I finally started my Etsy store! It asked me to tell the story about my shop (Mahogani's Favorite Things)...I guess never really thought about it before and I just started writing. Here's what I wrote:

I started second shopping at a very age with my mother and grandmother. My grandmother, a shopaholic in every sense, would leave the house a moment's notice, just to see what was in the stores. Any five year old would find this very, very boring. However, my eyes would light up when she stopped at garage sales and I found a favorite toy that I had been eyeing in commercials. I never knew it was second hand...I didn't even know what it meant. 

As I grew older, I would browse catalogs and magazines to make a wish list of things I wanted. Since money was always scarce, my mother would supplement "old with new", taking us to Goodwill and Salvation Army to find current gently worn staples to mix in with our new school clothes . She would also snatch up old cast iron pots for pennies with excitement. "Tiffany, do you know what this is?" - she would always ask. Years later I would realize it was vintage mint condition Le Creuset. 

I started looking forward to these trips, especially to look for novels (Babysitters Club and Danielle Steele) for 50 cents. I was too young for take interest in housewares, records, furniture and all that stuff for "old people". And besides, they smelled funny. 

My first real "home" buy was a blue Pier One rag rug from the Brown Elephant in Chicago. I was 14 and starting boarding school in the fall and needed a couple of "things" to make warm up my drab, drab new home away from home. My color scheme was going to be celestial blue. I couldn't find what I was looking for in "regular" stores so I convinced my parents to let me go out on my own (by bus) to local thrift stores. I came home with all sorts of stuff!

A few years later, the same thing happened in college in the middle of Provo, Utah. I taught my best friend how to look for quality dishes while she looked for clothing. I furnished my first post college apartment for less than $100 and it looked like a Pottery Barn catalog. Pretty soon, people started asking me for advice to decorate with second hand things or build a room with virtually no money. Instead of shopping only for me, I sought out things on other people's wish lists. When I packed up my apartment to move back to Chicago in 2006, my belongings were snatched up by people across Utah County on Craiglist within a week, while friends reserved "special pieces" for their own homes. I still continue that trend of buying things for myself, for others and to sell. 

My philosophy is that a great home that doesn't have to be expensive. Nor does one have to haul back a bunch of "junk" from the thrift store. (You know what I mean). I am one of those people that doesn't mind sorting through a bunch of old linen at a church tag sale- because I know I'm going to find a treasure. I'm also the one that spends the early mornings of Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day at the Salvation Army, where everything on the open holidays are half off. I will haul through a crowd (I'm petite) dragging my mid-century table or shoo a big guy out of my way to grab that Descoware pot. I have stopped in many alleys during the first and last weekends of the month to find AWESOME pieces of furniture. (Don't worry, it WILL fit in my car!) I find thrifting fun and every single piece that I bring back has a story.

Mahogani's Favorite Things is a shop where all the of the hard work has already been done. 

I hope that some of my favoiriate things will become yours!

-Mahogani

My Favoriate Local Thirft Stores

I visit thrift stores in the greater Chicago area about 1-2 times per week, sometimes more if I'm working on a project or if there's been a stressful work week. Most of the time its just to browse, but when I'm looking for something specific, there are some go to thrift stores that never fail.

Clothing/Jewelry
I've found some amazing current and vintage clothing at these locations. Recently my sister, who has a shopping addiction and two rapidly growing children, joined me on a trip to the Salvation Army in Lincoln Park and helped me find a Michael Kors jacket and brand new UGG boots (under $50 combined). I love finding vintage handbags, silk scarves,shoes and dresses. As a short, curvy girl-its hard to find good, structured clothing without spending a ton of money. Last year, I found a 25 cent Diane Von Furstenberg scarf which paired with the two basic DVF dresses (size 10!) that I scored earlier that fall. 

Great Stores for Clothing and Accessories
Salvation Army-Lincoln Park
Brown Elephant-Oak Park
Salvation Army-Skokie
Savers-Downers Grove
Goodwill-Bolingbrook

Furniture/Home Goods
Finding and hauling furniture and home accessories is an addiction for me. Even though I am temporarily relocated to my parents home and most of my life is in a secured storage locker in Skokie, I still myself picking up "filler items" to furnish my new home. Last week, I came across a wonderful Moroccan inspired coffee/tea table at the Skokie Salvation Army. It's blond wood and was obviously a project that someone intended to finish. After we refinish and paint it a deep mahogany, it will go perfect with my other recent fabulous purchase-a beautiful wool rug from the Villa Park Goodwill.

A great find at the Villa Park Goodwill. We have a carpet shampooer, so cleanup is easy!

This $19tea table is just waiting to be sanded, primed and refinished!

Great Stores for Furniture and Homegoods
Salvation Army-Lincoln Park
Brown Elephant- Lakeview/Boystown 
Goodwill Villa Park
Goodwill Naperville
Goodwill-North Riverside
Salvation Army-Downers Grove
Salvation Army-Morton Grove
Unique Thrift Store- Chicago/Elmwood Park

I visit many more stores than the ones listed more and love discovering new ones.

What are some of your favorite thrift stores?

And we're back!

I'm so excited to talk about the past few months in thrifting. Let's see what happens!