The Lazy Mom's Guide to Fall Decor.

There is something about fallen leaves collected on patio furniture that I find slightly magical.  

I don't get too excited specifically for Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations.  Truth be told, I could skip Thanksgiving altogether-- it's not my favorite holiday.   Ain't nobody got time for switching stuff up between September 1- December 1, so the name of the game is Longevity.

We have a new addition on our  front porch in the form of a wicker sofa.  I snagged this little baby and a neighborhood yard sale a few weeks ago for $35.  It's still in great shape and came with a matching coffee table that is currently residing in our basement.  It looks so much better than the folding chairs that we bought when we moved in together.  They were great when we first got them, but 4 years later, they were looking used and abused.

I added pillows that I made from a table clothes a couple years ago, along with our monogram pumpkin.  To this date, this is probably one of the DIY projects I am most proud of.

These train lanterns came out of a family friend's basement. I have an unnatural love for them.  

The glass table we've had for years (it came with the folding chairs), and the weather vain was something I picked up at a yard sale for a dollar when we first moved to Norristown.

                              

This wreath is probably one of my favorites.  I snagged it at Home Goods in 2011 and I love the simplicity of the twigs, leaves and wheat, but it still has the beauty of the single rose.

 I have a couple small gourdes scattered here and there, but this is the only thing I put thought into  in the house is the mantle. 

I love this leaf art.  JEGs found it in the back yard last spring.  We both loved how the only thing left are the veins, making it looks like a skeleton.  I matted it with some scrapbook paper and framed it.  I am secretly hoping to find more next spring so I could do an entire collage on a wall somewhere.

Oh IKEA, how I love your ROTERA lanterns.  These were actually part of a table centerpiece of a wedding we went to in 2011.  I may or may not have snagged four that day.

The greenery is actually party of a floral arrangement I got on clearance from Michael's and I just pulled it apart, sticking flowers and leaves in here and there. The large faux pumpkins were bought on clearance as well, and I am kicking myself for not getting two of the same size.  Or at least more.

Our mantle wraps around towards our staircase, and it's a decorating conundrum to me.  It's very skinny and long, and I never know what to put there.  This time I popped a candle in the corner.  Boom.  Done.  

 Simple, to the point... now let's move this season along so I can get one with my Christmas decorations!

Always & Forever,
  ME

One Room, Many Functions

 We have a new addition to our sofa family!  Introducing the HOVAS' little brother, the HAGALUND:

Side note:  every time I say HAGALUND in my head, I am actually thinking Hugga Bunch.  Do you guys remember those creepy dolls and their movie from the 80s?  I totally had the purple one, Giggler or whatever.

Now that I've potentially given you nightmares for weeks, let's talk about how this little guy came into our family.  The second bedroom wears many hats:  it's a man cave.  it's Hunter's play room.  it's a guest room when my mother or cousin comes to stay with us.  it houses all my crafting crap.   The long and short of it:  we want to spend some time in there.  However, we fall into this situation when we are up there:

Instagram: LizzieInProgress

Sittin' on the hardwood floor.  Not so comfy.

We went back and forth about what do get in there -sofa, daybed, sofabed, DIY a bench- and we finally decided a sofa bed was the best bet for our situation.  Specifically, we wanted something from IKEA because in order for us to get it up our narrow, 90-year-old staircase, it needed to come apart.

I've been scouring Craigslist for a couple months, and mostly only coming up with futons (which we did not want).  Originally, we had our heart set on the KIVIK, but 1. they were hard to come by as a sofa bed and 2. when they did, they were a little out of our price range.   One day I stumbled upon a listing for the HAGALUND outside of Center City for $275. JEGs was a little hesitant about it's small size, but I pointed out we didn't need another 93 inch couch-- we weren't going to be sprawled out upstairs.  We needed something was comfortable enough for him to strum a guitar or me to perch and sip my coffee while Hunter played.  I offered the chick $200 for it and she agreed (over 60% off from the store!!) and we made our way down on a Saturday afternoon.

So far we really like it-  it's 59 inch width is the perfect size for our little nook area.  Two of us can comfortably fit on the couch but all three of us is a bit of a squeeze.  The cushions are firmer than the HOVAS, but they aren't uncomfortable.  We aren't crazy about having another white couch, so we are eyeing up the beige cover instead.  At only $60, it's not a huge expenditure and I think will save me from having to wash it every other day.

The bed extends out to the length of a twin bed, and not quite the width of a double bed.  The seat cushion unzips to become the mattress of the bed.  I'll be honest-- it's not the most comfortable thing in the world, but for a weekend stay, it will do.

It also sits pretty low to the floor.  I might try to beef it up for height and comfort with a couple thick foam egg crates.  

The HAGALUND has storage for linens, but all I could fit was the blanket and pillows.  All other items (mattress pad, extra sheets, as well as deflated air mattress) are kept in a wicker laundry basket I purchase months ago from Home Goods.  I love this basket because not only is it great for storage, it doubles as a night stand.

Confession:  the swing arm lamp is a hand-me-down from my parents, and we've had it for as long as I can remember.  I was so glad I caught my mom before she threw it out, because it's always been a favorite of mine.  The shade that is one there now doesn't fit (it's from the lamp in the nursery) so I will have to replace it.  I am, however, keeping the original brass finish. I totally dig it, and I love that brass lamps are so in right now.  

As far as toy storage in the room, we have a small Little Tykes books shelf that keeps all his toys for now.  

I know it looks like we are really awful parents and this kid has no toys, but we are in the process of putting away his "baby" toys and bringing out his "big kid" toys.

Wondering what the other side of the room looks like?

.. it's kind of a hodge podge right now.  We've got our book shelf and TV, and then just crap we need to go through.  

Getting this couch and spending more time in this room has made me want to get rid of that hideous Buzz Blaster Blue paint.  I'm still holding off, however, because our next big project is going to be turning this:

... to this!

As much as it kills me to get rid of anything that is original to this house, that closet door has got. to. GOOOO.  We  plan on busting it out and installing bifold doors and better shelving ( like we did for the nursery).

You guys, I am like a friggin linkasaurus today.  That is like my seventh link in this post.  What is with me today?

Anyway, we are also throwing around the idea of completely gutting the entire room.  It's hard to see in pictures, but there is a 1/2 inch gap between the dry wall and the top of the baseboard.  And I'll be honest, I don't think there is enough primer in the world to cover this god awful color.

Is it awful that I would rather re drywall the ENTIRE ROOM rather than try to paint over this color?

When we do finally paint, this is what I'm thinking of:

I am thinking of doing a white stripe about 2/3 of the way up the wall.  Below the stripe I currently have a swatch of Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter and above is Benjamin Moore's Edgecomb Gray.  I plan on using the curtains that we had in our great room in the apartment (shown) but I go back and forth about keeping them the soft blue they are or dying them navy blue.  

...and on the eighth link of the post, I am going to end this before I get too out of control ;)

This room has a long way to go, but the addition of the sofa has made it so much more livable!  Isn't it amazing what a simple thing like seating can do to a room?

Always & Forever,

  ME

Color My World: What a (S)teal!

Target aficionados (like myself) know that they sell little bottles of nail polish for $.97 in their beauty department.  I've past them a couple of times, but as a die hard fan of Sally Hansen and O.P.I, I've scoffed at their cheap price tag.  I may be cheap, but I do have standards.

The other day, I was meandering through during my lunch break, and I saw the Tudor City Teal.  As someone who sticks to classics like pink, red and nude, this was far outside my comfort zone.  I figured that for under a dollar, I was willing to take the risk.

I am still on the fence about the color.  Like I said, this is not something I would normally rock, but let me show you my other purchases that day:

...my new planner and a sweet little bow key chain snagged from the Dollar Spot in the same hue.  Oddly enough, I didn't realize they were the same colors until I got home.

And further more, it's an almost identical match to my cellphone case (please look past the dirt of daily use):

So while I thought this was a new and daring color for me, I'm realizing it's a color I surround myself on the daily.  Which leads me to think, why not on my nails?

Watch out world, I've got teal on my nails.  Ain't nothin gonna stop me now.

Always & Forever,
  ME

DIY "Ceramic" Vases

 I have been mildly obsessed with these West Elm ceramic vases for a while

They ranged in price from $19 for the 6" squat vase to $59 for 18" tall vase. While I don't think those prices are ungodly, I knew I could recreate them much cheaper.

I've had these three woven vases for about four years now.  They've been moved to every surface of this house, but most recently they have taken up home in our guest room closet. They look short and stubby on our mantle, and their natural color looks washed out with the yellow walls in our kitchen.  I decided they were begging for a make over.

The price tags on the bottom said they were $12.99 for the large one and $7.99 for the smaller two.  But I know me, and there is no way I paid that much for them.  I'm going to assume they were at least 50% off making them at least $14.50 for the trio.

I snagged some spray paint I had from the basement from other projects and gave them each two coats of primer and two coats of color  

L to R: Valspars Dove Gray, Valspar Primer,  Krylon Gloss White and Krylon Gloss Smoke Gray

I let them dry and now they really pop on our kitchen buffet!

They aren't an identical match, but not bad considering I used what I had lying around the house.  The best part is my version is not ceramic-- so I don't have to worry about little toddler hands reaching for them and knocking them over.

One day I'll be able to have nice things again.  When Hunter moves out.  ;)

Always & Forever,

  ME

Ninety-nine Problems and A Clock Ain't One of Them...

One of the projects JEGs and I worked on over the winter months was some functional decor in the kitchen.

We had two issues that were driving us crazy.  First, the wall over the kitchen island was bare.

Ok, so that was driving me crazy.  JEGs wasn't exactly loosing sleep over it.

The bigger issue is the fact we have no clocks in our living room. I know you are probably all "..what about your VCR/DVD player/cable box?"  and I'm all first off, who has a VCR anymore?  Secondly, we have none of those in our living room.

Jigga whaaa?

When we moved into the house, in order to afford our mortgage save money, we cancelled our cable.  Most of the stuff we watch is on major network channels that we get for free through an antennae  and other stuff we catch up on Hulu and whatnot.  So we hooked an old computer tower up to the TV for internet watching and we have an XBOX for DVD viewing.  Neither of which have a clock on the front.

We have a clock on the microwave and the stove, but you can't see either of those from our couch, and since we are lazy, we needed a solution.

So we decided to kill two birds with one stone and put an over sized clock on that wall. [Read: clearly the only answer was to put another clock in the kitchen].

We looked around online and we couldn't find anything we liked to fill the space-- and the ones that did were SO EXPENSIVE.  So you guys know how I roll:  I do it my damn self.

We picked up house numbers from Lowe's.  Nothing too fancy, just 4" aluminum numbers for $1.48 each.   We did get bigger number for 3, 9, 6 and 12 to stand out.

We started out by making a large circle on paper to get an idea of how big we wanted to the clock to be.  Then we divided into pie-like slices to assess where the bigger numbers would go.

From there we drew lines across the slices to make sure numbers like the 10 & 2, 8 & 4 and 7 &5 would line up with each other.

We placed the numbers on the paper.  Once we were happy with the arrangement, JEGs made little marks through the nail holes of each number to show where they were.

He then taped the paper on the wall, and pushed through the paper at each pencil mark, making a small hole in the wall.

 Once he had pushed through all the holes, he lined the numbers up with the holes on the wall and screwed in the numbers.

Eventually we realized the cardboard slivers we were using as clock hands were not going to tell time, so we ordered a set from Etsy seller Clock Parts.  You can get clock hands in all sorts of fancy styles, but we went with the very utilitarian and clean look with simple 17.5" hands.

...and they were too big.  Oops.

JEGs grabbed his Dremmel drill and after some measuring, he filed them down to a better length.

I sprayed the larger numbers black to match the rest and we were finished!

                        

 

Here is the view from our couch;  you can clearly see what time it is:

The clock can actually be seen from the porch, and we've had delivery men comment how much they like the clock!

I'm thinking about pulling down the smaller numbers and painting them a charcoal grey, but that's not super high on my To Do list.

Here is the price break down for you:
Clock Hands: 18.95 + 3.95 (s&h)= 22.90
4" house numbers: 14.80 (10 @ 1.48 each)
6" house numbers: 9.45 (5 @ 1.89 each)

Total Cost: $47.15

Considering the cheapest pre-made clock we found to fill the space was $130 (and I was kind meh about it) I am super super happy with how this turned out and the cost.  Obviously you could get fancier numbers and nicer clock hands, but like I said, we were very utilitarian about this project.

How about you guys?  Any indoor projects you completed over the winter?  Or how about some fun spring time outdoor projects??

Always & Forever,
  ME

Vintage Dresser turned Island Style Buffet

:::peeks out from hibernation:::

 You guys still out there?  Or have I lost you all?

Sorry for the (over a) month long silence.  I needed a little time to detox from the holidays and basically just get my stuff together.  But now I'm back.  Back again.  Lizzie's back.  Tell a friend...

Remember once upon a time, when JEGs and I scored our original buffet from Craigslist, stained it blue and put it in the great room of our apartment?  

holy overkill on the styling.  Geebus.

I loved that buffet and it held a special place in my heart since it was the first piece of furniture that JEGs and I revamped together.  Unfortunately, when we moved into the house, it's small size was really not filling the space in the kitchen, and with the onslaught of baby paraphernalia, we needed more storage.  

I had been casually looking around Craigslist and peeking at yard sales, but I wasn't finding anything I wanted.  One day I was meandering around our local thrift shop, Impact! (it's very exciting) and I stumbled upon this:

A seventy-three inch dresser with gorgeous lines, fun rattan doors and tons of storage. 

The problem?  They were asking $175, and that was not within my budget. 

I found the dresser on a Tuesday.  That following Friday the store was having a sale of 25% off all furniture, so I took a gamble and hoped it would be there three days later.  

At 9:59 am on Friday I was standing in front of the store, waiting for the doors to open.  When they did, I rushed back and found it was still there!

After the discount and tax, the price came down to $139.13.  I could do better.

Since it was a dresser, it came with a mirror (you can kind of see it peeking out of the picture above). The following day I advertised it on Craigslist for $15, and it was gone later that afternoon.  I posted the original blue buffet on my Facebook page, and our friends Tim and Lisa snatched it up for $60.  

Taking in account the sale of the buffet and mirror, the final price of this dresser-turned-buffet was now $64.13.

HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW???

JEGs and I sanded it down and gave it a couple coats of crisp white paint and voila! 

I have such a crush on this piece now.  Something about it looks very "island" to me.  Like you would find it in your  hotel room on the beaches of Bermuda.

..of course, I've never been to Bermuda.  I'm more a Jersey shore kind of girl (without the GTL).

We replaced the original hardware on the drawers.  I had picked out brushed nickel but JEGs mentioned going with a flat black.  It was a hard sell, but once  we put the black on, I knew it was the right choice.  The brushed nickel felt too modern for the piece and really didn't fit our style.

The knobs on the doors are a different story.  I don't know if you can tell, but the original knobs had a very dated diamond shaped back plate that I hated.    The problem was, we couldn't get the knobs to sit flush with the door without them.  JEGs took the original back plates and cut off the points with a hack saw.  Then he used a bench grinder to get them into a more modern oval shape.  The original shape had a inner bevel we liked, so JEGs hand filed so it continued around the new shape. 

 He used some fine sand paper and jewelers stone to smooth it down, hit them with some flat black spray paint we already had and added the new knobs. 

The top had an indentation that went all the way around.  We liked the detail so we played it up by painting it black

and by "painting" I mean "coloring it with a Sharpie".    Don't judge, it worked.

The blue cabinet was good to us in the apartment, but a bigger space means bigger furniture.  I have put everything I needed in this new piece and I still have room to grow.

We already had the white paint on hand, and even though I don't have the receipts anymore, I don't think the hardware cost us over $10.

What do you think?  Seventy-five dollars well spent?  I think so.  

Always&Forever,

  ME