Thrifty Dining Chairs!

When I saw these fraying, stained chairs at a thrift store, all I could see was potential!

We had recently bought a white pedestal table for our kitchen and had been using some fold-up chairs until we found something to put with them. I knew these white chairs would be perfect...with a little TLC, of course.

Anyway, I had originally planned on covering them with these toile pattern pillow covers from Ikea (One pillow cover would have upholstered two of the chairs, so not a bad deal):

They would have looked nice, but right before I was about to chop them up, I thought of some cloth napkins that my Mum gave me as a house warming gift in my first house. I LOVE the pattern on them, and thought they'd look great on the chairs. 

Recovering them was actually extremely simple. We just took off the top layer of fabric and took out any remaining staples.

Then, we pulled the fabric tight, alternating sides, and used a staple gun to fasten, being extra careful on the corners.

Et voila! The seats were done.

I must say, I'm pretty happy with the finished product. 

So, at $15 per chair, I think we did pretty well!

Now we just need to repaint the kitchen. Sigh. 

A break from packing...

You may have noticed that I have been MIA.
I have decided to take a break from blogging because 1. Joe and I are in packing mode! and 2. Nobody really wants to read about it. I'll wait until I have more exciting things to write about (like in 2 weeks when we take possession! Wahoo!) Look out for some new and more exciting posts at the end of May!

On a side note, tonight Joe and I made a stop at our local thrift shop and Joe found a GREAT item that we'll both get a lot of use out of.

What could it be, you ask?
A pair of Jeans, of course!

Can you believe that a pair of jeans that fit Joe well:

Also fit me well?

Joe seemed convinced that they were a men's jean. And I was convinced that the 1% spandex content made them a ladies jean. So I looked up the website for IT Jeans, found here.

Yep, they are ladies jeans made by a ladies only brand. Upon further research I learned that they have been promoted by Oprah for "Real Women with Real Curves". But I kind of think they look better on Joe! Thoughts?

We'll share them for now.

Easter Time!

The end of our 4-day Easter weekend is fast approaching.
Joe and I did the usual: Visiting family and friends, dying easter eggs, eating way too much sweets, and enjoying the springtime weather.

A few other exciting things happened this weekend (along with one NOT so exciting thing).

1. Joe turned 29! His birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year. Next year he'll be 30...whoa!

2. I started running again. I plan on doing a 5k race in June with Joe's family and thought I should train a bit. My legs hurt.

3. We officially started packing for our move! We have the basement almost emptied out, and both spare bedrooms packed up. One of them is now serving as a storage room:

4. While going through things and packing, we pulled out a lot of things that we could sell or donate. So far, we sold Joe's old guitar and made $150, and sold a bunch of old books and made $36. Not bad! Also, while we were dropping off our many boxes of donations, I picked up this chandelier that I hope to do something fun with in the future :) It was free!

5. And the not-so-exciting. This weekend we said goodbye to one of our furry friends, Beau. Yes, the sweet kitty that loved to make appearances on my blog, like this:

When Joe and I came home from work on Thursday, he had been sick and was straining to pee (and going wherever he was). We brought him into the emergency vet expecting to need to buy him some medication, but things were much more serious than we thought. It ends up he had a blockage that would have cost about $2000 to fix and there was no guarantee that the surgery would work! He had medical problems that would last his entire life and he would need a special diet and potentially further surgeries. It was an extremely difficult (and sad!) decision to have to make but we had to give him up. It was too much for us to take on. He was a great cat, and handsome, and very loving and I will miss him.

DIY projects

I have been searching the internet quite a bit lately for some neat DIY projects. I just love how there seem to be step-by-step instructions on almost anything you want to do...it makes being a DIY'er that much easier.

The thing I love about fixing things up or decorating myself (as opposed to hiring someone else or buying new) is that you can get great things by reusing the old and for a much more affordable price. Or you can build something yourself that looks expensive but actually cost much less.

For example, my recent table-refinishing project (yes, I have yet to do the final reveal as I am letting it cure until the weekend) was inspired by my love for Harvest Tables, such as this one, which has almost the same dimensions as my table:

To put the money savings of my DIY table in perspective, I will tell you that this Harvest Table is selling for $1695.00.

My table costs are as follows:

Table (Found on Kijiji after a couple of months of keeping my eyes open): $250

Stain/Finish in one: $18

Sandpaper: $12

Bristle brush: $8

Tack cloth: $2

_______________

Grand total: About $290.

That is about a $1400 difference. Whoa. And let's compare the tables:

Yep...pretty much identical. It took me about 7 hours total to do the table. Totally worth the work and the effort. Plus, there is something so incredibly rewarding about doing it yourself...

I have been pinning a lot of new ideas for DIY projects lately, such as this one that I found on House & Home:

It's a bunch of old Hankies displayed on a wall! It is so pretty! I would love to try this, so I am pretty sure I'll have my eyes out for hankies in my future thrifting. If you're interested in this project, find more info here.


To sum it up, the things that make DIY projects so great:
- They save you money
- They often require reusing, re-purposing or renewing used objects (as opposed to buying new)
- They give you a great feeling of pride when you're done!

The things that make DIY projects not so great:
- I often buy things with a DIY purpose in mind and never get around to it...or have it on my to-do list for a long time. (i.e. my beautiful hutch that is still sitting unpainted in my sunroom...)

Any great DIY projects you've done lately? Or found lately that you want to try? Or have been meaning to get around to?

Living Simply

Living Simply is one of my life goals.

I was thinking about this while taking out the trash tonight. Why? Because each week Joe and I only tend put out one small (half-filled) white garbage bag of garbage between the two of us. It probably weights less than a pound this week. This got me thinking about our garbage in general. We fill up one and a half recycle bins each week*, mostly filled with junk mail that gets dropped off in our mailbox. The heaviest of our garbage is made up of our compost bin. It is pretty heavy.

This got me thinking about the idea of living simply, and how in some ways living simply has become our normal.
I'm going to give you some examples of what I consider living simply:

1. Being happy with your "needs", not your "wants"

 An example: I don't know the last time I bought any new clothes. While I am getting pretty sick of the same work clothes every week (and all clothes), I can't justify buying more and more just to have more variety. I have all that I need. Regardless of this, the LARGE majority of Joe and my clothing comes from thrift stores.

Of course, I am very aware that we just bought a 3-bedroom home. This was simply thinking ahead to our future needs :) I'm also not saying we only have the things we need. Our biggest fault is probably thrift stores. I mean, how can you turn down a beautiful pottery mug that is only $1.00, even though you already have a cupboard full at home? We are only human :)

2. Eat Local

Joe and I buy most of our groceries each week at the local Kitchener market. It is such a great resource for our community. We buy local eggs, fruits and veggies, cheeses and flowers. It feels good to know where your food comes from. It is also comforting knowing your food is fresh. It is also better for the environment, and gets us thinking about eating the fruits and veggies that are in season and available. This weeks seasonal meals were Butternut Squash and Orzo with Sage and Parmesan (Yum!) and local turkey sausage with fried market cabbage. (Luckily for me, I have Joe, who loves to cook. This makes it a lot easier to eat local, non-processed foods as it takes a lot more prep.) We always make large batches to last us through the week.

At the grocery store, we usually only buy a few staples like milk, juice, yogourt, canned beans and meats.

3. Having a good work-home balance

I think it is really easy nowadays to let work and obligations take over the majority of your time. I definitely have weeks where there is less time for family, friends, and myself. But I think it is really important to find a balance. This is one I definitely need to improve on.

4. Being frugal, or as I like to call it, thrifty! 

This is pretty similar to #1. But it's still important on its own. I have always been very frugal; I very rarely feel the urge to own extravagant things. Nor do I need things to be new. I choose more for function. I already mentioned our love of thrift stores, right? Joe and I also tend to not buy each other gifts. We express our love in other ways.
*I'm still working on finding a balance here, as I can sometimes be frugal to a fault...or seen as cheap. I think I've really improved over the past few years as I am much more aware of this. I'm sure my family and closest friends can agree!

5. Reducing your environmental footprint

Of course, this one is ongoing for me.
I have made many efforts the past few years to be environmentally aware and to actively live a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle. I've made a LOT of small (and not-so-small) changes, including:
- Using canning jars to transport my lunch instead of plastic or throwaway packages. (Joe gets the credit for this idea!)
- Changing my job location so that I am able to walk to work now (this cut out about 1hr of driving per day! Wow! Plus I get 40 minutes of exercise instead. Bonus.)
- Going down to 1 car (and soon, maybe 0? Something I've been contemplating)
- Eating less meat (I was a vegetarian for just over a year... but now I'm choosing to simply limit my meat. There are many weeks Joe and I do eat vegetarian still.)
- Buying local foods whenever possible
- Biking and walking whenever it is an option
- Programming our thermostat to go down at night and during workdays, keeping it low at all times.
- Not buying pre-packaged foods; avoiding plastic packaging whenever possible
- Teaching my students environmental awareness whenever possible
- Living near all of the amenities that I need. Yay downtown!
- I could go on.


I am aware that sometimes living simply will be a challenge. Especially with buying a new house. We are going to need a lot more furniture to fill this house. And I have many paint project ideas for it. I am aware that these things are complete opposites of some of the ideas I've just presented. I think it's most important to find balance in everything and remember that home and family are the most important for me. I want this home to be great for that reason.

I'm sure I'm missing some of the point that I wanted to make, but in a nutshell, living in a more simple way makes my heart happy!

*Please note: I don't consider recycling to be the be-all and the end-all of environmental living. In fact, it could probably be more environmental itself. But it is a step in the right direction I suppose. I try to teach my students the idea of reducing first. To me this is the most important of the 3R's.

Picture Wall Inspiration

I really like the idea of having a picture wall.
I've talked this over with Joe, and he likes the idea, too.
We were particularly inspired by this photo which I found on Pinterest:

The reason we liked this so much is not only because of the neat old frames, but because of the subject: Birds! Joe LOVES birds. To the point that he went out and spent *a lot* on a fancy pair of binoculars this winter. He spends a lot of time outdoors looking into the trees and trying to catch a glimpse of something neat. So, nothing seemed more fitting than a bird-inspired picture wall for us.

All of this being said, it is clear that the owners of the above picture wall must have spent quite some time collecting different pictures of birds. We, on the other hand, had a better cheaper quicker idea.

As seasoned thrifters, we knew it would be easy to find an assortment of antique frames at the second-hand shops in town. So, for the past couple of weeks we have been collecting antique, golden frames. (We decided on using only gold frames, but this could be done with all different frames, too.)

I also had the idea to look second hand for a bird book... you know, one with bird drawings in it. Luckily, I did find one! First, I chose a few bird pictures that I liked. Of course, I had to make sure that they fit into the frame without showing any writing or anything. Then, I would trace it and cut it out.

Next, I put it the pictures in the frames. After doing a few, it was starting to look great, comme ça:

But I realized that something wasn't quite right. I LOVE the little black and white Lyre bird on the far left. So, I decided I wanted more black and white pictures. As I was feeling particularly creative, I decided to draw one, and it came out pretty good! Here it is:

I was so pleased with how it turned out that I decided to draw another*. Here they are side-by side!

We don't plan on hanging up our picture wall in this house. For now we'll just display them in the kitchen on the ledge (as seen). However, I'm really excited about this bird project! And I'm pretty excited that it got me sketching again...it has been way too long.

Overall, this project has been fairly inexpensive:
Frames: About $7.50 so far.
Bird book: $2.25
Total: $9.75
Time: A few hours :) Totally worth it.

* For the record, I did draw using inspiration from some bird sketches I found online. So although they look good, they are not overly original. I'll have to ease back in!

Et Voilà!

At last, the linen cabinet is finished! Joe and I carried it to our ensuite bathroom today and the results are great!

Before I show the finished product, I wanted to remind you what it looked like when we bought it:

The colours don't quite translate on camera, but the green in the shelves adds a lot of character to the cabinet. Here is the finished product:

If we had long-term plans for this house, I would definitely change the tile in this bathroom! For now, I'll only do things that we can take with us!

The legs are still not 100% sturdy, so I'm going to try some wood-glue next to create some grip. It was a fun project, and the final cost was still only $10, since I used existing paint and painting materials. A great thrift find!

Project #2

My second mini-project this week has proven to be much more work than I expected. I planned on having my new linen cabinet up and being used by now. Unfortunately, 2 days and 4 coats of paint later, it is still drying on our basement floor.

The first problem was that I decided to use paint that we had in our paint collection. It was actually left by our home's previous owners. The paint was not only eggshell (instead of semi-gloss, which would have looked WAY better) but it also seemed to be a bit thin. Which is why it needed so many layers.

The second problem encountered was one that we were aware of when we purchased the cabinet. The legs were very wobbly. I discovered that the screws underneath were loose, but the threading was pretty much gone in the wood. Every time I tried to tighten on the legs they would inevitably loosen again. So, I decided to try and make new grip by pushing the screws into the leg even further. It seems pretty good so hopefully it will hold up!

My goal is to have this installed in the bathroom by tomorrow!

Thrifty Thrifty Thrifting!

It will come as no surprise to those of you who know me that I love to thrift. In fact, I'd say the majority of my furniture (and clothing! And, well, everything!) comes second hand. I just find it so exciting to find pieces second hand for a fraction of the price you would normally pay for a comparable item in a store. Not to mention the environmental benefits. Just today I bought a new teapot for $2.75, and it is awesome!

Let me give you some examples:

This is our parlour.

1. I bought the matching blue couch and chair off of Kijiji for $300.

2. The coffee table/games chest was a $75 find at a thrift/junk store downtown.

3. The vase was $2 at another thrift shop. The dried hydrangeas came from my backyard for free :) 

4. Only the pillows and the carpet were bought new. 

On the other side of the parlour is the china cabinet that my equally (if not more) thrifty sister found for me at the side of the road. When she found it, the wood was unfinished, and the shelves and doors were not attached. Knowing that I love thrifty things, she repainted it (it was unfinished wood), stained the inner shelves, and added new handles and hinges and gave it to me for Christmas. I love it! It is probably my favourite piece of furniture, and was maybe the best gift ever. Thanks, Kate! 

Other favourites:

1. My massive real-wood kitchen table: Probably big enough to seat 8 people comfortably. I got this for $250 on Kijiji and have dreams of one day sanding it down and refinishing it in a darker stain. Still looking for a set of chairs to put with it, and still using the ones a friend gave me for free. 

2. The wooden bench that is at my table - I found it on the side of the road at the end of one summer. Garbage hunting is always best at the end of August when a lot of people move apartments/cities.

3. My mattress. I know, a lot of people say "EW!" But, hear me out. It is an $1800 pillow top Queen size mattress and boxspring that I bought for $150. The woman selling it had cerebral palsy and was never able to sleep in it as it was not comfortable for her. It was still in the plastic. 

4. The round side-table in our new 3-season sunroom. I bought it for $15 at a thrift store. Similar ones sell for $75 and up new. 

5. My large bathroom mirror with a wooden frame. $10, and used paint I already had to spruce it up.

Here are some tips for thrifting.

- Go often. What you're looking for might appear a day after you've already looked!

- Have certain things in mind. Figure out what you want and look until you find it! For example, I had a small, round side table in mind for about a month before I actually found one that fit the description. Now that I have it, I'm so happy with it! 

- Don't buy things that you don't have a place in mind for. This can lead to hoarding. 

- Try out all of the thrift stores in town. Don't only go to Value Village. (Trust me, it's more expensive than most others and not necessarily as good!)

- If you're unsure, ask yourself what a fresh coat of paint might do! 

Happy Thrifting!