Thrifty Finds and Storage Solutions

Thought I would give you a quickie update on my latest finds.  A couple of weeks ago while perusing a strange sort of clothing gallery opening, (still not really sure what it was) I came across this totally nutty but awesome skull equipped for a short swim, perhaps in the LA river:

The lucite, the swim cap...

I love skulls.  We'll just leave it at that.  So when I found this at Urban Outfitters I had to take it home with me, no questions asked.

It's technically a piggy bank but right now it's sitting on my bookshelf keeping an eye on the happenings in my apartment.

At a thrift store I found a tiny brass and glass trinket pentagon thing.  I don't really know what to call it but I like it and for $2 it came home with me. 

White pottery vase.

I really like pottery--in fact in high school I used to take ceramics and made some pretty awesome stuff that my family got as gifts for many years.  The first semester I took ceramics I excelled at throwing tiny 3" vases.  If you took a nice trip to my house in Pennsylvania you would find lots and lots of tiny useless vases. Later on I progressed to bowls, mugs and teapots, and even dabbled in porcelain.  While I did improve my skills and made things larger than 3 inches, I never could throw something quite as large as this vessel, so I was happy to scoop this plain and simple guy up.

And then there was this.  The brass coat rack!  A total steal at only $20 from the thrift store.  It's not totally perfect, it's missing a little brass knob thinger on the top--kinda like a tiny tiny brass hub cap (Hey!  A car analogy!  Who woulda thought??), and the brass is a little dull.  Anyone know how to brighten up brass pieces?  I need to figure that out.  But still--totally great find:

I desperately was looking for a coat rack to corral all my bags.  There are certain items that women own which do not always have the easiest storage solutions.  Take my bags--for the most part they sat in a bin in my closet until I found this coat rack.  Now all my bags are out and visible and easy to find when I need to grab and go.  Other female accessory storage conundrums include scarves, bracelets, and headbands (any others you can think of?).  My ideal storage situation for scarves I think would be to hang them on a cute rustic ladder like this:

via Pinterest - Cupcakes and Cashmere

Still searching for that one...

But in the mean time, do you have any creative and functional storage solutions for tough-to-store items?  How about something that you keep meaning to find a better way to store it?  Comment below!  Perhaps I have a solution for you, or you for me!