THOROUGHLY THRIFTY

The main joy of a three-day weekend is that "bonus" feeling. It's like finding an extra $20 in your pocket you didn't know you had:  pure squander (for those in professions not recognizing Columbus Day, it's just a work day with no mail delivery). Anyway, I decided that I was going to start wasting time first thing today, so like any good profligate, I loaded up on coffee and sugar and then set off for a tour of home decor and thrift stores I've had on my "to-visit" list for a while. Most stops didn't yield anything (which was immaterial - looking itself is fun). But my final stop was jackpot.

I'm a crazy chinoiserie addict, and when I stumbled on this dresser set, I felt weak and dizzy (or maybe it was all the caffeine).

The 3-piece set (dresser, mirror, and side table) was - wait for it - $129. On eBay right now the dresser alone in that size runs $300 or more. I couldn't believe it. 

There was some hardware damage, but other than a little TLC needed, it was an easy fix. Since I have achieved max furniture capacity in my thimble-sized apartment, I had to leave the dresser and side table for some other lucky person. But I was determined to have the mirror. 

At first, they refused to sell it separately, but I begged and pleaded and finally, asked them to name any price they wanted. The salesman pondered thoughtful for a moment and then said...

$29.99. SOLD! I practically danced out to my car with it (I say practically because despite being the stuff of my chinoiserie dreams, this thing is darn heavy).

The next challenge was figuring out how to hang it. Since it was actually a dresser mirror, it had no brackets on the back for wall hanging. But I'm not handicraft helpless for nothing. I called Frager's on Capitol Hill (renovator's mecca) and asked if they would install brackets for me. Total cost? $4.95. And they carried it to my car for me. Heart you Frager's!

Now I'm trying to decided where to hang my fabulous find - and if I want to paint it another color. As you can see, it goes nicely with my lamps, but I'm not really keen on decorating with yellow in this space (the walls are a rich cream and it's clashy). Green or a laquer white might do the trick.

Horchow

Lonny Magazine

via DecorPad

via DecorPad

/Images/my own or as attributed/