Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Thrifting, lately

Please help welcome the newest member of our furniture family - the sewing chest!

sewing chest
{sewing chest}

I'm sorry the picture isn't the best, but it's raining here and there is NO LIGHT and lots of teeth gnashing and camera adjusting. Rest assured that she is much more beautiful in person.

vintage sewing chest
{vintage sewing chest}

I see sewing chests around sometimes* (my mom owns one too) but I've never felt compelled to purchase one. For some reason this one, with the curved handles and the dark wood, hooked me. She can live next to the couch and it will be a big upgrade over my current situation, where I dump all my materials in a plastic bin and lug it out and then put it all away again later. The drawers fan out on both sides, so there is a ton of storage space.

It was $35 well spent at the flea market, and it came with some remnants of the previous owner. She liked green velvet leaves, sweet little labels and 70s orange pom pom trim. If anyone needs some festive, shaggy pom poms, let me know. I'm allergic to the 70s.

* I'm not finding many options online right now, so maybe they aren't as common as I think. There are a couple available on Etsy currently, here and here.

34 comments:

  1. what a great find! I love all the drawer separaters!

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  2. Oh my God! This is gorgeous!If you need storage space, the storage space should look this good!

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  3. My grandma had one of these--they're wonderful! Enjoy.

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  4. What a beauty!...even in bad light. And it will look right at home in your living room. We shall see if you have any takers on the orange pompoms;)
    Love you bunches, Mom

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  5. That chest is gorgeous! I'm in desperate need of some kind of sewing container, maybe I'll go see if I can thrift one as well!

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  6. I love the chest! I adore little drawers. I have a different kind of sewing chest - an antique "Martha Washington".

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  7. my mom had a sewing chest just like this one when i was growing up - lucky you! i love that it had little bits of the previous owner's projects in it, even if they were a bit discotastic. d'you think the velvety leaves and pom poms were part of the same project?

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  8. you should be a professional thrifter.

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  9. :) cut the poms off the trims and use them as little pumpkins with the green leaves.

    lovely chest

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  10. Beautiful! I would've bought it, too.

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  11. I'm with Olivia Rae. You find the most amazing items.

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  12. Great find! I love that it seems to have many compartments to store vintage notions. :)

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  13. Wow, that is a lovely find! I love the lines on the piece.

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  14. wow, that's awesome, and for $35? what a great find.

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  15. Eeep! That's just like one my mom had growing up and later laquered bright cherry red. My little sister has it, so I've been jealously mining thrift stores looking for one of my own. They're such a good way to keep your gear organized and on hand.

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  16. so glad you came home with it! you're certainly the perfect person to have such a lovely sewing chest.

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  17. oh my goodness i am so jealous! that piece is beautiful and handy :)

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  18. She's gorgeous! What a wonderful find. And of course I am now once again envious of your thrifting abilities and flea market locations. Enjoy your new find!

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  19. Lucky!! I've been looking for one of those but the thrifting gods are not on my side. Beautiful find.

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  20. I'm so jealous I'm sure I've turned bright green.
    GREAT find!

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  21. Oh my! My mum would absolutely squeal with delight if she owned that stunning piece! Just gorg!
    xo tash

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  22. I have one just like this. It was a gift from my Mom when I began to sew. Wonderful memory. Thank you!

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  23. i can not believe you got that for $35! what a find!! ;)

    enjoy it.

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  24. I have this *exact same piece*! My mom found it at a flea market in Texas in 1981 [I know because she put a sticky note inside saying so], and there's a sticker that says it's a product of Norway. The brand name is something like A-S Strommen Bruk Hamar -- that might help you find some similar pieces!

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  25. Woah! I have the (almost) exact same piece. It doesn't have the handle, instead there are small side handles, but otherwise it looks identical. My friend just gave it to me, she found it at a local thrift shop and got it for my jewelry collection. (Amazing lady!) I haven't examined it super closely.

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  26. You are a lightning bolt of inspiration. For years, I've searched for a cute way to store my sewing supplies that doesn't take up too much space. Jackpot!!

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  27. What a lovely find! I love thrifting!
    XO, Coyote Kind

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  28. We have one of these that isnt ding well right now ( a panel has fallen off due to some rather hasty movers) So funn to see the same one this morning on your site

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  29. My parents bought me something very similar last year for Christmas, they saw it at an antique store. Its smaller, but folds out on both sides. I absolutely LOVE it.

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