Saturday, January 22, 2011

Cottage make over

I have told you Mr. Brilliant REALLY is brilliant and very talented.  I am going to show you a few sneak peeks of our before and after pictures of our cottage renovations. The decorating is not completely finished and it is very difficult snapping pictures in such a small space(900 square feet) so that you can get the full effect.  I will be posting more "finished" pics in a few weeks. 
This is the before kitchen with the gianormous refrigerator. We traded with some friends for a smaller one.  No pics of that yet.
We added a micro venta hood, new cabinets and granite tops. We also added an island that I will show in the next few weeks.
Here are a few pics of the tiny bathroom.  I forgot to take a pic of the shower.
New vanity,mirror, sink and cabinet over the toilet.
This is the living room area (open floor plan with the kitchen) and the grey color is the original color of this room. My color scheme for this place is a little wild, but I wanted something different....I got it! 
New laminate flooring
Guest bedroom with a door to the deck.
BTW I will never paint another room red ....EVER.
This is still my favorite place in the house and it needed no renovations......



Stay tuned more to come.....Peace my friends.!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Another one bites the dust

Okay if you recall I have joined up on the Gitter Done band wagon. I had 3 projects that I wanted to complete before the end of January.  As of today I have completed 2.  Here is project #1 if you please and here is project #2.... before


and after

pile on the right is ebay stuff....

The punching thingy is going to get a new home soon.

Okay, so there is still one more little pile, but it is another project I am working on...my Etsy store.


 I am thinking now that I have my woman cave clean that my son will probably, somehow end up moving back home.  (I do heart him very much, but I am hoping to enjoy "my" room at least a little while.)
 Oh! and please don't open the closet.....
Peace my friends!!
Linking up

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

thrift bender

Since I do believe junking is an addiction of mine, I like to refer to the "high" I get while on the hunt as "junk drunk".  My BFF(Big R) and I went on a thrift bender today.  (For those of you not familiar with "going on a bender" it just means a really hard and heavy all day drunk.) I promise I do not drink, but do know the terminology. I guess it's just a redneck southern thing.  Anyway, she and I left and it was still dark outside. I have proof:



Our first stop was at a huge church in Bartlett.  We didn't get much here, but the cookies were good!!




Then on to one of the many Goodwill stores in the Memphis area. This GW had a Bargain Barn. We were not familiar with the BB but noticed people were lining up waiting on the doors to open.  It was cold and we had gotten there about 10 minutes before opening. We sat and talked in the warm truck. As we sat there the line started to grow. Hmmmm...we were getting curious.







  After counting about 15 people in line, we decided to get out.



  When the doors opened, it looked like a scene out of Black Friday sales stories.  People were running.  We were laughing.  We could hear glass breaking. OMGoodness..what's up with this??  Apparently, the BB is where they put out bins with things that have been in the store an extended amount of time and they are cheap!






 We rummaged for awhile and made our purchases.  However, we were told that it is a sight to see when they bring out more bins (which they continue to do all day).  So we decided to stay to watch the "changing of the bins". People make two lines facing each other and the workers roll the bins between the two lines.  They are not allowed to touch anything until the bins stop rolling. Whoa!! When the bins stopped, it was CAH-RAY-Z!!! It was the highlight of our day.




  Thrifting, ebaying, and resellling is big business and these people brought their A game.  I stood back and took it all in....hey I wasn't about to loose a limb over something that doesn't pay my bills. The day could have ended here and we would have been perfectly content, but you know the truck wasn't full and our pockets weren't empty...so onto the next stop.



The next stop was a far cry from being "thrifty" but we still saw beautiful, interesting things. We made no purchases here, but I got some great ideas for some shabby chic projects.





From here we hit many more stores, but still couldn't quit talking about the manic scene from the morning.  I am sure we will go back to the BB. If for nothing else, a smile....All in all, I made some good purchases to resell but best of all I made another great junk drunk memory with my BFF!! Peace my friends....

Sunday, January 9, 2011

One project down...

Okay, so I got busy this weekend to finish a project for the Gitter Done link party coming up this Friday.  If you recall a few days ago I posted a picture of this.....
a great flea market find.  I found some paint that someone had custom mixed and then returned. (Really?? I don't get this..whatever.)  I knew it was a little darker than I had originally wanted but I figured I could add some white paint to lighten it up. (I ended up adding off  white, because wouldn't you know I had no white I discovered when I got home.) I also purchase a Black and Decker sander for $6 on clearance.  (Okay I do remember my commitment to be thrifty and to refrain from buying anything new for a year. I think 8 days is pretty good.  It is for work though...justified!)  Here is how she looked throughout the process...
Then I did a little glazing.....
The finished product....

Let me know what you think. Peace my friends!
I will be linking up to these fantabulous blogs ......
NewNostalgiaA Little Knick Knack

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Fruitful Friday

I recently was inspired by this blog.  She is going to sponsor a weekly Gitter Done link party where you can go and share any projects that have been in your procrastination portfolio.  Since this has been my first week back to school and the first official party is next week, I am going to be making my list of things that I want to finish for the month of January.   (not in any particular order and I am sticking to 3)
1. finish cleaning the woman cave (formerly known as the only child's bedroom....He no longer lives here, but let it be noted that he still costs a LOT)


I cannot believe I just showed that.....it looks like the cabinet threw up!! (and there is a walk in closet the room too, just couldn't go there...literally)

2. finish my votive candlier for my cottage deck....
This is already un-electrified and the prisms have been removed...now for a paint color.

3. paint this for the house I live in most of the time... it is a little mod but I like it..
These are my 3 projects for this month.. Check back next Friday to see the "fruits" of my labor..no sour grapes here. Where shall I begin?????