Along with the incense that I buy from Etsy, I also head over there when I need a specific vintage item I don’t have the time to search the antique malls high and low for.
Case in point: clock. In order for the kitchen to be “finished” (I say in quotation marks because nothing is ever really finished in our home) I had a specific item I needed — a clock to cover up a small wall outlet and also tell time.
It’s a little hard to see, but in the image above I pointed out where the outlet is. Off to Etsy I went, and with a quick search of “wall clock” I came across this little gem from Zane Leigh’s shop.
(Image above courtesty Zane Leigh).
I knew what dimensions I needed (or a max I could fit) and it was also vintage enough to actually need the outlet it would be hiding. As an added bonus, it is lighted! So I just gave away one of my secrets — when I want vintage but have a more specific need in mind, a lot of times (read always) I’ll take to the interwebs to hunt it down a lot faster than I could find it trolling the local thrift stores. It’s a win-win to me – I get my vintage fix and someone else gets paid to carefully seek and curate great vintage items.
For fun, I dug out a picture of the clock hung up before I painted the walls. (Yes I have had the clock for that long.)
And then here’s the real after.
You can see Miss Sophie our sofa monster dog in all the house shots, ironically enough. That’s pretty much “her” spot, although she is content to share with the husband as long as she can have her chin or foot or some part of her on top of him.
We’ve been living with our “finished” kitchen for a few months now, so I forget what a difference the paint color is, but looking at these images I’m so glad we went for it. A $30 (or less) can of paint can have a huge impact and can be (semi) easily changed again a week later if the mood strikes. So that’s Secret #2.
Moral of the story: Find a good “junk” supplier and invest a few pennies in a can of paint and big changes can be yours! Cheers – CT
P.S. There is also a hilarious website called “Regretsy” with an apt subtitle: “Where DIY meets WTF”. If you need a little laugh, check it out here.
Living Analog 
I confessed recently that I don’t thrift either. I’d much rather go on Etsy or eBay to find the specific items I want than spend my day going from thrift store to estate sale and coming home empty-handed. I don’t have the time or the patience for that!
Your kitchen makeover looks wonderful, and I love the clock. I can’t stand exposed outlets either, so I would have had to cover that one too.