G'day sweeties, it's early Sunday evening here at the Beach Cottage. We spent the morning down the beach, the kids on boards, and Mr Beach Cottage went for a swim while I sat on the side drinking coffee and chatting. There's a storm brewing up as I type, I soooo love that, and if it really starts to pour with rain, which I hope it does, we might go down to the sea with a flask of something hot...
So I thought you would like to see my $5 deck chairs, recently found on a garage-sale-treasure-hunt. As soon as I saw these, there was no doubt they were coming home with me, not because they are particularly special, or a rarity and for sure they held no value to the owners of the home who were getting rid of them, but to me I was attracted by the weathered wood, something I surely cannot buy.
It was Saturday morning and Mr BC and I were out on our own and decided on an impromptu garage sale session. We grabbed ourselves some coffees, the local paper and plotted our route.
We pulled up outside a couple of garage sales next door to each other - newly built homes and I wasn't too hopeful we'd find anything there...I would much rather find an old ramshackle house with an old lady with old treasures waiting for a new home than a young family with heaps of plastic toys on the lawn...but one thing I've learnt of this thrifting journey...you never know, what you will find...where.
There were two of these little beauties, in a bad way, with built-in mould but I thought they could be easily recovered and after a quick look I knew that it would take little more than ripping off what was on there and stapling on some new canvas.
The garage sale holder was desperate to get rid of them she told us. But I wasn't interested in her first price of $20 - when I first started thrifting I wouldn't have even blinked at this price, but now I evaluate much more what the item is worth to me, what I would pay for it new, and then I kinda evaluate the balance between the two.
I've wanted deckchairs for a long time so the worth to me was pretty high, though, to be honest I still want much older ones, with old faded canvas, the proper thick stuff that you don't see any more. They remind me of England and those lovely seaside towns where rows of them are laid out on the promenade and old dears sit contentedly knitting, with their husbands collapsed beside them asleep in full suit and tie. Candyfloss towns with deckchairs where we'd go for a day out sometimes, and eat ice-cream, throw big old pebbles from the beach and drive home, tired, salty and sun-kissed.
Sooo, with all those deckchair romantic memories floating around my head, I got my chief negotiator to wangle the price to $5 each. Done deal.
I've not done any make-over-ing to them yet and in fact as I sit here thinking about this and mused about it a little bit more, I may well move on from my initial thought of using the heavy cotton stripe I already have in my fabric stash...to sourcing some real canvas for a much more durable, authentic feel.
I tried one of them out this afternoon - just stuck it on the deck with a new magazine from England - Period Living and the light beginning to fade, rain in the air...
What do you think? Do you like my deckchairs for a few dollars a piece? I hope you do...but really, who cares? I love them, they're me and thrifting them is saving resources and our Earth for those Beach Cottage kiddos. Gotta love that...
Anyway, I'm going.
There's roast pork in the oven, potato waiting to be mashed and the kids have crashed out watching Grease in the Family Room...I just love that Sunday evening mooching
I hope your weekend was as good as mine was and that you, too, may well have found pleasure in a thrifted thing or two...
blogged for Rhoda's Thrifty event over at Southern Hospitality
plus Susan's Metamorphosis at Between Naps on the Porch
check out their blogs (grab a coffee, you'll be awhile!)
