I never go to garage sales

It's not that I'm against garage sales. I know it's a high for some people, but I hate the competition feel of garage sales.  My heart starts to pound and I suddenly find myself wanting to run in front of the person next to me and grab everything in sight.  It's stressful!  And, probably the main reason I don't like garage sales, is that they are usually on a Saturday morning when any sane person should be sleeping in!

Where I live there is this wonderful place called DI (Deseret Industries) where everybody too uninspired to have a garage sale takes their stuff.  It's also where all the leftover garage sale stuff ends up on Saturday afternoon.  Sometimes I pay $30 for a dresser that was marked down to $15 on the garage sale sticker but I don't care.  I LOVE my stress-free Saturday mornings in my cozy bed!

Truly, you don't have to be a thrifting expert, or dedicate a lot of time to finding great deals!  When it's convenient for me, I just drop by DI and don't worry about what I'm missing at the yard sales!  I buy all of my furniture there, but I thought I'd also share some of the knick knacks I've found, too.

 I bought these lamps for $7 each.  Then I spray painted them brown and wiped a black glaze over them.  They look like beautiful oil-rubbed bronze lamps for a fraction of the price.  Just look for the basic shape you like and know you can change the color!

 This basket had a little farm scene painted on it with a rooster taking center stage.  This wasn't exactly what I wanted but I liked the shape.  It took me about 5 minutes to sand the rooster off, and add a layer of spray paint.  Then I just sanded the red and viola!  It's a cute basket and I only paid $3!

 These bird houses were peach and white.  I LOVED the wood on these so I just painted the tops red, sanded them a bunch and applied dark walnut stain over the top.  Total cost was $6.

 This little baby I got yesterday.  It was gold.  I brushed on a light green and then a little dark walnut stain. $3 And I just used these grapevine balls I already had.

 Holy cow!  Why would someone get rid of these?!  And what clueless guy marked them $2 for the set?!  I don't know but I'm not going to complain.  My daughter is going to cut some vinly for these and they'll make great gifts! 

 Beautiful ceramic pitcher for $7 and I didn't have to do a thing. 

 I have a weakness for topiaries, so even though this was adorned in blue and pink ribbon I knew it had potential.  I sprayed the pot brown, added some moss, and wrapped some ivy around it.  I didn't even get out the glue gun.  Total cost $2 and it took about 5 minutes.

 Bird houses are also my thing.  It's not that I like birds that much, I just like their little man-made houses.  This was $3 and I didn't have to do anything.  (Although it does need some dusting so don't look too close)

 I had to think about these for a minute because they were a little pricey - $7 each.  But aren't they gorgeous?  I left them just as they were, just added candles!  They sit on the rim of my bathtub.

And last of all this selfing unit and everything on it came from the DI.  The little milk can was yellow, I added some flowers to the grapevine thing, tore the cover off a couple of old books and painted the self and added beadboard.

My point is, thrifty decorating is much easier than most people think.  Just look for the shape you want and don't be afraid to apply a little paint!  It can make all the difference.  If you feel like you don't have the "eye" for it don't worry!  It will come!  Just don't be afraid to try!