Thrift Store Finds

kat unpacking recent thrift store purchases!

I have always loved shopping in thrift stores. It is fun to see what you can find. Fortunately the city I now live in has quite a few thrift stores. The only bummer is that they are too far from my apartment to get there by walking with my rolling walker. Yet my mobile chair is too big to go inside and go down the aisles. I have to go to them by car. Recently I went to the Salvation Army, which is about 40 miles away. In fact, we went twice in one week due to big sales they were having. I can't wait to go back there again. There are two thrift stores near me, but nothing like the Salvation Army. Like I said before, I have to go by car. One is Annie's Thrift Store and the other is Ms. Bea's Warehouse and Consignment Shop. I am lucky that my boyfriend, Sonny, will take me to these whenever I ask.

Unique shapes and colors bought for 99 cents each!

I was so excited to finally have a home where I could display my things. Things I had to keep packed away for so many years. I got rid of a lot of things. That is not a bad thing. Now I do not want to bring more clutter back in. And living in a studio apartment means I have to be careful due to space. I started seeing the various glass vases in pretty colors in the thrift stores. I checked them out on eBay where they sell for a sizable amount of money. I thought I'd just put some on my window sill. Soon I had another idea and put them on top of my kitchen cupboards. There they will stay!

All the different colors brighten up my home!

Most of these pieces sell for 99 cents to $2.99. I do not think I ever paid more than that for even one of them. What a bargain when you see the color of each one come alive in your home! I have to live with colorful items especially since I am usually here all day, by myself, except for Rabbit. Color makes me feel happy and maybe that is a bit of what color therapy is about. Whatever it is, it makes me smile when I look at my display of these beautiful pieces.

One of my favorites!

Some pieces are unique shapes. Maybe they are more familiar to you than to me. One of the members of my home decor group on Facebook, told me that some of these vases are for starting bulbs. I have not researched it or anything, but it makes sense. If any of them are valuable, I do not know. I just know they are pleasing to my eyes. When I am in the thrift store with Sonny, most times I go up to the counter to pay for my purchases and see his group of items will usually include a vase he has found for me too. We have fun shopping together! 

The bunny and big blue vase Sonny bought for me

These were just a few of my thrift store finds and I will be showing you more in future posts. You can decorate your home beautifully by shopping local thrift stores in your area. Brand new items are very expensive. Shopping this way you can do your whole room or house for a lot less. If you have an idea of what you are looking for, you will probably find it or something better. Happy shopping!

Copyright © 2019 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2019  Kathleen G. Lupole

Studio Apartment Decor

I love bright colors in my home!

I am still in the process of getting settled in my small studio apartment, kat's Studio, as I have named it. What I really like about such a small space is that it forces you to weed out that excess. Those things you have stored for years, but never used or took out to look at. One of the main objectives of kat's Studio, is for me to wake up in the morning and smile. To walk in the door after a day out, to see the appearance of my apartment and smile. At night when I am going to sleep, the lights from outside, even the moon at times, shining in my very large windows onto my ceiling, make me smile. I thank God every night, for bringing me to this place.........my home. I love it and love every day of living here. So I am trying to make it appealing in every way..........to who? To me! It is ALL ABOUT ME!!!!

My dresser defines my private mini bedroom

Since it is a studio apartment which is very small, I had to be smart in designing it to appear larger so I didn't feel crowded in. The two things that make my space here work is the large windows, which are tall as well as wide. The other being the extremely high ceilings directly in front of the windows. The walls being painted white also help give the illusion of more space. Instead of setting my large dresser against a wall, I have placed it so it creates a small bedroom behind it. That idea which I found on Pinterest, works well. At night when I am in my bed reading on my Kindle, as I do most nights, it feels cozy in there. Private. Rabbit's cage is close to my bed, but that gives me more time with him.  Last night, in fact, I had him on my bed with me for a few minutes, giving him nose and ear rubs.

My mini bedroom

When I was making my plans to move into this small studio apartment, I thought I would have to stick with my small twin bed, that I had been using for the last five years. But once I was in here and had my space set up, I saw that a double/full sized bed would work. Off I went to buy a new bed. I like it a lot! That little bit of extra room is much more comfortable than the little bed was. I loved that little bed and it wasn't an easy decision to give it up. I had a 4" memory foam topper on it and wow, that made such a difference. So I was a little nervous about the change, But my new bed is very comfortable and has the memory foam built in. I love the extra room!

The "pass through" to the kitchen

My mini bedroom, as I like to call it, has the "pass through" over the bed that is over the sink in the kitchen. I love it! I can just put things on that to take into the kitchen or bedroom, depending on which side I am on. Another thing about this mini bedroom is that when someone comes to my door and even if they come in the entrance way, they cannot see my bed or vanity or Rabbit's cage. It is very private. It is hard to have a private spot in a studio apartment of this size. I have done it though and like I said, it is very cozy and comfortable. I like using colors to brighten up the white walls. Nothing that I have has costed me very much money, which goes along with my frugal way of living.

Love my high ceilings!

The high ceiling is what makes this small apartment seem much larger. I am not certain if the other apartments all have that or not. I have only been in a couple of other ones and one across the hall did have that spacious space also. So maybe they all do. Soon I will have all the work done of organizing it and my storage locker downstairs. I do not want to move from this apartment to a larger one anytime in the future. It is the best apartment as far as I am concerned. I am always working on it and probably always will.

Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole

Vintage Home Decor From Your Attic

Welcome to kat's Studio!

Over the years, I had gotten rid of most of my really good furniture. When I moved to Peaceful Forest, there was not room for most of my stuff. Most of the good pieces, such as the bed was taken upstairs and changes had been made in the door to the upstairs, so I don't believe you can get it out without taking the doorway above the door apart. Besides it is a very large queen size bed and I have not slept in it for many years now. It was not something I chose to take, even if I could have. kat's Studio is only about 338 square feet. I thought with it being so small, it was best to stick to my small single bed. I chose not to have a couch, which I would have had to buy or a recliner, which I thought I may need. My feet had been swelling up often and I always felt if I had a recliner, I could have put them up comfortably. I never was able to buy one and figured I would buy one here. Well after I had my air conditioner installed, my feet have not swelled up even once! Not even when riding in a car, though I am able to have air conditioning on then too. 

Daddy's bookcase empty

I figured I would take what I would need. I had two bookcases that are not really worth anything to anyone but me. My father made them to put his books in some years back. They are nothing special. Made from scrap lumber and then painted with the same cheap paint he used for the outside of his trailer and the addition, the picnic table and outside chairs. He had actually made quite a few things this way and we had brought them to our house after he passed away in 2012. I could not bring them all here. I had a need for the bookcases though. Once I got them here, I found their permanent space immediately. Like I said they are not special or even made of good wood and finished. But for my Boho Chic apartment decor, they fit perfectly. The shelves being wide enough to even put items behind the books if needed. Since I bought a file cabinet, I have not needed to do that. Everything I had put behind the books is now in the file cabinet, which was mainly office supplies.

When I left my house, I left behind a good share of my cast iron pans and skillets. I never had any place to keep them there. If you displayed them on an open shelf or hung them like many people do, they would have had dust from wood stoves, hay from animal work and flies from country living, stuck to the surface (though I have a had few flies in my apartment, but just one at a time). So I only used a couple and kept them in the oven and the rest in a huge Rubbermaid container. Hardly ever used them. So when I moved, I thought to myself, what ones do I really need? Which ones will I actually use? No sense wasting the space on ones that will never be used. I left the rest of them for my husband to use. Maybe he will and maybe he won't. He will eventually be with another woman who will look in there and think she has hit the lottery! The fact is that I did not need that many, so I took nine pieces that I could not part with. I had to find a good place to store them and decided that the bookcase is not far from the kitchen and I always wanted to have them on display, but to be able to use them too. Here I can!

I found I could also display the flag I was presented at my father's funeral. I had kept it in a dresser drawer but now I could display and it wouldn't get dusty and dirty. So I put that on top of the bookcase behind the cast iron pieces. In fact, the day the electricians were here changing my circuit breaker box to a new upgraded one, one of them was a disabled veteran himself asked about the folded flag (young too, he was injured in an explosion in Malaysia). I told him about my father. I was also able to put my own Barbie dolls on display. Actually one is Midge, not Barbie. I sold my Barbie and some others I had on eBay. I have a second fashion doll, Polly, who is one of the first dolls of that type that I got as a child for Christmas. The clothes I have for them were all made by my mother, except for their originals that they came with and I still have. Every now and then I change their clothing so they look different. 

Meaningful items from your past, your beloved family members or places you have visited become part of the Bohemian Chic decor. It is a challenge I am enjoying by incorporating those items into my apartment. Instead of stuck in a drawer or trunk somewhere, I am using it or displaying it every day. Vintage items from my past now have become every day home decor that I can look at and have my memories be a part of my every day life. Not stuck packed away to be opened after I am dead and gone and donated to the thrift store or taken to the landfill. Nope, not my treasures from my life! 

Most of my furnishings are things I already had or else I have bought secondhand. A few, like my curtains and tablecloth, I bought new on eBay. I love thrift store shopping and yard sales so I will always be adding to and changing my decor. It is fun and I love doing it!  As I put my studio together, it has  become my comfortable cozy home. I love it! 

Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole