Be honest, which chair would you rather sit in?

Don't lie to me. Would you rather sit in this chair:

 Or this chair:

That's what I thought. You'd rather sit in the chair with the waaayy cooler pillow. I bought some new patio furniture in lieu of rent this month (which means, I guess, he gets to keep it if we break up? I mean, I paid for it, but it was in lieu of writing a check to him for rent minus half the utilities..ah guess we'll cross that bridge if we get there).

The set (a small loveseat, two chairs and table) came with some pretty - yawn - boring pillow covers. I didn't notice until we got it home that it was from the Country Living series. Now, I'm a small town girl and my style is a bit country, but that fabric was plain and boring. I just so happened to have enough outdoor fabric in the damask pattern that I love so much, so I just whipped up 4 new covers in about an hours time.

I like this much better than I did the plain old standard, comes with the package covers.

My motto in life is "don't settle, even if it is just a paint color" - I think that fits here too...just with pillow covers I guess.

Sidenote: the corner tables are from Goodwill. $4.99 a piece, 2 cans of stone spray paint and voila! - side tables! Don't be jealous, there's plenty at Goodwill to go around :)

We finished something!

Remember when the front of the house looked like this:

Pretty drab, but considering no one lived here for a year, it's not too bad.

Well we Tyler's dad finally did something about this. Ty took out all the bushes and started a landscaping project that only his dad could help finish.  After a couple days of this:

Someone must have known I was going to take a picture...always wanting to show off the "goods"

 and this:

Craig hard at work. He only stopped to sleep. Crazy man.  Much appreciated though.

We now have this:

New front patio, much better than the bushes. Chairs from the side of the road, tables from The Will.

 and this:

Quick tip: buy your plants towards the end of the season, they're much cheaper and these come back each year. Score!

and this:

Now we can sit out front and stare awkwardly at the neighbors house.

Now let's try those side by side shall we?

Before	After. You like?

Not to shabby huh? We'll be adding some planter boxes that we decided we're going to make this winter. We actually took the time to sit on the chairs last night - they're a bit uncomfortable but we got them for free on the curb so I can't really complain. I'm just going to whip up a few cushions for them in my newly finished craft room - which I just need to tidy up a tad then I'll take a few "after" pictures. We all remember the before right?

Things are coming together people...be ready for some more before and after posts!

So what are you reading right now?

Here's what I picked up at Goodwill a few days ago after practically having a withdrawal...

1. Better Homes and Garden's Handyman's Guide circa 1960. This was more of a purchase for the man of the house...he's not the most skilled when it comes to the mechanics of having a home. Even though we won't be wallpapering or laying 4x4 ceramic tile in the bathroom (since it's already there, ugh), this still can serve as a nice guide on unclogging drains and patching your fireplace. And truth be told, I bought it because it was old, looked cool and was only $1.29. He's never going to read it...(sigh).


2. Readers Digest Complete Guide to Sewing circa 1980. This is a me purchase. I sew but only learned by someone teaching me on a few patterns and I've just figured the rest out on my own since then. I looked through this book the other night and smiled the entire time. I can make ruffles, do French darts, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It's a nice reference material and it does look good on our coffee table too. It also only cost me $1.29 too.

3. The Autobiography of Merton Boswell Greene. I couldn't resist this book. I always feel bad when I see family pictures or other really personal items at Goodwill. I imagine that no one took the time to either take the pictures out of the frames or just didn't care or know what to do with whatever it was. I was drawn to 'ol Merton and his fancy bow tie. He clearly had put some time, energy and probably money into writing his own story. On the first page I learned that Merton had written this when he was 87 years old, with a typewriter, and would be including some of his father's own writings as well. His father had written something similar when he was alive, I assume Merton felt the need to write his story and include his father's story as a way for his family to remember him. His family clearly didn't care as it ended up at Goodwill. I'm hoping that someone just wanted to share his story with others. So for $0.89, I picked this up. I'm a few pages in so far, it's his father's story that I'm currently reading. Grew up in England, they had a successful shoe making company until machines took over. He (Merton's father) moved to America just two years before the business went under....I know it doesn't seem like an interesting read, but this is true reality. I find it nice to read something that someone put their heart into. I just hope when my family throws all my old pillows, refinished furniture and other things I've done to Goodwill, someone else will pick those up much like I did with Merton's autobiography.

So what are you reading? It's getting to be fall and that's when I like to go to bed around 9 or so and read until it's my official "bedtime." Any good suggestions? And if anyone wants to read about Merton, just let me know!

Okay okay, enough bitching..how about some before and afters?

I know, this blog has turned into just my opinion. Well so-rry for being so busy with finishing up projects that all you get is my opinion.

So let me show you what has been keeping me sooooooooooooo busy....

Oh wait, wrong picture....let me try this again...the dresser pictures this time please:

Purchased for $9.99 at Goodwill, all sorts of ugly blue...	Then we decided red, which was a mistake....
After said blue and red (and some brown) were removed...	don't you have flowers on your dresser?

I even bought some glass knobs to play up the "shabby chic" (I sound so old saying that!) look. See:

I can always paint over it if I end up deciding I don't like the look of it. I guess this is the country part of my "Eclectic-Contemporary-County" style I have going on...

Now I just have to find something a little more masculine to put on his side of the bed. I have an idea, but I'm going to save that for another blog. It's quite amazing I think, but I won't be able to do it, so I'll have to send it out for completion. One thing at a time...

And after this weekend, I can't WAIT to show you the before and after picture of the garage - you remember the before picture don't you? 

D(ecorating) Day...

After several hours of drilling, screwing, and nailing - with power tools people, get your head out of the gutter.... - I finished some decorating. This wall just kind of came together, and came together nicely I think. I'll let you be the judge...

I call it Eclectic-Contemporary-Country

Most of the items were either bought at Goodwill, from Craigslist or given to us so this was a really inexpensive day...besides the trip to Wal-Mart and Ace, again.

The most expensive item is the clock - $50 from Target but I saw it one day while I was killing some time before a hair appointment, and after only buying Goodwill for the weeks leading up to that day, I wasn't sure I wanted to spend $50 for a clock. But I did. And I'm glad I did.

Let's see what else we have here:
Turquoise E - from Etsy, Ohiopicker - $40
Old school rotary phone - $1.19/lb from the Goodwill outlet
Bulletin board - $2.99 at Goodwill
3 colored frames - $2.00 total from Exceptional Opportunities in Algona, I painted them with paint we had
Eiffel Tower lamp - $4.99 at Goodwill
White shelf - $2.99 at Goodwill
All other shelves and file cabinet - FREE - given to us by Tyler's brother as they moved to New Jersey (fist pump!)
Desk - $20 from Craigslist - lady wanted $30 but I took 2 20's and she didn't have change...SCORE!
Big white bowl - $3.00 from Exceptional Opportunities in Algona
Chair - $4.99 from Goodwill - needs some recovering but I still think it looks pretty good.

So there you have it. I didn't add it up, I never do.

The other living room wall is coming together, just not as well as this did today. I need a few more items and then it'll be done. Work in progress people, I can't do it all at once so please be patient.

....to be continued....

New Project!

As if I don't already have enough projects hanging in the balance, Tyler went and bought a house and I am in the process of moving in this week. We painted trim this weekend with help from him whole family but still have plenty left to do! I'll post more pictures after I take pictures of all our stuff from Goodwill and get the house painted and situated soon!

I don't think my mom has seen the picture (she doesn't have Facebook y'all, and no, I'm not going to show her how to use it...I get my patience from her, which isn't much!) So here's the outside pic for my madre:

Hi mom - are you going to send me pics of the kiddos or not? You said you would last week....

On one of our many many trips to Goodwill, the DAV, and Salvation Army, I spied this super sa-weet couch. Unfortuantely, when I went back to get it (for the craft room), it was gone. Funny story though the girl that does my hair, her friend ended up buying it. I got to see pictures of it in its new home and while I'm happy for her, I'm still really sad for myself.  Let's all take a moment of silence for the sa-weetest couch ever:

Alas, here's the couch we picked out for the living room though:

It'll work. I really just wanted the green one for my craft room, although it would have looked pretty awesome in the living room....just saying Tyler.