Care to see some things I’ve found at the thrift store lately? (For those of you in Toronto, these things were found at the Value Village at Bloor and Lansdowne.)
As usual, I gravitated to the housewares and linens sections, so I’ll start there …
The lid of our teapot broke a while back and we’ve been making do using a coaster as a lid instead. It does the trick but doesn’t look very nice.
So I was in search of a new teapot, with priority being on one with a good non-drippy spout. It look several trips to the thrift store to find a good one, and then I came upon this beauty. It’s bone china decorated with platinum, made by Mikasa, and is in perfect shape. It may have been used once or twice but looks brand new.
I was happy with the find and gladly paid the $7 they were asking for it. When I got home, I looked up the brand and found similar teapots on their site going for over $250. And now, Nick doesn’t want to use it, because he wants to avoid the risk accidentally breaking it. So, it’s been put into the “special” dishes cabinet and we continue to use the coaster hack for everyday use. Note, we’re not the types to save things and never use them though … this pot will be put to good use when we have company, which is pretty often.
I don’t know what it is with teapots, but we seem to go through them quickly. In the past three years we’ve broken four of them (it’s usually the lids that go, but chipped or cracked spouts are a regular occurrence too), so I hear Nick and understand why he doesn’t want to risk this one to everyday use. But the funny thing is that if we don’t end up finding one at the thrift shop and have to get one at a regular store, we’ll spend about four times for a “cheap” one, than we paid for this one.
Next up is just a little thing, but something else we’ve needed. We use chopsticks several times a week so this unused two-pair set was a happy find for $2.
My biggest thrift store rush comes from finding vintage linens in good condition. Mid-century cotton items are my favourite, so I may have done a little happy dance in the isle when I found this tablecloth. I love it! A perfect score for $7.
These four cotton cocktail size napkins were made in Austria and have never been used. I’m not completely certain that they’re vintage but they sure have an old look to me. 1970s maybe? By chance, the colours match the tablecloth exactly. These were fifty cents each.
A new-to-us plant pot has already come in handy for our old friend Violet. She’s an old dame of 18 years, having been picked up at a corner store to decorate my apartment the summer before I met Nick. We actually have this exact plant pot but in a smaller size, to I was glad to find it. It was $3.
Finally, here is something to wear! I rarely find clothing at Value Village, so was lucky to spot this leather jacket on the rack. It appears to never have been worn … maybe someone got it and then decided that a red jacket was not for them. It has no tags so I don’t know where it’s from, but I like its 1970s look. It’s a little big making it good to wear over a sweater. It was $15.
Nick happens to have a red leather jacket too, so we’ll have to check each other at the door before we go out together!
So that’s it. I’m happy to have found all this great stuff for $37. Here’s to second-hand!
Thanks for taking a look. I hope you’re having a good week.
xo loulou
