Growing up, I have memories of my dad scraping every last edible lick of peanut butter out of the jar, and squeezing the toothpaste tube until we finally convinced him that for the sake of our health, we needed more than a crusty crumb of toothpaste on our toothbrushes.
Maybe those experiences have contributed to the value I place on being thrifty – and my excitement over finding a new use and new life for things that someone else has discarded.
Last summer, my friend gave me a couple of these ugly old wooden screens that he had brought home from a flea market. I didn’t know at the time what I would do with them. But I got inspired recently when I thought about all of the family pictures and kids’ artistic creations that I wanted to hang up, and saw how expensive frames and photo displays are.
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| (Yes, those are my children…. stripped down… helping me paint the frame) |
So instead of paying for a new photo display, I dug this screen out of my in-laws basement where it had been almost forgotten. I taped up the edges of the screen, and went rummaging in our paint stash for a good color to paint the wood. I found this great dusky blue in a random glass jar that was probably left in our house by the former owner. And by accident I discovered that if I didn’t put too much paint on my brush, I could make the frame look aged/distressed. After a quick trip (actually… NOT as quick as I had hoped, since I had two small helpers with me) to Hobby Lobby to pick up some twine, screw eye hooks to attach the twine to the sides of the frame, small clothespins, and five adorable knobs (shout-out to my crafty friend Miriam for that idea!), my ugly screen has been transformed into the perfect picture & art display! I love it – and more impressively, my husband does too.
I may not scrape my pb jar and squeeze my toothpaste tube quite like my dad, but I am thrifty just like him – I just happen to think my version of thrifty is a little cuter. 🙂
The Reclaimed Life 