a recent hobby of mine, since moving to denton, is thrifting. i love it for several reasons. one, i think it's a tremendous way to get to know the town you're in. i didn't feel like denton was "mine" until i spent considerable time in denton's many thrift stores over the summer. the way i see it, thrift stores are the attics of a town. and we all probably know that you get to know a lot about someone by going through their attic (thinking back to the hours and hours i spent playing in my grandmother's---and the furniture i salvaged from it).
secondly, i love thrift stores because they're cheap! that one should be obvious. but it ties in to the paradox, which is: thrifting makes me both like my things more, and care about them less. what i mean is, when i thrift something (a bookshelf, bedside table, picture frame, dress, pants, blazer, or cup---all of which i've thrifted at some point), i like it more. it's like i discovered it and had a vision for what it could become. especially if i've redone the thing in some way---like the bookshelf and bedside table, which i repainted. i've invested myself in it, and tailored it specifically to how it fits into my house. but on the other hand, i care less about it! meaning, since i didn't spend $100 on a bedside table, i don't care if it breaks or chips or collapses. i don't care if i drop the cup and it shatters, because it was only fifty cents. it doesn't matter if the dress shrinks in the wash or rips---it was $4. i find that the more an item of clothing cost me, the less i wear it. strange how that works. anyway, i am all for ways to care less about my stuff---the last thing i want is to be in love with my things.
recently, i've taken to spray-painting baskets. almost every thrift store has a plethora of baskets, they're usually $1 each, and spray paint is a really fast and easy way to spruce them up and make them go with a room. baskets are also a quick fix for organizing. my bathroom shelves, which were full of medicines and bandaids and lotions, which usually took me several frustrated minutes to dig through, are now organized into baskets.
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| baskets before: yikes, look at that ugly bow. you can also cut handles off of baskets, which i did for the one on the left. |
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| linen closet before (sort of)---i had already done the bottom shelf. but you can see what a nightmare that middle shelf is. |
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| baskets after! |
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| closet after |
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