Flippin' Crazy

I would like to say it was a friendly parting of ways. That the 1.5 year long relationship between myself, my family, and the house located at 812 Rose Avenue was a great one, filled with wonderful memories and butterflies and rainbows and all that.... but it wasn't! It was one of the most challenging, and not nearly as rewarding as it should have been, experiences of my life. And it's over. Finally. After sitting on the market for over a year. It has sold. And I have my money back. And I could cry tears of happiness. So long 812 Rose Avenue. I won't be seeing you again. P/S - To the new owner, I apologize now when everything falls to pieces. The house was pretty much put together with Popsicle sticks and duck tape.

....and I don't like it! There is no rhyme or reason why they price things the way that they do. One week I can get a dining room table for $25.00 or a freaking white buffet like the other day for $35.00. Then the next week I go in there and a small side table, which should only cost $5.00, is priced at $15.00! I don't get it. It makes no sense to me and it's starting to bother me. Maybe there is a complaint line I can call. I'll look into it. Well this will be a short post because I didn't take before photos. I know, I know. Deal with it. I went into the Habitat for Humanity Restore on Saturday and only found one little side table that I had any desire to refinish. It was NOT WORTH $15.00. But I wanted it so I paid $15.00 for it. There is hardly any profit margin when it comes to smaller items. From now on I'm only sticking to dressers/buffets/armoires (or other larger items). But here is the side table after I painted it black and put new brushed nick...

I love dumpster diving. People throw away some really awesome stuff! For instance, check out this dresser that someone left by a dumpster at my boyfriend's condo complex. I was leaving one day and walked past the dumpster and nearly had a heart attack. I quickly pulled my car up and loaded it into the back. Mr. Emily (boyfriend) thinks I'm crazy and came out of his condo to help me with the expression of "God, not again" on his face but do I care? Nope. So this is what I got for F.R.E.E. I love Free. Definitely needs some TLC but overall it's a decent dresser so why anyone would throw this out is beyond me. They could have at least sold it for $25 as in on Craiglist! Oh well, their loss is my gain. I decided to take a risk on this make over. I should stick to only universally liked colors, such as white or black. But I felt adventurous so I decided on Rust-Oleum's Slate Blue Matte. This time I used a white primer before I spray painted it in blue....

I've always loved apothecary jars, especially when placed in the bathroom to hold things like cotton balls. But they are always so expensive! Places like Home Goods sell the jars for anywhere between $5.00 for the smaller ones to over $20.00 for the larger ones. Ridiculous! So I decided to make my own. Talk about a cheap project. And so simple too. First step: Go to the dollar store and purchase candle stick holders and glass jars/vases/glasses. I purchased 3 candle stick holders and 3 pillar candle holder vases. Second Step: Put glue on the top of the candle stick holder. I used a cement adhesive, which DOES NOT WORK. I found this out a few hours later. I then used Gorilla Glue . That stuff will stick to ANYTHING. It's my go to glue (I even glued down my kitchen transition pieces using Gorilla Glue). Third Step: Place your pillar candle holder on top of the candle stick holder. Fourth Step: Let sit and dry overnight. Fifth Step: Admire your h...

Every Saturday I take a trip to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore to try to find furniture pieces that I can fix up and re-sell. A few weeks ago I found this nasty brown buffet that needed some serious TLC. The cost was $35.00. I, of course, realized I needed to take a "before" photo after I had removed the knobs/doors. But what do you people want from me? Be thankful I actually remembered to take the freaking photo this time. The inside of the buffet drawer was lined with this green felt that had been super glued down. It was very time consuming removing that. Took a lot of elbow grease and nail polish remover to try to loosen up the glue. Even after 99% of it was removed, the bottom of the drawer was still bumpy. But I can only do so much! I used a matte white spray paint from Lowes. Whatever the generic name brand spray paint they sell at Lowes. I also purchased new hardware for the knobs. In order to have the hinges match, I spray painted them a metalli...

I am not a "gold" person. But when it came to the tv bar cart, I felt gold was appropriate since the knobs were gold and the tv inlay was gold. It's growing on me. Kind of makes it a little more classier, in my opinion. After looking at my inspiration photo, I decided I wanted a gold plated serving tray, some 1950's/60's inspired glassware, and some few other odds and ends. I went to my local thrift store, Sister's Thrift and Consignment Shop (AMAZING thrift store - with awesome owners), and hunted around in their massive glassware section. I also stumbled upon a silver plated serving tray. Which, again, I forgot to take a picture of before I spray painted it metallic gold. I suck at this picture taking thing. I purchased the tray, a set of 8 vintage looking glasses, and this gold painted vase looking thing. Haven't figured out what I'm going to do with THAT yet. Maybe I'll put swizzle sticks in it. I found a website on ebay that sells old s...

I found this idea on Pinterest. Some cleaver person took a vintage 1950's tv, gutted it, and transformed it into a bar. What a genius idea! The moment I saw it, I knew I would have to re-create it. Here was the inspiration: First I had to track down a tv. I scoured Craigslist and found someone who was selling one for $25 so I snatched it up. In order to make a "bar" out of a tv, you need to remove all the "guts." Let me tell you now that removing the picture tube (inside of the tv) was a terrifying experience. I had read tutorial after tutorial online regarding the CRT (cathode ray tube). Every single tutorial I read said that if the CRT breaks, it would explode like a bomb sending glass particles everywhere. I.was.terrified. I did not take any pictures of the tv before it was gutted, or of the actual picture tube itself. Why I don't know but here is a stock photo I found online to show you what I was dealing with! It took me literally two w...

Those, my friends (my figurative friends as no one reads this blog yet as I haven't advertised it at all), are the greatest two words I've heard in a year. That God forsaken house is finally UNDER CONTRACT! I purchased the property in December of 2010 and put it up on the market for sale in June of 2011. And it sat there, month after month, until May 7th, 2012 when someone FINALLY made an offer. Of course, on Saturday, May 5th, I decided to put it up for rent and went through the hassle of paying for advertising and scheduling 5 different couples to come look at it. So I wish this buyer had come forward two days earlier! But I'm not going to complain because I can't WAIT to sell this house. I just hope the buyer doesn't fall through. What a bummer that would be. Maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up right away.... The purchase price was $26,000 (Loan is only $19,500) and I put approximately $20k into it (closing costs, down payment, improvements, carrying c...

Normally I do not post about things unrelated to home decorating or renovations but I had to share this. I've been on a strict 1,200 calorie a day diet since February. It's not the quickest way to lose the weight but I like it because I can pretty much eat what I want. If I want a big mac I can have one...... I just won't be able to eat the rest of the day. Haha. I haven't had fast food or pizza in months. Most of the time I am ok with that, but then there are times when I just crave a huge slice of pizza. But with pizza containing like 400 calories a slice I've always talked myself out of it. If I'm gonna waste 400 calories I'm going to waste it on vodka, if you know what I mean. Yesterday I was surfing around on Pinterest and saw this recipe for a cauliflower crust pizza. Yeah, my thoughts exactly. cauliflower. Gross right? But apparently it's the new thing with everyone eating cauliflower mashed potatoes so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Si...

It's been awhile since I last posted! I suck at this whole blogging business. I haven't been doing many home repairs over the past few months. I've pretty much run out of space in my 1,000 sq foot condo and because of that I can't go out and buy any new furniture pieces to refurbish because I have no where to put them! Anywho - I finally pulled the trigger and bought granite countertops. I figure it's about time. For the past 2 years I've been using a "fake countertop" made out of plyboard! I found an excellent granite dealer out of Manassas. Their name is Natural Stones, Inc. They definitely had the best prices in the area. I purchased the Santa Cecilia Light for $30/sq foot. Everything, including the sink, was only $1,400 for my entire kitchen. And they delivered and installed it within 4 days! Here is a picture of the countertop color. I love it! Next I had to figure out what kind of backsplash I wanted. I bought a few samples from Lowes and Home De...