Man, oh man! I heart craigslist...

 

Found these.

 

 

These are the Pottery Barn Wingback chairs.

They were in the store window a few years ago. They were also way out of my budget.

Until now.

I heart them.

 

 

They kind of look like hearts, don't they?

 

 

The cranberry twill slipcovers are immaculate.

Only a slight bit of fading (normal for that color from pottery barn) that I can easily accept.

Nobody's perfect.

 

 

I sat there all twitterpated over my chairs. Then it hit me.

I still had the red cranberry slipcover for my pb basic ottoman!

I leaped into the garage and began digging through mounds of clutter storage and found it.

I held onto it all of these years knowing that I would need it again someday.

Sometimes, it does actually pay to be a hoarder.

 

 

Sometimes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ummmm, that was unexpected...

I'm talking about Anna's reaction to the arrival of her new bedroom furniture. I spent so much time on pinterest and houzz just planning what I would like her room to look like. I lost sleep over the paint color for the wall. I was waaaaaay out of my comfort zone by choosing a soft gray - purple. Of course, I love it. I spent hours during the late evenings slopping on layer on top of layer of primer and paint to her planked ceiling. I had a hitch in my giddy-yap and a pain in my neck for almost two weeks after that ceiling fiasco (more on that later).

 

 

I wanted her to be away when her furniture arrived. I imagined how her smile and bright eyes would light up the room as she hugged me and praised my hard work and dedication. I imagined her dancing and twirling around in her GORGEOUS bedroom. Oh Joy!

Anna walked into her room and took a look around. She walked over to her baby and went to play with her on the floor near her kitchen set. I stood there ready to squeal like a toddler but I thought she should do the squealing first. Her eyes welled up with tears and she collapsed to the floor crying. I listened closely to her words as I stood there speechless and in shock. She was upset because the furniture (that I was so thrilled about) was taking up all of the play space in her room. She had no appreciation for the time spent, money invested, or the skill of the talented person who worked on restoring her furniture. Her only concern was that I had just filled her room with furniture and her fantastic wonderland where all of her imaged travels and parties came alive was gone. I stuffed her fantasy land full of stuff. She was upset and wanted it out. My first reaction - I am sorry to say- was frustration. I thought -to myself- she was ungrateful. I pushed all of the furniture into a corner in the room and pushed her bed up against the wall. I gave her imagination back. She stopped crying and asked me if I would like chocolate or strawberry cake with my tea. She asked me to swaddle her favorite baby for her. I stood there for a moment and then told her I would be right back. As I walked down the hall, I heard her sniff her little sniffle as she began soothing her baby to sleep. For the first time in all of my years of painting and re-painting, fixing, remodeling, restoring, working so hard to make rooms just right for whoever was using them, I realized I was really, truly, only doing that work for myself. It is that simple, my friends. I walked back to my precious Anna and I told her she didn't have to keep her furniture. I was sorry and that I would take the furniture out of her room. I asked her to let it stay in the corner for now until I came up with a solution to our problem.

It took most of the night to grasp that one. Her clothes were in cardboard boxes. Her mattress had been on the floor for two months. Things were mismatched and chaotic. How could she not love all of this new and wonderful bedding and furniture? I don't know. She just didn't. That was how I left it. She just didn't want what I wanted. It is really simple isn't it?

 

Check out this C.H.A.O.S.

That was shoved into her closet. The only area of the room I didn't attack redesign.

With that, my reveal of Anna's room is delayed. I had planned to post about it today. We are leaving for Minneapolis this weekend to visit friends. It will be a nice change. Anna and I will spend time together, while the boys spend hours catching up and xbox-ing. I won't have the time to play with her furniture placement until the end of next week. For now, we both pretend the furniture isn't in the room.

 

A little sneaky peeky for you...

~Emily

Anna's Bedroom Furniture...

You've all seen it. Multiple times. You may have had these same pieces when you were a little girl. I follow a ton of blogs and it seems like there is always somebody blogging about their version of how to update this furniture. My post on how to update this furniture is very simple: Pay someone else to do it.

But first I did this:

I let it air out in my garage for several months. It was a little stanky. It had contact paper inside every single drawer. It was ooooollllldddddd and stubborn. Must have been German contact paper. (Just kidding, Grammy.) I searched the internet for the best ways. I tried and tried to peel that stuff out. I scraped. I soaked it. I tried to heat it with an old blow dryer. I didn't want to use any chemicals. Defeated, I cursed the existence of contact paper and was certain that the devil himself created it to make me crazy. I walked away from that contact paper like a big girl and I didn't look back for a few more months. As progress was made on Anna's room, I decided it was time to have the furniture painted. One amazingly hot, dry day during the drought of 2012, I put all of those drawers out in the sun in my driveway. I was going to get that contact paper out AND keep my cool while I was doing it. I lined the rest of the pieces up along our path and went back inside to get a bucket of soapy water and some rags and towels. Then, what happened next still amazes me to this day. I walked up to the drawers, I took a deep breath, and gently tugged at a loose corner of the contact paper. IT CAME UP IN ONE DANG PIECE, MY FRIENDS. ONE WHOLE PIECE. My kiddos saw this and joined in the fun. I felt joy! Elation! It was fantastic! Everyone peeled up entire pieces of contact paper and those drawers were German (just teasing, Grammy) contact paper free in a matter of minutes! As it turns out, the heat of the sun and probably the warmth of the concrete they were sitting on, warmed that stuff up. No scraping, chemicals, soapy water, or blow dryers. I love sunshine. By the way, that was a tutorial just in case you hadn't noticed.

After the contact paper came up, I soaped up the inside and outside of that furniture and rinsed it well. It was so clean. I left it all sit in the sun and dry out. We loaded it up into my car after dinner that night and I took it to The Lost Finish the following morning.

You know this stuff. Everyone does. I got the entire set for $100 on craigslist.

Vanity and mirror, chest  of drawers, headboard, footboard, and cornice for headboard posts.

My assistant. Don't look inside my garage. Don't! You're looking, aren't you? Stop it.

Dixie. So darling.

One side of the vanity.

Chest of drawers. Three drawers to be exact. Oh, and the footboard.

Wanna see more? I know you do!

See you soon and thanks for stopping!

~ Emily

It's finally done!

Anna's bedroom furniture is ready! I've waited so very long. I got the call that her furniture will be ready for pick-up next week! I am so excited. I've waited months, and months, and months. No joke. Not for the furniture to be complete - that only took a couple of months because they were swamped. ( I will write more about the painting company later.) We first had to demo Anna's bedroom. Then we had to put it back together again. We were also demo-ing (is that a word?) the boys' bedroom and the basement for our new media room. We started back in February and still have small projects to complete before I feel the rooms to be worthy of a reveal.

 

Lets flashback to Anna's nursery. Pottery Barn Kids Dream Rocker, Madeline crib, Jocelyn toile drapery and crib bedding, and sabrina basket.

 

 

That is the matching changing table. These pieces are so beautiful. I sold them on craigslist and saved the money to update Anna's room. I used an overhead projector to paint the 'A' on the wall.

 

 

Another angle including the white ceiling fan. That little dog bed remains empty now. Our little pooch passed away shortly after I started blogging. We keep her bed, well, because we want to.

 

 

A view of her closet area and bookshelves. I just remembered that I never painted her doors! They are leaning on the wall out in the garage. Ugh. I guess that project is going on my to-do list for this week.

Both the bookshelf and that little white table are from Target. They are both still available. 

 

 

She was rockin' the curls in our first summer living in the house. This photo was taken May of 2010. The first summer we owned the house, we didn't live in it. It was being remodeled and we put an addition on. That was 2009. We lived with Rhyan's parents.

 

 

That's Anna on her second birthday. Aaaaaahhhhh!

She just had her fourth birthday and it is time for a big girl room.

My next post will explain how I found her furniture and where it's been for two months.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thrifting on a warm Autumn day

Anna and I hit our local thrift store on Thursday morning after dropping her brothers off at school. I was looking for a table for our front entry. I didn't find a table. However, neither one of us left Vinnie's (St. Vincent De Paul) empty handed.

Anna found a no-sew fleece princess blanket.

She couldn't walk away from it.

Can you blame her?

She actually wanted to take a nap!

Best smile I ever got for only $3!

I bought my own bit of coziness for $1.50.

Pure wool. Brand new. Heaven. Perfect for the chilly nights just ahead of us.

What have you found at your local thrift stores lately?

Thanks for stopping!

~Emily