The dining room update

Remember back on this post when I said we still needed to build a bench for the dining table? Well we sorta JUST did that. Funny story though, Zack is getting quite sick of doing projects at the moment and he was standing his ground that he did NOT want to actually build a bench. He kept telling me to just buy one. So, one night I was like "fine, Ill buy one right now!" and he says "Fine! Do it!" and I did. And I love it more than the one he was supposed to build. :)

But lets go back to how I decided on this bench. At first I couldn't decide whether I wanted two more chairs, and if I did, did I want the same ones that were there? [get the same ones here for $48 each!]
 or did I want 2 fancy ones that I could move to each end of the table? and if I did that, did I want them to be the same linen color? or grey? I kept adding chairs to my cart and then changing my mind over and over again. Plus, all the chairs I really liked were well over $400 for the pair and I wasn't prepared to pay that.

So then, I started looking at benches and sort of had the same issue. Do I want all wood? Or upholstered? Tufted or not? Linen or grey? I was having the hardest time.

Then, I stumbled up this one from Target and I fell in love. I don't know what it is about this bench but I could immediately picture it in the space. The leg color is a no-no for my house but I have easily sanded down the legs of every other piece of furniture I own so I knew I could do this one too. After I added it to my cart [along with two more bar stools] I found that Target was having a sale, spend $200 get $40 off. Score! It brought the cost of the bench down UNDER $100.

Shipping was pretty fast and as soon as I got it home I used 80 grit on my mouse to sand down the larger parts of the legs and then an 80 grit piece folded in half to get into the crevices. After that, I finished it with my go-to stain, Minwax English Chestnut and a whitewash top coat, screwed the legs on and it was done.

I am totally in love with the way it looks AND it has a nice storage area if we ever decide to move it to another area of the house it would work there too! 

Until next time!
xoxo,
Jackie

Bathroom Reveal

We finally finished the bathroom last night and I couldn't be more excited to share it! I have always hated this room. Basically its one fairly large room broken up into two spaces: the bathroom and the laundry room. If you remember last week we shared the finished laundry room but I still had to tackle the bathroom area. Since we are renting this place we are trying really hard not to spend too much on refinishing it since we wont get the money back, so all we did here was paint, and add $5.00 worth of hardware. It has made such a huge impact! Lets take a look at how it looked when we first moved in.

 Then we added accessories and painted the doors...

and now!

side by side before and after.

I am in love! Now I want to paint all the cabinets! Stay tuned.

xoxo,
Jackie

Shopping at antique malls: What to look for

One of my favorite places to shop for unique home decor is antique shops. In my town there are 2 large antique malls and many small little shops, and an hour north or south leads me to many other great ones too. I'm surrounded by them and shop them often so I wanted to share some tips on how I find great items at great prices. So here we go, 10 tips to make the most of antique malls....

1. Every area is different in what they will carry and their pricing but in my area I find that the antique malls tend to have better pricing and better items in general, so i usually check them out 1-2 times a month to just see whats new.

2. Go towards the middle/end of month. Most vendors are trying to make rent or are getting ready to move out so they often have good sales near the end of the month. My mom and I checked out our favorite mall just the other day and there were so many booths that were 50% off!
My example: I got this super cool eye chart [that I've been wanting for forever] for just $11.00  $5.50 and an awesome silver serving set for just $12.00  $6.00!

3. Walk through the entire mall, don't skip the "crappy" booths. The booths where it looks like a hot mess are sometimes the ones that have the best stuff !

4. Look for booths run by men. You can absolutely tell when a booth is run by a man because he'll have lots of "manly" items. Antlers, old bottles, vintage tools etc. MOST of the time I have found the prices are way below value because they are trying to make quick money on the items and don't always research them to find out what they are REALLY worth.
My example : I got this vintage scale for $7.99! I was walking through the mall and saw this mans booth, he was working in it adding new items and I checked the price of the scale, $9.99. Before I could pick it up [this was a MASSIVE steal at that price] he said "Ill take $7.99 for it." Score.

5. Know what you are looking for and look for only those items. When I walk into an antique mall I have a list in my head [and sometimes on my phone] of what I'm looking for. As I walk down the isles I am looking for only those items, now, if something else jumps out at me I will still consider it, but I stick to the list as closely as I can. I have found if you have in your head that you are looking for very specific things then you wont stop to look at every little item in every booth and you'll end up buying less!

6. Carefully consider your purchases and walk away if you don't love it, or the price. There are countless times that I have found something that I A. Love it but the price is high or B. Don't love it but the price is low. These are both times where I will walk away fro an item, no matter what. Sometimes I will walk away from an item I am unsure of and if I cant stop thinking about it by the time I get to the register I will go back and get it.
My example: The other day I went to a vintage market and I saw this cool print. It was $25 and I had no idea where I would put it so I passed. I walked around the rest of the market thinking only about that print. By the time I had walked through the whole thing I was still thinking about it, so I went back and grabbed it. It wasn't the most affordable item I bought that day but it was still the best purchase because I really loved it.

7. Check out markets in your area. You can search on Facebook or just Google to find Vintage Markets in your area. Since learning about these a year ago I have already been to 3 and have plans for 2 more! They are awesome! Especially ones that have a ton of vendors like the Vintage Whites Market. It comes once a year and has vendors from all over the country! I have NEVER walked into a market and not let with something great!

8. Bring a friend. I love bringing my husband with me because he can spot things much better than I can. Before we go in I say "okay, today we are looking for ...." and he goes on a mission. Often times he will point out something that I didn't even see when I walked past. It helps to have that second pair of eyes. Just make sure the person you bring LIKES doing this type of shopping, otherwise you'll feel rushed and that's horrible when you're antique shopping because its all about ...

9. Taking your time! Don't rush. Walk slowly down every isle scanning every booth. Only walk into the booths that really catch your eye but LOOK at every one. This way, you wont miss anything and you wont waste your time in booths that have nothing for you.

10. Pay attention to the signs. A lot of booths in our area will have a sign that says "50% off everything" but in finer print we see "Only items over $5.00, excludes firm." If you don't pay close attention to that fine print you might fall in love with that $40 lamp shade you think is $20 but since its marked firm its not on sale and you don't actually LOVE it at $40. Knowing right off the bat what is or isn't discounted will make you shop smarter and saves the argument at the register when it rings up full price.



For anyone local here's a list of my favorite shops/ markets that are coming up...

Willowstone Antique Marketplace
-my favorite! So well organized and prices are affordable

American Classics Marketplace
-not organized and some prices are high but you can find some real gems here.

Vintage Whites Market
March 31-April 1 2017
National Western Complex, Denver, CO

Old House Vintage Market
January 13-14 2017
The Rance, Loveland, Co

Hope this helps!

xoxo,
Jackie

Laundry Room Reveal

It didn't take us long to get done with the laundry room, we actually didn't have to do much. We started with this....

Removed the hideous wire rack, rustic shelf and window valance...

Then we made a run to Lowes and picked up two 15" cabinets, they were $65 each.

After that we framed out the window using 1x3's and painted the cabinets Valspar Ocean Storm, and painted the walls our go to grey: Valspar Frappe.

At this point it was all about making it pretty so we hung two faux floating shelves, made a quick no-sew curtain and staged the room. This is how it looks now.

I cant stop walking in here! It finally feels like it fits with the rest of the house! Stay tuned!

xoxo,
Jackie

Updates to our home

If you thought we were completely done you are sadly mistaken. This house, while fairly new, is very outdated. Pretty much every room could use some work. Over time a certain area will bug me so much that I get to the point where I HAVE to change it. Then I do and the next room bothers me and so on this cycle goes. Right now there are 2 areas that bug me. The dining room and the laundry room.

The dining room received a mini makeover when we first moved in, I painted the walls and we changed out the chandelier.

Now, I am just a little bit over the furniture in here. I think the table is so small for the room and its kind of a crappy table so we never use it anyway so I started shopping around but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for in the price range I needed. Enter Pinterest. I found this table and immediately fell in love. I'm not going to write a tutorial since there's so many online but this is the one we followed and just adjusted to fit our specs.We don't have much time to work on it since Zack is only here 2 days a week but all we have left is to build the bench. Its a lot of effort but its going to look so much better when we're completely done. Here's where we're at right now...

Moving on to the laundry room. Technically this is our powder room AND laundry room, [I know, worst design ever] and it has always bothered me.

The wire shelf, the ugly light, the dingy walls. Its definitely time for a makeover. Here's my inspiration.....

And here's the plan.

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Not sure how soon we'll finish but we've already started so sometime the near future I might start to enjoy doing laundry.... or maybe just hate it a little less.

xoxo,
Jackie