let there be [better] light

Back sun-room light fixture

One thing our house definitely did not come with was noteworthy light fixtures. In most rooms, you will find a non-nondescript brass fitting with nothing but a naked bulb glaring down at you. Charmingly simple? Industrial? Shabby Chic? Maybe not...

The one that plagues me the most is in the back sun-room at the entrance we use daily. Even though we rarely turn the light on, the barren bulb still greets me right when I come in the door.

Since this is one of our homiest rooms, I wanted to find an equally welcoming light fixture, without spending hundreds of dollars. Naturally, the first place I looked was Restore. I just so happened to wander in on day when all light fixtures were half off. The little lantern I had my eye on was a whopping $8 before the sale.  :)

I bet a lot of people walked right past this poor little lantern without even giving it a second glance. My husband was quick to voice his opinion that it looked "old" (even though our house was built in 1922...), but I saw pure potential in this little gem.

$4 lantern before the makeover.

I thought the brass and frosted flower designs on the glass were what really made it look dated, so I was planning to spray-paint the brass parts glossy white and frost the glass over completely. It would be a plain and simple makeover.

BUT THEN...during a fitful cleaning frenzy in the basement, I came across the leftover scraps of window film from our upstairs bathroom project. "Why did I save these pieces!?" I grumbled and flung them over my shoulder into the trash, just as the light-bulb went on over my head. After some quick measurements, I realized I had literally just enough (down to the inch) to cover the glass of this lantern. I pinched myself and then got to work.

Here's what I did:

- I disassembled the lantern as best I could. I had really hoped I would be able to get the glass panels out, but no such luck without breaking something. This was as "disassembled" as I could get it.

Sorry for the blurry photo, but I was excited to get started.

- So I taped it all up with painter's tape and pieces of paper painstakingly cut to cover each glass panel
- Spray-painted the whole thing white with white Rustoleum
- Traced and trimmed out the glass shapes onto my window film
- Applied window film
- Squealed with delight at the result

I realize the suspense is agonizing, but you'll just have to wait for the "after" because my work here is done. (AKA I don't trust myself to mess with electricity, so I'll need to get help hanging it.) Stay tuned!

UPDATE:
So here it is!

Quite an improvement, if you ask me! :)

5 places for unique frugal finds

Whether your house looks like an IKEA catalog, an episode of "This Old House," or a barn, there are always a variety of options available for getting creative with thrifty furniture and accessories if you know where to look. I have a few favorite places to scout for unique vintage pieces that have a history. But even if you're looking for something new, you can still avoid a the mall or a furniture store.

Check out these local places first:

Vintage coffee tin - $1 at local thrift shop

1.  Thrift Shops: Thrift shops are everywhere nowadays. So much so, that you might not even realize how many are in your area until you look it up and discover new ones. Some thrift stores have more reliably awesome inventory than others, so take some time to look around. You can also always call and ask if you're looking for something specific. 

2.  ReStores: This is the place to be if you're looking for super-affordable antiques and they also often get in brand-new things from Lowes. (At least the ReStore near me.) An affiliation of Habitat for Humanity, they seem to regularly get a lot of inventory from old houses and they have everything from furniture to remodeling materials. Even if you don't have one in your neighborhood, it might be worth a little drive to check it out. Keep in mind though, these places are run by volunteers, so they often don't have many hours during the week. This results in a mad-rush on the weekend and things get picked over quickly. If you ever have a chance to scoot in during the week before everyone else, you might really get lucky! 

Fun elephant planter - $5 at L&L Fleatique

3.  Craigslist: Craigslist is nice because you can search based on keyword, area, and/or price, day or night. It might save some hassle if you can't get to the stores and things are usually "priced to sell." Just be cautious when planning your pick-up since there is some Stranger Danger.  :o

Cute old green chair - FREE from a curb! :-)

4.  Yard/Estate Sales: These  ones are actually a challenge for me. I tend to see the signs and get really excited, but then either forget to go on the date or attempt to go and can't actually find it. Community garage sales are usually better advertised, easy to find and are a goldmine for savings. People really want to get rid of that stuff, so if you get there early, you might just find a great deal.

5.  The Curb: I drive through an area of beautiful old Victorian and Colonial houses on my way to work. Every week now, I keep my eyes peeled and my fingers crossed on their garbage day. It might sound trashy (pun-intended), but I've seen some gorgeous pieces of furniture that I've either been too bashful to snag, could have never loaded alone, or someone else was already in the process of taking! I've missed enough opportunities now to get over any shame. Afterall, if the owner wasn't too lazy to donate these things, it would literally be the same stuff I'm PURCHASING from these other places!

When you're looking for something specific like a lamp or a piece of furniture, look for a shape you like. Don't pass up something because of a bad finish, ugly knobs or other things that can be easily changed with a can of spray paint or a bit of elbow grease. Sometimes those things have the most potential for a great project! It's fun to browse, get creative and then make it your own. (Check out this fun lantern project)

One man's trash really is another man's treasure! Happy hunting!

laundry love [sort of]

No, I do not love doing laundry, but I have very strong feelings toward this laundry room. Yes, it's just a laundry room, but it's a real laundry room, not a spider-infested 6' tall Texas Chainsaw Massacre-style cave with a festering stream flowing through it. Here, I can wash clothes without fearing for my life and I can even drop things on the floor without having to rewash them. (Clearly, this was a huge selling-point for me)

I also should be ashamed to say that I still consider it one of the best "before and after" transformations so far. I might be a terrible person for taking an awful photo from the previous owner's "moving-out-madness" and making it black and white. It just makes me feel like I did a really great job by not having crap everywhere. Meanwhile, all I really did was paint, put my stuff in, and add a cool vintage light fixture. (Yes, it's from Restore).

The happy-yellow laundry room "after" with $8 light globe from Restore.

The sad, salmon-colored laundry room "way before"

Fun fact: Before moving in, I was desperate to get a few things done, but we didn't have electricity. Knowing that we would need to use this room right away, painting was frantically finished via cell-phone light the night before moving day! Ahh, memories.

As for the globe light, love it or hate it, I think it adds character. (Especially since before, it was just a bulb in a socket.) We thought it was odd that much of our house had naked bulbs, but now we know why. The old fixtures are attached to the gas lines running through the ceilings that would have originally lit the house. What would normally be a 5-minute project is more like a full episode of MacGyver. 

While I can't elaborate on how to hang and rewire a normal light fixture, I can tell you that if your house was built in the 1920's, you will not find any helpful videos on YouTube and you will need an electrician, handyman, or awesome Dad to help you. For me, it was well-worth the hassle. :)

 

out with the new, in with the old

Accumulating furniture to fill a big empty house takes patience. And money. I can't say I have an abundance of either of these things, but I do have a local Habitat for Humanity Restore. If you haven't heard of it or don't have one near you, the basic concept is that they receive donations (building materials, appliances, furniture) from houses that are being torn down, remodeled or cleaned out. The inventory varies every week, but usually includes a lot of awesome vintage stuff. Sometimes they also receive brand new items from Lowes or Home Depot, but when they have too much of anything, the whole store goes 50% off. I usually poke around on the weekends and there is almost always a sign posted announcing, "BIG SALE TODAY!" And they mean it.

I am usually in some state of excitement. It might be a sunny day, a good lunch, a picnic next month or maybe I'm just brewing with dreams, but I generally have something to be enthused about. A good project to work on can quickly push me right over the edge. I see the end product in my head. The potential of a piece of furniture, a garden or a room practically screams at me to get moving! I'm easily obsessed when there's something exciting to putz on and this project was no different.

The "before" $35 china cupboard. Found at Habitat for Humanity Restore.

It was my very first trip to the Restore. I was only going to browse. (The same way I've "browsed" for every animal I've ever owned). I spotted it across the crowded room right when I walked in. It was love at first sight.  

I made a b-line for the price tag, but was sure there was some mistake. "Thirty five dollars?" I asked. "For the whole thing?"
"Yup!" replied the smiling clerk. I'm sure they get these dumb questions all the time. "We have too much furniture right now, so it's gotta go. If you want it, take the price tag off."
I ran back to it to claw at the tag, just as another couple was drooling over it. "Oh, sorry. This one's not for sale." Suckers.


Other than the silly, modern and polished knobs, the cheapy spray-paint frosted glass and the busted leg, I loved everything about it. I wasn't planning to change much else, that is until my husband suggested that it looked "too imposing" as black. Once he said it, it was immediately creepy, overbearing and possibly haunted. I couldn't get the thought out of my head. A total remodel was in order.

After only one coat of Kilz primer.

So here's what I did:
- Wiped off all the cobwebs and removed all the stinking stink bugs from their hiding places
- Removed the glass door and knobs
- Scraped, chiseled and scratched off the cheapy glass frosting
- Reattached some loose panels in the back
- Painted the whole thing, inside and out, with Kilz primer. Highly recommend it. 
- Went over the whole thing, inside and out, with 1-2 coats of white spray paint
- Poured over all the knob options at Anthropologie.com. [swoon]
- Applied Martha Stewart Metallic Silver Glazing to carved detail areas with a damp rag. Hate Martha, but love this.
- Received $35 knobs (yes, I realize that is the same price as the cupboard) and attached them along with the glass

The "after" linen closet.

So here it is! The "after" linen closet. It is currently residing in our rather ridiculously large upstairs bathroom. It is taking up space, making it look homey, and storing a vase, old curtains, a picnic blanket, white rags, and toilet paper. Nothing in the drawer yet, but I'm sure it will be filled with crap within the next few years.


The best part? (Besides the price and the end-product) I didn't sand a darn thing. :)

So as I continue on my journey of making our big old house cozy, I will continue to search for old things with character. I will check local places like Restore. I will continue to reject big-box stores in favor of reusing and recycling old pieces and giving them a new life. And I will continue (hopefully) to post about it. :)