Too Much Rain

I'm not going to lie... I'm tempted to start counting down the hours till this week is done.  I am officially sick of rain.  Seriously... when will it stop?  Doug's been dreaming about buying a boat to fish the Fraser for years now-- and if this rain keeps up we might just have to buy one so we can escape from our house.  Enough of the drama...

The week didn't start well-- I had to say good bye to my out-of-town house guests.  Even though the house gets messy and large quantities of food start to rapidly disappear (a JUMBO sized box of mini wheats in 2 days) I am always so sad to see them go.  When you have house guests that look this cute, do you really blame me?

So my company flew home and I was left with MOUNTAINS of laundry (like seriously-- every sheet, pillow case, duvet cover, towel-- dirty) and it's been pouring rain for days.

At least I still have these two cuties to keep me company.

Although they may be starting to go a little stir crazy too with all this rain.  Caleb did cry for 15 minutes during dinner last night when he found out that T ball was cancelled due to the rain.  Poor guy.

So moving on to happier things...

I thought I'd take some time to show you all a few new things around here...

Like the new upper cabs that went up in our kitchen.  Now that our guests are gone it's going to be time to move all the other stuff over to these shelves so we can start the demolition!

They're not going be this pretty for long... soon all the junk will need a home too...

Any time my sisters come to town we do a little shopping (okay-- it's more like A LOT of shopping).  Remember how I was talking about adding some galvanized accessories to my yard?  Well I found these great planters at Ikea-- only $12.99 each.  Since it's been raining all week they haven't made their way outside yet-- so the kids have hijacked them for their toys.  They'd be pretty cute for toy storage... just saying...

And a LONG time ago I blogged about my plans for the exterior of our house when we were putting in the new windows.  Part of the plan was to put up some new sconces on either side of our front door.  I had admired this sconce from Barn Light Electric... but at $143.00 each that obviously wasn't going to happen.

But when I was at Lowes (across the border) over the weekend I snagged a pair of these... for $24.99 a piece.  Much better... can't wait for them to go up!!

10 points for me for holding up that light fixture and snapping a picture at the same time...

And lastly, I found this great throw pillow for Caleb's room at Ikea for $13.99.  Love the colors (I'm always a sucker for black & white), love the texture (kinda like a kilim pillow)-- love the way it looks in his room.  I'm quite sure he hasn't noticed it yet though :)  Guess he doesn't LOVE it as much as I do...

That's all I have to say for the moment... because if I keep rambling about how much I'm sick of the rain it's going to start to get a little depressing...

Feeling Thrifty

If you've read my blog for any length of time you would know that I love a good deal.  I also love thrift stores-- the thrill of the hunt-- a great deal-- it gets me every time!  A few weeks ago someone suggested that I write about my thrift store shopping process-- when do I go, how often, what do I look for, what's a good deal... and so on.  So, here it is... my personal guide to thrift store shopping.

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Where, When, and how often... 

I usually shop at my local MCC thrift store-- the volume of stuff that they process is incredible-- every time I stop by there is new stuff.  I try to avoid Saturdays (that place is nuts on the weekend) unless they have a sale-- when things are half price I'm willing to brave the crowds.  I usually try to go early on in the week-- most people who drop their donations off would do it on a Saturday-- I assume that the new stuff is probably making its way into the stores at the beginning of the week.  I like to browse through the store a couple times a month on average.  If I'm looking for something specific I'll go more regularly.

Stuff I've found...

Well-- very rarely do I find exactly what I'm looking for.  Most of the time I randomly stumble across something that I think is awesome-- but am not entirely sure where it will go in my house.  But, if it's cheap enough and has a little vintage charm I'm always willing to give it a try!

Pretty much every room in my house has something I've found at a thrift store...

What do I consider a good deal...

The most expensive items (1, 5, 8, & 9) were $15.00... a lot of stuff I've found for $1-2 (2, 3, 4, 6, & 7).  I've painted a few things (8 & 9) but others I've left as is-- the worn finishes are sometimes too fantastic to paint over!  Generally, I don't like to pay more than $15-20 for a piece of furniture-- but if I found something that was insanely fantastic and was in great condition I would be willing to fork out a little more cash :)  For accessories-- I don't buy anything that's more than $2-3.  If something's overpriced-- you can always ask for a deal or wait until there's a sale :)

What do I look for...

Some things to keep an eye out for-- great picture frames (if they have glass you can get a new mat (dollar store!) and frame photos-- if there's no glass-- think chalkboard!) anything vintage schoolhouse-- globes, maps, textbooks, chalkboards, lamps with a classic base that could be updated with a new shade, solid wood furniture, old books with great covers, industrial looking furniture, crates, baskets... those are just a few suggestions.

Here are a few items that are currently on my thrift store radar...

Charming twin bed frames-- I would love to find a spool bed or a vintage metal bed frame for Eme's room.  Check out some of these examples...

Colorful quilts and afghans-- so great.

Landscape paintings or any vintage/antique artwork that would look great on its own or as a part of a collection-- gotta love a great gallery wall!!

Mirrors-- buying a new mirror (any place other than Home Sense) can be expensive!  There are always lots of great old mirrors that just need a coat of paint...

And of course I'm always looking at the dressers and tables to see if there is anything that needs to be painted!  These blue ones are pretty fantastic...

(images via my pinterest)

Now I'm hoping you all don't run out and snatch up all the stuff I've been looking for!

Well I hope some of you found this thrifty little guide useful.  Popping into you nearest thrift store every so often can be fun if you know what to look for!  I really think that it can be a great place to find  fantastic unique stuff for your home when you're working with a tight budget.  All it takes is a little vision and some time.

Anyone else have any tips or great shops to check out?  

Anyone wanna share their best thrift store find of all time?

To paint or not to paint... that is the question

I had 10 minutes to kill before picking Caleb up from preschool this morning-- so I stopped by the thrift store on my way over for a quick little look-see... and lo and behold I found this awesome lamp base.

It's gonna need a shade... but as I sit here staring at it I can't decide if I should leave it blue... or paint it white!  The white high gloss spray paint that I used on Eme's ceramic owl worked so great... that I'm tempted to whip it out again.  Do you think it could look as great as the lamps in this picture?

 Milk and Honey Home

Maybe.  I'm tempted.  To paint or not to paint... that is the question!

For the Kids

A long long time ago I showed you the little bronze owl I scooped up at Home Sense for $4.99.  I didn't love the color so over the weekend I spray painted it a high gloss white.  I can't believe how cute it looks in Eme's room...

Moving right along...

My niece and two nephews were at our house for dinner over the weekend and I didn't have enough little chairs to fit around our little kids table.  Since then, I've been wondering where I could find two more little chairs so that all four kids can sit and eat at the little table.  Well, as Eme and I were out and about this morning doing a little shopping while Caleb was at preschool I spotted these...

(sidenote-- Caleb wakes up every morning and makes his own bed (kind of)... don't know how that happened but I'm definitely encouraging it :)  And... he even places the throw pillow at the head of the bed.  Attaboy.)

These vintage-y chairs were $4.00 each at one of the thrift stores in town.  They are so insanely cute.  Caleb also immediately fell in love with the chairs.  He personally carried them from the car, up the stairs, and into the house.  He sat on the red one for lunch and even offered his assistance in cleaning them up.  Caleb wants them to live in his room... But I think Eme's partial to the yellow one :)

I just love a good find :)

Why I love craigslist so much...

I've loved these white lack Ikea bookshelves forever.

They are simple and stylish.

They are also very functional.

You can put pretty stuff on them... or pile a whole lot of junk onto them!

You can also put a couple together for a custom bookcase look...

But best of all-- they're cheap.  Especially when you find two of them on craigslist for $50 bucks... $50 for a PAIR!  And since they are now discontinued at Ikea-- you better believe I snatched those babies up!  It was probably one of the highlights of my weekend.

And that-- my friends-- is why I love craigslist so, so, much.

Pictures to come.

(all images via pinterest)