i never thought of collecting old leathers! good tip... i know there's allot of them in my local thrift stores.

How did you like my spelling "expecially"?  Wow.  I need to proofread.

i can imagine that color though, oddly enough, and i think it would look great. i was thinkiing of something like it. maybe the turquoise on the base and a glaze over top it to bring down the shade a bit. i dont know. right now i am fixated on greens. so i will see. blue is for the bedroom . i love the tranquility 

Don't be afraid to try projects.  Every week I write a DIY project for the Indianapolis Star and I never know if it will turn out.  By the time I'm done, I am under a time crunch to turn it in so it has to be o.k.

I don't expecially like gold either.  It seems to be a little bit "in" right now so I try to go against my color prejudices.  I used to not like turquoise but now I'm ready to paint a bedroom turquiose-y smokey blue green.  Hard to describe. 

My advice--go for the projects.  Who cares if you mess up.  It's so much fun working on stuff.

i love your furniture finds. i am not crazy about gold things, but the lamps and tables and chairs are interesting. here are some of my finds. 

i have two of these lamps, found at different times! for 10 dollars each at  thirft store

and the big jack was 3 i think. and the silver pitcher was 1.99

i have found some awesome things, but i have never took on a big project. I am always afraid of messing it up.

thanks for the tips!

It depends what kind of chairs they are and if the fabric was included in the estimate.  If you have photos of the chairs, email them to me at my other blog email  flipt@att.net, I'll take a look and give you some helpful hints.

Wow I'm so glad to find your blog- I'm a newbie to thrifting- especially furniture, but these are great tips! I did recently find 2 pairs of upholstered chairs for less than $100 per pair, but they need to be reupholstered and I've received estimates from $700- $1000 per chair... which now makes them not such a great deal, um... am I right? 

Definitely check out the tables that are in good shape.  Some are sooo 1950's/1960's.

My husband and I have replaced all my pre-marriage Ikea furniture in our living room with good quality mid-century thrift store finds. Luckily no one around here seems to know what they're actually worth! Other than that, I have a newly-discovered weakness for tacky vintage travel plates and oddities. Thanks for the tips--I usually avoid the sewing machine tables--too bad since I've seen lots of shapes I've liked. I'll have to give them a second look!

I'm thrilled to hear I'm not the only addict out there.  I have it under control now, I really do, I promise, just the essentials and that's it. (HA!)