All New Shabby Chic Thread!

lostinrates

Furher charity shop comments. My friends and I all dressed individually, based around charity shop finds. My nieces dress from high street shops.....its cheaper. This is no good for style and also for recyling in its simplest form. Or they might wear vintage: but that's serious money.

Secondly, one of the things I noticed living in Italy most recently, but some other countries is the lack of charity shops. some how it also goes with less disposable attitude towards purchases. Supermarket clothes, furniture etc is all more expensive: people don't buy to throw away.

Princess_Vix

I think BHF might be reading this thread! Nipped into town today and the newish furniture shop that they have had a cooker outside it for £50 and a washer/dryer for £90.
A) They never normally have stock outside for people to see
When I went in a couple of weeks ago these were A LOT more expensive!
The furniture shop does have some really nice things in but NEVER has any bookcases, I think people in this area just don't read cos there's never any on ebay nearby or freecycle either
The general BHF CS is really expensive compared to the others though - a paperback is £2.50 in there whereas in all the other CS they range from 20 to 50p
xxx

lostinrates

Bookcases! I need lots, and lots and lots. We were thinking of having the room that is now the dining room as a reading room, but we've decided to keep it as a dining room for a while. Now not sure where to put all the books. To give an idea of quantity last time we had them out we had eight big Ikea ''billy'' shelves full......and we've bought more books sne then. Plus al the cds/vinyl........urgh. I need to think of affordable but stylish storage for them.

tiff

I need some advice girls, what would you do with this chandelier? I bought 2 of them on Ebay last week and am going to spray paint them but what would you do with the clips? Obviously they are designed for glass shades. I was thinking maybe to try and remove them, and use some clip on shades or remove the clips and put some candle bulbs in. Any ideas?

Frenchgirl

Hi everyone. Can I defend the staff that work in charity shops. due to my daughter using the Hospice near us I worked in their local shop for over six years until I lost my angel. It was very upsetting when people tried to knock us down on price. To be fair it was normally the well off people who wanted something for nothing. Maybe that is why they have more money ha ha. Car boot sales to me are the places to haggle (Hope I have not offended anyone) The charity shops owe it to the people who donate to that charity to try and get the best price for items. I agree that some charity shops are expensive and I for one dont buy things in that shop. My daughter has a heart condition and if I can I always buy from their shops. Thankfully we live in a country where we have free will. Keep smiling and painting!!x

Kandipandi

tiff wrote: »

I need some advice girls, what would you do with this chandelier? I bought 2 of them on Ebay last week and am going to spray paint them but what would you do with the clips? Obviously they are designed for glass shades. I was thinking maybe to try and remove them, and use some clip on shades or remove the clips and put some candle bulbs in. Any ideas?

You can buy the replacement glass shades to slip onto that once it's painted, I bought some from Focus DIY for about £4 each.

happyinwellies

Just wanted to say hello and thanks to everyone on here for sharing all their amazing projects.

I have always liked this type of home decoration and can't wait to try out some of the decoupage ideas.

Princess_Vix

LIR if you do find any decent quality bookcases please let me know! I've now filled two of the Billy Bookcases, 2 shelves in the conservatory and the office is just wall to wall books. Found a nice one today but it was £500 and I want 3 of them!! !:eek:
I would never haggle in a CS, but then again I wouldn't haggle in a normal store either, I agree with the previous poster that car-boots are the place for that. I think they do need to look at their pricing though - cos when I can get the book brand new in ASDA for 50p less I'm not going to buy the second hand one from the charity shop so by overcharging they don't gain the extra 50p they lose the £2
xxx

MrsMoo2U

Wow, what did I start? I was just having a general moan because I have seen a few things that I just couldnt afford, even though they are in CS. I agree completely that the staff in the shops are truly doing their best. I think that my gripe goes back to the comment about these staff having targets to work to! Yes a lot of the profit is eaten up by head office etc which is why the smaller ones are cheaper. A while ago myself and a friend contacted Marie Curie Nurses to set up a local fundraising group and they sent the area coordinator round who immediately started talking about setting us targets to raise X amount per month. Needless to say it put me off completely.

Tiff that chandelier is lovely, what colour are you going to spray it? I would go with Kandi's suggestion and get some little clip on shades. If you paint it black though it would look lovely with opaque candle bulbs.

On a lighter note, I think that I just managed to get a turntable on freecycle. Waiting for the call back to go and collect it. My patchwork material arrived today. So question oh wise ones. What will be the best way to unpick the covers on my parker knoll to use as a template? Would I be best with a stitch unpicker or is there a better tool?

Sarsie

Sidecut pliers- snip snip gone...

Probably look better with replacement shades though.