Sunday, May 29, 2011

Flea Market Finds

Well, I've already shown you some photos of items I did not bring home from the Springfield Antique Fair last weekend. You can see them here. I know it's hard to believe I could pass up the armadillo shell bowl, oversized lawn chair and creepy, possessed-looking doll. However, today I will share a couple of the treasures that did come home with me.

The first item is something I have been needing/wanting for quite some time. I have been searching for the perfect size bench for my side entry hallway. I needed something small and narrow to fit the space, and I figured a crock bench would be perfect.  Here is what I found...


I was so relieved (as were my shopping buddies) to find this sweet little bench, since we had scoped out every contender at the entire fair. Just call me "Goldilocks and the Three 24 Little Benches." One was too wobbly. One was too splintery. One was too expensive... $350... what??  Whose famous backside sat on that one, I'd like to know?  Several were too long, too wide, etc.  But, this bench was "just right."



A perfect spot for little boys to sit and remove their shoes.


Or the perfect "bedside" table for a tired dog. It's rustic and chippy, but I like it that way.




I wish I could say this next item was something I really needed, but alas, I just saw it, loved it, and had to find a place for it...



Yep. Can't say I ever thought I might need a dry sink.  But I LOVE it! The color is what grabbed my attention. It's a great turquoise-y green with a bit of red showing under it. Heck, I would have bought the oversized lawn chair if it was painted this color :)



I'm keeping it in my sunroom, but I still need to accessorize it.



Looking forward to sharing the rest of my flea market treasures with you real soon! Have a wonderful Memorial Day :)



I'm linking to...

SouthernHospThriftyTreasures copy_thumb

Photobucket


Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Sirens, Sleep Deprivation and Stuff

I'm back from the booming metropolis of Springfield, Ohio where I attended the Springfield Antique and Flea Market Extravaganza. (Say that 10 times fast!)

I can't wait to fill you in on all the flea market fun and finds. Unfortunately, I am too tired tonight to do a proper road trip recap, so I hope you'll bear with me for a few more days.

Instead, I'd like to share my excuse for not posting about the flea market. To hold your attention while I ramble, I will throw in random pics of some interesting flea market finds that I didn't take home with me.

Okay, so here's my excuse:

It's the last week of school for my kids.  If you're a parent, you know what I'm talking about. The last week is always the busiest. Don't the teachers realize we want to savor our last few days of freedom before the kids are home 24/7??

To top off the crazy week, I spent last night listening to tornado sirens and watching weather reports. In the past the sirens have sounded, and the weather has been nothing more than a bit of rain.  So I am leery about waking sleeping children if I don't have to. I especially hate waking my 2 year old, because once he's up, it's nearly impossible to get him back to sleep.



Of course, my husband was out of town. He was sleeping siren-free in a nice hotel. Good for him. In light of the recent devastating storms, I decided to pay heed to the weatherman and wake the troops for a trek to the basement.




I carried/dragged my older boys downstairs, kicked about 500 toys out of the way, set up the sleeping bags, and got them settled in. The thought running through my head was that our basement was probably not the safest location in the house. If a tornado were to stir up all the junk down there, we would surely be knocked unconscious by flying bins of legos, matchbox cars, little people houses, nerf guns, buzzlightyears, etc. The basement more closely resembles a war zone than a safe haven.




I positioned my 5 year old on one side of the sectional, and snuggled in with my youngest on the other side. Like I said, once he wakes up....
every time someone rolled over, grinded teeth, coughed or made the slightest sound, my 2 year old sat up and said, "Who's that?"
Every time the thunder rumbled or the wind blew (which was about every 10 seconds), he would say, "What's that?"

This game of "Who's that/What's that?" continued for a half-hour or so, until I realized I never brought the goat dog downstairs. I ran up to get her, settled back onto the couch with my toddler and tried to catch some shut-eye. However, the dog was roaming around making noise, and when I got up to check on her, she was chowing down on a roll of toilet paper. I closed the bathroom door, ordered her to lie down next to us and again tried to get back to sleep.

Yet again, I hear the dog making noise and get up to find her eating a box of crayons. Well, that did it. She was going to have to take her chances upstairs. (Don't judge me. If there were a visible funnel cloud, I would have let her continue snacking in the basement.)



I head back down to the basement, and as I try to creep quietly back onto the couch I am startled by a blaring noise across the room. I go to investigate and find my toddler playing with a loud, noise-making truck that I can't figure out how to turn off. 

It is now 2am, and in a state of sleep deprivation, I irrationally think, "if I just lost a night's sleep and a tornado doesn't come, I am going to be pissed."



Well, thankfully, a tornado did not come. And despite today's complaining, I truly am grateful. Tired, but grateful.


Let me get some sleep, and I'll be back to show you the fun things that I did bring home from the flea :)  Hope you have a great night's sleep!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Rooms to Start Your Engines

Welcome, race fans!  It's May in Indianapolis, and that means one thing. The greatest spectacle in racing... The Indy 500.

Black and white checkered flags are flying all around town. In honor of the big race, I thought I'd post pics of some pretty amazing rooms decked out in... what else? Black and white.


House with two souls contemporary entry


Stonebreaker Builders & Remodelers traditional bathroom

Poway P Laundry room new construction traditional laundry room


Modern classic contemporary living room

Black & White Master Bedroom with a Touch of Teal contemporary bedroom

Brentwood Regency Estate traditional entry

Angelwylde House traditional bathroom

Home Farm 1 traditional family room

Catalano

Needham Kitchen traditional kitchen

Gilligan traditional kitchen

Minnesota Private Residence traditional kitchen

South Carolina traditional dining room

Beverly Bradshaw Interiors, Seattle, WA contemporary bedroom

Hawaii Residence tropical dining room

Brownhouse Design traditional hall

Yucca Residence mediterranean living room


So, are you a fan of black and white ? Do any of these rooms make your heart race?


Friday, May 20, 2011

Road Trip Extravaganza

I'm gearing up for a girls' trip this weekend, and you'll never guess where we're going!!

NYC? Nope. Key West? Nah. Springfield, OH?  YES!!!!  Why would that be exciting, or the least bit interesting, you might ask. Well, because this weekend is the Springfield Antique Show and Flea Market Extravaganza. More than 2,000 vendors from all over the country selling antiques and vintage goods. I cannot wait!!

This is my first time to experience such an "extravaganza," and I'm trying to mentally prepare for it. Of course, my first thought was that I needed a really great bag to carry through the market. Something lightweight to stash any of my smaller finds. I wanted something that I could wear across my body to keep my hands free for picking through all the loot :)

Check out some of these adorable bags I found on etsy.


mcldrygoods


CamillaCotton

CamillaCotton

the ruffled daisy


Being the great planner procrastinator that I am, I didn't have enough time to order a bag and have it shipped on time for the road trip. Luckily, I found this bag at a local boutique.


Nothing like a feed bag to make a girl feel like a flea market fashionista!



I hope to bring it home stuffed with goodies! Things could go one of two ways. I could either find so many great things that I come home with my van packed to the gills. OR, I could be so overwhelmed by the magnitude of offerings that I become paralyzed by indecision and leave empty-handed. Guess which one my husband is hoping will happen?

Anyone else road-tripping to Springfield this weekend? I'd love to hear if any of you have been there before and what you thought of it :)

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

The Project Is A Real B$#CH

Did you ever embark on a project thinking it would be simple, and before you knew it you were pulling your hair out in frustration? That is exactly what happened to me with this b$#ch. Ahem. Bench, that is.

Several months ago I stopped into a local consignment shop, and spotted this sweet little bench. 


Looks pretty harmless, doesn't it?  The price ($35) was right, so I brought it home.

I figured a little sanding, a little painting, and the bench would make a nice addition to my sons' room. Man, was I in for a rude awakening.

The bench is covered in some type of varnish that is very difficult to remove. I used my electric sander on the seat, and sanded the spindles by hand. I couldn't completely remove all the varnish, but I figured I had "roughed" it up enough that the paint should adhere.

I had the paint store match a Benjamin Moore black paint that was recommended by another blogger. The paint supposedly works wonderfully, even without priming.
 
Well, let's just say the paint I was sold did not match up. It was the strangest consistency. Thin, sticky, tacky... yuck!

Discouraged, I left the bench alone for more than a month. When I was finally ready to deal with it again, the paint was STILL tacky. In my haste to start over, I failed to take pictures. You'll have to take my word for it. It was awful.

I took the sander to it, yet again. It resulted in this lovely look...





Nice, huh? The awful black paint that wouldn't adhere properly, would now refuse to come off. It was time to pull out the big guns...


As far as strippers go, the Citristrip is rather pleasant. It smells like an orange dreamsicle, and is easy to apply. I applied it with a paint brush and used the scraper to remove the leftover black paint and varnish.




It's pretty gross, but it's getting there.

Wish I could end this story with an amazing tranformation, but the truth is there's a lot more stripping, scraping and swearing sanding to be done. Wish me luck!

I hope someday it turns out fabulous and all the frustration will have been worth it. Right now, I'm still feeling that $35 was a rip-off :)

Oh, and I'd love to hear if you've ever worked on any projects that were a real b$#ch!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Side Entry Spruce Up

I'm continuing to work on our home's equivalent to Grand Central Station... our side entry hallway. This small area is the hub of all arrivals and departures.

You can read about the tile and wall color here and here.



What I haven't shown you is the view from the other side of the hallway. Unfortunately, this photo isn't the best, but it gives you the general idea ...



As you can see, there was a whole lotta nothin' going on in that space.

I knew I wanted to hang a mirror there, but I couldn't find the "right" one. Thus, the wall has remained bare for more than 3 years. But last week, thanks to my local Home Goods, my wall was rescued from its naked existence... 



I knew the minute I saw it, that it was what my wall needed. However, it still didn't look "done." I moved the hall table underneath it and brought in a basket from another room.



I really like the way it turned out.




Much better than staring at a blank wall :)