house tour tuesday: my new friend

Posted in House Tour Tuesday by thefurniturefinder

i am so excited to show you all this house!

i spotted it a couple of years ago when i was taking my son for a walk. there were cute little buntings hanging in the windows and i somehow just knew i would hit it off with the mama of the house.

fast forward to this last weekend and i finally got to meet that mama and her sweet family. they were having a yard sale and had the most adorable old farmhouse chair in the sale that i couldn’t pass up. (side note: we had our own garage sale that morning and after ours was done, i hopped on my bike to see what the neighborhood sales had to offer. it’s a sickness i tell you. i’m addicted to old furniture and junk).

so, after a few minutes of chatting and bonding over our love of decor/diy blogs, i got to take a tour of their cute old house.

there are so many fun, amazing details of the inside that i think i became speechless. (which if you know me, does not happen often!) 😉

like this giant pendant lamp that they made (they MADE! oh.my.gosh!). i want one now, too!

or the cute artwork that she just “threw together.” (M, i want to order some artwork for my house!)

and pieces of art that she used potatoes to stamp pops of color onto.

my favorite art piece in her house was this little saying that she did freehand with a pen. (SO cute! and i LOVE its message!)

there is so much eye candy it’s hard to have a favorite.

and then before i knew it, i was onto another room. mesmerized by the furniture.

like this old french iron bed that her parents’ found in Northern California. (swoooooon!)

and this adorable old keyhole dresser.

and oh! the details in the kids’ room!

like a baby mobile made out of twigs and fabric birds that gently sways from the ceiling.

and look at the artwork, my new friend made for her daughters’ room that she once again, “just quickly threw together.”

and just when i thought it couldn’t get any better….

we headed into the dining room and as i turned the corner i noticed….

this beacon of light coming from the next room.

the light was coming from a light fixture that the man of the house created (i nearly died).

everything in the space is just perfect.

from the antlers on the wall,

to the shelves made out of wood and old thrifted belts,

and a mini statue made out of old wire hangers.

and, of course, another intriguing piece of art that she “quickly threw together.” (M, please throw one together for me! i love it!)

as i was walking to the front door…i caught a little glimpse of her kitchen (they’re wanting to remodel it, so it’s not quite ready for its reveal). her lovely collection of pyrex was playfully calling my name. i love the pop of color it brings to their space.

i also love that i made a new friend. (and a creative one at that!)

can’t wait to hang out, M, and make something cool out of hangers or wire or something. thanks for the inspiration!

27Jun2013

transformation thursday: man’s catch-all

Posted in Before & After, DIY by thefurniturefinder

my hubby recently said that our house was a little fluffy. he likes it, but it’s just fluffy.

i wasn’t sure how to de-fluff our house, so i went right out and looked for new pillows for our couch that were not fluffy, but i came home with ruffled linen pillows.

oops. de-fluffy fail.

i tried. i really did. our house was built in 1913, which i guess classifies it as a victorian (?) and so, it kinda just decorates itself.

well, yesterday i noticed that some of his non-fluffy, man stuff was starting to accumulate in places that were not its home. (do you do that, too? give things a ‘home’ and if it’s out of its home, then you find it a home? please say yes.)

i remembered that i had that old desk sitting in our garage that i found on the side of the road (those that follow my Instagram, may remember?).

the desk was in really bad shape. the top of the desk had come completely loose, the bottom was falling off. plus, it looked like it had sat outside and been beaten up by the elements.

the drawers, however, were in great shape!

so, i took one of the drawers, cleaned it up and then sprayed it with some spray paint.

(Rusteoleum heirloom white is one of my favorites!)

we had some scraps of wood in our garage, so my hubby cut down a few pieces and then used his nail gun to attach them to the drawer.

(i decided to spray the wood pieces in this light blueish green color.)

of course, i sprayed it after it was nailed into the drawer, which got all over the heirloom white that i had sprayed. i had to go back over all of the inside and outside with more paint. i decided to use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in ochre. then i lightly distressed the shelves. (rookie mistake)

and this is what i came up with….

a man’s catch-all!

i added some plaid wallpaper that i found at the thrift store and wrapping paper from TJ Maxx.

now everything has a home,

and my man has a spot in our otherwise, very fluffy house.

(thanks, for putting up with my fluff babe! love you. xoxo)

9Jun2013

for the love of burlap

Posted in DIY by thefurniturefinder

remember the burlap craze!?

if there was a project to be done, there was burlap included.

first, i made a door hanger, from burlap of course, for my parent’s 40th wedding anniversary

i was all over the burlap trend.

my hubby, not so much. he said it smelled.

it did.

i still loved it and its vintage, rustic texture and neutral color.

it reminded me of being on a farm. tending to the animals and walking through the cornfields. (i’m not sure how i got all of that from burlap.)

see i had to buy burlap because it was affordable (*ahem* cheap *ahem*) and most of my projects were quick diy-ers that i just didn’t have time or money to mess up on expensive fabric.

i wasn’t entirely sure how to use my sewing machine at the time, so i used my hot glue gun (gasp) to make burlap pillows. i loved them!

my hubby hated them. he said they were scratchy.

they were.