New wall art.

Found this for $6 on Ebay. Couldn't resist.
This is definitely going on the frame wall!!!

The perfect lampshade

Remember the Buddha lamp I bought last week? I got it for $3 less (not much, but...) because I didn't want the lampshade. It was a dark big thing that did not really go with the beautiful lamp stand.
Ever since, I've been on the hunt. I went by a number of stores and even went by Target, but all the shades were not only expensive (around $30), but they all did not connect the shade to the lamp at the right point (I needed on that had the shade connector at the top of the shade, not the bottom).

And then today, my searching paid off... for only $3.99:

Perfect and beautiful!

Stained glass update

On Friday, I posted about snagging this stained glass on Thursday. I had plans on hanging it, most likely, in the dining room window (the window in the photo below).

This dining room window is also the one in the center/rightish side of this picture:
It's a large window and looks out at our front yard. PERFECT for a stained glass window.

I looked at the stained glass and thought "it'll likely fit there... and for $20, I'll find another place for it if the dining window doesn't fly."

Well, I measured. I gawked. I fake hung it up (by holding it, agape, in the window).

IT FITS PERFECTLY. As in, it looks like it is original to the house, especially with the glossy white enamel paint I'm putting on the frame. No awkward fit. No questions asked.

Shocking how sometimes things work out so fittingly.

Free frame (or free stamps?) !

The colors changed today at Goodwill (so certain colors are 50% off), meaning I ran over there to check out their frames for our frame wall project that we'll slowly start doing. We want to have a wall of frames, and the hope is, we'll get our frames super cheap, spray paint them to mostly all match (and update old frames), and we'll have mats made to fit our pictures to the frames. MUCH cheaper than having custom frames made.

The color today was not blue, but I liked this frame anyway. Glass cover (not plastic), good wood bones. $5.99 isn't a bad price.
But then I realized: Inside the frame are stamps! And they're not sealed to the paper (so, they could still be used). I counted it up and realized there was $6.60 in stamps alone inside the frame.

So, you could say I got a free frame or I got free stamps!

Driveway bed before and after!

This was the south side of our driveway. A narrow strip about 6' x 12'.
And it was gross.
Overgrown by our neighbors' juniper bushes, it was also home to weird iris-wannabe plants (I say "wannabe" since we only got a few irises this year), an oak sapling, a very old lavender, and some ferns. Oh, and in the corner of the irises is the water main. Yes, really. The dirt overflowed onto the sidewalk, and the irises grew on top of them.

This had to change. It's the front of our house, for crying out loud. Sure, we could be evil and say "oh, that's our neighbor's yard..." but our rock wall does extend around the corner, sort of a visual "our yard goes to here ___| " kind of thing.

AND, we had our new ornamental Japanese maple tree to play around with, as well as our super-ultra-awesome, steel, rectangular bins (aka planters) we scored earlier this week (post here).

So I set to work.
After many hours, the sidewalk had been cleared with the beginnings of a rock wall. DECADES of juniper undergrowth had been cleared (and yes, we got permission from our neighbors before cutting their juniper... they were overjoyed, by the way). And I do mean decades. So. much.undergrowth.

Finally, more hours later, the final result:
The rock wall needs a tad more, and we'll be planting plants and putting some pavers along the edge of the driveway as edging. We'll also fill in some more of the area with a few more plants, though the purpleish plant at the base of the bin will spread.

The bin is a nice burgundy color, though I just did some touch-ups in the photo, so it's a bit glossy and reflective with the evening sun (I wanted to do a post though, so with glare it is).

The maple has many grasses at its base, and all the grasses we chose will stay green (or purple or blueish!) year-around. So even when the maple loses its leaves, the grasses will be there.

It was a ton of work, but definitely an improvement over what it was! Now to go nurse my juniper-reacting arms (juniper is such a prickly plant, and supposedly the oils are poisonous? Regardless, an easy evening is in store for me).

Scores of yesterday (aka: the thrift gods smiled upon me)

Yesterday was the day of the Pottery Barn chairs score. But it was also oh-so-much more. Several times I stared dumbly at items in disbelief, since I had made mental notes to keep my mind open to such things (but really not thinking I'd find them).

The day went like this:

• Work in the morning.
• Lunch with husband.
• Race out to get Pottery Barn chairs (and also a lamp)
• Hop over to Goodwill to look for lampshades (and call neighbor to tell her about a garden statue at Pottery Barn chair place), but end up finding another lamp, an awesome sweater (name brand too!), a level (I needed one, badly), and a stained glass window.
• Swing by recycle store place and find nice bench for outside (husband wanted one).
• Go home, but neighbor wants to go see statue, so we head out.
  
• Neighbor gets statue, statue goes in my car (which we were driving). Decide to swing by recycle store place since she'd never been before.
• At recycle store (why didn't I see these earlier?!), I find two, BEAUTIFUL, steel containers and two horseshoes.
  
• Home. Head out later on to check out another goodwill for lampshades (since the Oregon vs Cal football game was making me anxious-- I went to both schools). Found a pot, then went to Home Depot, where I knew there was a sale on a plant. Also found a table at Goodwill, but more on that later.
  

WHEW!

And here are the photos.

The BEAUTIFUL stained glass window was just the type I've been keeping my eye open for. But seriously, these things are pricey. I always see this type (narrow rectangular) for $120+, and I wasn't willing to spend that. Plus, the design had to be right. Not too vibrant, not too cutesy. This one was right up my alley, and was $20. I'll repaint or sand/stain the wood surround. I really want to hang it in our dining room window.


This Buddha lamp will be PERFECT for our office remodel. We're going for calm and streamlined. For some reason (especially since I think Buddha would abhor this action), items with Buddhas on them are always more expensive. I found this lamp (the Buddha is about 1' tall, the lamp is taller with the lamp top) for $15, which is a great price for such a piece of work. Are we Buddhists? Not in the conventional sense, but we greatly admire and try to practice many of the peaceful and accepting tenants of Buddhism.

This beauty I found while looking at Goodwill for lampshades. not only do I love the cute, retro shape, but it was $6... but it was the right color pricetag, so HALF OFF!! $3 for this doll? Yes, please! I suspect this will end up going upstairs, either in the work area or the reading area.



Bob's been wanting a bench for the front stoop.... but to find the right bench has been hard. It had to be narrow and not too deep. This one was perfect. It was $10, and for that much, I will not be needing to build one (a cheap trade-off for $10). And really, it wasn't really $10 since I had filled up my punch card at the recycle place and had a free $50 gift coupon to use towards this. I'm going to spray-paint it gray to match the mailbox... but then it will probably need some bedazzling. I'm totally into (but also intimidated by) stencils right now... so we'll see.

Oh, and those are the two horseshoes I bought. I saw YoungHouseLove's simple horseshoe picture today (scroll down, it's one of the bottom photos) and I really love that idea.

Besides the Pottery Barn chairs, I think STEAL OF THE DAY!!!! goes to these beauties. I cannot tell you how happy they make me. PERFECT GARDEN CONTAINERS!!! We've really wanted large garden pots, but they are so expensive ($200+, EACH, for this size in ceramic). I found these in a back corner, stuck together. One of the volunteers and I pried them apart... but no pricetag. I held my breath, hoping they wouldn't be too high (I had no idea what steel went for...). I was expecting 2 for $50 or something like that, since they could totally be used for garden beds. The end price verdict? $8 each. SOLD!!! SOLD SOLD SOLD!!!! I danced. We'll spray paint them with a glossy rustoleum. I also think some tile on the top edge would really help spiff them up. I AM SO EXCITED over these beauties.

On the evening run to the other goodwill, I found this pot. I think it's a ceramic walmart pot, but I didn't care. It was large, but super cheap ($9). I'd been looking for one (and this one even had a built-in spill catcher!) so that we could buy a plant to put next to the nightstand on the one side. I knew Home Depot had an $8.88 sale for large indoor houseplants, and I wanted to take advantage of it. Bought the pot, and Home Depot was right across the street. The plant is a little off-center because the rootball was cockeyed. Small price to pay.

As I mentioned, I also found a round low table. I'd been looking for one like this for a while, thinking it'd be perfect for my plans for upstairs. I literally stood, mouth agape, staring at this table when I saw it. The top is veneered (which is the only not perfect thing), but acceptable, and the hardware connecting the legs to the top is antique cast iron. The table also turns on top! It is perfect. I'll show it off when the upstairs is coming together... right now it's in my trunk. :)

Hello beautiful chair.

Hello beautiful.

You're no longer in stock, but my, you look a lot like your $300 friend. And you're both from the same place (Pottery Barn).

But wait, you were $25? And you're one of a set of twins???
SOLD. Sold sold sold.

I should add that similar PB chairs are also in the $350 range. Our chairs were $50, for the pair. That's a $650 savings. Really.

I saw the ad for these beauties this afternoon. Two look-like-new-with-good-upholstery chairs from Pottery Barn at a new secondhand store that I'd never been in? Adventure! After lunch with my husband, I raced on over.

The store was adorable, full of stuff I actually like... a good vintage vibe without the rip-you-off prices. I bought the chairs and a peaceful Buddha lamp that we'll put in the office or the soon-to-be-revealed (ok, it may take a month or so) upstairs reading room.

I had been looking for a nice chair, and, upon finding TWO, I immediately tried to figure out where to put the other chair (because who wants to separate a PAIR???). Bob and I decided that we'd swap out our cream leather chair for one of these pairs, moving the cream one upstairs. The rocking chair, set to go upstairs anyway, will be also swapped out, so the other one of the pair will live in the office, serving as a better home for collecting Bob's suits and for an office desk chair.

I'm still swooning. And someday, if/when the upholstery fails? They can easily be reupholstered. Double bonus, extra swoon.

PS: The day was full of blink dumbly in disbelief scores. Amazing, wonderful finds. More to come in the next post.

Happiness, Part 3.

A happy corgi is a corgi who is surveying her lands with her back legs dragged out behind her.

Happiness, Part 2.

A happy corgi is a corgi on her back, looking cute at the camera.

Happiness...

A happy corgi is a corgi with a pillow. Clearly.