Thursday randomness

Well, it's kind of discouraging not hearing back about our bathroom so far. 
Trying not to get too down about it. 

I'm giving it a few more days and then I'm calling it and I'll post the after pics here for all my loverly readers.

In other random news, 

Craigslist:
(if you're local)

Brass Swan side tables

Brass twin size headboard

Theater chairs-use them like this:

Oh and this made me LOL....haunted sofa in Missoula. Missoula Craig has the BEST stuff by the way.


Travel:
Have you heard of Kid and Coe?
"We provide a carefully selected list of kid-friendly residences combined with curated insider guides. From child care essentials to coveted neighborhood locations, we offer everything you need to make a home away from home for the whole family."

Pretty cool if you travel a lot with kiddos!

Destinations include, London, San Fran, Amsterdam, Boston, The South of France, New York, Paris, Barcelona etc. 

Art:

Lynn Pollard

Susan K Boyle

Malia Pettit

Gregor Hochmuth

Casey Rodgers (Leg Series)

Pretty baubles

Great resource for Hmong fabric-make your own pillows people!

The best bamboo roman shades (put one in the new bathroom-gorgeous with white/cream walls!)

That's all I got today....date night tomorrow night with my main only squeeze and getting my hair did by my fab sister in law on Saturday. New color ya'll, pretty excited!

If you follow me on Pinterest that explains the hair cut/color pinning mayhem that ensued earlier this week....my apologies.

Whatcha up to this weekend???

Debbie Carlos and a dream

Sorry for the silence, the bathroom is done and looks amazing but I'm not posting any photos yet because I may or may not, but totally did, pitch it to a few publications. It's a pipe dream but a friend reminded me this week that you can't achieve a dream without trying...so I tried. 

We'll see what happens, cross your fingers for me!

Moving on...........

I've had these posters from Debbie Carlos saved in my secret Pinterest board (you know you have one too) for a while now but just recently came across them and thought I'd share.

They are printed in halftone, using a plotter-a large format printer mainly used to produce architectural and engineering prints. This kind of printing lends a rough and textural aesthetic to the image, almost looking antiqued. It's very similar to how images are produced for newspapers. Held up close the images will look like a series of dots in various tones of gray to black, but looking at it from afar, will reveal a photograph. It's such a cool, graphic effect!

They are really big, 36" x 48" and won't break the bank at $50.

Here are some in situ......

1/2/3/4/5


She has a bunch of other great prints, of all sizes, in her etsy shop....go check it out.

Brain dump

Sorry for these random sporadic posts lately but I've been a very busy little bee, finalizing bathroom plans, homeschooling the boys and babysitting my friends four month old baby two days a week. 

B-U-S-Y!!

Our bathroom remodel is set to start the first week in October and I'm going to do most of the demo myself (great money saver if you can manage it!).  I've already started removing the tile, trim and wallpaper. However, with Stanley working two jobs and me homeschooling and watching little Miss P two days a week time is a luxury. A luxury best spent doing dishes or catching up on laundry since all of those things have taken a back seat as well. Yesterday I was able to escape to the garage to sand down the dresser and drawers real quick. It didn't take long thankfully. Next is stain and then a finishing wax, I'm really anxious to see how it turns out!

Last week we had a custom top made for the dresser out of this Wilsonart laminate. 

It fits perfectly and once I do this little paint trick to cover up the seams, 

images

it will look like a million thousand bucks.

The hardware that I originally ordered didn't work with the dresser (screw holes were off) so I searched high and low online and local for hardware but I wasn't feeling any of it. Okay, I take that back but I'm not paying $20+ per drawer pull, can't do it. 

Champagne taste, beer budget here people! 

#firstworldproblems

Anyway, I ended up ordering these bin pulls, only $5.10 a piece-check em out, they come in brass ($4.90) and cast iron ($2.85) as well. 

This brass towel bar is in the mail.

Yum

I snagged a vintage chrome extending mirror for $2 on Craigslist and found this same brass rope shelf at a thrift store for $7, it will be getting a little Rub 'n Buff so it's more antique brass like that gorgeous towel bar and less Liberace.

That's all I got today, back to the grindstone aka making dinner (zucchini "lasagna" with shrimp, kale and swiss chard). I'll post a recipe for that soon, it's beyond amazing! Also I may or may not be upholstering my dining chairs with pillows cases....stay tuned.

PS-Check out the art selection at Little Paper Planes, this Gem calendar that gives you 12 gorgeous prints and these Cuban movie posters on ebay. Yay for beautiful and affordable art!

EBTH

Do you know about EBTH, Everything But The House?

Part ebay, part 1st dibs.

EBTH is a revolutionary online personal property and estate sale service provider. But that just scratches the surface…

Our History:

EBTH was born out of a passion for antiques, a desire to change the way that they’re discovered, and a commitment to providing sellers with a better alternative for selling their property. In 2008, Jacquie Denny and Brian Graves posted the first estate sale of its kind to EBTH.com. As word of the new and unique service began to circulate, the phones started ringing…and they haven’t stopped since. Today, we perform an average of 20 – 25 sales per month and our business continues to grow. We pride ourselves on our world-class service, a hard-earned and well-respected reputation, and a track record of success in profitably selling everything but the house. Others have tried to mimic our concept, but none have the experience or expertise of our team at Everything But The House. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished and we’re eager to share our story with buyers and sellers across the world!

Here’s how it works:

1. People come to us to help them sell a house full of items that have accumulated over a lifetime.
2. Our expert staff works with the seller to evaluate their items, catalog, and photograph them. All items are uploaded to our website for sale.
3. All sales last seven (7) days and each and every item starts at $1. We also offer an in-person Sale Preview that gives interested buyers the opportunity to see every item in person.
4. When the sale ends and all bids are final, we collect payment and facilitate pickup.
5. For the buyer, it all ends with the purchase of something that they love. For the seller, it ends with a detailed inventory of what was sold and a quick payment.

Here are some of the items they have for sale right now with their current high bid:

Costco Art

Yes, you did read that right.

Costco Art.

Bet you didn't think your Costco card would get you anything but the hugest jar of pickles you've ever seen and toilet paper for a year. 

Guess again my friend! Costco's online Photo Center has a pretty great Art and Image Gallery. You can choose an image from Abstract and Fine Art, Photography, Antique maps, etc. and have poster prints or gallery canvas' made. 

A 20 x 30 poster print is only $7.99 and if you want to go big or go home a 40 x 60 gallery canvas will set you back $289.99.

Here's some of my favorites.

You're welcome.

Butterfly Art

(all images via my Pinterest)

Yep, we've all seen it. 

Faux or real.

Some hate it, some love it. 

I happen to love it. 

There are some great options out there (butterflyutopia.com!) but I am cheap budget friendly and wanted some bang for next to no buck. 

Enter my kids' bug sticker book. 

Ha ha, yep I am THAT cheap!

Some white card stock and a frame I had lying around, quickly turned into this:

Pretty cute for free huh!?

If you want to follow suit with the faux.....

Clockwise from top left: here, here and here.

Artificial, here and here (just pop them in a shadow box) and free images (blow them up big!) here.

If you're not a DIYer:

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

Last but not least, here are some options for the real deal (all from butterflyutopia.com)