I took my sons on a whirlwind trip to Walla Walla, Washington this week. And of course, no trip would be complete without checking out the local Goodwill. And what a Goodwill it was! Gorgeous refurbished historic building, and prices that put our Portland areas thrift shops to shame.
And in case you needed proof that this was indeed the Walla Walla Goodwill, I offer up this tasty tidbit:
This adorable vintage kitchen canister set caught my eye:
Unfortunately, someone has scratched off the “sugar” and “tea” lettering on the smaller tins. Must have been a very literal previous owner.
“I’m putting beans into this smaller canister, I guess I need to take a razor blade to the word “sugar!”
I totally loved the lines on this vintage armchair. Sure, it needed a reupholstery job like nobody’s business, but it was just so uber-cool! Can’t you just picture it in a cool blue velvet?!
Very Apartment Therapy!
The one item that skeeved me out the most was this used pair of Vibram Five Fingers toe shoes. I’m usually fine about used shoes, but somehow the thought of used toe shoes gave me an uh-oh feeling.
Hot. Sweaty. Bare. Toes. Encased. In. Plastic.
So what did I buy?
The fabric on this homemade tablecloth really caught my eye. Priced at $4.99, I almost left it behind, but then I realized that there was enough fabric here to make curtains for my kitchen windows.
Kind of vintage, but also kind of modern, and currently drying on my clothesline.
I had wanted to find a painted Mrs. Butterworth bottle or a targeted savings bank to photograph for ya’ll, but I had no such luck. I am hoping to take multiple trips to Walla Walla in the future, (Whitman College impressed enough to be our #1 choice) and this Goodwill will most definitely be part of my routine.
Just keep those shoes far, far away from me.
Shudder.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
My husband is a Walla Walla native and if you visit again or go again you must visithttp://www.hotpoop.com/ he wasted many hours sorting through the albums here. Stores like this are becoming a thing of the past. I thinks my father inlaw and his lady friend still host some dinners for students at Whitman.
We saw “Hot Poop” and enjoyed the name!
Katy
How much were the Vibrams? I totally would have picked those up, sweaty toes and all. Those are my favorite. shoes. EVER!!!!!
To each his own, personally I too wouldn’t have hesitated to purchase the Vibrams, a soak in disinfectant and a trip through the wash cycle and the sweaty, stinky would be just a faded memory.
On the otherhand, buying leather shoes gives me the heebee geebees.
The chair IS cool, but I tend to shy away from any used fabric furniture nowadays with the resurgence of bed bugs. Love the fabric you found; be sure to share your finished curtain pics with us! 🙂
Wow — you have a better eye than I do! I need to get over my other-people-owned-this phobia and buy things at thrift stores other than ceramics. (Although I have found some gorgeous handmade ceramics, fwiw.)
And the Vibrams would have scared me, too.
Thrift shops are always on the list of places to visit when we are on holidays. It’s wonderful what a person finds.
I spent a glorious teenage summer on the campus of Whitman at an intensive dance camp. Beautiful campus, beautiful town! Good choice!
I love your eye for good items, Katy. And dark blue velvet would be ideal!
My SIL is excited to come visit, because I’ve found a new charity thrift shop in the next town. We have a great time together, shopping for vintage stuffs.
The Vibrams are washable!! Precisely because you have bare, sweaty feet in them. If they were my size, I would have snapped them up and into the washer they’d go.
I’m way more skeeved about the chair. I think I can smell it from here.
Katy,
I love, love the fabric!!! I hope you don’t mind but I added your blog to my list of blogs I love to read on my blog…
Why would I mind? 😉
Katy
I made kitchen curtains from a tablecloth for my father after Mother died. She had a ton of thrift store tablecloths and a round one was snagged for curtains on his small kitchen window. I even made tiebacks with rings at the ends so he could put the curtains down for the night and pulled back again for daytime. He’s been very pleased with them. So glad to see someone else has the same idea.