1 dig a little deeper

A recent dumpster rescue that I later discovered was quite similar to the latest Veranda magazine cover.
If you follow me on Instagram, you may see me post a find or two from my thrift store adventures. A lot of people ask me, "Where did you find that?" or "How do you do it?" Well my friends, I don't have any secrets to share. All I can tell you is that I am a frequent thrift store shopper and I don't discriminate. If it says THRIFT STORE (not Goodwill (see why here), not consignment shop, not antique market), I'm in there! It doesn't matter what part of town I'm in or even what state I'm in really, I'm always looking. If there is one "tip" that I could give you, it would be frequency is key.


Another thing that I believe gets me awesome finds is looking a little deeper. One of my most favorite pieces in my apartment is this brass etagere that I found literally buried under a mess of faux flowers. The store as a whole is not an easy one to shop. They have a ton of stuff, but the organization and display is less than spectacular. However, while circling the store, I spotted this beauty that wasn't even for sale and immediately asked the owner what their price was. Not only did they sell it to me for a reasonable price, they delivered it the next day! It had all of the glass shelves still intact and the brass was in near-perfect shape. I can't wait to show you how I've styled it now. I'm using it as a mini office! The left side is perfect height to pull up a chair and use my laptop. Ironically, I'd pinned the exact piece of furniture here and here months before.

I'll post a before shot as soon as I finish styling up this corner, but this is what it looked like once I got it into the space!

What was your best thrift store find? What are your tips for getting to the good stuff?

Check out The Knight Twins talking about their thrift store finds here:

0 why I will never support goodwill again

Sometimes we see something that bothers us enough to make us pause but not enough to make us speak up about it. Such was the case for me about a year ago when I was doing my normal rounds at a Goodwill store in the Atlanta area. As I was perusing one of the racks near the perimeter of the store, I heard what appeared to be a manager speaking very intensely to one of his subordinates. The store design was set up with a tall half-wall which separated the shopping area from the receiving and sorting area. What I heard was coming from this blocked off receiving area. The manager was speaking loud enough that his voice traveled over the wall and smacked me in the ear. I don't remember the exact words he said, but his tone was as if he was speaking to a disobedient dog and the words basically summed up to calling the intended recipient an idiot.

What I overheard was enough to make me stop what I was doing and frown. I did not, however, do anything about it. At the time, I thought, "Maybe that manager is just having a bad day..." and remembered that there is always a bad apple in the bunch. Since then, there have been a few more times when I went to a Goodwill store and behavior or working conditions stuck out to me.

But after seeing this video, posted by one of my Facebook friends, I have decided to no longer support Goodwill stores with donations or my money. I cannot support a company that calls themselves a non-profit and pays disadvantaged/disabled workers pennies per hour while their leadership makes 100s of 1000s (in some case millions) of dollars!

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This really hit me deeply as I am such an avid thrift store shopper. (About 60% of my wardrobe is thrifted!) You may remember that I even dedicated a Design Talk webisodeto it. And being that Goodwill is probably THE most popular thrift store I feel like in promoting the fun of thrift store shopping I have inadvertently helped their business. What they are doing is disgusting to me. The gentleman in the video said it best, by paying these individuals next to nothing to come to work everyday, Goodwill is telling them that they are not worth it. Every human deserves to be compensated fairly for their work & especially those who have limited capacity to make more. I will no longer be supporting Goodwill, and I encourage you to do the same.

Here are some of my favorite thrift stores in Raleigh that you can enjoy instead:

Cause for the Paws (benefits SPCA)
1634 S Saunders St
Raleigh, NC 27603
(919) 755-8906
http://cfpaws.com/

Father & Sons Vintage
107 W Hargett St
Raleigh, NC 27601
(919) 832-3030
Father & Son on Facebook

2 design talk with rebecca & beverly

I remember when Rebecca & Beverly came to my high school and I instantly fell in love with them! They have an infectious energy and a sense of self that just makes you want to be around them all the time. When I thought about who I wanted to interview for Design Talk in Raleigh, I immediately thought of them. We share a lot of thrifting and all things Southern! This is just a peek into their home, which is a work in progress. I hope to share some "before and after" shots with you in the future!


They had so many great finds that I couldn't fit all of it into one webisode! I'll be uploading part two of this interview next week, but until then, here are a few more shots from our time together.


Beverly shared her collection of vintage & new jewels in this cute tray.


Rebecca shared her inspirations for her bedroom decor, including this beautiful little vanity chair she found at a friend's house.


They saved these chairs from the dumpster, painted and recovered them!


Another amazing find... this camelback sofa! You won't believe how much they grabbed this one for.


And lastly, they have a collection of vintage tea sets. This one was my favorite!

I hope you enjoyed part one of our interview! And stay tuned for the next one.

2 missing my studio

When I moved to Atlanta in 2009, my intention was to bum on the sofa of my (then) boyfriend's brother until I saved up enough money from my new job at J.Crew to get my own place. While they were playing video games, I would research apartments everyday and dream about how I would make it into a space of my own. Things didn't work out exactly as planned but when I finally did move into my own place in 2011, it was literally a dream come true. It may have not been the best studio, but it was mine! I will always love this "first place" of mine because I put so much love into it.

Ya'll saw peeks of it in the background of Design Talk webisodes, but I never gave you a proper tour. Mostly because I never really felt like it was "done". But today I am missing my studio and thought it would be fun to share a little bit of what it looked like before I moved out!


As you can see, a lot of the items in bedroom area were made by me or thrifted, which made the space really one of a kind. The paint color was from the Martha Stewart collection at Home Depot, and I am so sorry that I don't remember the name/color. And since a few people have asked, I am still selling my custom Afro Puff pillows! You can order one (or two!) right here.

I'm already dreaming about what my next place will be like!

6 design talk webisode 5: thrifting 101

Since we started this series, we've had soooo many requests to do a webisode about thrifting! Although it's hard to share all our secrets without actually walking you through it, we wanted to give you a few great tips to start or improve your thrift store shopping experience! This video is a little longer than the others, but I promise, it's an entertaining and informative 8 minutes! :)

As always, we want to hear from you! Keep giving us great feedback & ideas, and we'll keep filming.

Enjoy!


PS - WHY does YouTube pick the WORST screenshot possible for the video thumbnails??

PPS - Tricea is on Twitter now! Tweet her @TriceaM

8 easy no-sew tableskirt

Usually, the art of interior design requires a mix of an eye for style, creativity, research and strategic planning. In this case, I can tell you that I used no planning whatsoever to do this project! I decided to revamp my home office this weekend, but I had no idea what I was going to do until I did it.

I had my desk and computer set up in the closet of my guest bedroom. My reasoning for that? I hate seeing all the paperwork, chords and such associated with work and having my desk in the closet allowed me to just close the doors and see none of it. The problem with that? My back was always turned from the window, and the heat from my BIG iMac in that tiny closet would make it very warm in that tiny space.

When it was in the closet, I had some fabric that I found for a bank-breaking $3.56 at Goodwill hanging on the inside walls of the closet as "curtains". It was cute but, didn't really have an impact on the room. After taking these pseudo curtains down, a stroke of inspiration made me realize that I'd cut them the perfect width to be a skirt for my desk! Instantly, I pulled out my scissors, tape and glue gun and went to work.


What I am using as a desk is actually an IKEA table. First I wrapped the perimeter of the table in one half of the striped fabric and taped it to the top of the table to make sure there was a snug fit. I didn't need to cut anything! It was already the perfect size. :)


Once that was done I laid the second piece on top of the table and trim it to about 1" + the tabletop size. Then I gently folded the fabric along the front side of the table at the black stripe to keep the pattern. I put a little hot glue every inch or so right in between the two pieces.


Once the first side was done, I let the glue dry before starting on the others so that I could pull the fabric taut as I went. I simply wrapped the corners like a present and *TADA* brand new desk :)



Here's what my guest room/office looked like when we first moved in...


Here it is now! Not nearly done but here's a first look. The two bookcases are the perfect size to fill that wall, and also from IKEA. The lamp is one of my favorite finds from one of my fave Raleigh vintage stores. The small piece of art on my desk was a gift from Blayne for my birthday last year, I love it! And the roses are left over from Valentine's Day!


click for a bigger view

I'll be sure to post the finished room soon. I'm on a mission to finish it now! What DIY projects have you done lately?