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???

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!)

Welcome to: The basement!

Our downstairs mantle and fireplace was one of our favorite things about the house when we were looking to buy, along with heated floors!! After a basement flood due to a service issue with our washer and dryer, our basement sat dusty, full of drywall pieces, cobwebs, and debris scattered amoung dirty clothes and stacks of DVDs while we waited for things to get fixed. Things are FINALLY almost back to normal. We completed the downstairs bathroom, laundryroom, and main area, and all we have left is to buy a piece of wainscotting to put up on this wall:

Welcome to the basement:







 Still not sure about this randomly placed outlet...?

THANK you, to Chelsey, for finding this amazing ladder during our neighborhood " big junk" day. This guy was FREE, and after a coat of stain to darken it up, a throw-blanket, and a wedding photo, we love it! Even Kevin, whos initial comment was, "Why are you putting an old ladder in our house...?" said it looked pretty sweet, which is a win any way you look at it!

This was an old, gold and red picture of a flower. After some spray paint, printable, and modpodge, we like it much better!

Burlap Bean-bag-Junk Jubilee
Tea Tin-Goodwill
Scale-The Domestic Revive ("like" them on facebook!)

Controllers and wires are hidden in these faux books. They are actually little storage containers from Pier one, thrifted for $8! Originally 24.99/ea.

A dried hydrangea from an old farmers market bouquet has somehow managed to escape the little fingers of our nephew, Jax. For now..

Since there is not a coffee-table to be found in either of the living rooms, our old coffee-table books have turned into "Canvas-tote" books. :)

Vintage silver serving platter: Junk Jubilee, spraypainted antique white, chalkboard paint over that. Still working on chalk typography...I still dont love my handwriting.

11x16 (ish) deep frame--->  add burlap, first dance lyrics to mat-board, & a 6x9 wedding photo

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?