I didn't have a very clear objective when I went with my friend Adam on my Friday off, also stopping at a couple other thrift warehouses, but like most things I've taken home from there, I knew it when I saw it.
First off, if you've never been there, and are looking for a door, bring a friend, a tape measure, and prepare to be there for at least a couple hours. There is literally a "Door Room" with the doors filed in a loose categorical way, but not in any way that is identifiable. As the employee pointed out to a disgruntled person on the phone while I was checking out "no, sir, we don't label the doors - it would take me a month, and I have more important things to do. You can come in and look for yourself." - and that's the kind of mentality that's there, and it's great. They're not there to hold your hand and walk you through everything. It's an adventure, a discovery, not a Lowe's.
Lucky for me, she was bored one day and pulled a few doors out of the door room, put them near the front of the store and priced them out. Also lucky was the fact that this guy was exactly the size of our front door, with maybe 1/4" needing to be shaved off the top. At $85, for a solid wood door and full pane of glass, I couldn't say no.
I don't have any good shots of what's on there now, but you know the door. It's been on every apartment and house I've lived in, I'm pretty sure. I know at least the Leonard house had the exact same door on the back. It's a stock exterior door with a 4-panel triangle design on the bottom and a glass pane on top with (what used to be) a yellow divider. Here it is at the Leonard house, after we'd painted it green.
In any case, it doesn't scream "entrance" and is very unassuming and boring, and not worth rehabbing to create a better look. We haven't decided whether to keep this new door wood or paint it, but it definitely needs to at least be prepped. The other side has been painted, and after going through the painting project with the kitchen door, I'm not sure I want to strip away however many layers of paint are on this one to get down to the wood. I think painting it a bold color would be great, but we'll see.
That wasn't the great find though. I mean, it was great, but not quite as great as what I saw just as we were leaving. Like the front porch of a hoarder's house, there is also just random windows and tables and whatever strewn across the front of the building, and as we were walking out, I took one last look through there and found these.
Two wrought iron benches - $25/piece. Yes, $50 total for the pair. Granted, the wood is a little rough, and the iron is starting to rust a little bit, but these are the real deal, and will not take much to bring them back to life. The plan is to take them apart, power wash the wood, treat it, and reassemble with better hardware (the nuts & bolts are all rusted beyond repair). they're perfect for the pond area.
In other news, I finished the first run across the top of our new dining table, and hope to get that sanded with a lighter grit, match the stain and seal it up. The sooner I can get that done the sooner we can sell our old table!
I also got these great postcards from our friend Jane and finally got them hung in our kitchen. They're not Jane's photography obviously, but she does have some great photos on her Garden Variety Jane blog, some of which she sells as prints and postcards.
And lastly, just a couple shots of the nursery. We repainted the dresser in a goldish yellow, which looks better in the room compared to the blue, and I hung the Infinity Light which doesn't look great in the photo, but is pretty neat in person. Also keep in mind that the walls are grey like the second photo, not purple like the first makes it look. This is why I need to use the Nikon more often than the iPhone.
We're still hoping to find the perfect large art piece to hang in the closet above the dresser, but that will come after the last 2 of 4 baby showers, in case someone surprises us with something!
