window safety

Our house has tons of windows. One wall in our living/dining room is almost entirely windows, but the weird thing is, there are only four windows in the whole house that open, and one is painted shut. There is one in the kitchen that opens, one in our family room downstairs, one in Alden's room (the non-functioning one), and one in Tula's room.

It hasn't really been a problem yet because our house is very shaded and is cool all the time. We also have several doors that open onto our deck if we need a little more breeze. Our big concern is that the windows that do open, swing out. There are no screens, and no child-safety locks. That's a problem because our house is built on a very steep slope, so although the corner of Tula's room is at ground level, there is about a twelve foot drop outside the portion of the window that opens.

The latch on her window is particularly hard to maneuver, but I'm not relying on that because just when you think something is impossible for a 2-year-old, they figure out a way to surprise you. Since this situation would have much more serious consequences than say, figuring out how to lock oneself in the bathroom, I think it's imperative that we come up with a solution to prevent a dangerous tumble out of the window.

I'd like something that doesn't look like a jail, so vertical wood slats are out, but I don't want to block off the whole window. My idea is to frame in some sort of wooden geometric pattern with holes large enough to reach through to the latch to open the window, but small enough that a thirty pound little girl can't wiggle out. I found these modern headboards from West Elm that have the kind of look I'm going for:

And here's one of their headboards that I cropped and shrunk to mock-up the actual window:


Now I just have to figure out how to actually build and install something. Has anyone ever seen this type of thing done?

thrift thief

Thrift store pricing is not perfect. Sometimes it's too high and sometimes too low. Apparently, I'm not the only one who feels that way either. I was perusing the children's clothing one day and I pulled out a dress that was several years out of style, dotted with stains down the front, the pattern faded beyond recognition, and marked with a price of $3.99. That's the same price you can get a new dress from the clearance rack at target. Stapled to the front of the dress was a note printed from a home computer that read something like this, "This price is too high! Take this to the manager and demand a better price. Goodwill has been raising their prices in these tough economic times when people need them the most..." I think it went on further, but that's all I can remember.

I laughed to myself for a moment, imagining a mother with her stack of notes and protesting with her stapler. I agree with her sentiment that if you think something has been wrongly priced you should ask (but don't demand) the manager to discount it further, and in fact, I have done this several times. Usually, they are willing to accommodate, taking an additional 20–40% off. I have also, though, noticed another avenue that seems to be too often taken. The floors of the fitting rooms are littered with hang tags. Even the fronts of the benches have price tags stuck to them that have been peeled off merchandise. I'm fairly certain that these are there because shoppers want to cheat the system. Since thrift store tags are vague—usually just noting the department—they can be swapped without raising any flags at the register.

Let me be very clear, I whole-heartedly disagree with doing this. It's the same thing as stealing. In fact, I overheard a conversation between a Goodwill employee and a customer a few weeks ago about this very issue. The customer was convinced that a stereo should have been much cheaper and had asked the employee to change the price. When the employee refused, the customer stated that he would simply swap the tags with another item with a lower price. The employee then made a point of telling him that the store considers that the same as stealing and would (and does) call the police.

It makes me wonder if people view thrift stores differently than a regular retail shops. Does the fact that the items are donated to the thrift store somehow make people feel entitled to pay whatever price they see fit? I can imagine that the tag-swapping shoppers are far less likely to try to steal from the Gap.

a game of musical chairs

Against all craigslist odds, our recent chair purchase was fast and problem-free. We picked up the chair Friday night in SeaTac from a young woman who has had it since she was twelve. Coincidentally, she was selling the chair because she's relocating for a job to a town in Montana that is only forty miles from where I grew up. The chair is heavily influenced by the Eames Lounge Chair, but has some subtle differences that I find particularly endearing. The back is one solid piece of bent wood instead of two, the legs are bent wood as well, while the Eames legs are all metal, and there is no tufting, which I see as a bonus because it means fewer little places to collect cracker crumbs.


We love the way it looks in our living room, and Alden loves to sit in "daddy's chair," but we have run into a few logistical problems. It's funny how acquiring one new piece can throw a wrench into the whole flow of a room. First, in order to make room for the chair, we needed to remove the two black chairs that were previously in our living room. In case you missed it before, we have a lot of chairs in our house. I'm not really willing to give any of them the boot yet, although one particular chair will probably get its marching orders as soon as we save up enough for a new couch downstairs.

Since we decided to keep the black chairs, I had to figure out a way to work them into another room. They are more like office chairs than armchairs, so it seemed fitting to move them to the office—currently the least organized and most unfinished room in the house. Moving them to the office meant moving the two dining chairs out that were being stored there. The dining chairs haven't been in the dining room because I hadn't ever managed to recover the seats to match the first four that I had done two years ago. I guess I finally got the motivation that I needed to complete that project, and we now have six matching dining chairs around our table!


Now the only problem I'm left with is that our coffee table no longer fits in the space in which it used to reside. The ottoman of the new chair sits just a few inches too close to the corner of the rectangular coffee table, creating an awkward pathway, and with my bruise-prone shins, it's an injury waiting to happen. The solution: a round coffee table has now been added to my thrift store master list.

friday finds - june 4

I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I agreed to accompany Alden's preschool class on a field trip to Richmond Beach this morning. In my temporary lunacy, I must have forgotten that it has rained nearly every day this spring! I woke up this morning to what sounded like a torrential rain, although if you've ever lived in a house with a flat roof and no attic, you'll know that even a minor storm can sound like a monsoon. So, I'm about to bundle up in rain gear and herd twenty excited five-year-olds through the mud and sand, in hopes of spotting a few sea anemones.

All that said, I've bumped my usual Friday morning thrifting to this afternoon. I won't let that keep me from sharing a new find, though! This one is credited to my husband, who is a much better craigslist scavenger than I am. He was recently given some money for his birthday by a few family members, and has been on a chair hunt ever since. Yesterday he managed to find a tuftless lounge chair by George Mulhauser for Plycraft for $200. He's picking it up this evening, and I can't wait to see how it looks in our living room. I'll post some pictures next week, although it is craigslist, so there is always the huge possibility that this will all fall through!

Next, I want to share some great finds sent to me by Judy. Although we have different styles, we share our love for thrifting and decorating. Here are some of her favorite thrift finds:

1. Bernhardt Furniture Antique Sideboard, good condition: St. Vincent De Paul's $50 after Memorial Day discount.

2. Floral arm chair, great condition: St. Vincent De Paul's $15 after Memorial day discount.

3. Antique Player Piano with auto player function disabled, good condition + bench: Free on Craigslist.

4. Velvet & wood rocking chair, great condition: Value Village $19.99 - 30% off coupon.

Show off your most treasured thrifted find! Email a description and a jpeg file to modernthrifter@gmail.com.

creating a master list

Part of the fun of thrifting is discovering something unexepected—something special that you weren't looking for, but if you're like me, you probably go into the store with a few specific things you are hoping to find. I've found that it's helpful to carry with me a list of things to search for, so that I don't get overwhelmed when I go inside. Some of the things on my list have been there for a long time, and I don't know if I'll ever find them, and some are recent additions.

I also keep a list of things that I'm hoping to find for other people. I've been searching for some serving dishes for my mother-in-law, for example, and I'm looking for a particular pattern so that she can add to her set. I know I would never remember the name without having it written down.

Here is a small sampling of things that are currently on my list:

floor lamp (something vintage)
rain boots
vintage clocks
coffee table
danish lounge chairs
vintage suitcases
cast iron skillet
converse shoes
salt & pepper shakers
drawer unit for my office (something like the varde from ikea)

Do you have a list? If so, what are some of the things you've been looking for?

Photos via flickr:
clock - H is for Home; suitcases - mollypop; converse - thejonoakley; coffee table & lounge chair - stewf; rain boots - Rodrigo Quinones

weekend project: the results!

I love a good deal and I don't splurge on all that many things, but paint happens to be one of the few items on which I'll spend the extra money. We have purchased a lot of paint over the last five years—everything from Behr to Sherwin Williams, but my absolute favorite is Benjamin Moore. Without sounding too much like an infomercial, here's just a few quick things that I think make it worth the price...

The Natura product line comes in a zero VOC with virtually no odor. If you've ever used primer, you'll know how bad it can stink—for days. We can use the Natura primer without worrying about making our kids high. It also covers really well and has a great texture when applying. It's not stringy, sticky, or watery. Lastly, they have a great color palette to choose from.


I've never been one to be indecisive about paint colors, but choosing the right color for our entryway was really hard! We narrowed it down to blue and yellow, and then bought samples of each color. We stared at the small patches of paint on the wall for at least half the day, changing our minds every twenty minutes. Dolphin's Cove or Yellow Rain Coat? Maybe it was the names that pushed us over the edge, but finally we decided to just go with our first reaction and paint it Dolphin's Cove. Also, I liked the way my yellow purse looked hanging on the blue as opposed to the yellow (I know, it's silly). So far, we love it, and it's really lightened up that whole area of our house. What do you think?

When I started this blog, I promised myself and my husband that I would never let it interfere with my commitment to serve our family. So far, it's hasn't been a problem, but today is just one of those days. Every tuesday we have between ten and fifteen people over for our church community group and I cook dinner for everyone, and my list of things to do today is crazy long. I really wanted to post the pictures of our newly painted entryway, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Right now, I've got ribs to cook!