Call It Kismet! Adventures in Decorating With Thrifty Finds

posted in: A Vintage Home, Cottage Decorating | 1

Hi All,

Decorating with thrifty finds can sometimes be quite an adventure. Today I have a funny little story I would like to share with you.

A few months ago I revealed to you, my wonderful blog friends, my “Shabby to Chic” Master Bathroom Makeover.

The room was “finished”, or so I thought. I found this really cute basket at Home Goods and thought it was the perfect storage solution for our toilet paper rolls.

Miss Jingles, our ADORABLE ( and very naughty) one year old Jackabee however, thought it was her toy box. She kept stealing the rolls out of the basket and used them as chewing toys.

Needless to say, the basket now holds magazines. From that moment on I was on the hunt for a cute, shabby chic cottage style toilet tissue holder. I checked all of my favorite local home stores and kept coming up empty. I just couldn’t find anything I really liked. Everything was just too contemporary and B-O-R-I-N-G.

A couple of weeks ago I treated myself to an afternoon of treasure hunting. I wandered into a little consignment shop located inside a cute little vintage house painted hot pink. She had mostly second hand clothing with a few home items here and there. Not seeing much that interested me I strolled into the powder room and that’s when I noticed the really cute, distressed, white, cast iron toilet tissue holder just standing there next to the commode. Ooooh! I Loved it! I got all excited and ran up to the counter and asked the owner if it was for sale. She smiled and said “NO.” OMG are you kidding??? Do you know how long I have been searching for something like this? I asked her where she got it and she told me the landlord left it for her when she rented the place. Ugh!

I didn’t take a picture of it but it looked something like this….

I went home, flipped on the computer and turned to the Internet. The search began. I quickly found out that this would be no easy task. I had a difficult time finding similar items online and the ones that I found and loved, were all in the UK and did not ship to the US! I finally found one lonely used one on EBay and placed a bid. I won the auction and snagged it for $18 plus shipping. The total came to $33.00. After two long weeks and a  couple of emails to the seller I finally got it in the mail.

It now stands proudly in my master bathroom….

I Love it!

Now the story gets interesting. Last week my little vacuum I use on my first floor broke. I loved that little thing because it was great for getting the dog hair off the couches and worked great on my laminate floors. I ran up to my local thrift shop to see if they had anything small, lightweight and cheap. No dice.  A thought popped into my head to go check out the big consignment shop just up the road a bit. I wandered through the outside storage units where they kept things like old vacuums and again, no dice. I thought to myself, “Hey, I am already here so I  might as well take a look around and see what else they have today.”

I went inside to the main store and had a good old time browsing all of the goodies. I wandered into a small room in the back that housed all their linens. When I turned around to walk out I saw IT. A white, antique cast iron toilet tissue holder! OMG. You’re kidding me right?! I looked at the tag. $18.00 and it just came in two days ago. Hot Dog! I know I just got my gem from EBay but I did, after all, need something for my powder room off the kitchen. I purchased it and brought it home. When decorating with thrifty finds you need to seize the moment and grab those lucky finds. It may not be there five minutes later, and NEVER put it down  for a second. Once I  found a vintage chrome and aqua blue bread box and I was carrying it around the store like a crazy person protecting her baby. I had a handful of folks coming up to me saying “Oooh that is sooo cool.” I knew if I took my eyes off of it for a minute someone would have swooped in and snatched it out from under me. (It now sits on my kitchen counter.)

Here is my second “shabby” style toilet tissue holder in my little garden inspired powder room….

It’s so cute! I have been working on this room little by little over the past year. It is waiting for a few finishing touches so I am not ready to share this entire room with you yet. The toilet tissue holder fit in beautifully! It’s funny how things work out sometimes.  Occasionally, the” Thrift Store Gods” smile down on you and when they do, the thrill of the hunt can be intoxicating!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Have a wonderful day!

~Lisa

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Linking Today To:

Metamorphis Monday

Wow Us Wednesdays

No Minimalist’s Open House

Transformation Thursday

Frugal Friday

 

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