Garage Sale treasures

As I mentioned in my previous post, my mom and I went to several garage sales this past Saturday. I think we'll make it a Saturday tradition all summer. At the very last garage sale I found two awesome treasures. I had been wanting to replace a 90s era black halogen floor lamp in our living room with a table lamp to increase the ambiance but table lamps are SO expensive. Imagine my surprise when I walked into our last stop and found a large table lamp for only...........$1!! I'm serious.......it was only $1. I was a bit skeptical about whether or not it would work. However, when I got it home and put in a light bulb..........it totally worked! I may eventually replace the shade...........and I've thought about repainting the base. But for now, it looks great and really warms up our reading spot in the living room. Can't beat the price!!







The gold pillow on the rocking chair was also purchased at a different garage sale on Saturday for only $2. It goes great with the new throw pillows that I sewed last week.






As we were heading into the last garage sale stop, I told my mom that if she is ever at a garage sale without me and finds a corner baker's rack to call me immediately because I've been wanting one. Well........in a stroke of unbelievable luck, we walked in and there was a corner baker's rack. I paid $22 for it, which is kind of high for a garage sale. However, I was okay with the price for three reasons: 1.) I have looked at these in stores and they retail for $70 and up and I've looked unsuccessfully on Craigslist for a great deal on one; 2.) I found the above lamp at the same sale for only $1 AND 3.) all the money raised at this particular sale goes to the Relay for Life for cancer research. Anyway..........below you can see the rack in its new home.........the corner of my dining room. The first photo shows it without accessories.




The next photo shows the baker's rack accessorized. This is the hard part for me. I think it's difficult to find the right balance of objects so the space doesn't look crowded or disorganized. I actually did a Google search for tips on accessorizing baker's racks before I started. A main tip I picked up, which I've heard before, is to do groupings in odd numbers such as 3 or 5. For now I'm pretty happy with what I've arranged. However, I am sure this will be an ever-evolving space. One other great tip I liked was to use some decorative boxes on your rack/shelf and to place seasonal decorations that you'll change out inside the boxes. That way you can easily redecorate for the seasons without having to drag the accessories out from another area of your home. So........I'll probably try to add something like that eventually as well as a plant or two(faux or real). Today I just had to use what I already had on hand. Everything on the shelves was found while thrifting and/or was given to me by someone.