Making do or living in the now

Years ago I saw an episode of "Oprah" where Iyanla VanZant was the guest expert. What stands out about this episode is the advice she gave the participant. Let me give you the back story. The guest was talking about how she was buying all this stuff but holding off decorating because she was waiting for "Mr. Right". Iyanla told her what about Ms. Right and that she better go ahead and paint those walls and hang up those pictures. I'm so guilty of waiting. But, I hear you Iyanla! I have 4 kids and they are hard on stuff. I wish they weren't , but they are. Because of this I've held of on really doing the things I want to do in my home, buying the furniture I really want. I've had periods of where I'll get depressed that I'm not living in the environment I think I should be in. I've let the kids take over the space. Not anymore! I'm painting, I'm buying what I love. I want to be in surrounding that fill me with lightness and joy.
Now, don't get me wrong, it'll be a process, but I've been transforming my life over these last few years and it stands to reason that my home should follow too. Watch out world...I'm not waiting any longer!
I just purchased a nice sofa from Rowe to replace my horribly stained hand me down one. Small steps, but it's a beginning. I'll post pix of the sofa after it arrives. I love it though.

Thrifty Chic Living

Recently I was talking to you about personal style. I consider my self a restylist, a secondhand rose, a thrift store diva. I love to shop at thrift stores for many things. Like many of you I've been thrifting well before I got my first apartment at 20, and over the years I think I've perfected it down to a science. First you have to go in with an open mind and a critical eye. Don't be discouraged by an ugly color or some weird detail on the item, those things can be changed very easily. Try to think outside the box. What other uses could an item have, can you change it into something you can use? I'm very big on lamps and mirrors. If I find a lamp in a shape I like at a great price, I will buy it. I believe you just can't have enough light sources. Plus you can change it, rewire it, pop on a new shade and have a little masterpiece. Have you priced lamps lately? They're kind of expensive. Mirrors are always great in a space. You can group a bunch of smaller ones together unifying them by color and have a bit of art and interest for your walls. Old books and calendars are great. Some books have really nice bindings and once the dust jacket is removed you can create a nice little grouping for your shelf or a table. Sometimes the illustrations in old books are stunning. You can frame a favorite picture for one of a kind art work for your walls. Be on the look out for little knickknacks for your home. Again, if you find some weird retro thing from the 1960's, but you like it except for the color...well Sherwin Williams can help you change that. Textiles is another area that is just waiting for you to go crazy. Frame some fabric or make a pillow for a favorite chair. You don't even need to know how to sew. Furniture, ah how I love furniture. You can definitely find that diamond in the rough in this category. Look beyond bad paint jobs, roughed up finishes and hideous fabrics. You can change that lickety split without too much effort or expense. I've painted lots of pieces. The key is time. You really need to let the piece dry well between coats and take your time to get good full coverage. Several coats is better than one thick coat any day.







Case in point. I purchased the little cabinet above ages ago for the tidy sum of $18. I love that it has simple lines, a glass front and is in great condition. What I don't like? The faded blonde finish. I'm a dark wood person. So after thinking on it for months (I was originally thinking paint). I'm going to stain it (using minwax special walnut). I'm hoping it will turn out well and come close to matching my beloved mid century buffet that it sits on top of. I also plan to either paper or apply fabric to back of the shelves for an added pop. I've thought about painting my buffet too in a moment of boredom, lol. But there's something about it's original finish that I adore. Besides it's in great shape. I did switch out the knobs a while back to coordinate with the chest of drawers I painted. So, I'll be spending some time sanding the cabinet down and then staining it in the next few days. Then I will finish it all off with some rub on poly. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thrift Store Love!

The past few weeks have been awesome thrift store shopping weeks. I got a bunch of shorts for me and the boys for next to nothing. Some great sewing patterns for $.25/each. A great vintage book on clothing constructions called The Bishop Method of clothing construction. I found a wicker hanging file storage basket to store my home management binder in. I found 2 awesome barrel lamp shades ($2/each) that I gussied up with black grograin ribbon. I found a bunch of assorted clear glass vases that I will spray paint with various colored glass paint (scored for $.99 a can at Ollie's). I'm contemplating purchasing a buffet of Craigslist for storage by the front door. I really want to have a place to put all those shoes (they are driving me nuts). I'm on the fence though, because I've sort of been on this use what you have, repurpose it kick. I also found a nice sized ceramic mixing bowl and a tall square glass storage jar to put my coffee beans in.
All these great finds are inspiring me to do a bit of rehabbing. I have to laugh, I mean I'm always in a constant state of home rehab. I wonder if I'll ever finish or be satisfied with it. Probably not. There's so many things I want to do. I wish I had a bit more time. The latest thing I want to buy for myself is miter box. I really would like to do some crown molding in the dining room and if I could do it myself I would save a ton. I also need to make curtains for all the bedrooms. We've had miniblinds forever...but I think I'm over that look, fabric is where it's at. I just need to finish painting the bedroom first. Oh and I've been thinking of doing a tufted headboard in our bedroom. I wouldn't have to start from scratch. I have a headboard from IKEA that I can repurpose. Also I have a rustic table in my kitchen that I'd like to do a high end fakout on. I have some ideas, now to find the supplies inexpensively. I'm still thinking about the end tables. I found something close to what I had in mind at thrift store for $22/each, but I think I'm going to hold out for the exact ones I want. Or who knows I might just use what I have and redo it. I mean after all a little paint, a little fabric, a little glue can make for an amazing transformation. Plus who knows, I might find a better deal to boot. Where to start? Where to start?

I heart Micheal's

In my ongoing decorating journey I have rediscovered a great place to find little decor items on the cheap for your home. That place is Micheal's. Who knew? And better still, they take coupons. For example I currently have three 50% coupons I'm dying to use so I can get a couple of items I have my eye on. Also with a bit of imagination you can really personalize your place on the cheap and who doesn't love that? Also they just started carrying a new line of yarn that looks great and the price is so right! So get yourself to Micheal's and shop until you drop!

Work on it Wednesday

Well after a couple of weeks of trying to tackle things on Tuesdays I realize that for my current schedule Wednesdays actually work out better for me than Tuesdays. I generally have a pretty uncomplicated schedule on Wednesdays, but do a ton of running around on Tuesdays while trying to squeeze in a tackle. The schedule wasn't lending itself to me feeling like I was accomplishing what I wanted to each week.
So now, it will be Work on it Wednesdays, or as I like to call it, everything old is new again. Let's face it with the economy and the greening of America you really need to think about your consumption in all things. I have a house full of furniture...actually two housefuls, but I digress. Some of it is actually pretty nice, but has seen some better days, but with a little imagination, ingenuity and elbow grease, well...I can give those old dogs some new life. I'm starting with two pieces Mister had when I married him, They belonged to his Grandmother, who lived to be 95 years old. They are two traditional pieces made of solid woods and veneers...none of that composite crap for Grandma. Over the years, Mister has not babied them at all, they were moved from apartment to apartment. One of the dovetailed drawers came apart, the finish was chipped, peeled and scratched. But never fear, the drawer has been repaired, the gouges and chips have been filled and sanded and now they are ready for a whole new life. Today I will work on one piece It's a highboy dresser that I have in the dining room. The drawers are generous and I currently store many things in them such as kitchen and dining linens, school supplies for the kids and rarely used holiday dishes.
Now here's what I had to do and what you'll need to do if you ever want to rehab your own furniture. Remove the hardware and prime the piece. I'm doing this with an oil based primer. It's better to use an oil based primer than a latex one. It not only gives you a good surface to paint on, but it keeps the old finish or paint from bleeding through your piece. It's quite versatile since you can use it on top of oil based paint, stains and latex paint, as well as you could paint your piece afterwards with either oil based or latex paint too. If you are diying it, it's really important to take the time to prime your piece to get a flawless looking finished piece. I recommend two coats of primer. It doesn't have to be perfect, but remember you're giving yourself a foundation to work with.



This is before priming, but I've already applied wood putty, sanded and removed some of the hardware.



So far, so good. I've removed the rest of the hardware and applied two coats of an oil based primer, now it's ready for paint. I should mention one more thing about the primer. I could have opted to have my primer tinted to gray, to lessen the number of paints of coat I would need to get good coverage. Just like when you paint walls, when using a dark color and untinted primer, you may need more than one or two coats to get really good coverage.

Tomorrow. I'll apply at least two coats of a black semi gloss paint to the piece. Letting it dry between coats. Two things about the paint choice, I went with semi gloss because it gives a harder finish then satin or flat and since these are pieces I use daily I want the finish to last. I may apply a protective coat of polyurethane to help to protect the pieces even further. It's also really important to let the piece dry fully before sitting anything on top of it, if you don't want divets in your furniture. I'll let it dry at least 72 hours before placing anything on it. I've painted several pieces of furniture over the years and it's always a really fun way to give an old piece a new life. So, stay tuned for the finished piece.

Tract house blues

Today I'm feeling a bit of tract house blues. Don't get me wrong, I mean I'm happy to have a home and I love where I live. Most of time I really like my house even though it's much smaller than we probably need. But, sometimes the lack of architecture and charm really brings me down. I mean our house is vanilla bland like so many others in the burbs. I dream of french cottage, mid century modern, cool ramblers and arts and craft bungalows. I think I have a good eye for design and while I'm crafty...I wouldn't say that I'm necessarily handy if you know what I mean. I'd love to install some molding and replace our baseboard. Replace the fixtures in the bathroom, rip up the carpet in our room...the list goes on. Yet, I can't seem to dive in and do these things. I have a fear of making it worst...or taking forever to finish something (as I been known to do...think of the year long quilt). As much as I love him, my dh is more about writing a check for someone to come and address these issues than tackling them himself. I guess I'm just frustrated and perhaps a bit envious of people who can make their visions come to fruition. I'm not fearless when it comes to my house. I wish I were. Anyway, this is an ongoing issue for me. You'll probably see me write about it again. I think I probably should stop watching so much HGTV, that might help. So, there it is...today I have the tract house blues.

Chic and cheap in 2009

I really pride myself on knowing how to stretch a dollar and I started thinking about my long term goals for my life and my home. I'd like to have a chic home...but I don't want to spend a lot to get it. I started thinking about the compacting/simplicity movement. I thought I'd do a modified version of that for 2009 and use it as a central theme in my decorating pursuits this year.
So what will my decorating compact with myself be? Well first off, not to buy anything new in 2009. I will borrow, barter, or buy used. If it is absolutely necessary to buy new I will try and purchase fair trade and items that minimize the ecological footprint on our environment. Whenever I do need to purchase an item, I will try and buy it used if it is available and it is a safe product to purchase used. I will shop my garage and fabric stash thinking of way to reuse or recycle items. I hope that by thinking in these terms it will not only challenge me to think outside the box decoratively, but also stay within a realistic budget while creating a unique and one of a kind environment.

Thrift Store Redux

I love a good thrift store and while my mother was visiting this week she was admiring my living room redo. As I was pointing out where I had acquired everything I realized that about 95% of everything in my living room was thrifted. I'm really proud of the fact that my home is comfortable and homey, yet didn't cost me much at all to put together. I'm always on the hunt for new and interesting pieces and as any true thrift store devotee knows it's all about the hunt. You have to frequent stores regularly. Sometimes it's hit, sometimes it miss...but it's all an adventure. So, I thought I'd take you on a little tour of my living room. First off you see the coffee table. That came from a thrift store in Fayetteville, NC. Awesome place to go thrifting because of the military presence. Frequently rather than move stuff they will donate it. The table is from "This end's up". It's one of those cargo style furniture stores and the table is nearly indestructible. As you can see the kids have painted on it and use it as there train/activity table. Talk about the distressed look, lol! I have the end tables too...but use them in other places in the house. The love seat came from my mom, who bought it off a friend who got it out of her physician husbands office. It used to be electric blue. I've had it reupholstered in cream...which was not at all kid friendly, so now I have an inexpensive slipcover from Surefit. Although not pictured, the couch is a very high end find from a local thrift store. Since I live in the state that is considered the furniture capital of the world sometimes they have to do something with samples and store models...lucky for me I scored a classically shaped, down filled couch. It's the best and oh so comfortable. The buffet, I just adore. Scored from craigslist (also a great place to find stuff). It's circa 1960's from what I can gather and has an immense amount of storage. I also got a 1970's storage wardrobe to use to hide away all the kids toys. Even the art work and mirror are from the thrift store. The curtains I made myself. I found a 33 yd bolt of Waverly upholestry fabric at a thrift store for $50. I had originally planned to make slipcovers for the couch and loveseat, but I think the little splash of red throughout the room is a better use of the fabric. The winerack bar in the corner is a really cool iron work piece picked up from Goodwill. I just love it for it's uniqueness and the fact that it can store 40 bottles of wine too.
So there you have it, my thrift store redux.

Decorating Diva

So earlier in the summer I wrote about my efforts to purge and organize my home. It's been slow going, but I have made a bit of progress. I acquired a few pieces that have made things easier, neater and more organized. I also looked around my home and found new uses for some old pieces. I shopped my garage for a few items. And, I even dumpster dove...ok, I actually just stopped at the curb and got something that was lying waiting for trash pickup, but still, it's a form of dumpster diving right? My recent acquisitions include the buffet I scored from Craigslist, the wine rack/bar, a new king size mattress, a newish fridge (what a killer dealer, I saved $1000 literally, woohoo, gotta love that) and a dumpster dove executive style folding table that I set up for my sewing stuff and to cut fabric on. It's working out great. I still want to get an armoire. I'm in negotiations with someone on Craigslist so I'll let you know how that goes.
Now I'm ready to start on the soft pieces. I want new curtains, pillows, slipcovers for the living room. I'm going to recover a headboard for the bedroom, perhaps make a quilt (gasp!) or duvet. I've been hunting fabric stores for the perfect fabric, but for now have decided to shop my stash...we'll see what I come up.
I already started sewing the curtains. I'm making them from this red fabric from Waverly that I got from a thrift store. I wasn't exactly 100% in love with it (although I do love red), but I loved the price. I had originally planned to make slipcovers for my couch and loveseat from it, but I think curtains are probably a much better option. I've already cut out all the panels and surged the ends, Now I just need to hem them and make the rod pocket. I picked up new window hardware on clearance from JA's. Hopefully by the time my mom comes to visit in a couple of weeks, the place will be spiffy. Wish me luck!

Thrift Store bonanza

I'm a bonofide thrift store junky. I get a thrill and such a deep sense of satisfaction by using something from the past and finding that diamond in the rough. My decorating aesthetic leans heavily toward the 60-70's.I guess it's because I was born in the 1960's and remember the 1970's fondly. I love low profile, dark wood, clean line retro looking stuff. My home is decorated in a mix of my finds with a few contemporary pieces thrown in for good measure. You'll never find a matching suite of furniture in any of my rooms and I like it that way! As far as where and when I find stuff it really varies. I can go months and not look or if I look not be able to find anything that strikes my fancy or I can have week like I'm having where every time I turn around something awesome is waiting to come home with me. It literally started on Sunday when I read an article in Parade magazine by Jacquelyn Mitchard who wrote the book "Deep end of the Ocean". In the article she writes about how she loves the idea of decorating with inexpensive found items and how it just doesn't make sense to her to spend a ton to have style. I say preach it sister! That's exactly how I feel. I love that my home can't be found in any magazine. That when my dd drops her pizza on the couch, well...it's okay (sort of). I love that I found 2 matching crystal lamps at different stores at different times and didn't pay more than $5 for either one.
My latest acquisitions have me reenergized for thrifting. I've been looking literally for months for the perfect buffet. I knew I wanted something retro (1960-70's) and dark with lots of storage. I've been prowling thrift stores, posted on freecycle( you never know)and haunting Craigslist and yesterday there it was. The perfect piece had been posted on Craigslist over the weekend and it was Tuesday. Surely it wouldn't still be there...but it was and the best thing, the lady selling it literally lived 3 miles from me. I went to pick it up last night. It's in awesome condition, weighs a ton and has a gaggle of storage. It surely is circa 1970's and was from Drexel(before they had Heritage, lol) so I'm guessing it was a spendy piece in it's day. The wood is thick and solid, no pressed wood here. I love it! It fits perfectly along my short wall and I added my 2 lovely crystal lamps atop. Today I thought I'd run in to the Goodwill near my home and low and behold I found a solid metal round wine rack/bar combo. It's about 6 ft tall, heavy and just incredible. I can't believe I scored it! I've been looking for a wine rack for ages and now I found something even better. I also found a little leatherette storage bench to go at the foot of our bed. It'll be a nice place for sheets and extra blankets. I found a large mirror in a baroque style frame to hang above our fireplace. All total I have spent about $200, you got to love the prices!

On Thrifting

I don't know if I'm a throw back to another era, but I'm extremely frugal. I can sniff out a bargain and create something from nothing better than anyone I know. I love the idea of finding something that is flawed or considered trash and turning it into a treasure. I'm like an idiot savant if I must say so myself, I can look at something and see the hidden potential in it. I can envision it as something fabulous. Well, my home is decorated in early American thrift store and I think it's time for a little polish to some of my rooms. I mean there's a fine art between your place looking like you bought everything at a thrift store and looking like bohemian chic...I'm going for bohemian chic. So, while I'm on vacation I plan to give my home a little makeover and polish. So we're heading out to 2 of my favorite thrift stores today. They are a virtual treasure trove, but like all thrift stores they are smelly and full of stuff nobody would want. You have to take your time and really look. The perfect thing will find you. What am I looking for? Vases, cool pictures and frames, lamps, fabric, kitchen ware and anything that catches my fancy...oh and a mid century looking buffet. Wish me luck! I love the thrill of the hunt. Stay tuned for pictures.