Virtual Thrift Shopping Tips

It was love at first sight. We'd lived in the neighborhood, almost directly across the street from the house, for about seven years. Each night we would pack the kids into the stroller and head out for a walk.  

We always lingered just a bit too long at the corner, eyeing the property, peeking into the backyard, hypothesizing what the inside might hold, talking about what it might look like, if it were ours. A fantasy for sure...

Then, one day we were told that the house was for sale.  

We called the owner immediately, made an offer as soon as the polite conversation took a pause and it was ours without any hesitation.

The inside was perfect - almost totally original, great bones, but in need of a lot of work. All of which was fine, because my husband is a do-it-yourself kind of guy and I am a not-willing-to-settle kind of girl. So this place was ideal, we could make it exactly what we wanted and we were super excited to get started.

When the construction dust finally settled, I couldn't wait to get busy with the fun stuff, the stuff that really transforms a house into a home, the decorating! Unfortunately, after the extensive renovations required to bring a turn of the century summer cottage into a modern, year round home, there wasn't a whole lot left in the kitty for fun.

Now normally I wouldn't mind that. I am drawn to very unique pieces, I like to craft, thrift and refurbish and above all, I love a bargain!

There's something about the thrill of the hunt, the unexpected treasure that may be unearthed or the potential a piece could hold that thrills me, but it was winter in our little town, so my usual garage sale solution was not going to be an option.

I checked out the local thrift and antique stores, but there wasn't a rapid turnover in merchandise, so it got very boring, very fast.

That is when I turned to eBay. It was this relatively new site where Santa Claus had scored a sell out toy. Could there be other items besides toys for sale?

A rock maple end table to match my antique bedroom set...score ~$20!

I logged on to see and I was hooked. I became an eBay junkie. It was so much fun, I could shop at anytime of the day or night. I could search for anything from hurricane glass to wooden oars and all of it for rock bottom prices, if I could outbid the competition.

And so I did. In fact, I became a pro at the bidding game, winning just about everything I wanted and my house is so much the prettier for it!

Of course, today eBay is a mainstream shopping destination. In fact, I have purchased everything from custom-made theatrical ball gowns during my costuming days to chemicals for our pool from the site, but my favorites are still those unique second hand treasures.

Since then I have expanded my searches to Etsy, although I think they are little pricey sometimes.

Here are just a few of my favorite pieces from Ebay: