Thrifty Treasures: Alabaster Lamps and a New Daddy Chair!

I'm participating in Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality!


She wanted this:

He wanted this:

After some compromise and some help from Craigslist, here's what we came up with:

A full size leather rocker recliner, but with a tailored arm and nail head trim to help it coordinate with the new sofa. My hubby loves it, and I love to see him smile!

This was a particularly tricky decorating dilemma for us, since my hubby declared the chair must both rock and recline. There are some really pretty options out there (and I was finding a slew of them on CL) that either look like a club chair or a wing chair, but they all had pretty feet, which meant they can't rock. Also none of the club chair recliners were deep enough or had a high enough back for my hubby, so when he sat in them and reclined his head and feet were hanging off the chair!

I bought the new chair on CL for $150 and sold the old chair (you can see it in the background of the photo) for $100, so for a net cost of $50 I think this was a pretty thrifty replacement.

And here's my other thrifty find of the week! A pair of alabaster (I think?) lamps! If anyone could shed a little light (excuse the pun!) on the actual definition of alabaster, I'm all ears! Are these alabaster or marble? Is alabaster white marble? If so, does it have to be pure white with no veining to qualify as alabaster?

Anyway, I purchased the pair (including shades which are a little dated so I'll either doctor them up or replace them) for $30. When I picked them up they looked like this:

I was a little disappointed with the color of the stone- a little dingy. I wasn't sure if this was the natural color of the stone, or if the stone had become permanently discolored or what so I did a little research on the internet. I already knew that you have to be really careful with cleaning alabaster and not get it wet because moisture that seeps into the stone can actually cause rust stains in the stone (again, if anyone knowledgeable can clarify, I'd love to know more).

I found info somewhere (can't remember where) saying that acetone can clean marble/alabaster, so I thought I'd give it a try. I figured I'd try it in an inocnspicuous spot first and even if I ruined the lamps I was willing to try it for a $30 investment.

I tried it and it worked like a charm. In the photo below you can see where I swiped a cotton pad dampened with nail polish remover down the center of the lamp:

I think the dinginess was probably caused by cigarette smoke, but that's just a hunch. Here's an after photo:


So much better, right? I'm not encouraging anyone else out there to try this, because I suppose it's possible that my cleaning method could cause stains to appear over time, but I don't mind being the guinea pig! I'll let you know if any mysterious spots appear over the next few months...

Love,