Onward!

Well that was a bad case of blogger/DIYers block.  I've been focusing all my designing powers into the 9to5.  I have a SUPER fun project that they're actually letting me be the designer on (a first in my professional career!) for probably the BEST client ever (hint, their name rhymes with 'oogle').  I wish I could gush to you ALL the details, but I shouldn't. This week, my DIY gave way to TCB  (taking care of business) and I broke out Bernette, my trusty sewing machine and finally got to my heaping mending pile.  I only have 2 pairs of pants (one Hubby's and one mine) that still need hems fixed. Yay progress!

I also finally hung up the shed shelves that I mentioned here, but didn't have time to take pictures before we needed to shove all our patio furniture and grill into it before the joke of a hurricane we had here.   So those will come very soon, I promise!

Although I haven't had much luck at tag sales recently, my mis-matched future dining room chair collection has grown.  2 weeks ago, I snagged this chair at an estate sale for $4.  Don't you just LOVE the orange velour??  So sexy.

and this past weekend, my parents found this chair for me at a tag sale for $3.  Score!!

Handy Dad also was nice enough to put some glue on it for me so it'll be nice and stable.

Side note- I plan to have an awesome work area in my basement one day like Handy Dad's in the picture.   ... One day maybe my basement will be organized enough...HA.   But I digress.

I also poked my head into Savers on Saturday (much like a Salvation Army or Goodwill).  They had 2 chairs that I was considering, but I had the small car with me and couldn't transport them.  They're having a huge sale on Labor Day, so if those chairs are still there, you bet they'll be mine.  I'm starting to get close to a full set!  If you have no idea what 'set' I'm talking about, check out my plans here.

Did you get any projects done on this rotten weekend?

Craigslist Show & Tell

Although I've only made 1 craigslist purchase (which I still need to refinish....), I have fun checking out the ads pretty reguarly. Most items that I'm drawn to fall into 2 categories:

#1- Items I would love to have but am far to cheap to pay what they're worth.

and

#2- Items that are super cool or weird or otherwise eye-catching but I could (or would) never use.

So now its time for Craigslist show and tell!

Category #1:

Category #2:

The less common Category #3 is things I'm actually considering purchasing.  Surprisingly I found one definite and a few more to think about today:

I haven't quite decided if mixing the farm table and wrought iron chairs would be blow-your-mind-amazing or just a hot mess, so I'll probably chicken-out on both those purchases.  The table legs are going to be mine though!

What have you bought or seen on Craiglist lately?

I am what I am

And what I am is a Treasure Hunter.  Who knew?!  I really didn't.  I swear. (or maybe I just never thought about it before) When I hear the term "Treasure Hunter," I think of Cari Cucksey of HGTV's Cash and Cari, or the guys from American Pickers.  However, when you start getting giddy because of a dilapidated old ornate frame you grabbed from someones trash pile in downtown Boston, I guess maybe that could be considered a qualifier to be called a Treasure Hunter. Just maybe.

I can only imagine what used to be displayed in this frame in its hey day (random side note- I was curious about the origin/meaning of that term.  Thanks to the good ol' interweb, I discovered where it came from).  The story that I've created for it is that it housed a custom painted formal family portrait which was passed down the generations and moved to a new frame when this one fell into disrepair.

Anyway, back to reality.  This frame is actually 3 pieces that were once solidly attached together with hand-forged nails.  Each piece looks like a frame on its own and they are no longer solidly bonded (if at all), so that's how they might find themselves into my house- 3 awesome refurbished antique frames.  They need a lot of love and repair, but how can you beat the price of FREE.  If I can't save them, the worst that will happen is that they'll end up in the trash they were originally destined for.

This discovery was on Friday (thanks to a coworkers keen powers of observation).  It occurred to me over the weekend that I may actually be considered a "Treasure Hunter."  That find last week made my day.  Any normal person wouldn't get so excited but I guess I'm far from normal in that respect (no comments from the peanut gallery on that one please).  I'm still elated over the vintage wire paper tray I discovered at an estate sale a few weeks ago.  Yup, I'm a special breed of crazy.  I blame it on my parents.

I started tag-sale-ing with them at a young age.  My first memory of going to a tag sale was probably around the age of 6.  I vaguely remember going with my parents and Grandpa and I picked out a small but horrific stuffed animal that was probably a carnival or vending machine prize.  I was SO excited to spend 25 cents on this 'treasure.'  Flash forward to 21 years later.  My tastes have evolved a bit, but the giddy kid in me is still looking for treasures.

map from Etsy via Pinterest