One Step At A Time...

I recently had a small mental break down over the state of our house. I felt as though we should be further along than we are. Like I said before I just want it all to be done and perfect, like now. But I know that's not reality. Reality is that Pete is commuting down to Boston every day and I'm commuting 2 days and that takes a huge toll on you! The truth is that we got rid of so much furniture that we have no where to put anything. I unpacked 15 boxes of books and we only had one small bookcase to put them so now they are piled on our landing. Our clothes are in heaps on the floor because we still need a bureau. And we JUST bought a couch yesterday! We are stuck in this crazy limbo. We wanted to do some renovations to the house, but an unexpected $1450 to fix the roof so the Black Hornets of Hell won't come back in sort of put a crimp on things. And our little savings for the house is draining faster that the downstairs tub. Actually Molasses drains faster the downstairs tub. Never in my life have I consistently spent more money in a month period, not even in Europe! Really my paychecks should just go straight to Lowes. I'm trying not to get discouraged, rather encouraged... to be creative. I have to take a breath and realize that SOMEDAY all these things will be done. For now We need to focus on what really needs to be done. Also we need to realize what we can splurge on and what we should save on. We splurged on a really nice living room couch/chair set from Jordans. I wanted to find something used on Craigslist but God said No and told me to talk to Barry and/or Elliott (whatever happened to the other one??) But it will be worth it, it is THE most used piece of furniture in the house, next to our bed Aaaaaoooohhh ZING! No, really that makes us sound like really lazy people. Anyway we splurged on a nice sofa and chair and saved on the chandelier in the dining room. The one I wanted was gorgeous and looked like pillar candles and was $250. The one we got works just fine and fits the decor and was $36. You can't beat that. And you can't watch the game on a chandelier! And instead of buying a $1000 dining room set from pottery barn we scouted around and have the beginnings of an even better set that is so US! We found this amazing rustic table at The Maxx for $220! Gorgeous gray distresses wood and with nailed galvanized tin on the top. So perfect. But we needed chairs. Finally craigslist provided us with these Pottery barn ladder backs (Pete has a thing for Ladder back chairs) 4 for $100 instead of $135 each!! Now we just need a long bench to go on one side and we are set!! Here's my question, leave the chairs the way they are matching the floor and surrounding wood or paint and distress them to match the table?? Help please!

I also found these perfect seat cushions, gray and yellow with lemons and Italian writing! Chello!!

Also thanks to a lovely lesbian in Medford (craigslist again!) I have fulfilled my dream of owning the pottery barn Modular wine hutch!! I'm not joking since I was old enough to start ordering my own catalogs I swore to myself one day I would own this. The problem was if you buy it from pottery barn it costs up to $2000. This beast is pure mahogany! But I scored it for $425!! And it is so perfect. Sometimes I say goodnight to it. It's that beautiful.

We found a few more craigslist scores like the antique corner hutch to hold our never used china. (Thanks Aunt Theresa!) We swapped out the old broken white knobs for these funky brass ones to give a less dated feel to it. And of course a couple of huge spoon and fork chalk boards next to the Buddha and ladies and gentlemen we are almost done with the dining room, just have to find that bench and hang some goodness on the walls!! Who's coming over for dinner?! So now only a few weeks after the movers have come we have one room really done!! Even though we rarely use it the downstairs bathroom is done! Originally we had big plans to gut this room completely. The window is broken, the sink vanity doesn't have real drawers, they are fake but come out?? Who does that?? The mirror looked like a 1st grade art project and the bath tub/shower drain is broken and it's a lovely shade of powder blue. Our plan was simple. Rip everything out! Replace the window, make a kick ass mirror with shells and rocks from Squirrel. Find a claw foot tub from a salvage place and a shower curtain from Garnet Hill. Replace the light fixtures and tile the wall with river stones. Make a new sink Vanity out of a vintage dresser to have drawers for storage and also have a funky old feel and put a bowl sink on top. And WHAM! New fabulous bathroom. Sigh. Our new plan was this. Toss the gross mirror and replace it with a small port hole mirror we had in our bedroom. Change out the knobs on the vanity, even though they aren't real drawers, they look better now. The knobs were only $1 and make a huge difference. We painted the walls a deep heather blue to make the wainscoting and tin ceiling pop. It's amazing what a little color and new fixtures can add to a room! Bought a $30 shelf at Walmart to add storage to the wall (added matching knobs) and raided Homegoods for a shower curtain, rugs and towels that matched. Replaced the old silver towel rack with a funky one I found for $12 at The Maxx and Voila! New Bathroom for $120 instead of $2500. Its not my dream bathroom but that will someday come. For now, It works. And like I said we are hardly in there, Its cheery and cozy and does its job. Just pay no attention to the blue monster behind the curtain!