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  • Flea market find!

    Matt and I knew that when we bought a new house there were various items that would need to be upgraded.  Our bedroom furniture is on that list.  We are currently in possession of my childhood furniture set.  However, this set did not come with bedside tables so a few years ago I bought some cheap side tables from Walmart.  We couldn’t have anything too large in our old room at the townhouse.  These fit nicely even though they were cheap.

    Since we moved I’ve been randomly keeping my eye out for various pieces of furniture.  Hence the dining room table sans chairs right now. 😉 About two weeks ago I was on FB on one of the buy, sell, trade sites I follow and someone posted a set of small chests for $120.00.  I commented for dimensions and said I would be interested if the first deal fell through.  The next day I received a PM from the lady.  The chests were available, and they were just about the right size!  I im’ed Matt and he said “whatever”!  I PM’ed the lady back, asked if she would take $100.00 for the pair and the next day I went to pick them up.  They weren’t in perfect condition but they were in good condition.  I just needed to decide on a paint color and I was in business.

    For a while now, I’d been looking at new chests.  The only problem was that most of the new chests were 1) more than I wanted to spend and 2) too tall.  Our bed is pretty low so we needed chests that were under 30″ tall.  Most new chests are several inches over 30 which I knew Matt would complain about.  The used chests came in right at 28″ tall which makes them only a few inches taller than the bed and not uncomfortable while reaching up from the bed.

    The weekend I got the chests, Matt and I ran to Lowes to look at paint colors.  I ended up choosing Morning Fog by Sherwin Williams.  It’s a really pretty light greyish blue color.  I was a little worried there wouldn’t be enough contrast between that and the wall color but decided to just go with it.  First I primed the chests and drawers with Kilz.  Then over the next few days I painted the chests, and then the drawers.  Within a week I had everything done.  (Which was kind of shocking!) Originally I had planned to use the pulls that were on the chest and just spray paint them but then I realized almost all of them were pulling apart and Matt didn’t really think he could fix them.  I searched on Amazon and fell in love with some antique looking glass knobs but they were $17.00 for a set of 4.  I would need 12 and I wasn’t sure I really wanted to spend $50.00 on knobs.  In the end, that’s exactly what I ended up doing.  The chests were really cheap so I figured I could splurge a little on knobs.

    For just over $150.00, I was able to get us new bedside tables and they turned out AMAZING! The knobs really add a little something and the color blends nicely with the room.  Seeing how well these turned out, kind of makes me what to buy the Hurdal dresser and chest from IKEA, paint them and add the same knobs. (Side note, we saw these at IKEA and they are quite large and sturdy which is the only reason I’m really considering them.) That would redo our whole bedroom (chests included) for under $1000.00.  I told Matt I’m not really ready to take on this project but it might happen soonish. 😉

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    Before: Our small crappy little tables.
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    The chests before, during, my knobs, and after.

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  • Patience paid off!

    For the past year I’ve been drooling over this one specific dining room table that I kept seeing on Pinterest.  Of course, none of the links listed where the actual table was from.  I searched high and low and one day I finally found a blog that stated where the table was from, Restoration Hardware.  I immediately went to their website and found the table I’d been lusting over was the Salvaged Wood Trestle Dining Table.  And then I found the price.  No matter how much I loved this table I just couldn’t (and Matt said no!) see spending that much on just a table.

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    I began searching for something comparable, specifically with the same or similar style legs.  I found a few that were similar but either they weren’t solid wood or they were out of my price range.  If i was going to spend $1500+ I figured I might as well just buy the one I really loved.  Here are a few similar ones I found: Harverty’s Avondale, the Randall from Wayfair (which is really cheap and mostly made of veneers), the Manor House also from Wayfair (which I can’t currently find online but was listed for $2500.00), the Arcadia Extension Table from World Market (again mostly veneers).

    Once I’d decided I probably wasn’t going to find my table, in a price range I liked, I started looking at other options.  There is a wholesale store called Nadeau in Raleigh that has solid wood pieces from India.  A coworker and I would run over at lunch and look around.  I finally decided that I’d most likely just buy a table from there when the time came and while it wouldn’t be my RH table, I could probably find something with that similar rustic feel.

    I started following Nadeau on FB and IG since they get shipments in quite frequently. And then last week it happened, my table on their FB page!  I freaked and immediately commented to see how much the table was listed for and how big it was.  They responded and I showed Matt.  The table was still a little more than I wanted to spend but it was THE table! I even waited another week before I went to check it out in person.  I was able to get the guy to hold it for the rest of the day so I could go home and measure our space.  Once we knew it would fit, I told Matt he had to go see it so on Saturday we ran to Raleigh to check it out.  The table is made of solid mango wood and 7’3″ by 3.5′.  Matt agreed it was nice and I bought my table.  It was delivered yesterday and I can say it is spectacular!  It looks beautiful in the space.  Now I just need chairs and a rug.  I’ve had the rug picked out for a few months now but I’ll wait to purchase it since the table was a little more than I was hoping to spend.  I’m hoping the rug will help me decide on what chairs to buy.  For now the dining room is coming together. 🙂

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    With the table!

     

    The rug I want to go under the table.

     

  • A tale of two doors

    Right after Matt and I moved into the new house we had a really bad storm come through and our front door leaked.  You can read about that here.  That was 3 months ago.  Since then I’ve been waiting for my new front door.  While we weren’t happy that the front door leaked, it gave me the opportunity to actually get the front door I wanted.  When we bought the house, I had dreams of removing the grids from the front door and frosting it with our address in the middle.  However, the grids on our door were glued in and the builder said they couldn’t remove them.  I was totally bummed.

    Anyway, fast forward to today.  It’s been 3 months and I am just now getting my new front door.  Somewhere in between the door leaking and our 2 month inspection, the warranty guy was let go.  So when it came time to sand down the foyer floors by the door and replace the door, the door went missing.  No one was really sure what happened to the door.  It was either misplaced or stolen which meant a new door would have to be ordered.  Last Thursday we got a delivery.  A new front door!  The CORRECT front door was delivered to the house.  The builder picked it up to have it painted and now I’m waiting for them to come and install it.  I was hoping they would be early but seeing as it’s after 9am, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.  Hopefully it won’t take long to replace the door.

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    This is the old door. You can see the silicone they put around the panel to try and keep the water out. I feel we are lucky it didn’t leak again.

    Of course the guys didn’t show up to replace the door till closer to 10.  It look about 45 mins to get everything swapped out but I must say the new door is BEAUTIFUL!  I love it soo much!  I really wish I could leave the glass open but you can see straight up to the master at night.  The full pane of glass gives the house a little move charm, I think.  I know it’s not a huge difference but I’m really happy.

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    Old door on the left, new door on the right. SOO much better. I think the new door looks older with more charm. The glass is also a little wider.
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    From the inside. I had the door painted the same color on both sides.

    As for frosting the glass, I realized last night the new door is tempered glass and the glass etching stuff won’t work on tempered glass.  I guess I’m going to have to use the spray frost.  This is not my ideal method but it’s also a little less permanent than glass etching.  Oh and I should mention the sheers I had covering the front door don’t work now because the area around the glass is covered and not boxed off.  Does that even make sense?  Anyway, my tension rods don’t have a place to fit now.  So we are totally ghetto and have suction cups on the glass holding the sheers.  Whomp!

    ~k

  • Craft room update

    Hello, almost vacation!

    Matt and I are planning a little trip to the beach for a few days.  I feel like I am in desperate need of a vacation.  Our last “real” vacation was two years ago to Jamaica.

    So, let’s see, what have I been up to.  Well, I am still working on my craft room.  I think it’s going to be a work in progress for a while.  It’s been so freaking hot lately that I haven’t wanted to work on the stuff I need to finish, like painting my shelf brackets or my chandelier.  This past weekend it cooled down enough and I was able to get outside and spray paint my shelf brackets.  I bought the Ikea Ekby Gallo shelves while we were there a few weeks ago.  I knew I wanted to spray paint the bracket piece gold since gold will be my accent color. I bought some Krylon metallic gold spray paint (I think this is it) and it was the BOMB!  The nozzle swiveled and the push button was super smooth. No more spray paint hand cramp.  I used 1 can for both brackets.

    Now that I have the shelving painted I need Matt to help me install them over my craft table.  Then, I need to start working on my chandelier.  It’s one mom had and is no longer using so she’s offered it up for my craft room.  It’s already goldish  but I want it to be a little more gold.  I think it will look amazing painted the same gold as the shelf brackets.

    I brought my brackets and shelves inside last night so I could take some pics and I realized my shelves are the wrong size.  Whomp whomp!  The brackets are Gallo or something and the shelves are not. Total IKEA fail!  Thankfully the shelves were’t very expensive.  I’m sure I can find another place to use them.  I told Matt last night I would just have to run to Lowe’s and get a piece of wood that would fit.  While not ideal, this will actually allow me to paint the wood the same color as the table, chair and trim.  So it might actually look a little better.

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    While we are on the craft room, I said a while back I would review the fabric I bought for my chair from Spoonflower.  Spoonflower is actually local, they are in Durham, and they print their own fabric.  This allows for hundreds and hundreds of choices you can’t get anywhere else.  I fell in love with several of their patterns and I couldn’t find anything close at other fabric stores.  Here’s my review:

    They have tons of fabric choices you can’t find anywhere else.  They also have a variety of fabric types.  Since I was recovering a chair I bought their basic cotton fabric. This runs $17.00 a yard.  Not terrible considering it’s custom. I think it took less than a week for my order to complete and ship, which isn’t bad. The packaging arrived and it was pretty cute.  Now the fabric.  I can’t say I’m blown away with the quality of the fabric.  To me, it felt kind of “flimsy”.  It’s a very thin, lightweight fabric.  I was expecting it to have a  little more weight to it.  I have various other cotton fabrics in my stash and I don’t think this feels like quite the same quality.  With that said, I will say it washed okay and looks fine on my chair.  I’m not sure how it will hold up but this is also a chair I don’t plan to use daily.   I think the colors and pattern were what I expected and I was very pleased with that. Would I order fabric from them again? Maybe, but only if I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted and they had a pattern I liked. I think I would probably try to find something from Fabric.com first.  I only got their basic cotton so I’m not sure how the other fabrics feel. They may be a little nicer but they are also more expensive.  I went cheap. 🙂

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  • The making of a craft room

    When we picked our new house I knew I was going to make one of the bedrooms into a craft room.  Matt was getting an office and I wanted a craft room.  We had the space so I decided to use the bedroom next to the the master.  It’s the only bedroom not connected to a bathroom and I wasn’t keen on having a bedroom right next to our bedroom/bathroom so this was the perfect space.

    For months I searched and searched for a desk.  I found one at Ikea but due to the shipping costs I kept looking.  Then I found one on Amazon that was similar and ordered it.  Thanks to UPS, the desk was left in the rain by our garage, not on our front porch, and the desk was ruined.  I shipped it back and continued the search.  I also realized that one and the one from Ikea would have been too small for the space so it worked out.

    I still hadn’t found anything when my mom called one day to tell me that her work was getting rid of their display tables.  Employees would be able to purchase them for $20.00.  I knew it was just a wooden table but for $20.00 I told her to get me one.  Turns out it will work great for a craft table.

    I decided to be lazy and not actually strip or sand the table down.  I bought some Kilz instead and used that as my base.  Next I painted the table with 2-3 coats of paint.  I decided to use our trim color since it wasn’t quite white.  I thought a bright white table might clash.  I’m really glad I used the trim color to be honest.  Everything flows nicely.

    Since the table was going to be used for crafts I thought it might be a good idea to put a top coat on the top.  Boy, that was a mistake!  I bought a spray clear coat.  I did several light coats but the finish wasn’t glossy like it was supposed to but so I decided to put it on a little heavier.  Well the damn stuff turned yellow, the can said it wouldn’t turn yellow!  Grrr!  So I ended up having to sand the top down to the gloss off so I could then add another coat of paint.  In the end it turned out fine but it was kind of a pain.

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    Fast forward a few days.  The table has finally been painted and I ask Matt to help me get it into my craft room.  Well I didn’t measure the table.  Whoops.  After about 20 mins of trying every possible way to get the table in Matt decided it wouldn’t fit.  Okay so that’s not really an option.  I immediately told him to cut the feet off.  He was hesitant at first but we took the table back downstairs and on the front porch he sawed off the bottom few inches.  I found some casters to replace the feet with and I think everything will be fine now.  This will also allow me to move the table around should I need or want to.

    The chair for my craft room has been a little less dramatic.  I found the cutest chair at the Flea Market a few months ago.  It just needed a little paint and some new fabric.  I’ve been on the hunt for fabric since I found it.

    Over the weekend I was able to get the chair painted with the hope that it would make finding a fabric a little easier. Well today was the day.  I was going back through my fabric board on Pinterest and finally decided to order one.  I think it will look really nice on the chair.  It should be here in a week or so.  If I like the fabric, I’ll do a quick review on the fabric store I used.

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    Chair before paint. Notice the brass tips on the feet. I’m going to spruce those up with a little more gold paint.

     

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    Chair after paint. I need to add the gold.

     

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    Fabric for the chair seat.

    I still have more work to do but this is the start.

    ~k

     

  • It was a doozy!

    Thursday afternoon I was standing on the screen porch watching the neighbors film House Hunters, when a loud clap of thunder boomed.  Made me jump.  It had started to sprinkle and that probably kept me and a few other neighbors from being a bit more obvious with our stalking. 😉

    I finally went inside and the rain started to pick up.  Then the lightning started.  Matt called me to come upstairs to the “viewing room” to see the show.  I took a few pics as the storm started to roll in but I had no clue what we were in store for.  A little while later the rain and wind picked up.  And then the bottom fell out.  The wind was howling, the rain flooding the yards and street, thunder and lightning and then hail.  It was pretty crazy for a good half hour to hour.

    The storm rolling in.

     

    As I was texting my friend who lived a few minutes away and she’s telling me the storms are normally pretty bad here, I notice there is water running out of the front door.  Not around the front door but literally out of it.  The front door has a screw on panel and the water is coming through.  Then we notice water is also coming under the quarter round.  Matt and I are trying to keep as much water off the floor with towels and paper towels.

    Water running out of the door panel. This is the bottom of the door.
    Water coming in from the quarter round.

     

    Once the winds died down, Matt opened the door to wipe it off and see what was going on.  We could tell the panel wasn’t sealed properly.  I begin taking pics of the door and the floor and email them to our warranty guy.  He responds that someone would be out the next day or the following Monday.  When the storm is finally over, we do what we can to clean up the water and wait.

    On Friday, the forecast calls for more storms so I email the warranty guy again and ask that someone come out that afternoon before anymore damage is done.  Around 5pm the builder meets us at the house and we show him what’s going on.  He goes ahead and adds some silicone to the outside of the door but tells us that since the door now has water in it, it will have to be replace.  Talk about good news!  I really wanted a full glass door without the crossbars so now is my chance to get one!

    After he finishes his inspection he tells us that the sweep and part of the floor will also need to be replaced.  The floor boards had already started to buckle.  We’re not sure it was all from the storm.  It’s possible it had been leaking for a while and no one was aware.  Now we are just waiting for everything to be scheduled to be replaced.

    ~k

    More on what I plan to do with the new door soon.

     

  • Kelly Golf – Round 1

    One of the main reasons Matt and I chose the neighborhood we did was because it was a golf course community.  Matt plays golf a good bit and we knew he would play even more if we lived on a golf course.  The only condition was that he had to get me a set of clubs.  I refused to live on a golf course and not have clubs.  For Christmas Matt gave me a set of golf clubs and some golf shoes.

    We were able to join the golf course when we went under contract on the house back in November and Matt has played numerous times since then but I had only been to the range twice.  Tuesday Matt said he was going to play a quick 9 after work and asked if I wanted to join him.  It was a beautiful day so I decided to go.  Matt grabbed a few of my clubs and threw them in his bag and we were off.  We ended up playing the back 9 and it amazing!  We didn’t run into another player until we got to #16.

    So what exactly is Kelly Golf?  Kelly Golf is where I hit the ball from the ladies tee, see where it lands and decide if I want to play from there or pick my ball up and play from where Matt is.  This also includes me randomly throwing the ball on the green to putt from.  Basically I just make up the rules as I “play”.  It was fun and I really enjoyed myself.  It was nice being able to take our time and not worry about holding people (or Matt) up.  It was also nice there was no one around to see just how bad I am. I feel like we might do this often.  There is a guy Matt has started playing with and I think his wife might play about like me.  I told Matt we might have to play with them sometime.  The boys can play for real and the girls can drink wine and play. 🙂

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    Overlooking #11. There is supposed to be a Bald Eagles nest somewhere over here.

     

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    Sunset over the course

     

  • Flea Market Finds

    Yesterday Matt played golf, so while he was out, mom and I went shopping.  First we went to a nursery I pass each day on my way to work.  It has a very nice facility so I figured it might be kind of pricey, which is was.  It was still fun to go look around and see what might be good for the yard though.  Then we headed to the Flea Market.  Mom’s been asking to go for a while now but it’s been either too cold or rainy.  I also wanted to look for a chair and a picture frame.  I’m slowly starting to get ideas for different rooms.

    A few weeks ago  I purchased a workstation desk from Amazon for my craft room.  Thanks to UPS, my desk was destroyed.  Matt said the box was ripped and banged up not to mention they left the box sitting in the rain. Needless to say I was pretty bummed (and super pissed!).  Anyway, I think the desk would have been too small for the space anyway so I’ve been looking for different options.  Since I know I’ll need a chair, I’ve been looking around.  A new chair would run me well over $100.00.  I really didn’t want to spend $100+ on a chair.  That’s accessories and things I can’t buy.  I started looking on Craigslist and found a few mid-century modern chairs I really liked.  These were all running under $100.00.  That’s a much better deal but would also require me meeting someone.  I figured the Flea Market would be a good place to check.

    As mom and I were walking around, I found a cute picture frame.  I need something to put in my closet to hold my necklaces and earrings and I love the frame holders everyone seems to be using.  I will add some paint, fabric, and wire grating and I should have something cute.  As we were leaving the booth where I bought the frame, we came to a booth with tons of mid-century modern chairs.  I found the vendor and asked how much.  He told me $45.00!  After a brief negotiation, I got him down to $40.00. 🙂  He put the chair aside and we walked around a little longer.  When we got ready to leave we went to the car and drove around to pick up my new chair.

    I plan to paint the chair and add some cute fabric.  I also LOVE the gold cap feet.  I think I will paint them to make them more gold.  I’ve been looking at fabric this morning and I think I’ve found the One!  I originally planned to decorate my craft room with coral and gold and maybe a touch of navy but the fabric I found doesn’t really have any coral.  It’s navy based with pinks, purples, blues, greens, and yellows.  It’s really fun and festive but also a little more dark and cozy.

    I’ll post pics of the finished products, hopefully soon!

    ~k

  • Sunrise, Sunset

    Wow, I didn’t realize it has been quite so long since my last post.  We have been in the new house for almost a month and so far so good!  We are just waiting on the new sofa to come and then I have to persuade Matt to buy a dining room table.  My craft desk is on the way and then I can start working on that room (which I’m really excited about)!

    Yesterday Matt was sitting on the screen porch and I was inside on the sofa.  I hear him tap on the window and motion for me to come out.  I figured Julio was doing something cute.  I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. The sky was filled with blues, pinks, and purples.  It was AMAZING!  I knew if the back yard was that pretty, the front would be even more amazing, and I was right!

    I grabbed my camera and we both ran upstairs to the Ensuite.  The windows are almost even with the roof so we opened the windows and I sat on the window sill and took some pics.  The sky was just beautiful.

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    It’s not just sunsets that are amazing at the new house either.  Sunrise has been pretty good since the time change (when I’m actually up to see the sunrise).  I took these pics the other morning as I was leaving the house.  Needless to say, I think I’m going to like it here!

  • Snow and more snow!

    In the past 2 weeks we’ve had like 3-4 days of snow!?!?  This is absolutely crazy for NC.  Normally we’ll get a day of snow here or there but these past few weeks it’s been a lot!  Don’t get me wrong, I love a good snow day but this is starting to get ridiculous.  The city basically shuts down because we aren’t equipped to deal with snow.  Not to mention people already drive like idiots so adding snow is a disaster!

    As promised I did go out and take some pics today.  They were predicting 8+ inches for the Triangle last night and it seems most of Raleigh got more than we got at the new house.  Booo!  The townhouse probably got around 5″ while we only got 2″ at the new house.  The official total at the airport was 5″.  Anyway, here are some pics of the new hood.  I didn’t venture very far since the roads were pretty slushy.

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