Thrifty Thursday

Last Friday afternoon I cruised through a couple garage sales.  I ended up buying a headboard and footboard!  I've been looking for an antique set for a long time and pondered even making my own, but this set is pretty much exactly what I'd been picturing.  I'm going to have to figure out how to build a frame or mount it onto my already existing metal mattress frame (or maybe I'll let my boyfriend do that part...).  The flower detail on the footboard is so precious!  I'm thinking about refinishing it too, stain or paint?  Decisions, decisions...


How much did I spend on this?  How does $35 sound??  Yep, I thought that was pretty good too.

I think I may end up trying to copy this Pottery Barn Gabriella upholstered headboard that goes for $699 for a full size.  Isn't it dreamy?

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/gabriella-upholstered-headboard/?pkey=cupholstered-beds-headboards

Did You Know?

I recently stumbled into the local Pottery Barn pretending that I could actually afford the furniture.  While browsing and silently praying that the floor models were going to be on sale, I started talking to one of the employees about a sectional couch that had a price that seemed too good to be true.  It was – the price was for the slipcover only (which made that go from a great deal to OMG outrageous really quickly!). 

Long story short, I told her I had just moved into town from another state and was in the market for a couch.  She says, “Oh that’s great!  We have a just-moved-into-the-area discount of 10%!”  Say what?  PB has a we’re glad you moved close to us from who cares how far away discount that I can use on anything online as long as I get it through the store?  This is too much for me to handle!  Of course, the furniture prices are still way out of my budget, but I thought I’d let you know in case you’re interested.  The discount usually only negates the shipping/handling fee on the furniture, but at least that’s something.  In my opinion, if you buy a $1500 couch it should be shipped to you for free.  I guess I’m still in cheap college student mode :D 

I’ll probably have to stick to craigslist furniture for the next year, but after that when I can actually afford PB, I can get the couch I always dreamed of!

I heart houndstooth!

I feel like I had a pretty productive weekend, all things considered.  Here's a quick recap.


I'm sitting at my new (to me) Pottery Barn Kids (that's right!) desk, thanks to craigslist.  A lady had 2 of them for her kids that she was getting rid of and I was one of the lucky buyers!  It's the Keaton desk from 2006 in a honey oak color.  The desk is basically a table on casters and there's a hutch with a big corkboard and shelf on top.  She sold it with a rolling filing cabinet style table and the matching chair.  I'm sure this was around $1000 or more new, and I rolled it away for the sweet price of $150.  Ka-ching!  Awesome deal :D  

I decided to recover the seat of one of my mismatched dining room chairs yesterday.  I told you that the green houndstooth would return!  It would be more cohesive as a look if I painted the wood cream to match the fire place screen, but we'll see if I get around to that.  Here's hoping Carlton doesn't use it as a new scratching post!  Looks much better, no?  Whoever put the plaid on before didn't seem to notice how crooked it was.


Before:

After:

Carlton!

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has a great Easter!  I had brunch on the beach, and it was fabulous.  I meant to go to sunrise service at the beach, but set my alarm clock for 5:30 pm instead of am :(  Oops.  I had a delightful soft shell crab and shrimp omelet for brunch.  If I decide to park it on the East Coast for an extended period of time, I'll have arcus before you can say "hypercholesterolemia" or "lobstaholic."

At long last, here's the picture of my finished Easter egg blue dresser.  When I was shopping for dressers, one like this would easily sell for $150+ at one of those kistchy boutiques.

Before:

After:

What's in a name?

You may wonder how I decided upon my blog name...or maybe you could care less and no one is actually reading this except hopefully my mother.  Well, if anyone cares to know, I owe the name to my previous awesome roommate Megan.  She scores a little low on the creative scale, and she made a great decision when giving me free reign with her credit card.  Obviously, she didn't know me very well yet!  


A trip to her family's flea market one weekend started it all.  She saw a cushy looking footstool that was $20.  I told her to ask for it for $5.  This was my first time at a flea market, but much like the bazaars in Egypt, I hear it's insulting if you don't haggle a bit.  So we toted home this footstool that had a few rips in the fabric and the original sticker from HomeGoods ($79.99) on the bottom.  I told her to stop at JoAnn's on the way home and we picked out a great floral/paisley print from the clearance section to recover it with.  She had already pilfered her aunt's sewing machine for me to use - how sweet is she?  We get back home, I turn on the football game, and start disassembling the footstool cover.  I used one of the pieces for a pattern, cut out the new fabric, and had the new cover sewn in about an hour and a half.  Megan woke up from her nap and said, "Oh wow! It's like magic - you should be a decorator!  I'll tell everyone I have an original Phone Home design by E.T."  And thus the name is born!


Here's a pic of the ottoman before - not terrible, but not fun either.

And after I worked my magic!  Don't worry, the bottom wasn't flapping in the breeze.  We staple gunned it down the next day.  It even has a matching fabric covered button.  How cute :D

My First Post!

I've been thinking about blogging for awhile now, and the other day when a random stranger asked me where I find J. Crew stuff to sell on eBay, I decided it was finally time to share my crazy ideas with the world (or anyone who cares to read about them).

I'm a young Midwesterner, currently transplanted to the East Coast until I graduate in May. Since I'm currently single and don't have anything else in particular that's taking up my free time, I'd like to

try my hand at this blogging business.

Let's start with a craft project, shall we? Since I moved to my temporary apartment, I found the bedroom furnishings a bit lacking for my ginormous J. Crew collection... So, what is a girl to do but head to the local Goodwill? Well here's my dresser, a bit dated, don't you think? A work in progress and almost finished. All you need is

one ugly piece of cheap furniture, a sanding block, and spray paint primer and a spray paint color of preppy choice. Voila! A brand new dresser that sells for crazy amounts of money in those cute little boutique stores so popular around here.

I guess I forgot to mention that I save myself into the (almost) red zone. Here's the stats on this project:

Dresser from Goodwill: $25 (on sale from $49)

1 sanding block, 2 cans of Kilz primer, and 2 cans of blue spray paint: $24.77

Total $50

All in a day's work :D

I still have to add the finished pic, but here's a peek!

Check out the wicked shading on the edges of the drawers. And all that brass hardware! Definitely retro '50s...