Thrifty & Chic: Thrifting Angels

16 Comments

It’s been nearly 7 months since we moved into our house, and I finally finished decorating the living room! Yahoo! Last week as I was hanging the remaining artwork on the walls I decided that our living room was severely lacking a cool, gaudy lamp. I hadn’t been on KSL longer than 15 minutes when I spotted this gem. I was afraid Chris would be annoyed at the hideously awesome lamp, so I didn’t call or email the guy about it. That night I showed the listing to Chris to gauge his interest. I was pleasantly surprised at his reaction:

me: So, I found this awesome ugly lamp on KSL. Wanna see it?

Chris: Sure.

me: See? Aren’t the cherubs hilarious?

Chris: Woah! $15? Rad! So, when are you going to pick it up?

me: (shocked) Well, I haven’t even called the guy. I thought you’d hate it.

Chris: What?!? No way, this is totally rad. You should get it.

Those may not have been his exact words, but I remember how shocked I was at his enthusiasm over the lamp. I didn’t realize the lamp was over 4 feet tall until I went over to look at the thing. SCORE! It barely fit in the back of our Element. We also had to get a side table for the lamp, $8 and one thrift store later, I had it. Perfect. My living room is now 99% complete.

Also pictured:

My mom gave me the Mme. Alexander doll when my parents moved to NC. Turns out my mother-in-law has the same little Indian Mme Alexander doll. I think she’s super cute.

The 4 books below the doll are a treasure of mine. I found these for 25¢ each at a we’re-bulldozing-this-school-so-everything-must-go sale. I thought their covers were really cool. When I took them home and flipped through them, I thought their out-dated styles were also really cool. When the series was blogged about on a really cool design blog, and I knew I had found a sweet hidden treasure on that crazy sale day.

So, have you found anything on the cheap that you thought was just funky then it turned out to be even cooler than you thought? Do you like my gaudy lamp? I’ll be posting pictures of the entire room soon, so you can see how well it goes with the room.

view or add a comment
  • Categories
    1. Heather says:

      I look forward to see the whole room!
      Not related to this post: I really wanted to upload some of my handmade crafts to your flickr group but of course I didn’t realize that it was a short month and I had all my pics on my work computer so over the weedend I wasn’t able to upload any pics. Hopefully you do the contest again!

    2. Amanda says:

      Love it! Seriously awesome. I propose hideous/spectacular finds to my fiance all the time and once in a while he really surprises me when he’s on board or super encouraging! This lamp is a genius find. I have a stellar old iron standing ash tray and I cleaned it up and made it into a particularly fine plant stand!

    3. Jana says:

      Holy cow, that is a fantastic lamp. I love decorating with a sense of humor, but I’ve yet to find anything that awesome. And also, I am currently hunting for side tables exactly like yours. My grandmother has several, but I’m not the sort to go asking for my inheritance before it’s due, know what I mean? Can’t wait to see the finished room!

    4. Ha! That’s so funny about Chris. I already love your guys’ living room. Please do ours?

    5. Julia says:

      Your husband is perfect for you.

      And the lamp is perfect for the both of you. Love it.

    6. Jessica says:

      that lamp is EPIC!

    7. AmberLee says:

      the cherubs, the swag, that lamp is a find!

      loved you handy tips over at marta’s. you have me feeling repentant about some of the typos i’ve let slip through. but i’m resolved to be better!

    8. Charlotte says:

      Love those cherubs – they look soo grumpy!

      I posted a pic of my ugly chic:

      http://housewife-chic.blogspot.com/2010/03/after-reading-this-post-i-still-love.html

      Charlotte xx

    9. Reyna says:

      That’s great! I’m sure it looks lovely in your living room!

      Its funny – I have the same Indian doll only her dress is blue and her headband red!!

    10. Jessica says:

      hey, thanks for visiting me!

    11. Faith says:

      Looking forward to seeing the whole room!

    12. Winged cherubs protruding from leafy trumpets and resting against an upside down persimmon? It will give you something to smile about every day. You two make me smile.

    13. Jennifer says:

      Ooooo I have a side table very similar to yours that I bought for $10. It was covered in an atrocious chipped veneer. I fixed it up, painted it glossy white and now proudly display it in my living room :)

    14. […] I’ve had this ruffle fabric for a while & I’ve had a hard time thinking about what to do with it with my belly bump & all. It would make an adorable skirt, so perhaps after this baby comes & my baby bump goes away I’ll get around to making one. For now, I think it’ll work spectacularly on a pillow. I’ve also been thinking loads about the color gold, especially since two of my friends (Susan & Annie) are currently obsessed with gold leather. I sort of giggled when I found this gold fabric in my stash. It’s gold silkscreened brocade. Perfect right? I think it goes smashingly with my angel lamp. […]

    15. […] Melissa’s blog, she is probably already one of your blog BFFs. She thrifts the best things (this lamp is my all-time favorite), has the best printables, and does rad tutorials. She also just launched a […]

    16. […] much, no matter what I do I can’t seem to get it quite right. This has been the tale of our livingroom lamp. It’s a cool, retro lamp, but I feel like the previous color scheme was making our livingroom […]

    mobile site