Macklemore Challenge

This weekend I took a trip out to Pinson to visit Mission Possible thrift shop as part of Young House Love's Macklemore challenge (as if I ever needed an excuse to go to a Thrift shop).

The challenge was to see what goodies you could find with just $20.  You didn't have to spend the whole $20 but you shouldn't go over (Price is Right styleeee).  Then we'd have a good ole link party to share our spoils over on YHL today.

I immediately snapped up these two black candle holders.  They look like black glass but are only plastic (shhh, don't tell!).  That was a whopping $1.78 of the budget spent.  You've got to love Thrift Stores that just write the price on the item.

They had a couple of side tables that would have looked great refinished in a bright colour, but I couldn't resist these 2 lamps.  Ok, so the gold is terrible and they're not an exact pair, but I think when spray painted the same colour they will look great.  Now all I need is to decide what colour to paint them - any suggestions?

I only spent a total of just over $10 ($10.76 to be exact, the lamps were $3.99 and $4.99 each) and managed to pick up a pair of candle holders and a pair (ish) of lamps.  You can't beat that!

While I was in Pinson, I thought I may as well pop into Sonya's Stuff (think thrift store meets junk shop meets flea mall) .  I mean I was in the area so it'd be rude not too!  They had posted a pair of mid-century nightstands on Craigslist about a month ago.  I was sure they would have been snapped up, but thought I'd see what other goodies they had.

I couldn't believe it when I walked in and they were still available.  Clearly I grabbed them and ran. Here they are at home in the Master:

 

 

 

 

Lots more Master Bedroom updates to come next week.

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Kate

xxx

Old Stool

A few months ago I picked up this little stool for only $10 from Sonyas Stuff out in Pinson.  They do house clearances and have some amazing finds for cheaper than cheap. They never try and paint or fix up what they find so it's a great place to go if you're looking for a project. 

 

I wouldn't dream of painting the wood, but the beige top needed a bit of a makeover.  I hit up Joanns fabrics this weekend and picked out a striped fabric.  This was my first venture into upholstery and it went surprisingly well. It was as simple as measuring round the outside of the cushion, cutting the fabric about 2" wider around all sides, and stapling away.

 

 

 

A little Paul Smith-esque, perhaps??

 

 

Source

 

I love how it turned out.

 

 

 

 Kate

xxx

 

Valentines

In the spirit of all things valentines, I thought I'd try something I've seen on Pinterest about a million times - met, married, live.

The idea is to cut out a map heart of the place you met, where you married and where you live.  I picked up this old school map from J&J Junk on my last visit, and printed out the silhouette of a heart.

 

The tricky thing was we met in London, so a road map of US, Canada and Mexico wasn't exactly going to reach that far.  I decided to get creative and used London Ontario instead.  Perfect!

 

 

I rummaged around my frame stash and found an old Aris frame I bought from Michaels when they were on clearance.  They are exactly like the Ikea Ribba frames but about a quarter of the price.  I must have bought about 20 of those frames, so annoying they don't stock them anymore.

 

The only thing was there were 4 spaces instead of the 3 I needed.  I decided to cut out a red heart to fill in the extra space.

 

 

Here it is up on the wall just inside the front door.

 

 

Kate

xxx

 

Scottish Is

Happy Burns Night to all my friends and family back home in Bonnie Scotland!  Robert Burns was a famous Scottish Poet (he wrote Auld Lang Syne) and his birthday (Jan 25th) is usually celebrated with a traditional Burns Supper of haggis, neeps and tatties, and usually too much to drink!

The Selkirk Grace always starts off the meal:

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
And sae let the Lord be thankit.

And while we're on a Scottish kick, I couldn't resist posting this clip:



In honour of Burns Night I'll be sitting down to a glass or two of overpriced Irn Bru!  If you're ever in Publix, keep an eye out for the fluorescent orange glow of Irn Bru (its usually in the teeny tiny Brit food section).  I won't even try and describe the flavour - you'll just have to try it.

 

Kate

xxx

Feature

Today my DIY desk is being featured over at Knock Off Decor.  Beckie's site is jam packed with cheap ways to recreate expensive projects, you can't get much better than that!

Thanks Beckie!

 

Kate

xxx

Welcome home

Who doesn't like a nice warm welcome when you visit someones house.  I was wandering round Hobby Lobby the other day, and spied this little gem for just $3 (all of their chipboard was 50% off).

I painted it plain black and popped it above the doorway at the end of the hallway.  I love the old school typewriterish (totally a word) font.

 

 

You see it as soon as you come in through the front door, and it goes perfectly with our Nessy print.  I'm loving how painting the hallway cream really opened up the space compared to the dark sludgy green it was before.

 

I have big plans for this hallway which may involve adding a stripe or two, or maybe a gallery wall??  

Kate

xxx



Countertop Fraud

The last time I showed you our desk, I had crafted the desktop from cardboard and an old metal shelf (more on that HERE), but it was still looking very sad:

Thanks to some basic walnut look contact paper, the desktop was transformed into this:

It was surprisingly easy to stick on, and has a nice smooth finish.

You can see the metal shelf lip at the back of the desk, so the desktop doesn't slide around and is very sturdy.

Here is the desk area now with all of our accessories added.  Most of the items we already had (the stool was moved from being a side table in our living room, the lamp was an old thrift store find, the black 'in tray' was $2 from J&J Junk).

I did splash out $2 on the Michaels tulips and weekly planner:

I've been collecting these K's over the past few years:

The storage has been so helpful for organizing our important documents......

.......and my Better Homes & Gardens magazines.

The grey drawer organizers were from Homegoods and will hopefully prevent them from becoming junk drawers.

You can see how slimline the desk needed to be (one of the main reasons I couldn't buy new/used).

I'm so pleased with how it turned out - one step closer to organization.

New here, thanks for stopping by. You can stay connected with me through Bloglovin:

Google Friend Connect (check bottom right in the side bar)

Or see my likes and loves on Pinterest

Kate

xxx