Squeezing It In

Last post of the year!!!! 2011 has been good to us, so I'm looking forward to 2012. I've got my fingers crossed for the best.

Happy New Year!!!!!

Christmastime is Awesometime

Look at all those presents.

For Christmas Eve we went to Linda and Dean's for good eats, presents and family time. We came home with a huge pile of presents and full bellies. Kyle got the video game he really wanted (Modern Warfare 3) and a Wolfgang Puck cookware set. Among many things, Isaac got a Pogo stick, which I can't wait to watch him fall off of learn to use. Back at home, Isaac opened his gifts on Christmas morning. He got 3 Lego sets, a Nerf gun and extra bullets and a bunch of other goodies. I don't even know what other things he got as he still had more presents to open with Carissa and her parents.

The day after Christmas was still filled with friends and family. Eric, Krystal, Blaze and Mariska came over. My parents dropped by for a little while too. Blaze couldn't stay for dinner, but since I'll be babysitting Mariska for a few days she stayed over. Kyle made the big Christmas dinner spread, turkey, corn, green beans, stuffing, drop biscuits. This was one of the best Christmases!

The look of pure joy!

One Day, One Day

Now for the list of things we want to do around the house. Le sigh.

• Paint the dining room
• Replace the globe in the dining room
• Paint the buffet
• Paint the ceiling fan blades in the dining room
• Paint the short bookcase
• Paint the ladder bookcase
• Repaint the kitchen
• Install tile backsplash in the kitchen
• Replace the flooring in the kitchen and laundry nook
• Replace countertop in kitchen (not likely)
• Replace kitchen sink (not likely)
• Repaint Isaac’s room
• Paint vanity in half bath
• Repaint master bedroom
• Paint Isaac’s bookcase
• Paint doorknobs
• Paint front door
• Replace screen door
• Replace medicine cabinets in all baths
• Replace light fixtures in all baths
• Paint light fixture in kitchen or replace
• Replace light fixtures in hallway

Dead in the Bank

My Thrifted Home is pretty much dead. Which I’m sure you could tell (or probably not since I don’t really have any readers, but if I still do I love all of you dearly) by the lack of posts. There hasn't been much activity on the thrifty home improvement front. After four (shameful) months I did finish my plant stand, now I just have to decide where to keep it. I’m pretty sure it’s going to live in the front yard, but I've yet to decide whether to use it as a table or a plant stand/outside entry way /dumping ground table. The Hubs finished painting my roll top desk (which no longer has the roll top) a shiny black that I love. I've already replaced 4 knobs, now it just needs 2 drawer pulls to be complete. And that is pretty much the end of our finished projects.

We have so, so many unfinished projects in the house. Ready for the incredibly long list?

·         Touch up ceiling in kitchen
·         Touch up wall and trim in guest room
·         Touch up wall in Isaac’s room
·         Paint trim in stairway
·         Touch up or repaint the kitchen cabinets
·         Finish painting countertops
·         Pull down wallpaper in the dining room
·         Finish spraying texture in dining room
·         Paint dining room
·         Repaint the coffee table legs
·         Stain coffee table top
·         Finish painting old nightstands
·         Take down wallpaper in half bath, then paint
·         Mud walls in full bath
·         Put up cabinet door in full bath
·         Paint art on canvases
·         Take down wallpaper in master bath, then paint
·         Paint banister (has overspray, 1 year old overspray)
·         Repaint laundry nook

Later on today I'll be posting another bulleted list of one day hopeful things to do in the house. Our financial life is in such disarray right now that they are all things I look at wistfully.

Spring De-cluttering

After reading about IHeart Organizing's April Challenge I decided to give it a try too. The house already had completed some purging with last month's yard sale. Even after the sale though there were some things that didn't get the heave-ho treatment they needed. So far the gone list includes:

10 pieces of clothes that Isaac had outgrown.

A Batman television that we weren't using.

 2 Curious George pieces of art.

So that 13 so far.... But wait there's more!

• a white ceramic square plate
• a lunchbox
• 2 plastic patio chairs
• a red square charger
• a microwave cart
• a small glass dish

So see I'm up to 20 (!) items. Rounding up another 11 things should be a cinch since there's bound to be more things around the house that we just don't use. My goal is to surpass 31 items and hopefully hit 50, but that means I better get cracking!

Sneak Peek

A friend doing the work for me.... voluntarily! 

I've got a little project going on.... I got a plant stand that's in the midst of being painted. I've got to go back to Lowe's for a different paint as the one I have isn't covering as well as I'd like.

It's going the no fail color white!

The One That Got Away

Way back when I posted about my current dream home, well it sold and rightly so (asking price 100k, 5 bedrooms, 2,500 sq ft.). A couple of weeks ago while out in South Norfolk I drove down Rodgers Street to longingly gaze at it and lo and behold (I know I said lo, who says that?) the empty space/lot next to it had a house on it!

My 'love' is on the right.

The owners of the one that got away have done some improvements (like that new front door) that I really like but I can't get over the fact that there's another house next to it. I do not love that at all. One of the many things I liked about the house was the spaciousness next to it. I don't know if the lot was included with the house. Maybe the people who bought it were surprised by the new construction. If the lot was included I can see how the folks who bought it might have sold it for the obvious money-making opportunity but if it had been me I don't think I could have done it.

Before.

I really want a single family home (i.e. detached) and I don't mean but I can still lean out of my window and touch the house next door.

Well, at least now I'm not so sad about not getting the Rodgers house.

Dinner For Six?

Unbeknownst to you, I have been on the hunt for a new dining room table. Whether or not it's painted or not isn't the main concern, it has been size. I'm hoping for a classic rectangle or maybe an oval table that seats at least 6 people. Our current table only seats 4 and I'm hoping to have more room for when company calls. I've been stalking Craigslist but I haven't found anything I'm in lurve with. However....today I did find something I kinda dug and bonus for it's being reduced to $97.

I'm not so sure about the chairs but the table I think I could groove with... What do you think?

February... You Know the Drill

Well it happened again or not happened as the case may be. By that I mean home design projects. However there is one little project that was started and completed in February. Now if I could only get you some pictures.... There's every good chance that I might (unlike last time with that yard sale furniture). I have finally gotten a cell phone so pictures should happen on a more regular basis, at least once I figure out how to send them to facebook or picasa.

Since you know all too well how I tend to be regarding posting, I'll go ahead and spare you the suspense about my recent project. It was a little kids chair that has since purchase been painted and recovered and I must say that I am awful proud of my first recovering project. It was a really simple job, just pulling the fabric and stapling but I am pleased with the outcome. Pictures soon (fingers crossed)!

January: Came and Gone

I know, I know. Let me just say that things haven't really picked up but we're making it. So it still means not a whole lot going on in the house. *le sigh*

I did however run into this little side table at Goodwill recently. I don't foresee any changes happening to it as I dig the espresso color.

It's a Manhattan side table from Target that currently sells at $100 smackers. I snatched it up for $12.25! At the moment it's home is in my living room side tabling it up with a cane back chair that's placed at our picture window. I think it's future home may be our as-yet-undone guest bedroom.

My lovely mother has graciously purchased us new bedding from Wal-Mart (it's from the Better Homes & Garden line) including bedding for the above mentioned guest bedroom. Now the only thing missing is a ...BED! I know, crazy right? Bedding for a nonexistent bed, oh but it's loverly and I just had to have it.

That's it for now. Fingers crossed to find a guest bed soon (and to get another digital camera, I still haven't replaced my dearly departed Olympus Fe-340)