Stalking the Thrift Store

One of my blog goals was to share my Thrift Store Finds with y'all more consistently. I have had these images sitting in my Dropbox since before Christmas and just rediscovered them while writing about my thrift store statement chair yesterday. I know another blog goal was to have better pictures for the posts, but I will make exceptions for those taken inside Habitat for Humanity. We shop there for the cool/wacky stuff at great prices, not for the ambiance and lighting.

Up first, we have this "his, hers, ours" set. It was less than $10 if I remember correctly. That does not include the tray, which is not part of the set. However, the tray is $5 if anyone is curious. The drink set would be perfect on a night stand or in a bathroom. I love the gold lettering, although the bubbles could be a bit annoying after some time.

I found these divided platters for $2.50 each. If I bought them, I would put jewelry in them or use as a nail polish display. However, I would also need a flat surface that isn't already covered in stuff so I passed on the opportunity.

If I hadn't already started on my sister's painted spoons for her $5 Christmas gift, I would have bought this set of 8 monogrammed K glasses for her (last name is Kogelschatz). The set ended up being $3 total. Fortunately, her husband was at Habitat with me so I convinced him to buy them. This set is the only items from today's post that went home with someone I know. Shocking, I know.

This chair needs some work - bare minimum new cushions and fabric. However, it is charming and only $35. I included a picture of the price tag below for anyone who doesn't believe me. The tag is dated 12/21 so if that chair is still around in a month, someone could probably talk the right floor volunteer down to $20 or $25. The rattan and legs were in great shape when I checked so those parts wouldn't need any work. However, you could totally paint the solid parts gold and go for white upholstery. Now I wish I had this chair and space to put the chair. Oh and the ability to finish projects in a reasonable amount of time.

Enjoy this post? Stay up to date on my thrift store finds! And please share any of your awesome finds with us. We love to see what people dig up in thrift stores all over the country!

My Statement Chair

One Kings Lane approached us about using their new Home Decor Resource Guide to write about our favorite statement chair. I immediately thought of my Habitat Christmas present, which I still just love so much. This home decor guide has a lot of info about style periods in the United States and Europe. There is also a bit about ancient styles from China, Egypt, and more.

Still in the process of styling my desk. Upcoming projects include beautifying cheap picture frames.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find out much about my statement chair. I had a general idea of what to look for as it is a similar shape to my Grandma's gorgeous 1960's chairs. Her chairs are a bit more angular than mine, and the fabric goes all the way down to the floor rather than the legs that my chair has. BTW love those legs! Overall, the same idea. The tufts are adorable and I like how the straightforward shape of the chair keeps it from being too precious - it balances out the pink fabric. The home decor guide did not have as much on that era as I would have thought, but I know One Kings Lane is still adding to this guide. I would love to see a photographic encyclopedia of chair styles; if they could just post an image of a chair representing every popular style and link to the article about those styles, imagine how much more we could learn while thrifting/antiquing!

My black desk is still very much a work in progress. It was originally J's desk, which he bought at Ikea and stained black. It got a bit beat up in his move from Boston to Vegas, but I can totally get behind the distressed look. I added two Edgar Berebi knobs to make it more feminine (also Ikea knobs are ugly). Right now it has a thrift store lamp I "borrowed" from my mother, an empty white frame (haven't decided on a picture yet), two Kate Spade candle sticks (also seen here), a PB tray that holds my keys and other daily extras, and two PB monogrammed julep cups (one is empty and the other holds all my lipsticks and glosses). The tray also holds a beautiful Tiffany & Co. lidded dish which I use to contain messier things like headphones and a loose pair of earrings that may I leave about. I have an upcoming project about cheap picture frames, one of which will go on the desk to accompany the existing framed picture of my grandparents. There are also two pink candle sticks on the desk; a third one will be joining them if I ever make it out to my storage unit. I probably won't keep everything on the desk, but I like to live with things and shift them around until I see what works rather than make all the decisions at once. Probably the lamp should go. I don't even think it is plugged in.

The piece of furniture underneath the desk was first introduced here. I absolutely love it and the apartment could use a bit more storage space, so I cleaned it up a bit and J carried it in for me. He needs to glue the drawers back together to make them a bit sturdier and then I will get to painting. I am debating my color options, but I know I want to emphasize that awesome hardware. Currently, I am leaning towards a high gloss two tone paint job but I reserve the right to change my mind at any time. I just think of so many different color combos, I can't pick just one!

But back to the decor guide. The History of Chairs is very interesting because you can see on a map where and when different styles of chairs were popular. There was even an article about Japanese chairs, which is fascinating considering they are very much a sit on the floor culture.

Even though I did not find much about my pink statement chair, I got curious about my other chairs. I have an pair of antique chairs from my aunt that I decided to look up. I knew they are a french style and I eventually stumbled upon the word "fauteuil" that I recognized. These chairs are a Baroque 17th Century style. The seats of my chairs are particularly low, which I learned was a result of exaggerating the style under the reign of Louis XIV. I also learned a bit more about my couch. I knew the couch is an English rolled arm, but I didn't know it was made popular in the 1800's. So right now, my seating area of my apartment has influences from three different centuries: 1600's, 1800's, and 1900's. Eclectic - just how I like it!

Last minute picture for the blog. As you can see, things are not nearly as neat as they appear in the
other pictures. And this chair needs new stuffing and reupholstering, but that won't happen any time soon.

Have you used the One Kings Lane decor guide? Those of y'all who are curious about crazy furniture like I am would find it to be a very interesting resource, although you may get sucked down the rabbit hole of Ancient Egyptian chairs. I'm pretty sure I need ebony furniture now.

Recipe: Posh Purpose Easy Oven Baked Chicken Wings

Mr. 3 is a huge fan of chicken wings and would eat them 3 times a week if he could.  I tried to figure out a way to make chicken wings at home without frying them, but keeping the skin a bit crispy so we could have them every once in awhile.  Mr. 3's birthday is tomorrow so I made up a batch of my oven baked chicken wings.

First, you'll need to preheat your oven to 425.  Grab a ziplock bag and your favorite spices.  I used a mix of Williams-Sonoma Memphis Rib Rub and organic red pepper flakes from World Market.  I absolutely love the spice mixes that Williams-Sonoma sells, but I wait until they go on super clearance or I make a trip to the Williams-Sonoma outlet.  In this case, I got the Memphis Rib Rub for $2.63, originally $10.50.  I've asked the WS sales lady before about the clearance food at WS and she told me they mark it down the month before the expiration date.  While this might be concerning for some food products, spices generally don't "go bad" they just start to lose some of their potency.  As for the red pepper flakes, I picked those up at World Market because I happened to be walking down the spice aisle when I remembered I was out.  I do like organic spices better...they seem more potent to me, which is very important for spices like cinnamon and red pepper flakes, but probably less important for things like garlic salt or onion powder.  I've used a lot of different combinations like lemon herb, chipotle seasoning, and plain old salt and pepper, so just use what you have on hand and sounds appealing.

I threw the chicken wings in the ziplock bag putting in enough spices to coat the chicken.  I used the same bag, but coated the chicken in two batches so the wings were evenly covered.

The other prep you need to do is what really makes these wings great.  Take a jelly roll pan if you have it (if not, use a cookie sheet with a lip on it) and line it with aluminum foil.  Place a wire rack or cookie cooling rack on top of your pan (I got my jelly roll pan and wire rack from Williams-Sonoma Outlet - try to make sure that your rack fits exactly inside your pan so things aren't sliding about).  Coat the rack with a spritz of Pam cooking spray.  Place your wings on the rack.  I like to use tongs to put the chicken in the ziplock bag and again to arrange them in the pan.  For those of you who hate touching raw meat (that would definitely be Briana y'all), this is an easy trick which also helps keep your hands clean to do other things.

There are two big advantages to using the wire rack which make it worth the purchase.  First, unlike other baked wings, which are just made in a 9 x 13 Pyrex dish, the wings aren't sitting in their own juices or grease which allows the skin to get slightly crispy all the way around...and we all know the skin is the best part!  The second advantage, is that because the wings are raised off the pan, the excess grease drips out and lands on your pan and NOT on your hips!

After you've arranged your wings, put them in the oven for 20 mins.  Take them out, flip them over, and put them back in for another 10-15 mins.  You want them to be  browned and slightly crispy, but not dried out. Here's the finished result (if you look closely, you can see the grease that has landed on the tin foil below).

Don't they look great?  Besides having no added oil (people please, that spritz of Pam hardly counts), this recipe has very easy clean up!  Put your wire rack in the dishwasher and throw the foil away.  Done! Time to enjoy!

If you can't imagine having wings that aren't covered in hot sauce, you can melt one tablespoon of butter (so that it will stick to the wings, olive oil will NOT work) and dump half a cup of hot sauce (I like a mixture of Frank's Red Hot, Tapatio, and Valentina) in the pan.  Put the cooked wings in a bowl, cover with sauce, and toss.  Remove from bowl so that wings do not become soggy from sitting in sauce.  Although we are trying to avoid added fat with this recipe, I think in the case of events like the Super Bowl it's definitely a less fattening option.  Think of it like this: one tablespoon of butter is about 100 calories...evenly spread over 24 wings that's only about 4 additional calories per wing.

What do you think?  Easy and definitely less fattening right?  Mr. 3 loves loves loves his wings this way, so I can definitely say that they have been husband tested and approved.  These are definitely a fun treat while I'm working on beating the winter weight gain (for more on that, see here, here, and here).  Have any fun recipes? Send them our way!

Painted Ceilings

What do y'all think of the painted ceilings that are all over Pinterest these days? I am undecided. I haven't actually stood in a room that has an uncommonly colored ceiling, but from the pictures it seems pretty tricky to get it right. A lot of the pictures seem like the painted ceilings make the room feel short rather than heightening the room.

Pinterest

See - short! And patterns don't necessarily make it any better:

Pinterest

However, one of my favorite bloggers from Vintage Revivals just pinned this photo. I think the grey and white zig zag pattern could be really interesting given the space, even if the pattern isn't my personal style.

Another one of my favorite blogs Young House Love did do a wonderful job with the painted ceiling in their adorable daughter's bedroom. I think it helps that the pink is very pale and that the molding is chunky.

Young House Love

And of course, you can always extend the ceiling paint down the walls a bit. This definitely makes the room feel taller. I think it has a similar effect to the chunky molding above.

Pinterest, because where else do we do our research?

After searching Pinterest for all these variations of the painted ceiling, I am still undecided. I have found great examples and then less successful examples. Has anyone tried this trend yet? Let us know how it worked out for you!

Product Review: Cascade ActionPacs

I usually wind up getting overwhelmed by products in the cleaning aisle.  Unlike beauty products where I know some things to look for (i.e. packaging that keeps the sun and air out), cleaning products are a little bit different.  I'm not a chemist so the ingredients mean nothing to me and I don't know what might make one cleaner better than another.  I usually err on the side of getting a name brand that is on sale and if there are multiple products available in the line, I go for the mid-range one.  I've been practicing this method for the past 8 years and it seems to work out ok (off-brand Magic Erasers are just not as good as the ones my friend Mr. Clean makes!).

Once we moved into our new apartment back in September and I got a dishwasher back in my life (Hallelujah!), I started using Cascade Actionpacs in my dishwasher.  Since it had been 5 years since having a dishwasher, I was behind in the times and didn't even really know about Actionpacs.  Growing up, I remembered my mother using Cascade so that was another reason I veered toward the brand.  I started using the Cascade Complete which isn't the bottom rung option, but also isn't the Rolls Royce Platinum version either.

Cascade Complete
$15.99 for 48 ct.
Image Source: Amazon

I liked the results overall, but on a recent trip to the grocery store, the regular old Cascade bottom rung Actionpacs were on a far better sale, so I decided to give them a whirl.

Cascade Actionpacs
$15.46 for 85 ct.
Image Source: Amazon

Much to my surprise, the cheaper version worked way better than the more expensive kind.  They did a better job of cleaning the dishes and with fewer water spots on the glasses and silverware.  I'm a big fan and super excited to save money on my grocery budget!

The Verdict: Sold and saving!

Anyone else come across cheaper cleaning products with better effects?  Let us know below!