Designer dress thrifted for my sis

Here's my sis in a dress I thrifted for her for Christmas, $9.99 at Value Village!!

Doesn't it look great on her?

I was SO pleased to find this dress. It's made by a Toronto designer Mark Foreman, who makes THE most flattering wrap dresses in wonderful mircrofibre fabric using the coolest patterns.

His label, Bionic Woman, can be found in hip T.O. boutiques like Eight on Danforth Ave. and Over the Rainbow in Yorkville and average $150-$200. Though I have bought one on sale at Eight I've found a few at Value Village in mint condition under $15. http://www.bionicwoman.ca/

My sis loved the dress. We figured it would rock in the summer with sexy strappy shoes and a tan.

I normally bag gifts as I believe in reusing, but this year I used paper - with three young nieces and nephews I didn't want to spoil the fun of tearing off the paper! I like the old-fashioned look of my sis's wrapped gift, pictured here. The matte golden paper with a light green bow I had saved from some press kit looks very eighteenth century, doesn't it? Like it was wrapped haphazardly in some market and parceled home in a carriage or something ....

For some fab tips on thrift gifts, and on eco chic and thrifty wrapping tips, take a peep at the new blog I just discovered called The Thrift Monster (great name!) http://thethriftmonster.blogspot.com/

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Pink Christmas

I don't have a lot going in the holiday decor department in my pad right now, since I'm going home soon and my tree is still in storage in Ottawa, alas.

And I don't have the creativity of of some of my fellow bloggers - I'm thinking of Sonya from Dime Store Thrift in particular - when it comes to crafty holiday decorations, so I have to wing it, a la Grunge Queen way.

When I saw these mirrored pink candelsticks at the dollar store for $1.99, I picked them up and then glammed them up with some black candles, also found at the dollar store.

There were some blue ones too. I bought some for gifts because the price was right and they look chic and expensive.

Dollar stores don't just carry cheap plastic stuff. I've found items by Rolodex and Yardley, French glasswear to candlesticks made in New York. I don't know if they're oversell or defective but I have yet to find anything wrong with these items.

Check on Sonya's holiday tree and wreaths at http://dimestorethrift.blogspot.com/

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Grunge Queen shares thrifting tips with 20-something.ca

This is an old pic of me taken outside my fave Goodwill in Toronto, wearing the made in Scotland coat I bought there for under $20.

Now I know most of you readers don't need any thrifting tips, but I just have to share a recent interview with a new online resource called 20-something. (I know, I'm not 20-something but thrifting is becoming cool to young hipsters now!).

I share my 'shop-high-on-the-food-chain' philosophy and more!

Please check it out by following the link
http://www.20-something.ca/2009/11/20/thrift-shopping-guide-vintage-clothing/

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Grunge Queen Stuff Sale success

Ever had a garage sale in your apartment?

I did this past weekend.

I donate a lot of stuff to charity and hold an annual clothing swap for the gals, the leftovers of which are also donated. But I wanted to clear out a whack of nice stuff so I invited my gal pals over and sold my hoard at rock bottom prices.

I gotta say, it took hours to set and clean this up, but it was fun and worth it.

The jewellery, which I sorted into categories on my dining room table of $2, $5 and $10 (I separated each by a ribbon) was a real hit.

Some surprises: the $2 bag chair, pictured here, didn't have any takers. And I had gorgeous new BCBC and Jones New York leather purses for $10 and no one bagged 'em!

And no one was enlightened by a $5 lamp shade (do you know how expensive lamp shades are?).


The clothes were a real hit.

My gal pal Andrea happened to look fab in all the dresses that have never worked on me, like this 100 percent silk Planet dress I paid $300 for and wore once!

Next time I may do a few things differently: forget about the loonie ($1) and twoonie ( $2) knic-knac table - people looked but didn't really buy and I thought that would bring value, but I was wrong.







I also had a pile of free stuff - not as nice items, true enough - but not too many took advantage of that either.

Here's my sis trying on some Essex Made in Canada costume jewellery peals that someone else snagged! She ended up getting a fab silver-tone necklace instead, though.

My pal Parm, who took all these great photos, bagged this $2 'gold and ruby' ring that looks great with her skin tone!

All in all I think every one walked away happy, and I made a couple hundred bucks (good for the low prices I was selling stuff at) to pay down my painting (see post below).

Exhausting, but I'll definitely do again. I've even had some gals who couldn't make it ask me if there's any jewellery left!

TIPS:

I believe in good Karma so I don't sell gifts given to me, nor do I over price thrift shop goods I picked up for a few bucks.

New items that are in mint condition and still in style I priced more. My Planet dress was $60 and one suit was $20, but those were the priciest items.

In truth most of the clothing went for $5 a piece.

My man dropped off a French cake (the sweetie) and I served that with sparkling mineral water - easy peasy! Every one just wanted to shop so don't worry about feeding people much; just make sure they stay hydrated!

I scheduled it for 4 hours from 1-4. Every one came at the beginning and no one stayed or arrived past 3:30. Next time I'd make it 2-3 hours tops.

Let me know if you try this!

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Family thrift

I'm back from a lovely vacation and it's nice to be the Grunge Queen again.

But who says I wasn't the Grunge Queen back home? My sis and her fam have become dedicated Value Village shoppers in the last few years (I'd like to think I've inspired them), so one day we ALL piled into the car and hit good 'ole VV.

You can find great designer jeans if you look through the racks carefully.

My sis found a pair of Parasuco's for under $10 there, which she is wearing in the above pic, and another member of the fam pictured here is wearing some Bongo jeans she found for super cheap.

I found a pair of Bongo SKINNY jeans (haven't worn skinnies since the 1980s - I won't be posting a pic just yet) with lovely detailing on the back pockets for $14.99.

And my sis found me the pair I'm wearing in these shots - a City of Angels (by Paige denim) pair of jeans from their Rock n' Roll collection - the button is shaped like a guitar pick and there are sooo many nice details. These jeans, if they still made them, would retail at $200 or so. My price? $14.99.

Did I mention they look brand new?

Wish I could take credit for this find but I gotta cede to my sis's supreme designer jean thrift radar. Thanks sis!

TIP: I get ALL my jeans at the thrift stores. Value Village is good but the jeans I find there are pricier, $14.99-$19.99 generally for makes like Parasuco, Guess? etc that are in good shape and in a current style. I tend to get the bulk of my jeans at the thrift shop around the corner from me, where they usually run from $4.99-$6.99.

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Great garbage find

I was wondering what I would post on the blog today as I was walking home yesterday afternoon, when 'lo and behold, I saw this funky lampshade on the curb.

It was attached to a base that looked like a robot - the industrial look was carried a wee bit too far - but I couldn't walk away without the shade ... isn't it just fab?

As you can see it's made of mesh rings and has little sprongy things hanging from the bottom - truly a grungy glam lampshade that's perfect for the Grunge Queen!


See how neat it looks lit up and how it casts teeny honeycombs on the wall?

I put it on a modern lamp base that I found in my closet - if you check out my numerous lamp posts you'll see I play around with shades and bases - and no doubt I'll play with it some more before I find the perfect arrangement for the moment.

For now I've put it in the kitchen along with a small Persian-y rug so the look is bohemian industrial for now.




This is only the beginning - think I feel a kitchen makeover coming on!

A tip on garbage picking: you have to have no shame, and looking purposeful and somewhat in-your-own world can make you look like some eccentric designer type who's going to get your big break by digging "x" out of the trash.

I picked this in full view of a family sitting on their porch. They watched me; I watched them; then I watched the lamp; then I decided, what the heck - it's too fabulous! - so I took the plunge and started rooting!

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Movie star looks a la thrift

Dah-ling.

Ever since finding my $3 retro purple sunglasses
I've been slightly obsessed with ... you guessd it, large purple retro shades!

These purply pink retro shades called "Comet by Newtrend" were only 99 cents at my local thrift shop.

The person who wore them had a small head as the arms have been bent super short. But my optician can heat them and adjust them to fit me - remember that when you're scouting for retro shades!

I found another goodie yesterday while doing a shopping column in North Toronto. In one of my fave consignment shops, Around the Block I found this wonderful piece of costume jewellery for $10.

As you'll see with my other thrift jewellery posts, costume necklaces with multi-tiers are a particular obsession of mine. Pearls and chains are classy yet can be funked up, and they can solve various style woes.

I'm wearing them here with a jersey wrap-inspired dress by Bionic Woman by Toronto designer Mark Foreman, which has a long V-neck that shows my scar and makes me look even more flat-chested than I am.

A tangle of pearls and chains like this remedies those problems and makes me look like a rich beetch to boot.

Tip: always look for costume jewellery with some weight. It tends to look more classy and substantial. I can always tell it's retro by looking at the clasp, which always has cool and very ancient looking hardware.

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Rosey poses

It was my B-day a while ago and some charming gent brought me a dozen long-stemmed roses.

I plopped them in a gorgeous crystal vase I found at the dollar store for under $20 (the same vase I bought a former friend years ago and paid way more for!).

They were nice roses, so they lasted a good week - my thrifty tip for helping them along was to change their water every day and cut them down every day as well.

When they really started to go I cut the stems off completely and plonked them into a big rose bowl.

I've had rose bowls of various sizes since my green days growing up in the 1970s. That's how florists arranged roses then - or at least that's how roses given to me as gifts were always arranged back then.


So I hold a special place in my heart for roses in roses bowls even though it may seem a little old-fashioned.

The added bonus, natch, is that they'll last even longer this way. Funny, for some reason the red ones went before the white - maybe the whites are heartier?

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Jewellery junkie gets her fix

You know by now my penchant for retro bling.

On my way to do a shopping column yesterday I popped into my friendly neighborhood thrift shop - an absolute must if you want to bag the good stuff.

TIP: GO OFTEN.

Just as I was about to leave one of the employees who's sold me many baubles for a couple bucks or less mentioned a whack of jewellery had jusy come in.

REMEMBER: EMPLOYEES AND OWNERS OF STORES WILL REMEMBER YOU IF YOU GO AND BUY OFTEN - THEN AS THEY GET TO KNOW YOUR TASTES THEY'LL HAUL OUT OR PUT ASIDE STUFF FOR YOU IF THEY'RE REALLY NICE....

My spidy senses tingled.

Out came a plastic bag. I restrained, as she went through the bag.

TIP: DON"T BE GRABBY. WAIT FOR THEM TO PRESENT ITEMS TO YOU.

I ended up walking away with a three-tier a vintage glass bead necklace for $3 (TIP: DON'T ARGUE, ESPECIALLY IF YOU THINK YOU SHOULD PAY MORE)!!

And this totally tubular necklace, a cross between a Tribal and Industrial worm, was also $3. Though it's contemporary I thought it was pretty funky.

I also bagged a huge sterling cocktail ring with a pink stone for $2.

Thrift shops can be havens for both contemporary, retro and vintage jewellery - you just have to know what you like!

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Blue Room, Green Room

Yesterday I showed you how I moved part of the living room into the dining room by creating a cozy little sitting and reading nook where I used to have the dining room table.

Today I realized that room, with all its lush blue pieces, is "The Blue Room" - the exact name my family and I used to call the sitting room in the house we grew up in because it had a fabulous blue Persian rug on the floor.
The other room in my grow-up house, funnily enough, was called "The Green Room" because it had all green furniture in it. After my room makeover the other day, all I had left in my living room area was mainly green velvet furniture! It is now "The Green Room."

I moved the dining table into the living room area, in front of the window. I like that it's somewhat functional as it holds my decorating books. I also like that it's not as obtrusive and clunky as it was before - again the table isn't something I use often so all I need to do is move the white armchair and pull it out when I have guests.

While I took advantage of a small space with "The Blue Room" by mushing a lot of items together, I wanted to create a feeling of airiness in the main living area as I had to combine a sitting and TV area with a desk/working area AND a dining area. I like the simplicity of having one lone painting over the loveseat. I deliberately tried to make the colours more Spring and Summer-like; the palette of green and white with a dash of orange really works, I think, as do the pared-down accessories.

The black table (from the trash) on the right and the black lamp and lacquer mirror on the left add some weight and ground the floaty vignette.

I kept the work area across from the loveseat the same, except I added the dark mirror that used to be in the dining room to create a bit more contrast, and I cut down even more on the clutter on the desk. I like keeping some areas more crisp and clean for the warmer months. I love the pop of colour in the orange made in Canada vase picked up at the thrift shop for $10.

The chair is from the trash and the lamps are thrift store and garage sale relics. The desk was on old table from Sally Ann that I Mac Tac'd.


I also love the fact that the big painting over the couch (a thrift store find for $39.99) is still a focal point when reflected in the mirror propped on the desk.Speaking of mirrors, it may be hard to tell but I hid the cords under the desk and created an illusion of light and depth by lining the wall under the desk with panes of mirrors dug out of the trash, intact.

See? Even Dinky loves it ....

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Japanese ironstone

I've developed an eye for Japanese ironstone, a type of earthenware made of clay with iron in it. Japanese ironstone always seems to have a certain look to it: clean and crisp lines with artsy shades.

In Value Village the other day I found a whack of it. A set of four retro cups, with "Primastone genuine ironstone oven detergent craze proof bronze Japan" on the bottom, were only $1.99.

This lone square dish by Mikasa, was $2.99. I plan on using it as a spoon rest.

I agonized a bit more over these contemporary purple plates called Sasaki by Vignelli Designs, Japan.

I loved the purple but had to go away and think on the price, $2.99 for the large plates (4 in the set) and $1.99 each for the 3 bowls and one lone side plate.

But I've been living with avocado green dishes, which believe me make most meals look grotesque. So I went back and bought the lot and got 30 percent off EACH individual plate - please let me digress as this is a post-script to my Sally Ann vs. Value Village post where I mentioned you can get 30 percent off your purchase if you fill up a stamp card. I made the assumption I'd get 30 percent off all the dishes added up us a subtotal. But no, I got 30 percent off each individual plate, which means I didn't get the deal I thought I'd get. If you have the stamp card and want to take advantage of the 30 percent off, you'll get a better bang for your buck if you save it for a higher ticket item!

Still, I love them, and look how great food looks on them! I'll still keep the green ones as I paid a fair amount of cash for them a few years ago. I can even try mixing the green with the purple for the rare dinner party where I have 12 people ...

TIPS: If you like the look of of this type of tableware, troll the thrift shops and always take a peep at the bottom of the item as it should have a "Japan" mark on it.

Crazing - what look like a network of little cracks - indicates the item is probably retro. To my knowledge crazing isn't dangerous and in fact I love the look of it.

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Value Village vs Sally Ann

I'm continuing my blue theme with this 1980s enamel pin I found at Value Village the other day.

Aside from the thrift store around the corner from me, Value Village and Salvation Army Thrift Stores are tied for my fave second-hand or thrift stores in Toronto.

But I go to them for different reasons.

Value Village:
Pro: Great labels and generally stylish stuff; normally don't have to dig too much to find something good.

Con: But you'll pay more for stuff (generally - see pro below). Though the company pays charity and community organizations for clothing it is a for-profit enterprise. That means it thinks and operates like a corporate entity: it's VV's job to bring the best stuff as possible to the rack so it can make more money ... so you pay more.

For example, my fave pair of Bongo jeans and another great pair of Guess jeans were $24.99 each, probably the highest price point for jeans at VV. Meanwhile at my friendly neighborhood thrift store I found a pair of Bongo jeans that also rock on me for $4.99!

A pro or con, depending on how you see it: I find VV tends to price popular mass-market items - GAP, Old Navy, etc - at rates I'd never pay ... say $14.99 for a dress that new would have retailed for $30 or so. For me that's a pro because I don't buy that stuff thrift and I find the pricing Gods at VV don't always price items by quality ... which are invariably the items I like! Like any good business it will price higher what it knows it can sell.

Pro: But that's not to say there aren't deals, oh no. Good ole VV has them all the time. This year's calendar features cut-out coupons with different sales incentives every month. Right now in store you can also pick up a stamp card where you get a stamp for every $5 spent and 30% off your purchase when the card is full (this applies to donations you drop off too - and while we're at when you drop donations off at the store always tell the cashier as I've received 20% off my purchase that day). There's also the famous 50% off days that are well advertised.

Salvation Army:

Pro: Definitely cheaper. At the location I go to, $3.99 seems to be the magic price for dresses, tops, capris and fabulous rings. In fact where VV prices may vary according to perceived value, Sally Ann tends to have more standardized pricing.

Con: Sometimes a stinky thrift store smell and not as consistent a selection of good brands as VV (though personally I always find something at Sally Ann) ....

Pro: ...which means if you're a real treasure hunter who loves a good dig, Sally Ann is the place for you. When you find that great deal for super cheap you'll do your thrift happy dance!

Pro: Charitable organization with all thrift store proceeds going back into helping people in the community.

Pro: Also have 50 perecent off days and these crazy auctions ... will post a shopping coloumn I did on Sally Ann auctions this week!

FINAL NOTE: Though I'm sure both aim for consistent prices from store to store, prices will vary depending on neighborhood and the store, so get to know which locations have better deals on what.

Happy thrifting!

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Grunge-queen history: $1.69 thrift dig

Sure, I've found Liberty of London silk scarves in mint condition in junk stores and patented mood rings for $3.99 at the Sally Ann Thrift Store. But I've never, ever in grunge-queen history left a thrift store with two great items for $1.69 - including taxes! This is grunge-queen history, ladies and gents.

I've always wanted something like this but haven't found anything until trolling my fave neighborhood thrift shop this afternoon. There, this yellow-tone Lucite box was $4.99 and had some toxic-smelling Styrofoam stuffed in it. When I took it to the cash to pay the $4.99 that was on the tag, the cute guy at the thrift shop told me the decorative spoons that fit in the Styrofoam grooves were missing (likely stolen) ... so he ended up giving it to me for 99 cents.

I celebrated by putting a Liberty of London scarf in it along with another retro striped silk scarf. I love the way it pops against black velvet.

I loved the lines and gold & silver of this retro bud vase on sight - no wonder as it's stamped "Japan" on the bottom and most vases I find are (very likely many pre-war ones were made there).

The price had been ripped off, a common enough occurrence in thrift stores, so cute guy offered it to me for 50 cents -- at first I refused then gave in. I just looked at the bill and he let me have it for 49 cents, the sweetie pie.

Can love of thrift and a little crush at the thrift shop intersect?

TIPS: If you like the idea of a Lucite box to display your treasure but don't want to pay the big bucks in the design shops, try checking out restaurant suppliers or restaurants. A vendor told me he found the clear Lucite boxes with flip up tops I admired at a restaurant supplier. It didn't appear he had to buy in bulk, so it may be worth checking out.

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$5 or less pick-me-up

Believe it or not, most of the fab jewellery I pick up at the thrift or second-hand store is 5 bucks or less.

My trick is to take a peep in the jewellery case, but pay more attention to what is deemed to be semi-crappy jewellery outside of the case -- either hanging on makeshift racks or jumbled in plastic trays on top of the jewellery cases.

Value Village tends to bag and hang the jewellery its price makers don't think merit a visit to the cabinet. True, most of this stuff is horrifying 1980s earrings and 1950s earrings worthy of some crafty project, but if you sift through it all you can find some gems, like the Art Deco-ish gold and yellow glass (?) pin I found for $1.99

Ditto for this sterling silver floral pin - same price.

Two of the stones were missing but I just happened to have some old pins with stones falling out hanging around my place - some hard core glue and a couple minutes got me a brand new brooch!

TIP: Sometimes the powers that be at VV circulate the pins out of the case to the cheaper baggie rack (haven't seen them do this with necklaces).

This gorgeous silver leaf pin was in the case for weeks and sat untouched - not sure of price inside but I bet it was more. I went back the other day and it was hanging on the rack for $3.99!

It'll make the perfect B-day gift for mom as she loves pins on her coats. It has five leaves and I know she'll appreciate the idea: one leaf for every member in our family.

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Lamp Week Finale: more lamp camp tips

I wasn't sure Lamp Week was really doing it for y'all, but thanks to a comment on Lamp Camp, below, I've come back from two sick days off with renewed lamp vigor ....

But before I give you another tip on lamp hardware, here are some easy things you can do to spruce up your lamps at home ....

Hang things from 'em: necklaces, chandelier crystals, or in this case, a plastic bauble (that's hanging from a cheap necklace chain wound around the harp of the lamp).





Paint 'em: This buffet lamp was a boring brassy brown. When I went through a silver spray paint phase a few years ago, many accessories and pieces of furniture in my pad were on the receiving end of my spray can.

Over time the look actually becomes nicer, more distressed, as the paint wears off.


Put stuff on 'em: This was the lamp a former love went back to get for me in the thrift shop, only to discover someone else had bought it. He had a feeling one of his thrifting pals in the 'hood bought it, so he went to his house and rescued it from that man's closet for little 'ole me (see Dumpster Love post).

It's a funny little wrought iron lamp with a cut out rectangle where something once must have fit in. I still can't find a box to fit it, so here I put on old copy of "Paradise Lost" on top.

Get handy: Yes, I'm not at all handy: this was my ONE handy project and I will never do it again. I found this Pottery Barn chandelier at a garage sale for $5 - it still had the tag on it and I can see why, as there was no cord or anything, just the shell.

What was I going to do with this? I went to a hardware store and bought some gold chain electrical cord (and because the lamp hardware was pewter) a can of pewter paint. I spray painted that damn wire and had the whole thing dry on my fire escape at the time. When it was done it actually looked ok, but never again ....

The gift of light: my garage sale pal Matthew gave this to me as he knew I loved it. Still trying to find a lampshade for him (the lamp, silly, not Matthew!) - a black wig or a top hat one would look way cool, but it could be hard to find something like that (unless I somehow fashion an old hat into a shade?).

Any thoughts for a shade that will work on this? The lamp isn't that tall, only 8 inches to the top of the head and there's no harp hardware on it.

One last lamp hardware tip: if you have a lampshade like this and want to put it on a lamp with a harp, no fear, you can do it so long as you have one of these disc things I found with one of the thrift lamps I bought recently.

Simply put the disc on top of the harp, where the finial screws into, and voila!

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Rich Bitch Week!

Ah fellow fashionistas, recession got ya down?

Tune in this week, when I'll share my tips on how to dress like a rich bitch, for cheap.

For starters, pearls ...

But where to find 'em and what to look for??

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