BARGAIN CENTRAL!
I have just been to a place that can only be described as an aladdin's cave for up/recyclers and have come away with some absolute finds of the century!
A few weeks ago we we're visiting the in laws and happen to notice that they had a rather nice new settee and chair set. I asked my father in law Ron where he had bought them thinking that he was going to say from a high quality store. I was taken a back when he said he'd got them from a charity shop place called "Too good to waste" in Porth!
Naturally, I had to investigate. So off we went on Wednesday on an epic journey to plunder this fabled place of it's bargainous booty.
A thunderstorm, a few arguments about directions and 20 minutes later we had arrived!
The place was quite tucked away from the main road and nestled in Standard industrial estate territory and could easily be overlooked if you weren't specifically looking for it but arrived we did.
And this was the sight that beheld us:
Row upon row of amazing furniture bargains and homely knick knacks, both beautiful in their own right and a crafter's dream at the same time!
I was giddy with excitement as i literally skipped around the rows filling my basket with assorted goodies.
I picked up a gorgeous crocheted bedspread for my sister in law who had wanted one, a fairy fancy dress outfit for the princely sum of £1 for my little girl & some little knick knacks for crafting on a rainy day.
It was then that my attention turned to the larger items of furniture.
After seeing some very inspirational photos of play kitchens that people have made out of old American TV entertainment units (see link below) I thought to myself why not? I had actually been toying around with designs for it for a couple of weeks but the same of this kind of sized old furniture and the cost of even the cheapest chipboard material need to create it proved challenging.
Pintrest's Play Kitchen Collection
I set about the rows trying to find furniture of a suitable size and shape to convert.
At the back I noticed quite a few bookcase type dressers and display cases. Right at the end of the row I noticed an old 70's bookcase type arrangement with two small cupboard units at the base. My little girl Daisy ran straight to it and I noticed that it was the right height for kitchen units!
I looked up for the price tag expecting it to be around the £50-£80 that I'd seen in most other charity shops for furniture of this type and saw that it said £10! It had to be mine!!!
I took the label off and started off to the till at a quick pace before the young students who were hanging around the area could steal my bargain before me.
It was whilst I was power walking in old school Harold Bishop style to the till when I spotted a rather beaten up little nightstand to my right.
It had seen better days but was only marked up at £5 and I then had a eureka moment, a fridge!!!
It was exactly the right size and shape for it and due to the configuration of the play kitchen, I'd had to sacrifice a fridge and dishwasher space for the oven and washing machine I'd planned on putting in it.
The fridge could sit next to the kitchen not unlike the spectacular SMEG fridge we'd had in our holiday cottage in Devon in September.
I snatched the label for that too and hot footed it to the till.
The whole lot including the delivery for the tall unit came to £25!!!
I decide to take the little night stand with me as it fitted nicely in the boot and quite frankly I was desperate to get it home to start planning and buying bits for it.
As I was getting it into the boot I noticed the was quite a few bits of unsellable furniture and old ovens at the back of the warehouse. I had another idea.
I went back in and asked about any taps or oven knobs they were going to throw away. The very helpful lady came back with some beautiful brand new looking chrome taps and little white oven knobs. she said they were just going to be thrown away and I could have them for nothing but as it is a charitable organisation and had already saved a lot of money already I gave her £5 for them and then set out for home.
And this is the fridge unit in it's original state:
As you can see it's pretty beaten up but structurally sound!
I plan of converting the bottom part into the fridge and the top part into the freezer compartment.
I'm going to put new doors for each section on and paint the whole thing cream with a white interior for both sections.
I have ordered up a sheet of clear frosted perspex on Ebay to create a shelf in the middle of the fridge that will not only look like the glass shelves you get within regular fridges but will let the light shine through the entire unit.
Which neatly brings me to the next purchase of an LED white push light. It is like the little round battery push lights you can get in most shops for under cupboards etc but instead of being round, it is in a long strip.
I had thought about somehow wiring in some model railway LED lights with a battery pack but the push light is simpler and will hide behind the plinth on the door.
My third purchase that I made was in respect to the chrome letters spelling out SMEG on the fridge.
After finding a photo of the fridge as inspiration, (see below) I found that the chrome letters that go on cars to spell out car model names such as Fiests or Corsa etc were ideal! The font is pretty close and the size was perfect. I found a seller on ebay who sells them for 99p each, not bad considering only 4 were needed.
I've still got to get to B&Q to buy the paint and something to hold the shelf up plus the doors, hinges and handles but I'm hoping to start it all pretty soon so watch this space.
The bookcase unit is being delivered next Tuesday too so I will put up photos of it when it arrives too.
In the meantime here's the website for
Too good to waste
Love & craftiness!
Claire xx
