see what she did with her bedroom and the AMAZING faux fireplace!! I want to steal every idea in there!!

My bedroom has been needing a change, but I've been working on so much else that I've put it off! This was a quick and easy change though!

Here's the before of the decor on top!

It's been like this since Christmas when I removed a shelf unit to make room for Baby Girl who stayed in our room since company stayed in hers. Some of the stuff from the shelf ended up here! I've got plans to redo the dresser that I slapped paint on awhile back without prepping it correctly! This was never how I intended for it to look!

And the after!

I glued the small apothecary jar up onto a Dollar Tree candle stick which I like much better! Added my driftwood sign I made (which I'm super glad I finally found a good home for!), lots of shells and sand- some bought some gathered from beaches myself, and a picture of Baby Girl's first view of the ocean last month at Tybee Island, GA (I'll be replacing this with a real pic! It's a computer printout for a quick fix!). I got the frame at Dollar Tree years ago! Love it and wish I'd gotten more at the time!

I also moved the crab sign down about 6 inches and am liking it alot better!

I also found some old, falling apart books and tied them with ribbon and twine. I'm already not super loving the way I tied them, so I'm looking into fixing that!

Here's some more close ups of details...

I still think it needs something else around it, but this wall is limited because our huge TV shelves are to the left of it! I also need to do something about the clock I removed! It's so super ugly, but functional! I need to see the time in the middle of the night to know if Baby Girl is waking up because she's hungry or just needs to be soothed back to sleep!

So far, I'm super happy about this display! I love finding inspiration around bloggy land!

For more inspiration, check out these lovely ladies and their fantasitc parties I'm linking this to!

Goodwill Glass Treasures

I've been meaning to post about my Goodwill finds, some of which I've already been displaying!

I found these lovely aqua glass sweeties a few weeks ago and used them in my Valentine's decor and now in my spring decor........

The bottle was only $1.99 and the little candle holder was $.99. It acutally has a sticker from World Market on the bottom!


I also found this adorable tiny apothecary jar at the beginning of the year that I plopped on a Goodwill candle holder for my winter decor, and then put it here for my spring decor.....

Then yesterday, my heart literally pitter-pattered when I came across this beaaauuuuty!

(I got too excited styling it and forgot the before, before picture! This is not how it ended up, you'll see that soon!)

I've been dyiiiing for an apothecary jar! A real one! But didn't want to fork over the dough! I praaaayed it was going to be something I could afford! Now, I'm not really sure what the going rate on a good "deal" for one of these is, but I was thrilled with the $3.99 price tag!

I snatched it up, wrapped my arms around it and carried it through the rest of the store while still searching! It ended up being the only thing I walked out with yesterday, and I was happy as could be!

It is actually much larger and sturdier than it appears here. It seems like a quality piece!

Next up, how I am using this beautiful apothecary jar, and how I'm transforming the small one to match!

I've got a few more Goodwill treasures that I still have to makeover before I show them off!

Linking to Centsible Saving's Thrifty Thursday (after all it's HER fault I got into this thrifting, home decor world!)

DIY Apothecary Jars

I didn't realize how popular apothecary jars were until I started reading creative/DIY blogs! And I knew I had to get some! However, I wasn't sure I wanted to pay the price I was seeing for them!

Then I came across this project that I mentioned here in an earlier post about my planned projects!

Ashley's Apothecary Jars

I pretty much used all the same supplies from Hobby Lobby that Ashley used here......... (and it just so happened ALL were on sale when I got them- use coupons from the paper or online if they aren't on sale for you!)

(Ashley's pic not mine!)

I didn't take pics of my pieces before but I used all the same supplies except for glass candle sticks from the Dollar Tree instead. I just spray painted them Heirloom White, then black so that a "wood" like color appeared through when I distressed them later!

Check out her tutorial for details on how to DIY this yourself! Like I said all I did different was use the glass candle sticks since they were cheaper (the small ones were 2/$1!), and I spray painted everything instead of using regular paint.

I loooooove this project!!!

I actually finished them quite awhile ago, but Hobby Lobby was out of the finials for awhile, and I only had one!! Now it is finally done!

Only one is filled with "fallish" stuff, so I'll probably replace the pine cones with little Christmas ornaments instead of acorns soon. The other two are filled with wine corks (Yes, USED wine corks, although you can buy just wine corks at craft stores- don't worry that is YEARS worth of wine! Glad I hung onto them!), and beach stones that I've mostly collected at NC beaches on trips there with my BFF.

I have these sitting on the edge of my kitchen counter, that hangs over into the living room, so they almost seem like more of my living room decor than kitchen! (although you can see the knife block back there!)

For now, I have it with a beach sign I got for $5 at Home Goods- on clearance because the clock is broken. I think I may replace it with a picture or something else because the clock is paper and kinda cheap looking if you look close! I liked how the gray of the sign goes with the stones, and it is slightly distressed. I may distress it more, if possible or maybe rub on some blackish stain.

And I found this little set of African spice pots in my storage that I got years ago in West Africa and thought it would look cute here! They sort of have the same rough, distressed look of the jars.

Now, that I'm taking a look at pics of mine and Ashley's together.....I think I used smaller jars! Her finials don't seem to overwhelm the jars as much as mine do! Oh well! I still like it!

And let's be real for a sec.....this is what it looked like before I moved all the crap to take pics! :)

I'd just had company for dinner and used my china at my fall table scape seen here, so there's some dirty china waiting to be washed, an oddly placed telephone (still trying to figure out where to put that! I may just put it away unless needed for power outages, since we have handsets in the bedrooms!), a bucket filled with Baby Girl's bottle parts, on top of a recently purchased cake stand that I still don't know what to do with, and our randomly placed glass fruit bowl that I don't know where to put right now either!

But let's imagine this is all that is there, and it looks gorgeous!

Ahhhhhhhh!



Linking up this project at these lovely linky parties! Visit them for more great inspiration!