I found this buffet on Craigslist. It isn’t old and was a little above what I would normally pay, but I talked her down a little because I had seen it on CL for several weeks and knew she wanted it gone as she was moving. So, I snatched it up and knew exactly what it was going to be when I picked it up.
It seemed like it needed a little update from the dark and flowery motif it had going on….so I eyeballed some stripes and painstakingly painted the grooves in the legs and then waxed it with my new Annie Sloan wax and brush…..And I am in love. It may be my favorite piece to date…Honestly.
I think I’ll glam it up with a crystal knob, but otherwise it is staying with us….for now…we’ve got a space in our tbb (to be built) foyer that is screaming for a statement piece like this and I can’t wait to put it there. If it doesn’t work there, then someone will be a very happy customer!
Happy Monday…off to spend $1200 to get my truck fixed….ugh.
Kirsty
I’m at 35 weeks pregnant….
Just thought I would share.
Some have wondered what this crazy belly looks like, so I thought it was high time to post some pictures. I know that in a few months…years….we will look back on this time of crazy transition and laugh and laugh…we will won’t we?!
So here goes. I’ve been trying to work out a few times a week. But, it seems to be getting harder and harder this time around.
This is at our old house. Isn’t hubby hot?! And look at those crazy dirty tan feet!
Hooray for pregnancy hair!
We did a bike ride last weekend called Ride The Red. My Dad started it about 12 years ago to help out Hospice of the Red River Valley. Such a great event! I rode about 3 miles with Gus riding his strider and me on my bike. Don’t worry, I was very careful!
This was just yesterday. I “ran” about 4 miles. I use quotes because I really feel like it’s more of a slow meandering jog….and I say that I feel like a whale swimming through pudding. (I envision chocolate pudding, of course). I’m pretty sure I look absolutely ridiculous. Plus, I may or may not have peed a little while running….and honestly, I was holding on to the wall because I couldn’t stand up for very long after. (And honestly, why is there a framed photo of Albert Einstein in my Dad’s office?)
So that’s it. I try and take a photo and put it on Instagram about once a week. Do you Instagram? Do you follow me? You should. I take awesome photos of myself, and my boots and my kids and pretty things I like. My Instagram name is kirstythor.
My Dad’s neighbors, bless their hearts, brought me this dresser that they picked up at an estate sale. Perfectly good dresser and everything worked great! I knew I wanted to do a two-toned piece at some point again and this piece seemed to be just the piece to do it on.
The previous owner of this made it. By hand. And it is solid as a rock. Love handmade.
The previous handles were just a basic wood and were a little high for my liking, so I needed to change those out. The holes were too wide for any standard pulls, so I filled them in and sanded them. I alway over fill my holes slightly, so that you can sand it away and it leaves no trace of the hole. It’s also a good idea to do it in layers and make sure each layer dries thoroughly.
I also decided it needed a little oomph. In the feet. So I grabbed some feet from Home Depot. These are seriously so easy, any piece can be transformed into something a little more substantial with some new feet. I love the idea of getting flat pieces off the floor a little.
All you have to do is attach these pieces to the bottom and then screw the feet to those pieces. Done and done. Or not so much…..
In order for my top plates to work properly, I needed some more support, so I took the old drawer handles and attached them to the bottom. Then I attached the top plate to those….
Seemed to work out pretty well.
Nice shot slick. It’s a good thing I am not a professional photographer. Actually, it’s a good thing I don’t care that much about the before pictures!
For my birthday I received some brand spankin’ new Annie Sloan Paint Brushes….and let me tell you, they are totally worth the price. Even if you just get one, it will be worth it. (I would get the medium sized one, if you get just one!) So, I used my new brush and I tried french linen this time. Love this gray! So pretty!
It’s not my typical makeover, and I haven’t gotten a ton of feedback on it, but I absolutely love it. It’s different and classic and bold and I couldn’t be happier, and if no one buys it, then more for me!
I distressed the drawers and then unconventionally sprayed them with a clear coat of gloss enamel because the dresser frame is a bit glossy. The drawer pulls are from Martha Stewart for Home Depot and I love them. They were $1.50 each, and will probably be discontinued so I bought all of them at the HD here in town….did I really just say that?! Yep, I bought them all, but in my defense they only had a dozen.
I don’t have all of my supplies here so instead of using my fancy hole liner-upper, I had to use a regular old pencil and tape measure…I know! The horror. But, I think we turned out okay.
I may end up painting the bottom part of the dresser and leaving the top wood, we’ll see. But right now, I love it!
I’ve been on the hunt for kitchen stools since we sold our house and I sold our stools….
Plus we need 4 instead of 3 and they really had to match, because I’m crazy like that.
So, I searched and searched for some old science lab stools, I looked at World Market and Ebay and couldn’t find any that weren’t over $100. I wanted these on Overstock:
*Click on the photo to take you to the site.
At $90 each I wasn’t ready to commit and I thought maybe they would be a little dark for my taste.
Then I found these at Amazon:
*Click on photo to take you to the site.
I loved them. They were perfect. But they are $94. I had them in my cart for two days! Then I decided to bite the bullet and I bought 4 of them. I was feeling good about them. Sort of. I don’t like to spend that much on anything! But we need stools and these are cool.
BUT……
I came home from dropping the boys at school and opened up the Buy and Sell Facebook page for our area. Do you have one of those? Take a look on Facebook and see if you can find one…they are pretty darn great. Because the first thing I saw was this:
You have got to be kidding me?! And get this! $20. NOT FOR EACH ONE. FOR ALL FOUR! I told her that second that I wanted them and we arranged pick up. And as soon as I got confirmation they were mine I cancelled my Amazon order.
That my friends is a little slice of my mother watching over me from Heaven above…..because if I justify it, I saved $380 and can now go and buy a new pair of boots…..right?!
I’m thinking of replacing the tops with some old barn wood….or maybe I’ll sand the top down and paint a number on each one…..oh, how I love a good deal.
Happy Friday, friends.
Kirsty
Okay, I really finished this a few days ago, but you know….I had other posts planned. So, here we go. A couple photos to remind you of the inspiration piece and what this one looked like before i got my grubby hands on it.
Here’s my piece:
I sanded the top piece and then decided to try out gel stain on the base. It worked great! I am in love with it. I am not in love with what it did to my hands, but spray on goo-gone took the stain right off.
I left most of the scratches and grooves and markings on the desktop, because I just love that there are stories that go with them. I found “mom” in bubble letters on the top. So great. The professor I bought it from brought it here from Kentucky many years ago, and he had had it for a long time. So, it’s probably got some great stories.
I used Howard’s Feed and Wax on the desktop and Gel Stain in Hickory for the base. I then put a couple coats of polycrylic over the top of the whole thing.
I couldn’t be happier with the way this piece turned out! Once it gets set up with the new lamp and in our new office, I will show it off all together.
Tom went to school for construction management and currently sits behind a very large computer screen working on schedules for projects his company builds. He’s fancy.
He loves everything construction related and in fact loves the furniture that comes along with it…desks, clamp lamps, big huge rulers…you get the idea.
I of course love everything about Restoration Hardware. Ummm…except the price.
We’ve often thought it would be neat to have a drafting table as a work desk. But, as DIYers we are not willing to spend RH prices.
So here’s my inspiration photo for a drafting table in our soon to be built Flex Room/Office:
Of course, I wanted to do some searching on Craigslist and since hubby has a big 4-0 birthday coming up in a few weeks, I was hoping to find one and get it done before then.
The University in this one horse town that we are doing a brief stint in has an architecture program, a design program, an engineering program so fortunately there are lots of professors and students around…..
So I did a quick search on Craigslist and happened to find this:
For 50 bucks. Yes Please and Thank you. It was one of those situations where I couldn’t get in touch with the guy fast enough and I just really wanted it right at that moment and did not want to have to worry about someone catching on to my idea of making it look like the RH one and stealing it before I got to it….does that ever happen to anyone else?! Or am I the only freak out there?
I’m working on it now and I will give you a sneak peek later…except that Tom reads this…and it really should be a surprise for him, shouldn’t it?!
Next, I wanted to find a similar lamp. But the one in the photo is $399. Pottery Barn had one for $319…But, in the last fifteen minutes of looking for images I happened upon this and ordered it from World Market:
It definitely beats the prices of the other options!
Next is the stool, but I have one in storage, that will work perfectly. It’s an old stool with a big seat. I’ll just have to paint it.
Stay tuned for the reveal of the drafting table!
Today, our oldest turns 7. Of course, it seems like yesterday that he was born.
Oddly we were getting ready to move when Porter was born too. We were still in our house, but it was sold. And we ended up moving when he was just a few months old.
He has grown into such a wonderful, funny, smart kiddo. We just really love having him around, and I think we’ll keep him.
Love ya P-town.
Happy Labor Day!
Today is my birthday. Nothing crazy planned, just going to enjoy the day with my family and then celebrate Porter’s 7th Birthday as well, since his is tomorrow!
Here’s a little Fargo White Butterfly for you to enjoy!
I picked up this dresser at a garage sale. It was pretty gross. But honestly I had been to 5 second hand stores and three garage sales, I this was the first piece that caught my eye and was in my budget.
I had some help with the cleaning.
I wanted to see what would happen if I accented the Florence with some gold….and I just love it.
Gus picked out the handles. I think he did a stellar job.
I just really love the gold on this, and all the distressing. Such a great piece for any home! She’s available in Fargo for pick-up!
We moved. The movers came, packed up everything we own minus several things I sold on Facebook and that was that.
Our worldly belongings are sitting in a storage unit somewhere in the Twin Cities and we are living with my Dad in Fargo.
The chaos that is our lives will continue for the next few months as we welcome a new baby at the end of October and move into a house (cross your fingers it all works out) by Thanksgiving.
Here is a little glimps into what our house looked like on moving day:
Our family room looked a little like a flea market….I think I counted 12 mirrors and 8 empty frames…
I may have picked up that big old antique cabinet the day before the truck came at my favorite antique store….
The front room held everything that was coming with us to Fargo. Stroller, office crap, clothes.
In that box on the table is a chandelier that is going in the foyer of our new house. I know. I know. I bought it before we even have a home. But it was a steal! And somewhere on that counter is a pair of moose antlers that I grabbed at the antique store too the day before I got the antique cabinet.
Moving is always a little crazy. Of course, I sobbed and sobbed. We loved our neighbors, our house and little ol’ O-town. But, never fear neighbors, we will be back to visit!
The last few days of our stay, the neighbor kids were running through the yard, the side street and the hood constantly and it made us so happy!
Then of course, I had to leave our mark on the home (because, ehem….there wasn’t enough DIY stuff…duh).
I just signed when we lived there and our name to under the shelves in the pantry. They probably won’t ever see it…and that’s the beauty of it.
Dear children,
Stop growing up.
That is all.
Love,
Your tearful Mommy.
