Estate Sale Sunday

Oh, we love us a good estate sale!!

Mark was looking for a chipper to help move our backyard cleanup along and lo an behold what did he find?

He got himself a nice chipper for only $60!! It was the last day of the estate sale and everything was 50% off so it was $125!  It was a great deal and works really good.

If you can believe it Mark was the big spender (that NEVER happens!).  I spent $2 and got two things: a mirror for my youth group's room and this:

A pretty, pretty chair that needs a little love.  I have been looking for a chair or stool of some kind to eventually sit at my old vanity that is in my bedroom, and I think for a whole buck, this one is going to do the trick.

I think it will be just lovely when its done.

Flowered Front Porch

Now that you've seen my new bistro set and the new wrought iron fencing, here's what my front porch area looks like.

I bought bunches of annuals from the best kept secret of my neighborhood, but unfortunately, all of my planters are the old, gross plastic ones.  I was thinking about spray painting them all the same color (like one of those awesome textured spray paints) so they'd go together a little better.  But, until we fancy up the outside (new siding, new windows, new concrete paint that isn't brick red), I don't care that much. It looks like someone actually inhabits this house of ours now! 

Don't fall...

...off our porch!  I say porch, I mean cement walk way thing that leads to our front door.  If you haven't noticed, our front yard has levels - three to be exact.  To make our insurance company very happy, we decided it was time to install a fence they had asked us to do...oh...11 months ago.

We knew we wanted to use wrought iron, since we felt that it would go the best with our house as it was built in 1948.  The problem is that wrought iron, especially custom made fencing is expensive. Like, seriously.  I called one local company and they would charge almost $2,000 to do what we did below for about $300.  Crazy.  (Granted, custom always looks better...)

So, we found a place that sold wrought iron fencing and, um, creatively made it work with our totally wonky, crooked cement area we do not want small children, elderly, or people sneaking around our house in the middle of the night falling off of (well, that last group might deserve to fall off, I guess).

{We now call our house "the fortress".}

One of the funnest things poor Mark had to deal with was the fact that whole cement area is sloped. There was a difference of 9" from the post nearest the door to the post nearest the stairs. That's a lot. Especially when the fencing you just purchased doesn't account in any way for a slope.  For about an hour we were wishing we'd forked over two grand, but then we used our brains and figured out how it would work and look ... okay. We're pleased with it.  And it will prevent you all from going over!

Antique Faire Awesomeness

Molly Mo's Antique Faire did not disappoint. I've decided that I'm going to it every year from now on. We had a great day and found a lot of treasures.

I got an AWESOME vintage kitchen scale!!  I. love. this. Not only is it cool looking, but it actually works!

I bought 3 cool amber bottles. Since I've had Cliff, I haven't been able to have plants in my house, but this is his test - two plants on a counter he can easily get to.  I found a glass amber tray that I had buried in a box and discovered that two of my small terracotta pots fit on it. I transplanted a couple of succulents and there you have it!  We'll see if he can resist eating them. (He laid by them and sniffed them for about 10 minutes earlier today...no chomping, though.)

I also bought a cutie-pie old wire basket. Perfect for fruit! Or...?

And last, but definitely not least, I found what I've been looking for FOR EVER.

A little white metal bistro set!!!! Once I make super cute seat cushions, it will be PERFECT! Goodbye old camping chairs!!

Furn with Stain

Furn is fun with an r added...or furniture for short...or just my really awesome play on words because I'll be talking both about FUN with stain and FURNITURE with stain. Wow. I can tell I blow your mind.

One of the things keeping us busy this last month has been a couple of finishing/refinishing projects.  In our master bedroom, we have a wall that I knew, one day, would hold a big honkin' mirror.  I really liked this one from Ikea when they had it in brown/black.  I loved the chunky (faux) wood frame and how big it was.  But ... it was $100 and Mark thought we could DIY our own from REAL wood (a big thing for him) for a fraction of the cost. So, instead we put our DIY hats on and bought this plain boring mirror and two hemlock 1x6 boards from the local big blue or orange for under $20.  Mark worked his magic and created the frame by using a:

miter saw
table saw
nail gun (finishing nails)
wood glue
sand paper

Once he was done with the frame, it was time to prep the wood for the stain.  We used wood conditioner to make sure the stain would go on evenly. I definitely recommend using wood conditioner, especially if you are working with a softer wood that is more absorbent.

Then, it was time for furn with stain (I know, I'm a riot).

Bad picture quality, sorry.  But you get the idea. I applied 3 coats of stain and two coats of satin polyurethane.  I wanted it to be REALLY dark.  In my master bedroom, I have some white painted furniture, but I wanted all my wood-toned furniture to be a really dark walnut-mocha-y color. And I really liked how this turned out.

And for another bad-quality, finished product picture!
Ta-daa!

There it is in all it's glory! (No, I hadn't cleaned the glass yet. Yes, those are smudges.)

The mirror was a fun project for me to get my feet wet with because I planned to next refinish a dresser I bought from Craigslist which would also go in our master bedroom.  This was obviously a much bigger project.  I had to strip the paint, sand, sand, sand, pry off the laminate top and pray it didn't ruin the wood underneath, and sand some more before it was ready to be stained.

I managed to do most of the work myself, but came home one day to find that Mark had finished off the last of the sanding, applied the wood conditioner, and started the process of staining it for me!

He said he did it because he was bored.  I think it was because he loves me and was so proud of all the hard work I put into it and he felt bad that he didn't help me with it before.  Whatever the real reason, he took over the project and three coats of stain and two coats of satin polyurethane later, I had a pretty 90% done dresser (and some more poor quality pictures)!

But, as you can see, the dresser has no handles...which is why I say that it's only 90% done - we haven't refinished the handles yet.  (The dresser's handles are very simple and wood that's painted black.)  They won't take long to refinish, but it's something we haven't gotten to yet.  Regardless, isn't it pretty?  I think so.  

The third furniture project we are going to undertake is building a master bed.  Thankfully, I found an AMAZING blog - Knock-Off Wood - run by Ana who creates furniture plans based on amazing pieces of furniture in your favorite catalogs.  We plan to tackle this bed with just a few minor tweaks to the plans. I hope to have it built before summer is over.  I'll share every step of that journey with you and let you know how much we spend on it versus what you could buy it for (plus shipping). More furn is coming your way!  (And I promise that's the last time I use that word.)

So...

It's been a while since my last post.  I've had a very busy month!  We finished the bulk (see how I didn't say that we were 100% done?) of our upstairs remodel...FINALLY!!!  I was particularly excited to be done because my parents came for a week long visit, so of course, things had to look good for them.  I know they wouldn't care if there was still dust and debris everywhere, but it was much nicer this way.  Plus, they were able to get the whole "before and after" visual, as they helped us move in last...September!  Wow, it's almost been one full year since we moved into this big, old beauty.

So, yeah, busy month.

But now it's time to show you what our almost finish upstairs looks like!  That is exciting because most of the hard work is out of the way for this phase of the remodel and it's time for "fun work"...aka...decorating ...aka...spending money (insert Mark groaning in the background)!

I have sort of a love-hate relationship with home decor.  I'm super picky and I get sick of things quickly (the later is probably the thing my sweet husband hates most about me), which usually leads to me living in an undecorated space.  I plan to change that and make this house feel like HOME. But to do that I have to somehow mesh together my love for vintage, my mid-century home, and my love for modern/contemporary/minimalism.  Tall order, I know.  I hear you saying it can't be done *cough* well *cough*.  You may be right.  However, I like looking at home style/decor blogs.  I am never in want of inspiration...I am usually too inspired and my brain "pings", which is never a good thing.  (Gilmore Girls reference for those of you not in the know.)

So, for now, I will leave you will some decor awesomeness from Molly Mo's:

I want that metal basket on top the awesome cabinet...and the suitcase...oh, just give me all of it and I'd be happy!

I am going to be at the Molly Mo's Summer Antique Faire in Sublimity on Saturday in hopes of finding some great decor. Wish me luck!