Shopping the House

Things have been moving slowly around here. Aleena was sick all last week and didn't go to school. So I was more focused on taking care of her than trying to accomplish much in the living room.  I did make some progress though!

In the front corner under the windows is where our toy box has taken up residence. It was one my Mom picked up at Home Goods and it has served us well. However- it's gotten to be too small (We have an insane amount of stuff animals.) and it totally doesn't match (color-wise), or even work, with the direction we are going in the living room.

It is nice that is sits in the corner and doesn't stick out. It's also nice that the kids can use it as a window seat but when you still have toys all over the floor and it's already full then it's time to change it up. My only solution was to shop the house aka using what we already have. You already know that I love texture. I really wanted a wicker trunk but couldn't afford one. Then I remembered (serious brain fart) that we already own a wicker trunk AND it was already being used as a toy box... in Aleena's room. So I went to check it out. All the toys in her room were in it and it was still half empty. Total no-brainer to switch them! The bench even sort of matches Aleena's room (for now) since her room is painted teal. So our toy corner now...

 It does stick out past the fireplace a little bit but not too much.
 

You can't even tell that it got a little bit injured when we moved up from NC (the movers really did a number on quite a bit of our furniture that move.)

I am really happy with this decision- as is the Hubs who had to help me move it. That sucker is HEAVY! This was purchased from Pier 1 ages and ages ago (almost 10 years??) and was about $100 then. It has moved many times and I am so glad we kept it!

The other thing that gets a surprising amount of use in this corner is our blanket basket.

It's a vintage wicker laundry basket that doesn't quite hold all of the blankets. Granted we have a lot of blankets and I could probably get rid of a few but the kids like to snuggle up with them and we build a lot of forts. The kids are always trying to climb in it and I am afraid they are going to destroy it. I have been pondering this dilemma for a while. Home Goods had some really cool striped baskets (maybe they still do?)

source

I thought they would be perfect but were totally out of my price range. So again I went to the best free source I know- things we already own.

How about an olive bucket? I totally love the feel it gives in this corner!

 

 

 I have plans to make a liner for it so I won't be putting the blankets in it until then. Pottery Barn sells these right now for $135. Which means they are on sale because they were originally $169. I got mine almost a year ago from here. It was only $50 plus $5 shipping. They have them today 2/20 and I think they still have a few left if you go check it out. They sell one item a day and they have a limited amount- especially when it's a found item like this. Since I already owned it for this make-over it's going to count as free.  Nothing better than that!

One more thing I want to share with you... remember my wicker lamp shade?

It's one of the very few things I have bought recently without consulting the hubs first. (oops) But we were sitting in the living room the other day and he looked at me funny and said, "Is that lampshade new? I really like it." Score! I really try to get his input on things before I buy them, since we both have to live with them so knowing he likes it (although probably not even close to as much I do) is great news.

Anyone else shopping their house these days?

A Table with a mind of it's own

I have "after" pictures for you! They are slightly different than what I Thought I would be showing you because this table really did seem to have a mind of it's own. We started here...

 

You can see the finish coming off in the second picture. This table really needed a little love. The midway point I showed you yesterday.

 I was feeling really good about it. I had finished the second coat and left it in the kitchen to dry. I made sure I used the bonding agent because I had a plan. So what is that they say about the best laid plans?

 I had not envisioned this as a "chippy" table. But this table truly had a mind of it's own. You really can never tell how a finish on an old piece of furniture will react to milk paint. Every piece is different. With this piece the old varnish just peeled off with the paint. I was able to come to an understanding with the table and now it looks like this.

I put a hemp oil finish on it which will protect it. It took a little longer than I had planned and it's not how I had originally envisioned it but I am very happy with how it turned out. It's a perfectly chippy spring green table. Now to get it back on Craigslist! Just remember if you are in the Lansdale Area and are interested in this pretty little table for $30 I will be in Lansdale tomorrow afternoon and can bring it with me!

Painting the Night Away

For me it never fails that smack dab in the middle of a project I have doubts. Sometimes they turn out to be valid but either way I have learned that I cannot stop in the middle or I never seem to want to get started again. I spent last night doing quite a bit of painting. Not the walls although I will get there eventually but 4 different tables. We have a LOT of tables going on in our house right now!

I worked on fixing the coffee table legs. Since I used the last of my Grain Sack milk paint I used whatever was leftover to also start painting the legs of our new to us dining room table. (I need to order more!) It felt good to almost finish one project get moving on the next phase of another.

The next table I worked on was the one I showed you in my last post. As much I as I love this table she has given me fits! Mostly her top...

The wobbly legs were a super easy fix. I just had to tighten the bolts on the legs- something I checked before I bought it! The top...sigh. When I went to start to repair the veneer, the job that someone had done previously was keeping me from being able to fix everything. So my next thought was to take the veneer off. Not my first choice by any means!!!

 Ugly right?! But after getting all the loose veneer off the rest of it was surprisingly well attached. So I decided to wood putty just to even everything out and then paint. The wood putty took 3 applications before everything was smooth.

So then what color to paint? Well the walls are going white, the couch is white, the chairs are white. I really wanted to do something different. So I thought I'd try red.

So as I am writing this I am mid-process and beginning to doubt myself! The end project that I am going for would be a nice antiqued finished with big creamy cabbage roses painted on the top (My Mother in Law offered to help me out with that one!)  Doesn't that sound great? Streaky unfinished paint jobs always throw off my vision. Like my other table I was working on-

This was the night table in our guest room.

And I really liked it.  But then I saw this.

Someone had this lovely little table on Craiglist for $25. $25?! I snapped it right up. Look at those legs! Plus a drawer in a night table is always an added bonus. So I put the other table on craigslist. I didn't do anything to it and it's been on craigslist for a couple of weeks. I listed it as a fixer upper and apparently no one was interested. So I thought I would do the fixing myself and re list it. It's going to be a lovely spring green color. I am SOO ready for spring! But again I hit mid-paint job and it made me nervous. But it's great. You should see it. Come back tomorrow because I will post pictures! Also if you live in the Lansdale Area and are interested in my little green table for $30 I will be in Lansdale on Sunday and I can bring with me!

See you tomorrow!

The Perfect Little Table

We gave away our old coffee table and end table to a family friend who needed it. We had a coffee table from my mom (no I haven't tried to paint it again) but we didn't have an end table to replace the one that left. It wasn't a big deal and I wasn't in a hurry to replace it. At the same time I was keeping an eye open in case I found something I liked. I wanted something in a similar style to the other furniture we have put in the living room. I found this one on Craiglist.

They wanted $50 for it- which in my opinion is a little much because if you look closely at the picture you can see the veneer coming off along the back edge of the table. So I kept looking. I looked at a local used furniture store's website and they had this one for $35.

 I liked the price and it looks like it's in good shape but not enough to drive up to Kutztown to go get it. With gas prices these days I didn't love it enough to make the drive. So today I dropped Aleena off at school and hit the thrift store and found this little beauty.

Look at the carved detail on the shelf (and try not to look at my messy floor!)

I love this one even more than the other ones that I have found and this one was $32 and I didn't have to drive out of my way to go get it. Perfect deal in my opinion!  The top on this one needs some work although I don't think it's anymore than the $50 one would have needed.

I am going to sand the legs because there is some goopy varnish on them but I think I am going to leave the legs wood and paint the top. I have to paint the top- after I glue and wood putty it it's not going to be refinish worthy but I will let you know what I end up doing. I was just so excited about my find I had to share! Anyone else have some good projects going on right now?