Introducing Shop Your House

Getting ready to host a blog party is just like getting ready to host a live party in your home.  You find yourself looking around your place (ie.your blog) and trying to finish all of the little things you’ve been saying your going to get to PLUS the party prep…

- Party favors - in the form of a button :)
- Entertainment --- in the form of a good post
- Welcoming entry --- in the form of header touch ups
- Well organized games --- in the form of McLinky
- And then also figuring…that someone may always need to use the upstairs bathroom --- sponsors, sidebar, archive

Well…I’m far from ready, but just as they say…you didn’t come to see my place…you came to see people – in this case…for me to see all of you!!!

So…with all of this other fretting, plus getting ready to do the opposite of shop…have a garage sale...I have done very little “House Shopping”, but I’ll show you a small shelf that was empty and lost when I brought it home and by shopping the house I found it some friends in 15 minutes – literally!!

The newcomer shelf:


The semi-final resting place:


It’s far from the most beautiful creation ever, but not bad for 15 minutes and if you’ve been seeing my office/guest bedroom turtle-paced makeover then you can see it fits in perfectly!

So…let’s go shopping piece by piece…

Tell me these don’t make your heart go pitter-pat.  I bought the set while I was pregnant and I read them allowed to baby each night. He’s getting to be a little man now and these looked a little out of place among the monster trucks and hot wheels. Sold.


These were already in the room.  They add an eclectic not planned look to the shelf.  The color flow of both items pair well with the other accents. Sold.


These were in the hall under a bench.  They looked good there, but the hard metal shelf needed warmth and texture.  You really get the homespun feel in to action playing off the books.


As you can see in the first photo…I added the plate.  I didn’t shop for it…I stole it!! Right off the dining room table (which is still set from the tablescape)  -- We have been eating…on the porch!

  I’m not sure why I grabbed the plate…I’m thinking I liked the white, but it will only work if I add a little something to the mix.  But, that’s the great part of shopping your house --- the return policy is VERY flexible :)

Next week…I’ll be sharing a few tips for shopping your house…

But for this week think of the definition of “shop” according to Webster’s: to examine or buy an item.

Start examining what you already have with the same eager eye that you have at Pier 1, Target, the flea market, etc…

Thank You So Much for coming…by now you know party etiquette…so I’m going to simply ask that you don’t put your elbows on the table and please link back.

Oh…and no one likes to sit next to the guy who never stops talking about himself , so be a good listener and see what the other guests have to say by visiting their blogs.

Take a party favor if you like and put the Shop Your House logo in your sidebar…

And a polite thanks for having us in the comments would absolutely thrill me!!

I WAS SO WORRIED that I wouldn't get the Linky right that I posted before I got my code linked up so pretty please check back for the code or just use link it as a pic!!

So here you go...show me YOUR dirty hands!!

PS...Scroll down to see "Sidebar Sensation"
Tell Shalom you found me here and she will give you 20% back on your purchase!!

Linking to:
Beyond The Picket Fence
Colorado Lady

A place to sit – front porch style

I was spoiled in our last house.  Spoiled.

We had a beautiful, beautiful front porch.

We have a very nice front porch in this home too…although the floor needs replaced! 

I have been waiting for the front porch  to “come together”
3 years later…it has arrived! (except the floor)

I’ve had these very sturdy, very comfortable, very ugly pieces on the porch.  I was so excited to pick them up for $30 at a flea store (not big enough to be a market, too dirty to be antique). 


I questioned my vision and tried to sell them in a garage sale, but others must have questioned my vision also – they did not sell.

I finally listened to my neighbor who has been a believer of the vision from the beginning and painted the chairs (in the dark.)

Getting better, but not sold….so I left the chaise red.


Over the winter, I bought fabric to make a cover for the cushions (the cushions are very sturdy…you can’t buy them like that anymore!) Sewing is a good winter project. 

I instead stayed up late sewing on a beautiful spring day.

I also painted the chaise, but I will leave the table red for my own whimsical pleasure…(and to drive the neighbor crazy!)


She was right though…it was very easy to sew!!

And it looks really great!!! 

To sew these…I just laid the cushion on the fabric folded it over. Cut the fabric and sewed a giant pillow case.

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Moral of the story:  If you wait long enough for it to “come together”…magic happens…the magic is lo-v-ing what you already have!!!

Do you l-o-ve my palm planter??
Look for more secrets on this coming soon!!!

Cost of 2 chairs, 1 chaise lounge and side table - $30
Cost of fabric – 2.5 yards $8 (HUGE SALE!!!)

Now I must go and nap on my front porch!

Before I do though…remember to come by
DirtyHands, BeautifulLife next Wednesday for my first
Shop Your House party….

Linking to…

Vintage Kitchen Makeover in a Day…and for under $100!

When I say in a day…I mean everything bought, transported home, set in it’s place and enjoyed…in a day!  A magical, fun, terrific, memorable, wonderful day!! 

We drove around for 45 minutes waiting for our first selected flea markets to open…an older fellow couldn’t tolerate our loitering any longer and waved us in a few minutes early (woot! woot!).

We had so much fun…just look…she’s even beautiful in her bloomers!!

      That’s actually an apron!

You should know that for a while now my BFF has been wanting to give a facelift to her kitchen. Her kitchen had a cute, but not cheery/contemporary/vintage/eclectic look she longed for…

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At our first flea market…this was the load in her cart…
It only takes a quick look to see…her kitchen was born!

All of this was just around $60…she added to it a $10 plant stand and a few other odds & ends for around $25…

That’s a total of $95…

Cool…we can eat the value menu at Wendy’s and still be under $100!!! (Hey…we’re splurging and now in a hurry!!)

Once we had this loot we made a quick decision to rearrange the day and make the quick trip back to her house to put it all together.

First though, we stop at my house to ‘maximize the assets’ otherwise known as ‘shopping the house’…and…she sees these chairs stacked in my somewhat embarrassing garage sale pile and she says - Hey those might look good in the kitchen…she was right!


As soon as we brought them in…it set the whole tone for the room!

I should mention the first step we took and you should take in any room…is editing.  This is not the same as de-cluttering.  Editing is taking out of the room anything you don’t think you absolutely want to keep in the decor scheme…curtains down, beaded garlands, baskets, whatever…some will find there way back in, but you must first slim the visual pallet down!!

There used to be a cedar bench where the chairs are, but these are sooo cozy!  Three of these beach pictures were her FAVE find, so that pushed us into a wide color scheme that really gives the eclectic look she wanted…

We also were fortunate to have the perfect amount of fabric to create no sews in a bold, cheery, and totally yummy print!

The chest was a trade we made a while ago that got me in trouble…sorry sister!! It made a nice mini ‘table’ for displaying her new collection…she will be able to play with this for many seasons to come…

By maximizing her assets (shopping her house) I found this great green screen that actually goes on one of her windows, but they never use it...

The towel bar was already there…we added the vintage linen and the decal which she already had…($5 she paid for it!!)

It really echoes the existing wall words she had on the other side…and that vintage medicine cabinet was one of our finds for just $12!!! It had the makers name and date of 1936 on the back!!

The cabinet and the bread box also give places for storing pens, bills, homework and all of the other things that filter through their very, very busy kitchen since it’s the entryway for their home also!!  

And this little launch pad on the opposite wall  by the ‘green screen’ gives a place for keys in the mini basket and books, etc in the bigger basket…  

So you know I’m not fooling…here’s an example of cost…
Side note: Don’t you think the oval platter really breaks up the ‘boxiness’ of all the other rectangles in the vignette??

So much to be considered when planning vintage eclectic…or really any room…

-pattern…consider shapes
-texture…woods/metals/linens
-size….of furniture and accessories
-color…at least one white and one black item in every room too!
-contrast…mirrors/glass

…too name a few…

Another feature missing in her ‘old’ kitchen is the flow from room to room…it now flows with her dining room, but also by putting one of the beach pics on the entry porch…the kitchen flows out to these!!


Now…you just have to decide where to sit first!!

She even said that her daughter fell asleep in one of these the other night!! I’m so excited that instead of walking through their kitchen…my BFF’s wonderful family can enjoy a family room in their kitchen!! What a privilege and memory maker :)

For me…it was a fun day and I can remember her kitchen re-do while wearing this little vintage smock that only I would wear…well…me and Caroline Ingalls…

…picked up in the loot for $3!

Linking to...                           http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

http://www.southernhospitalityblog.com/

 

Simple Platter Decor

I have been contemplating adding a collection of white ironstone to my soffit display in the kitchen.  It currently has an eclectic mix of enamelware and red handled utensils…

I’ve been thinking that the ironstone platters would bring a little more contemporary and subdued look to my upbeat 50’s style kitchen…mostly I’m just a bit bored with it though…

Instead…I noticed how lovely a pile of rocks that I had dumped out of a vase looked on a white plastic lid as they dried…so…I grabbed the ironstone platter that I picked up for $1 over the weekend!!!

And…




What an easy way to add an outdoor, contemporary, simple touch to my “Sticks and Stones” piano top that's viewed as a mantel (Thanks Nester!)

...and it was just $1!!!!

I also have to tell you that I am SOOO PROUD of myself for finally putting up a simple post instead of writing a novel each time!!!

Enjoy:)

Linking up to

Trash to Treasures

My Grandma called it dumpin’
My Mom called it garbage pickin’
I call it goin’ green!

Seriously…my mom and her siblings talk of Sunday afternoons spent at the county dump rummaging through the discards for clothes that might be worn or furniture that might be used…

As a child…my siblings and I would all hide on the floor of the car when my mom stopped to check out someone’s trash!  We were mortified!!

“Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, I’m my Mother after all!!”

PS…I’ve had brown hair twice in thirty years
and this happens to be one of them…

I have found some of the best stuff along the curbside!  We have online groups that tag themselves as “Freecycle” and that makes us feel better about our need to go ‘dumpin’…

Call it what you want…but having these makes ME feel better!

(I was moving the table at the time…ie…odd placed items…)
And this is one of my all time l-o-ves…

And of course you know how these are inspiring my guest room/office for Over The Top Vintage…

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Part 2 is coming soon…I promise…
And while my eye is to the curb…little man benefits too…

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No joke…ALL of this I found for FREE!!!  Not too shabby…or maybe shabby chic!!!
Warm weather is here!! Picnics, walks in the park, garage sales…and trash pickin’!!!!  L-O-ve it!!!

Check out my "Rust & Moth" corner in the sidebar for more thrifty treasures!!

Drip, Drip, Drip

Does a clicking pen bother you? drumming of fingers on the desk? humming? leaky faucet?

We all have our ‘thing’ that makes us crazy! Well…God has some of those too…and a leaky faucet is one of them.  Before you go running for your pipe wrench…read on…

“A continual dripping of water,

and a contentious woman are alike”

Proverbs 28:15

 

Now, before you think about some other crabby, naggy woman…think about the last thing you ‘contended’ for…

 

In a book I began reading a while back, a husband was affectionately describing how his friends envy his wife.  Now I don’t know if she was a trophy to look at, but what they envied was her calm, cool demeanor. 

Of course, the other wives chatted over coffee that it was easy for her because she had a thoughtful husband.  He was always making little repairs around the house and never forgot important events or commitments…

His story is that his wife rights him a list and leaves him clear reminders and never mentions it again.  He admits to thinking of it as a game and often works harder and faster to get it all done to please her!

CONFESSION TIME…in the last 11 years my husband has asked me to write him lists more times than I count!  I’m sure I’ve written less than 11!!  He grew up in a home with a white board on the fridge for writing everything down!  I think of it as cluttery and ugly…he thinks of it as well – normal.

You see…I also ‘contend’ in my mind that it seems bothersome or demanding to make a list…

Well…At the end of the chapter the book asks you to think of and pray about one thing you could for your husband and have stubbornly chosen not to….you already know mine…

As I prayed though I had a flash in my mind…

(now I don’t consider this a prophecy or anything)

But I pictured my cool enamel tray  hanging as a write on/wipe off board on the fridge…

It’s taken me several weeks to remember the magnets at the hardware store…(maybe I need a list!)

I have laid down my contention…

 

  … now I can finally read the next chapter!!!

PS…I know it’s not the prettiest thing I’ve ever showed you, but it looks pretty good compared to his way…