my 2 cents or $65.51 opinion

back in january, we were lucky enough to find a fabulous Pottery Barn basic sofa in a thrift store. we would not have been able to buy the couch for any other price, and i could not have been happier with our find.

i was so excited about the sofa that i posted about it and then put a link in my facebook 365 album. excited.

it is absolutely living up to all the fabulousness that i thought it would. even this weekend, when i was sick as a dog and spent nearly every moment nestled amongst it's cushiony softness, i fell in love all over again.



so, when i got a random email from someone (a friend of a friend on fb) who had been looking for a PB basic sofa and was asked whether i would recommend buying the sofa for $300 used from craiglist, i said absolutely! this couch at any price less than half the original would be worth it.

and about the white slipcover, i really like it too. yes, it gets dingy. but it washes quickly and looks brand new again! beautiful. i have spilt coffee, darby has gotten it nasty, i dripped a fudgesicle, blood, and it has all come out. no, i do not yank the slipcover off each time it gets dirty. it really only needs it about once every three months. 

and about a white couch being kid-friendly? well, we don't have kids, but my nephew sure had a ball jumping on the couch from the ottoman when he was here for a week back in january. and when we do have kids, they won't be swatted away from the sofa as if it should be in a museum, they can jump too.

so, would i recommend the PB basic sofa? you betcha. now, go craigslist one.

that Country Living lampshade

I saw it and gasped. I really liked it. Without a doubt I knew I would be making it. Easy, easy but time consuming.


Don’t be fooled by the cover. That lamp may be $39.99 but the lamp SHADE is another $59.99!

Here’s my version…..

Pretty, huh?

I found a much less expensive shade at Garden Ridge and used a 40% coupon to get the stencil at Michael’s. The paint is some leftover from something else. And I improvised by dabbing on the paint with a wadded up napkin rather than a sponge.

Perfect? Nah.

I kind of like how the paint is thick in parts and thin in others. It really shows when the light is on.

Jacob really likes it. Before I went to bed last night, I admitted I liked it but didn’t love it like I thought I would. He said that didn’t matter because he liked it.

Linking up to DIY day at A Soft Place to Land because you can SO do this yourself!

January junkin

Any given Saturday you can usually find us at estate sales, yard sales or an antique store. We just have fun looking at all the cool stuff and finding things we had as kids. I guess you could say that junkin’ is one of our hobbies. It’s fun for us.

Well, today we hit the jackpot of all jackpots. Okay, not really, but I am really excited about today’s find.

We went to an antique store close to our house and were looking for a pipe for him and a chandelier for her. No such luck, but we did find these so insanely large they moved up with my cheeks when I laughed awesome glasses. Cute, huh?


Our adventure then took us to the thrift store across the street in hopes that we could steal away ten more minutes out of the house. That’s when I saw it.

White. Dark legs. I knew those sleek and curvy lines from years of dreaming in catalogs .

Could it be?

I checked the tag. It just said “couch” and “$90.00.” I was on a mission now. I decided I needed to flip this couch over to hunt for a label. Then, my senses came to me and I simply lifted the middle, slipcoverless cushion to find……


Yep, she was. So, I grabbed the cushion with the “Couch $90.00” tag and started towards the front. But Jacob had noticed another tag. It said “Couch $79.98". I began sniffing the couch all over to make sure it had not been peed on. I was looking for rips (it has one small one). I was expecting to find broken springs or busted legs. No smells. One rip. No breaks. A little surface dirt. SOLD.

When we got to the front and handed the tag to the lady, she said “Oh, you’re not going to pay this much.” My heart sank. “What?” I happened to stammer out. “It’s not going to be this much” she said coolly. I (stupidly) asked, “Why?” Again, she said, “It’s not that much. I can mark it up if you want me to.” Jacob and I together, “NO!”


The top tag is the tag on the couch. The bottom is our receipt that shows what we paid tax and all. Steal? I think so.


We got the couch after a trip home to get Jacob’s truck. I ran the vacuum over it (a few times) and cleaned it with damp washcloth. It is now drying from a round of febreeze.

We have already picked out and bought a slipcover on eBay (only $149)! I am am one happy junker tonight.


If you want to see what we bought yesterday while junkin with jacob’s family, go here. It sold in less than 12 hours for more than twice what we paid for it! Woo-hoo!

She’s got legs…

Does anyone else remember that old L’eggs panty hose jingle (in my title)? Okay, just checking to make sure I am still only a little crazy.

Whatever. Remember this?


I added some legs to my Craigslist ottoman/coffee table/storage bench doomaphlotchy (sound it out). Sexy, huh?


Yeah, not so much sexy. More like the cutest chubby baby legs you’ve ever seen. You know the baby legs that look like they have rubber bands on them. Chunky.

Okay, scratch all that. I’m calling her Eliza. As in Doolittle. Cause she has been transformed into a classy lady.


Do you think Professor Higgins ever had to use a staple gun and fabric glue?

Now she can no longer be a head rest for Darby. Or a bib, whichever way you choose to look at it. Cause classy ladies don’t let lazy dogs lay all over them, or drool all over them.




*This was the most randomy, jump around, ADHD post ever. Welcome to my world!

Reposted for DIY at A Soft Place to Land

See. Spot. Save. Craft.

See. Target has always been one of my favorite stores - if not my favorite. I know the layout of each Target in the area. I know where every clearance endcap is and that is usually what I end up shopping. But one of my favorite things that Target has incorporated in recent years is the Dollar Spot right behind the carts as you enter the store. Sometimes I find some good stuff and sometimes I don't. But I always look. Don't you just love that section?

Spot. Well, I just wracked up on some great fall items and knew exactly what I wanted to make with them. They had these sticky-back chipboard letters (orange and sparkly), fall scrapbook paper, and small Halloween scrapbook paper.

Save. So for only $4, I had all I needed to make some cute bunting banners. I knew I had some black cardstock, some brown craft paper, and some jute twine somewhere in the house. (With and 1100 sq.ft. house you can't really have one of those fancy, shmancy craft rooms)

Craft. So easy and so quick. I made one for Halloween and got a jump on things and made one for Thanksgiving too.

sorry for the blurry pics

I treat the area below as if it were a mantle. The Halloween stuff will begin its yearly showcase next weekend, so the spooky banner will be coming down for a few days. I just think it is a fun little addition and SO easy and cheap. Plus, I have lots of leftovers to make other decorations and maybe even some invitations for a par-tay!

do you see Sydney right there in the corner?

Well, Happy Fall and Happy Decorating. I am linking up to the DIY party over at A Soft Place to Land.

In case you need a little sunshine....

The weather here has been fabulous, like we had the windows open on Saturday kind of fabulous. Ahhhh! Sunny and breezy and light. Do you know what is a good color to represent this "it's still summer but here's a little fall teaser" kind of weather? Yellow. Think about it. You can have bright and sunny and summery. Or you can have warm and mellow and fallish. From lemonade to mums. Yellow is a good color, and I've been hooked on it lately. See?

via flickr

via design*sponge

via design*sponge

via anthropologie

via flickr

my favorite
sunshine floor to ceiling!
via design*sponge

via anthropologie

my second favorite
via flickr

Yellow is just a happy color, wouldn't you say?

Darjeeling Bluestone

It all started with a stumble upon the blog, Little Green Notebook, where I took in every piece of what this designer had to offer. (I had time because it was one night when I couldn't sleep.) Then I came across the post about her $25 coffee table she had transformed into an ottoman. She's brilliant I tell ya and daring too! A great combination. Then, came the fabric. Here it is. Isn't it pretty?

So, I went on a little mini-hunt and found this fabric, which is a close-enough substitute, at Calico Corners. I am going to find a way to get it cheaper and then recovered a much smaller but free ottoman we have in our living room. I cannot wait!

I really need no more projects. Here is my current wish list for the living room: recover two wing chairs, have the sofa recovered (this will be a while), and revamp the table Jacob built for me. But this fabric gets me excited and motivated.

The Heirloom House

This could be a good name for our place if we were in the business of naming our place...more to come on that in a later post. However, we do have many heirlooms floating around here. We adore them and are so glad that we have a house filled with pieces that hold history. we love old stuff, not for its shear coolness factor but that old pieces hold a story.

Here are some of our pieces and their stories.

The white cabinet you saw back on this post belonged to my great-grandmother on my mom's side. We called her Grand Ruby. She and her sister took my mom to church when she was younger and then helped her get to the Christian college where she met our dad. On the left is how it looked when my mom got it after Grand Ruby died. On the left is how it looks now in our dining room.

Now, for inside that cabinet....

This thing is filled with a mixture of our wedding presents and things my parents were given as wedding presents.
Some things belonged to our mom's mom, or MawMaw, if you will. See there that glass shoe in the bottom right side, those three teacups across the middle, and that pink depression glass set on the bottom shelf. Oh how my sister and I would admire that pink depression glass when we visited Mawmaw for Spring Break and the Holidays.

Well enough of my stuff, let's move to heirlooms from hubby's family.

This beauty hangs above our bed and looks eerily like Jacob's best bud, Sydney. We are not sure where it came from. Jacob thinks that it was drawn by his great-uncle maybe. All we do know is that it is a charcoal drawing that was in his grandparent's farm house in Pennsylvania. It has a gorgeous frame around it too.

One of our most valued treasures is this book. And while it is new, it holds years of photos and heirloom memories. Jacob's grandmother (with help from uncle and cousin-in-law) created and gave each grandchild a book of the family tree. It simply tells the story of Jacob's grandpa and grandma and the legacy they built of loving God and doing His will.

There are several other pieces in this house that have stories to go with them. There are so many others but I didn't want this post to go any longer. So, I'll give you them in list form.....Mawmaw's white Bible that Jonny gets, the bed my parents had when they first got married, part of dad's coin collection, Jacob's grandpa's work log, mother's pearls.

Well, like I said in my last post, I am glad that these things are in our house, but more importantly I am glad that we have pieces that mean something and tell a story of the people who once owned them.

We also have a great heirloom meatloaf recipe from Jacob's other grandmother......oh, it is so good. I'll be posting it soon, so be on the lookout.

Head on over Emma Calls Me Mama and enjoy all the heirloom pieces.

Better by Accident

First, you have to start with a blank slate. My find: the bathroom wall.

Next, you gather things left by previous homeowners and flippers and cool stuff bought at an estate sale. My finds were a rusty antique door plate ($2), glass knob, and two skeleton keys.

Then, you need to gather thrifty backdrops. My finds were two small wooden circle things for $1 at a yard sale, a yucky 70s-style oval frame at Goodwill for $2, and a piece of gorgeous scrapbook paper at Michael's for $.59. Oh yeah, you also need to grab Ivory/Antique White spray paint and some glue that you have around already.

Put it all together and what do you get. New wall art.

Now, we are not finished. You have to go to bed, not be able to sleep, hear a loud noise, get up and check for robbers, find the glass knob on the bathroom floor, laugh at yourself, look up and see something better than you did before you went to bed. My find: this.

Hubby said he likes it better this way too.

Price My Space Party

There's a party going on round here.....The Nester is hosting a Price My Space party today to round up steals, deals and just altogether good stuff and to see what we paid for it all. I really like her point that there are certain things you should spend good money on so they will last you forever, and then there are those things that you can bargain and thrift to your heart's content. Here's our dining room, all priced out.

1. The white cabinet (blogged about in the last post) has been in my mother's family for four generations now. I recently revamped it after sloooooowly working it on it over the last four years. Here's the breakdown: paint from another project, knobs $.75 per pair at BB&B clearance, paper 15 cents each at Hobby Lobby - 12 pieces, left over spray paint for hinges - free. Total = $4.80

2. The plate wall is another recent change in the room. The most any of these plates cost was $1.00 each. I painted the one in the middle with chalkboard paint. (And gave my sis a matching one.) The hangers were more than the plates themselves. Total = $ 16.50

3. My window "mistreaments" are not my favorite, but they will do for now. I tried a variation on a theme of the ones I created for the living room. You can read about those mistreaments in this old post. They are made of placemats, grosgrain ribbon, witch stitchery and hot glue magic. They serve their purpose well covering the u-g-l-y miniblinds that stay raised most of the time. The placemats were $4.99 for 4 (I only used three), grosgrain ribbon $1.99, witch stitch stuff $1.99 ( I ran out on the last set) for a total of $9.00 with leftovers.

4. These black chairs were a necessary purchased that later turned to love. A few years ago I accepted a position doing contract work for a graphic design/communications specialist. I needed to set up a workspace for days I would be working from home (I was living with my dad and stepmom at the time.) I used my sofa table I had in my apartment as the desk and was on the look out for chairs at Target. I was thrilled when I found one black chair on clearance for $15.38. I hauled that box home in flash only to find out I had purchased TWO chairs. Shut your face! So, good deals. They are pretty good chairs and will hang around for awhile I guess.

5. The Big Deal purchase of the room is the table. It was a huge splurge and it was all hubby's idea. I had knots in my stomach even after we brought it home. It is the Harvest table from Pottery Barn. We got it at the outlet for $499 a couple of months ago. It still retails in the catalog for $999 at least. It has another leaf that can be inserted to make it ginormous. It has no scratches or dents that weren't originally burned into the table. (One thing I love about it - it's rustic charm.) And it is SOLID. I know it will last us forever and that makes me feel better. I did not like the thought of getting rid of my parents table even though it was unfinished and I had to keep a table pad and cloth on it always.

6. Accessories on the left of the room - Total $28

Glass Urn thingys - family heirloom

Black spindles - about $15 at Hobby Lobby for both, had them in my apartment

Cream Urn - $6 something years ago Target clearance

Moravian Star - Christmas present from stepmom

Laugh sign - $7 at Hobby Lobby, was half price

Decanter - family heirloom, was my grandfather's

Crystal vase - a Mother's Day present I gave my mom when I was a teenager

Stuff in the cabinet - various wedding presents and family heirlooms


7. Accessories on Right side of the room, Total roughly $5 out of my pocket

Milkcan - mother's family

Plant - from dad's funeral

Wooden shelf - dad bought at Hobby Lobby for $15 but never put up in his house

Gold H - $5 at Hobby Lobby, half price sale

Votives - left over from our wedding

Sliverware Shadowbox - great-grandmother's silver, old shadowbox I gave hubby

8. These upholstered chairs were hand-me-downs and were given to my parents for a wedding present along with their old dining table. They used to be covered with this great seventies style green vinyl. Stylin'! You can see some great old pics of the chairs in my previous post. I am in the process of recovering them. Here's the redo breakdown: drop cloth $20, stain $9.00, upholstery tacks $5, foam and batting $19. Total $53 for 4 chairs. Nice! The other two chairs you see there are yard sale find, one was $3 and the other was $2. They are just hanging out here until get all of the other chairs covered. Total for side chairs $58.

That brings our Grand Total for the Dining Room to about $635......oops, I forgot the paint I got on sale for $16.52 at Lowes and then used my $5 rebate. So the total is really about $648.

After looking at some other rooms, I do not feel like that is all that bad. Most of it besides the table has been spent over time too which eases the blow. I know we have spent more than some people would to decorate their homes. I feel like if we do it now while we can, then I will always have pieces to work with later. I love that our pieces are unique and not like anyone else's. I love that they have a story and that they add character to our home. It's what makes our little house such a reflection of our little life that we love.

Head over to The Nesting Place to check out some other rooms and what they cost. It is really interesting to see what other people pay for decor and just the story behind the various rooms.