My Thrift Hauls at the Value Village and Unique Thrift!
The best thrift stores in the Washington, D.C. metro area for affordable thrift hauls are Value Villiage and Unique Thrift. We’re lucky in this area because not only are the prices insanely good, but the pickings aren’t slim, my friend. Because Montgomery County is known to be a bit wealthier than other counties, you can literally outfit your entire home and wardrobe with hand-me-downs from people that donate quality stuff!
(Just check out my DIY Project Gallery for proof).
When we moved into this single-family home here in Silver Spring, Maryland, you can’t begin to understand the anxiety I felt at the thought of having to furnish a 4-bedroom home. Moving up from 1,100 square feet to 3,500 square feet is not for the faint of heart (nor for the broke!).
But after buying this home, I turned to my love of thrift stores to outfit our home with tons of thrifted furniture, wall decor, dining room furniture–you name it.
And then I started blogging about.
Below, you’ll find a collection of all the amazing things I have found at the Value Village and Unique Thrift stores!
Some of it I lugged home with me but I’ve also included some links below!
Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog so that you can stay current on DIY projects I’m working on!
Amazing Thrift Haul Sideboards and Buffets!
It’s hard to find good quality sideboards like this at the thrift store, but Value Villiage thrift store usually had a few great ones every now and then, and the prices are right!
This one was only $25! Imagine how lovely it would look with paint!
Related: What’s the Best Paint For Furniture?
Sometimes thrift store furniture can be pretty pricey, like some of the thrifted furniture I’ve seen at Life 4 Animals in Rockville. However, I think there are 7 reasons it’s worth it to pay high prices at the thrift store.
When I laid eyes on this at Value Village thrift store, I knew I had to have it. For only $50, it was a steal.
BEFORE
With a stripped and re-stained top and paint on the body, it looked so lovely!
You can see more of this vintage buffet makeover here.
The Prettiest Thrifted China Set!
This is one of my favorite finds at the thirft store!
A Fun Bar Cart!
This was one of my favorite thrift store finds for $6.00! I’d like to turn it into a tea station in my dining room. Enter your name and email to subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss the makeover. Plus, you’ll get 5 ebooks, printables, and checklists just for signing up. It’s free. 🙂
Thrift Haul Clothing!
I generally don’t do many clothing thrift hauls at Value Village and Unique Thrift because I think the older I get, the less patience I have to pick through racks (although if you shop at this best thrift store in Seattle, everything is color-coded!).
Plus, as a full-time DIY professional blogger now, I don’t go to an office. There’s no need to look nice. Instead, I’m usually covered in sawdust, paint on my elbows and hair, and I’m looking like a hot mess.
However, over the years, I have found a few favorites, including this amazing skirt!
One of my favorite outfits is this outfit I found at the thrift store for about $10! The top is a favorite that I wear all the time, and the jeans fit so nicely!
You can watch the thrift haul right here on my YouTube channel.
And isn’t it funny how you can always spot DESIGNER stuff at the thrift store? It’s true that good quality stuff stands out. I saw these shoes and decided to research their name. Hmmm…Donald J. Pliner?? Never heard of him, but wow….$250 shoes?!?!
But why is it you can never find sexy little shoes like this in a size 10?! I tried to squeeze my feet in them, but at 8.5, it wasn’t workin’.
I found this awesome sweater the thrift store for a few dollars and I thought it looked great with a belt!
I absolutely adore these Dingo leather boots at the thrift store!
In the sunlight, they look more reddish (or maybe it was my Instagram filter). 😉
But no matter the color, I feel stylish wearing these boots over my jeans! (They were about $10, but retail for $80-$120 online).
And there’s something about this thrift store where $12.00 dining tables are the norm! Because not only did I find my Instagram filter but this one was also marked for $12.00! Isn’t it cute??
This $7.00 table was a deal I couldn’t pass up! It’s in my master bedroom walk-in closet. I love mid-century modern furniture!
Related: See how I transformed this mid-century modern dresser that I almost ruined!
Thrift Haul Art Work!
I regret not buying this Ida Jackson “Bus Stop” painting. For some reason, I thought $39.99 was a lot, but in looking at this awesome painting, I realize that it was a steal. This could have been a cool piece of art on my wall.
It’s hard to say if it was an original or a print. I just remember thinking that it looked like a painting I had seen on the Cosby Show and how cool it looked, but I didn’t look up its value. I wish I would have investigated this Ida Jackson painting a bit more closely!
This mom and babe print was beautiful. I did buy this and it’s hanging up in my cozy family room!
When looking at thrift stores, I always look for artwork that is numbered and signed. I don’t know if this one was worth any money or not, but I did buy it.
QUESTION: Would you buy panties or bras at the thrift store? Used? What if they were new, with tags?
I used to say I would never buy panties or bras at the thrift store. But after visiting the best thrift store in Seattle, which was like a department store (they even color-coded everything!), I decided I would buy panties and bras, but they’d have to be new. Especially if they’re a good discount! Why not??
And with all the natural disasters that we’re having where people are losing their entire life, I’m thankful that thrift stores have everything. Yep–even panties!
Anyhow, below is a gallery of interesting thrift hauls I have found at the thrift store. Not every item I have bought. Sometimes it’s just fun to look! 🙂 Enjoy!
Sofas & Chairs
Completed Sofas & Chairs
Fun Thrift Store Finds!
Completed Projects
Tables & Such
Dressers & Desks
Completed Dressers
Pictures and Clocks
Lamps
Have you found something awesome during a thrift haul recently? Leave a comment below to share!
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Thrift Diving inspires women to decorate, improve, and maintain their home themselves...using paint, power tools, and thrift stores! Use these 5 printables, checklists, and ebooks to get started!
OhMyGosh, I just love your blog! i love your writing style, and it’s photo-full! You’re on my must-read list.
e
Hey Eddie! Thanks so much! That means a lot 🙂 Yeah, sometimes I think I put too many pics, but then again, life is better full of colorful pics 🙂 Thanks for stopping by! I look forward to getting to know you!
Wow, looks like you found some great stuff! I’ve never gone thrifting, but after seeing the great deals you can find I might need to start! I wish there were a Rubi in my area, I think I would probably visit it EVERY day (and end up with waaaaay too much caffeine). Maybe one day they’ll come here! #client
Hey Jess! OMG. Wait, you’ve never gone thrift diving?! Okay, you have to promise me that the next thrift store you happen to pass, you STOP and go peek around. I bet you find something really good, and for a few bucks! As for the Rubi, I’m so glad that I live in the area I live here outside of Washington DC. We get all the cool stuff 🙂
I know, it’s terrible! I am definitely going one day soon 🙂 #client
OMG! I can’t believe your finds!!!! I am going to start going away from Goodwill and hit the other local thirst store to find bargains like yours. I love that small sideboard, if that what it was, for $30. it was a steal. But your friend should have gotten it, after a re-do it would have been a great TV console or etc..
What fun it seems you all had. I too have a thrift buddy and boy do I love her and we have spend so much time together and even gone to the little towns nearby to hit them up. However, we both don’t work, so we try to be good, because we stayed at a Goodwill one day for over 3 hrs. Gasp! Then we’ve done a day of Goodwill hopping, boy were we tired. But what fun!!!!! We also do Market Days at nearby towns that host a nite for ladies ( meaning shops open late for our sake 🙂 and the once a month markets where they have junk galore! We love it! But you know Goodwill has raised their prices and they rarely even bargain at all. Before they use to give you a discount just for asking, nope not at all anymore. I don’t know why the tight collar attitude I mean most items are donated. Do you have Goodwill at your end?
Hi Serena,
Love everything you guys found during your thrift diving! I missed all the fun! LoL! You looked good in that green jacket! It wasn’t too small! The furniture was gorgeous! I went thrift diving today but no luck. You mentioned a huge thrift store in Va. I live in Va. Which one are you speaking of? I’d love to go to it.
By the way, your boys are adorable!
Looks like I missed my chance to become your thrift buddy. My fault though, you invited me a long time ago and I never followed through…..that is a running theme with me. Anyway, I love to see people getting excited about thriftstore scores! I absolutely love that side table that you found. Do you think you’ll paint it? I recently posted about a china cabinet I found…I can’t decide if I should paint it or not. Please check it out and tell me what you think? http://ewwtoahh.blogspot.com/2013/09/new-dining-cabinet.html I need a fellow thrifters opinion and I’d trust your since you paint so much furniture. Should I paint it or could I get by with just fabric or paper in the back to lighten up such a huge dark piece? Tell you friend Nicole that I would have snatched that buffet right out from under her if I had been there. Doesn’t matter if it is real wood as long as long as it is a nice heavy piece. One more thing before I go…..you should email me off line…..I just found out that I work with a friend of yours….Marcus. Small world.
I emailed you and commented on your blog! I say PAINT IT 🙂
Lucky you to find a thrifting buddy! I do have a t-buddy but she can fly through a store like you would not believe! Sometimes I have to go alone so I can look at e-v-e-r-ything. 2.5 hours sounds like a good amount of time to me!
It seems as though most of the stores in my area have a person on staff who stays online looking up prices so it is hard to find really good deals on anything. Except for clothes—most have set prices no matter the brand.
Your pics made me aware of a bargain that I missed yesterday while browsing on half-price senior day. The glass pumpkin! I saw it and wandered on. Then forgot about it and left the store. Dang!!! Senior Day! Humph!
Yep, this thrift store has one of those “pricing people” too. In fact, when Nicole and I were there, I found this great little 3-set photo album set, but they wouldn’t sell it to me because it didn’t have a price on it! They insisted that it go to the pricing person who would be in the next day. I was mad about that. But Miss Nicole was such a thoughtful person that when she went back the next day to decide if she wanted that buffet, she saw they had marked the photo album and she bought it for me as a surprise and brought it in to work! So thoughtful!!!
And yeah, you should have picked up that pumpkin! Awesome to put some mixed nuts in it!
I am so jealous!!! Awesome finds, store and you even have a buddy! I am screaming!!! LOL!!! Great post!
Thanks, Dannnel!
WOW! I want to move where you are! Our thrifts stores don’t have ANYTHING like these treasures. I looked at a vintage sofa and chair recently in a junky old thrift store and they wanted $200 for it! I especially LOVE the buffets you found!
Yikes, $200?? I always wonder why stores think people will pay that price for used stuff that LOOKS nasty like that. LOL You can always come visit me and I’ll take you around my thrift store! 🙂
Well, DUH! I used a DYI POP recipie! Ugh!!! So so happily went to my over stuffed garage to paint this item, and it went from 0 to like 150% humidity within an hour. It started off great, and by the time I started the other side, I had a thick goober like paint job going on. But would I stop!? NOOOO! HAHAHAHHAHAHAH! I thought “I got this” and why I thought I would win, I have no idea. Then, when my partner came outside with baby girl she had that horrified “OMG WHAT DID YOU DO TO THAT PERFECTLY GOOD PIECE OF FURNITURE THAT YOU FOUND AT THE THRIFT STORE?!” Look in her eye. Well, Now I feel deleted, and The poor (formerly cute) little piece it just sitting there. It needs to fulfill its furniture destiny!! So, I’m just stuck at the point of do I attempt to coat it again? Or do I sand it all the way down and start over? My gut says to start sanding and pray for a miracle from baby Jesus that it ends up looking like a wicked good distressing job. (I’m still chuckling on the inside @ the thought of buying REAL chalk paint. I just can’t get myself to pay that price!!) The POP recipie started off spectacular, I’m not sure if the humidity had anything to do with it, or if it was the paint, or just me. :/ It was an AWESOME Dark cherry color from Home Depot for $2.99 on the opps rack! HOW CAN ANYONE SAY NO TO THAT?! 🙂
Natalie, I’m feeling your pain here! LOL. Okay, my advise would be to sand it and start over. Or, you could strip it. It sounds more intimidating than what it is, if you’ve never done it. But here’s a video I did on stripping furniture that might help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTavNc1LUO8
My opinion would be this–I know it’s hard to see that $34 to $38 price for a small quart of chalk paint (and most of them are that price), you should reeeeaaalllly try it. Once you use chalk paint on furniture, you will ask yourself how you ever thought to do it without chalk paint (although a DIY chalk paint still works okay, but it’s not the “real” thing). With chalk paint, it will go on seamlessly, and you’ll want to use 2 coats so it’s covered well. But seriously, that is what you should do: strip or sand….and get yourself some good chalk paint, or at least a really good DIY version. Good luck!!
GAAAHHH!!! Nothing good like that here in Texas @ those prices!! I LOVE that table for your foyer!! I’m Super jelly of all your finds. Just a thought— have you had a chalk paint project go bad? Because I just ruined (maybe not?!) a perfectly good armoire for my daughters room and I’m trying to save it, without sanding it allll down and starting all over. Any Suggestions? And my nephew does that same crazy child smile…. Must be a boy thing. 🙂
Hey Natalie! Man, we must really have some great deals here in the Maryland DC area! I wonder how much these items would have costs in Texas? And yes, I did have a chalk paint job be a little tougher than normal! I painted that French Provincial desk and some nasty stain kept bleeding through the chalk paint. So much so that I had to finally just use a regular primer and THEN use another layer or two of chalk paint. What’s the problem with your piece? Are you using Annie Sloan, or some other chalk paint? Or are you using a DIY version? Maybe we can help you out here with some suggestions!