In a Thrifters Dreamworld

If a person knows me at all, they realize that thriftiness is a major part of who I am.  I get absolutely no kick out of paying full price for a top at the mall, but if the same article of clothing happens on sale at Salvos my fingers get all tingly and I get a hit of shopper's buzz.  I haven't paid full price for any article of clothing for years and I'm really very proud of that.  Call me materialistic, that's fine, but I'm quite comfortable in the knowledge that my wardrobe contains appropriate attire for literally any occasion.  And I couldn't do that full price.

I don't even buy groceries unless I can get a good deal.  The local Fresh Food Markets are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so if you go at 5pm on Sundays you can clean up.  We're talking half price lunchmeats, 60% off meats, bags of veggies for a dollar... its really quite fabulous.

I'm not a tight-wad, per say.  I'm as happy as the next person to spend money.  But I just like to get as big a bang as possible for my buck.

I'm also a great lover of anything craft.  

I've also recently discovered something that combines my two loves-- thrift and craft-- in a nice, neat little package.

Pottery Barn Knock Offs. 

Who doesn't love Pottery Barn?  Their products are chic, classic, and elegant and add a touch of class to any room.  Often, I find the 'shabby' look to be a bit-- well-- shabby.  Looking more like something you'd find at the dump than something worth having.*  But Pottery Barn puts the chic into shabby in a big way.

I mean, how many companies can sell a wreath made out of book pages for $50+?

I'm still not 100% sure I'm a fan of this particular decorative gem.  It still seems a bit recycled-trash to me, even if it is Pottery Barn.  But my point is, I could totally make that.  For about $2.

In fact, I can totally make a lot of the stuff I've been drooling over from the Pottery Barn website.  And other people have and have provided tutorials, which makes it all the easier (and all the more unjustifiable to spend lotsa bucks on the real thing).

There's a great website called Knock Off Wood that provides the patterns to make loads of the cabinets, beds, desks, etc that you see at Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma and lots of other places I can't afford.  If you're clever and crafty you can make this:

 

or this:

 

Plus much, much more.  These may be above my level of expertise at the minute (although I did successfully hang shelves in my laundry room that don't even look uneven when you put lots of bottles on top of them), but I'm thinking of taking a woodwork class and learning how to do stuff like this.  How cool would it be to have people come over and sit at my table and be able to say 'oh, yeah, I made that'?

Here is my list of high-class-store-inspired projects I want to complete this year:

1.I am a big huge fan of this from Pottery Barn...

 

...But am not such a big fan of the price tag (shown here is easily over 1k).  

We have this pantry that has an exposed side that you see when you come in from the laundry that I want to paint with chalkboard paint like this...

But instead of drawing weird flowers that look more like weeds I'm going to add a chic looking calendar, some hooks to hang keys and, in keeping with my New Years Resolution to reduce our food waste (Not for the environment. Because I'm sick of paying for food we don't eat.) a weekly 'what's for dinner' section.  I may even make one of these puppies for sorting our mail:

The whole thing will look like this, except a lot more chalkboard-y and exciting:

2.  Pottery Barn makes this 'EAT' sign for $49, which is a total ripoff, cause I can make it for under $10.

 

But I do like it.  I may add this to the top of my cabinet chalkboard. 

3. How fabulous is this mirror?  We need things hanging on our wall and this would be perfect in our living room:

But at $700, its just not happening.  Someone else in Blogland made this version for a mere $60...

 

...but I think I can do even better.  Plus, I'm more a fan of Pottery Barn's more-mirrored look. 

4. I don't know why, but I'm a big fan of these number pillows, which Pottery Barn is selling for $29 each:

My goal is $15 for the lot, which I think is very generous.  All I need is some fabric from the discount section and some printable transfers!  There's a website called Graphics Fairy where you can download tons of great vintage-inspired stuff free.  Perfect for fabric transfers and a whole lot more!

I want to make these into pillows:

 

  

  

Aren't the ABC pages cute?  They're from an old Victorian children's book,  and she has each page. A-Z.

5. I love this wall art, also from Pottery Barn:

 

Its folk-artsy meets abstract and made from planks of color-stained wood.  At over $700, its something I think I can replicate... but probably with paint instead of stain.  I doubt I'll actually get around to this one, but its good to have a goal project, right?

Rory wants to knock down some walls in the house, get rid of the hallway and re-arrange some rooms, so I'll have a lot of decorating to do.  I want to take that woodworking class before he does that in the hopes that I can create a few pieces from scratch.  I'll get new shiny flooring out of the remodel too, which I'm really looking forward to.  When we moved in we put in some cheap faux-wood flooring instead of sanding and shining the pine floors that are throughout the whole house-- the only remodeling mistake I think we've made so far.  I will be excited to start again! 

*NB:  Not everything at the dump isn't worth having.  Not at all.  Here in Aus, we have the 'Recycling Centre' which is where people throw away their not-quite-dump-worthy goods... and where I pick them back up again.  Its owned by the dump-people, and is oh-so-cheap.  We got a brand spankin new glass paneled door there a few weeks back for $10.  TEN DOLLARS.  Its brothers and sisters are still sold at Doors Plus for $200.  Makes me regret a very similar door purchase we made for $150 at the hardware going-out-of-buissness sale.  Litterally, the same door, except the hardware store one has frosted glass.  The Dump-- Don't knock it till ya try it!

Our Weekend

Thanks Dad and Honey! The tree I blogged about last time is, in fact, a cherry tree. An Ornamental Japanese Cherry Tree, to be precise, according to my most informative neighbor. I tried making an arrangement out of the blossoms, but they don't seem to last very long. This weekend, we finally got all the rooms in the house sorted out! Rory rented a trailer, and we got a lot done... First off, our living room got a makeover! Before, we had these chairs in the sitting area over by the heater. They were okay, and I liked their shape, but I hated the way they looked in the room. Blue, green and yellow stripes hardly go with our burgundy, blue and green rug. We tried covering them with a throw blanket, hiding the pattern with oversized pillows and just plain ignoring them, but I'd resigned myself to the fact that we would either have to cover them or buy something new. As 1) I'm not very good at covering things and 2) our favorite second-hand furniture has recently closed down 'until further notice', we'd been wondering where we were going to find an affordable replacement. And then, luck struck! When we went to our friend Paul's house for our weekly Games Night, Rory noticed that Paul and Karen had a new couch... and were getting rid of their old ones! They're nice and neutral, work perfectly in the space and (best of all) were totally free! Pretty good, huh?! This is my favorite spot in the whole house... after I've made dinner and had a bath, I'm generally doing something on that couch. Its right by the heater, so it stays nice and warm all evening long. We picked up that wooden chest this weekend at Salvos, and I think it finishes off the area nicely. I recovered the top, which was covered with an ugly, stained, green fabric, and now we have a great chest that does double duty as an extra seat. We also finished off our office (previously our box-dumping room). We've been storing a whole heap of stuff in the office, shutting the door, and ignoring the mess and disorder that was just getting worse and worse. Before we picked up the desk we had to clean up the room so that we could at least open the door... I keep asking myself why I didn't get rid of stuff BEFORE we moved instead of moving it all and THEN throwing it away. Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? I had found a desk on ebay, and we went to pick it up, but unfortunately the lady we were buying it from wasn't home (this was AFTER she had confirmed that she would be and AFTER we had agreed on a time). Luckily, our good, standard stand by was open... Salvos! And they had a desk that looked better than the one we were going to pick up from the ebay lady. The trim is blue, which fits great with our color scheme throughout the house... blue was the 'decor' color from our paint chip! Here's what the office looks like now: So, we had a very successful weekend! Rory also finished off the kitchen, so the whole house is looking great! I guess next weekend we'll start on the garden... and THAT is going to be a big job.

The New, The Improved Kitchen, Dining and Living

Mom, Dad and Emily have been up from Houston since last Sunday, and Dad has gone to town with kitchen renovations!! Rory was wonderful, and worked until about 11pm every weeknight for about two weeks before they arrived to get the house finished. I helped too, but Rory deserves most of the kudos... he did all the hard stuff and really made it all come together! We ended up moving in the day before Mom, Emily and Dad got here... in fact, I was still unpacking 30 minutes before they arrived! We had a great week in Canberra... we visited Gold Creek, went to the farm, ate in the Telstra Tower revolving restaurant, and they saw most of the sites around Canberra. Dad tiled the kitchen, Emily painted loads of trim, and mom's decorating skills will be sorely missed. They left today, leaving the kitchen looking like this: I bought the kitchen second hand for about 1/5 of what we would have paid for it new (from someone who had only had it 3 years... who gets rid of a three year old kitchen?!). Rory knocked down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room to make one big, long room, and it really opened up the space and made it look excellent! We even got a dishwasher, which is a giant leap away from washing dishes by hand! When dad came, he did a fabulous tile job. He used the tiles that we had on the hearth in the lounge room, which I really liked. That brings the grand total of 'original decor' items to 2... the tiles and a bit of wallpaper that we left in the master bedroom closet. Dad also bought us the kitchen cabinets, which match perfectly... lucky, considering we bought them from Bunnings (Australian Home Depot) straight off the shelf. And now, the living room: My favorite room in the house! Remember the ugly pink bedroom? Rory knocked down that room, too, and we separated it into two seating areas. We laid carpet on one side of the front door, and wood on the other to make the long room into two separate areas. We chose a paint chip from Bunnings and used every one of the colors on it... kind of un-inspired, but it turned out great!! The walls are gray, the trim is a darker gray, and the focal walls and firplace are green. The carpeted side is the TV area, a small seating area with the blue couch and the TV (and Alfie's chairs). The wood side we use for a game/ seating area. I prefer the chairs over by the heater... its been nice and cozy over there for the past few cold nights! It turned out better than I could have hoped for... there is lots of room for lots of guests, and its comfortable to boot! Mom, Emily and Dad went up to Sydney yesterday, and Rory and I will join them to catch a flight to Cairns on Wednesday morning. We're going to go to the Great Barrier Reef for a few days... I can't wait for the warmer weather! Hopefully, I'll have lots of great pictures to share when we get back, and I'll continue the house tour as well.

The Old, The Ugly

I set this blog up primarily so that I can 'stay in touch' with people back home, so I figured I would start with the biggest news: In June, Rory and I bought a 'fixer upper' house in Latham, ACT. That's in Belconnen, about 15 minutes away from my work (I work as an Internship Coordinator at the Australian National University), 30 minutes away from Rory's work, and right down the road from Rory's family, lots of our friends, and the Belconnen City Centre. This is what it looks like: When we bought it, it had four bedrooms: And some very retro wallpaper. Every room had a different print, and every print seemed stuck to the wall with super glue. Don't you love the bright pink? They have some floor to ceiling windows, though, affording a great view of a HUGE backyard (1200 sq m... the second biggest backyard in the suburb). The kitchen was tiny, and full of 1970's 'charm': As was the dining room: And finally, the living room. We could see the potential, but it was small and cramped. For the past month, we've been busy renovating, and I must say, the results have been better than I could have imagined when we started! I will post the 'afters' soon, so stay tuned!