On a recent trip to the thrift store (Value Village) I found that they had gathered all the Christmas related stuff and displayed it together. A quick look through what they had didn’t reap any of the vintage European blown-glass baubles that I would find in a thrifting-dream-come-true scenario. Rather there was a lot of unattractive, cheaply made new things that weren’t worth taking home, using for a couple of weeks and then storing for the rest of the year.
I did pick up a couple of specific holiday related pieces though, that I quite like, the first being this little planter, especially for a little African Violet plant which always has a few flowers at this time of the year. This particular plant with its iridescent white blossoms, has its larger flush of flowers in late spring but always gives me a few more again in early winter. So a Christmas planter was just the thing to allow this hard little worker to show off a bit. (I have a collection of African Violets, each of which has their own habits and personality. I’m planning to do a post on their care next year.)
I haven’t decided yet if this is something I’ll use this year and re-donate after Christmas or if I’ll store it for next year.
The second holiday item was found in the linen section of the store. For a mere $.69 I picked up this cute 100% cotton tea towel graced with fruit and Christmas trees. Never having been washed, it is crisp and heavy, and its darker muted colours are perfect for our darker kitchen. Plus having a thrift store towel at the ready will save my treasured true vintage ones from getting worn out.
While the rest of the finds in this thrifting trip were not specifically holiday items, when I got them home I realized that they lent themselves to the season for sure.
We have an antique round dining table that has many leaves so can be converted into a banquet table if we ever needed one. But we usually just use it in its leafless round state. (You’ve seen it in action this and this, for example).
I once made the mistake of putting all of my plants on it one time while we were away on vacation, so the person coming in to water them wouldn’t have to search all over for them. A couple of them were over-watered and the saucers overflowed onto the table, so the top of it was ruined and has been on our must-fix (strip down and re-varnish) list of things to do since then.
In the meantime we keep the table covered with a tablecloth. The thing about this old piece is that it is not a standard round table size, so most round cloths are a smidge too small for it and don’t leave a nice generous amount of fabric hanging down around the sides.
So I was quite happy to find a very nice round tablecloth at the thrift store that was generously sized. This quality 100% cotton textile comes from Denmark and is made by the company Royal Copenhagen. While it appears to have seen very little use, I think it must be old because a look at their site indicates that they no longer made table linens. I did find one of their clothes for sale on ebay, in a rather unattractive (to my eyes) pattern for $100 including shipping fees, so at $5.99 I did very well with this find. I will be sure to show it to you in use soon.
I’m a big-time fan of coloured glass, so these green drinking glasses just seemed to have hopped into my cart on their own. They’re nice and heavy and are the only beer glasses we have that actually fit an entire bottle of beer. (Why are so many glasses meant for beer drinking just a little too small to actually fit a whole bottle, leaving you with an inch or so to chug-a-lug?)
Being a fan of small vases to display tiny bouquets, I was happy to find this silver coloured glass one. It is not, but really has the look and feel of real Mercury Glass.
You might recall that I found an amber coloured pressed glass plate in my last thrifting trip (shown here, that I put right to use serving veggies-and-dip at a couple of recent dinner parties here and here). Well, on this trip, as I was taking a final walk through the kitchenware section, actually putting away some things I had been considering but ultimately decided against, when I saw this little bowl that is an exact match to the plate. It definitely wasn’t there when I’d looked at this aisle the first time, and must have been just put out for me to find. Research indicates that it was made by “Anchor Hocking” and is in the Fairfield pattern.
Here it is displayed with the previously found plate …
Lastly, here is the ‘find of the day’, a piece of vintage Beauceware Pottery. Beauceware was made in Beauce County in the Canadian province of Quebec, between 1939 and 1989. The company was set up in order to keep the local artisans from moving to the larger cities to find work. If you’re interested in the history of Beauceware here is a good little write-up on it.
I would estimate my piece to be from the 50s and I believe it is a planter. I might use it as intended but think it would also make a very nice serving piece for bread or something like that.
So that sums up my recent thrift store treasures.
How about you? Any good secondhand finds lately?
Thanks very much for taking a look,
xo loulou
