BIG news,  Bug,  house stuff!,  shopping,  the sticks,  Thriftstore Thursday

I have news!

Holly in the sunlight

I have a living room now! Well, I did before but now it’s rearranged and looking nice! I’m sure it will keep getting rearranged too because I LOVE rearranging. Also, my mom and I have been thrift-store shopping which necessitated some furniture rearranging to accommodate the new thrifted white chair and a telephone table that belonged to my Great Grandmother.

We’re thinking we might make thrift-store shopping a weekly event. We enjoyed it that much. Maybe I can write “Thrift Store Thursday” posts or something lofty like that. We’ll see. It’s not that I need to be shopping that much but maybe I can sell some vintage items here and there to make the hobby pay for itself. Who knows.

fishing book

This fishing guide book is a hoot.

illustrated fishing guide

The illustrations inside are priceless! I know a few fishermen who might like this.

dining room

In bigger news, I HAVE A DINING ROOM!! It’s so nice. I don’t even care about eating there, I just like the way it looks. The rug is soooo much nicer than what is underneath it. My poor old dilapidated mobile home looks fancy now.

I have a dining room!

dining room before also

Here it is before and during assembly.

dining room before

snoopervising

We had quite the IKEA furniture assembling party over the weekend. We being me, myself and I, with Bug hopping in and out and my mom lending a hand here and there. I actually ended up only buying the craft table and the dining room table. I ix-nayed the chairs, thanks to all your wonderful comments and just bought a bunch of small stuff instead. Lamps, a rug, curtain material, dishes, silverware, an easel for Bug to paint on… stuff like that.

Ikea was a crazy madhouse and I got intimidated by the shelving unit that required six different pieces coming together from the warehouse. I’m going to hold out on desk chairs and sofas for some crazy wonderful thrift store deal. I don’t really neeeed them (I have existing wooden chairs that suffice) and it’s fun to have something to treasure hunt for.

sewing new curtains new curtains

You can’t really see my new curtain fabric. You’d think I could take a better picture now that I have a fancy dancy camera but I’m struggling with getting it lit just right since the fabric is so sheer. I’ll keep trying to get better shots though because they look really really good in real life. They make me smile.

You know what else makes me smile? My kid discovering ice for the first time.

finger skating

It got really cold here the other night and water actually froze, something that NEVER happens at the beach.

frozen

We woke up to a crunchy white wonderland. It’s not snow but it’s still fun!

crunchy grass

Siberian Monkey

21 Comments

  • BeachMama

    I love your new dining room, it looks fabulous and your chairs match pretty well too!

    You got a pretty good shot of the curtain on the window, you just have to get used to shooting a bit more to the ‘right’ or ‘left’ depending on the light to compensate. At the same time when you have a window with blown out highlights and a dark room, something is going to be either over or under exposed, which makes this shot pretty good :)

    I love Bug’s furry hooded jacket, she would fit right in here, even though we had a thaw (which it rained and melted most of the snow) it is crisp and cool again this morning making the grass all crunchy.

  • Susie

    I absolutely LOVE that last photo of Bug. The cutest.

    Congratulations on your dining room. It looks wonderful! Your place is really coming together. :)

  • bethany

    Looks delicious, all of it, including Bug’s face. And the joy of thrifting?? Oh I get that one too, it’s a never-ending delight, I’ve been stalking hand-made pottery lately. mmmm.

  • gingermog

    Oh my goodness you got ice out in the desert!!! Mind you they taught us in geography that little particles of dew get lodged into crevices inside rocks in the desert, freeze over night shattering the rocks and you get scree… or something or other. Hey, points to me, I was partly listening to the teacher and school was a loongg time ago now.

    I am glad you are getting your living room sorted, your French chateau is getting very stylish with your Ikea/thrift store buys (my sofa and leather arm chair are Ebay finds) . If I lived nearby I would come armed with paintbrushes and rollers and we could have a painting party. I love rolling fresh paint onto walls second to none peeling off old wallpaper.

    Did I tell you I once lived in a house where there was 5 layers of oil cloth and carpets all laid on top of each other? Getting rid of them was like peeling back the fashion for flooring from the past 90 years and dust (atishoo).

    I’m loving the photos with your new camera. Good investment if you plan to do more aprties and photo crafts and thrift store finds. Its a good idea :)

  • gingermog

    Oh my goodness you got ice out in the desert!!! Mind you they taught us in geography that little particles of dew get lodged into crevices inside rocks in the desert, freeze over night shattering the rocks and you get scree… or something or other. Hey, points to me, I was partly listening to the teacher and school was a loongg time ago now.

    I am glad you are getting your living room sorted, your French chateau is getting very stylish with your Ikea/thrift store buys (my sofa and leather arm chair are Ebay finds) . If I lived nearby I would come armed with paintbrushes and rollers and we could have a painting party. I love rolling fresh paint onto walls second to none peeling off old wallpaper.

    Did I tell you I once lived in a house where there was 5 layers of oil cloth and carpets all laid on top of each other? Getting rid of them was like peeling back the fashion for flooring from the past 90 years and dust (atishoo).

    I’m loving the photos with your new camera. Good investment if you plan to do more parties and photo crafts and thrift store finds. Its a good idea :)

  • Julia

    LOVE what you’ve done with your home — you have made it so beautiful! I bet you love every minute of planning and moving things around — it looks like an entirely new place – so light and airy!

  • bethany actually

    Once when we were at my Aunt Julie’s we got snow on Christmas Eve, big fat flakes, enough for the kids to go out and play in! So you never know… :-)

    It looks great! The dining room in particular is TRANSFORMED. You must be having so much fun, whee!

  • TexasLea

    All GOOD News too! I think your place is looking great! I secretly wish Heather would of convinced you and Bug to stay in Texas and that I was a little closer to her neck of the woods. I would love to get to go on thrift store hunts with you! You have quite an eye for finding the “good stuff”! I bet a few trips to the stores with you and my house would feel like I’d been on a episode of Trading Spaces!
    It is nice to hear that you and your Mom had such a great time though. It’s cool that even with your different tastes in things, you can enjoy a shopping trip together so much that you want to make it a regular event. I love the curtains, from the picture it looks like the light coming through the window makes the little gold circles light up. Very pretty!

  • Valerie

    It looks great Brenda. Thrifting is the greatest ever. My best find is a $3.00 wingback chair that is so incredibly comfortable, everyone sits there who comes over. You have found some very cool things!

  • Kuky

    Hey I just discovered it gets that cold by us (I asked Alan). We, meaning me and the kids, don’t see it though because we don’t go out early enough in the morning I guess. And the living room looks nice. I like the little cactus, want one of my own. Too bad I can’t manage to even keep cacti alive. :(

  • Amy

    Me thinks your house is looking like a HOME! And a happy one :)
    Love what you have done with it and the addition of lovely dog. No home complete without!

    Cheers and all the best to you and yours in 2011 Brenda!

  • Amy

    BTW a friend and I get together every Wed. morning to hit each and every thrift store in town :) Great way to catch up AND find cool treasures!

  • Mandi

    I love the new stuff and love your blog. I am a usual stalker! I have been looking for a small square table. Can you tell me where you got this one and what it is called? thanks!

    SAJ says: It’s the Ikea Bjursta. I love it. :)

  • Meemo

    OMG I love thrifting!!! My mom and I do it a couple of times a week. If you’re ever in AZ, I could show you a thrifting good time. I have found some of my favorite Gap jeans at the thrift store, brand new shoes, all kinds of house doodads. We’re addicted. It’s kind of a bonding stress reliever for us. I enjoy the treasure hunt so much. Even if I only find one thing, it’s so satisfying.

    Your trailer is really coming along. You’ve got that trailer chic thing going.