Craigslist find & makeover.

Awhile back, I found these sad little things on Craigslist. They were listed for $15 each but we offered $10 each and they were sold! My friend Jill and I headed down to Belmont Shore (a cute little neighborhood in Long Beach) to pick them up.

They were in pretty horrible condition as you can see here:

 And here:

There was even some weird green slime in the drawers....super gross! But after lots of sanding, some wood putty, more sanding, primer and paint we were left with two pretty good looking end tables!

 We staged them in Jill's parlor aka showroom aka living room.

This is where our finished pieces live while they are waiting for a new home! I think they like it here because it seems like some things just don't want to leave (cough, cough, these end tables!)  

And just so you don't have to scroll back up, here's the yucky before again:

And the after:

Until next time...

 

Another amazing bargain.

Yesterday, I posted pictures of a sweet little nightstand that I scored for $5 at my local Habitat for Humanity Restore. I couldn't believe it was priced so low! I know some folks who say they never have anything good but mine is amazing!! Don't believe me?? Let me prove it to you...

This end table/nightstand or whatever you want to call it was in really good condition, it just needed a little boost! The price tag??

Five. Dollars. Amazing, right?? They're having a big sale on Saturday, too! I'm seriously getting spoiled with these ridiculously cheap finds! Anything above $5 just seems overpriced now :-)

So keeping with my "use the supplies I have" motto, I mixed some white paint with a little Behr "Black Bean" to create a nice light shade of gray. I don't know about you, but I LOVE these little sample sizes that Behr makes. It's the perfect amount of paint for something small like a night stand or end table. And the best part is they are only $3 each! I get mine at Home Depot but I'm sure you can find them elsewhere.

So are you ready for the after??

I have to say this has definitely become a favorite of mine!! I still need to line this puppy, but I just love the clean frame and line detailing on the drawers!

This jar of buttons is really meaningful to me. Both the jar and buttons belonged to my grandmother. She passed away when I was six years old. My grandfather never went through any of her things so after he passed away in 2010, we were left with lots of sewing supplies and I decided to hang on to these.

I just love them :-)

And I love this, too!

 

I'll add another picture once it's lined and then it's going up for sale.

Happy Friday!

*I'm linked up to Primitive & Proper, Elizabeth & Co. *

Striped aqua nightstand.

I picked up this cute little nightstand from the Habitat for Humanity Restore for a whopping five dollars!! I bought another one today (also for five dollars!) that is curing in the other room as I type. But back to this one...she was more of a minty green color with paint that looked like it had been applied with a rag - super thick and messy! The before picture doesn't really convey that, so you'll just have to trust me :-)

 I'm really trying to use up the supplies I have (since I don't have much space to store things like that) so after a really good sanding, I decided to freshen up the lower half with aqua and do a striped top in slightly varying shades of gray.

 The frog tape did really well and gave me almost perfect lines! Here's the end result...

 I kept the original hardware but just gave it a fresh coat of paint left over from my lamp makeover, added some accessories and admired the fun edges!

It's hard to believe this little thing was only $5!

I'm not sure who was manning the price gun at the Restore this week, but I just hope they keep it up!

**I'm linked up at The Not So Functional Housewife, Miss Mustard Seed, Happy Hour Projects, Nutmeg Place, The Shabby Nest, Southern Lovely, House of Hepworths, Elizabeth & Co., and Shine on Fridays**

Don and Sally.

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a nice weekend! I managed to get a lot done including cleaning out my dresser drawers, desk drawers and closet! Very productive :-)

I also finally listed and sold a thrift store dresser and side table that had been sitting in my business partner's garage for the last month! Well, technically, she listed it but it's sold, that's what matters.

Here it was before...

We felt it had a little retro Mad Men flair so we named him Don! It was in pretty good condition and we both loved the lines and detailing but it was yellowed and pretty drab.

So we did what we do best...we put a bird on it! Haha...just kidding. We painted it white. If it seems we opt for white a lot - we do! And that's solely because it sells the fastest!

 Don (above) and Betty (below) were listed around 7pm and picked up the following day by noon!

That's a Craigslist record for us!

And lastly, I must mention that for the 2nd year in a row, I am the Oscar predicting champ!

I successfully predicted 20 out 24 winners last night and walked away with what we should just call "The Rachel" and some movie tickets! All in all, not a bad weekend!!

**I'm linked up to A Bowl Full of Lemons**

Metal lamps.

I told you yesterday about how I might be a tad obsessed with thrift store lamps. More accurately, lamps in general. I constantly drift toward the lamp aisle at Target, when I need another lamp like I need another Cadbury Egg. And don't even get me started on the lamps on the endcap clearance! It's hard to resist, but most of the time, I do!

Although, I am so glad I didn't resist yesterday when I spotted these at Goodwill for $8 each. I'm pretty sure something similar to these was in every suburban home back in 1992. They say everything makes it way back...and these things most definitely have (just with a little tweaking!)  

 As soon as I saw these guys, I knew that I wanted to use a little hammered metal spray paint...

...and after a three coats of the stuff I had exactly what I envisioned!!

 I love the light that lamps reflect in the dark...it totally relaxes me!

 So have you forgotten what they looked like before?? Here's another reminder...

Not bad for a few minutes worth of work!

I'm just thrilled because these lamps look so much better than my crazy teddy bear lamps did in the exact same spot. Let's take a look...

With the teddy bears...

And with the bulbs...

The glass bases of the teddy bear lamps blended in too much (imagine that...being glass and all!) and especially after looking at the pictures, I think they were too small in scale.

These guys, on the other hand, have a definite presence and really balance out the sofa! Thank you, Goodwill, for another fun find!

Until next time...

**I'm linked up to Fingerprints on the Fridge, Nutmeg Place and Happy Hour Projects**

Intervention.

I love rescuing thrift store lamps. I mean, so what if my house is extremely well-lit, what's the big deal?? I can stop buying them any time I want. I don't have a problem. I don't.

Or maybe I do.

It's just I see them sitting up there on the shelf at Goodwill, discarded because they have "gone out of style" and I just want to help. I want to help bring them back and give them another chance to shine. Haha...chance to shine. Get it? Shine. Like a lamp. Okay, I'm a dork.

Anyway, back to the lamps. I found these beauties at Goodwill and I just couldn't resist!

They were only $7.99 each! So into my cart they went. Now it's off to Home Depot to get what I need to turn these guys around!

Living room reveal.

I am so excited to reveal my living room today! I feel like this has been weeks in the making even though it's only been three days since my new furniture arrived! I can't wait any longer, so let's get to it!!

Here's a quick reminder of what this corner of the living room looked like before:

For more before pictures, feel free to take a look at yesterday's post here.

And without further ado, here we have the after:

Oh man...I can't even tell you how much I love it!! The only new additions to the room are a white Jonathan Louis sofa and a lovely side chair in a yellow, gray and white floral - also Jonathan Louis. Everything else is the same!

 Why did I wait so long to buy you, Mr. Sofa???

Your tight back cushion and smooth lines make me swoon!

 I just love the way the dresser pops with the yellow, gray and white tones of the room!

Here's the view of towards the front door...

I also added a few more accessories to the dresser. I had been wanting a sand timer for ever so when I found this guy on sale at Michael's, I snapped it up!  That and my newest letter "R", which I'm slowly starting to collect more of! I only have three right now but they are all featured throughout this post, can you spot them all?

Seeing the dresser in the room with the new furniture totally reassures me that aqua was the right choice! I am just giddy over how much I love it!

There you have it...my new living room!

There are still a few more things I'd like to do as soon as the budget allows including:

 -getting a new larger area rug

-doing something to the side cane chairs

 -adding artwork above my desk

But until that happens, I am absolutely thrilled with the room just as it is! I smile every time I walk into it and I immediately feel calm and relaxed, which was exactly what I was going for!

Feel free to stop in anytime!!

**I'm linked up to Happy Hour Projects, Saved by Suzy, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Southern Lovely, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Our Delightful Home, and It's Overflowing**

New aqua dresser.

Happy President's Day weekend! If you're like me, you have tomorrow off and I hope you have plans to enjoy it! Weather around here is suppose to be 66 degrees and sunny...absolutely perfect in my book!

Anyhow, on Friday (which I also had off), I decided to finally re-paint my serpentine dresser! This dresser originally belonged to my great grandmother and after my grandfather passed away two years ago, it ended up with me! 

You can read about the first time I painted it in this post here. It was back when I first started reading DIY blogs and doing my own projects and heirloom white was all the rage! So without knowing any better, I just went with that. Don't get my wrong, I loved the results in the beginning but realized that Heirloom White just wasn't my favorite - I'm more of a bright white kind of girl.

I also put the hardware on upside down and was too lazy to change it so I just lived with it like that for the last year and half...true story.

But since I bought a new sofa (a post on that is in the works!), I knew I needed some more color in the room. I was vacillating between a nice shade of yellow or an aqua and the fact that I had left over paint in the aqua ended up making the decision a little easier! Plus there's already some yellow in the new chair I bought, so aqua was the perfect fit!

I am so in love with how this turned out!!

I ended up moving the dresser back to this wall, too. When I originally hung the wall ledges and mirror it was because the dresser was in this spot as seen here...

But then I rearranged and switched my living room and bedroom ended up putting my desk on this wall. I liked it there, but never quite loved it.

(And of course, the above picture is a more accurate portrayal of what my place might look like on any given day.)

 I'm really enjoying the black, white, aqua and yellow color scheme! It just feel so fresh and clean!

This print is something I found on Pinterest that fit perfectly into this frame. It reads "Sometimes the dreams that come true are the dreams that you never even knew you had." 

I kept the hardware gray and just flipped them so they are back to the way they're suppose to be :-)

 Overall, I am incredibly happy that I went with this color! It looks amazing in the living room with my new furniture! I feel like I finally have a grown up living room...I can't wait to show you!!

Until next time!

**I'm linked up to Primitive & Proper, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Between Naps on the Porch, Happy Hour Projects and Nutmeg Place, Embracing Change and A Stroll Thru Life**