What I found this week...and how to find it

It has been quite a while since I did a post showing some of my finds, but today I've decided to show you what I have bought this week.

I get asked all the time...where do you find the furniture you upcycle?  My answer...all locally, mainly at op shops and tender centres.

I do the 'rounds' of my favourite local haunts alot.  Like several times each week.  Sometimes I set out to go there, other times I am going to Bunnings or the supermarket, butcher or wherever my errands take me, and it seems silly not to just pop in on my way past and see what treasures are on offer!  I never seem to have any trouble finding what I am after, and I always find great stuff that I never knew I 'needed' till I spotted it there for sale ;)  Consistency is the key to finding great treasures.  You can't go in once and write the place off as smelly, full of junk and a waste of time.  You never know what is being unloaded off the next truck to pull in there!  

I may have *ahem* been known to hang around when I see a truck being unloaded...hey...you snooze you lose!  I have bought great pieces that way, straight off the truck before they have even priced them.  

I live in a small regional area so even though there may be more places to hunt, such as estate auctions, on offer in the big cities, don't write off small towns as not having good stuff. They do...it never ceases to amaze me what people get rid of.  Actually the fact that ebay, gumtree and the like don't seem very well used in small towns like this is probably why the op shops have great stock...it is too hard for most people to get rid of stuff online. Or maybe we are just a charitable bunch that like to support the local op shops...I know I certainly hand over a fair bit of money to them :)

Of course, I miss out on a lot of awesome things too.  The upside is, I don't know about them because they are in and out of the stores before I even see them.  (I go there a lot but I don't live there!)   It almost goes without saying, but...if you see something you love, grab it, don't walk around and think about it, don't come back tomorrow, next week, whatever.  

It won't be there.

So this is what I found this week:

A large solid wood sofa bed for out on our back deck.  I have been after one of these for a while, and most of the ones I have seen were the tubular metal type...not exactly the look I was after, and they all seemed to be priced too high - at around $85-$100.  More than I wanted to pay for something that wasn't quite what I wanted.  Luck/good timing/persistence/call it what you will was on my side this week as I found this one for....$15.  The shop was overstocked and had put all their furniture on half price.  This would have been a bargain at full price, but I wasn't going to argue!  The mattress is a bit tired and obviously the frame requires painting, and I will sort those things out as time permits.  In the meantime, a duvet cover over the mattress makes it a comfortable and welcoming spot to sit.

Today I needed to go to Bunnings, and the paint shop.  So it was a 'I'll just pop in on my way past' sort of a trip.  I found myself staring at these prints of some pencil sketches of Bath, England.  Not even my usual thing but there was something about them that I really liked.

I had been wanting something different to put on the wall behind the bed in the guest bedroom and I just found it, for $6 a piece.  

I love all the detail in them.

I think this 'Old Bond Street' one is my favourite.

There were actually six in the shop but I thought four was plenty behind the bed and I didn't really like the other two, plus the frames were slightly different.

(I actually did a quick frame switcheroo on the floor of the shop to ensure that the four frames I bought were the same.  That left the two in the shop with matching frames so I think I was helping everyone by doing it!)
Sometimes I have no shame ;)

My best find of the week has to go to this lamp...

It is a really pretty cut glass table lamp, really heavy and well just gorgeous.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it.  Why? Well, because about 15 months ago, I found the exact same lamp in a local op shop...and now I had a pair!  I thought I had posted about it, and I know I shared photos on my Facebook page at the time, but I can't seem to find them now.  Here is a photo of my other one...

I pulled the lamp to bits and painted all the brass coloured pieces white to freshen it up.  The base on this one was in just as bad a condition as the one I got today, so I know it will come up nicely with a bit of work.  Hope I can get the same silver shade...or if not, I'll just buy another two that match :)

How much did I pay for the lamps? They were both $15, at two different op shops, 15 months apart. Funny!

Last find for today is this solid wooden desk...

Just a sweet little simple desk that will look gorgeous with a coat of paint.  Watch this space!