October 14, 2008

Thrifting

All of blogland is in love with Eddie Ross, including me. Who else can come up with fabulous finds at Goodwills and Dollar stores, whip up a gourmet feast and be the craftiest crafter around? He almost out Martha's Martha, which is no surprise being that he's her senior style editor. This brings me to thrifting, do you guys do it?

{Eddie Ross's fab finds}

There are really no good flea markets around here and antique shopping is so-so, honestly nothing special. A few months back I had a wild moment and decided to hit up a Goodwill for some hidden treasures; let me tell you it was frightening. After I quickly browsed the racks I ran out of there so fast with my shirt covering my nose because it was so smelly. Am I just too wimpy? I love the thrill of the hunt but I think I need to create a list of things that I'm really looking for before I head out and maybe it will make it easier. Is thrifting one of those things where you have to hit the shops over and over before you find treasures? Let's discuss because I would love to hear your horror stories, fab finds and shopping tips.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Eddie and I love Top Design even more. His blog is ridiculous. It reminds me of days when I didn't have a baby and a house renovation to deal with... Great post!

The Queen of Fifty Cents said...

I prefer to do my thrifting at yard sales. You don't have the ick factor of some thrift stores (though most are great places!) and I like to see where my stuff came from. Even better I like to get the story behind the stuff!

simply seleta said...

I'm all about the thrift find. But you have to be in an area that has generous donations, and nice homes. Some Goodwills here at the beach are nasty - basically donations from cheap beach condos and such. I guess you have to tolerate the good with the bad, including smelly stores from time to time. Ew, the smell of used and old clothes, that one always gets me.

Eddie needs to do a "Fabulous Flea" how-to workshop for his blog divas. LOL. I'd for one sign up.

Courtney said...

I, too, prefer a yard sale/flea market rather than a thrift shop like Goodwill. But maybe I say that because I can't even tell you the last time I ventured into one of the thrift chains. Perhaps I should challenge myself.

I like the feeling of being outdoors rummaging around. It fuels me to be running around in the weather looking for a great find. I guess it's the whole needle in a haystack thing. Most chains have everything laid out of shelves and it's hard for me to feel inspired that way. Give me a box full of junk and I'll go to town!

jora said...

I am absolutely NO good at thrifting. I wish I were. I need to be taught.

Sarah Ring said...

I second flea markets and yard sales being a step ahead of goodwill/salvation army. I have ran out on smelly goodwill stores too - the key is to find a good one (they are out there!)and stop in often, as inventory moves fast. Fortunatly, we have a lot of great vintage shops here in Austin that are very affordable, my favorite being Uncommon Objects.

Eddie is so adorable and I love that he uses recipies from vintage cook books. So neat!

Sarah's Fab Day said...

I always think that I'm going to hit garage sales but that requires time, which I don't have too much of. Imagine my kids with all of those old skeevy toys...not good. They would be hammering me to get toys and I would be going crazy trying to dig through everything. This is how the whole Goodwill episode happened, I thought it would be easy to do the one-stop shop.