Thrift store awesomeness

Last night, for some inexplicable reason, I was in a bit of a gloomy mood. (I blame pregnancy.) So as I'm carrying an armful of boxed up shoe orders to set by the front door, my husband stops me at the top of the stairs and says, "Tomorrow I want you to go to the thrift store and spend $50." While at the time this didn't generate the sort of gleeful reaction that it normally would, I woke up this morning in a much better mood, excited to go hunting. I wasn't entirely sure what I'd be hunting for, but the most fun part of thrifting (to me) is just seeing what there is to find.

At Savers I scored an entire collection of rocking horses. There were about a dozen to choose from, so I tried to grab the most interesting and diverse mix that I could. Here's what I ended up with.

The tall, skinny iron one is weirdly cool. Not your typical rocking horse. The wooden one has kind of a rough-looking tail, but I liked it because its legs move when it rocks. I got two of the brass ones, the one in front and another just like it but smaller.
This fabric horse has a wooden bead for an eye and some sort of organic fiber for its mane and tail. It sits on just one rail, making it hard to stand up, but a couple of pieces of ticky-tack underneath help a lot.
I think this one is my favorite. I'm not sure, but I think the tail might be real horse hair, and all that hand painting is just sweet. This one also swings back and forth on gliders. These will probably find a home on a very high shelf in my son's room, perhaps to be added to in the future.

Today I visited a used furniture store that I'd never been to before and came across this old rocker. Yes, I now have yet another old rocking chair project. I studied the chair carefully, especially the upholstery, to make sure that it was something I could handle. The fabric itself is very dirty and worn, and the seat needs some restructuring as well. I had the salesman tighten up one of the arms for me before I left with it, but overall I think it's in good enough condition to make over- especially for $18! (It was marked $19.50 but was 10% off.)


We're in the process of turning our computer/junk room into a computer/guest room, and that's probably where this will end up. Now I just need to find a nice futon to put in there. Is there even such thing?? Anyway, I'm excited to get to work on it. If I'm on the ball enough I may even take pictures of my progress. Maybe a little upholstery tutorial? I just hope it's as easy as I expect it to be.