In these last few years, my appreciation for all things “less than perfect” in home decor has grown. As a newlywed, I remember registering for glassware and looking at my perfectly matched goblets. They were symmetrical and appropriate, but they lacked, what I now pinpoint, as warmth.
They’re beautiful, but just a bit too perfect for who I have grown to become.
Now, I embrace my masterfully mismatched glassware because it’s a reflective representation of who I am… far from perfect, and continually evolving.
Source: Max Wagner
Whether I display my thrifted glassware in our family room with flowers or create a beautiful tablescape to welcome friends during some homestead hospitality, somehow mismatched glassware just makes me feel welcome and at home, embracing the “it doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful” mentality.
I share in the video how I love to find glass bottles, cups, glass plates…any assortment of items with pretty lines. The simplicity of glassware can be elegant by just using a variety of items in a tablescape or even by purchasing a few cans of $1 spraypaint and having fun adding a punch of color with any type of glassware.
There’s so much variety available in home decor if you forget some of the rules of “perfection.” I love the hunt of finding trash to treasure pieces, and it’s even better when I score beautiful pieces for just a few dollars.
How about you? Don’t you just love making something beautiful out of every day bits of nothing? 🙂
I love it! I recently made myself start going back into the thrift stores around here thanks to your Frugal Fashionista posts. (It’s so hard with little kiddos.) I have grown to love the glass and housewares aisles. But I really love that the Salvation Army here often has certain color tickets 50% or 75% off, ao I have picked up pretty little glass things for as little as $0.12! I realized it when one day I picked up enough little things to fill a bag, and it ended up being less than $3 total when I checked out. Lesson? Get to know your local store and any promotions they might have. Now I just have to get more of my pretty things into action.
[Reply]
Jens Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 8:53 am
@Crystal, absolutely…knowing your stores sales cycle is such a key tip. Thanks for sharing…what fun. $0.12…that’s amazing.
[Reply]
Love it, Jen. I too am a hound for thrift store and garage sale home decor. I love it because it ads a dimension of surprise and home-ness. Recently, I had a group of teenage girls (that live in $750K homes) over to my house (that’s worth under $200K) and they were full of compliments of how my house looks pretty and that they can sit anywhere and have a talk. To me that was the best compliment in the world – a house where people feel welcome and is beautiful.
[Reply]
Jens Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 9:16 am
Don’t you also loving that you are modeling for those girls that frugal living isn’t about being in “want.” Hopefully, you’re planting that seed for them that it doesn’t all have to be full price Pottery Barn. (Not saying that isn’t wonderful as well, but the best mix is a balance. 🙂
We’ve had a house full of company this week and the whole time they kept asking about all my decor. Yard sale, thrift store, GoodWill etc….they all wanted to go to the Goodwill the next day. ha 🙂
[Reply]
Hi Jen! I love getting glass wear from yard sales. It seems like where I live that is the cheapest place. I will also use class jars from food products to decorate. You can use a spaghetti sauce jar for a vase. A small jelly jar as a condiment holder like you suggested. I always look for ways to recycle anything I can. The best part of recycling is the cost, it’s free :).
Thanks for sharing!
[Reply]
You never fail to surprise me with your creativity. I love the bright colored bottles. It could be a fun recycling project to just use glass bottles and jars around home for this as well.
[Reply]
Great video and what a fun idea. I tend to give all of these little unmatched things away to Goodwill. You have inspired me and I have spray painted many things, but never clear glassware. Duh!! Thanks for the great tips.
[Reply]
Fantastic video! I really should start to hit up my local second hand stores more frequently! I love your spray painting idea!
I also really enjoyed the chance to meet you in Colorado! You’re wonderful! 🙂
[Reply]
Jens Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
Thanks so much, Taya…it’s SO fun to have a sweet face and precious personality to put with this comment.
[Reply]
Jens Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Oh and I forgot to mention..YEA, for the shout out from JD…I hope it was a great blogging day. 🙂
[Reply]
Bless your heart for standing in the Goodwill aisle talking to a camera with shoppers all around! The things you do for us readers, great job! I love your tips and am especially excited by the reminder to spray paint the tops of the salt and pepper shakers. Thank you so much for the reminder!!
[Reply]
Jens Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
haha…yes, I kept waiting for people to leave the aisle cuz I was feeling REALLY silly. So as soon as it was empty, I started and then all of a sudden EVERYONE wanted to turn down my way. 🙂 Oh well, it’s fun and I’ll do it again.
[Reply]
Ok, so, where do you keep it? All that glass is hard to store b/c it’s breakable. So where does it go when you’re not using it? That’s my current question – but I’ve got time b/c I’m on a spending fast from all but food!
[Reply]
Jens Reply:
July 17th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
@Abbie, I have an antique sideboard that I bought at a yard sale that is in my dining room. It goes in there….
here’s a pic of it, near the bottom…laughing at the post. It was one of my very first.
http://jenschmidt.life/please-help-the-mistreated/
[Reply]
Abbie Reply:
July 18th, 2010 at 7:19 am
@Jens, I LOVE that sideboard! I do have a hutch in my dining room, but it’s pretty much full (even underneath) so I suppose the next thing is to either not buy and use what I have or to clean out things that I don’t want to make room for others!
[Reply]
Jen I LOVE following your Goodwill and yard sale adventures. I cannot even remember the last time I purchased either clothes or decorative housewares at a “normal” store. I don’t understand why people spend so much to decorate their homes, when they can get so much great stuff at thrift stores.
[Reply]
I LOVE what you’ve don with these glass vases. I need to be better at scoping out yardsale deals and thrift stores
[Reply]
great idea! i love goodwill 😀
[Reply]
I love, love, love interesting glassware. Usually I like things to really match, but when it comes to stuff like this, all the mismatched stuff seems to go well together and create its own set anyway.
[Reply]