Pretty much everything I own at one time belonged to someone else. Now that we have kids, our dumpster-diving days have dwindled (Plus, that’s such the hipster thing to do now, anyway.).

But catch us bright and early on any given Saturday and we’re probably getting prepped to hit up some yard sales. Or we might make an evening out of visiting one of the local Goodwill’s- the only thrift stores that are open later than 6pm ’round here.

I have frequent thrifting haunts here in Charlottesville and I also have several must-visit resale shops across the Eastern seaboard.

I have thrift store dreams.

I have thrift store epiphanies.

I have to donate some stuff…

One of my more recent re-purposing projects involved a vintage brass birdcage ($7.50) and some salvaged, frosted plexi ($0 Thanks, Mark.). I don’t mess around with “antique” wiring, so I bought a pendant light kit from World Market ($10 less 25% coupon, what.). Then I mashed all of the parts together and came up with this…

Basically, I removed the bottom of the cage and replaced it with the plexi (it’s bolted on). Then, I drilled a hole in the top and fed the wire through and replaced the plastic socket with a porcelain one from my stash. The pendant wire was already wrapped with a fresh-green material, so I happily left it exposed. The switch is on the wire where the boys can easily reach. I wonder where the bird’s flown off to?