"You made your bed..."

A few years ago some girls at my work completely inspired me with their furniture builing skills using plans from Ana White's website, "Knock Off Wood". She takes things like Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware furniture and breaks down how to build them yourself for like a tenth of the cost.

So a few months ago I decided it was time to try it. I started with a nightstand and learned a TON just doing that project. I didn't even know how to use an electric drill before starting. Then I built a second nightstand, and then a little tower of shelves for our bathroom. And then some wall shelves for pretty much every room in the house. All of this was just a means to an end. What I really wanted to build was this....

The Pottery Barn Farmhouse Bed.

So simple, so beautiful. I'm in love with it.

At 8 months pregnant I knew that the days of having time to build furniture were quickly coming to a close, so I decided to just get to it. It required a LOT of lumber, so I went to a local lumberyard rather than Lowe's. Prcies were cheaper and it was easier to buy in the bulk I needed.

Long story short, it took me a week to build it and a lot of assistance from the hubs. We had to assemble it in our bedroom cause it's so dang huge. We'll have to sell it with the house cause there's no way it's coming out of there. But after about 20 hours of work, we have a beautiful Pottery Barn knock off! And it cost us about $160 in materials.


At the lumber yard

 What our garage looked like for a week

 Working on the antique white finish

 Mason made the job go so much faster!

 And this is what our room looked like for several days

 On a break

 FINALLY!!

The finished product. The nighstands are the matching Pottery Barn farmhouse style that we built, and the teal lamps were from a thrift store. One of my favorite finds ever! Our bedspread was brand new from Goodwill as well.
I swore after this project that I was done forever. But now that Miriam is a couple months old and things are settling into a routine, I have my eye on a certain dining room table plan that I might have to tackle in the next couple weeks!

Buyer's Remorse

I suffer from a very chronic and sometimes debilitating disease. The clinical term is "Remorsus Emptor". The layman's term is "Buyer's Remorse".

When I buy things I get home and I instantly want to return them. Sometimes I regret my purchase even as I'm swiping my card. I would estimate that I return 99% of any remotely frivolous purchase. This may seem like a good thing. A better thing would just be to not buy this crap in the first place. I would save a lot of time and gas money.

I'll admit it has gotten much better since I started thrifting, but I still have a form of it. I've gotten cheaper as a result so I regret anything I spent more than $5 on. So maybe that means it's actually gotten worse...

And since opening the Etsy shop I've discovered another form of this chronic illness.

"Seller's Remorse".

I love everything that I'm selling in the shop. I really wouldn't put it in there if I didn't love it. So whenever something sells I'm really excited, but instantly have a rush of sadness and regret that I have to send the lovely item away. It's kind of a problem.

When I'm listing things I'll think to myself "I love this. I really hope it doesn't sell, so I'm going to price it really high. I'd be willing to part with it if someone is willing to pay that much." So dumb, right? I have no business sense.

So today when I woke up and saw that my beautiful purple American Tourister hard case luggage set had sold, I was filled with regret. They are so lovely and vintage and girly.
But seriously, where am I going that I need fancy suitcases?
I guess I just feel like my dream of jetsetting to fabulous destinations wearing scarves and giant sunglasses disappears when I send them off to someone else.
I'm assuming it's not good business to just tell her she can't have them, right...?

So off they go in a ginormous box to fulfill some other lucky lady's dreams.

I'll go through the grieving process and hopefully come out stronger and more capable of selling my precious junk.

Vintage Karma

Over the last year or so I've developed a near obsession with thrift store shopping. Anyone who has experienced the thrill of a fabulous find for super cheap knows that the passion grows every time you make a great discovery. I have had some incredible luck...like scary luck. If I decide that I really want something, I will find it. This has happened often enough that I have developed a theory.

The Theory of Thrifting Karma.

It's like "The Secret". You send the thoughts out into the thrifting universe, say a few prayers to the vintage gods, and it will come to you.

It started when I decided I really wanted a new pair of my favorite $180 jeans. The story is chronicled here.

And then I was totally stuck on finding baby Mason a pair of saltwater sandals last summer. Even child size ones are ridiculously expensive new. So I thought in my head "I will find these at Goodwill tomorrow". I went first thing in the morning, almost like I was just going to pick up something that I knew was there. I walked right to the shoe section and there they were. Navy blue, Size 3, perfect condition.

I decided to test the theory and try it out at a different store. I told myself I was going to find a vintage scarf tie blouse, and headed to the Salvation Army store. BAM. Navy blue and white polka dot, handmade, beautiful fit. And the Karma decided to give me an extra bit of faith. The perfect blouse came with a darling matching polka dot pencil skirt.

This has happened over and over.

Our bedspread--brand new King size teal and yellow Target quilt.

Teal lamps to match that darling bedspread for $5 each.

A model boat to put in Mason's room.

Jewelry. Dishes. Baby clothes.


If you can dream it, you can thrift it.

Try it for yourself. I mean, be realistic. It's still a thrift store. But I promise that you will be amazed at how little you have to spend to find something fabulous. Something that you actually need, not just junk that seems kind of neat at the time and clutters your house later. Even if it's $2, don't waste it if you don't love it.

And if you can't seem to balance your Thrifting Chi, you can visit my new Etsy shop to get your yesteryear fix. It's filled with lots of lovely vintage pieces gathered from thrift stores, antique stores, and my recent foray into estate sales.

Or if you're looking for something specific let me know. I'll put the vibes out until I find it for you. I'm currently searching for Jadeite bowls for my sister. And a milk glass cake stand for Aunt Kelly.


As for me, I'm still waiting on that pair of Frye boots to show up for me. A girl can dream, right?

Take It Easy

Today was pretty uneventful, and I really enjoyed how sort of blah it was. I've learned to really love the boring days. Mason slept well last night, napped well today, played sweetly and ate everything I fed him without any protest. It was just such a smooth ride. Blissful. And it was made even better by our quick stop at Goodwill that yielded these darling cups and a wire basket for Mason's books. I know it sounds weird, but I've been searching for baskets exactly like that. I was ecstatic when I found one, and I'm hoping to find more.

I think this is what happens when you pay your tithing

A couple of years ago I achieved the impossible and found the perfect pair of jeans. They were made even more perfect because I purchased them with a Nordstrom gift card that I was generously given for Christmas from the doctors at my work. They were Citizens of Humanity Ava style. Perfect wash, perfect fit, perfectly soft and comfortable denim, perfect slightly higher rise, perfect skinniness in the legs. They looked amazing with boots, flats, or heels.

I wore them literally to death. I wore them until I was 24 weeks pregnant, stretching them until they were completely threadbare. When they finally fell apart, I patched and sewed and dyed and tried every other method of denim resuscitation known to man. I finally had to retire them. I haven't had the heart to throw them away and every time I open my bottom dresser drawer I look at them longingly as I pull out another intact yet still inferior pair of jeans to wear instead, and breathe out a sigh of longing. Why don't I just get another pair, you ask? They were $180. A truly unjustifiable cost for jeans, even perfect ones.

And then today, the Saint of Fashion and Retail saw fit to bless me.

As previously posted, I've been obsessed with shopping at Goodwill. I was there again today because it's Austin's day off and I could go sans baby. I had already found several fantastic things and was leaving quite satisfied when I figured I'd take a look at the jeans. I've been needing a new pair of skinny jeans and I look everywhere I go, why not here? In a few minutes I found a super cute pair of Forever 21 jeans for $3.99. They are surprisingly cute and fit perfectly. I was heading to check out when a little voice said "just one more look around". I started perusing the jeans one more time, swiftly pushing aside some rather terrible 1990's versions of Gap, Lee, and Wrangler jeans.
Then suddenly...there they were.

I almost missed them, but the tiny C.O.H. label caught my eye. My heart said "no way" but my eyes screamed "YES WAY!!!!!!"  Ava style, dark wash, barely worn and in.my.size.
Surely someone here had to know the value of these, they had to be $40 or $50 at least, which I easily would have paid.  I took a deep breath of hope and flipped the tag over.

$3.99. Three dollars and ninety nine cents. THREE DOLLARS AND NINETY NINE CENTS!!!!

I was laughing out loud and practically giddy skipping to the front. I figured I needed to get out of there with them ASAP before someone stopped me for practically stealing these jeans.
I was trying not to laugh maniacally as the cashier rung up my other now meaningless items that I had found. She picked up the jeans, looked at the tag and paused. I was terrified. I knew it was too good to be true.  Then she looked up at me and said....

"Oh red tags are half off today, these are only $1.99."

I played all casual and said "Oh what a nice surprise!"  But really, my head almost exploded. That is literally 99.9% off.

I hate to say that a piece of clothing could make me this happy, but I have literally been floating on air all day. {while wearing the perfect pair of jeans, of course}

And while my other steals now pale in comparison, I did get some seriously awesome other deals in addition to my two pairs of jeans, including:
a gorgeous scarf
a darling silk skirt
a tweed blazer
a striped button down shirt
a sun hat
a vintage baby girl sweater
My total for the day was $23.
Oh the bliss of being oh so cheap.