She Shops, She Scores!

I am often inspired by the things I see in other peoples homes. I file it away in my mental shopping list and keep my eye out when hitting thrift stores in case I ever come across them. This week has been a bonanza of wish fulfillment.

My roomate upstairs has a number of things that I would like in my home. One in particular that really facinated me was a round globe that you can put flowers in and add water. She had just put a bit of water in the bottom of it and the rose lasted for over 3 months and still looks not bad. When I inquired at a garden center about them, the lady said they didn't sell them but she had seen them in the past and she recollected that you could fill them full of water and they would preserve flowers indefinately. Needless to say, I had to have one.

This rose was put in there a week before Christmas and this picture was taken April 4th, pretty impressive eh!

I finally found one the other day and as a bonus, mine comes with an ornate silver plated stand.

Before I found that one, I found this pointy one.When I tried using it however, the plastic lid wasn't snug enough to keep the water in, so I went with dried flowers in it and placed it in this funky glass I found in the thrift store.

One of the other things she had that Ive always admired were these large gold plates that she used under her table setting as chargers. I found six of them yesterday for a dollar each, whoohoo! Here's what they look like with various place settings.

The piece-de-resistance though was found by accident. I have been driving past a new (to me ) thrift store lately that never seemed to be open as I was going by and was on a street that offered no parking so I hadn't been able to stop there. They had a beautiful china cabinet much like the one on the "My Romantic Home" blog that I have admired, in their window. I finally got a chance to get over there yesterday to take a look. Much to my disappointment the china cabinet had already been sold. Since I was there anyways , I decided to take a look around.

One of the other things I really admired on her blog was a beautiful porceline 3 tiered server. I have been searching for something similar ever since the first time I saw it. I was so busy looking in the glass showcase that I almost missed it, but as I stood up and my gaze focused on what was sitting on top, I almost shouted with glee. There it was , the most beautiful porceline server, just as I imagined it. I have to admit, the price was hefty. I'm pretty sure this is the most money I have ever spent in a thrift store for a single item but it was in perfect shape and exactly what I was looking for. So for the princely sum of $45 here is my version of Cindy's dessert server.

One of the things I like to collect the most is interesting lamps. I have a rather large collection in storage and can't wait for the day when I can have them all out. Here are two I aquired recently. This first one is quite small but very heavy cut crystal and a solid metal base. It has a low and high setting for light which is handy.

This lamp is a large selenite crystal lit up from the inside.

And last but not least are these cute spice jars with ceramic decorations on the lids. I have been looking for a long time for long, tall spice bottles so I can build a spice rack like my friend Lauries