The Friday Haul

He may just kill me. I mean, YES, we do have a 3-car garage, but that 3rd spot is supposed to be for man stuff. Not for my garage sale steals. But, don't tell him that, PLEASE! So far, I have him fooled. He thinks that I'm some sort of garage sale genius (or at least in my mind he thinks that of me!).

Wait until Mitch sees this:

How much do you think I spent this morning, hmm? Just guess. Take a gander.



I'll wait.







Have you guessed?


Ready to hear how much I spent on 2 chairs, one side table, one vanity seat/ottoman thingy, a huge tray and a candle stick?



Really?






Ready?







$4.50. Four dollars and fifty cents. Less than five bucks. For this haul!

Yes. It will be painted. Can you even IMAGINE?!?! I promise that one of those chairs is going to be some fun, funky color (or at least not black). The other one will probably be black, just 'cause. The nightstand might end up in one of the boys' rooms. Red, maybe? The candlestick could be the same funky color as the chair (oh, and it was free because the guy didn't want to do the math to give me change!! Ha!). The vanity bench will be painted black and get a new fabric cover. (I've always wanted to do that! Weeeeee!) And I'll use it in my bathroom ('cause I have a vanity), so that I don't have to use that wooden folding chair that I've been using for 4 years.

I'm so excited!! Now, I just need to PAINT!

And, I haven't forgotten to post "after" pics of my last garage sale haul. I just can't seem to get good ones. Plus, I sorta want to show you what I am doing with the items. You know, everything in it's place.

I'll get around to it at some point! Don't worry!

I've been to some garage sales!

I'm totally enjoying this garage sale season. I usually forget to check out the garage sales, but this year I am determined to catch them. My husband is, of course, less than thrilled with the "junk" I bring home. I mean, when you buy at a garage sale, you take a risk that this year's garage sale find is next year's garage sale fodder, right?

I think the trick to making it work is to actually DO something with the items you pick up. So, that is my challenge for today. I've checked out the sales around town (not many, by the way) and this afternoon I am going to clean up, paint and USE my finds.

This is what I picked up last weekend. All from the same sale. I think I spent around $2.50.

I plan on cleaning up the basket divider thingy and possibly painting it white or black, then using it as an organization tool/storage in my scrapbooking room. Or, maybe I'll put it in my desk as a handy divider. Or, a place to hold kids art supplies. We'll see!

The mirror has a pretty frame that is a bit bent in the corner. I'll straighten it out, paint the frame, clean the glass, pull the "stand" off the back and repurpose it as a tray. Probably on the guest room dresser. So, it will probably be white.

The little spice rack will be painted black and will hold tubes of embellishments in my scrapbooking room.

The little lantern/candle holder was only 10¢, so I figured that if my repainting efforts are a lost cause, I can always toss it. However, I hope that it will look nice in black.

The card stand/plaque thingy will be a fun scrapbooking project. Don't know what, yet.

But, what I am the MOST excited about is this pair of ornate frames for just 75¢. They WILL be painted black. Today. I plan to hang them from ribbon and put something in them. I don't exactly know what, yet, but I know that they will be gorgeous!


This is what I picked up today for $1.75.


The purse will be a magazine holder next to a chair. I'm probably not going to do anything to it except fill it!

The long glass rods were from an old light fixture, I guess. I don't see it, but whatever. The gal gave them to me for free, and they will become plant stakes in my garden.

The candy dish is just pretty. I'll make it a candy dish. Maybe it will actually hold candy every once-in-a-great-while.

The hole punch and stapler are for Grant's craft area (which will happen soon) so that he stops messing with my stuff.

And, yes, those are free baby food jars. I never fed my kids processed baby food, so this is sort of a novelty for me. I am going to paint the lids and put scrapbooking supplies in them. Maybe. Maybe I'll use them in Grant's craft area.

My garage sale buddy. He picked up a really cool Spiderman mini-lunch pail. He talked the man down to 25¢, without having to open his mouth! So proud. (And, yes, he dressed himself.)

My Space: Unedited

Warning! What you are about to see is plain. It is blah. It DOES have potential. It is quite dusty. And yes, we are watching Bolt.

This is my family room. For my mom, since she keeps bugging me about my recent purchases and black paint craziness. And, for Layla, because I am dying to see if she can do something to help me cozy up my home.

And, yes, these are totally unedited (so no comments about the photo quality, okay?).

First of all, this is the space. The photos are of the room on the left. We have wood floors that run from the front door straight back to the slanted wall where the sliding glass door is, which effectively cuts the space and makes my "Great" room not so great. I'm not complaining, 'cause the floor is super pretty, but the family room is kinda small.


This is what you see as you walk into the house from the front door (down the hallway toward the back). The blue wall seemed like a good idea at the time. We have recently taken down our red curtains, so that is why we don't have any curtains on the windows. I'm thinking that we are going to move the rods up so they are 108" up. (Of course, my windows are a BIG problem for me!)

This is from the dining room. Yes, that is my little digital work-space on the right. Layla, I design digital scrapbooking stuff, and I would like to do this with my family around me rather than holed up in the office. We don't have any concrete plans to buy a laptop right now, plus I LOVE my huge screen. Love it. I'm totally flexible, but that desk is fairly new, so I wouldn't mind keeping it.


From the kitchen area, directly across from the family room. High ceiling. Blech. Next time, I'm not doing a vault!! What to do with that huge space??!?!


Directly across from the windows. The huge ficus is yucky, but we were just testing it out in the space.

Uh, the couch is HUGE. Totally overscale, and I know this. Same with the chair. We just haven't had the money to replace them, but I've been saving up and would like to have at least a plan to replace them!
And the windows. Notice that the window runs into the mantle. Argh. So I am clueless. I don't want to cover the window too much. After all, we paid for that woodwork! I want to tie the 3 windows together (rods at the same height, same type of treatment), except that you can see the huge expanse of wall above the sliding class door. The window in the dining room has the same problem as this window. It runs into the wall. AND, there are wonderful top-down-bottom-up honeycomb blinds on all of the back windows that are a total necessity in the summer, so we would like to keep those. (Plus, they were pretty spendy.)

Mom, look on the mantle. See the new big glass thingies? Cute? And, my new nesting tables. I love that. The little basket under the little chair is new, as is the chair itself (which totally can be moved to a different room, Layla!). And again with the overscale furniture!!


An aerial view!

Check out the painted coffee table, Mom! $20 garage sale find. Oh, and the "entertainment stand" is such a pretty table that I bought at my new favorite store, Serendipity. The screen underneath is just to break it up a little, but I thought it added a little something. Potential for cuteness? The green fabric was $3 and is glue-gunned on. I think I'm going to replace it with my burlap. (Since I have enough of it after my math fauxpas while buying yardage for my bulletin boards.)

And, that is my current decorating dilemma. Boring. Blah. Not at all cozy.

So, Layla, I'm a fan of bright colors (although you really can't tell by looking at this room, huh?), and YOUR style. BIG fan. I'm looking to replace the upholstered furniture and need some direction there. More seating, if possible, would be good. Window help would be nice, too. ANYTHING is better than this!!

(I just have to throw this out there. I KNOW that this room isn't really that bad, it is just not decorated and I want my home to be cozy. That is why I am dissatisfied with the room. Not because it is ugly, but because I want it to reflect my family and not feel so sterile. I have been living in this house for almost 5 years, and I feel like we just moved in. So, please, my wonderful readers, don't judge me as being greedy and weird. I just want my home to be a welcoming space!)

Bulletin boards get a makeover!

I've finished the first of 4 bulletin boards that will be receiving a makeover. This one was previously hung in the same spot in the hallway leading to the boys' rooms. It typically holds their art. Classy, eh?



I just spray painted the frame (and a ton of other frames and items that I've been meaning to paint black), then used my glue gun to attach the burlap. I already had some black grosgrain ribbon, so I glued that 1 inch (using the width of my ruler as a guide) from the black frame. Then, to finish it off, I added upholstery tacks to the 4 corners (although it didn't really NEED it).