Recent Vintage Thrifted Finds (and my plans for them)

Come along on a trash to treasure adventure and see what vintage thrifted finds I found on the curb. Plus tips to revive, repurpose, upcycle and decorate with all that great vintage potential!

Love a good trash to treasure story? Here’s where many of mine start…on the curb! My favorite place to find thrifted vintage treasures is curbside. The best part? It’s all free! Several suburbs in our area offer curbside pick up of unwanted items on specific days each Spring. Some have switched to every other year, so this year I made sure to shop the curb as many days as I could.

All together I went out 6 days in two weeks, a couple hours at a time in the afternoons. What I picked up was amazing and will keep me in projects for quite a while! If you love the thrill of the hunt, check my Instagram highlight, “Junk Hunt” HERE for videos of the fun. And be sure to Follow Me while you’re there:) Here’s a huge recap of my Recent Vintage Thrifted Finds (and my plans for them).

I’m joining my Thrifting With The Gals friends today. Our friend, Cindy, at DIY Beautify is joining us, too. You’re going to love all the thrifty, vintage ideas these ladies have for you. Check out all their posts at the end.

Thrifting with the Gals

Ann, Dabbling and Decorating | Rachel, The Ponds Farmhouse | Robyn, Robyn’s French Nest

Kristin, White Arrows Home | Lora, Create and Ponder | Cindy, DIY Beautify

Recent Vintage Thrifted Finds (and my plans for them)

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First, An Explanation

No, I don’t really need ANYTHING. But picking is in my blood. This is how I filled my store and booth spaces when I was selling. Now I’m looking for myself and my big kiddo’s homes. But it’s hard when I’ve trained my eye to spot POTENTIAL. I need to really think…do I want this for myself or the kids, or do I just like it because it’s cool and it’s old? I’ve been curbside picking for 20 years, and when I find amazing things like I did this year…I can’t stop. Maybe someday I’ll have to start selling again. But for now…my project list is long! Get ready for LOTS of pictures.

Finding Vintage Furniture

These curbside clean up days make it so easy for people to clear out their unwanted things. A few I spoke with said they’d had these pieces in their basements for years. They’d gotten them from parents and just realized they were never going to use them. So they brought them to the curb. And luckily I was driving by at the perfect time!

I did not bring the trailer (in order to not be tempted to bring home more), but I did have to call my boys for help a couple times. And several people also offered to put the pieces in their garages until I could come back. Yes, people are so friendly and nice and I have no pride when it comes to picking up great finds on the curb for free!

Several gentlemen also helped me load these big pieces into my car. I told Mr. Fix-it that yes, I do purposely curl my hair, put makeup on and look cute when I’m junking;) Many men do still enjoy helping a lady in search of vintage finds, luckily.

The furniture finds and my plans for them:

• Oak craftsman sideboard: It’s a beast but I loved the masculine style and the curved features. My plan is to paint part of it black and leave parts wood. The doors are in rough shape. Possible add lath sticks to the fronts in a design for an artsy, rustic vibe. Hoping this will fit in Big Boy’s new apt.
• Country benches: Will be used for Happy Girl’s wedding as extra seating outdoors. Probably will paint over the red-maybe green or black?
• Craftsman styled built ins: These were my favorite find! They came out of a house 10 blocks from my childhood home. The original dark stain has been stripped. Think I would like them dark again, but will paint the inside and shelves white. We think they’ll fit on either side of our fireplace in the living room; so excited for these.
• Very old wooden dresser with great hardware. This one’s going to take some work to get it back to good; lots of gluing and clamping. I would like to keep it mostly wood, but may paint the body a blue tone. This will go to Big Boy’s new apartment.
• Such a fun vintage button tufted settee! I sent a pic to Happy Girl and said, “wedding?” Hopefully I can get this girl cleaned up enough to use as a photo op piece and for them to use at the head table.
• This cute little side table will hopefully go to Happy Girl’s newlywed apartment; it’s totally her style. Won’t take much to get this one ready to use.
• I spotted the legs of this tall metal cupboard and had to stop. The latch, the hinges, the colors…I fell in love. It will get scrubbed up and poly’ed and will go in my studio/office. While I was waiting for Mr. Freckles to come help me load it into his truck, a man came out of the garage and offered me to look through his mom’s house because they would be having an estate sale soon…seriously! I bought a wood milk carrier from him and gave him my # so he could let me know when the sale was.
• These pretty metal chairs needed to be taken apart to fit in my car. I sat on the sidewalk for 30 minutes. Luckily I always bring my tool bag and make sure my drill has a good battery in it. Once they got home, they got plunked in a garden right away!
• This pretty pink marble top was luckily found when my car was empty. I left the table base. I was able to roll the marble over and lean it into the back of the car. No plans for this one yet, but it will require a sturdy table base.
• I also scored a curved glass front cabinet! As I was looking at a cute corner cupboard, a man came out and told me he had a curved glass front cabinet he was going to bring out. Was I interested? How could I turn him down? They loaded it right into the back of my car which was luckily open at the time. Future plans for it? I’m thinking of painting it white and lining the back with wallpaper. We’ll need to make shelves for it. I’m hoping to find a spot in my house for it-fingers crossed!

You’ll also see that I picked up a couple of chairs. This old wooden one, a couple white metal bistro chairs, along with the metal garden chairs. I also picked up two rush seated Pottery Barn wooden chairs the last day; didn’t even get a pic of them. They had to stick out my sunroof to fit in…and then it started raining. Oh, what I’ll do for good junk!

Here’s what I had to leave behind…because I didn’t have room:(

Medium Vintage Thrifted Finds

My favorite curbside finds are the medium things. Rustic old boxes, toolboxes, crates. Basic old things I can refresh easily and use in my decorating or outside in the garden. I definitely found some great items this year and some fun surprises.

• I might have let out an audible squeal when I spotted the military yard long framed photos. They are going to be so fun to use in my summer Patriotic decorating.
• I love old suitcases and have quite a collection. I brought 3 more home to revive. See how I clean and refresh old suitcases HERE. And get great ways to decorate with vintage suitcases HERE.
• The old metal garden cart will come in handy and the red wagon will get planted with succulents. (see more vintage junk garden container ideas HERE)
• A collection of old hymnals was a fun find in a black garbage bag. I love using them with music themed decor all through the year. We found a church bulletin stuck in one dated 1910; love the history.
• My IG followers let me know the funky wood thing I picked up was an antique hand seeder. Sure enough, I looked it up on Etsy and found a similar Triumph branded one.
• The old wood boxes always come in handy when I’m decorating. They add levels when I’m styling, or I pop Christmas trees in them.
• I’m hoping I can get the metal picnic box cleaned up. I’ve recently picked up two others with similar colors that could make a cute stack of 3 as summer decor.
• The handmade big church…what a fun find! I don’t know if it’s a dog or cat house, but I had to fit it in, since I have a vintage church themed collection. It’s so big, it may need to find a home outside, but I love it’s handmade charm.

Finding Vintage Fabrics and Dishes

Yes, I actually find vintage fabrics and dishes curbside, too. I stick my nose in them for the sniff test. I don’t like to pick up anything that smells moldy-too hard to get that smell out.

This year I brought home whole bundles of vintage wool fabrics that someone must have been keeping to quilt with. I don’t quilt…yet. But I’ll figure out something to do with all these beautiful fabrics.

I also picked up 2 handmade quilts. The patchwork one is in pretty good shape and just needs some easy repairs. (see How to Easily Repair an Old Quilt here) The other one is probably a cutter quilt that I can upcycle and repurpose into something. (see 14 Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Quilts)

I picked up a whole set of milk glass dishes that seemed to hardly have been used. I’d been wanting dinner plates to join the rest of my milk glass collection. Now I can set a whole table with milk glass:) (see how to use your milk glass collection in THESE posts)

Picking Vintage Parts and Pieces

A great reason to go junking is to find parts and pieces I can use in repurposing projects or in decorating. I love decorating with old wheels and scooped up a couple vintage baby buggies for the cool old wheels.

I also took the beautiful old knobs and door plates off a pile of old doors. There are no curbside junking rules that say you need to take the whole item. I like to take parts and pieces off so I can use them in a different way.

Vintage Thrifted Finds: #Lootshoots

Anyone else love to see #lootshoot pictures on social media? I tried to take one each day I went out, but think I maybe missed a couple days. Yes, it’s going to take me a long time to process all this and get it to where it will land. For now, Mr. Fix-it is complaining about how full his garage is:( Stay tuned to learn tips to help your vintage live it’s best life!

Whew! I told you there were going to be a LOT of pictures! If you love the thrill of the hunt, I hope you had as much fun as I did collecting it all! I had a string of beautiful Spring weather days, and the junk gods were good to me! Now the real work begins;)

Thanks for reading Recent Thrifted Finds (and my plans for them). If you enjoyed your visit, be sure to Become an Insider so I can send the ideas right to you! You can Sign Up HERE.

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Enjoy the rest of the inspiration from my Thrifting With The Gals friends, and be sure to Pin and Save below!

Cindy, DIY Beautify: “Thrifted Wood Pedestal and Cloche Makeover”

Ann, Dabbling and Decorating: “Cottage Farmhouse Decor Trending Finds”

Robyn, Robyn’s French Nest: “9 Easy Tips to Mix New and Vintage Home Decor Pieces”

Rachel, The Ponds Farmhouse: “Vintage Garden Concrete Statuaries, Unique Decor Indoors and Out”

Kristin, White Arrows Home: “Collecting Old Clocks: Always On Lake Time Where Time Stands Still“

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