Blackberries, Yard Sales, and Thrift Stores

Recently we've been exploring our backyard more and just found that we have LOADS of blackberry bushes back there. They're everywhere! Love having easily attainable fruit like that.

Also, wasn't going to yard sale on Saturday, but there was a good-looking one on my way home from the gym that I couldn't pass up. Good thing though! Had only $8 on me and managed to pick up an antique table and 3 planters for that price. Woo hoo!

Found this little patio gem for $20 at SOS Thrift Store this afternoon. I LOVE the colors of the metal and stone with the blue and teal glass. So happy with this table.

Happy with all these finds....blackberries, tables, and planters.

Elk Antlers

Aren't these majestic? These were in Jake's aunt and uncle's garage. Thankful that Linda remembered them and was sweet enough to offer them to us. Richard's dad shot this elk in Wyoming in 1965. The best part of this piece is the tag still on the antlers. These antlers are a treasure and a family heirloom, and we are so pleased to proudly display them. If you're wondering size...remember, our ceilings are 10 feet high. =)

Painting the Entry (Accent Stripe)

I didn't want to go crazy with painting in the house. Didn't want to do typical accent walls or a million different colors throughout the house. So we chose a few colors and decided to paint the whole house in different ways with those few colors. Most of our rooms are just 1 of those colors, plain and simple. You've already seen the dining room (if not, check out this post), and here is the only other really interesting paint job I'm doing in the house. I went with a sort of classic feel but with chalkboard paint (at a good child's height), a fun aqua, and the fresh light grey that is throughout most of the house.

Jake and I figured out a width we wanted the stripe to be and the level on the wall it would be. He measured and I taped. I put the tape on the inside of the stripe so I could paint the bottom and top and leave the stripe for last. I painted the chalkboard paint, then the light grey and re-taped it so the tape was on the outside of the stripe. I just used a brush and lightly (so as to not glop around the tape line) painted the aqua on. I pulled off the tape while the paint was still wet.

I included a picture of what happens a lot of time because of gravity with the paint. It wasn't this bad in most areas, I just photographed the worst to show you what can happen. But those little drips were easily fixed with a little brush, some chalkboard paint, and a steady hand. =)

I LOVE how much our house is changing. It really is becoming OURS.

Chalkboard Cabinets

When we got our house, 2 of the cabinets in the kitchen just had the frame, and no panel in them. I assume they were going to eventually put glass in them, but in the end, they were glass-less and shelf-less. They are still shelf-less (it's on Jake's super long to-do list), but now they have panels. I'm not one to show off my dishes or anything, so getting glass for the doors wasn't really something I was thrilled about. Then I realized chalkboard would be perfect. I found chalkboard panels at Home Depot, had them cut the panels to size there, and fit them in without too much hassle. I used wood glue to set them in and then push points to stabilize the whole thing. Really simple project that is helpful in both hiding my things and to use as menu and grocery list boards! (Still have to purchase those awesome chalkboard markers....)

Before

After

Mid-Century Modern

I've been really drawn to the mid-century modern style for our living room. The clean lines just really do something for me. I wanted to make sure the dining room and living room have distinct styles, and by using cleaner lines in the living room and more ornate/intricate pieces in the dining room, I think that I am accomplishing that goal.

(Check out my living room board on Pinterest here.)

I have been trying to find most of our furnishings at thrift stores—not just to cut down on costs (because anyone who regularly goes thrifting knows that prices have been skyrocketing, so that can't be reason alone), but also to just reuse what has already been made. Keeping stuff out of landfills is really important to me, and I want to do my part in recycling, and this is one way to do it.

That being said, I'm not the only one drawn to mid-century modern furniture right now, and so it is difficult to find good pieces for good prices at thrift stores. So imagine my surprise when I walked into SOS Thrift Store on the corner of Rutherford and Wade Hampton and saw this little gem for $80! It is beautiful and I love it and I immediately claimed it with the cashier before looking around the rest of the store. The only issue with it is that someone replaced the top with particle board that doesn't match the beautiful wood on the rest of the piece, so Jake will be re-replacing that top sometime in the future.

But for now, it's a lovely piece that really helps out our living room.

So then my dad remembered that he had my great-grandma's coffee table in storage....which she bought in the 1950s. And yes, it fits in superbly. We were wanting a pretty large coffee table, so we may replace it in the future, but for now it's awesome and I like it a lot, and....it was free. Happy about how all this is coming together!

First Before and After Room!!

Yay! We have officially FINISHED a room in the house. Not gonna lie, it's pretty incredible to me. Now, granted, it is the smallest room in the house. Actually about half the size of the master bedroom closet, but still. IT'S A FINISHED ROOM. And that makes me happy. Here are some pictures. The long poster came from the Salvation Army (see the original post) for $12.97, the other picture is a print/painting by my dear friend, Sarah Lourenco that I bought at her senior show for about $40, and the mirror is from Trunk Treasures for $8 (thanks, Mom, for picking it up for me!) which I spray painted black. I love the French-ish look of the whole thing. I had originally wanted to paint it light grey, but we had some dark left over, and I thought it would look awesome with the beautiful sink, and things just kind of fell together. I love this room and I hope you do too.

BEFORE:

 

 AFTER:

The 2 lovely ladies in the pictures (I just had to highlight them because I love them):

How to Paint a Curve on the Wall

Back when I was brainstorming about how I wanted to decorate my house, I came across a picture on Pinterest of a wall painted with 2 contrasting colors in a curve design. (See picture here.) I wanted to do something with chalkboard paint in the dining room, and figured it would be amazing if I could make this curve thing happen with the charcoal grey we were doing and the black chalkboard paint. I couldn't find a good tutorial online with how to do one, so I just used my brain, a bit of common sense, and some creativity to make this work.

It seemed easiest to use a string—made sense that a string connected to the top of the line and the end of the line, would curve in a normal manner. So after painting the first coat of dark grey, I taped the top of the string to the ceiling and had Jake hold the other end while I stepped back and had him situate it perfectly. Then I taped the middle to the window frame to keep it in place.

After that, I taped along the string. If you've ever sewed a sleeve onto a garment, you'll understand how I did the taping. I made sure the bottom of the tape was smooth (where I would be painting against) and the top wrinkled as I went along to accommodate for the curve. After the tape was in place, I removed the string.

 After the tape was in place, I painted the bottom half with the chalkboard paint. Once that was dry, I had to do the 2nd coat of grey on the top half. This time, I had to tape the other way which meant a different application of the tape since this time it was applied to the bottom of the curve. I used about 6 inch long pieces and curved them along the chalkboard paint. 

And, finished!! It turned out lovely, and I am thrilled with this one-of-a-kind addition to our dining room. Looking forward to showing you more paint changes in the house!

Also, I'd love some feedback from you all.....was this a good tutorial? Could I have been more clear in my instruction? I want to make this as helpful as possible. =) Happy painting!