Living my simple life

Look what John brought home.

This was on the curb in a box of of yard sale leftovers awaiting trash pickup. Isn’t it cool? The original price tag was still in place. Any guesses how much it cost? $1.69. Awesome. Perfect timing, too, since Oli just started taking hot lunches in a thermos last week. His thermos does not fit in his regular lunch box but it fits in this one. I had to customize this so it suits my boy. Since today is Talk Like A Pirate Day, I knew just what to do.

I’d say it’s perfect for “me little scurvy lad.”

I see lots of mattresses on the curb when driving around. Thrown away mattresses have no appeal to me unless, like this one I saw last week, they are NEW.

Yes, it is brand new and still sealed in plastic and had a free sign on it. We popped it in the van immediately. I’ve been dreaming about a daybed for my screened porch for a while. Perhaps it’s time for my daybed. I’ll let you know when I find the rest of it out there.

This table was found a few months back.

It’s from Bombay Company.  There were many scratches on the surface and the top was extremely wobbly.  Since the weather has been too cold here to paint (I paint outdoors or in the garage), it sat in the garage for a while.  I finally got around to finishing it.  Now look at it!

It’s the perfect companion for my Trash-picked Rocking Chair.

For details on how this table was refinished, click HERE.

I love it when I find the perfect piece of furniture at just the moment I need it. Like this piece.

Perfect? Yes, perfect. Here’s why — John recently ordered a new TV and we needed a stand for it. Days before the TV was set to be delivered, I stumbled upon this piece. The style? I know, what style? The brown color, all the brass handles and those decorative doors all scream “ugly furniture” to me. The size, however, was perfect. After getting it home, I discovered that it is from an expensive local furniture store. I was certain I could turn it into our new TV stand in just a few day.

And I did.

For details on how this piece was transformed, visit my new blog devoted to transforming found objects into treasures for your home.

John found this chair earlier this week.

I wondered why he brought it home. It’s pink and not my style. He claimed it was cozy and made me sit in it. It was firm and comfy with a rocker and swivel base (so retro!). Still, not my style. But, like every thing else that gets brought into this home, I started to think about how to redo it so it would fit. It just so happened that I had 10 yards of butter-yellow cotton duck in my sewing room waiting for a project.

First, I padded the chair to add some extra shaping. Also, it adds another layer between me and that hideous pink upholstery.

Next, out came the fabric. And out came my little “helper” who likes to be right in the middle of my projects.

Scissors, chalk and pins were all it took to get the fit. I sewed it in spurts over a few days. The result:

We seem to be finding lots of furniture lately. Is this the redecorating time of year? It certainly is in our home.

This chair was part of last-weeks bonanza.

It doesn’t look like much but has the added feature of being a rocking chair. There are springs beneath the chair seat and they are firm and in good shape. Honestly, I wasn’t planning to keep this piece since it was not my style. But Mojo saw something in it and begged to keep it. It became our joint project. The first step was attacking the old upholstery. I stripped it off and re-stretched the seat webbing. You can see how saggy it is in this photo:

Then, I cracked out the black paint. After a few coats and few days, I took Mojo fabric shopping. She pounced on some blue ball fringe and then found fabric to match. I did the sewing and Mojo helped with the stapling. In the end we have this:

A chair that is way nicer than I would have imagined. When it was all done, my daughter and I just looked at each other and nodded. What a team we make.

Last week was a trash-picking bonanza! There are several houses in our neighborhood that recently turned over. Much useful furniture was sitting at the curb along with two wool rugs (separate houses)! The house across the street from us had boxes and boxes of glassware and china collectables set out. My husband, who hates to see useful items tossed into a landfill, dutifully filled the van and drove the items to Goodwill. The first piece of furniture I tackled was this simple bench.

A piece like this is about the easiest to re-do. The fabric top is attached with screws from underneath. The old fabric (and cushion) were ripped off leaving a plywood base. I recovered the base with foam (I keep a big roll of bonded dacron on hand for my projects — a few layers of it did the trick) and stapled some cranberry linen on top. The legs were lightly sanded and received two coats of black oil paint. I didn’t bother to prime them. After a total time investment of maybe 30 minutes over 3 days, I now have a very useful little seat for the kids.

As an aside, this vintage telephone table was one of our finds.

It’s kitschy-ness called out to me. Alas, it really doesn’t go with my decor. I’ve tried to sell it on craigslist but no takers. I’m giving it a few more days on my porch — either for inspiration to strike or a buyer to emerge. Then, it’s loaded in the van, and joining all its former kitchenware at Goodwill.

John and I have slowly been transforming our dining room into the science room. Bit by bit we’ve found pieces of furniture that are just our style. Our last hold out has been the table and chairs in the room. Our current table is very beaten as it was a garage sale find when my husband took his first apartment, oh, 25+ years ago. Living with us has done the table no favors. Still, I cover it with a cloth and it’s useful enough. For chairs, we were given some beautiful hand-me-down chairs from my sister-in-law. Eight of them. The problem is they are far too big and far too fancy for our taste. I cringe each time they are knocked around by my children. Truly, they deserve a much more precious home than ours. Still, we’ve been using them while patiently awaiting some chairs we like and can afford. John found them yesterday.

Our local Goodwill gets lots of items from Target. John stopped by to drop off some stuff and dashed inside for a quick look. He found six of these in their original packaging:

Original pricing from Target is $259 for a pair. Any guesses what he paid? $12.99 each. We are ecstatic!

I love halloween! Not because of the opportunity to sew halloween costumes (which, oddly, given my love of sewing, I do NOT like), but because of the decorating.

This is the season where dust and cobwebs are in vogue! My house is, finally, perfectly decorated.

We couldn’t pass up this card table sitting on the curb. Yeah, I know it is ugly. And dirty.

But it is also functional. It’s good to have an impromptu table around for spur-of-the-moment backyard picnics. Once it was home, I discovered that the center of the table could be removed. I ripped off the old cover, cleaned and rubbed down the legs with steel wool, then applied some spray paint. Mojo used the staple gun to put oilcloth over the center panel and then we reattached it.

We’re both thrilled with the results. Last night, as I was snuggling my daughter in bed, we were musing about what our next project should be. She came up with some big and ambitious ones. That’s my girl!