Thrifted Thursday - Side Table

In college, I worked as a mechanic in a bicycle shop located in the creepy basement of one of the dormitories. One day, I looked out from the shop, down the long hallway dimly lit by flickering fluorescent, and noticed the custodians pulling items out of a side room. One item that stood out to me was a little white half-moon table with perfectly timeless lathed legs and a little shelf. I made a note to myself to ask them about it later (to see if it might need a new home, of course) and went back into the shop to finish up my shift.


Once my shift ended, I quickly walked back into the hallway to ask the custodians about the table... but they were gone! And the table was gone! In fact, everything they had emptied out into the hallway had disappeared (and there had been a lot of stuff). I tried to accept that it was gone forever, but I just couldn't get it out of my head.


A few days later I was walking around campus and saw the dormitory's hall director off in the distance. It immediately dawned on me to ask him if he knew anything about it. I sprinted over to him, explained the situation, and he happily took me down to the basement to track it down. Once we reached the grimy basement, he unlocked the door to the storage room and revealed to me an enormous room filled with mounds of things long forgotten. Most of it appeared up for grabs, but most of it was also covered in a lot of dead spiders and cobwebs, things I wasn't in the mood to dig through at the time (hey, bike shop work may be dirty, but it never involves dead things).


I turned a corner, past a massive heap, and there it was: my little white table. I had nearly given up, but now it was mine! I was still quite surprised that the hall director was so happy to let me take it; but I think he realized that no one else would probably use it again, so why not give it to someone who actually appreciated it? This little table epitomizes the phrase "shabby chic," but really, it's mostly just shabby. It's still one of my favorite pieces of furniture, though!


Sure, it needs some new paint, and it's a little wobbly, but it has served me very well and, I'm sure, will continue to do so for a very long time.

*swoon*
Paige

Thirfted Thursday - Large Paper Lantern Lamp

Today's Thrifted Thursday should really be called Free Thursday because this piece didn't cost me a dime!

Freecycle is a network similar to Craigslist, but everything is free. Its aim is to keep completely usable items from entering the garbage system and sitting in a dump for the rest of time. I'm not trying to be preachy, but I'm all for recycling, composting, and definitely reusing! Freecycle is an awesome program and I highly recommend checking it out.

This large lantern lamp came from Freecycle when I lived in Southern California. I made arrangements with the original owner to pick it up from her doorstep (which may sound a little sketchy to some, so as the "freecycler," you can specify where you want the "freecyclee" to pick up the item).

I'm not a huge fan of overhead light (definitely not as flattering, and can often be too bright for a space), so this lamp is perfect. It sits atop a long low shelf (Expedit from Ikea, to be exact) in the front window of our living room, and lights up the space perfectly. The cream colored shade adds a warm glow to the room, but is still rather bright so it can be the only one on and still sufficiently light everything.


How do you light your space?

*swoon*
Paige