My Favorite Thrift Store Finds

Trash into Garden Treasure

I always wait for that feeling of glee - it's almost gloating, or pride, or something like that, when you spot a treasure in the rough.

It might be something that will fit that empty spot in your collection of trashy plant containers, or something unique that only you will have.

It's an art, finding these kinds of things. Other people pass them over, without a second glance, and then look at you funny when you start to drool.

I get the oddest looks when I'm in the thrift store or recycle center, getting ecstatic over old windows, or a piece of rusty junk.

Sometimes other people I've run into have the same idea though.

I had to sit on a little painted night stand in the recycle center, to keep another 'shopper' from grabbing it! Even with me claiming it by sitting on it, she was still trying to wrest it from my grasp - shopping rage?

The funniest part is when you finally get all your friends and family trained to find you 'treasures'. That's when you know you've arrived.

These items are all in use somewhere, whether in my own home or garden, or in a carefully vetted adopted home. I don't let my treasures go to just anyone!

Often, I'll use them as garden art for a while, sometimes giving it several new lives, then let the piece go to a new home. When we made the decision to move, there was a lot of excitement, and visitors too.

With ads on Facebook, I found new homes for much of the interesting garden art I had produced over the 20 odd years of living at Pearls Place.

Now, we have a new place to discover lots of interesting junque to make into more fascinating decor.