Happy Thursday!

We are excited to have guest blogger Janene from the Ohio-based Primitive Lifestyle blog, share some of her Goodwill finds and what she has done to repurpose them.

My confession

I have a confession…I am addicted to Goodwill! There, I said it, and I don’t regret it!
I have found many people that share the same addiction I have. And why not?  It supports a good cause and keeps money in your home state.  Goodwill provides jobs and training and gives  consumers great bargains.

I am an avid re-doer…I purchase items from my local Goodwill in Ohio and I re-purpose them into items that I use in my home.  For example, I bought this cabinet for $2 at Goodwill a few years ago.

It was in decent condition, but it needed something.  So on one of my trips I found this towel holder for $1.99.

I attached my towel holder  underneath the cabinet and painted them both  in the same mustard color and antiqued them with a tinted wax.

For a total of $4, I created an item in my kitchen that receives rave reviews by my guests!

I am a prim decorator…So you will notice that all of my items are redone for what matches my home.

Another one of my redo’s was this lovely 1970’s-era jewelry box.

As soon as I spotted this on the shelf  for $2.49, I had to own it! I knew exactly how this was going to be redone.  I removed the plastic handles and glued small wooden button screw covers onto each square (I found these for $2.49 at a local hardware store).  I painted the box a nice Colonial Red. I then sanded in places that would show normal wear. I finished it with a tinted wax rub.  Now it resembles a primitive spice chest!

Wooden items are great finds.  Paint can breathe new life into items that would not normally fit your decor.  I highly recommend visiting your local Goodwill in order to decorate your house on a budget, especially in these times of economic hardships.

To view more before and afters, please visit me on my blog!

Nothing like waking up to the world encased in a sheet of ice. Though the trees in my neighborhood did look beautiful, the walk to work was anything but that. Please be careful out there today!

Now, if you are like me, you may just be getting around to holiday decorating this week. Thus, I decided to highlight some last-minute inexpensive and green holiday decorating ideas. But because I ran across some other inspiring ideas, I am also including them here as a goal for next year!

Decorating

1. The Thrift Shop Romantic featured a fantastic post about decorating with vintage holiday postcards. She showcases the cards (see an example on the left) she came across and gives a great visual history of how Christmas and the holidays have evolved over the past century.

2. Recovergirl recently featured a fantastic felt wreath on her blog. It is one of our favorite creations over here and I personally am inspired to try my hand at this (though probably not until next year!)

3. Want to decorate your home for free? How does clementines, pine boughs, and pine cones sound? Lean Green Family highlighted three ideas on how to add holiday cheer and great smells to your home for free!

4. I featured Roxy Jewelry in a previous post, but I am just smitten with her latest creation because 1) it’s a great example of how to reuse everyday items and 2) it is a creative twist on the posts in which we featured line drying and eco-friendly laundry tips. And what am I talking about? Why, the Christmas Card Hanger made from a clothesline and clothespins, of course! Roxy Jewelry is currently selling these kits on her Giggling Gnome Etsy site and is a festive and creative way to display your holiday cards.

5. What about ornaments? Can you ever really have enough? Crafting a Green World recently featured a very simple and easy holiday ornament to make and you only need three supplies: cardboard, glue, and aromatic spices. This also is a great gift for children to make and keeps your home smelling festive and yummy with warm spices.

6. I also came across this video on how to make recycled paper ornaments with pieces of scrap; a brilliant idea!

7. In New England, we are lucky enough to have winter berries still hanging on in fields, meadows, and parks. I recently did some foraging and with the addition of some pine boughs, managed to put together a lovely bouquet.

We have been inspired over here at Goodwill by all the great holiday gift ideas out there. Thank you for all your comments and input; it is exciting and encouraging to see so many people engaged about green gift giving and sustainability.

I recently took a trip to our Goodwill store in Augusta to see what they have on hand for holiday decorating ideas and gifts. Our Windham store also sent over pictures of some fantastic gift baskets they put together for holiday presents. I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

Holiday Decorating

Holiday Plates

One-of-a-Kind Holiday Decorations

Wooden Santas

Holiday Plates: $0.59 each!

Now onto gift baskets. The staff at the Goodwill store in Windham put together some really nice gift baskets from new donations.

Here are some examples:

This is a kitchen-themed basket created for friends and family members who love to cook and bake. Inside is a Pampered Chef bread tube, 2 cloth napkins, mini salt and pepper shakers, 2 spatulas, 2 ceramic spoons, 2 bamboo placemats, and a decorative wooden apple.

This is a great gift basket for kids! It comes in a star-shaped basket than can hold small toys. It contains 2 picture books by Eric Carle and a stuffed frog.

You might now ask: where can I find baskets to put my great finds in? Don’t worry, Goodwill has plenty of great gift baskets!