LBP - The Hall Semi-Circle Table

Lost Blog Post - The Hall Semi-Circle Table

I haven't talked much about our house's hallway: 1. Because its a hallway and 2. It is a narrow space and this makes it difficult to design. Luckily...

One of my many Goodwill impulse buys was a small semi-circle table. I found it on a random summer day for $9.99 (as you can tell with the $10 marking so no one tries to rip them off).

The table already has a light cream color with that aged look to it. As of now, I have done nothing to it other than put it up against the wall.

There really was no other way to put furniture in this hallway. It is only 3' wide. So this guy really was perfect. It also doesn't interfere with the way the doors open and close to the bedrooms which also a great functioning plus.

One other thing you might notice, the hallway is painted! When painting the kitchen, I painted the hallway the same Behr's Wheat Bread that went in the living room. I felt the color already was blended around through the living room and dining space, it was easy to take it a little farther and blend the neutral with the bathroom and bedrooms. Not too shabby huh?!

How are you liking the LBPs? I think they tie all those gaps together and you can really see the progression of our place. 

LBP - The Sconce

Lost Blog Post - The Sconce

I found this wrought iron sconce at Goodwill for $3.99 after a random summer day at work. I'm definitely one of those kinds of people who buys things without always having a place for them or hoards them until a later date. This may get me in trouble in the future...Better call A&E now.

 

I took my sconce out and primed it with two coats of  Rustoleum 2X Ultra Cover Primer in White, that I already owned, as seen here. (Also note: another LBP in the works...)

And then after two coats of Rustoleum white high gloss spray paint and we were good to go.

We attached the sconce to the odd living room wall since it was thin and although it needed something on it, most artwork wouldn't work since the space is skinny. I added a wonderful smelling Bath & Body Works candle and we were in business!

Not too shabby for a $3.99 find! What quick fixes have you found? How are you liking the LBPs? Do you think the sconce should be a different color and if so what?

Mayo Mishaps

Sometimes you can score some pretty sweet freebies. My mom called me up saying that one of her co-workers was giving some side tables away. They were vintage but still in amazing shape. She emailed me some photos and I thought "well those would be nice in our retro furniture bedroom". At my cousin's wedding, we made the switch and brought these bad boys home along with the new couch. They turned out to be vintage finds from Lane Furniture and very high quality.

After doing a little research with Google, I found the same table selling anywhere from $250 for a set, or $280 for one piece. Giving quite a range of $250-$560 for a set. I think we have quite a score! These were just a few of the ones I found.

These were already sold from Furnish Me Vintage.

This one from Vintage & Modern sold while I was looking at for $280 for the single table.

These are currently (as of Sunday, June 24th, 2012) on-sale at Esty shop Walnut Hollow Vintage Collections for $250 for the set of two like mine.

There is one catch though to my wonderful find. Although the overall condition was amazing on these, one had a water stain. I figured I would just sand them down and refinish them but that just seemed like a ton of work. There had to be a better way.

For a couple of weeks, I just covered it with a book or magazine. Yes, I'm that classy. But enough was enough. 

I saw a thing on Pinterest to remove water stains with wood with mayo. I was as shocked as you are now. After some research on eHow, apparently it acts like a deep conditioner. Ever heard of the mayo mask for your hair, think that. I figured why not try it. The worst case I still have to stand them down and refinish them. No harm in trying to improve the situation.

I applied a healthy amount directly to the stain.

Then dabbed it more evenly with my finger. No jokes, yes, I know what this looks like.

I carefully covered the area with a paper towel to adhere the mayo to the table. Be super cautious to keep your pets out of reach, or you will have to do the whole process over again (thanks Turk).

After sitting on the water stain for three hours... I got this.

The stain is darker and less noticeable but I feel its been set in so long that it would not help completely. I guess refinish it is. :( Boo.

The article did say to get the stain as quickly as possible. Oh well. It was worth a try.

The Engagement

Forget my joke in the last post, it finally happened.

Max popped the question!

On Saturday, March 10th, 2012, he asked me to be more than his house remodeling companion, but his wife. I know you are all asking, "What's the story?"! So here it goes...

We have been having an unseasonable warm winter that continued to March. Sixty degree days in the beginning of March mean us house bound Wisconsinites get to venture back outdoors. We headed up to the cabin the night before to have a little alone time that we really needed. That morning, I woke up early and made a breakfast casserole and we enjoyed the sun.

After our food had settled, we went on a morning jog together around part of the lake. We been both consciously trying to workout more and get back in shape. It was a gorgeous morning for it too. Only a few clouds and lots of wind.

Since there was still patches of snow on the ground and the lake was still frozen, there wasn't much to do at the cabin so we headed into nearby Waupaca, WI, to bum around the town. Max was being very patient with me and let me go into all the antique and gift stores I wanted. From this moment on, I knew something was up. We joked and called it "terrific lady day" like they said on The League. I was really enjoying "terrific lady day". I picked up a very cool vintage 1966 Standard Oil street map of Milwaukee for $3 at Ingeborg's Cupboard Antiques and Collectables. Very Mad Men Esque of me. Wall art, yes!

We then headed back to the cabin to have a couple of beers and start dinner (steaks we had picked up from local Wautoma meat store, Stoneridge). I sat by the campfire, which was not actually lit, enjoying sitting in the sun. Max said he had to go to the bathroom and would be right back out. A few minutes later, he came out with his beer and a book. He then asked me to go for a walk to sit down by the swing just below the house. Being in the shade, I was less than thrilled to move out of the sunlight. Seeing a book, also made me get a little down since that usually meant he is going to zone out and not talk.

We get to the swing and he said, here read the first chapter. I look and its a copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. A book I have read years ago. Anyone who really knows me, knows I don't read much, so me reading all the Harry Potter books was a big deal. I also love all the movies. So I begin to read.
*note: grammar has been changed

"The Adventures of Maureen
As told by
Max Anderson

We all know how the Harry Potter stories go. They go on to sell a bunch of copies of the books and create a string of hit movies. But instead in this chapter, we get to learn about someone much more important than that "Harry" guy. It's a story that's much more important than Hogwarts, wizarding, and even that little guy we call "Lurk".

This is a story of how one of the greatest things happened for the lives of two people. It all happened many years ago, during the Brewers Opening Day, where Maureen was having fun in the big city of Milwaukee.

Maureen went out to a club to meet a friend downtown. When Maureen got to the club, she realized that her friend was being mean to hear and she thought "to hell with this guy, I'll go to talk to someone else." That's where Max came into the story. Max came up and said "Hi", he proceeded to talk to Maureen for the night where he later took her home since she was really tired. But as Max drove away that night, he couldn't help but think that there was something about that girl.

About one month later Maureen and Max go out for their first date at Oakland Trattoria where they have their first dinner together and then go to a movie. Max would never forget that night, it was the first night he had a date with the girl of his dreams. It was also the first time he ever had a girl suggest that they go to watch the Jackass movie. He knew that night that girl was something special........

After a few dates, Maureen said "I love you". It was big news to Max, but he knew he was able to say "I love you" back and mean it.

Eventually, Max graduated college and he had to get a job, that meant he had to leave Maureen and that made him very sad. He cried when he left since he didn't want to give up the greatest person in his life. He knew that he needed to find a job so he went far far way and he didn't speak to Maureen for a long time. It was a decision that he would regret for the rest of his life.

But thankfully, after a long time, Max came back to Milwaukee and he was able to see Maureen again. H will never forget the smile on her face after not seeing her for so many years, but he knew that he was glad to be back home.

After some time Maureen and Max got together and decided to move in together. They moved out of the big dirty city of Milwaukee and eventually bought a house, moved into it and started fixing the place up. They decided to call that house home.

But there was something that was bothering Max. There was something that was incomplete in his life and that he couldn't put his finger on. There was one more thing he needed in his life that he just couldn't do himself. It was if there was a question that he needed answered but he couldn't answer it himself....."

He then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I, of course, said YES!

My ring is a blue diamond with white accent diamond stones. About .75 carat total for your ring buffs.

Max said he chose the Chamber of Secrets since the book was going to have it's own secret. He joked it would be a little morbid to put it in the Deathly Hallows since so many people die. I told him, well people still died in that book. R.I.P. Moaning Myrtle.

Overall, a very surprisingly awesome and romantic proposal I didn't think my man had in him. Love knowing he's still full of surprises.

Let the wedding planning begin!

What's your engagement stories? Did it involve a book or a "terrific lady day"? Are you a creepy Harry Potter fan?

All The Small Things

Most of this month has come and gone. Time flies when you're having fun! Little has been done house wise these past few weeks. We've had friends visit from out of town, people over for Packers games and just vegged in our spare time. Not exciting when you want to talk of all the cool things you are doing on your home blog, but awesome in the post holidays sense.

However...

They say its the little things that make a house, a home. Slowly but surely we are hauling those little touches in and doing just that. In no particular order, here is some of our hauls/upgrades...

Steam Cleaning The Carpets


Since we moved in (with the moving, home updates and Turk being sick), we haven't had the carpets cleaned. And it was really starting to get... disgusting. Even though we plan on refinishing the hardwood floors this coming summer, we thought it might be a little nice to have a clean house through winter and spring.

Here's the culprit with his stains.

So we bucked up and rented a Rug Doctor from our local supermarket, Pick 'n Save. The rental cost us approximately $40 for a 24-hour rental and $20 for the cleaning solution. We used the professional line's special "pet solution". 

Check to the left of this pass of the machine. Filthy. I'm barfing right now just thinking about it (not really, but you get the point.)

Here is the cleaned floor looking almost like new. Not too bad if I say so myself.

The Guest Bedroom/Office was even worse. Before we moved in, it was clearly not cleaned and the carpet was just brown. Again, look at the strip to the left of the cleaner. It was that dirty.

Here is the finished product. Turk was a little weirded out by the wet carpet. Silly dog.

TP Saves


Last month we threw a party for both the holidays and sort of our housewarming to show off our new bathrooms. Although, they are not fully finished, they could definitely be displayed. We thought it might be a treat to have some new toilet paper holders so our guests wouldn't have to pull the roll off the back of the toilet. We like to class it up around here.

In the main bathroom, we found this free-standing paper holder on clearance for $17.99 down from $29.99 at Menards. Since our sink has a built in towel bar we decided to forego one, for now.

I love that the chrome finish matches our fixtures perfectly. And she's a beaut if I do say so myself.

In our half bath, since it is so tiny, we really needed something very simple. This very modern slide on model gives our tiny friend a little pizzazz. Even rooms need a little bling.

Pillow Fun


I have been searching for awhile to find a statement piece that really defined our living room. Something to really set the palette. Then I found that in this awesome floral pillow from Pier 1.

PERFECT! The background is a great khaki color, which I want to color match for the wall color. It's got phenomenal brights to use in tiny splashes around the room.

Just when you think this pillow can't get any better...flip it over!  Vertical stripes! Ahh! Anyone who knows me, knows that I love stripes. I tend to wear them a lot. And here I have stripes on stripes. What do you think? The orange pillow is actually the outdoor pillows from our outdoor (now indoor) furniture. I even

Just when you can't get enough of pillow love, I brought home some others home from TJ Maxx. A twofer for $24. I love them because they are just so poofy. Yes, I said poofy. Definitely makes hanging out on the couch more enjoyable.

The design quilted on them is sort of like penny tile.

Max was giving me crap that I'm making it "woman's domain" with all my pillows. OOPS!

Lastly, but certainly not least, I added this guy on a whim. While getting my highly addictive Bath and Body Works soap run on, I found this on their yellow sale. It is an oil warmer, but I just like the look of it. *shrugs... Although I probably won't burn oil in it, it looks nice on a shelf. Whatevs.

Have you ever been accused of making something "woman's domain"?!

Christmas Gift Love

To our families, we made the call and you definitely answered. We asked for tools to take this house, and blog, to the next level. We were delightfully surprised when these were our Christmas presents.

My mom parents answered with so gorgeous decor that we did not expect. My mom being the deal hunter she is, said she found this pair of lamps at her local Goodwill for a steal. On her way to check out, she saw they also were selling brand new lamp shades in a different section. Double score for Mama Shelly!

She also got us this great neutral striped throw blanket from Lands' End (no longer available online, check stores). I love it because no matter how many pillow changes might happen in this living room, this blanket will always match. We received it in khaki and not navy so there is a slight difference from the photo.

Moving on to Max's parents, we received some things to really help with whatever projects we want to handle. As you remember from his birthday, he received some pretty sweet power tools to help us. For Christmas they really helped us out. Max received a new Wet/Dry ShopVac. We have had Mark and Ellen's on extensive loan for the last four months. I'm pretty sure they just wanted their's back.

For myself, they were more than generous. I have been going crazy pinning sewing projects on Pinterest with  two problems. No sewing skills and no sewing machine. They fixed both of those! They gave me a new Singer 3116 Simple sewing machine. Included is a learn how to sew DVD. With 18 different stitch types, I'm sure I will be crafting up a storm very soon.

Last, but certainly not least, I got Max a new GreenWorks Leaf Blower/Vacuum with a mulching attachment. After hours of unsuccessfully racking and missing the last of city's lawn clipping collection date because our trees did not fully shed in time, we were done. When I found this leaf blower though, I knew we had found a winner.

After blowing all the leaves into a pile, instead of racking and bagging them, we can use the vacuum attachment and suck the pile up while mulching the leaves into a smaller bunch. We can either turn 10 bags of large leaves into one or throw them in our compost bin and turn them into mulch. It also is runs on electricity making it completely green and surprisingly light since there are no batteries or gas to haul around. Here is the proof.

Max's first impression of his new leaf blower, "This thing is fricken amazing!" He approves. Funny part about this video, this is January in Wisconsin. It should look like this:

We really can't thank our families enough. They really make this all happen. Hope you all got some tools to make your projects go that much better.

Snow photo from here.