Spring has definitely sprung here in the Southern hemisphere. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and a perfect one for hitting up the Kirribilli market.

The market is held outside right by the Milson’s Point train station. There is a plethora of used and new clothing, jewelry, and loads of other second hand items. In short, a bargain shopper’s heaven!

The scenery isn’t bad either, with a lovely view of the harbour bridge in the background.

There were loads of things that I wanted to take home with me, but since we don’t have a car, I had to be prudent with my bag space. What I did end up taking home was a beautiful silk top, a sheer vintage lace shirt and a long strand of pearls. The total cost? $9.50!

The silk top and the lace top match perfectly together, and the pearls complete the look! Voila! Secondhand vintage at its best!

Tags: Australia, clothing, finds, Sydney

It’s been forever since I did a proper update! About a month ago, Husband and I headed back to the US for a family wedding. It was lovely to see everyone again, and we had a great 2 weeks revisiting our old stomping grounds. Especially when it came to shopping! We had both made lists months in advance of all the things that we wanted to buy while we were there. The first stop was of course, my favourite thrift shops in San Diego, and they did not let me down!

For the grand total of about $35 I got:

• 1 Dress
• 6 Tanktops
• 1 Scarf
• 1 Sweatshirt
• 2 Tops
• 1 Pair shorts
• 1 Denim skirt

I also strayed away from my usual thrift stores and *gasp*, actually headed to the mall to buy a few things. Yes, I do occasionally buy new things

Running shoes were definitely on my list as I have pretty much (pardon the pun) run my old ones into the ground. My new Asics were found at Big 5 Sporting Goods for $50 which I was very chuffed about! Going to Target was heaven! We have Target here in Australia, but it’s not the same. Think Kmart-style, with Macy’s prices, and you get the idea. There were so many things that I wanted to buy, but couldn’t due to space limitations. Although, it’s pretty amazing what you can cram into one suitcase when you need to!

Sometimes I wish I didn’t know any better, and could enjoy going to the mall here and spending money. But when you know that you can buy the same items for half the price elsewhere, it sort of puts a damper on things. Anyways, I am finally kitted out with everything I need for the next little while, and have (temporarily) satiated the rabid consumer in me.

Tags: Australia, clothing, Target, US

I stopped off at the Vinnies near my gym this morning after a nice workout. And I am so glad that I did! I spotted these coffee mugs hiding among the other crockery on the shelf.

At first I only saw the one. But then I spotted the second and third, and I was hooked! $6 later, they were mine! I love the black and white designs with the splash of red! The line is called “Viva la Diva” which is an awesome name! I don’t actually plan on using them…at least not for now. They look much too nice sitting on our bookshelf.

The fourth mug that was found was this beauty – a gorgeous, oversized pink teacup.

It screams shabby chic, which to me means “buy me and take me home!” I am a sucker for all things shabby chic (and pink), so I couldn’t resist. And the $2 price tag only confirmed that it needed to come home with me. I can’t help but think about how lovely it would have looked in my shabby chic-themed room back in the States. However, it looks just as lovely serving as a cotton ball holder in our pink and grey bathroom. Matches well too!

Tags: finds, new house decor, vi, Vinnies

I don’t know about you, but if I see an item of clothing I want in a store, 9 times out of 10 I don’t buy it. Rather, I resolve to find it, (or a similar version of it) in a thrift store for half the price. Granted, there are times when I must accept that the chances of finding another one just like it are very slim, in which case I either suck it up and buy what I want, or go home empty handed.

Now this may seem a strange way of doing things. Who knows how long it may take for me to find something similar. And what are the chances that it will be in my size if I do happen to find it? It can be frustrating, I admit, but nothing gives me more pleasure than the hunt.

The hunt for one of my items came to an end for me a few days ago, when I found this hat.

I had seen this style in the shops before, and fell in love with its’ 1920’s vintage style. And rather than pay the $50 price tag, I opted to scour the thrift stores for a similar one. Granted, the hat in my mind was a charcoal grey with a black ribbon around it, but this one is just as lovely. Black goes with everything! I added the ribbon myself to give it a stylish touch. And at $5, it was money well spent.

Tags: finds, Vinnies

I recently got a book out of the library called “The Collector’s Eye”. It has loads of fab decorating ideas and tips for decorating your place using the items that you collect. There is a chapter on mercury glass that I found fascinating. I have seen mercury glass pieces before, but never knew what they were called. Target is a big fan of this style of glass, especially at Christmas time. It’s an attractive design that consists of a double layer of glass that has a gloss of silver paint in between the two layers. While it reached the peak of its popularity in the mid to late 1800’s, mercury glass is making a comeback, and now it is considered to be highly collectible.

So imagine my delight today when I found my very own piece of pretty silver glass! I came across this little beauty in Vinnies – a beautiful tea light holder for a measly $2. At first I thought it was a newer piece designed to look vintage, but after looking at it more closely, I am not so sure. The base underneath looks quite old, and has some sort of papery fabric covering which leads me to believe that it might be older than initially thought. If anyone knows of a way to tell vintage mercury glass from the newer stuff, I would be very grateful. Either way, it’s in fantastic condition – no chipping or cracking anywhere! And with winter just around the corner (remember, we’re in the Southern hemisphere!), I no longer feel silly lighting candles!

Tags: finds, new house decor, Vinnies

It’s been a while since my last update. I have been battling a demon virus, which has prevented me from doing many things, including thrifting. I think I am finally on the mend, after 10 days of being diseased. The hacking cough seems to be abating, and my gunky lungs can finally breath a bit easier. The best part is that I can hear in both ears again! The fishbowl hearing in my right ear was getting old.

My downtime however was well spent, despite the lack of second hand shopping. I was tipped off by a fellow blogger to this nifty software on Polaroid.com. It turns any picture into a Polaroid-style picture for you! While I am rather partial to my own homemade Polaroid pics that pepper this blog, they are a pain to make. So no more messing around with Photoshop. Hurrah! Plus these ones look a lot more Polaroid-y than my own ones.

Tags: holidays

It has been a busy couple of weeks. We moved into a new apartment, which I am absolutely thrilled about. While I liked our old place, it was a studio, and was just too small for two people. Plus there were so many things I wanted to buy, but just couldn’t because we didn’t have the room to store anything. As it was, our cupboards were packed to capacity with things.

But The Husband and I have now moved up in the world! There is even a small glimpse of the beautiful Sydney Harbour from our living room window! So more space = more room to decorate! That’s probably the only thing that I really like about moving – the fact that I get to start all over again decorating. It’s like having a clean canvas to play with! And I love a good challenge, especially when that challenge is decorating on a budget!

At the moment, our place still looks like a bomb hit it because we still have a lot of unpacking and putting things away to do, so I will wait until it’s looking a bit more presentable to show you.

However, I do want to share my newest piece of furniture. This wonderful old dresser was found at Vinnies near my work. It was originally $80, but they were having 50% off on furniture, so I couldn’t pass it up! I don’t know how old it really is, but judging by the old glass mirror, I would say it was made at least 50 years ago.

Here is a before, and after shot:

I cleaned off all the white dust (which The Husband helpfully suggested might be asbestos), and after a lot of work, managed to get the stickers off the front. Nothing a little vegetable oil won’t fix! Sadly, several fingernails were sacrificed in the process, but it was worth it! Once that was done, I polished it back to (almost) its former glory. At some point, I would really love to find some vintage wallpaper to line the drawers with!

And when I wasn’t cleaning up dressers, I spent Sunday morning at a car boot sale held at a local school. While it was mostly children’s toys and clothing, I did walk away with a couple of necklaces, which I am very pleased with!

Tags: finds, furniture, Vinnies

The husband and I have just returned from a weeklong road trip to Melbourne. It was nice to get out of Sydney and see other parts of the country. And while this was purely a vacation for both of us, it definitely turned into a thrifting adventure!

You see, almost every little country town along the way had it’s own op shop! And of course it was compulsory that we stopped off at each one to scour it for treasures. My husband doesn’t mind too much which is fortunate. He enjoys looking at the books and CD’s. In fact, he had more luck than I did during our 1,000-kilometer thrifting adventure.

We were flying back to Sydney, so didn’t have a lot of room to buy extra items. But we did come away with several books, including a lovely historical pictorial book on the lower North Shore of Sydney. This is the area that we live in, but funnily enough, we found the book several hundred kilometers away from where we were, in a small beachside town. How it got there, I don’t know.

From the moment I began turning the pages, I was hooked. I never realised that the area that we live in was so historical. It details the history of neighbourhoods and buildings that are still standing and date back to the mid to late 1800’s when Sydney was a fledgling town. For instance, I found out that the park down the road from us where I enjoy going for walks, was once the local sewage treatment plant! The original concrete cylinders and canals still stand today! It’s a lovely park, right on the harbour and it’s so odd to imagine that just over 100 years ago, it was the sight of a festering pool of sewage, being pumped into the ocean!

This image I found particularly enthralling:

This is the road that I walk to work every day. It blows my mind when I see this picture of a tram bumping down the dirt road. I love imagining that I’m walking in the same places that women dressed in long skirts, and bonnets used to tread. I’ll certainly conjure up this image in my mind when I walk to work tomorrow!

Which brings me to the main point of this entry. This is what I love about thrifting. Every item has a back story to it. Each picture, ornament, and piece of furniture was once owned by someone else. And for some reason, they gave it up. There are always so many questions that go unanswered about thrifted items. Who owned this vase? How did they get it? Was it a wedding present? A white elephant that couldn’t be re-gifted? What about that book? Did someone buy it to read on the plane on the way to an exotic destination? Even an unassuming pair of shoes tells a story. How many parties did they attend? And why were they given away?

I know I will probably never know the history behind the items that I buy, but it certainly is fun making up my own!

Tags: Australia, finds, Sydney

Tags: holidays