Friday, October 29, 2010

All My Beautiful Junk

I have a new obsession. Goodwill. And Craigslist. And garage sales.

Ever since I discovered that you can find some cool things at goodwill if you go in with artsy eyes... I have been hooked. Will has to tell me not to go every week :)

So... I know I should have taken some before pictures of these things, but I completely forgot. Now you get to see the finished products.
I went into goodwill one day, mainly just to look and hope that I find something really cool that I have needed for a long time. When I didn't find any such thing, I looked at their whole "trinkets" aisles. You know... the ones where normal people would say "what is this junk?". Yeah, well, I was in heaven. I LOVE looking at things with new eyes and wonder what I can do to make them fit my home.

Here's some stuff I got. I'll try my best to explain what it looked like... but basically, a lot of this stuff was gosh darn ugly. Seriously like, who would ever buy that?
I spent about $20 total and had so much fun redoing them. I must be in full force nesting mode or something because all I want to do are crafts.


I got these awesome wood box containers for about $1 a piece. They used to be just pure wood with writing on them like "sugar" "flour" etc. Basically, they looked super old and gross. Just a little glossy black spray paint and, voila! Pottery barn look a like.

These are 2 of my favorites. For the baby's room, we are doing an owl type theme. I found this frame with the picture in it for $1. The frame was an ugly wood with no paint or stain. I just painted it black and it looks brand new. Like it came from Anthropolgie or something. And that little white ceramic owl was probably the ugliest of them all. It was yellow and said "Georgia on the bottom" and was apparently a thermometer. I so envisioned painting it a glossy white and making it look like it was brand new. Now I love it and it will fit perfectly for the baby's room.

I got that shelf for $2. It used to just be a wooden shelf with rusted looking metal off of it. I'm telling you... so ugly. I mixed some different paint colors together and came up with a soft orange for the shelf and we spray painted the metal bright glossy white. So this looks brand new too. AND we finally have somewhere to hang some hand towels. Our apartment didn't have them?? So weird. It so beats paying $20 for a new one that doesn't have much character.

Got this little wooden piece for $2. It was just plain wood and looked like it had come out of a Cracker Barrel store. So not my style. BUT... I envisioned some blackish/greyish paint on it and knew we needed a place to hang our keys (since some very cute husband often misplaces them) :) and we LOVE it. A great place for our keys, garage door opener, and Gibson's leash. We thought about putting our mail on there too.

I LOVE this one!! We didn't yet have anything over our bed because we were focusing so much on the other rooms. So our bedroom looked pretty bare. I got these 5 frames for $1 a piece. They were plain wood and the paper in them looked like it came out of the 50s. They were gross. Soooo... I painted each frame with a soft brownish/grey and they look brand new. We headed to Hobby Lobby and picked up some scrapbooking paper, all in the same style and color but different to avoid being matchy. Then, Will did his thing and hung them up perfectly. Sorry, I didn't take a picture of our whole bed or bedroom because I just did 3 loads of laundry and I am in the middle of putting them away.

Here's a close up of some of the frames.


And, as for Craigslist, sometimes it can be hit or miss. People will put up a junky wooden chair that is falling apart for $100 just because they think it is valuable. When, in actuality, it is junk. Well... I have been looking and looking and have been patient with my hunt for a chair for the baby's room. I didn't necessarily want a rocker because I actually don't want the baby to be rocked to sleep. When I nannied, I learned this the hard way when the kids would get addicted to the rocking and wouldn't fall asleep any other way. So, I was looking for a comfortable chair that would be ideal for those late night feedings. Ideally I wanted one with an ottoman where I could put up my feet and fall asleep if I wanted to. I wanted one that supported my back well and my arms since I will be holding the baby and feeding him. Yesterday, I was looking on craigslist again and found this awesome chair for only $100. I was shocked because everything eles I have been looking at for $100 has been so old or worn. And, surprisingly, most people weren't willing to budge on their price. So, I almost settled for an older overstuffed chair for $60 and we were going to reupholster it for fun, but then I came across this beauty. It's only 2 years old, leather, and so comfortable. I snatched it up right away. We brought it home and cleaned it and it looks brand new. I love it!!
We also had our washing machine break the other day (boo!). So we have been on a washing machine hunt ever since. We have checked craigslist but have found that most people only want to sell their washer and dryer as a set or people are ridiculously over-pricing their stuff. PLUS, Atlanta is humongous and it can take 2 hours just to get across the city (at least). So... I was bummed that I really couldn't find anything of good value or in good condition in our area. I saw that there was a garage sale today about 5 minutes away, so I decided to check it out. They had a 2 year old washer (really nice) going for $200 and I asked her if she would take $150. She said fine! We looked it up... this is an $800 washer!!!
So we still have to pick that up....but I am so excited. It is a top loader (our current one is a front loader) and I get so tired of bending down and pulling the twisted clothes out of the washer as they fall on the floor. So I am VERY excited about a top loader.

AND, as for Cai's room... it is coming along but we ran out of paint. SO, I think we will be finishing that this weekend and I will definitely have pictures to post.

Love you all and hope you have an amazing weekend :)

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