Category Archives: Refurbish It!

Adirondack Perfection

Remember when I told you about our awful neighbor who left her barking dog home alone all night multiple times a week? Well, I have two pieces of great news:

1. The landlord asked her to leave and she moved out last week! WOOOOOOOO! Don’t let the door hit you on the butt on the way out!

2. She left these amazing blue beauties in the alley as give-aways:So Walker and I made ourselves a little sitting area on one side of our mini patio by the door.  It used to look like this:So first we moved out DIY Plant Stand & Outdoor Bar over to the other side of the door, where I think it works better anyway (it fits perfectly in that space plus we can reach it from the table if we are using it for entertaining/serving food).Now the backyard has two little areas for us to enjoy!  I almost feel badly for our dining table out there… it is going to get a lot less attention.P.S. Please disregard the out-of-control grass… I will have an entire yard update next post (for those observant few, you will notice the purple arbor day tree is missing).

P.P.S. How funny is it that we now have Adirondack chairs under our Adirondack chair wind chime?

P.P.P.S. Don’t you love how our yard is always covered in Bo’s toys?  I was going to pick them up before taking this photo but I decided to stay more true to life and keep them in.  Seriously, I could pick them up and that pup will have dragged them all back outside in 3 minutes.

ANYWAY, back to the chairs.  So we were so happy on Friday and Saturday enjoying our new chairs.  However, it would have only been a matter of days before one of us injured ourselves on Clifford the Big Old Cactus.  Plus, Sunday afternoon rolled around and suddenly we wanted to read in our big comfy chairs.  Having no place to put our books and terrified of being cactus-stabbed, we started pondering what kind of table would work there.  Then we remembered that there was an awesome little side table that idiot neighbor left in the alley pile!  We didn’t grab it the first time because we have nowhere to put it inside the apartment.  But it was the PERFECT size for our new little sitting area!It is in decent shape but the top part needs a little TLC. With a little sand paper, wood glue, putty, and paint we can make it good as new! We were thinking of painting it some fun bright color to keep the theme going but the more I look at the pictures, the more I kind of like a wood tone.  Hmmm… we will have to think about that one. Regardless, the table was the perfect way to complete the new sitting area and showcase our succulent garden.  Don’t worry, I will show you where Clifford and the succulent crate ended up next post.

So this was the rest of our Sunday afternoon… perfection.
(and for those of you who are wondering, I am reading Friday Night Lights!)

Flea Market Finds

This weekend Walker and I decided to go take a grand adventure through the Rose Bowl Flea Market, a world-famous monthly shopping extravaganza in Pasadena.

Source: rgcshows.com

Even though I am a dunce and forgot my camera at home (you can google Rose Bowl Flea Market and see how enormous and awesome this market is!), I was at least able document all of the great flea market finds that we acquired along the way.

As you can see, we ended up with quite a few little trinkets! Our goal was to find some things to spice up the crate shelves above the TV in the living room (remember when we put them up?). Walker discovered a great retro toy lute that actually plays music when you wind the crank. It was fun, quirky, and definitely fit the style of our other trinkets in the crates so we snagged it for a measly $5!

We also found a really amazing navy/white hand-painted skull in the same Mexican style as the skull on our other living room shelf.

At the same vendor, we found another little hand-painted ceramic owl friend. The owl and skull were only $5 a piece!

The final addition to our crates was a $10 vintage soda bottle from England in the 1800’s. Fun history lesson: the bottle was designed so that the marble sealed the top hole when it was closed. When someone would first open the bottle, there would be a loud pop as the seal was broken and the marble rolled down to where it sits now. This is how the term “pop” came to America! The vendor also told us that kids used to break these bottles open so they could collect and play with the marbles. Turns out that his little story checks out… I think this website sums it up well if you are interested in reading more.

As you can see, our crates got a little more interesting!

The steal of the day was the handful of match boxes that we got to fill the jar on the coffee table. They were 5 for $1 so we grabbed 10 of the best ones we could find!

My favorite flea market find was a giant iron key mounted on burlap and framed. As you know, I am obsessed with skeleton keys, so I nearly jumped with joy when Walker pointed it out to me. I was on the fence about whether or not to buy it until I saw the handwritten note on the back:

I think it says “Key from Des Maries Opera House – 1800’s” (or maybe Des Manes?). How awesome is that!? Ok, I’m no idiot… someone could have easily made that up but I choose to be optimistic and believe it (life is too short to be overly cynical). Plus it only set me back $20 and now we have a sweet old key hanging on our kitchen wall! I re-mounted the key with some wire to clean it up and make it more sturdy. I am so glad I got it because I know I would be thinking about it now, kicking myself for not grabbing it. It looks so cool! :)

I think we are going to have to make the flea market a monthly tradition! Now we just need more shelves to fill…

makeitfancee’s Outdoor Bar

I would love to take a second to share an awesome project from Becky at makeitfancee (who happens to be my beautiful and amazing cousin!).  I feel very honored because she says she was inspired by our DIY Plant Stand/Outdoor Bar for her “fancee veranda bar.” Just in time for some Cinco de Mayo cocktails! Cheers and thanks for the shout-out, Becky!  Everyone should go check out her fantastic blog!  It will soon be joining the ranks of our other fabulous sponsors on the sidebar so keep your eyes peeled.