From Dowdy Tuffet to Chic Ottoman

The title says it all. I found this Little Miss Muffet stool at a used furniture store for $20 today. My mission is to remove the skirt and reupholster it to my liking. I actually kind of like the emerald green color, but the fabric is thin and torn in places and once I take of the skirt, I'll need to cover the bottom half anyways.

 I love the teal blue velvet ottoman in this room.

(Source unknown)

I'm hoping it could look a bit like this:

(Source unknown)

Or this, except round:

(One Kings Lane)

But, I'll be happy if it simply doesn't look horrible when I'm finished with it! 

I've been researching reupholstery on Pinterest and it seems do-able. Fingers crossed! I'll be in touch with the results!

Please Tell Me If I Am Becoming a Creeper...

This Saturday, Nick was so good to watch Collin all morning so I could have some much needed independence. Any other stay at home moms out there who can relate to how amazingly freeing it feels to do something simple like running to Target without kids? No carseat battles, no trying to figure out what they can play with to keep them entertained long enough in the shopping cart, no unexpected diaper changes in public restrooms. Yeah, it's pretty luxurious, I tell ya. I absolutely love staying home with Collin, but can't help but wish I had truly savored my carefree days a bit more! 

I had the best morning out-- armed with a grande, non-fat Caramel Machiatto, I spent some time getting lost in a local antique mall. Soon you will see my fun finds displayed in our new house. I scored a pair of crosstiched, silhouette cameos of George and Martha Washington, a kitchshy wall plate for my planned wall of plates in the kitchen and for $2 a crumbly, old, hand-painted Kodak finishing sign which I took to Hobby Lobby for framing. I then ran a few errands and stopped off at the library to see what I could find out about our old house.

I met the sweetest old man named John who is in charge of the reference section. Although there was no specific information on the house itself in city records, he did show me how to search through the old city directories which started in 1925 and yielded me a long list of previous owners. In some of the earlier directories the owners' occupations were listed as well.

Turns out, our house was home to the former Assistant to the President and General Manager of Eagle Picher Lead Co., the Secretary Treasurer of R and S Motor Sales Co, and an Episcopal Minister, whom my new friend John knew of from back in the 70's.

I'm hoping to get back to the library some time soon to look through newspaper archives for any of these residents. Now that I have names, I can search the census data and find out the names of their children-- many of them should still be living. How cool would it be to invite some previous residents over for dinner?! Maybe I'm being too much of a creeper here. Please intervene if you think I'm going to far!

Before I left the library, I thumbed through a book on American house styles and while I really don't think our house is a Federal style home, it does seem to have a Federal style door like this one:

See our door here:

Hmm... I feel as if our house has identity issues. Craftsman? American Foursquare? Federal? Maybe if we can meet some of its previous owners, they could give us some insights as to whether or not it was built this way or later altered. The mystery continues!

Saturday night we were invited to a dinner at Nick's boss' house. It was neat to meet the team Nick works with, including their spouses. Collin, of course, was a totally ham. He loves people, like his mamma! What a great group. I look forward to getting to know them better. 

On Sunday we braved the morning weather for church. 'Twas a snowy Palm Sunday in Missouri. I really do hope Easter won't look like this! My brother, who is doing a grad program near Springfield, will be driving out to join us for the day. Fun, fun!

We received word today that we'll more than likely close on the house this Wednesday afternoon! Although our stuff will take a while longer to get here, we'll at least be able to start working on a few projects-- including painting. Lots to look forward to. Stay tuned, dear friends!

What We've Been Up To...

Well, the weeks have started to pick up speed and it's crazy to think we've bee in Joplin for almost three weeks! Nick is loving his new job and he wouldn't say this, but as his wife I can brag on him a bit say they are loving him too. Who wouldn't? :)

I miss our friends in Atlanta and Trader Joe's and have the worst hankering for a homemade milkshake or smoothie which is impossible without our blender here. I know, first world problems!

Our closing date got bumped to "on or before the 29th of March," whatever that means! Oh well, there's nothing like learning patience. In the meantime, we've been exploring our new town as much as possible. I think Collin and I have visited five or six different parks! Anything to keep the little man busy.

I've also found some awesome gems at a few local thrift shops and a big, vintage Mother Goose book that has seen better days, but will be awesome for making framed prints to go in Collin's room. My inspiration, here.

Yesterday we visited a really great church and can't wait to go back. We are seeing God weave together a great little life for us here. He knows what we need better than we do.

 Vintage Mother Goose

 Puddle jumping

Thriftastic! I'm in love with everything brass these days...

 Bath time, sporting a big boo boo he got chasing a ball :(

 Finding Squashing lady bugs in the field across the street

Admiring these awesome, old-timey PO boxes!

Office Makeover and Springtime Delights

Saturday was the perfect day to have a lazy morning and productive afternoon. After enjoying our weekly eggs, bacon and waffle breakfast (with coffee, of course), we set out to baby proof the office and in the process I was inspired to make my workspace more inviting and cheerful. First task on the list was to do something about our nasty, faded office chair. I really do loathe your run of the mill type office furniture. All function and no form! What's up with that?  There are some lovely Eames inspired chairs out there, but not in our price range, so my husband suggested we re-cover our current chair as a free alternative!

I had this sample upholstery square in my fabric box and it was the perfect size! I'm not sure what you would call the pattern... It's sort of Southwestern/Ikat looking and the color is a pinky peach, honeysuckle tone. If you have insights into the name of the fabric pattern, I'd much appreciate it. Needless to say, I'm in love. I'm so glad we didn't spend money on a new chair! 

All you need is someone to help you stretch the fabric taut and a staple gun. Voila! Easy, peasy project!

That prompted me to swap blank walls with post-it notes for some workspace pzaz. Virtually everything you see in these pictures was collected over the years from Goodwill runs, freely acquired or purchased very cheaply. The lamp was something I made-over a few years back and you can read about that here. I think the bulletin board was leaning on the side of a dumpster and the fabric covering the board is from Ikea. The desk was a piece we found on the side of the road when we lived in Midtown, the vintage metal TV tray is from Goodwill, the vintage faux bois clipboard is from Goodwill, the picture frame was on sale at Antrho, the wire basket that is serving as my desktop organizer used to house three herb garden pots, the gold frame is another Goodwill find and inside of it is a remnant of a vintage wallpaper roll that I found at-- you guessed it-- Goodwill! So, my cheerful workplace environment probably cost around $30 total.

After all that hard work, we decided to head over to our neighborhood park for a much needed stroll!

Along the way, we spotted this tree. Any ideas on its name? It's gorgeous for sure! That's about it. I love Saturdays with my little fam. Happy Monday y'all!

Thrifting's Greatest Hits

(source)

I don't think words can even express how much I love this print. I know thrifting is not everyone's cup of tea, but I get such a rush from a good find! Yes, it takes time and you don't always have success, but it's persistence that pays off and yields you some super duper finds. Below are a few of my favorite thrift store wonders from the past two years.

Tweedy pink fabric on cane chair goodness

 See before and after shots of this Eames era beauty of a teak chair here.

Mid Century Industrial Office Trays

Vintage Globe

Señorita Painting

 Catherineholm canisters

 Horse Painting

1940's Driftwood Lamp!

Teal Metal Toolbox

Rug Woes. Do you have to let it linger?

This story starts out quite nicely. I was perusing the wares at the local Goodwill, a place I frequent, when suddenly I saw it... Unassumingly rolled up, partially hidden by another rug. What's this? A 9x12, wool, beauty of an area rug in a sweet rusty red/ burnt orange color. What? No stains? No permanent marker artwork, courtesy of a four year old still in time-out for the atrocity? Nothing wrong with it except for a small fraying corner, which could easily be tucked under furniture? This can't be!

It looked familiar... Where had I seen this rug before? Ah, yes! Right here, in the pages of the Pottery Barn catalog for a cool $749, said in my best Robin Leech voice ala "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."

(source)

So, I played the preggo lady card and had the wonderful staff load it into the back of my car after paying a mere $50. I was so excited! First, I thought it could go in the nursery. A perfect rug for baby to play on! Upon getting home and measuring said nursery, it was clear that, unless we cut the beautiful thing down, the entire room would be engulfed in rug-dom. So, the next best spot for the charmer was the living room. When Nick came home he helped me get it out of the car and we rolled it out on to the hardwoods. A quick vacuuming and I was ready to behold its beauty!

Here's where things take a turn... It stunk! We're talking about a majorly bad pet smell. Not really pet urine, per se, but definitely dander of some sort. Arg! Why did I not notice this before buying it?! In my defense, there are so many "interesting" smells at thrift establishments and I guess I just couldn't detect it from the eau de mothball that permanently wafts through their airspace.

We have tried the whole baking soda/vacuum trick, febreezing it, and even had it professionally cleaned by a carpet cleaning service. No such luck. The odor has weakened, but it's still there and I'm starting think it's a lost cause.

Do you, dear reader, have any suggestions? We are not above rolling up our sleeves and scrubbing the thing to death! I would be so very happy if we could save the poor thing.

Sincerely,

A woeful rug owner

A $5 Find

So, a few months back I found this painting at a thrift shop for $5! It's pretty old... I'm guessing, based on the wear and style of its subject's clothing, from the 40's or 50's. I finally had a chance to get it framed and I think it makes a lovely addition to our office/reading nook/sun room. If this looks like the work of a famous artist, that I am not aware of, please let me know;) Also, I feel like she needs a name... Suggestions are appreciated!

Thrit Stores = Treasure

There is nothing quite as satisfying to me as uncovering a burried treasure in the bottom of a store bin, finding something ridiculously marked down because most people didn't see its mad potential, and discovering a cache of goods admist the shelves of junk at a local thrift shop or flea market. For this will happily put up with disorganization and funny smells!

I figure I'm not the only one that feels this way, so without further ado, I present my recent thrift store success:

Ladies and gents, this gem of a chair cost me all of $10. Some of you might think it's rather loud and worth less than that, but I love it! It's the perfect chair for our sun room. It was just begging to be used for a cozy reading nook by the window. A big thank you to the individual who dropped this off at the St. James Thrift Store in Marietta. You have made one woman very happy:)