Surely

So here we are in November already...and I wish I could tell you that blogging is the only thing I'm behind at in my life.

Alas. I'm behind at practically everything.  Except my laundry.  I'll count that as a win.

We've had lots of lovely things going on lately, but our biggest news is that Maybe Baby is now Surely.  We're having a baby girl and she's due on April 17th.

The best part of all of this is that, at over 16 weeks along, my morning sickness is finally fading to manageable levels.

Cue the choir of angels! Bang the gong!  Celebrate in the streets!

I've had a few people ask me how my pregnancy has been going and how I would compare it to how I imagined it would be.  Well, it took me three years to get pregnant (and I desperately wanted to be pregnant), so I was hoping that I would adore it.

BUT

Let me tell you. This whole pregnancy this is highly overrated.  IVF was no picnic, but I was hoping that I'd get a break from some of the less fun symptoms.  No dice.  From six weeks on it has been one big party centered around crackers, string cheese, and the porcelain throne.  I've had vertigo, whooshing in the ears, hot flashes, restless legs, bloody noses, stuffy sinuses...you name it.  Set me in front of a teen audience with my zits and cellulite (no glow here!) and those suckers would never have sex again.

I feel silly for how useless I've been the past couple of months.  Looking at screens of any kind gave me headaches, so I avoided the computer and the TV like the plague.  A couple loads of laundry would take me all day (with naps in between folding sessions) and cooking has been practically non-existent in our home (the smells! the horrible smells!).  Whoever named it "morning sickness" was horribly mistaken.  Try all day/all night sickness.  Blech.  I'm so glad to be over the worst of it.

Now that I'm starting to see straight again, am able to eat salad, and am no longer cursing the heavens during every waking moment, I'm looking around in awe at all of my friends and family that have birthed multiple children. I've got a whole new respect for the women in my life.  I've also got a long list of questions as to how/why they had more than one child.  Women are tough cookies.

(As I'm reading over what I've written so far, I'm thinking I'm sounding a little hard-done-by.  I'm not.  Life is good.  I've had it fairly easy.  I'm just grateful that the worst of it is coming to an end.)

Switching from complaints to SCIENCE...fertility science is THE COOLEST.  The more I learn about pregnancy and the human body, the more I think WHAAAA? and WOWWWW!

I have a picture of my "baby" at five days old.  It's 150 cells and looks more like a biology class slide presentation than what will become a baby, but it's pretty much the neatest thing ever.  Also, we found out the gender at 10 weeks!  10 weeks, people!  From a vial of blood drawn from the crook of my arm!

The day after we found out that Maybe is a girl, we celebrated by buying a couple baby dresses (Janie and Jack will probably take the majority of our bank account from now on. yikes!) and building some shelves in her room.  We've been working on other projects off-and-on as the whim strikes, and the room is really coming together.

Check out the shelves and the dresser we bought for $25 at a yard sale (and painstakingly refurbished)...and my favorite thing: the stuffed animal that looks like a mini copy of Mr. Bear.

Maybe

While my Mom was here last week, we worked some more on Maybe's nursery.  I had to do a lot of sitting, so my Mom graciously did most of the hammering, arranging, hole-filling, and curtain hemming.  And I sat.  (Thanks, Mom!)

Maybe's (the someday maybe baby) room has been a really fun project for me so far.  It's basically a storage room right now...when I find things for free that I like, I store them up in Maybe's room while I figure out if a. I want to keep it and b. if I'm going to fix it up.  The things I don't end up keeping I either sell on Craigslist or give to friends.

All of this has made for an extremely cheap nursery.  I figure that if I keep collecting until Maybe decides to join us, I'll have saved a bundle of money and can splurge on a few things like my ideal crib and a nice, plush rug.

A couple weeks ago I picked up a Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair in denim from a neighbor.  I washed the slip cover and it looks almost brand new (I always wanted one of those as a kid, so I'm sorta geeking out about that find).  I also got a brand new changing pad from someone at church.  Sure, changing pads aren't that expensive in the first place, but I'm happy to save money on the boring stuff so I can spend it on the fun stuff.

I think Maybe's room is my favorite room in the house.  It's towards the front of the house and has big south-facing windows that look out over our cherry tree.  It also has small east-facing windows (pictured below) in a little nook off the main room.  The room is always light and bright...and it's big enough to be a bedroom and a playroom in one.  Actually, there is a playroom built off the main room in the attic portion over our addition, but it needs to be re-insulated and sheet rocked before it's functioning for all four seasons.

Our upstairs bathroom shares a wall with this nook (pictured below) and we're hoping to expand it sometime soon.  So, when we do that, we'll be doubling the size of the bathroom (it's about 5" by 5" right now, so doubling won't make it huge, but it'll make it much more functional), but we'll lose this cool nook in the nursery.  It's not a totally necessary space in the nursery, so I'm not too sad to give it up someday.  For now I've put the small table and chairs that I re-did, a painting of a barn, my framed dress notecards, and a toy/blanket storage thing.  The best part?  Everything you see here was either found in the garbage or purchased at a yard sale (except for the framed dresses, which were gifts).

The barn picture was in a pile at the side of the road.  I cleaned up the glass and painted the frame teal.  The table and chairs were also from the side of the road.  I fixed their wobbly legs and painted them in high gloss for easy wipe-ability.  The organizer was also a side-of-the-road find (I'm thinking of painting the iron a fun color at some point).  I made the baby blanket hanging over it from yarn I inherited from my neighbor.  Blake made the wood sail boat from some scrap lumber we had laying around in the basement.  The books are from the Montgomery County Library Book Sale (also known as my idea of heaven on earth) for 25 cents each.

Progress, folks, it feels so good!

Shopping the House

We moved into our house from a 583 square foot apartment.  So we only had 583 square feet worth of stuff - a couch, a chair, a small IKEA table, a bed, and a couple of book cases.

The woman that was moving out of our house was moving into an assisted living center and was downsizing considerably.  When she asked us if we'd like her to leave some of her furniture, we jumped at the chance.

It wasn't the most beautiful of furniture, but it was functional and it has saved us stacks of cash.  A lot of what she left was modular furniture that could be combined into desks, long dressers, cupboards etc.  There was lots of it.  And it was all a mustard yellow.  Not a nice mustard yellow, either, but a really old, dingy mustard yellow.

So a couple months after moving in (when I took on the daunting task of painting the basement) I painted the dressers quickly with what I had on hand.  The black and white looked fine, but it never really sang to my soul (like any truly good piece of furniture should).

For the past couple of years we've had an IKEA Expedit shelving unit in our guest room for storage.  It wasn't beautiful, but it was functional and it fit the space.  But the more I looked at it, the less I liked it.  It blocked the sight line from the doorway out the window, making the room feel darker and smaller than it is.  It's a small room as it is, so that really wasn't helping.

Originally I wanted to purchase a new dresser for the room.  Something wood, with maybe more curving lines.  I scoured craigslist and the local flea markets, but nothing was really doing it for me.  Also, there was some sticker shock involved.  Ever since this whole IVF thing entered our lives, I've been feeling pretty cheap with all other aspects of my life.  But that's neither here nor there...

After wandering the house trying to find a free solution, I stopped and stared at the modular dresser stored and unused in our basement.

I'd always hated how low and chunky it felt, but an idea finally came to me.  A couple weeks earlier I'd fallen in love with a great Eames bachelor dresser at Peg Leg Vintage.  The price tag scared me away, but I hadn't been able to stop thinking about it.

So I set out to make my own.  Blake and I flipped the dresser over, removed the chunky trim from the bottom, and separated the two pieces.  Then, I ordered some Eames hairpin legs from a man on Ebay and screwed them on to the bottom.  They're 8-inch legs, so they gave the dresser a bit more height and solved the visual weight problem.  I also painted it in Benjamin Moore's Grey Timberwolf (because I already had it on hand).

It feels much lighter now and the low-ness (yes, it's a word) of the dresser allows a lot more sunlight to come in through the window.

And if I know one thing to be true, it's that one garbage find deserves another.  I moved up from the basement the mock wingback chair that my mom and I had reupholstered and called it a day.

45 minutes and some paint

Summer is a great time for garbage hunting in the neighborhood.  Maybe it's when State Department folks most often get transferred.  Maybe it's when leases are up on rentals.  Whatever it is, it makes for great DIY opportunities.

A Couple weeks ago while Bear and I were walking with Blake to the metro, I passed this huge faux-guilded frame on the side of the road.  It was about 5 feet tall and two-and-a-half feet wide (and quite ugly).  What really intrigued me was that the backing was particle board instead of cardboard.  Plus, you know me; I can't stand knowing that something perfectly useful is going to end up in a landfill somewhere.  So, I spent the next few minutes of our walk contemplating what I could use it for, and by the time we'd dropped Blake at the metro and gotten back to the frame I'd figured it out: a chalkboard.

The whole project took maybe 45 minutes.  I primed the frame with oil-based primer, painted two coats of chalkboard paint on the interior portion, then did a light and patchy coat of white oil-based paint over the primer.  There were so many niches and crevices on the frame that I didn't want to take the time (and go insane using a tiny paintbrush) to make it perfect, so I went for a more distressed look.

It turned out better than I'd expected (forgive the terrible and dark photos from my iPhone) and I had it listed on Craigslist that afternoon and sold the next day.  I would have kept it myself, but I didn't see a true need for it.  Now it's happily sitting in a play room for a darn cute three year old.  Easy peasy.

Field of Dreams

Sorry for the radio silence lately.  You'll be glad to know, however, that it's been a very productive silence.

We received bad news about our last IVF cycle last Friday.  I had a nice ugly-cry for a while, then turned to the interwebs to read all about my new protocol for this coming cycle.  Let me tell you, the internet is a great and calming place to a gal doing IVF.  There are so many chat rooms, message boards, blog posts, and articles that I can browse to my heart's content.

About twenty minutes after I got off the phone with the doctor, my parents arrived at our house direct from their flight from Italy (they'd been there for the 10 previous days for work).  So we all had another good cry.  It was a soggy day.

But the best part of their coming to town was that we got a mini vacation.  It took me a couple days to start feeling normal again as the meds left my system, but then we had a grand time together.

We tagged along with the BYU Law group to see West Side Story at the National Theater.  I'd forgotten all of the fun music in that show.  That said, this particular interpretation of the show was pretty darn dark and depressing.  Also, it's hard to buy guys as tough gang members when they're so obviously teeny dude ballerinas.  The Sharks and Jets have never looked less intimidating.

We also ate out at all our favorite places with my parents.  Pacci's Trattoria (it says something that even though my parents had been in Italy for 10 days, they still wanted to eat here right away), District Taco, Parkway Deli, and Seasons 52.  It was a busy, and full, week.

My Dad left the day after the conference ended, but my mom stayed an extra couple days to hang out.  It was the first week in a long time that I haven't been abundantly medicated.  I can't tell you how wonderful it's been to start feeling more normal.  Even though I'd be happy to start right up again, I'm sort of glad that this new protocol has a built-in time off period.  No daily shots for a bit! Hallelujah!

My mom and I spent a lot of our time working on the someday nursery.  I think I'm going to start calling it Maybe - the Maybe Baby, just for ease of description.

Over the past few years my philosophy has been "don't count your chickens before they hatch."  I haven't really let myself buy or do anything baby-related because I didn't want it to bring more cosmic bad luck on me.  But, at this point, it's not like our luck could really get worse, so my philosophy has changed to one of "if you build it, they will come."

Now, as a self-admitted non sports enthusiast, it's funny that I'm governing my life with a quote from a baseball movie, but I've got to say that it's helping my outlook immensely.  So, with that in mind, Maybe's room got a preliminary gender-neutral make-over.

We painted the walls a soft grey and made black-out curtains for the big window that gets sun all day long.  These sheets from West Elm were marked down 50% and then an extra 15% off at the register. It's hard to tell from the photo below, but they're a white background with small navy blue arrows that almost look like polka dots from far away.  I bought the king set and used the flat sheet to make two panels.  We lined them with a heavy white black-out fabric (also 50% off at JoAnn's - it was my lucky day!) and they now hang beautifully.

After using the flat sheet for the drapes, I've still got two king-sized pillow cases and a huge fitted sheet.  I'm going to make a few crib sheets and a quilt with all the extras.  So, for $70, I'll be getting two lined curtains, three crib sheets, two pillowcases (for someday big kid beds) and a quilt.  That's not too shabby!

Dr. Frankenstein

I had a small surgery on Monday, so I've been off my game this week.  I'm starting to feel normal again, and am slowly working my way into the projects I'd planned for the week.

I'm currently Frankenstein-ing (it's a verb) a dresser together for the guest room.  I'm using things left from the previous owners, things I've found on eBay, and paint from good old Home Depot to create my monster - err, masterpiece.  It's turning out really well so far, and I'll hopefully be done later this week and have pictures in hand.

I've got about a thousand other projects on my list right now, but I have a feeling they'll be slowly drawn out through the summer months (and quite possible into the fall/winter knowing my track record).  We'll see how far I get.

On the top of my list is to get a violin specialist to look at my garbage-find violin.  It's 3/4 size and is an E. Martin Sachsen Stradivarius Copy.  Judging from what I've been able to find not the trust interwebs, it may actually be worth restoring.  A friend recommended Potters Violins in Bethesda, so I'm headed there soon to see what it'll take to get this fella in working order.  It's in bad shape now, but isn't it beautiful?

The longest ode to garbage you'll ever read

The spring has been very very good to me so far.  I've been collecting so much garbage furniture that I'm running out of storage places and even turned down a dresser this morning on my walk.  Can you believe it? Me?  Turning down free furniture?

It really hurts my soul to see a piece of perfectly good furniture in the trash.  I can't stand that it'll just end up smashed in the back of a garbage truck and then chucked in a landfill.  Sometimes that's the only reason I'll pick up a piece - even if I don't like the looks of it.  But this morning when I looked at the piles around my house I just couldn't justify adding to it.  Not until I decide what to do with some of this stuff.

I've had such good luck lately, in fact, that everything I've been thinking of purchasing has shown up on the neighborhood listserv within the next couple weeks. For example, I've been lusting after a paper shredder for ages, but haven't wanted to buy one. Those ugly suckers can be expensive and there are so many other things I'd rather spend my money on.  Our "to shred" pile has been growing ominously lately (I did a file cleanse a couple weeks ago) and it was time to bite the bullet and buy a shredder.

The day after I'd come to that conclusion, what should show up on the listserv but a like-new paper shredder.  For free!  Blake and I put the Bear in the car and drove right over.  I spent the rest of the evening (I think it was a Friday night - how's that for nerdy?!) gleefully shredding my pile and oohing and ahhing over the efficiency of the shredder.

I had also planned to buy new toilet seats that weekend to replace ours because it was just time.  The day I was going to head up to Home Depot someone from church emailed the listserv saying they were re-doing their bathrooms and had a bunch of extra still-in-box toilet seats to give away.  I think Blake questioned my sanity when I told him I was going to pick up toilet seats from our neighbor's front porch, but now I'm set with brand new toilet seats for the foreseeable future.

The moral is - ask and ye shall receive.  Or think lustfully and ye shall receive (wait, that doesn't sound right?).

So, without further ado, here's some of the other garbage I've hoarded the past few weeks:

- A brass and pewter lamp straight from the 1950's.  With a more modern shade to contrast the ornate scroll-work I think it could be really awesome.

- A 1970's cane-sided recliner. The rust colored velvet (velour?) upholstery is in great shape even though the color isn't really my jam. I'm debating whether to recover or sell this sucker.  It'll take a heap of fabric because it's a recliner and there's a lot of detail work in the welting and tufting.  We'll see if I feel like I can face project.  Maybe I'll get lucky and find 10 yards of great fabric at a yard sale.  You know what they say about the power of positive thinking...

- A hand-quilting frame.  My neighbor (who is a member of not one, but several quilting guilds) had an extra one and I snatched it up.  For now it's hanging out in my front window.  Gorgeous, I know.  It's not for me, of course, but to donate to the church.  We do quilting service projects a couple times a year at church and only have two frames, so it'll be nice to have another one on hand.  And again: FREE.  You can't beat that.

- And last, but not least, is a brand new Atari gaming system for the iPad.  I think I'll probably give it to my nephews, but am keeping it on hand until after my parents come visit in June. I think they'll get a kick out of it.  I'm not much of a gamer, but I do think it's cool looking and it takes almost no space to store, so for now it stays.

In Miniature

I've had great luck finding things on the side of the road lately.  So good, in fact, that maybe I should start gambling.  I just can't lose!

A couple weeks ago I found a sad looking set of children's table and chairs.  They were wobbly, covered with cobwebs, and scratched all over the place.  Not to mention they were a horrible color - who thought it was a good idea to stain furniture speckled orangey-brown?

I was out on a walk with Bear when I spotted them, so I quickly ran home, jumped in the car, and drove back over with Bear in the passenger seat.  (Blake was on a conference call and Bear was being especially naughty, so I wanted to keep him out of the house as much as possible.)  Did I mention I was also on the phone at the time?

So I'm the one gal who is seemingly talking to herself (headphone speakers) and loading things from a garbage pile into the back of my car.  The other folks out walking gave me the oddest looks.  It was worth it, though.

In addition to the table and chairs, I also got several large frames.  One was a professionally framed painting of a barn. The frame was ugly, but I liked the painting, so I just painted the frame another color.  I still need to take pictures of that, but hopefully I'll get around to it at some point.  I gave three other large frames to a friend because I didn't have a place for them and frames don't exactly sell well on Craigslist.

I started this project with the intention of selling the set.  I tightened up the chair legs and backs, sanded down the table, and vacuumed off all the spider webs.  I painted the chairs in a light mint green and the table in a stark white.  Three coats each.  They're both in high gloss for easy wipe-ability.

Alas, when I finished I realized I was too attached to sell them.  They turned out much better than I'd anticipated.  Sure, it'll probably be another 5 years before we have any kids who will be able to use them, but they're just so cute that I can't let go.  And if it turns out that mint green isn't as gender-neutral as I was hoping, well, I can just repaint.  Paint fixes everything.

Bear, the attention-hog, modeling the finished product.

Don't ask me why there is a flower pot full of lemons on the table.  I had it on hand and wanted to add some more color to the photo.  And this is why I will never be a set stylist.

Vinyl

This past weekend was beautiful.  We wanted to spend as much time outside as possible.  I convinced Blake to go to a barn sale with me up in Buckeystown, Maryland, called Chartreuse & Co.  Twice a year they have a huge market sale with six buildings and tons of outdoor booths.  It was glorious.  I'm adding the next sales to my calendar in indelible ink.

We found a couple of small things: a glass and silver terrarium and a tile and wood tray.  But, my favorite find of the day was a 40's style chrome chair for $26.00.  Blake spotted it right before we were about to leave and we convinced each other that we needed it for Blake's side table/desk.  It was exactly what I've been looking for.  I wanted something more modern-looking to contrast with the more woodsy-feel of the desk.

I'm not usually a fan of vinyl, and even considered recovering the seat in a navy blue velvet remnant that I've been hoarding in my fabric stash.  However, it's pretty rare to find a seat in as good a condition as this one, so I think I'm going to stick with it. It goes really well with the wood and the floors, but I'm still trying to figure out if it feels too honey-colored over in that corner of the room.  For now, it stays.  Maybe I need something colorful on the wall above the desk?

Peacock Blue

It's been too long since I've posted about a garbage project.

When we bought our house over four years ago, the previous owners left us a bunch of modular furniture.  The man had been a wood-worker, so I think most of it is handmade.  I've got one set in my closet, we've got a couple down in the basement as storage until I can figure out what to do with them, and then we had one up in the spare bedroom.

Two of the pieces were in fairly bad shape and I wasn't wanting to re-glue all of the drawers, so I gave them away.  I kept the small piece on the left, though, because it was in great shape and I loved the size.

I had a sample pot of peacock blue paint in my basement hoard and decided this was the perfect project for it.  And, of course, now that I've painted this one piece of furniture, I'm in love with the color and want to paint everything in my house.  (In case you're wondering the paint is Valspar and is called Perfect Storm).  It may have a little too much pizazz to find a place in every room, but maybe I'll surprise myself and work it in everywhere.  It's already found it's way down to the puppet theater (yeah, we have built-in puppet theater) and onto a couple picture frames.  I just can't stop!

...Back to the mini dresser.

The brass pulls are sash lifts from our local hardware store and were $3.00 (so much cheaper than other hardware options).  I'm loving the way the brushed brass looks against the blue.  Even Blake, who is not a fan of brass, likes them a lot.

One of these days I'll get my act together and take some real camera photos.  (I always say that, but still have yet to make any progress in that department).  But for now I'll just go about my way.  Ba da ba ba ba - I'm loving it.

A sheepadoodle is the best home accessory

There's just something about the spring that makes me want to rearrange.  Maybe it's because it allows me to deep clean behind all the furniture.  Maybe it's because I have design ADD and love to change things up a lot.  Or maybe it's because re-arranging is a free make-over because I'm shopping the house instead of shopping at a store.  Pick any of those reasons.

Blake has been so patient with my ideas and requests for furniture moves.  We've lugged all sorts of things up and down our narrow, steep stairs in the past few weeks, but the rooms are really coming together.

I've wanted a navy blue velvet couch for ages.  We bought one last year for the basement, but once it was down there we realized we'd rather have it up in the living room.  Don't worry. It's only taken us a year to get it moved up to the main floor.  We actually had to hire some guys to do it for us because it had to be hoisted up our outside back stairs since our inside stairs are too narrow.

Even with two guys lifting and me directing, it was sort of a circus. Our house was built in 1951, so the doorways and hallways are small, and the staircases are super steep and narrow.  This does make for an easy furniture move.  I'd explained this all to the guys when I set up the appointment, but I think even they were surprised when they saw what they'd actually be dealing with.

Moving two couches took almost an hour if you can believe it!  We moved the brown leather couch downstairs and the blue velvet upstairs.  And we only mildly scraped the paint off the back wall.  I count that as a win.

When I handed the guy the agreed-up cash, he started to ask me for more, but then thought better of it.  I think he just wanted to escape while he was still standing.  Maybe he could sense that I was just about to ask him to move a few more things for me while he was at it.  Smart man.

We used some of our Christmas money to buy a new chair and moved the over-stuffed chair downstairs for comfy TV-watching purposes.  The new leather chair takes up less space, and I like that it gives us more of a walking berth between the entry and the living room.  Plus, it's comfy.  Comfy and esthetically pleasing.  You can't beat that.

I wasn't kidding when I said furniture was traveling all over our house.  We moved our garbage-found steamer trunk down here and moved our darker trunk up to the bedroom nook. I feel like steamer trunk really lightens up the space.

And now that I've droned on for two thousand words, here are some pictures to get me to keep quiet.

After all that moving and re-arranging, Bear remains the best accessory of the room.

More espace

Blake's been surviving with a tiny night stand for the past several years while we searched for something better.  

On my side of the bed is a small dresser with feminine lines and hardware.  I wanted to find something with straighter, more masculine lines and hardware for Blake's side.  But also something that would coordinate well with the other furniture in the room.  After much deliberation, we both decided that the best option would be a desk so that Blake could have ample storage and a larger tabletop.  

We were helping Blake's parents clean out one of their storage rooms a few months ago and came across this desk.  They hadn't used it in 15 years and were going to get rid of it, so we took it off their hands.  I really liked the straight lines, the size, the leather top, and the leather and iron hardware.  The only thing I didn't love was the color.  It was that terrible dark, speckled 70's brown.  Yuck.

We brought it home and started sanding it down thinking we'd want the whole thing in a natural wood color.  An hour or so in we decided we'd like it better with the frame painted white and the drawers sanded down to the natural wood.  

I painted (this sucker took five coats.  Ugh!) and Blake sanded.  As he kept sanding we were surprised to see that each of the four drawers was a different color.  I was annoyed at first, but then (due to Blake's recommendation that we arrange them in "ombre" order) ended up liking them the way they are.  Plus, if I get tired of the variation I can always stain them all one color.  

One good thing about the variation is that it actually coordinates quite well with the reclaimed wood stool we found at HomeGoods.  I love happy accidents in home improvement projects.

When in doubt, paint it white

I had a ton of great luck over the summer.  I found all sorts of furniture on the side of the road.  Most of it needed some work, but some were really easy updates.  

I found this mid-century-ish side table on the curb.  It looked like the previous owners had started to redo it, but never made it quite there.  Parts were sanded down and they'd added some trim around the top edge.  The wood was also extremely dry and cracked.  

I started out thinking I'd paint the whole thing white just to give it a cleaner look.  But, once I'd painted the drawer front and added the new knobs, I decided I really liked the contrast of the wood and white.  So, I just painted the upper trim white to balance it out, oiled the wood, and left it otherwise untouched.  I think the whole process took about 30 minutes (plus the drying time between coats of paint).  

The knobs on this little guy have quite the story.  I got them from Anthropologie when I was in a middle school and had them on my closet doors in my parents' house all growing up.  They moved with me to DC, where they previously resided on our hall closet.  They're slightly pokey because they're made of bits of sea glass, so they weren't great to have on something we were constantly opening and closing.  I switched them out for some recycled class knobs (which are completely round and easier to grab without stabbing risk) and moved them here where we're less likely to impale ourselves.  [Sometimes beauty really is pain.]

The cast iron fans are also trash rescues.  I think they're architecturally interesting, but the best part is that they still work!  

Now the only thing holding me back is my terrible iPhone photos.  I need to get my act together and actually photograph my projects when I'm finished.  But maybe that's just asking too much of myself...

Three cheers/chairs for garbage

I think I have a chair problem.  I can't see one on the street and not bring it home.  My basement is beginning to look like an old folks home - but instead of old folks it's old, bedraggled, slightly confused-looking chairs.

They migrate around the house depending upon my whim (and need for seating).  Right now I've got this emerald green velvet fella up in the nook in our room.

The back (where your head would rest) is slightly greasy and needs a good cleaning, so until I get around to that, I've draped a blanket over it.  See no grease, be not scared of grease.  Easy peasy.

If it doesn't clean up well, I'm debating covering it in a charcoal velvet - a color I think would go well with its masculine shape.  I also need to re-stuff the seat cushion so that it looks less tired.  Other than that, I'm really loving the way it looks in our room next to the little Christmas tree.

You really can't beat the price, either...free-ninety-nine!

A real tub o' lard.

I fell in love with this bin at an estate sale this fall - I loved the color, the shine and the patina of the metal.  When I asked the owner what it was originally used for, he said it was a lard tub.

So for anyone who remembers grade school insults and is curious what exactly a tub o' lard looks like, this is it:

Pretty, right?  And far less insulting a comparison than I'd always imagined.

So Succulent

More Good Garbage today.

Folks in our neighborhood will post "curb alerts" on the listserv whenever they're getting rid of something.  A lot of times it's not useful to us, but sometimes we're intrigued and will walk (or drive depending on the size of the item) on over with Bear in tow to check it out.

One of our latest finds was a pile of succulents.  They looked measly laying there on the side of the road, but we liked the texture and color of a few of them, so we were glad to give them a home.

Blake planted them in one of our recent garage sale finds.  We got a plethora of pots for 25 cents each from a home in our neighborhood that we've always wanted to explore.  The house is on a triple lot and has its own greenhouse, so we were simply unable to stay away when the Estate Sale signs went up.  It did not disappoint. We found some other great things there, but I'll save those for another day.

25 cents for a new plant for the kitchen.  Now I won't feel as bad when I end up killing it.  Succulents are fickle in our household - I will neither accept nor reject the blame for this.

Better After

The weather today is gorgeous, so after a long walk and lunch with Adrienne, I finished the touch ups on the chair.  Now it's dry and ready to be sat upon.  I'm loving the crisp, clean white (emphasis on clean).  I decided to add a blue plus sign on the back for fun, but I'm not sure if I'll keep it or if I like it better all white.  My spray painting finger is sore today, so for now it'll live to see another morning.  Who knows, maybe when I wake up tomorrow I'll be smitten with it.

I had been skeptical of painting pleather, but after I saw a similar chair that Jenny Komenda did, I took the plunge and bought two cans of Rustoleum multi-surface spray paint.  $6.00 and an hour or two later and I'm already enjoying the finished product.

Not too shabby for a garbage chair.  I only wish I had two (my neighbors had a pair, but kept the other one).  How great would a pair of these look tucked into a long, butcher block-topped desk?

Good Garbage

One of my greatest pleasures in life is finding good garbage.  You know, the kind of garbage that's not really garbage?

My neighbors throw away the greatest furniture and I have been known to make Blake drive me around the neighborhood the night before trash day to check out the situation.  We go under the cover of night and I have Blake shine the car lights at people's piles.  It's all very cloak and dagger… mostly because it feels strange to be looking at other people's trash.

I love turning trash into treasure.  I've furnished a lot of my house that way and now you, lucky reader, get to see it all documented here for my viewing pleasure.

A couple years ago my next door neighbors put this beauty out on the curb for trash pick up.  It was a little worse for wear (grimy pleather- eww- hence the Goo Gone in the second photo), but otherwise in good shape. I loved the lines and the brass casters.  I was sold.

It's been hiding out in the basement all this time as my sewing chair and is now making a resurgence to the main floor.  I'm currently working on updating it, but am still putting on the finishing touches.  I'll share the "after" tomorrow, but for now enjoy the grimy "before."  Bear kindly acted as the model (read: he wouldn't leave the chair alone and insisted on being in as many photos as possible).

Trash to Treasure

My neighbors have the greatest trash. 

I should clarify: my neighborhood has a very active listserv.  People often post that they're getting rid of one thing or another and that it's available for pick-up on their curb. 

It turns out that this is just the sort of thing that appeals to my cheapskate, Mormon heart.  And I've really lucked out picking stuff up from my neighbors "trash piles" in this way. 

I've scored a chair, a 50's style rolling desk chair, a library lamp, a vintage steamer trunk, an x-box (complete with 5 controllers, a headset and 25 games), a console table and a few other things.

But, my favorite "rescue item" is probably the American Girl doll brass bedstead that I snagged while on a walk a couple weeks ago.  I saw it and knew my niece, Ella, would just love it to use with her American Girl doll. 

The bedstead was in perfect condition- just a little dusty, so I came home and quickly cleaned it up.  Then I used things I had around the house to make a mattress, a quilt and a couple pillows.  I love the mint green and pink with the brass.  So much, in fact, that I am almost tempted to keep this for myself.  Not that I have ever had a doll (I had Ninja Turtle action figures instead) or a kid with a doll, but it's just so cute! 

To recap:

Brass bedstead - free

Quilt, mattress and pillows - free

Time spent - about a half hour

Total: Free-ninety-nine

I can't wait to give this to little Ella.  She'll like it, don't you think?

It's Friday, I'm in Love

Wow.  This week has worn me out.  It's Friday and I'm just happy I made it this far.

Work's been crazy.  We did some babysitting - where I quickly learned that I know absolutely NOTHING about babies or taking care of them (and that the best way to get a baby fed is to give the baby to Blake, who does a much better job of mushed-pea-feeding than I do).  And some meal-bringing - where I continued my trend of over-estimating the amount of food I'll need and ended up with 10 pounds of pasta salad.  And found out some bad news - that Amazon Student is no longer going to provide me with free shipping.  Grr.

And in between those things we also watched some Alcatraz, suffered through a recent episode of 30 Rock (that show is getting worse and worse...and may even be demoted off our DVR schedule in the near future), and went to bed at times too-early-to-mention on a daily basis.  I blame the fatigue on my supposedly non-drowsy Claratin. 

Blake's been a trouper all week.  Even with a migraine headache and allergies, he still puts up with me when I do things like spending the morning griping about the weeds in our yard and cursing our lawn company.  In fact, because he knows how bothered I am by it, he not only put up with me, he puts in long calls to said yard company and got them to do what we want. 

That, my friends, is true love.

This photo has nothing to do with anything above...it's just that this nook in our bedroom makes me smile.  And I'm tired enough right now that I welcome any excuse to smile.