Hidden Treasure

One of the (many) great things about reading blogs is that I get inspired.  I have found so many amazing ideas, projects, and recipes that I want to try that I don't think I will ever get to all of it!  But recently, I decided to try my hand at one of the activities I'd read about that seemed particularly intriguing: thrifting.

As far as I can gather, "thrifting" refers to the process of shopping at a thrift shop, that is, a second hand store.  Not necessarily an "antique" store, but a store who's function is to sell second hand items, no matter what their vintage.  Back home in Cape Breton, I'd loved going "thrifting" with my mother; she is one of those people who is always making amazing discoveries at second hand and antique stores.  Indeed, I owe many of my better "finds" to her shrewd eye.  However, it took me a while to get back into thrifting in Kitimat.

We started going to the local thrift store more frequently and we began to find some real treasures.  Once, it was a pair of marble rook bookends which found a home in my book and chess loving husband's study.  Another day we found a metal mortar and pestle which I will use to grind oilier, more fragrant spices so that my marble one will not get discoloured.  And then finally, one day, we struck gold!

Now, don't get all excited. We've all heard of people buying "costume" jewelery at a thrift shop only to discover that they'd acquired an expensive bauble for mere pennies.  No, what we found was gold in colour alone.  

We found brass. In pairs.

First, we found the ducks.  There they were, sitting atop an old shelf, gleaming in the afternoon sun.  I couldn't decide if they were wonderful or hideous, but I was leaning toward wonderful.  I like ducks, and these were lovely shiny ducks.  We also love literature, and our home is full of books that, well, sometimes need something to hold them up.  And so, I decided to point them out to my husband, who was perusing, you guessed it, more books.  Well, as luck would have it, he loved them too, and so the shiny fellows came home with us. (They are nowhere near as smudgy as my photo would imply, I'm going to blame this picture on my camera.)  We haven't decided yet exactly where they will end up, but for now they are hanging out on our end tables, keeping company with our next shiny find...


Lamps!

Brass lamps!  I know, I know, if someone had suggested brass lamps to me I would have told them they were crazy (well no, I'm too nice to have actually verbalized that, but I would have thought it).  But, one day while browsing I noticed them and decided to take a closer look.  However, upon approaching the display I noticed that they had both the glass hurricane and wick key of oil lamps, and disregarded them as such.  I was later informed that they were indeed electric lamps, and I hastened in to purchase them.  My husband and I had a bit of a laugh over all our shiny purchases, but we realized that surprisingly, the brass items complemented many of the items we had in our living room. On our mantel we display a small pile of favorite books as well as a few nautical tools, both of which have gold coloured accents.  The hardware on our doors is brass.  And so our new items, which seemed so "not us," actually fit into our home quite well!

We love our living room now!  It's really coming together nicely.  It still needs a few things but our "thrifted" items really brought the room together and have given us focus as to how to decorate the room.  We purchased a few brass frames to contrast with the black ones we were already using and I have to say, all in all the golden touches have really warmed up the space. 


Have you found a treasure in a thrift store?  If so, I'd love to hear about it!  Have a great week and I'll see you on Wednesday!