The Tale of the 27 Cent Bed

One of Enid's wonderful thrift stores has a brilliant six-week rotating mark-down schedule.  Items are at regular price for their first three weeks in the store.  On the 4th week, they are marked down 33%.  On the 5th week, they are marked down 66%.  On the 6th week, anything remaining is 27 cents.  ANYTHING!  27 CENTS! 

I frequently ponder why they chose this seemingly-arbitrary, awkward number. Why 27 cents instead of simply a quarter? I don't know but I'm thinking it's some weird Enid thing because another Enid thrift store has a final mark-down price of 23 cents! Either way, I don't argue! And I certainly don't tell them that I'd pay 50 cents for most of it!

It wasn't until my second pass through the bargain basement section one day that my eyes focused in on this:

A bed for 27 cents!  Maybe it was because it lacked rails.  Maybe everyone else just lacked vision.  I don't know, but I can make rails.  And I had a vision!

Soon after, "the vanity fairy" left a vanity on my doorstep.  I had told my friend John that it's against my rules to take donations when he offered it to me.  He humored me to my face and then very sneakily dropped it off at my house in the middle of the night!  Thanks John!  I greatly enjoy the mental image I have of John as "the vanity fairy" dressed in a pink tutu and tights with wings and a sparkly tiara and crown!  By the way, I have since relaxed my rule about accepting donations!  Why be rigid and ridiculous?

Here is the vanity in it's original state.  You can also see what the original hardwood floors look like.  I had rolled back the carpet to see the floors.  They need some cleaning but I think they'll be great -- better than that horrible carpet!

And here's another view of the bed and the vanity.

The vanity sat in the middle bedroom for a long time while I tried to conjure a vision for both the vanity and the room.  I kept seeing the orange paint from the hall on the vanity (remember, the orange paint that a previous resident had left in the garage?).  Eventually, I gave in and started painting it orange (I haven't quite finished it yet).  And then the bed wanted to be orange.  And then the wall wanted to be orange too.  And then the picture frames had to get in on it -- the copy cats!

I haven't had a chance to paint the three remaining walls the simple vanilla color I have planned.  And the room is quite a ways from where I want it to be -- maybe 60% of done.  But I want to share the process with you as well and the product!

I'm very proud of how little I've spent on the bedroom -- $13.03 total! 

Here's an accounting (please forgive me the formatting gremlins -- in draft form all these numbers line up!):

Bed                                                                            .27

Hollywood frame under the mattress                         FREE

Mattress and box springs                                          FREE

2 queen down comforters                                         FREE

White fitted sheet                                                     FREE

Bed pillows                                                             FREE

Two orange rose pillows                                          4.00

Brown bed skirt                                                       1.76

Vanity                                                                     FREE

Vanity stool                                                             FREE

White lamp                                                              FREE

3 picture frames                                                       FREE

Sheet music                                                             FREE

Pillows made from tan sweater                                    .27

Stuffing for pillows                                                   FREE

Vase                                                                       FREE

Pheasant feathers (from a dumpster wreath)             FREE

2 wall-hanging baskets                                             FREE

2 armless chairs                                                       FREE

White blanket covering chairs                                   FREE

    (until I can slipcover them!)

Brown velvet curtains                                               6.00

Curtain rod                                                              FREE

Finials for curtain rod                                               FREE

Orange duvet cover (not shown)                              FREE

Cabinet (former built-in)                                           FREE

New knobs                                                              FREE

Two vintage adding machines                                   FREE

7 vintage radios                                                        FREE

2 shutter bifold doors for shelves                              FREE

Shelf brackets                                                          FREE

Orange paint                                                            FREE

Small wall shelf (not shown)                                     FREE

Orange metal drawer (not shown)                                .50

Hobnail glass lamp and shade (not shown)               FREE

Glass candy dish (not shown)                                       .25

TOTAL                                                                   13.03

Here's another view of the bed so you can see the bed skirt.  One of the brown velvet curtains is on the bed as a throw in this shot but that was just temporary.  Later added a second free down comforter and a free orange and tan leaf-patterned duvet cover instead!

                                                    

Here's an in-process stage of the vanity.

I love the ambiance of the framed sheet music.  And it goes well with the radio theme, I think!  The frames were free, the sheet music was free, the cardboard backing the sheet music was free! 

Here's a photo of some sheet music from a flea market that they want $1 a sheet for (I didn't buy it, of course)

I like my free sheet music better!

And here is a before picture of the armless chairs (the cushions are off to the side if you look closely).

I have them pushed together to make a love seat and they fit perfectly under the shelves that hold the vintage radios.  Eventually, I will make slipcovers for them but, for the moment, I threw a white, vintage coverlet over them which is far from ideal but will do until something wonderful arrives to make slipcovers with.  The perfectionist in me is ashamed to let you see them like this but then there's that thing I said earlier about letting you see the process as well as the product.  If I'm not transparent about the process, you will miss out on all the fun of watching the magical way things arrive!  There is so much God it in! 

Be sure to read tomorrow's blog post that I'm about to write about how God masqueraded as the dumpster/free fairies this morning and gave me something I've been wishing for!

Radioland

This is what we call "the middle bedroom" at 419 S. Taylor.  It's between the front bedroom and the back sunporch master bedroom.  This middle bedroom has probably been used as the master bedroom for most of the house's history because the front bedroom has french doors onto the living room and the sunporch is plumbed to be the laundry room (which, if you as me, is a complete waste of the best room in the house!).

In this photo, the walls look like they might be a nice warm yellow.  They're not.  They're a bland, cheap-looking, antiqued white panelling (you can see this a little better off to the side in one of the lower photos).  The carpet is sculptured blue with rust stains.  Pretty.

I found a can of paint in the garage that was left by previous occupants.  It turned out to be a really wonderful shade of orange -- probably better than I could have chosen myself! 

First I used it on the wainscotting in the little hallway between the bedrooms and the bathroom.  Here's a picture of some cute guy helping me!  And a picture of the finished product (I'm still playing with the wreath form hanging on the wall.  Someday it will be something.  For now it's just sculptural!). 

They say to put rich colors up against dark woods and this certainly proves the validity of that premise to me!  The wonderful, rich, 95-year-old woodwork just comes to life next to this warm, vibrant color!

Mark went to a garage sale one Saturday morning and bought a box containing five old radios and two old adding machines for $4 (for everything - including mud dobber wasp nests and dust!).  Mark's mother and brothers throught he was nuts and asked why he would buy all that junk. After that he was a little reluctant to show them to me but I TOTALLY get it!  I think they are completely COOL!  And I knew exactly what to do with them! 

The middle bedroom had been giving me fits! I had absolutely no vision for it. Until the radios came! I had known something would come to inspire me and I'd been waiting for the epiphany to happen.! And there was that can of orange paint still lurking around. And there's that cutting from a Pottery Barn catalog that I keep propped up so I can look at it as often as possible (you can tell because it's well-worn and water spotted!).  And it call came together!

The far wall went orange.  Forgive the mess in the rest of the photo, this was just my photo to carry around with me to admire the orange! 

There were two more of those shutter bi-fold doors that I used for shelves in the living room. I had several sets of wooden shelf brackets (which still need to be painted orange to match the wall). The radios went up and we just LOVE it!  I swear the pale blue radio on the bottom right was in Mike and Carole Brady's room on The Brady Bunch.  Can't you just see it?  The second one from the right on the top shelf has been known to play Harry Truman speeches late at night...

Three more radios have joined the collection.  The 1954(?) Philco on the top left came out of a dumpster.  Can you believe it?  Who cares that it doesn't work, it just COOL!  The one to the right of that was the radio I had in my room in high school.  The radio at the top right has a leather case (that you can't rally see) and also came from a dumpster.  I had one of those psychic moments:  After much prowling, I said to Mark, "I'm done."  As the words left my mouth I knew I wasn't.  I knew that I was about to find something good.  Then I moved a piece of newspaper and there was my radio just waiting for me! 

The two adding machines found their home atop this cabinet that came from the curb beside a neighbor's house.  Previously a built-in, it looks MUCH better with new knobs but is still patiently awaiting a real top and some paint on the sides.  I like the chippy paint on the front so it will probably stay.

Mark and I talk frequently about how we just love to look at the older adding machine (which we can see from bed). And we marvel that it even came with rolls of replacement paper! Now that I look at the picture, I can see the perfect spot up there by the adding machines for the vintage metal "Radar O-Reilly" (from MASH) desk lamp that I have lurking around!

I'll tell you about the other side of the room soon!