Farmer's Market & Thrifting finds

Ive been spending some major QT at our local farmer's market this summer, and I am definitely hooked on the experience Ive had buying local and organic produce and other goods. This week, I scored a huge zucchini, three cabbages, and two spaghetti squash larger than anything Ive probably ever seen in the store. The bonus: they totaled 11.75.

Also a new can't-live-without? These flavored soy nuts. They come in a whole host of flavors, but my favorite is onion & garlic. Hello salads!

Im also loving the plant-life at the farmer's market again this year. This dinnerplate Dahlia is so stunning in size; I can't wait to see how long it lives.

Also, these succulents are just what I was looking for to transform the kitchen window-ledge. Also, their low maintenance will hopefully increase their chances of survival with my less-than-green thumb. Stay tuned to see my plans for re-potting these!

Lastly, farmers market this time of year is extra special because, with fall, comes a PLETHORA of pumpkins, gourds, ect, in colors, shapes, and sizes you can't even begin to explain. Last week, we scored 2 white pumpkins for CHEAP; this week, we found a good price on a handful of medium sized pumpkins and gourds. Oh, the plans I have brewing for these...

It seems like trips to the farmers market lately have also been accompanied by trips to the thrift store. It's just too convenient that there is a large one just down the road from farmers market.

Some of our recent finds:

Which, after cleaning up a bit, and adding a paint chip sample, turned into some much needed gaming cord storage:

And, after finding this vintage grater and oil dressing mixing bottle:

We dressed up the top of our fridge:

AND, found this bright red Swingline travel case which I can't wait to find a home for:

What I've been loving, Fall Edition

Temperatures are starting to mellow, cooler days sneak in here and there, and here we are in the middle of September. I know its officially Fall because all things pumpkin have been taking over my Pinterest boards. Here are the top 14 Ive been loving this fall!

Thrift-store finds! We got this letter "A" as a gift from my friend, Holly! I bet you can't guess what it stands for! :)

Favorite fall scent, Bath & Body works "Leaves"...

...mixed with a little "Apple Cider" Scentsy!

Lazy Labor Day shopping from the comfort of my own bed

Warm Fall sunlight shining through the blinds

Decorating with Pine Cones!

Fried Green Tomatos!

Fall baking!

Finishing our "old ladder" project! (Just in time to be in the way of the Christmas tree in a few months...great..)

Practicing my VERY lack-luster chalkboard typography skills on this once silver vintage platter

Practice makes perfect!

FINALLY finishing our dining room mini-gallery wall

Dining room complete! 

Enjoying lazy weekends with our Herky-dog

What have you been loving???

Thrift store therapy { & a pregnant friend project!}

This weekend allowed for some quality time with one of my favorites digging through other people's junk at a few local thrift stores. Ever hear of "retail therapy"?

Well, my own personal version comes in the form of "Thrift Store Therapy".

Here are my {Fab Four} thrift store finds:

1.

Frames! It seemed like it was Christmas in {August} when it came to finding unique, ornate frames, perfect for spray painting. I am soon to start working on a headboard ledge project (we've scrapped the farm-house door headboard project, as the master bedroom decor seems a bit too modern for such a piece. Let me know if you're interested in an old door!)

We also found several large frames for a project Im working on with my good friend, Debbie, so STAY TUNED for full DIY details on that!

2.

These lamps were U.G.L.Y. They were originally in Mister's bachelor pad, the bases a rusty brown, and the shades, a plastic mosaic tile-work of corresponding poop browns. It was horrible. But, I fell in love with the scrolling legs of the lamp-bases, and don't you know it, I just HAD to turn it into a rehab. After painting the bases a Colonial Red to match our red accent wall, I decided that, in the interest in lighting, the brown plastic shades just could not be salvaged. I figured that somewhere down the line, I'd need to bite the bullet and pay full price for some matching small shades. THEN, these 1.99 Goodwill specials found me. They are in perfect condition, and fit the bases {like.a.glove}. Swear! It was meant to be.  And if you're wondering where the heck these are sitting? Well, for now, it's a secret. Its our current living room make-over project that Im dying to finish, but until it is, these lamps are all you get!

3.

I've found that watering cans are no cheap find, so when I found this big vintage yellow one, for only $3, my heart melted. This old metal can cannot WAIT for me to plant some succulents in it!

4.

Find of the summer! This may not look like much, but oversized pictures with very pronounced frames are hard to find on the cheap, even in thrift-o-land. So when my thrifting companion, Debbie, & I stumbled upon {this} for only 1.99, we were shocked. We actually stood and mulled it over for a minute trying to figure out what on earth we could do to this, both of us coming to the conclusion that we just didn't have any projects for it. Shame..

Enter, our pregnant friend Holly! Why do we love Holly? Holly is already nesting. What does that mean for a good friend who has to always have something to style and/or rehab? Endless projects! {Thank you Holly, you have NO idea what you're doing for my decorating addiction!}After re-arranging Holly's living room, and making re-decorating plans for the rest of her abode, a simple comment was all it took to leave me high-tailing it back to Salvation Army for the 2nd time that day, for this frame.

What did we make this into, you ask!?

Happy 17 Weeks, Holly-pop! I love you!

Putting those old wine bottles to use

I think we collected about 500 {okay, more like 50} wine bottles for our wedding centerpieces:

Now that the big day has come and passed, we've got several pinterest-inspired DIY crafts around the bend, mainly for holidays and such. One thing, though, that I've been doing in the meantime, is wrap them in yarn. We have 4 on our banister at the top of the stairs, one in each color, and now, we've added one to the downstairs. This wine bottle is very impressive in size, being over 2x as tall as a standard sized wine bottle. It was practically BEGGING me to wrap it in yarn, and well, ask and you shall receive.

I initially planned to put this on top of our movie armoire, here:

{p.s., that super large matted frame, was an old painted image purchased for Goodwill for 1.99! Don't pass these up when you find them people!}

But, I quickly discovered that it's towering heights covered up our wall decal and made the space look too cluttered.

So, it ended up finding a home on the mantle ledge, and we like the height that it creates in that space. Wine bottle, free. Yarn, 2.99. Easy DIY project. DO it! {Also, if you need any free wine bottles, I know where you can get some!! ME!}

I beg  you not to judge my dirty fireplace. :)

I may go around this one more time to make it one layer thicker, because in certain light, you can still see the wine bottle label. That'll teach me to be lazy. oh well. I may just turn it around. The jury is still out on that one. :)

Laundry "Room"

Our laundry-room is my least favorite area of our house. I envision a whole ROOM devoted to laundry, with crazy organization systems and bright, crisp shelves, ironing boards, drying racks, ect. Mom-in-law has the BEST laundry space. I have, well, a closet. This may be hidden  99% of the time behind bi-fold doors, but I felt like this was the perfect space to give a trial run to what I envision my someday laundry mansion to feel like: old rustic pieces, crisp white and tans and deep blues, see-through jars of detergent and stain fighter, you name it! The washer/dryer pedestal was our very first ever pin on pinterest that we actually gave life to! This is version 2, as the first version was ruined with our washer/dryer issue.

Kevin HATES these safety pins. But he loves me enough to slap them on the wall regardless! The best part, they open/close!!!

http://www.ballarddesigns.com/

I love the look of a cupboard with one door always open, filled with knick knacks: navy and white towels in a galvanized tub, burlap bean-bag, canvas pillow, apothecary jar of laundry powder, and a tea tin. (recognize this? It's the mate of the one on the mantle!)

What's in a Lamp?

Can you believe we tried to sell this old lamp at our garage sale last month!?! Dummy!

Ive honestly been surprised lately at the projects that have popped out to me using stuff I already have around the house. Im not sure why we always have this need to get rid of our own junk, and go search out other people's junk. Maybe we just get too used to looking at it, so it no longer seems appealing, even to rehab, but either way, Im glad I gave this lamp a second chance. I have another just like it if someone is itching to try a lamp re-do of their own and wants to award my garage with some more free space. :)

Let me tell you, it was no quick task taping off the glass, cord, and lighting fixtures to paint all of the nickel a satin-y (official term, ya?) black.

But after 2 trips to the local big box store to find right jute cord to match the color of burlap we have, and an all day "burlap flower" experimentation session, Im SO glad this lamp hasn't lost a place in our home just yet! :) Im really into black and tan right now, is it obvious?

Downstairs bathroom makeover!

Remember this post? Wellll, so it took longer than a week. And it's still not "Technically" finished.

I have 2 old dresser drawer shelves that are painted to match that belong on the wall adjacent the toilet; however, they are heavy, and I am in need of Husband's assistance to hang them. Enter: the waiting game! :) Ill surely post a final picture when they're up. Until then, here's what we did!

We painted this set of old shutters a bright "daffodil" yellow, added some green reed-grass, and BOOM: corner planter!

Then, our favorite part, a HUGE 3D wall painting. This is actually a piece of leftover plywood from a different project that fit perfectly in this space, so it just felt wrong not to put it here. :)

We painted white and "new black" (A deep shade of navy to pull in the black and blue hues in the bathroom) stripes of differing thickness, and then added 3D fabric rosettes out of an old T-shirt cut to make our "thread".

We added a mesh brushed nickle wastebasket, a galvanized pail with some vanilla potpourii, and a vintage candlestick, painted white, attached to a black "holder thing" (official, right?) filled with a sea sponge, and some travel lotions/hand sanitizers.

*do you see Kevin's football hall of fame picture!

What do you think of the color combo?