beginning of yard sale season

I'm a total yard sale rubbernecker. Every time I pass one I end up slowing down to half speed and willing my brain to take in every item in the second and a half it takes me to drive by. Then I have just one more second to decide whether or not to pull over.

Well, last Friday, I finally pulled the trigger, and it totally payed off. Look what I scored for two bucks!

This baby has tons of potential. I might make some shelves like this:

via A Beautiful Mess

Or use it to display blankets and fabric, either standing open or leaning against a wall like these:

via Pinterest, source unknown

via Pinterest, source unknown

Though, when I took it outside to take pictures 

I realized it might look cute on the front porch with plants on it, like this:

via Lovintage Finds on Etsy

Hey, as long as I'm having as much fun as this lady, I'm set. ; )

via Kitschy Living

grown-up furniture and my foray into shelf styling

Finally, the results of Zach's game of Ikea Tetris. Alright, here's what we were dealing with before our new purchase.

yippy skippy

It's been this way since Christmas. Before that, we had the tree in the corner.

Aw, look at the little baby with the MASSIVE bald spot. 
Teehee. Her hair's coming in nicely now.

And before that, the TV was diagonal in the corner which was ergonomically pleasing from a TV watching perspective, but it wasted a ton of space.

I've been scouting out these VITTSJÖ shelves from Ikea.

Can you believe they're only $70?

And gleaning inspiration from the "Pin"osphere. 

Drexel Heritage's Pinacle Etagere, formerly sold by Higdon Furniture

via Ikea

via Centsational Girl

I knew how I wanted to arrange the pair of shelves we purchased, but I didn't want to just throw items up there. The art of shelf styling takes time, thought, a collection of objects from multiple time periods, and, honestly, taste. I study everything that Emily Henderson and Jenny Komenda do.  

 Here's a post that Jenny, of Little Green Notebook wrote on arranging books by both color and genre. 

Those of you who've taken the time to style your books know that this took her a LOT of time and thought. 

The results are really pleasing to my eye.

 I've searched all evening, but I can't find Emily's post where she describes her shelf styling secrets. 

(This image is from her portfolio.)

So, without further stalling, here's what I came up with.

 We're gonna call this "during" since we still need some artwork in the center.

It was fun to come up with all of the vignettes. I tried to be mindful of color, texture and height. There will definitely be some tweaking along the way (some has already happened since this picture), but I'm loving the look so far. Here are some close-ups.

  

Those hatboxes are from Rittenhouse Square in Philly! Pretty cool. 

 All of those little boxes were gifts my Dad brought back from his travels.

Pen and ink by my talented sis, Rebekah. (Check out her prints on Etsy!)

Couldn't resist the succulent under glass. It's terribly impractical, 

since I have to take it out to the kitchen every couple of days to get some sun, but so far I don't mind.

I'm loving this old toolbox for CDs. The other things on that shelf will have to go soon, though. 

Baby girl is getting curious.

Here's the before and after, one more time.

Ah, so much better. and it makes the living room look a lot bigger. Now I get to sit back, watch some Rachel Zoe, and figure out what to put on the wall above the TV. 

Featured on Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday and Decor and the Dog's link party.

pinspiration

Just trolling the internet for mind candy.

How cute are these Princess Aprons from Vessel Handmade's Etsy shop?

 via French Larkspur

I never met a vintage cart I didn't like.

via Emily Henderson. Wig form turned lamp.

We saw three of these come up at an auction a couple weeks ago! 

I wanted to get one, but they climbed well over $100 within seconds.

 via Demco

I've loved booktrucks ever since I spent my college years working in the library. 

I feel like they would be very useful around the house and a new way to display books or dvds. 

Plus, as my husband would tell you, you could slap wheels on just about anything and I'd fall in love.

Who knew they were so expensive, though?! $300 is a bit steep for me. It comes in 20 colors, though. 

Lots of punchy ones, too, not just gray and taupe.

Ben at HomeMade Modern's wood and iron table. 

Zach scored some great weathered planks for free last weekend, 

so we're gonna tackle our own dining room table soon!

I keep coming back to the Jefferson Loveseat from Thrive Home Furnishings.

I love how comfy our couch is, and of course how red it is, but it is waaaaay too chunky for our little living room. It would be much better in a basement or rec room. This one is just so cool, and would fit the scale of our room a lot better. 

I love this print from Hand & Eye.

Do you get it?

It's "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard!

And, finally, how cute is this Matryoshka carafe and tumbler? 

From Fred and Friends, of course. Their stuff is hilarious.

pining for oak... NOT!

I am so thankful for the size and layout of the kitchen in this house. I love that it opens to both the living room and dining room. I love that it came with both a gas range/oven and a dishwasher. I love that it has a built in desk that I can use as my hub. But I am soooooo over the oaktastic cabinets.

 When we first moved in. Don't worry, 

the birdhouse border came down immediately. 

The ceramic knobs soon followed.

Oak. I'm sure the trees themselves are nice, but I can't stand furniture made out of it. We have oak lower cabinets, oak upper cabinets, and to top it all off, we have that awful oak band around the laminate counter tops. Even our borrrowed-for-a-season dining table and chairs are oak. Sigh. It's all just so barfy yellowy with crazy veins running all through it. I know this is called "movement", and it's certainly making me want to move right out of this kitchen.

As my father told 10-year-old me after I chose the filet mignon for my birthday dinner, I have very expensive taste. But I also can't bear to spend extravagant amounts of money. How's that for dichotomy? It makes for a lot of guilt over purchases and jealousy over magazine pages. Both things God is helping me work on, daily.

So how am I supposed to come to grips with this kitchen situation? What is my approach going to be? A gut job is out of the question. That's way too expensive, and we wouldn't want to over improve for a small townhouse. Every project I come up with seems to have a domino effect on the rest of the room. If I want to paint the cabinets, then we might as well change the counters, in which case we should change the sink, and of course the faucet...

It's enough to really confuse me, so I'm trying to step back and get some inspiration.

Jennifer's Bright and Airy Mish Mash via Apartment Therapy Home Tours

Charley & Jessica's "Patina Clean" via Apartment Therapy Home Tours

Alex & Sarah's Traveler's Home via Apartment Therapy Home Tours

via The Lettered Cottage

I know this was from Elle Decor, but I can't find the exact page on the website.

via Better Homes & Gardens

via The Lettered Cottage

Don't you love gathering all of your inspiration photos together and finding the similarities? Obviously I'm digging white cabinets. And while it might not seem like it, there's actually a lot of natural wood represented, only it's on the horizontal work surfaces, not the cabinets. Another feature in nearly every photo: open storage. That is gonna be the easiest way to get the oak away from my eyeline.

So, back to real life, here are some steps we might be taking.

- Change hardware. We've already done this, and it helped a lot. I just wanted something clean and straight, no swirly-whirly, and the cheapest brushed nickel pulls at Lowes worked great for us.

These might not be the exact ones. I'm fairly certain ours came in a 10-pack for only $25.

- Take cabinet doors off. Since I don't think we could sell a house with floating shelves in place of upper cabinets (at least not in Hanover, in a town home community mostly populated by seniors), I'm seeing how I like having the doors off. It took two minutes to take them off, and it wouldn't take much more to put them back on, so it's an easy thing to try on for a while.*

- Paint cabinets. We really wanna do this, but I don't know if we're quite ready to pull the trigger. It's gonna be a LOT of work. Especially for a husband who's only home and coherent about two hours a day. But when I think of saying goodbye to all that pesky oak.... I'm ready to get to it.

- Replace counter tops. Since we'd really like to do this anyway, it only makes sense to replace them while we're painting the cabinets. We're not sure what we wanna get. Butcher block would look great with the white. Polished concrete would be INSANE. In the end, we'll probably do a granite-look laminate. It's pretty inexpensive, and it'll sell well when it's time to move on.

- Replace sink. Anything stainless. Don't ever buy a white fiberglass sink. It will not stay clean. The previous owners put all these scratches in it, and now it always looks filthy. It gotsta go. (Standard sinks are pretty affordable, so I definitely see this happening.)

- Replace faucet. Kinda goes along with getting a new sink. Why are faucets so darn expensive? Goodness.

 I'm digging this one from Lowes. $119 isn't a bad price, considering I saw some for over $1,000!

 So, there's a window into our plans for the future of this kitchen. Now we just have to have the guts to go for it!


*Check back for my post on lining the inside of the cabinets in funky fabric!

pinspiration - food edition

Here are some recipes I've "pinned" recently.

 Penne with Roasted Asparagus & Balsamic Butter

Just made this last night, and it was marvelous. We actually had dinner at 10pm last night. Zach didn't have to be at work until one in the morning, so I was a sweet wife and waited to have dinner with him. Awww.

 

Samoa Bundt Cake by Betsy Life

(This lady's the queen of bundts, you've gotta check them out.)

Doesn't this look extreme?! Samoas are my favorite Girl Scout cookie, so this got my attention right away. I'm notorious for promising to bake cakes and never getting around to them, so someone needs to keep me accountable. If I haven't made this within a month, then, then... teach me a lesson and make it for me! ; )

 

Artichoke Crusted Chicken by Sugarlaws

Made this just last week. Sooooo good. A few changes for next time: I'll double the recipe (it only called for two chicken breasts!). I'll change the mayo to Greek yoghurt; much healthier and, I think, tastier. Other than that, very easy yet fancy dinner.
 

Chickpea, Feta, and Parsley Salad by Simple Provisions

We had this alongside the Artichoke Chicken. Refreshing and fulfilling and the same time. The recipe makes quite a lot, so I made half one night then added quinoa and some edamame to it the next night. That made it a meal all by itself. Here's ours the first night:

I really like that the onions and garlic are sauteed first. I hate enjoying a salad then having onion breath forever afterward. You feel fresh while you're eating then immediately feel like you've gargled pure sweat. (Sorry, gross.) Anyway, the point is, this dish DOESN'T do that. Everything melds.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries by Sugar Derby

I've had these pinned forever. This needs to happen once strawberries are in season. The picture is pretty self explanatory. 1. Hollow out a strawberry. 2. Fill said strawberry with cheesecake filling. 3. Roll in graham cracker crumbs. 4. Put them on a pretty dish (with chocolate drizzle garnish, of course), sit down with a stack of magazines, and enjoy the high class life.

I mean, who has time to get a fork, a plate, cut a piece of cheesecake, cut up some strawb - I mean COME ON! I have a life. ; ) But seriously, they'd make a great party food. I will try it! I shall! (Can you tell how not into making desserts I am?)

There's a lot more dinner time inspiration on my "yummers" pinboard. Feel free to click the button on the right to follow me on Pinterest and see what's catching my eye these days.

Do you have any fun new recipes you've tried or are dying to try?

pinspiration

Some house things that have inspired me recently:

I'm really loving the look of etagere(s?). 

You can display a lot, but they're not "visually heavy". 

Have you ever seen a happier place to curl up with your book friends?

I aspire to be the kind of person who keeps an ornamental orange tree in her home.

I love how she's flooded the wall with artwork. It really takes the focus off of the tv.

Don't ya just love Pinterest?

Follow my boards here.