I am alive!!  Yes, I’ve been away from the blog for a while.  I’ve definitely been busy, just haven’t really felt like taking all the pictures needed to document and share.  And, most of the time I’m just painting items to sell, so they aren’t very exciting projects to share.  Plus, there has been lots of moving activity and getting settled in our new house taking up my time too.

But, I finally felt like I had a neat project and wanted to share.  I wasn’t great at fully documenting the process, but I think I did enough that you will get the idea.

This updated side table started out as a $1 yard sale find.  The lady selling it actually told me that it was a perfect table to throw a tablecloth over.  And, that was because the tabletop was awful.  This is it after I had spray painted the legs and removed it.  It was pressed wood and not even a perfect circle. Yes, that blurry white thing in the picture is Puddy – he was chasing a mouse!

But, I knew that didn’t matter. Because for $1, I really just wanted it for the legs.  Hairpin legs are cool, and not cheap!  So, it sat around in my stash for a while until I searched out a new tabletop.  I could have just gone to the store and bought new wood and made one, but I wanted to be more creative than that.  So, I bought a lazy susan at the thrift shop.

It was $4.99.  I quickly unscrewed the lazy susan part and was just left with the nice round piece of wood that was solid.

I cleaned up the wood, and then gave it 2 coats of grey chalky paint – I use BB Frosch chalk paint powder and mixed it with a sample pot of paint that I picked up at a yard sale – notice a theme here?!

It looked nice with the fresh paint, but I wanted to distress it a bit before I was finished.

That made it much better.  After it was distressed, I waxed and buffed it and it was good to go.  I attached the legs to the bottom of it and I had a newly repurposed side table.  Total cost $6, plus my painting supplies.

What do you think?  Have you found any good yard sale items yet this year?  I’ve been out every weekend, and have quite a stash built up.  It is a good thing I have a new workshop to hide them all in.  Hopefully, I’ll get busy on them and have more to share soon.

This year was the perfect year for me to have a friend volunteer to open her home in the Marietta Christmas Candlelight Tour today.  I say that because I’m not doing too much decorating in our state of transition.  We will likely be moving into our new home some time around Christmas or New Year’s.   So when my friend said she was on the Christmas tour and asked if I would like to help, I jumped at the opportunity!!   She might not have really asked…I may have just offered to help, and she let me.  And, it is probably because she has an amazing home.  It is old and filled with character and so different that my home (the last one and the new one), so it is really fun to decorate.

So, today along with probably 1,500-1,800 other people, I toured her home to take in all the beauty of it.  And, I took advantage and snapped pictures to share with all of you.

Welcome to my friend, Michelle’s home.  Her family’s home was stop number 4 on the tour.

As you walk in, you are in this beautiful large foyer.  I never had actually wrapped pine roping on a banister, because I’ve never lived in a house with a stairway like this.  It was a fun task, but so worth it in the end.  The tour was only of the first floor of her home, so we worked with the gate she has to decorate it and make it obvious that guests weren’t to venture upstairs.

She and I went out and picked up the bench at a local antique shop the day before the tour.  It was a perfect fit in the foyer.  Fresh flowers, natural greens really make the space feel festive.  The beautiful artwork doesn’t hurt either (courtesy of Kerry Sacco).  Michelle thought I was a bit strange when I asked if she had any scarves we could use, but I looks right at home draped over the end of the bench.

To the left of the foyer is her living room.  It is grand!  I didn’t photograph all aspects of the living room, but there is also a section of floor to ceiling bookshelves.

The living room mantel is just one of three fireplaces you will see.

Next up is the dining room.  The space is large and elegant.

I did a little bit of DIY action to decorate this mantel.  The mirror was a new one that Michelle picked out, but it was not the right color.  I gave it a few coats of gold spray paint and then antiqued it to make it not so bright.  The wispy wreath was just plain, and I took berries off a wreath I had that was falling apart and just attached them to the plain wreath, added a ribbon to hang it and it was done.

The dining room is equally as large as the living room, so it has several neat components to it.  The beautiful hutch did not need much decorating to dress it up because it was so pretty already.

The wine rack just needed a few hints of Christmas to make it fit right in.

Along the wall that the wine rack on, is another little DIY project.  I picked up this beautiful and heavy mirror at a yard sale this fall for $10!  It was just wood and a bit worn.  I used Modern Masters metallic gold paint on it and it shines now.  I love that it reflects the mantel so well.

The side buffet in the dining room was another fun spot for some Christmas greens and bling.

I love how the table is so simple, yet elegant.

Now, we move on to the kitchen, which has so much character and charm.  Just like the other rooms, this space was fun to decorate.

Michelle had picked up this table at a local antique shop, but needed some chairs.  And, before I even saw the table she was describing the type of chair she wanted….and it just so happened that I had 6 of those exact chairs in my shed!  They were already black, but a little bit rough and worn, so some black spray paint was needed and they were good to go.  I didn’t paint them too perfectly, because Michelle likes the rustic charm.

The fireplace mantel in the kitchen took a little bit for us to pull it together, but once Michelle said she had the old windows from her dining room in the basement, it sealed the deal on the direction of the mantel.  The window is just amazing!  The two taller candlesticks used to be a fiery red, but some gold spray paint with a bit of antiquing made them fit right in.

I loved the fireplace with the candles burning.

The little bar top table just needed some greenery, artwork, and fresh fruit.

Can you just see how amazing this kitchen is?  We kept this long wall and buffet area pretty simple.

I think her kitchen is just so unique and homey.  It really didn’t need much added to it to make it feel like Christmas.

So, what is your favorite part?  I can’t decide if I love the dining room or kitchen mantel more.

Helllooooo!!!  Just seeing if anyone is still out there and reading!!  I may be the world’s most unpredictable blogger this year.  (more reason to sign up via email over there ——> so you don’t miss anything when I do post!)

But, really…I’m sorry….and yeah all the “real bloggers” will tell you not to apologize when you haven’t blogged in a while, but I don’t blog by any rules.  I just blog when I want and about whatever I want.  And, lately I didn’t feel like I had much to share.  I can’t say I haven’t worked on a bunch of projects though, because I have, but it is mainly updating and painting furniture and creating other items to sell at Always Never Done.  I really enjoy working on the endless cycle of projects, but I definitely don’t photograph them every step of the way to share on the blog.  Plus, these last few months of not living in our own home have challenged me.  I think I’ve made myself even busier than usual, just so I don’t dwell on the fact that we are in transition.  And, I have to admit, it really hasn’t been that bad.  We’ve made ourselves at home in our rental and we are pretty much counting down the days now until our new home is done!!  Wooohooo!

So, lets get to showing you one of the projects I completed lately.  I am always inspired to craft and create for Christmas and this year is no different.  For this project, I had used some Fall inspiration I found on Pinterest and took yard sale supplies and made a new wall-hanging.  I picked up the set of coasters for 50 cents, and the wooden letters were part of a full set for a $1 at the thrift shop.

Even though the coasters were already Christmas, they were not the look I was going for, so I pulled out a selection of Christmas paper from my scrapbook supplies.  Oh and excuse my makeshift workstation….It’s just a board I picked up at a yard sale on the floor in a bedroom of the rental (I’m a messy crafter).

Then, all I needed was Mod Podge and paint and I was on my way (I have another set of these coasters ready to finish up too).  I just cut the scrapbook paper to the size of the coasters, applied Mod Podge to the back of the paper and stuck on the coasters.  I used acrylic paint to give the letters a little bit of neutral color.  And, then I added another coat to the top of the scrapbook paper to really seal it on.  After it was sealed, I trimmed the edges even better.

I attached the letters to the coasters with hot glue.  And then I attached the coasters to a strip of burlap with more hot glue.

I wasn’t really sure how I was going to hang this strip of letters, but after digging in my supplies I found the perfect solution.  I wanted to use this bow and bells on another project, but I didn’t need the wreath for it.  So, I separated them and used the little wreath for this one.

And, more hot glue to the rescue…I just wrapped the burlap around the wreath and applied some glue.

The final touch was a little grapevine bow, which I also used some good ‘ole hot glue on to attach and that was it….my craft hoarding supplies is paying off. The only thing I bought for this was some burlap, and that was just because I was too lazy to cut up my big sections of burlap in my supplies.

I think it turned out pretty cute.  Granted, this is not staged and all that good stuff.  I literally had to put a nail in the wall just to hang this up and take a picture!!  It is now my go-to spot for hanging anything I make to snap a picture, it may be boring, but there are nice big doors nearby that let in enough light to take a picture to share.

Have you made any Christmas crafts or decorations?  Are you as sad as me that yard sale season is over?

When I posted about our fresh new front door paint, you got a peek at the new Fall Wreath I made and I promised to share details later. Well, it is a month later and I’m just getting to sharing the details.  Truth is, I kept thinking I would finish decorating the front porch for Fall, but that hasn’t happened.  Some of my flowers are still alive and I don’t want to rip them out just to transition fully to Fall because I’m still enjoying the hints of summer that are left.

My wreath making usually all starts the same, with  a empty wreath that I picked up at a yard sale and I try to gather what I think I’ll put on the wreath.  Sometimes I use it all, and sometimes I don’t.

For this wreath, I knew I wanted to start with the glittery leafy vine.  I placed it around the wreath and attached at various spots with some wire just to keep it in place.

Then, I just started adding flowers and picks that I had.  The picks I had stolen out of my Fall Wreath from last year, because I was reworking that one to sell it, and I wanted to keep the picks I liked.

Then, I just kept adding more flowers until it got to the point that I thought it looked full enough.

The red flower pick was standing out too much….I couldn’t find any other red fall flowers in my supplies, so I took that out and replaced it before I considered it finished.

Ahh, much better!  Then, it was time to hang it on the front door and admire it.

I really like the rustic hints with the glittery base.

And, the little deep purple flowers that are tucked in the wreath too.

So, are you fully decorated for Fall?  Or, are you still clinging onto the last bits of summer color like me?

As is typical with my projects, it started on a normal Saturday morning.  I was out yard sale shopping, and on my way to my target area, I stumbled into some interesting yard sales. At the one stop, some items had prices and some didn’t.  The items that were priced seemed reasonable.  So, when I spotted this stool, I had to ask how much??

The lady said, well how much do you want to pay?  I said, you shouldn’t ask me that question, because I like to start at zero.   She laughed and agreed she was cheap too…my kind of lady!  And, she quickly followed it up with, how about $1?  Of course, I said yes to that.  I knew this fabric stool had great potential.  I didn’t waste time when I got it home and took it apart.  I knew it only needed the 6 screws removed and the seat would come right off the base.

Once separated, I got to work painting the wooden base with a chalk-based paint. Two coats of paint and it was ready for the next steps.

I wanted to distress the edges to reveal the dark wood.  So, I lightly sanded with fine grit sand paper to smooth it all out and then used a bit more elbow grease on the edges and some select spots for the distressed look.

Meanwhile, I also worked on updating the fabric seat too.  I had just received some beautiful fabric from Minted, (yes, I got it for free and no they didn’t pay me to write about it)  and I was anxious to use it in a new project.  I decided that Leafy Berries in Warm Grey would be the best for this project.  This fabric is amazing.  It is beautiful and I loved the quality too.

I used my trusty pliers and flat screwdriver to remove all the old staples to get the old fabric off the seat.  Then, I used the old fabric as my template to cut out the new fabric.

After that, it was just like reupholstering a chair, like I have done many times in many different styles:  here, here and here.

But, here is also a quick 4-step preview of how I did it for this stool.

1 – Lay seat on underside of fabric

2 – Staple one side of the fabric

3 – Staple opposite side of fabric

4 – Staple other 2 sides and then staple corners

After it was all stapled, I trimmed away the excess fabric and then reattached the seat to the base of the stool.  In the past, I always used regular screwdrivers, but this summer I got this handy electric one when we were trying to take shutters off my mother-in-law’s beach house and needed some power behind it, so we picked up this handy little guy and I just love it.  I don’t know why I tried to be all tough and use the manual screwdrivers before.  Work smarter, not harder, right?!

Then, it was just time to flip over the stool and take the pretty after pictures.  You can see some of the extra distressed spots in this view too.

I think she turned out quite pretty and the leafy berries are just perfect.

What do you think of the transformation?  Have you made over any good yard sale finds lately?

{This post is sponsored by Modern Masters.  Although I wasn’t compensated for this post, I did receive free products in exchange for a review. As always, all opinions are my own.}

While we are building our dream house, we are spending a few months in a rental house.   It has been great as we just moved our stuff in and that was about it.  But, for me I miss my décor and personal touches that we had in our last home, as we have opted to keep most of those items in boxes either in storage, the garage, spare rooms, basically wherever we found space!  It is also challenging, because there are no real house projects for me to do.  Sometimes, I can’t help myself though.  As soon as we moved in and saw the drab front door with peeling paint, I knew it was going to get a fresh coat of paint.

It just wasn’t very attractive or welcoming!

I knew immediately what paint I was going to use to freshen up our front door, Modern Masters.  I had met representatives from Modern Masters at the Haven Conference, but at that time last year I had a perfectly fine front door.  But now, not so much!    Modern Masters has very beautiful colors to choose from, but since we are tenants, I couldn’t get too crazy with the colors.  So, I went with the color Hopeful from the Front Door Paint Collection.    You can find it at selected Lowe’s and Ace Hardwares as well as online via Amazon, HomeDepot.com and the Modern Masters online shop.  I got my paint shipped right to my front door (LOL).

And, somehow Bob just couldn’t resist the paint!  He called me at work to say it arrived and he was itching to start painting.  But, I did tell him he needed to take some pictures along the way, so he waited until I was home on the weekend and got to work.  He’s still a bit camera shy for the blog though, so there are not really good “action shots” of the process.  Plus, it is so simple!

Basically, Bob used a scraper to get rid of the peeling paint and then used sand paper to smooth it all out.  After that, he just used a small door and cabinet roller to paint the door.  He had to use a little brush for the trim around the tiny windows.  You can see he didn’t even tape off the window.  He did tape the door knob to protect it from paint!

After just 2 coats of paint, the door looked so fresh!  Bob scraped the paint clean off the windows and it was good to go.  It is amazing what a difference a fresh coat of paint makes!

And, there was enough paint left we could probably paint another door.

It didn’t really feel like Fall was arriving around here until today….maybe it is all my fault for prepping my door and porch for Fall.

I’ll have an upcoming post on how I made this pretty new wreath for the door.

Our rental house has a huge front porch, which is pretty awesome.  I didn’t fully decorate it yet for Fall, but I did try to add some Fall touches to begin to transition it from Summer.  It’s a bit of a shame that the screen door hides the fresh, newly painted door, but you can still tell it is so much better than before.

If you could paint your front door any color, what would you choose?  I think Peaceful and Confident are beautiful colors.

It’s been quite a while since I worked on a project for myself.  Since we are in transition, it is just challenging to have any “real” projects to do.  So, that probably explains why I took the opportunity to make a cute clothespin basket for myself.  There was a clothesline pole here at the house we are renting, so I decided it would be nice to string a line so that we have the option of hanging our clothes outside.  My Mom always hung clothes out and I had a nice clothesline at my first home by myself, but at our last house we didn’t really have the space for it (and I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be generally approved in the neighborhood).  I know I had clothespins in a plastic basket, but I’m sure they are in storage somewhere.  So, I went ahead and just bought clothespins for a buck at the store.  I had been using them in a plastic Ziploc container, but it was a pain with no handle, and the container wasn’t actually big enough for all the pins.   I found this little Christmas colored basket at a yard sale.  It was supposed to be 25 cents, but with the other stuff I bought, the guy threw it in for free.

I planned to use it as a clothespin basket all along, but I knew I wanted it to look cute and not like Christmas.  So, I got busy painting it.  I used chalk paint that I had in sample sizes, as well as other paint that I turned into chalky paint using BB Frosch chalk paint powder.  It did take several coats to cover the red and green.

And, I just used a brown on the inside, because it wouldn’t be seen, but I didn’t want to look at the red and green myself.  I used Annie Sloan Provence and Arles as the two main colors.

But, I couldn’t stop there!!  All along, I envisioned something stenciled or attached to the basket.  I dug through my craft supplies, and my first attempt failed.  I found an old shower curtain and cut out pennants and then tried to write laundry on it using fabric markers.  It looked like a child did it!  So, I kept digging through my supplies and found fabric leftovers from the one chair and pillow I made.  The fabric colors were a perfect match.  I cut out little pennants and then was trying to figure out how to attach to the twine, and I stumbled into mini clothespins that I had leftover from some craft I made long ago.  The colors weren’t perfect, but this was a work with what I had project, so I just went with it.

Nothing is permanently fastened at all, so it will be a test to see how long it holds up. I think it looks pretty cute.  And, most importantly, it functions well for easy access to the clothespins while I’m doing laundry.

And, while I was out at the line with my camera, I had a pretty little visitor on one of Bob’s shirts.

I took down the wash and then carried my clothespin basket into the laundry room, where it will hang out on the washer.  It adds some nice color to the room.  I’m sure it will look even better in the new laundry room when we move.

Not too bad for a free basket and using what I had on hand, right?  Do you hang your laundry out to dry?  I just discovered a new trick to keep the towels from getting so stiff hanging out…pop them in the dryer for just a few minutes and then hang them out to dry.  They are much softer then.  Today, I did all the sheets and the duvet cover; I can’t wait to hop into bed with fresh, clean sheets and the smell of the great outdoors.

So, if you have been around for even a minute – hopefully it has been longer than that you know that I’m a yard sale addict!  I like nothing more than to get up on Saturday morning, eat a quick breakfast, throw on some comfy clothes, drink my coffee and head out the door to yard sale shop.  To some people, I think they believe yard sale shopping is just a fun thing to do and occasionally you get lucky.  But, for me, I really believe there is strategy behind it. So, that’s what this is all about….the strategy I use to have great yard sale shopping!  And, I must preface this with, I work Monday – Friday, so I generally am shopping on Saturday morning.  If you can get out to Friday yard sales, do it, you get first pick of what they are selling and I’m a bit jealous.

1 – Plan Your Route

Most of the time, I have pre-planned my route or at least have a roundabout idea of where I plan to go.  To do my planning, I use many resources, such as Craigslist, the online classifieds, or even just the trusty neon signs that I may have seen in the previous few days.  My favorites are the neighborhood yard sales, because I really enjoy parking my car and walking from house to house, so if I see those advertised they are usually my first stop.  My reasoning is that I have the best chance to find something when there are many houses in a condensed area.

2 – Have a List

There are some things that I always search for, such as wreaths, cheap furniture, craft supplies, and seasonal décor.  I don’t care if the wreaths are ugly, I just want them for the grapevine.  I usually don’t pay more than $1, but my preference is 50 cents.

I found this green chair for just $1.

And, this Christmas tree is still a favorite buy, it was only $3.

I can’t remember how much these supplies were, but I’m guessing 50 cents.  I used those silver beads to make cool Easter Eggs.

3 – Cash is Key

You must have cash for yard sale shopping.  It is best to have small bills and even some change.  Nothing is worse than wanting to buy a $1 item and all you have is a $20 bill.  I’m famous for asking the bank teller for small bills, and also for using a $20 at a store just to get small bills to use for my weekend yard sale shopping.  The variety of bills is important too.

 4 – Pool Your Resources

If you know someone else who likes to yard sale shop, make sure you share you share your list with them.  My sister and mom both know to keep an eye out for cheap furniture for me.  And, I have my sister’s list in my phone so that if I see something she wants, I can snap a picture and send it to her for approval for purchase.   I’ve also found many items that friends and co-workers have wanted.  I get just as much thrill finding something they want as finding a good buy for myself.  My Mom bought this little side table for me, for I think $2.  It turned out beautifully after a little work.

4 – Know Your Budget

Just because you are yard sale shopping, doesn’t mean that you can take advantage of all the deals and finds you see.  You still should know your budget and stick to it.  You don’t want to go home with regret.   I bought this vase for $5 and I knew it was a bit pricy, but I really liked it.  Unfortunately, it didn’t actually work in our house.   I ended up selling it and lucked out to break even.

5 – Recognize a Good Deal (and grab it right away)

When you are yard sale shopping, all the sellers don’t have the same strategy.  Some just want to get rid of their stuff, and don’t really care what they make from it.  Others are trying to earn a certain amount for one reason or another.  Because of these differences, it means that all pricing is not similar at yard sales.  So, when you spot a good deal, snatch it up!  I’ve had a few regrets when I was debating an item and I walk away from it and someone else picked it up before I made up my mind and got back to it.  It’s always a bummer when that happens.

I got this cute lantern for $4 last year.  I used in both my Fall and Christmas décor, and can’t wait to get it unpacked again in the new house.

Just this weekend, I was doing my normal yard sale shopping and came upon a yard sale with lots of nice stuff, including clothes.  From an overall perspective, their clothing prices were a bit high ($2 – $5), but they were good brand names with very little wear.  It was worth it!  Because, there isn’t much you can buy at the store for $5, so a nice dress is worth that price for me. And, I was pretty sure I had bought from these people before even though it wasn’t at that location (I recognized the initials they labeled their stuff with since it was a multi-family sale).  And, sure enough I asked when I was paying and I had shopped from them before at other locations and they told me where they would have it next year.  Oh, and it never hurts to talk to the sellers, say hello, ask how its going.  The personal connection can help if you try to negotiate.  Plus, why not be nice?!

This is a dress I bought last year, for $1.  It has become one of my favorites this summer.

6 – Negotiate

If you see something you like, but its not the right price for you (remember your budget?), try to negotiate.  It never hurts to ask.  But, there is also the opposite problem, don’t cave to someone’s high pricing.  You will regret it later, believe me I’ve done it.  This is also where having cash in varying amounts helps.  If I want to negotiate, I always check to see what I have in my wallet.  Its really strange to ask for a lower price and then whip out a $20 bill!  I have a few negotiation tips, and it depends on the style of the sale.

If they have items priced and you don’t want to pay what they have listed for one item, just get out the amount of cash you want to pay and walk up to the person and ask if they will take $X for whatever the item is.  Sometimes, they counter, sometimes they will accept, and occasionally they say no the price is firm.

If they have not priced anything, I take a different approach.  I usually just ask how much for a particular item, and then based on their response I gauge how I want to proceed.  If it was a fair price, and I see other things I like, I keep shopping.  If it was unreasonable, I usually leave.  When there are no prices and someone gives me a fair price on the first item, and I see lots of things I like, I ask if I can just make a pile and get a price for it all at once.  I love this method!

A couple weeks ago, I stumbled into a sale that had some interesting stuff.  My test item was a bag of silk flowers (that I use for wreaths), it was a huge bag and the lady’s reply was 50 cents…score!  I think they actually offered to let me make a pile and give me a price for it all; great minds think alike.  I ended up getting a matching pair of side tables, a beverage cart, the bag of flowers, a huge picnic basket, a tray, and several mason jars.  When I asked how much for the pile, they said $15 and I said I was thinking $10 and they said ok!  I was shocked.  And, it was even funnier because the man replied to me and the other ladies lectured him that he was supposed to negotiate and say “how about $12” instead of just saying yes to $10.  It was fun, and I was thrilled.

This side table was clearly marked $10, but that definitely doesn’t fit into my “cheap furniture” that is on my list.  But, I negotiated and ended up paying $7, and I’ll admit this is a bit high for me, but since I could keep the wood top, I figured it was worth a little more than I usually pay.

7 – Keep an Open Mind

I know I said to have a list, but I also think it makes sense to be open minded (and it kind of goes along with recognizing a good deal).  I had a few great finds last year, that were just items I knew we could possibly use but weren’t actually written down on my list.

We always had to borrow our neighbors big ladder, so when I saw this one, I texted Bob and asked what it was worth, and then I began the negotiation.

This battery-powered hedge trimmer has been a great help.  It was only $5.

And, this cool little window frame was only 50 cents.  I had no clue what I’d do with it, but I figured it had potential and was worth the risk.

8 – Carry a Tape Measurer

A tape measurer has saved me many times.  This ties back to having a list too.  My list is specific and includes dimensions.  Its not worth wasting time if it won’t fit where you want it.  I have a tiny tape measurer that fits in my little wallet and I always keep it with me.  I measure furniture pieces before I even start negotiating, if the dimensions matter.  And, if you are pooling your resources, know the dimensions for anyone else you are shopping for, and if they are shopping for something specific for you, make sure you have given them dimensions.

9 – Know What You Can Haul Home

I know what fits in my SUV and what doesn’t.  If I need to buy something that won’t fit, I need to think ahead on how I’m going to get it home.  And, if it is questionable if it will fit, this is where the tape measurer comes in handy again.  There are days where I really wish I had a truck or trailer.  But, I think I’d probably get myself in trouble!  Bob just said to me the other weekend, that he knows it is not a good sign when I back into the driveway!!  I had my whole SUV full, including the passenger seat.  I thought it was a great day!!

Sometimes when you are buying, you can pay and come back and pick it up, but it is best to clear that with the sellers before you pay.

When I bought that huge ladder, the guy was nice enough to give me a few bungees to keep my back of the SUV down with the ladder sticking out.  It is a good idea to keep some supplies in your car.  I used my red blanket that day as a “flag” on the ladder hanging out the back.  I’ve also used the blanket to protect items.  Right now, I’m using moving boxes that were cut up to protect furniture, and newspaper and reusable bags are never a bad idea either.

10 – Have Fun

I know yard sale shopping is not for everyone, but if you give it a try, just have fun.  If you don’t like it, that’s ok, find someone who does (like me) and give them your list. 

So, do you yard sale shop?  Do you have any tips to add to my list?

It’s a bit strange and funny to me that I’m writing a guest room reveal for a house I no longer live in!  But, that’s my reality.  I only managed to barely get the guest room done in time for Bob to take the pictures of our house for the real estate listing.  And, then it sold in 5 days, and we quickly transitioned to packing everything up and preparing to move.  So, I feel like I never really got to enjoy the pretty “new” guest room.

The guest room update started when I sold all the furniture out of it!!  That’s one way to attempt to light a fire under me, considering I had a dresser sitting in the garage for nearly a year to redo for the room.  And, surprisingly it wasn’t the first piece of furniture to get an update.  I bought nightstands and gave them a new look first.

Then, I tackled the Craigslist dresser.  I had procrastinated on it, because I wanted to strip the top and stain it, and that is my least favorite thing to do.  But, it was oh so worth it after it was done.  I think this is actually one of the pictures that Bob used in our listing.

Because when I posted about the dresser, it didn’t have a mirror above it or anything on the dresser.  I found the mirror on a buy/sell group on Facebook and for $40 it was a steal.  It is a very heavy and beautiful mirror.  I know it is still sparse, but again this was the “staged” for selling look.

The final piece was the headboard.  I had this headboard stashed in my work area for nearly a year, because I remembered buying it at a yard sale last summer for $10.

Yeah, its not very pretty!  I originally intended to put fabric over the two main rectangle areas, but Bob overruled me on that one.  So, it turned into just a regular painting project to update the headboard.  I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris Grey for the base coat and Old White on top.  It was the same method as painting the nightstands, so I didn’t detail the steps in photos.  I just am revealing that I am one of those people that paints from the can and am quite messy when I do it!!

After the painting was done, I took the headboard outside and sanded to smooth and distress it, and then cleaned it up and waxed and buffed until it was nice and pretty.

I really do love how it turned out.  I thought the diagonal slats were so dated in the original, but it really gave it a lot of dimension after it was painted.

It’s quite a difference from the before.

I love how the room came together.  It was a slow process, but I was determined to buy used furniture and make it all work.

So, overall, I think I spent about $140:  $10 for the headboard, $60 for the dresser, $30 for the nightstands (it may have only been $15 but I can’t remember), and $40 for the mirror.  I think that’s a great deal to give the room a whole new look. Let’s compare one last before and after.

Definitely much more current and brighter!  I can’t wait to pull all my “new” furniture out of storage and have a pretty guest room in our new home later this year.

I had bought this single chair at a yard sale, it was cheap – $1.50.  I can’t pass that up.  I knew I would be able to make it look pretty.  Don’t judge the disastrous state of my workroom at that point!!

I was craving something different, specifically color.  So many of my pieces end up being white or another neutral, because that is what I like, and also what sells pretty well in general.  But, every now and then I really want a different look.  So, for this chair, I mixed colors to get a pretty blue.  I mixed Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Aubusson Blue with Paris Grey.  It was such a nice color.

And, I was totally doing this back in either January or February!  Thank goodness that is not the weather outside now!  After two coats of paint, I used sandpaper and distressed it to show off the wood.

Then, I cleaned it up and gave it a coat of clear wax.  When I started, I had no idea what fabric I was going to put on the seat when I reupholstered it, I just went with the blue paint and decided I would figure it out later.  Well, as my luck would have it, I had the perfect match in my supplies.

I had gotten this fabric at last year’s Haven Conference from Online Fabric Store.  It couldn’t have been a more perfect match. I did not take step by step reupholstering pictures, as I’ve shared many before:  here, here and here.   This type of chair is really easy to reupholster.  I added new batting, stapled it on the seat bottom, and then added the fabric and stapled it.  Then, I just screwed it back on and it was done.

I love how this chair turned out.  And, when I posted it on Instagram, way back then, everyone loved it too.

I snapped these pictures quickly as I was taking this chair to the shop to sell, and it sold quickly!  So, I think for $1.50 and some paint and free fabric, it was a pretty successful makeover.  Have you had any nice makeovers lately to share?