Makeover #4 - Goodwill director's chairs

On a recent Goodwill trip, while I was really looking for another small desk chair, I came across two director's chairs for $15/ea.  They were in great shape, just had some chipping paint and dirty fabric.  So with my two BFF's - paint and fabric - they went from this

to this

I was pleased to see, as I was taking the fabric off, that they are from Pier 1.  I looked up the retail online and they sell for $50 for the chair and $15 for the fabric parts.  So I got both chairs, with much cuter fabric then they offer, for less than the price of one @ retail.  I used outdoor fabric from Joann's when it was 50% off so the fabric for each chair was less than $10.

I think they will look very cute out front of this cottage

or this one

I love surprises....most of the time

Tuesday I came  home early to show the house.  I took advantage of the extra hours and started priming some lamps and various metal decor items I had bought to refinish, then started cleaning and sanding the new yellow dresser. 

Here's a better pic of it in the garage.

I am loving this piece - it's not fine furniture by any means but it's perfect for a buffet for the small dining room in the Key West Cottage.

When the lady dropped it off, she mentioned like twice that it was marked "purchased in 1979".  Well she was close. 

This is what it actually says.

Sort of like this flower,

it will be a shame to paint over that.

So the joy didn't end there....first as I was removing the drawers I found this

Not sure if this was a small towel or a pair of socks, I didn't find it necessary to inspect that closely, especially when after the next drawer removal these appeared....

Seriously.  It's better than finding a giant spider,

but still pretty gross.

Weekend Update - furniture priming begins!

 Had a super productive weekend. 

On Friday I powered through 7 pieces of furniture and some oil based primer.  Half way through I wanted to stop....but I was starting to see how cool it will all eventually look, so with the help of some Advil, I continued until each piece had 2 coats of primer. 

Still to do - the large hutch type piece, 4 end tables, 3 lamps, dining table and 4 chairs, and this newly acquired beauty

Bought this off of Craigslist yesterday - $30 delivered right to our door. 

It's perfect for the space and I plan to paint it turquoise.  Love.

We also had a neighborhood yard sale and in addition to unloading 1-2 Jeep loads of stuff that we no longer need/want/use, we made $115 (at the end of the sale there was a Goodwill truck that took any unsold stuff we wanted to unload and we took a full car-load there).

And finally, we had 2 last minute house showings; one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  And got a call for another tomorrow (on top of another tentative one scheduled from last week).  So at least we're getting some exposure, seemingly at least as much if not more so than the houses on our street that are listed w/ realtors.

Trash to Treasure?

This is our garage these days.

I have mixed emotions about this....I'm half proud-half embarrassed by this Sanford and Sons set.   Proud that we're being so thrifty/recycling/creative, but definitely embarrassed that it looks like such total ass. 

I plan to paint every one of these babies.  They have all been sanded as of a couple of weeks ago.  Then I sort of stopped, somewhat overwhelmed by all the work ahead.  Last night I needed to suck it up and get back to work.  I made some progress by dusting them all off and placing them all on some sheets so that tonight I can get right to priming before I have time to realize I'd rather be on the couch with a glass of wine watching House Hunters International. 

Here is the piece that started it all.  Well other than the Pottery Barn mirror, but that doesn't need refinishing.  This little gem was had for $3 at a garage sale the day after we knew we were on our way to a deal.  Now that I've shopped around a bit, I realize I may not have much use for this table, but really, how wrong can you really go for three bucks?

Later that same day came the pieces I posted about here.

The ten dollar antique hutch

We were on the fence with this.  It had a $20 price tag on it, which wasn't the issue....we just weren't sure if we would use it.  While we were deliberating, the owner came up and said we could have it for ten.  Sold.  It's actually really cool.  It had a rotten piece of wood, which I scraped out and replaced, and a broken piece of glass which I also removed.  We are just going to remove the glass on the other side since we'll just use it for store display or something.

When she offered the ten dollar hutch above, she offered her previously marked $30 cedar chest for $10 as well.  Again, no real planned use, but it's gorgeous.  It had some broken feet on the bottom but nothing a little gorilla glue couldn't fix.

Here is the metal decoration on top. 

And finally, the five dollar desk. 

So this fine day we spent $28 on 4 pieces.

Next up (I think the next day?) I ventured out for some Craigslist tables.  4 of these Thomasville end tables, 

and this matching mirror (like it matters since they'll all be painted)

for $24/total.  Since we really don't need so many end tables I am planning to cut the legs down a few inches and add pads on top for seating/benches for the yoga room or wherever.

In search of a coffee table, I picked this up from another Craigslist ad for $20.

The drawer is obviously out for painting.  I am thinking about upholstering the top to make it more

ottoman like.

These came from Goodwill.  I was going back and forth on them for $20 when the guy offered them for $12 for both.  After confirming from Chris that he didn't find them hideous, I splurged.  I think just about every household in the 70's had these tables.  I love their retro goodness.

Another Goodwill trip found me these matching, but more importantly WORKING, lamps...for $8/both.

Hold on, I'm almost done....I swear (for now anyway)

In search of a chair for the $5 desk, I found the $5 chair at Goodwill.  I think this is going to be adorable with paint and new material.

And last but not least....another coffee table.  I wasn't looking for one, but while at the property this past weekend, we came across these beautiful bamboo tables that had an open area at the top filled with sand and sealife.  This is not even remotely in the same league, but since those tables were $900 and this one was $30, I think we can make an "inspired by" version that will be really cute.

This is Chris's favorite part.  He is literally begging me not to paint over this.

This, however, was my favorite part.  Three pieces of what appeared to be bran cereal....stuck to the inside of the glass covered area.   Sweet.

Oh and let me not forget our dining set....which is my favorite price - free! 

Donated to the cause by my co-worker.  I'm leaving this in my office until we can start moving some stuff out of the garage which will hopefully be early April.  Then these will be phase II of sand/prime/paint/upholster.  That is if doing all of the above doesn't completely burn me out and cause me to run screaming and crying

to Rooms To Go.

Tonight (maybe...hopefully) the priming will begin.  I can't wait to see how these babies transform. 

Oh and the grand total for all of the above?  $127.  $137 if you include the $199 Pottery Barn mirror.

Being Thrifty

Having SO MUCH STUFF to buy to turn Yellowdog into our vision is going to mean being extremely creative.  My thoughts are to buy whatever we can find for a reasonable price and paint it all into a beachy-chic color scheme.  Between thrift stores, craigslist and garage sales, it shouldn't be hard but will be time consuming, so I figured we should start asap.

The morning of February 19th I read the garage sale section in the paper and saw that there was a yard sale in a very expensive part of town.  Chris humored me by agreeing to drive up there.  It was either very picked over or didn't have much good in the first place, but I did spot a small end table for $3.  Since that is the same as free in my book, I figured it was worth taking home. 

On the way home we spotted another sale, and this is where we hit a jackpot.  A lady had a garage that had been used for storage for some VERY old items.  Like, a million years old-old.  First I spotted a small desk that I could tell will be super cute w/ some paint and new hardware.  Mine.  Next we spotted this ancient hutch-type thing but it had some broken glass and a piece of rotten wood....but it was really interesting all the same and we could see it's potential.  Mine too, please.  There was also a beautiful antique cedar chest we were eyeing....for what, who knows, but it looked like a good deal.  Fortunately for me (since no doubt I will be doing 99% of the facelifting on all of this stuff) Chris came across a working electric sander for...get this....a buck.  We walked away with all of this (the 4 wooden pieces described, not the entire garage)

for TWENTY EIGHT BUCKS.

We rule!!  Or, I guess the people who sold these things to us for practically nothing, do.  Thank you, crazy-letting-your-furniture-go-for-free people, you make my bank account happy.