The Thrift Diving Podcast

Awesome Thrift Tips For Your Home! - #7

March 19, 2021 Serena Appiah Season 1 Episode 7
The Thrift Diving Podcast
Awesome Thrift Tips For Your Home! - #7
The Thrift Diving Podcast
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Show Notes Transcript

The hardest part of thrifting is knowing how to create a cohesive look with different styles that you find at the thrift store. Learn how to buy the right things from the thrift store, along with some tips for pulling it all together, with guest Jamala (AKA Kim) Wallace from the blog VivaLaVintageForYourHome.com and on Instagram.

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Let’s Connect!

Episode 007 - Jamala Wallace - Thrift Tips

Serena: [00:00:00] Today, I am talking to Jamala AKA Kim Wallace. I am really excited to talk to you because I know we have been Facebook friends for quite a while. I'm not even sure how we met. I know it was probably through blogging. I've been seeing the stuff that you post on Instagram, on Facebook, and it blows me away. And you just have such a wonderful eye for design and being able to put things together that you find from the thrift store. And I thought, I want to talk to you. And we had planned this for a while, and then we just kind of forgot or let's just put it this way, I forgot. And in doing some of these edits this week for the podcast, I remembered, Hey, we were supposed to meet. So that's why we're talking today. And I'm so excited to talk to you. So welcome to the Thrift Diving podcast. 

Jamala: [00:00:50] Thank you again, Serena. I appreciate you reaching out to me so much and I was excited about this because I have been a fan of yours forever since Thrift Diving began. Okay?

Serena: [00:01:01] Wait a minute. You do know Thrift Diving started way back in 2012? 

Jamala: [00:01:05] Yes, I do know, and that's how long I've been following you. 

Serena: [00:01:08] Oh my gosh. Are you serious? What?

Jamala: [00:01:12] Yeah. Yes. I found you through Hometalk. 

Serena: [00:01:16] Wow. Yeah, it's been a long time, cause it's, I have not posted on Hometalk in quite a while.

Jamala: [00:01:22] Loved everything that you were doing. I was like, wow, I really like her. And so I said, I'm going to follow her, and I've been following you ever since. Yes, we finally come face to face with you. 

Serena: [00:01:34] I know one day maybe we'll get to meet if I ever get myself down to South Carolina.  You were in South Carolina, where exactly in South Carolina do you live?

Jamala: [00:01:42] I am in a small town called Whitmire. And we are right in the middle of the big cities of Columbia, Spartanburg, and Greenville.  We're a little town that is nestled in the Sumter national forest. The population is about maybe 1500 people, small town. And I come from Newark, New Jersey, which is like the Mecca of city life. And I came here because my husband, his family is from here. We came here, we wanted to leave a big city and we chose here. So, and I don't regret it. 

Serena: [00:02:16] I don't blame you. Everything up this way-- I'm in Maryland and Maryland is still technically considered the South, but I consider myself the North compared to where you live and everything, this way and up it's so expensive. And I know you and I have a; we're going to continue this conversation in another podcast because we're going to talk about real estate investing. And I know I've never talked about that on Thrift Diving, but I think as I was telling you earlier, it's a natural flow for people like us. We love ugly things. And we love making ugly things pretty. So that will be coming up in the next episode. So stay tuned, listen to that. But how did you get started with thrift stores? Like how, what is your story of, because everybody has that story, that memorable story of how they came to love thrift stores.

Jamala: [00:03:04] Well, I began loving furniture when I was young in my, like around 15 years old. And my grandmother had this vanity that we used to love, like pretending dress up in front of. She called us one day and said, Hey, they're throwing furniture out. There's a nice vanity down the street from me. So we got in the car, my mother took us over there. I was like, mommy, Mark called and said, they are throwing away a vanity. Can we go get it? So she took us over there. We got it. We brought it home. Me and my sister. I have a twin sister and we both love thrifting. From that point on, we brought the vanity home and we painted it and we loved it and we used it. My father said, what are you doing bringing that junk in the house? 

Serena: [00:03:46] Typical man.

Jamala: [00:03:49] He really busted out but then when we painted it and made it look so pretty, he was so impressed. He couldn't believe it. So from that point is when we began loving antique furniture, thrifting. Cause we never, I mean, when you know, furniture on the side of the road was always considered a bad thing, you don't get that people are throwing it wet, but it was in good shape. It just needed a little TLC. A little bit of TLC. Yeah. So from that point on, we've always loved it. And then as I got older and got married, I started venturing into antique stores to get furniture and things like that because the idea of having what everybody else has, you know, you go into the showroom, you pick out the furniture and that's the whole set and everybody else has that set. Yes, I hated it. I mean, I did it when I was first, first married and then I just couldn't live with it. I just said, you know what? This is not me. I like different pieces. So from that point on, that's when we started going into thrift stores and back then it was called secondhand stores, so that's where I started buying all my furniture from secondhand stores.

Serena: [00:04:56] You know, when I was growing up, we, well, I'm from Hagerstown, which is a little I say, a little, it's not little like where you're from. This is maybe let's say 70,000, but it's small compared to where I live now in Silver Spring. But growing up in Western Maryland, if you shopped at thrift stores, you were made fun of. You were poor. We had a thrift store there called The Mission. And as a kid, we would go around and-- now my mom was going to the thrift store because we were poor, but we also made fun of other kids going to The Mission. So we always teased them fishing at the mission. So fishing at the mission, you went fishing at the mission. Look at your clothes. But as I have become an adult and a mother, a homeowner, it's this cool thing that people do now. And we, you know, you and I, we were doing it before it was really a cool thing. And I think these stores, these thrift stores and these antique shops, they're understanding that it's a cool thing now. And the prices reflect that because some stores and I hear from readers all the time, that things are so expensive. What you and I could get for $40, it's three times that. So how do you go about finding a good deal? Have the thrift stores in your area realized that it's a cool thing, or can you still get a good deal in South Carolina?

Jamala: [00:06:16] I could get it still a good deal down this area, the prices are not crazy. What I'm finding crazier is the prices that are on the Facebook Marketplace. It. Seems like people are trying to sell their items a little bit, you know, like what you would find in an upscale type of antique store. I don't haggle with anybody over prices. I don't do that. Okay. Cause I was in the business and no, I am still in the business of selling antiques and furniture and things like that. But if someone wants a fair price for their item, I'll just pay it. If I don't want to pay it, then I'm just going to move on. I'm not going to add haggle you for five, 10, 15 bucks. I'm not going to do that. But in this area, I could still find some good pieces for 30, $40. 

Case in point, my favorite one that I sent you, but we'll talk about that too. You can always find a lot of good quality pieces that some needs a little work. Some don't need a little, uh, any work at all, but the prices are still fair to me. And then I have a firm belief that the older items, if they're still good and they're still standing, they're still in good shape, they're worth it because the newest stuff, I'm just finding the quality is just not there. I've gone to several yard sales where people are selling like Broyhill. Even the new Broyhill is not the same as the old Broyhill. They carry the name, but the quality of the furniture is not the same. 

Serena: [00:07:47] Oh yeah. A lot of these companies, I think they cut corners. I mean, you see it from furniture, even the food that you buy. Remember you could get a loaf of bread that was this big, of course, people who are listening, can't see this big, but just imagine how much a loaf of bread used to be terms of width and everything's shrunk down. They're keeping either keeping the costs the same and lowering the quality or they're increasing the cost and the quality is the same. Yeah, while we do the same 

Jamala: [00:08:15] Way too much more. I mean, I was at a thrift store, a Restore habitat out near the Charlotte area. And they even had like High Point the furniture maker in North Carolina, then High Point, whatever it is. They had some chairs and stuff out there and those chairs were like 30 bucks. Whereas I know if you went to High Point Market and bought them, you're going to pay way more. But even then, the quality wasn't there. So I just said, I still like the old stuff, anything from before the seventies, to me, the eighties, right? The eighties furniture was borderline the lacquer stuff. So that was starting to leave. But the nineties furniture, I just don't see it. I don't see it. 

Serena: [00:08:59] You know, I did a podcast interview episode, I believe it was episode three with a woman named Kaveri Marathe. And even though she and I were discussing thrift store clothing and the wastefulness and the impact on the environment that it has for clothing, we can say the same is true for furniture. Just imagine the process that it has to go through and the way she described it, at least with clothing is, maybe the cotton is grown in Texas and then shipped off to another country and sewn, and then it shipped back. And when you think about furniture today that you buy brand new, that's not good quality, I'm just going to put it out there, Ikea let's take Ikea for example, because that's something you would buy for maybe your first place when you don't have a lot of money. The quality of that it's generally not going to last. 

Now I have to tell you my bed, this is a funny story. When we first moved into our condo 2002, we didn't have a lot of money. So we bought some Ikea stuff. Of course we thought Ikea was like wonderful, rather than it's not it's it serves its purpose with some things, but we bought a brand new bed and a dresser. And some nightstands and no lie, we kept it for 18 years. I literally just replaced it. So when I say that Ikea can't last, it can, but if you actually removed my mattress and saw how we piece-mealed this thing together for 18 years. My husband weighs like 200 and some odd pounds. He's a big guy. If he would even shift, the pieces of plywood we put underneath, the whole bed would just --woosh!-- and just fall out. But if I had just bought a quality bed from day one, I wouldn't have had this problem. So I think it's an important point that you're talking about good quality, because not only is it better for the environment, but you're going to keep this quality piece for maybe even the rest of your life. So you're not going to be contributing to that environmental factor of buying new. And then in five years, it's falling apart. 

Jamala: [00:11:03] Yes. I don't understand that. I mean, my bed that I sleep in is from the twenties, the 1920s. Wow. Yeah, my whole bedroom. So all my furniture is antique. This is when I was antiquing and I was buying the good furniture, the old furniture. So my bedroom is from the 1920s. My kids' beds, they're vintage beds as well. And they're still in great shape. I just redid them over, painted them and then put some fabric over them to give them a more modern look. All of them are from antique stores. And then if you look at the style, they're kind of like replicating them all over again. Why not buy old? Why not buy authentic instead of buying a replica, cause the replicas, you just can tell the difference. 

Serena: [00:11:49] Exactly. Now, you bring up a good point about your bedroom furniture being from the twenties. And this is one thing that I love about your style is because you have good quality pieces, but it all works together and I'm sure everything that you buy is not from the same era. Like you've got some modern pieces, you've got some 1920's pieces. The big question that I have, and I know other people who have shared with me their biggest challenge that come to Thrift Diving and say, I need help. The big challenge is how do you put it all together to make it look cohesive? Because if people go to your Instagram and what's your Instagram?

Jamala: [00:12:26] It's Ur Vintage Girl with the, u r vintage girl. 

Serena: [00:12:29] Yeah, u r vintage girl. Okay. We're going to have links in the show notes to everything, but when people look at all of your pictures, it just looks so well put together. Maybe it's just something that you know how to do, and you can't describe or explain how you put it together, but what are some tips that you could give to people who do find different pieces from different eras? How do you put that all together? 

Jamala: [00:12:52] For the most part, I look for, pretty much the same wood blend, so to speak, because like I said, my bed is Victorian. My lingerie chest is French. And then my dresser set is Art Deco. So I kind of pieced them all together, but the one common thing is the wood all blends together. Yes. That kind of keeps it cohesive without looking at all these different wood tones. So 

Serena: [00:13:23] Can I just say it? So it seems like you, you have to, I have to be mindful of that when you go to the store then, because I know for myself, when I go and I see something that I like, I may buy it and not know exactly where it's going to go. So when you go to the thrift store and you know that this is the wood tone that you have for your bedroom, are you going there with the intention of, okay, I know what my wood tone is. So I'm only going to buy in that would tone or will you sometimes just buy something because you like it? And then later try to find things that match it?

Jamala: [00:13:54] I would do that, exactly what you just said. If I saw something that I really, really like, and I don't know where I'm going to put it, I'm going to bring it home anyway. That's what I'm doing. You know, I am not going to be a good deal because you know, and I know it's hard to find stuff sometimes. And when you come across it, just get it. Okay. And worry about the aftermath later. 

Serena: [00:14:15] Because sometimes things can be, now sometimes when you find things that maybe the wood doesn't match, do you refinish it so that you can match that wood tone?

Jamala: [00:14:24] Yeah. You could stain, yes, I have re-stained some things. As a matter of fact, when I first found my bed, it didn't have the wood tone that I needed it to match the Art Deco. Cause I had my dressers first. And the bed that went with the dresser, I didn't care for the shape of it. So when I found this Victorian bed, the antique lady who I purchased it from, she did refinishing. I didn't know anything about refinishing back then. And she said, Oh, well, I could stain in it to match it. So I took the drawer off the little nightstand and I said, just make it match that. And that's what she did. And she blended it with different colors and kind of faded it in and she did a wonderful, wonderful job. And this woman back then, she was around maybe 70, 69 years old. And to this day I owe credit to her for teaching me a lot about antiques, refinishing. She showed me some little things, but she educated me on getting into the business, how to find good pieces. So, and her name was Joyce. And I really, really credit her for a lot of the education that she gave me. And we became very, very good friends from meeting at her antique store. Wow. Yes. Uh, we became very good friends as a matter of fact. She taught me a lot and a lot of the pieces that I have in my home was from her shop. She had this shop and I kid you not, you could barely squeeze in the door, because she has too much stuff. 

Serena: [00:16:02] So you could spend some time looking around there for sure. 

Jamala: [00:16:05] Not only that but she had a warehouse, Serena. When she kept saying some things in the warehouse and I'm like a warehouse? She took me to this warehouse finally, when you open up the door, it was packed. Wow. All she had was like this little carving maze where you could, one person at a time, had to walk through it. It was packed.

Serena: [00:16:28] How did you, I'm just wondering how she would move things aside to get to all the treasures underneath. I mean, 

Jamala: [00:16:34] A horror story, but you know, when I say she has some good stuff, your mouth would drop open from what she had in that storage building. And she's accumulated over 50 years of stuff. I was amazed at what she had. So a lot of things that I got from her, not only the experience, but like I said, the friendship she was giving to me was a blessing. And I only stumbled across her because she was her, her shop was across the street from my children's pediatrician. And I saw the sign, it says, antiques, et cetera. I said, when we would leave out of here, we're going to slide over there. From that point on, it was a match made in history. We were very good friends. 

Serena: [00:17:19] That is amazing. And it's great when you meet someone that has that level of influence in your life, and you can really call them a friend. So what are some, and I know I had moved away from the cohesive, asking you how to do cohes--. I'm sorry. No, no, no, no. Because we'll get back to that in a moment, but I'm curious, what are some of those tips and tricks that this woman, Joyce, taught you about looking for antiques. What are those things that people need to look for when they're looking for antiques?

Jamala: [00:17:48] Well, she said, first of all, look at the quality--. When you open it up a dresser, look at the dovetail. That's very, very important. Most furniture nowadays, you don't even see the dovetail, you just see them, joined in together or sit stapled sometimes. Ugh, you, we cringe at that, but, she said, always look at the dovetail and then just kind of shake it, look at the chair, turn the chair over, see how it was made. Look for certain nails that are aged, that were used in the furniture. The older furniture was made where you had the cotton, you had the horse hair, you had all kinds of batting that was inside the chairs. So if you could kind of see between that, that, you know, was an antique and the legs in which they were carved. Look for those kinds of traits, basically. 

Serena: [00:18:36] You know, one thing that I look for, and I don't know if she had told you this, but I also look at the weight of something. If something feels light, that tells me that it's not very good quality, right? Yeah. It's not that old. If it's got some weight to it and I kind of struggle to pick it up-- 

Jamala: [00:18:53] Yes, you know it's old. Yeah. It's probably made with real wood. Not that, not that fake wood or whatever. I don't know what they call it. I don't know, but my husband used to make me sick buying and all as heavy ass furniture. And I'm like, you know what, because it's going to last, that's-- 

Serena: [00:19:13] my last, yes, it's good quality. And it's not costing me an arm and a leg. I'm paying quality stuff and it's not costing me very much money. 

Jamala: [00:19:21] And you wind up spending more money buying stuff over and over again, than you do when you buy one good piece. Yeah. And kind of emphasize that once you buy it. And then some, one time a person said to me, well, who wants to keep a dresser for 50 years? Um, me, I do because I'm not buying this stuff over and over again. I don't see the need to do that, so... 

Serena: [00:19:47] I feel that there's no need to do that. And I feel that people that do that are just being wasteful. It's just wastefulness. There's nothing wrong with the dresser, but you now, you just want something new, something different, right. Move it to a different wall. How about that? That'll make it visually interesting. Maybe. 

Jamala: [00:20:06] Yes, yes or put it in a different room. Do something else. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Don't just keep buying furniture just for the sake of it. 

Serena: [00:20:15] Just for the thrill of looking for furniture. Right. Um, and also when I had talked to Kaveri from Episode Three, she had brought up that same point that you are more mindful when you understand the impact of buying new and buying repeatedly, you understand that impact on the environment because not just the fact that it's costing you more money, but you look at the people who may be in other countries, they may not have as strict, uh, environmental laws. And so they're exposed to chemicals. And they don't have the same maybe safety procedures and precautions that we have in this country. So those people are being impacted. And so before you buy something, she said, just be more mindful about it. Buy good quality so that it's something that's going to last you for a long time. So it's not just about the money, but it's also the environmental factor too. 

Jamala: [00:21:06] You know, Serena, I was out thrifting one day, and I saw this pile of furniture that this thrift store was going to have hauled to the dump. As I passed it, I was like, oh my God, there was this... First of all, my girlfriend who, reupholsters furniture, I got all the cushions out of all the good furniture. I took all the cushions-- could use the foam. That's number one. Looking about breaking it down so she could use that foam again. So I gave her, I took all the foam out that I could have all those seats and the cushions, but there was this one Chesterfield sofa that was sitting on top of the pile. I wish I had had a truck that day and just drag that sofa, off that pile because you and I know Chesterfield sofas cost a fortune. When I say nothing really wrong with it, other than new furniture, new fabric, it was solid. The tufting thing was still, it was tufted to all around the back, the sides, the cushions was there. It just needed new fabric and it was in, I just wanted to cry to have to leave that sitting there. Do you understand what I mean? I do. I want to literally cry and I'm like, where are the designers of the world that are out here doing clients, because I don't have a client base, but had I had one that sofa somehow would have come off that pile and I would have just we had redone and then, you know, for that client, because to me, $4,500 for a sofa, Crazy. Crazy.

Serena: [00:22:48] I'm like, could you have gone to Home Depot and rented a truck? Could you-- 

Jamala: [00:22:53] Storage is my other main factor. 

Serena: [00:22:57] And that was my next question to you because I am thinking about my own situation when there's things that I come across, I have to tell myself no, because I don't have anywhere to put it. What do you, what do you do? Do you have a garage? Do you have a stash of things? 

Jamala: [00:23:12] I have a shed. Um, well, my property and it is packed. When I say packed, packed. I feel like Joyce already all over again. I always remind myself; I'm not going to be like this, but I am like that. And I have a shed. My mother has a shed and I have hers packed with stuff. I have furniture around me and it's, I just hate to see stuff just going to waste. I do. And I keep saying I can't store anymore. Yes. 

Serena: [00:23:43] We see the beauty of it. We know that it has potential. And other people look at it and think that it's garbage. There's a chair it was in the nursing home, when my mother, my grandmother had passed, I guess it was five years ago. And before she had passed, I noticed this chair in the nursing home. And I thought, wow, that's a beautiful chair. I wonder who that belongs to it. Wasn't my grandmother's chair. So I think it belonged to the nursing home. Maybe someone had brought it in from a previous patient. On the day that she had passed. I wasn't, I think I was there maybe the day before, and I knew that she was going to pass. And I remember saying to my mom, would you be able to get that chair? So I was able to get the chair. I think I took it with me that day and didn't tell my mom, but I reupholstered it and painted it. The wood was in pretty good condition and I presented her with the chair. She didn't even know that I had refinished it and I gave it to her as a gift. You know, this chair that was in her mother's room and it was such a special gift for her. So she's got it in her bedroom but that chair, when she first saw that chair, she's like, what are you talking about? That chair's ugly. When I saw it in its raw form. That chair's ugly. I said, no, this. chair is beautiful because some people just don't have that vision, but it can hinder us when we see how much beauty is around us in junk, because we want to save it all, but we don't have that much space to do it. And then we end up like, you know, like Joyce with warehouses full of stuff that we know is good quality stuff. 

Jamala: [00:25:16] Yes, yes. Uh, oh my God, it’s an addiction isn't an addiction, Serena, that we really-- 

Serena: [00:25:20] It is. I have to admit that when I first moved into my house, you probably know my story. Anybody listening to this probably knows my story, but in a nutshell, we bought an old house, a 1970s house in 2010, and we had spent all of our money buying the house, we didn't have any money left to decorate. And I had always loved thrift stores and started going to thrift stores to furnish it. And it became kind of an addiction. That's why I started my blog. I was documenting everything that I was doing. I had these huge piles in the garage, things that I could not possibly get enough time to refinish. And it was only when I started using power tools and I needed space to actually build. And I wanted to work on projects that weren't just furniture, but maybe just building some things here and there. So that's the only time that I stopped bringing things in. Is because there was no other place for me to do projects. I needed that garage, and I wanted a workshop. So even now, every now and then I'll bring something in, but I am much more measured about what I bring in, because I know that I don't have the space.

Jamala: [00:26:28] Yeah, me too. Same here. I mean, I was just out a couple of weeks ago and found a coffee table. And I said, boy, I wish I could bring that home but no I don't need it. I don't need it. But I said, boy, I wish I could bring that home. And, you know, I called my sons up. Do you need anything? I go through my little phone. Does anybody need anything? And they'll say, no, no, no, no. I'm like, darn it. I was hoping someone would say yes so, I can say, yay. You know, but 

Serena: [00:26:57] Because we love furniture so much, it's not even a matter of us needing it. We're ok. We're happy if somebody else can use it.

Jamala: [00:27:04] I could go visit it. I always do it. I could go visit.

Serena: [00:27:09] Exactly. Now that leads me to another question that I have, because you helped your son redo his apart-- was this his first home? Did he buy a home, and this was his first home, his bedroom? 

Jamala: [00:27:19] Yes. Yep. That was my son. My youngest son. He bought a house and we bought everything. He paid cash for it. Oh, that's wonderful. And then he spent a lot of money fixing it up and redoing, rehabbing it and so forth. So I went thrifting for his whole house was furnished by thrift items. And I want to say we spent less than $500 on his furniture for his whole house.

Serena: [00:27:45] That is amazing.

Jamala: [00:27:47] It was, it really was. And it turned out beautiful. I mean, his room, his bedroom, I was just in awe with it, with how--, and his dining room and the whole, everything, everything was just-- turned out perfect. So he was happy, I was happy, and it had a modern look. It didn't look like antique. And that was his one thing. He says, no antiques. I said, well, we do go with vintage. He said, I don't want no antiques. I said, okay, you got it. Well, we did more of a vintage, you know, the seventies, eighties era in his house. And it was, it turned out perfect. So it had that kind of a cool look to it, so to speak. And, and I, and I bought fabric for his window treatments that would modernize it so that all brought it together. So his house really came out very, very nice. 

Serena: [00:28:41] Now, how long did it take you to do his house? 

Jamala: [00:28:43] It took, I would say, as far as decorating it, it just took a couple of months, maybe about two, two to three months. Okay. Yeah, it didn't take long because, I would buy things, um, even while he was rehabbing it, we were already buying things. And so he already had his apartment. So he had a few things from his apartment too, which were from thrift stores as well. My sons buy their stuff from, thrift stores too. They go thrifting.

Serena: [00:29:09] They learned from you!

Jamala: [00:29:10] They've learned that they don't have to go out here and spend crazy money to have a beautiful looking house or whatever. So with that, in fact, as a matter of fact wherever they go, they always say, mommy, there's thrift stores. I'm like, okay, great. 

Serena: [00:29:26] That's amazing because that's something that you can share together, no matter where you go, you have that common interest. And that leads me back to the question from before in terms of pulling it together, because you mentioned that he had some things from his apartment, which were thrifted, maybe they were in that seventies, eighties style, but again, what are some additional tips? So we know that looking for similar wood shades and if it's not the same shade plan to do some painting and refinishing in order to make sure those wood tones match. And so what are some other tips that people should keep in mind when trying to mix thrift store styles for a cohesive look? 

Jamala: [00:30:05] Right. So, say you want to, the mid-century style, dining room set, but you have the tables and chairs. So try to pick something in a seventies that would kind of blend with your dining room set. So if you want to China cabinet or Hutch, try to stick in that era. But if you want to go with Art Deco, if you want to mix Art Deco with vintage, you got to be mindful of the different styles of Art Deco. You don't want to mix something that's really curvy, if you have mostly straight lines. 

Serena: [00:30:39] Got it.

Jamala: [00:30:40] You want to keep it a little cohesive. 

Serena: [00:30:43] Okay. But what if you are doing, let's say mid-century modern, and you've got a lot of those straight lines and it starts looking too straight? Everything is just straight.  How do you bring some softness into this when it's just, everything's just so angular?

Jamala: [00:30:59] Well, you could take it to the, say for instance, maybe on the wall. You might want to go with circles on the wall if everything is boxed. So then on the wall, try to look for circular things to hang, like mirrors or, candle holders or wall art. Maybe just go with some circles instead to try to soften the straightness of everything.

Serena: [00:31:22] That's a great tip. Now, what about in terms of color. Do you do pops of color? Do you tend to stay in neutrals, neutral tones? 

Jamala: [00:31:32] You know, I love color and I try to incorporate as much color as I can, but lately, I've been shifting a little to the more monochromatic. I don't know why, but I still love my color. I love, I guess, some colors are just too bright for me, but I like looking at them, but I can't have them in my home. So yeah. I mean, I, I love seeing everybody else's with color and I'm like, wow, that's nice. But for me, when I put it in the house, I'm like, ah, like the pinks and the reds and things like that. I love looking at it, but I just can't bring it into my home for me to look at every day. And I keep saying, I want to add more. Now, my son's, when I did his bedroom, and he wanted black walls, I was like, Oh, I don't know me about the black walls. I'm scared. You know. Now I love it, but we painted his room the Navy blue, it was a deep, deep Navy. It looks fabulous. 

Serena: [00:32:34] It really does. And those curtains that you made; those were $2 a yard curtains. 

Jamala: [00:32:40] Yes. It was at a fabric warehouse here that we have, and I'm so upset they closed down, but they were having this sale and that fabric was yes, $2 a yard. Unbelievable. Those are the kinds of bargains. Yes. They made everything just pop. And then I found a solid bedspread from, a Home Goods and that blended perfectly. And then I made some pillows to help accent that blue and the blue on the wall, but a different pattern. I like mixing patterns. That's for sure. I do like doing it adds a little bit more, creativity or something to spice it up a little bit.

Serena: [00:33:19] So pillows would be-- sorry, go ahead. 

Jamala: [00:33:22] I don't like everything to be the same, like blue, white, blue, white, or, you know, I like different colors all around. 

Serena: [00:33:29] Right. So that's one thing that people can do then taking a little bit of inspiration from you is mixing some patterns and maybe using the pillows as a way to do that without doing huge amounts of pattern mixing, but just a little bit. And I noticed you have an Etsy shop too, and you've got some pillows and they're all sort of like geometric type. 

Jamala: [00:33:49] Right. 

Serena: [00:33:51] Yeah. So I like that style of yours. 

Jamala: [00:33:54] Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. we used to make pillows years ago and then I stopped and then now I'm like, okay, I'm about ready to start doing it again. It gives me a chance to work with fabrics because I love fabrics and kind of be a little creative with, so. That's what I'm doing now. 

Serena: [00:34:10] I wished you lived close to me because we would be like fast friends. Bring your sewing machine over let's make pillows today. 

Jamala: [00:34:24] We would be dangerous. 

Serena: [00:34:27] Now let me ask you, where do you get your inspiration from? Are there magazines or are there certain blogs you like to read that give you ideas? Where do you get your ideas from? 

Jamala: [00:34:37] I used to love going through magazines and, I used to stop going through the magazines only because they just weren't showing enough of African-American homes. So I kind of just branched off from that because I'm like, okay, this is not where it is, but now Instagram, I go through a lot of the interior designers. I love what they're doing out there. And, but I know, and I'm keeping it real and that's not my, uh, that is beyond my price range of a lot of this stuff. So if I could find something, I could kind of replicate that look, then I'm going to do that. And I was able to do that, especially with pillows to become more creative with those. But a lot of stuff I get, if the designers are looking at this then maybe I could find that similar in thrifted, which I have been and I'm lucky, lucky to do was being able to find some of the things that they're finding, I'm finding on a thrift level. 

Serena: [00:35:34] What do you notice the trends heading to right now? And I'll be honest with you. I don't follow a lot of trends. I don't follow designers. For me, I feel like making my home beautiful and comfortable is great, but I don't ever, submerge myself into the design field. I don't know why, because it's not really my interest to do that. But I think it's important to do because when you're trying to redo a room and you're someone who wants to pull in the sort of some of the trends without paying a lot of money, who are those designers that you follow and what are the current trends that you see happening right now?

Jamala: [00:36:13] The designers that I follow is Veronica she's @casavilora. I follow her because she helped me understand the concept of mixing fabrics. She pulls a lot of different patterns together. And I just kind of studied what she does and developed it from watching her. I don't replicate her, but I could see how, if you study her looks and her pattern type, if you pick up that one common color, you could blend a lot of different colors together. So I follow her. She is a designer that I love her style. And I became Facebook friends with her as well. She's with HGTV. I do watch her and I like her style. Another one is my aunt. She's not really a designer, but--

Serena: [00:37:04] She could be in one. She doesn't have to be famous., 

Jamala: [00:37:07] But she sews and her sewing skills are just fabulous. She's another one that helped me understand the concept of mixing patterns. So those are my two favorites that I like watching. And her name is Linda G Loving Home. And she is fabulous. I love how she works with the fabric. She works with flowers and her decor skills are, very wonderful. So that's my aunt. It might be in my blood.

Serena: [00:37:35] It sounds like it is. So it seems like that's where designers are going now. And maybe it's always been that way, but, but you see them mixing patterns and for people who are listening to this, who want to learn how to put a room together, that would be an area where they can do a little bit more studying. Study the people who know how to put patterns together because you're right, if everything in your room is of just one color or, you're trying to match things that just don't look right, you're going to walk into that room and feel unsettled, and then you're going to see everyone else on Instagram and Facebook and Pinterest putting together these amazing rooms. And you're going to think, well, why can't I do this? So 

Jamala: [00:38:16] like mixing, like if you have a room full of silver and white and bling and stuff, you can't throw in something that's very modern. It's not going to blend right. So you kind of ease up on the bling a little bit and ease up on those kinds of tones and then start incorporating other softer patterns to blend with it. It doesn't have to always be that one color, gold and, white, silver, and white, or blue and white, or just find other colors that will help blend in without causing that stark--

Serena: [00:38:47] Yes. Like a stark contrast. Yes, exactly. Got it. Now, the piece that you had sent me, because I did ask you before we started talking, tell me a little bit about your favorite piece and then we'll wrap it up. But this piece that you found for $40 was amazing and it didn't look like you had to do very much to make this piece. Tell me a little bit more about those things. Yeah. 

Jamala: [00:39:09] So, yeah, I found that here in town, actually, as a matter of fact, we had a yard sale, and the guy was selling it for $40. It's an art deco cabinet. Now I collect vintage glassware, barware and I said, okay, well, my glasses will look really nice stored in that cabinet even display because now they were in my China cabinet all hidden. So when I got the piece and I washed it down and gave it some love, and I saw that the inside was covered in like a fabric, that was coming off and, I asked a friend of mine said, well, just go ahead and stain and I'm like, I want something different, something that's going to really stand out and give it that pop. Once I did the wood over and it just needed really a good coat of stain to bring the color back. And then I gave it a nice shine. So just kind of reconditioned the wood. And I bought some glass shelves and then I bought this wallpaper on Etsy through an Etsy shop and it just came together so perfectly. And I know I spent less than a hundred bucks on that. I want to say about $70 altogether, getting it back together. 

Serena: [00:40:15] Wow. You know, it would be so amazing to take a picture of this and go to that house who had put it out on the yard sale and be like, Hey, did you get it? I know that there used to be. A show. I think it was maybe in the UK. There was a show. I don't remember the name where this woman would rescue things before people were throwing it into the trash. She would rescue things, totally redo them and sell them. And she would go back to the people who had gotten rid of it and say, Hey, do you know that I redid this lamp? And it made you like 70 pounds or whatever it was. And she would give them the money. Wow. Yeah. It's always amazing to me to think of what someone's reaction would be if they see how beautiful it is. 

Jamala: [00:40:58] The guy that I bought it from, I showed him that and he loved it., Oh, we're on Facebook friends. And he, when he saw it, he says, Kim, I'm jealous. But he knew I would turn it into something really fabulous. How did you get pieces from now? 

Serena: [00:41:19] Did you sand that down a little? How did you do that? Did you sand it down a little bit or did you just add a coat of stain? 

Jamala: [00:41:25] The legs I gave a little sanding to, because it has some rough edges from when they were moving it and bumping it. So I gave the legs a little bit of a light sand, but the top part didn't need any sanding at all. It just needed re-staining. So I bought some stains. I think it was the Walnut stain. There are three stains on there and I just wiped it down. The pin with the little, uh, little in lays that's on the mirror, I use the pen to draw, you know, to fill all of that in. Wow. That helped with that, but it really didn't need a lot of work. And that's the beauty of it. I honestly didn't do, uh, just mostly just staining. It just needed TLC all around. 

Serena: [00:42:07] And the first thing that I thought of when I saw it was how beautiful grain of the wood was. And then the second thought that I had was I wonder how Jamala thinks about people who paint wood like this. So I just have to ask you, because I, myself am guilty of painting wood that's beautiful, but knowing that okay, this thing is just too big and dark and heavy for my room. I need something lighter. What do you think about the pieces that are painted that have such a great grain of wood? And do you still paint pieces? 

 Jamala: [00:42:43] I cringe, first of all, when I see someone paint, something that beautiful. I love looking at wood, the beauty of the wood. Now some pieces do require painting because I have a cabinet, a chifforobe cabinet that I did paint years ago, white, and crackled it. Because the wood was badly damaged. So painting was my only option and I had only paid $5 for it. So there was no--, and it's a nice cabinet, but like I said, the wood was badly damaged. So when I painted it, the crackle white paint, you can't even see the damages through it. That I don't mind painting, but when something is in excellent shape and the wood is in great condition, I myself don't like painting it because you're ruining the beauty of it per se. I always, if you want to paint something, paint something from Ikea. Don't paint the good wood, the antique stuff. That's me. Now a friend of mine who was in the refinishing business, he hates it when people bring in a good solid antique pieces. Can you paint this for me? He says, oh no, I'm not going to paint it. I'm just going to, so you can come back five years and asked me to strip it because you want the wood it back again. Are you sick of that color? No. He turns away anything that someone wants painted. He won't do it. Not for a good piece of furniture. Cause he says he knows five or 10 when the painting phase goes away, they're going to want it stripped and then you got more problems and, some things are just harder to strip, when you got to get into those little intricate. Oh yes, yes. You just created more work. So now he's going to charge you even more money to strip it so... 

Serena: [00:44:29] Stripping anything that has nooks and crannies, it is the worst. I don't know if you've ever done it. It is the worst. I hate it. And for myself, that is when I will usually, especially if it's not in great condition, but if it's something that has a lot of nooks and crannies or curved areas, I don't bother with trying to strip that because trying to get a nice strip on a curve leg or something that has a lot of nooks and crannies. Yes. Yes. 

Speaking of which, I just did, I don't know if you saw it, but I just did a wingback chair. It took me three years to do. It had claw feet. I did not strip it and sand it before I reupholstered it. So I had to do it at the end, which doesn't make any sense, but I covered up the fabric, made sure I didn't destroy it. It took me like an entire day to try to, I'd stripped it previously. Let's put it that way. I stripped it previously before the fabric went on, but I never finished it out where I sanded it and all of that. It was very difficult to get into the claws of where that claw was holding the ball of the foot. Yeah. And the stain that I used, it ended up looking a little blotchy. I, of course I could have used some pre conditioner. I don't know if it would've made a difference on those feet, but I ended up adding like three coats, four coats, and it ended up looking good, but it reminded me of why I don't like to sand and strip anything that has a nook or cranny. It's hard to do. I think when people go to the thrift store and they find something that has nooks and crannies, and they're like, Oh, I'm going to strip this. You might want to pass by that piece, if you're going to strip it, you have to know what you're getting into. It's not easy to do. I tend to like to strip and sand and refinish things that are, that have flat surfaces. That's so much easier to do. Exactly. Right. That's so much easier to do. I won't do the other things because it's, it's a lot. 

The last question that I have for you is for people who do want to refinish furniture, they don't want to paint it do you have any like favorite tips or tricks or things that you do when you refinish furniture? 

Jamala: [00:46:35] Well, Serena, I really don't call myself a refinisher. I have tried refinishing one piece and I failed at it. You are the DIY bomber, you know, I'm serious. I want to be you in my next lifetime, but I always look for a professional. Now, when it's, like you said something just straight and easy to strip, just take your time, but make sure you're sanding it properly, I learned that the hard way too, because one time I was stripping something, the sandpaper just scratched it all up. I was highly upset with myself for not picking the right sandpaper because, but then I didn't know anything about it. And that was one of the things that my friend Joyce had taught, talked about is that you got to make sure you use the right sandpaper for these projects because you will scratch your surface. So that was one of the main things. And then also cleaning your wood properly, to prep it for all of this is important as well. But I've only done two pieces. And like I said, one of them, I messed up really badly and I said, okay, well, next time, I'm going to take my time and do it the right way. I try not to take on a lot of heavy projects of refinishing things. Minimum work is my motto, but if not, if it's something really, really nice, I give it to the professionals because I wanted to turn out right. 

Serena: [00:48:02] Right. Yeah. Sometimes I'm just experimenting with a piece. You know, the very first thing that I ever tried to strip, and stain was my $12 dining room table, which I'm still using to this day. So it's been since 2010 and it was so blotchy. I don't even know if I was using an orbital sander at that time. I might've even just been using my hand and some sandpaper not knowing what I was doing. And of course, when you're sanding things, if you have spots where you don't remove all the finish, that new stain is not going to penetrate. So yes. So I ended up leaving all of these blotches. I ended up having to redo the whole thing and even then, it wasn't that great. I sort of looked at it as like, Oh, well now it just looks, um, what's that word? Yeah. Like it looks like it was intentional. Like I intentionally did it that way, but what I've learned, some things over the way in terms of the sandpaper that you had mentioned, um, whenever I sand something, well, let's put it this way.

If let's say you've got a nice flat surface, like a table, for example, you can either strip it with chemical stripper, like citrus strip, which is a good one it's safe to use and then once you've scraped everything off, then you can sand it down. Or in my opinion, if it doesn't have that many layers, then sometimes I'll just use an orbital sander and do that. But in terms of the scratches that you had mentioned, what I find is that when the orbital sander is moving too quickly and I've done this myself, you know, when, when you're pressing down on it, you're trying to get it done quickly, you're going like this back and forth, back and forth all and, uh, scratching the surface. And it's leaving these things called pigtails. And you don't even notice it until you go to put stain on it. The proper way to do it is to go slow with your orbital sander. I believe I've read maybe about one inch per second or something like that. So don't run it across, like you're having a race, and then also don't push down, let the sander do its job. Exactly. Again, you're going to have the swirls and then work your way down. So starting it, maybe an 80 grit sandpaper, which is, rough enough to remove that surface. Maybe 60, 60 is pretty rough, pretty rough going from an 80 to maybe like a 150. And usually they tell you to stop at 150 and then, take some hand sand paper and do that as your final sanding at 150. And this is one mistake that I used to make and I'll, leave this final point, is that I used to finish off my sanding with 220, which is a very fine sandpaper. Problem is that when you're re-staining you need some scratching there in order for the stain to penetrate. Yes. No, you don't want to go any further than 150. You want to finish it off hand sanding and the direction of the grain. That should leave enough scratching that you should be able to get a nice, smooth finish, and also certain types of woods, you might need to do a pre conditioner because if you don't, then you can get blotchy woods. So there's a lot of things that I've learned over the years from stripping and all of that. And I tend to want to strip things now, instead of just painting them, especially if it's a table or something that has flat surfaces. So I have a blog post and I'm going to leave a link down for anybody that wants to check it out. But there's a blog post that has some of these tips for stripping and staining furniture. Oh my gosh. We've been talking. 

Jamala: [00:51:36] Yes. 

Serena: [00:51:38] Where can people find you? I know you've got a blog and on social media, so tell us where they can find you?

Jamala: [00:51:44] Okay. Well, I blog at VivaLAvintageforyourhome.com and then I have a Facebook page as well for that and then on Instagram, I am, u r vintage girl, I'm mostly on Instagram now, but, um, my blog is where I love to get more personal as far as talking about things and finding things. So can find me on those two places. 

Serena: [00:52:09] Okay, well, I will leave links to those down below people can follow her. And you also have some YouTube videos up too.

Jamala: [00:52:17] I am starting with YouTube. I have a few videos up. This technology stuff is, stuff I got to get myself used to, but yes, I do have a YouTube channel and that is at Jamala Wallace as well. I am starting to post, I said this year was going to be, I was going to do more posting of videos on my YouTube channel. I promised this to myself. 

Serena: [00:52:41] You know what? I need to do that too, because I looked at how many videos, I did last year. I was like, wait, where have I been? I've been doing a lot more content for brands like Home Depot. Some of these companies will reach out and say, Hey, can you do some content for us? So it's been pulling me away from my blog and my channel. And so for 2021, I have the same goal as you is to try at least once a week to post. I'm supposed to post something today, and I have no idea what I'm posting. So I've already broken my new year's resolution. 

All right. Well, that concludes this episode, Episode Seven of the thrift diving podcast, and be sure to come back because next podcast, we're going to be talking to Jamala again, but we're going to be talking about real estate investing because you do some real estate investing, you've transformed some homes. So we're going to talk about that because we think it's a natural segue from finding ugly things and making them look pretty to finding ugly houses and making them look pretty. All right. Thank you so much Jamala and we will talk to you in the next episode. Okay. 

Jamala: [00:53:43] Thank you again, Serena.