Organizing a Sewing / Craft Room with Thrifted Treasures

The following post is a re-post I made on the Thrifting Collective.  If you are not familiar with that blog, hop on over and check it out.  It is rather new but full of found treasures.

Hello.  I am new to the Thrifting Collective and thought I would jump right in with a post.  I am in Plano, Texas (a suburb of Dallas) and travel all over the DFW Metroplex to feel my thrifting habit.  I started thrifting in college while working in the theatre department.  We would hunt thru thrifts for props, etc and I would spot things I liked for myself...and I was hooked.

When setting up my sewing room, thrift shops were the natural choice for me to search for jars, shelves, etc to help me stay organized.

I got this at a local Charity Shop in Dallas.  It was in a sad shape until I sanded and painted it.  I wish I took a before pic, I almost left it behind it was in such bad shape.  There was no back, the wood was dirty white and needed a good hammering in the joints.  It works perfect for my small candy jars with all my craft flowers I use in scrap booking.  The backing is just patterned paper that matches my decor.  I paid a little too much for it (2.99), in the shape it was in, but I saw potential.

This little shelf needed no work at all.  It was ready for all my stamps to move in and settle into their new home.  I think I paid under 10 dollars for this. 

This was actually a black shelf that is made for the little miniature collections.  I took some of the dividers out, sanded it, painted it white to match my decor and my little stamps fit perfectly.  I picked it up at a local thrift for about 3 bucks.  The little jar was thrifted, too, on Salvation Army's half priced sale.  Blue tags went half off that day....so it was about a buck.

I needed a place to store my unmounted stamps in and this thrifted binder really fit the bill.  I could not find a small binder in any of the office supply stores or wal-mart, target, etc (and during the back to school supply sales, of all times).....so I KNEW I would find one at a thrift.  For 45 cents, I got a better deal, anyway.  With a little time and patterned paper to match my decor, it turned out quiet nice....if I do say so myself!!!!

I collect old (ok...let's say vintage...sounds better) shakers.  They are perfect and look so good holding my pretty colors of glitter and flocking.  All of these were thrifted.  I never pay more than 2 bucks for one, and I only go that high if I just HAVE to have it. (the smaller ones are from an Antique Mall, but some of those are like thrifts, if you know what I mean)

Don't they look pretty on the altered cake plate I found while thrifting?  A little patterned paper and rick rack dress it up just fine!!!!

I just got this one last week.  it is one of my most favorite...needs some pretty pink glitter inside to warm it up, dontchathink?  (and a steal for .99 cents)

Oh how I LOVE these pretty jars from Salvation Army.  They were 2.99, so kind of pricey in my book...but what is that I see?  A YELLOW tag?  And Yellow tags were half off this day.

So I grabbed two....SCORE!!!!

These thrifted vases are perfect for holding my ever growing collection of art markers and pens.

Another Salvation Army half price find.  I love these scroungy colanders.  I would never use one for my veggies, this was very rusted and dirty.  I banged it up a bit more and spray painted it white and now it catches all my odds and ends on my sewing table.  I had bought a smaller one at Hobby Lobby last summer that was double the price (and that is after taking 50% off cause I never pay full price at Hobby Lobby, either...it will go on sale next week if it isn't this week)...and I had to paint theone from HL, too.

I found this little gem was pretty messed up with 1970's fading colors and brittle ribbons.  I redid it to match my room colors and now I am in LOVE with it.  I would have enjoyed the 70's colors if they were in better shape.  I enjoyed redoing this.  It houses my vintage pattens (and some new) just fine and I love looking at it. 

This was how it looked before (well...after I had added one side of new fabric).  The photo does not show the bad shape of the fabric inside and the brittleness of the ribbon around the side.  I know, I am justifying all the changes, but that is because I wish I could have saved it "as is".

I altered this thrifted pic-nic basket (2.49 at an Arlington thrift store) with ribbons and pretty patterned paper.  Now it holds an assortment of ribbons and ric rack next to my sewing table.

This little beauty is something I have been hunting for since I spotted on at an aantique store back in the 90's.  The one I saw then was around 50 bucks...but I just had to have it.  By the time I made it back to the store, it was gone.

Fast forward about 15 years (OMGoodness I am getting old) and not seeing many, and if spotted were way outta my price range, I finally found one.  A few weeks before Christmas I finally found this at an Antique Gallery in Lewisville, Texas.  This dealer was having a 50% off sale so I snagged it at about 23 bucks.  How could I resist?

With a little creativity and thriftiness you can store your art, craft, sewing or whatever kind of supplies you need to coral stylishly and inexpensively. 

Happy Thrifting.

Tiffany

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Also linked to Organization Thursday at Thrift Core