Hey friends! I’m over at the Bozzuto Beat Blog today talking about my favorite thrift stores in Arlington and Falls Church. Check it out!
Furniture Hoarding
One of my favorite parts about re-doing furniture is seeing the potential in old beat-up pieces. I love treasure hunting. As I mentioned last week, I’ve been collecting furniture to refinish/refresh for my space at the Luckett’s Spring Market in May. Because I’ve been spending so much time thrifting/craigslisting, I haven’t actually finished any projects. But, I’m proud to show you the collection I’ve gathered. Here is what our dining room currently looks like. Some of this is for the market and some of it isn’t. That’s our dining room table, which normally has a table cloth but has magically transformed into my sewing table. This mid-century dresser is by Stanley furniture, and I’m having a hard time figuring out when it was built. Some clues: It has a stamp on the left side of the top drawer that says “Distinctive Furniture by Stanley”. The drawer glides in the dresser itself are […]
On Going for It
Source: imgfave.com via Sarah on Pinterest There are very few things that I can do for eight hours at a time and not get bored. But for some magical reason I can spend 8 hours sanding and be disappointed that I need to stop, shower, and, you know, be social on a Saturday night. I have the hardest time dragging my butt out of bed in the morning, but the prospect of snagging a great piece of furniture at a yard sale will get me moving. I’ve always maintained that I will not be the person who spends 40+ hours of my week in a job in which I’m not content. I know that’s a huge departure from many mindsets, and that it’s a little entitled—many people don’t have an option and do what they can to put food on the table, and I respect that. But it just seems to […]
Pretty Pillow Plans
In mid-January Kristen Krason posted this gorgeous mood board on her blog, 6th Street Design School (one of the blogs I check almost daily). Source: 6thstreetdesignschool.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest Oh, those colors! I love them. You’ve seen my affinity for raspberry pink in the past week, and I love how this mood board incorporates that with chartreuse and aqua — two more colors that. I. love. And those pillows! The second I saw pillow #1 I knew it was what our living room needed to look a little more cohesive. Source: fabric.com via Sarah on Pinterest Now, remember that this month is No Shop January. In early January I laid out some ground rules, and in those ground rules I allotted money for a blender and a yoga Groupon — two things I did not purchase. I also saw that the beautiful pillow fabric on fabric.com was on clearance […]
Monthly Challenge: No Shop January
I decided that to aid in that sometimes-lacking feeling of accomplishment that can come with my quasi-grownup state, I’m going to take on some kind of challenge each month of 2012. Today I am declaring this month No Shop January. It doesn’t ring quite as well as “No Shave November” (which I did NOT participate in), but that’s what I’m calling it nonetheless. Last year my old roommate, who loved to buy super cute clothes online, decided to do “No Shop November” to accompany her boy toy’s “No Shave November” and save some much needed moolah. Well…I looked at my credit card statement last weekend and realized just how expensive December was. And I also realized how much money I spend on impulsive purchases and projects every month. I don’t think my bank account can wait until November and I really want to get better at saving, so I am […]
A Quick Beginners’ Guide to Pinterest
It’s getting to be about that time when you might see something online and think “I should put that on my Christmas list”. Or, if you’re thinking ahead, you might be thinking about your Christmas shopping already. One of the best things to happen to Christmas shopping for the 2011 season is Pinterest. As I described in this previous post, Pinterest is an application that is basically an electronic version of cutting pictures out of a magazine and pinning them to a bulletin board. With Pinterest, you can virtually “pin” images of what you want for Christmas onto a pin board, include price info and size too. The best part? Pinterest maintains the source of the original pin and you can view its original source by clicking on the image. Never used Pinterest? You have to “request an invite” on the site, but that takes very little time. Alternatively, you […]
Sale Alert: Anthropologie Decorating Sale
As I’ve mentioned in a past post or two, I am definitely one to swoon over anthropologie’s home decor selection. Today I got an email about new items added to the their home decoration sale. While most of their beautiful textiles are out of my price range, there are some very affordable hardware options. Here’s a few things pretty thing I would pick up if I had any good reason to buy them and wasn’t depressed by the credit card bill I paid yesterday: This industrial/rustic table is really versitle. It would look great in a feminine room with a few rustic elements, or a masculine studio apartment. Althea Side Table – $99.95, was $198.00 I wish I had somewhere to put a couple of these cool vintage-looking pendant lamps. The reviews say that the wire isn’t long enough, but for that price you could easily switch out the wire […]
The Completely Clueless Car Buyer’s Guide to Buying a New Set of Wheels
I’ve been wondering for a while when I would actually feel like a grown up. I thought it might happen when I got my first real job, but it didn’t. Then I thought it might happen when I moved out of my parents’ house. Nope, not that either. Then last Sunday, I finally found it. It turns out I just needed to buy a car. I guess there’s just something about committing to spend thousands of dollars that feels grown up-ish. I have to admit, I had no idea where to begin when it came to buying a car. I did a little poking around the internet, but ultimately called my dad and straight up asked him, “What’s the first concrete step in this process?” So I’m giving you my firsthand account and step by step process in painful detail so that those of you that are about to embark […]
Get Your Groupon to Merrifield Garden Center
One of Today’s Groupon deals is to Merrifield Garden Center ($25 to spend $50). Not only is Merrifield a beautiful place to pick up fall-friendly mums and pumpkins, they have a gorgeous Christmas shop. In fact, my sibs and I used to go see Santa at Merrifield and I’m slightly ashamed to admit that just as we were on the cusp of disbelief this guy had us leaning towards the side of believing. In our defense, he’s really convincing. via Merrifield Christmas Shop via Yes, I am buying a Groupon to Merrifield today, September 8, so that I can use it on Christmas stuff (in a few months obviously). I like to plan ahead. For only the second time in my 24 years long life, my fam won’t be traveling to upstate New York for Thanksgiving (tear). This means I also won’t be able to hang a Henderberg’s wreath on […]
Meet Fiona!
Friends, I’d like to introduce you to my new best bud, Fiona Fit. My new BFF That’s right. I bought a new car this weekend! A couple weeks ago my old ’97 Camry finally bit the dust after our 7 years together, leaving me with no transportation for a week until my sister went back to college and I could drive her car around. My little brother will be driving that car to school starting today, so I was under a bit of a deadline to buy a new car. While my Camry and I had a pretty good relationship, it routinely failed me in one regard: I had a really tough time feeding my furniture buying habit with the proportions of the cargo area. Example: I bought two patio chairs at Target earlier this summer, took them out to my car, realized there was no way they would fit, […]