It's a good time of the year to be a florist; with warmer temperatures finally settling in, spring buds are beginning to show their true colors, and Mother's Day — not to mention wedding season — is just around the corner. Over the next two months, fresh flowers are sure to be in high demand.
But what do you do once things really begin to heat up and all those blooms begin to fade? You could stash those rather average looking florists' vases at the top of your closet until next season — or you could turn them into something fabulous to admire all year round.
We figured you were more of the creative type, so we've dug through the blogosphere to bring you a few fantastic and super simple DIYs to upgrade your vase game. First up, Eden does enamel over at Sugar and Charm. We tried this with regular latex paint HERE and it came out amazing!
A mercury glass effect is surprisingly easy to achieve — as the ladies at The Thirteenth Blog demonstrate — with masking tape and a little mirrored spray paint.
We're loving these almost-neon coral milk glass vases from PimpelwitStyling. The instructions appear easy enough, but you'll have to make do with the photos because this little lady sprechen sie Deutsch.
Need a few extra pieces to round out your collection? With their bulky size and seemingly limited use, it's no surprise that we see our fair share of vases. From simple glass forms to Waterford crystal, there's bound to be one or two that are just the right shape and height — and price!
Do you have a thrift store DIY? Share your brilliant ideas with Ashley at vintagethriftnyc@gmail.com.
*Please note that some DIYs may render your vase unsafe for human consumption. Remember: Painted surfaces are not food friendly!
We know what you're thinking: how do you film a podcast? Well, like all those wonderful and wild things you find at thrift stores, there's a story behind this one too.
It begins with a coffee cup. A broken one, to be more specific — one whose purchase in its original, fully-functional form was wrapped up in a love story. You see, for Rob Walker, this rather insignificant vessel was forever tied to a trip he took with his now-wife many years ago, a fact he didn't realize until it shattered. And that got him thinking about the meanings we attach to objects, that, like his coffee mug, are rather insignificant in themselves.
Rob Walker and Kurt Andersen discuss the significance of objects at Vintage Thrift. Photo via Studio 360, Thomas Seely.
With collaborator Joshua Glenn, Walker enlisted dozens of best-selling and popular authors to compose fictional stories that would give meaning to mundane, if unusual, items (This seahorse lighter comes to mind). The insignificant objects and their stories were then auctioned off on eBay, and the results were surprising. One dollar trinkets were suddenly fetching upwards of $30 a piece! While the items have long found their way into new homes, you can read the collection of stories in Significant Objects.
Kurt Andersen of Studio 360 caught up with Rob Walker at Vintage Thrift to discuss the draw of thrift store oddities — and to hold a contest. They plucked three unusual objects from our shelves — a Marlboro Thermos, a creepy doll, and a very puzzling box — and have challenged listeners to come up with stories of their own. The made-up histories are published on Studio 360, and the winning story for each object will receive the priceless piece of "junk" itself. Contest ends at 11:59PM Sunday, April 8.
Kurt Andersen's "Studio 360" airs on WNYC 93.9 FM Saturdays at 4PM and Sundays at 11AM. Air times for other cities can be found under Stations Listings. Podcasts are available for listening or download here.
While it's safe to say that we adore all of our awesome customers, we've had a serious crush on Refinery29 Editor-in-Chief Christene Barberich for quite some time now. From her $40 thrift store challenges to unbelievable designer finds on eBay, this fierce founding mother of fashion has high-low style down-pat. That's why we're positively thrilled to see our name included on her list of ultimate NYC vintage and thrift shops out last week. Not only that, she went on to name us "possibly one of the best thrift shops in New York City." How sweet! Read Christene's complete how-to thrift guide here.
And in more rave reviews news, power blogger Monroe Steele (whose own pretty mug - and feet - have graced the style pages of Refinery29) highlighted Vintage Thrift as one of her top 10 thrift or vintage stores. While she says her list is in no particular order, she did place us first . . . and that makes us feel pretty good, too.
