Comments on: Tips to Navigating a Thrift Store

By: Esther

Esther — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 20:13:12 +0000

I LOVE the table idea! We had one like that which we bought brand new with 4 junky chairs for $450. Wish I had thought about painting the horrid thing! It would’ve gone great out on our enclosed front porch. Hmm … maybe if I look around at my stores long enough, I’ll see it again.

I love your blog!

By: Brenna

Brenna — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:28:40 +0000

Thanks for the table idea! My husband got almost the same wood table from his Mom and I hate it! Now I can show him the photos and see about painting it! Thanks for the idea! If you have any advice on how to do it (I have never done anything like this before) I would greatly appreciate it!

By: Kathie Nappier

Kathie Nappier — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:26:27 +0000

I know this post is a month old but I just found it today and had to show my husband. We own that 12:99 table and have eaten on it for twenty years. We bought it at Sam’s Club for 199.00.It has a leaf that makes it a large oval table that would fit a large family. Ours is looking worn but I never thought about painting it.Thanks for the great idea!

By: LouAnn

LouAnn — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:42:41 +0000

So glad I found this site – I used to shop thrift years ago but hadnt since moving to this area. (I do shop consignment and sales though). So I hit GW after reading this, and was so excited to find a stool for my daughters vanity. Have been looking for a while and found nothing under $40. This little bench is the perfect size, but the paint on the legs is chipped up and the fabric on top is dirty and ugly. But we got it for FIVE DOLLARS! Yes! Woohoo! We’ll fix it up, take that nasty fabric off, recover it, and whala – she’ll FINALLY have a bench for her vanity! Thanks for the inspiration!

By: Rachel R.

Rachel R. — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:30:08 +0000

Oh! And please point out to your readers to use size tags when they’re helpful for narrowing things down, but not to worry so much about them that they miss out.

I saw a skirt at our Goodwill last time I was in there. The tag said XL. It looked so small that I thought, man, that is really scary that that’s an XL. (It was stretchy fabric and I thought that it was just a *really* long way to stretch and would be *awfully* tight.) Because it looked so small, I decided to try it on anyway, and it fit great. I normally wear anywhere from a 2 down to a 000, depending on brand! When I tried it on, I discovered that someone had taken it in on the sides (considerably, apparently). Anyway, the point is, there is no way I would normally wear an XL, so if I had just gone with the tag, I would have never even looked twice at this skirt.

By: Rachel R.

Rachel R. — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:25:11 +0000

I am not good at “seeing” things as anything other than what they are (well, I can imagine a coat of paint, but that’s about as far as it goes), but even I can see that table is a steal! $12.99?! (The furniture here is usually hundreds. Is that a typical price for your thrift store?) And that mirror? Drool.

I am looking forward to hearing how you get in an out of the thrift store so quickly. None of the ones here have colored tag days, etc., which is what I’m accustomed to from my thrift shopping as a teen. But I can’t get in and out that quickly, so my children dread having to go in regularly (and, as a result, so do I).

I’m curious, too – what do you consider good prices for frames? I always feel like art at the thrift stores is horribly overpriced, but maybe my expectations are just too high.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:45:44 +0000

So, did you buy the $12.99 table and replicate the BHG cover?

By: Sue

Sue — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:23:45 +0000

Am I to late to comment here? I just discovered you thru blog land. You discribed my thrifting life to a tee! I have the same ways you do for thrifting. Sometimes I feel alone because nobody gets me. But that doesn’t stop me. Thanks for the support in what I do!

By: oh amanda

oh amanda — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:47:30 +0000

Really great info! I’m new to thrift stores and do feel like “there’s nothing here”. I finally bought some cool glass containers today and felt like a pirate finding treasure!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:18:50 +0000

What a great post! How many of my friends say the same thing- they can’t fin dstuff like me- I say it takes having ‘it’ to get it! lol I will pass this one on!