I'm Blaming it all on the Thrift Store Lamp!

Happy Spring!  Happy Easter!  I can't believe it is just April 1st and the Easter holiday has come and gone.  It all seemed to go by in a blur!  

I am a Catholic and Lent is always a special time for me in my life.  This year, I gave up two things for Lent.  Pop and thrifting!  I know, right?  The pop was easy.  In fact, here it is almost a week later and I have not had a drop of the stuff.  I have never been a big soda drinker, but I found myself binging earlier in the year and I knew that this was a good way to nip that new behavior in the bud. Alas, it worked exactly as I had hoped it would - the thirst for pop has been quashed!  ;-)

Thrifting, on the other hand, still runs rampant!   The day after Easter was a rainy Monday.  I thought it was a good day to go and reacquaint myself with some shoppes which may have been feeling neglected during the Lenten season. So, I hopped in the car and headed to one of my normal thrift hangs just down the street.  

Upon walking in, I spotted this amazing lamp.  Unbelievable.  No less than the first minute in the door and WHAM!  So much for being cured of  "Thrift Shoppe itis".

Onward.  I love birds and all things beach, nautical, coastal.  This lamp was very gorgeous and quite unique.  It is either a heron, an egret or a crane.  I haven't been able to pinpoint the exact species.   And the body is mother of pearl - gorgeousness!  I Googled and searched and I can't find anything about it.  No brand, no price, nothing.  But it didn't matter - it was beautiful and I wanted it.

Then I looked at the price!  Whoa - I figured I was in a thrift store and so it could be more than $15-$20.  Was I wrong!  They wanted a whopping $50!  Fifty bucks!  Thats a lot of smackers!  I didn't think it was overpriced because of the fact that this was gorgeous!  But being in a neighborhood thrift shoppe, I thought it was WAY high.  So, I didn't buy it.  I looked at it again before leaving and went home.  And then I thought about it.  And thought about it.  And thought about it. UGH!  I wanted this lamp so badly!  Then I started to freak out that maybe someone else saw in it what I did and didn't hesitate.  Didn't take the night to think it over.  They bought it!  They were probably reading a book by its light right now!  LOL - the mind can play crazy tricks on us.  

So, the next morning, I ventured over about 10:05 - I didn't want to seem TOO eager!  LOL  When I walked into the store, I walked over to the are where it was and sure enough, it was GONE!  I knew it!  I knew someone else saw it and didn't hesitate like I did.  $50 is a lot of money to me and I didn't want to rush into the purchase.  But now I was regretting it in a huge way.  Pouting, I then turned around.  And there he was.  Birdie.  Yes I named him.  Do you name things in your house?  My parents used to do it just in fun and I have continued the silly tradition.  So Birdie was sitting there.  Waiting.  Waiting for me.  And we were reunited and it felt SO good.  I put him in the cart and proceeded to find the manager.

The only thing better than having Birdie in my cart was having his price tag lowered.  The manager saw me first and said,  "The flamingo lamp!  We were wondering who was going to get that!"  And I then proceeded to work my magic.  Firstly, I thought it was a good move to not mock him thinking that Birdie was a flamingo.  Seriously.  I told him its a great lamp but its a little high for a thrift store.  He didn't bite.  He didn't care.  He then told me that he wanted to mark it a much higher price but his coworkers said no.  So I was stuck.  But I knew I wanted Birdie.  He was mine and I had to have him. 

So, I took him home and put him on my foyer table.  It was like he was made to live there.  I couldn't be more excited.  But then, I looked around my foyer and suddenly, I disliked it a great deal.  Birdie deserved better.  So I decided to redecorate the foyer.  I actually went to a ... wait for it ... WALLPAPER STORE!  What?  I KNOOOOW!  You heard me right, I said wallpaper.  

I'm in love with this navy blue and white damask Norwall paper but I'm totally swooning over the tufted grey wallpaper.  Isn't that just awesome!  It looks like a tufted wall - I love it!

I have an accent wall in my foyer and recently, I decided to make it a chalkboard wall.  I never even blogged about it yet.  And yet, its not me.  I tried the whole farmhouse rustic chic but it just didn't feel right.  I have to stop overdosing on Chip n Jojo on Fixer Upper.  I can watch one episode of that show and I feel the need to raise goats in the backyard and cover my life in shiplap!  LOL - you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about, right?  

So, I have decided to redecorate my foyer.  It was the traditional yellow color with a black buffet and now that is all going to change.  I am actually going to try to paint my ceiling NAVY.  Wha????  I know - I'm a little nervous!  And its all Birdie's fault.  One trip to a thrift shoppe and everything is topsy turvy.  But that's ok - I hope its going to be awesome.  Birdie needs a new space - he's way too cool for me.