So you may have noticed that I changed the look of my blog! I am reallyreallyreally happy with it :) I think it suits my design aesthetic better than the old one which looked a little too Victorian for my tastes. I am currently obsessed with the whole Pink And Turquoise look. It is how I plan on doing my kitchen. So perhaps staring at these colours on my blog will help me get my butt in gear on working on the horrible 80's flashback that is my kitchen.
Wish me luck!
ps- what do you guys think about these colours together??? Do you love it or hate it? Would YOU do these in your house, or just keep it online?
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Renovating As A New Mother
I love my baby girl. She is an amazing little person and I have enjoyed my year at home with her. I had grand plans for the time I had away from work, and some of the things on my list where accomplished (like doing the den, the bathroom, and some gardening). Other than that... OH BOY was I unprepared for the time-suck that is child rearing! It is really really hard to get things done around here! Or to keep them clean enough to take pictures of all our hard work, or time to write blog posts about them! I try to write while Else is sleeping, but as I write this paragraph she is upstairs not taking her nap like a good girl should, and instead is warbling away to her Fisher Price aquarium in her crib. The sound makes my heart sing but it does not help the creative juices flow.
I really want to show you guys Else's room, because it was the first room that Greg let me have total control over and I really really love it. BUT.. it is always a stinking mess, and I can never get the pictures up on the wall like I want to.... so I have yet to take pictures of it. And now, I am going to move my vanity out of there so that when I start back to work I can let the baby sleep while I shower and do my hair (this room was "my room" for the whole year that we had it done and painted before the little one showed up). So, this means I will be rearranging things anyways, and perhaps that will give me some time to take a few decent pics and post them up for you.
So until that day comes.. you'll just have to wait :)
So, my advice to new moms (or moms with older kids cause I know the energy levels certainly increase as kids grow older) is to take things one small step at a time and eventually you will get what's needing to be done, done. But don't expect to have a bi-weekly or even monthly blog about it cause dudes... it took me a month to even THINK of cleaning my vanity out of the bedroom upstairs!
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| Else at 11.5 months, looking adorable as usual! |
I really want to show you guys Else's room, because it was the first room that Greg let me have total control over and I really really love it. BUT.. it is always a stinking mess, and I can never get the pictures up on the wall like I want to.... so I have yet to take pictures of it. And now, I am going to move my vanity out of there so that when I start back to work I can let the baby sleep while I shower and do my hair (this room was "my room" for the whole year that we had it done and painted before the little one showed up). So, this means I will be rearranging things anyways, and perhaps that will give me some time to take a few decent pics and post them up for you.
So until that day comes.. you'll just have to wait :)
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| a sneak peek of the room from when Else was 6 months old, picture done by my friend Jen Allison |
So, my advice to new moms (or moms with older kids cause I know the energy levels certainly increase as kids grow older) is to take things one small step at a time and eventually you will get what's needing to be done, done. But don't expect to have a bi-weekly or even monthly blog about it cause dudes... it took me a month to even THINK of cleaning my vanity out of the bedroom upstairs!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Some New Buys
I, as always, have found some fun things at the thrift stores. Here they are!
In other news, we've started restoring my turquoise oven!!!!! How exciting! Greg is thinking he is going to rewire the whole thing (the cooktop, at least) and possibly replace the elements with new ones, but we'll have to see if that is possible. We're going to get the chrome ring around the cooktop and all the little element rings re-chromed, so it will be shiny as new. There was alot of old grease and also mouse poop inside:
Speaking of old and gross, we had to replace our furnace. We had our annual maintenece done and the guys come up the stairs with a sheepish look on their face and the bad news is that there are cracks in my heat exchanger. AWESOME. I am SO SO glad I didn't call in the winter, like I was supposed to. Lucky for me it was nice and springy out last week so having no heat was no problem, my house never went under 17.5 degrees and was in fact 19 or 20 for most of the three days we were furnace free!
Our old furnace was 19, which is a good age but not end-of-life. It was 100K BTU's which is a lot for our little house. the new one is a 2 stage mid efficiency, which is all we need. I pretty much got the furnace from freecycling, but it is a long story to tell so we'll just go with, we got a furnace that was used for 5 months installed with some new ducts for $1300. Try and beat that, I dare you!
Anyways it is nice to have heat! We are removing our old air conditioner (which is probably as old as this house! no jokes!) and this is what we found when we removed the condenser:
See all that junk on the metal? That is nicotine. And tar. And all the good stuff that goes with smoking in a house for 50 years. It's really effing disgusting.
One last pic before I sign off! I just want to show you the Gerard Method of securing one's home from intruders:
You take some metal strips (and not even heavy metal, but aluminum) and screw them into the window sash. Problem solved! Thanks Gerard, we can sleep well at night now!
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| amazing little brass and fake wood record stand. holds 150 records. |
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| rooster planter, who needs to be actually planted, hangs out with Celetron in the kitchen |
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| green pyrex mixing bowls that I use almost every day, and new pink pyrex dish with lid and tray! |
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| little blue pyrex casserole dish in really great shape |
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| Rance the partridge has glowing green alien eyes. spooky. |
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| little bowl from an estate sale that will be a planter for either haworthia or orchids |
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| at least it got used a lot. that is a sign of a good stovetop! |
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| can you find the flintstone vitamin?? |
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| new furnace |
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| old furnace |
Our old furnace was 19, which is a good age but not end-of-life. It was 100K BTU's which is a lot for our little house. the new one is a 2 stage mid efficiency, which is all we need. I pretty much got the furnace from freecycling, but it is a long story to tell so we'll just go with, we got a furnace that was used for 5 months installed with some new ducts for $1300. Try and beat that, I dare you!
Anyways it is nice to have heat! We are removing our old air conditioner (which is probably as old as this house! no jokes!) and this is what we found when we removed the condenser:
One last pic before I sign off! I just want to show you the Gerard Method of securing one's home from intruders:
The Hallway of Tears. Apricot Nicotine Tears.
If there is one colour that I cannot stand it is the colour PEACH. I hate Peach in all of it's incarnations. Light peach, dark peach, orange or red or pink peach.... it's like your walls are covered in flesh. Nasty, outdated flesh!
So, you can imagine how I felt about the hallway in my house. It was painted this really awful colour of peach that sometimes looked like a light pinky peach, then turned into orange disgusting nicotine-stain apricot when the light was turned on or the sun went down. It seriously sucked the life out of the house. It was a black hole where instead of seeing nothing all you saw was the colour of death.
I didn't take any pictures of this colour because frankly, I was afraid it would break my camera. It is, however, in the background of some pictures I have so I'll show those to you:
The Girl and I went away for a 2 week visit in Aylmer, and to do some renovations at my parent's house, so Greg stayed home and painted this hallway's ass off. Because BIN smells so bad, we can't really use it with the baby around, so it was the perfect opportunity!
We have used the Behr colour Antique White in the entrance way in the front, and it is a light coffee brown and is a good neutral colour for a large space such as a hallway with bad lighting. So, Greg took on the giant job of painting the hall. When it goes up the stairs, it is really really high (like, 2 stories high, or 1.5 I guess) so poor Greg had to get his ladder up there to paint in those high corners, but he did it and you know what? It makes this house feel SO MUCH BETTER! It's like the spirit of the house has been lifted. The air seems lighter!
Here are some pics of the finished product:
The next little sneak peek that you get is the Picture Wall which is at the top of the stairs. Here it is in it's unfinished glory:
So that is what we've been up to. Greg also painted the bedroom but it is not ready for its reveal yet. Soon enough! Once we get a carpet and perhaps a bedspread, you will see how cute it is too!
Peace out and try not to cry over peach paint.
So, you can imagine how I felt about the hallway in my house. It was painted this really awful colour of peach that sometimes looked like a light pinky peach, then turned into orange disgusting nicotine-stain apricot when the light was turned on or the sun went down. It seriously sucked the life out of the house. It was a black hole where instead of seeing nothing all you saw was the colour of death.
I didn't take any pictures of this colour because frankly, I was afraid it would break my camera. It is, however, in the background of some pictures I have so I'll show those to you:
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| you can see how it is kind of dark and flesh-y back there |
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| this is the light pinky peach |
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| the colour during daytime was much like the colour you can see on the metal part of the light |
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| this is really how it looked at night, with the light. see how it sucks the light out of the space? |
We have used the Behr colour Antique White in the entrance way in the front, and it is a light coffee brown and is a good neutral colour for a large space such as a hallway with bad lighting. So, Greg took on the giant job of painting the hall. When it goes up the stairs, it is really really high (like, 2 stories high, or 1.5 I guess) so poor Greg had to get his ladder up there to paint in those high corners, but he did it and you know what? It makes this house feel SO MUCH BETTER! It's like the spirit of the house has been lifted. The air seems lighter!
Here are some pics of the finished product:
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| brown is boring but there's not much choice for such a big, affecting space |
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| can't tell with Else is happy about the new colour or that ground beef is on sale |
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| there will be beadboard and a chair rail here, also some pictures. hence the name Picture Wall |
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| mmm I love this wallpaper! it was the stuff I was going to use on the old closet in the den, I'm glad I could find a use for it now! check out the shiny woodgrain detail behind the cute roses! |
Peace out and try not to cry over peach paint.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
What's up, Buttercup?
So it's been almost a month since I posted on this blog :( I know I know.... I am a slacker. I have been really busy lately though! I swear!
Firstly, I got invited into the Admin bubble of FullCircles Ottawa and THAT, my friends and followers, has kept me quite occupied. I basically set up a blog for them, and we have got it going. We've got lots of posts up but we are still developing a reader base. But regardless I am having fun with it. I have met (online) lots of new and exciting people who care about "stuff" and what happens to it.
I also had to find some daycare for Else and that took up a full week of my time. I told my mom group that I didn't have daycare lined up yet, with two months to go til I have to go back... needless to say they all thought I was crazy! But I explained that I have a procrastination horseshoe up my ass and that something good would come to me. Well, it did! It took me about a week to find her, and another week to visit and meet and get the details worked out, but now little Loo has a place to go each day while her mommy slaves away at the daily grind.
On a more exciting note, I have been to an Estate Sale. It was GREAT. There was so much great stuff. The woman was a hoarder so there was a lot to go through but my most favourite going-through involved 3 closets and a room full of boxes with clothes! All from the 60's to early 80's. Man.. did I get some sweet deals!
And also most of the clothes I got are just plain cute and in good shape. Some were never worn. They were all filthy from sitting in a house for 40 years, but that is an easy enough problem to fix :) Anyways I walked out with about 30 dresses and some shirts, and I am listing them all on my Etsy shop so go take a look and see if you don't find something real nice that you'd like to wear! Discounts for friends!!! Mention this blog and I'll tell you how to get 15% off your order!
However.... the MOST exciting part of the estate sale was the table that I bought!!! It's a 4 seater, Formica topped, chrome legged TURQUOISE TABLE that will match perfectly my turquoise wall oven and cooktop that are waiting to be installed!
I love my table! It is pretty grungy from years of sitting around, so I will have to scrub it all over with some baking soda but that's a cheap and easy fix for it. The pattern on it is grey crosses and white ones sort of layered under those... it's not a pattern I have seen before, and I think the table is from the 60's so it wouldn't be a pattern to look for in a 50's Formica catalogue. Ah well. I still love it.
Wanna see it? OF COURSE YOU DO!
So, this is what I have been up to. I have trying to plot my next room of attack. I am not sure if I should paint the hall and make a picture wall at the top of the stairs, or should we do our bedroom next? It's a hard call and honestly, I feel a little burned out these days. But, I am also dreaming til the day I get my kitchen done and I toss back and forth bewteeen what colours I would like to go with. I think turquoise goes nice with red, but I think it goes REALLY well with pink! Wouldn't you agree??
Firstly, I got invited into the Admin bubble of FullCircles Ottawa and THAT, my friends and followers, has kept me quite occupied. I basically set up a blog for them, and we have got it going. We've got lots of posts up but we are still developing a reader base. But regardless I am having fun with it. I have met (online) lots of new and exciting people who care about "stuff" and what happens to it.
I also had to find some daycare for Else and that took up a full week of my time. I told my mom group that I didn't have daycare lined up yet, with two months to go til I have to go back... needless to say they all thought I was crazy! But I explained that I have a procrastination horseshoe up my ass and that something good would come to me. Well, it did! It took me about a week to find her, and another week to visit and meet and get the details worked out, but now little Loo has a place to go each day while her mommy slaves away at the daily grind.
On a more exciting note, I have been to an Estate Sale. It was GREAT. There was so much great stuff. The woman was a hoarder so there was a lot to go through but my most favourite going-through involved 3 closets and a room full of boxes with clothes! All from the 60's to early 80's. Man.. did I get some sweet deals!
And also most of the clothes I got are just plain cute and in good shape. Some were never worn. They were all filthy from sitting in a house for 40 years, but that is an easy enough problem to fix :) Anyways I walked out with about 30 dresses and some shirts, and I am listing them all on my Etsy shop so go take a look and see if you don't find something real nice that you'd like to wear! Discounts for friends!!! Mention this blog and I'll tell you how to get 15% off your order!
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| can't remember if you've seen these or not so.. here they are! |
Wanna see it? OF COURSE YOU DO!
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| legs are off, and yes there is a leaf for it |
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| in scratchy shape but you can only tell close up |
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| pink and turquoise; lovers in a dangerous time |
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
My Back Entrance
We use the back entrance of our house all of the time. Rarely do we use the front, and we encourage people to just come round back. Until we painted it I was embarrassed to welcome people into my home in the state it was in.
You know how I've complained before about the crappy workmanship by the last owners? This space epitomized all of the bad things in our house, all in one spot. I won't go into massive detail here, but follow along and you will get a taste of shoddy painting and weird electrical and then you will see how much nicer it is now!!!
BEFORE:
Ugly brown, one coat of sloppy paint, a four-switch switch plate where there are only three switches, nictoine stains, everything painted one colour, broken ceiling fan that appeared to have caught fire at one point (yes you heard that.. IT HAD CAUGHT FIRE AND WAS NEVER REMOVED!!!!!), gross carpet, dingy feeling ambience.
I didn't even get a picture of the old ceiling fan because we pretty much beat it up and tossed it out. It was a hazard to good taste but a hazard to our home as well. Bye bye!
AFTER:
As you can see, it is one million times brighter and happier in this space. The ceiling is so high that when it was painted the ugly brown it just looked like a giant empty space of suck. The paint colour is called Vanilla Milkshake (in Behr paint, I swear by it) and I was so lucky to have picvked it up from the mis-tint section at Home Depot. It was $8! I wanted a light yellow but the shade didn't really matter so when I saw it I got REALLY EXCITED. I don't know how much I totally love this colour but you know what? At this stage I don't care!!! It will look better once we put down new carpet or tiles at the back. Blue just doesn't go with anything :)
As I said, the stairs used to be the cloest in the downstairs bedroom which is now my kitchen. There is some funky shit going down in this space due to some shoddy workmanship but really this isn't the worst I have seen in this house! If you see that picture of the baseboards you can see how the section of wall going up kind of slinks out of nowhere and turns into a bulkhead:
This is the new light we bought. It is hard to get a real good picture of it, but I quite like it. It is made out of real metal and glass, not plastic! Woo hoo! Also it hasn't been burned so that is a plus.
Thankfully there wasn't much technical stuff to be done here besides putting in the new light and painting, but we had our electrician come in while we were doing the den because the wall with the light switches here was shared with the den and we had to do some switching around of switches. He put new switches in, and now we can turn on the basement light at the top of the stairs, not just at the bottom (which is SO AWESOME! Don't take this feature for granted!). I bought a heavy solid brass faceplate at the ReStore on Walkley that had three holes for switches not four... yes they do actually make these! You wouldn't have known that by seeing the old one!
Anyways all new electrical, new switches, new fresh paint, and some artwork really spruced up this dark hole.
Greg also made a coat rack out of a piece of old painted wood he found in the garage.
So now when you come to my house you'll be greeted by warm sunshine! Please stop by whenever you want :) We'd be happy to see you!
You know how I've complained before about the crappy workmanship by the last owners? This space epitomized all of the bad things in our house, all in one spot. I won't go into massive detail here, but follow along and you will get a taste of shoddy painting and weird electrical and then you will see how much nicer it is now!!!
BEFORE:
Ugly brown, one coat of sloppy paint, a four-switch switch plate where there are only three switches, nictoine stains, everything painted one colour, broken ceiling fan that appeared to have caught fire at one point (yes you heard that.. IT HAD CAUGHT FIRE AND WAS NEVER REMOVED!!!!!), gross carpet, dingy feeling ambience.
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| blech |
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| double blech |
AFTER:
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| trim and door painted white! holy freshness Batman! |
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| the view into my kitchen |
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| still have ugly carpet. funky baseboards going on here. these stairs used to be a closet. |
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| the view to the back door |
As I said, the stairs used to be the cloest in the downstairs bedroom which is now my kitchen. There is some funky shit going down in this space due to some shoddy workmanship but really this isn't the worst I have seen in this house! If you see that picture of the baseboards you can see how the section of wall going up kind of slinks out of nowhere and turns into a bulkhead:
Thankfully there wasn't much technical stuff to be done here besides putting in the new light and painting, but we had our electrician come in while we were doing the den because the wall with the light switches here was shared with the den and we had to do some switching around of switches. He put new switches in, and now we can turn on the basement light at the top of the stairs, not just at the bottom (which is SO AWESOME! Don't take this feature for granted!). I bought a heavy solid brass faceplate at the ReStore on Walkley that had three holes for switches not four... yes they do actually make these! You wouldn't have known that by seeing the old one!
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| scratched up by hey so am I. |
Anyways all new electrical, new switches, new fresh paint, and some artwork really spruced up this dark hole.
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| value village for $5 |
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| check out all that yarn art goodness! this was in great shape, no stains or age spots. |
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| another value village find, only $7. oil painting with no frame. have to make one for it one day! |
So now when you come to my house you'll be greeted by warm sunshine! Please stop by whenever you want :) We'd be happy to see you!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Why I Love Freecycle
Freecycle, or Fullcircles as my local one is called (it branched out), is awesome. You can give away your old stuff to people who will actually use it, instead of donating it to Value Village where it might languish for months before being shipped to Africa, or destroyed. There are all sorts of things offered up, sometimes broken, but it's free and if you can fix or use it, who cares, right?
I first joined Freecycle because I wanted a 50's dinette set. I knew it would be a miracle if one ever showed up.. but not a month later, one did!! AND it was yellow, just what I wanted! I think it was the universe sending me messages again. Anyways, though it took awhile for me to get the stupid thing, I did. And then I started getting more stuff.. and more... but it's all good. I feel like I am pretty lucky, most of the things I reply to are gifted to me. I think it's because I am polite but humourous in my messages to people, and I do truely only ask for things I will use. I also give alot of stuff away so I think it is true, you get what you give.
Anyways, I wanted to show you guys some of the amazing things I have been gifted from Freecycle. These are just the decor items, lord knows I have a tonne of stuff in my cupboards, or little things that would be useless to tell you about, so here goes!
The Dinette
As I said, this was my whole reason for joining. The girl had bought it at an auction but had found a more size-suitable table for her new house. The chrome on the legs of both the table and chairs is totally rusty, and two of the chairs have little rips, but really those things aren't the first thing you notice. And it will tide me over until I find a real fancy (and hopefully affordable!) new one.
The Green Chair
We had an old green chair that was sort of wooly, and Cletus tore it to shreds. So we got this one from a nice family not far from our house. It had been their aunt's chair. I wasn't sure about it at first, but Cletus doesn't seem to like it so that makes it good in my books!
Encyclopedia Britannica 1910
This set, including the stand (original? Possibly) is the 11th Edition, printed in 1911. It is pretty hilarious to read, because so many things haven't happened yet. There are lots of pages to unfold with crazy pictures and maps. The pages are that really thin paper, like an old Bible. The spines are well worn but the covers are in good shape.
Cristobal
A nice lady in Westboro gave away her stuffed hawk, and I was the lucky recipient! She said she had had alot of interest in him. I think my story about Petey won her over :) Anyways, the hawk has a back story I thought was really interesting: Years ago, the lady was travelling through Europe, and she stopped to see a friend in Spain. The friend gave her this hawk, as a present, but she was not done her travels so then had to lug it around with her! She had a hard time getting it back into Canada because of what it is, but she did, and now he lives on my dining room hutch. He is going to get a nicer home once we get the shelves for the den finished. Anyways I like him alot.
The Bookcase in the Den
I picked this up around Christmastime from a guy who was giving away some sweet stuff. It is exactly the height and style we were looking for, for the den. All of the wood in that room is teak or that shade so it suits perfectly. There are some burned spots on the top (or maybe it's just stained, it's hard to tell) but it doesn't matter to me! And it's going to be covered up with books at some point anyways.
Big Metal Desk
I wanted a big desk or table for sewing, and it was used for that purpose sporadically, but now it has been taken over by Greg. Sorry about the mess in the picture, but Greg is trying to revive a plant in his vintage chrome slate-bottom tank. We also use it as a potting table for our million houseplants. Therefore you could say it is very versatile and well loved. I like the Formica top on it... I think I might use a pattern similar in my kitchen. I believe these desks were used by the Government back in the 60's and 70's, and the thing is solid metal. It weighs a frigging tonne.
Eames Era Chair
No, it is not an Eames. Those are too pricey for this thrifty gal! The maker of this was John Doerner and I am not sure, through my research, if his company made the whole chair or just the metal part on the bottom. Apparently there was some lawsuit involving sale of a company and then they didn't abide by the rules set out in the contract.. anyways it is a fakes Eames that I got from a woman who was cleaning out her father's house. I didn't really want it because of the colour but Greg told me I was crazy to let it go.. so I got it. As I went to pick it up there was another man picking something up and you could tell he was super jealous. :)
The Little White Chair
I got this chair from the same house as Cristobal, but like a year apart. Freecyclers really just keep on giving! Anyways, I was having 11 people over for Christmas dinner and I needed another chair, when this one popped up. I have never seen a chair who had extra spindles on the back crossing over like that, I thought it was really neat and the paint is all shabby and cream-coloured.. anyways now it and Cristobal are reunited and it feels so good.
Else's Change Table
This was a wooden dresser in not the greatest shape. It was maple coloured, and is solid wood not that MDF crap you buy nowadays. Anyways we repainted it and put new hardware on, in a simple rough brass finish and ta-da! Else has a nice change table! The top has a ledge around it so it keeps her change pad from falling off. It has been very useful for me because it is high up and all her clothes are right there for me to dress Else in each day. This was a big score for us!
The Hutch
I didn't actually get this off of Freecycle but it was free and I saved it from the trash so I think that counts!! My friend Jen J's sister has an awesome design blog you've probably seen, Desire To Inspire, and this used to belong to her. It was in their parent's basement and she was going to put it to the curb when Jen told me about it and if I wanted it. Heck yes I wanted it!!! So we stuffed it in the back of the Subaru, which was no easy feat, and lugged it up to our apartment. It had a really great spot in the apartment but unfortunately we haven't found the best place for it in our house. It is currently in the back corner of the basement acting as a bar. I would love to bring it back up to the kitchen, maybe when we redo it there will be a spot! I think my Pyrex would suit it just perfectly :)
Thus concludes my Ode To Freecycle. You should join up cause there's so much stuff to be had!! Here is the link to find one near you, or check out Fullcircles here.
* I should clarify that I mention both of the organizations because they have both been good to me, but I am currently on the Fullcircles list.
I first joined Freecycle because I wanted a 50's dinette set. I knew it would be a miracle if one ever showed up.. but not a month later, one did!! AND it was yellow, just what I wanted! I think it was the universe sending me messages again. Anyways, though it took awhile for me to get the stupid thing, I did. And then I started getting more stuff.. and more... but it's all good. I feel like I am pretty lucky, most of the things I reply to are gifted to me. I think it's because I am polite but humourous in my messages to people, and I do truely only ask for things I will use. I also give alot of stuff away so I think it is true, you get what you give.
Anyways, I wanted to show you guys some of the amazing things I have been gifted from Freecycle. These are just the decor items, lord knows I have a tonne of stuff in my cupboards, or little things that would be useless to tell you about, so here goes!
The Dinette
As I said, this was my whole reason for joining. The girl had bought it at an auction but had found a more size-suitable table for her new house. The chrome on the legs of both the table and chairs is totally rusty, and two of the chairs have little rips, but really those things aren't the first thing you notice. And it will tide me over until I find a real fancy (and hopefully affordable!) new one.
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| Alejandro and some oranges. More on the hutch later. |
We had an old green chair that was sort of wooly, and Cletus tore it to shreds. So we got this one from a nice family not far from our house. It had been their aunt's chair. I wasn't sure about it at first, but Cletus doesn't seem to like it so that makes it good in my books!
This set, including the stand (original? Possibly) is the 11th Edition, printed in 1911. It is pretty hilarious to read, because so many things haven't happened yet. There are lots of pages to unfold with crazy pictures and maps. The pages are that really thin paper, like an old Bible. The spines are well worn but the covers are in good shape.
A nice lady in Westboro gave away her stuffed hawk, and I was the lucky recipient! She said she had had alot of interest in him. I think my story about Petey won her over :) Anyways, the hawk has a back story I thought was really interesting: Years ago, the lady was travelling through Europe, and she stopped to see a friend in Spain. The friend gave her this hawk, as a present, but she was not done her travels so then had to lug it around with her! She had a hard time getting it back into Canada because of what it is, but she did, and now he lives on my dining room hutch. He is going to get a nicer home once we get the shelves for the den finished. Anyways I like him alot.
The Bookcase in the Den
I picked this up around Christmastime from a guy who was giving away some sweet stuff. It is exactly the height and style we were looking for, for the den. All of the wood in that room is teak or that shade so it suits perfectly. There are some burned spots on the top (or maybe it's just stained, it's hard to tell) but it doesn't matter to me! And it's going to be covered up with books at some point anyways.
I wanted a big desk or table for sewing, and it was used for that purpose sporadically, but now it has been taken over by Greg. Sorry about the mess in the picture, but Greg is trying to revive a plant in his vintage chrome slate-bottom tank. We also use it as a potting table for our million houseplants. Therefore you could say it is very versatile and well loved. I like the Formica top on it... I think I might use a pattern similar in my kitchen. I believe these desks were used by the Government back in the 60's and 70's, and the thing is solid metal. It weighs a frigging tonne.
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| the chair came with the house. I love it. |
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| it's hard to tell from this picture, but the table is light grey with darker grey weft pattern. chrome legs and trim. awesome. |
No, it is not an Eames. Those are too pricey for this thrifty gal! The maker of this was John Doerner and I am not sure, through my research, if his company made the whole chair or just the metal part on the bottom. Apparently there was some lawsuit involving sale of a company and then they didn't abide by the rules set out in the contract.. anyways it is a fakes Eames that I got from a woman who was cleaning out her father's house. I didn't really want it because of the colour but Greg told me I was crazy to let it go.. so I got it. As I went to pick it up there was another man picking something up and you could tell he was super jealous. :)
I got this chair from the same house as Cristobal, but like a year apart. Freecyclers really just keep on giving! Anyways, I was having 11 people over for Christmas dinner and I needed another chair, when this one popped up. I have never seen a chair who had extra spindles on the back crossing over like that, I thought it was really neat and the paint is all shabby and cream-coloured.. anyways now it and Cristobal are reunited and it feels so good.
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| the cushion cover is temp till I get around to sewing a cool one. |
Else's Change Table
This was a wooden dresser in not the greatest shape. It was maple coloured, and is solid wood not that MDF crap you buy nowadays. Anyways we repainted it and put new hardware on, in a simple rough brass finish and ta-da! Else has a nice change table! The top has a ledge around it so it keeps her change pad from falling off. It has been very useful for me because it is high up and all her clothes are right there for me to dress Else in each day. This was a big score for us!
I didn't actually get this off of Freecycle but it was free and I saved it from the trash so I think that counts!! My friend Jen J's sister has an awesome design blog you've probably seen, Desire To Inspire, and this used to belong to her. It was in their parent's basement and she was going to put it to the curb when Jen told me about it and if I wanted it. Heck yes I wanted it!!! So we stuffed it in the back of the Subaru, which was no easy feat, and lugged it up to our apartment. It had a really great spot in the apartment but unfortunately we haven't found the best place for it in our house. It is currently in the back corner of the basement acting as a bar. I would love to bring it back up to the kitchen, maybe when we redo it there will be a spot! I think my Pyrex would suit it just perfectly :)
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| original glass. I think it must have been painted red or grey originally, I can't see any spot with other paint besides turquoise. |
Thus concludes my Ode To Freecycle. You should join up cause there's so much stuff to be had!! Here is the link to find one near you, or check out Fullcircles here.
* I should clarify that I mention both of the organizations because they have both been good to me, but I am currently on the Fullcircles list.
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