A Diamond in the Rough

The following is a personal essay that I worked on for my advanced writing class. Hope you enjoy :)

To some, the smell is undesirable. Overwhelming to many and for a lot of people, not something they seek out. It resembles the smell of clothes that you dig out from the back of a drawer- musty, untouched, and waiting. What I am describing is the smell of a second hand store and to me, the smell of potential.

I consider myself to be a frugal person, not cheap, but frugal-I love a bargain. I tell everyone I know about the bargains I get and actually get excited about a steal or a great find. A compliment on something I own is often met with an explanation of where I found it and at the deal that I got it at-even if this is not asked for. Frugality could lead one to believe that I'm good with money, so, am I good at budgeting? Absolutely not- which is why I love looking for potential in second hand stores. Price points of 49 cents to $2.99 are common and widespread which allows for shopping sprees that make you feel like a million bucks, yet you barely break a bill.

Strolling past the oddly dressed mannequins, the kids’ clothes and the linens, I find my place for inspiration: baskets, shelves, mirrors, frames, vases and other miscellaneous items strewn on the floor and in rickety shelves in what looks like a mass grave of home decor past.

What am I looking for is not usually in its final form in front of me. I search for the right piece along with a visualization of method, technique, medium, tools, patterns and colours that I can use to transform a piece into something modern, something beautiful and something useful.

I like to put a twist on the saying: “One man's trash is another's treasure"-most of what I find is no treasure, at least not until I put my skills to work. My new saying is: "What's been destined for trash has potential for treasure"- as 99 cents at a second hand store is about as close to trash as things will see in their lifespan.

When I find a piece, whether it be an old shelf or an old country calendar holder with vines and flowers painted along the trim I get excited. I either have a colour scheme or the perfect paper in mind, or if supplies are low, I am excited to trot down to the art store to find the paper and paint for reverse inspiration to begin the transformation.

One of my first projects I re-vamped was a beat-up, white, three-tiered corner shelf for $2.99 (a little pricey for my normal budget, but seemingly worth the investment). Each shelf had a quarter of a circle surface space, with the shelves getting smaller as they went up. Along the edge, decorative swirls with nicks and marks were screaming for a fresh coat of paint.

Taking it home I paired it with the perfect paper: a floral print, with mostly pink, blue and yellow flowers, long green vines and the silhouettes of birds perched on the stems. A coat of greyish-blue paint, a smooth covering of floral paper, and a final sanding on the edges and it was transformed. A minor feat, it only took me a few hours and a couple of dollars, but it felt good. I felt like Frankenstein, a self-proclaimed Modern Prometheus, only instead of creating a monster, I saved one.

Each trip into the store brings new excitement-what will today’s treasure hunt reveal and what will this item become? I love the idea of salvaging and re-purposing an item- or better yet, rescuing 80s decor items and restyling it for this millennium. Now, it's something new, something I transformed, and something that I crafted.

This past Christmas I received every crafters dream: The Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Crafts: An A-to-Z Guide with Detailed Instructions and Endless Inspiration. In the prologue I was struck by an inspiring quote from Martha, thanking the reader for keeping craft and artisan methods alive in today’s modern world. How clever and yet so simple. It was something I had never considered before- crafting is so down to earth, so enjoyable and I take pride in creating things that myself and others can appreciate. The book gives me motivation to craft but going to the store and seeing the forgotten items for what they can be is my true inspiration.

What I get from re-purposing items is not just the good feeling of something new, helping the environment through a fulfilling method of recycling, and not just the art of crafting. Through crafting I am developing the ability to see things not for what they are, but what they can be. With crafting there are no wannabees and posers: crafting is literally what you make it. You too can find inspiration in these diamonds in the rough, I just kindly ask that you don't do it in my neighbourhood and take all the good stuff.