Impromptu garage sale

Last weekend, my neighbor told me someone down the street was having an estate sale today, and she was planning on piggybacking off the traffic and having a garage sale. Brent was convinced we didn't have enough stuff, but last night I was on a mission and even went through taped up boxes in basement storage I'm sure we didn't even go through at the old house.

We made a decent chunk of money to add to savings, and most importantly for me, we have less clutter. We are down a rug, a dresser that even I found hopeless, a TV, an armoire, 3 Rubbermaid drawers, plus tons of small stuff.

There's a couple more things we'd like gone so we're toying with the idea of opening up shop tomorrow morning as well. But like today's sale, that will also probably be a game-time decision.

My wine cork dresser

Remember this guy I scored on Craigslist for $20 several weeks ago?


Well, it found a new home behind the bar as a buffet.
I'm not positive for many wine corks I used, but I would say it's in the 800+ range.


At first I started out using a hot glue gun, but I was having issues with all of the corks properly sticking – so at Brent's suggestion I switched to liquid nails and those suckers aren't going anywhere now. Once the glue was done, I did 2 coats of poly over everything.

In the bedroom

I knew there was a reason Brent and I never used down comforters.

We’ve always used duvets with a back up comforter underneath. With 2 dogs, this was the most practical option for us, considering at any given moment our duvet was in the washing machine.

I’m now especially glad we had this system, because the Crate & Barrel duvet has kicked the bucket. Several months ago, part of it ripped, but we sucked it up. But after we acquired a giant stain smack dab in the middle of the bed, we knew it was time.

And so, comforter underneath makes it grand entrance.

Before:
After:
Brent has never been a huge fan of this comforter, so something tells me it’s only a matter of time before we get another duvet to cover it up. When that time comes, I hope it’s this one.

I may or may not have already started an eBay watch party for it.

And with this change, I'm already planning some color changes, etc., for in here. It's a good thing I have a birthday coming up. :)

My husband, the hoarder

Brent and I spent the last day of all 5-day vacation together buying a queen-size mattress for the guest bedroom. We’ve been wanting to get one for awhile, and the deal we found was just too good to pass up.

The plan is to move the new bed downstairs into the guest bedroom, and move our full-size bed upstairs into the empty third bedroom.

Here’s Brent’s and my conversation on the way home from buying a mattress pad:

Brent: So what will we do with the old bed when the bedroom becomes a nursery?

Me: Well, we have two options. Get rid of everything…

Brent: No!

Me: Or, we can just part with the frame and box spring and keep the mattress in storage.

Brent: I want to keep it all.

Me: Why? Where would we put it?

Brent: (silence)

Me: You’re not being practical. We could fit the mattress in the extra room in the basement.

Brent: We can put it on the loft in the shed, once I build it.

Me: If that’s where you want the mattress to go, that’s fine.

Brent: I want it all to go there – including the headboard.

Me: The headboard?

Brent: Yeah, I like it.

Me: (laughing) You mean to tell me, whenever we have extra guests – you’ll not only get the mattress and box spring out from the shed and move them to the basement – but you’ll put the head and foot boards on as well.

Brent: You’re ruining my dream!

I wish I could say I embellished this conversation, but it’s definitely real.

Brent and I come from 2 completely different worlds. I have minimal from my childhood, and I’m completely okay with that. I have 2 boxes – one with memories such as diaries, yearbooks and favorite books and the other with keepsakes I’d like to one day have in a future nursery.

As for Brent, well, I’m not sure I want to know how many boxes he has. Between the boxes he has here now and the boxes his parents keep bringing over – my answer is way too many. I’m pretty sure we have every toy he ever played with.

Brent is definitely getting better about keeping things though. He even agreed to sort through some of his boxes with me tonight. Hopefully, he’ll also see the light with the extra mattress as well. He has plenty of time to make the correct decision after all.

For the birds

I just discovered that Michaels sells birdhouses, and let me just say I am in love. There are castles, 2-stories, churches, schools, rocketships, etc. all for the amazing price of $4.99. Brent quickly realized my excitement could lead to 20 birdhouses in the backyard, so even armed with a 40% coupon, he limited me to one.

It was a tough decision, but I picked this guy:
And once painted and polyed:
Not bad for a $3 project.

Half bath painting begins

I figured it was time to start working on my Just Paint It Challenge project. And I am loving how it's looking so far.


Did anyone else work on their challenge project this weekend? Just a reminder, you have until Monday, July 26th.

Cookware gone green

The one thing Brent and I didn't register for when we got married was new cookware. While this is something we should have done, registering for vases, dishes and crystal was way more exciting.

We moved into our first house with identical cookware sets – the cheap stuff from Target that we both got in college. And, well, we've been using it ever since.

And so, it was time for an upgrade:

Thank you Cuisinart for making cookware in such fun colors. And thank you HomeGoods/Marshalls/TJ Maxx for selling it at such dirt cheap prices.