Shopping for free

What? No, I am not kidding. Psh, come on, I don't kid about this stuff. Free shopping is serious business.

While visiting Tess last weekend (as I mentioned in my last post), we struck gold at an estate sale that a local parish was holding after Sunday Mass. Estate sales are usually one of the most wonderfullous events known to mankind. This particular estate sale was even better because it was free!! Granted, it was free because it was just the sale's dregs/bottom-of-the-barrel. None the less, we found some gems.

I've often admired wall hangings that are/mimic architectural salvage pieces. But, as it seems to be my lot in decorating, I never seem to find something that I like OR that I can afford. That all changed last weekend when I found these babies:

Not only are these right up my style-alley, they were right up my price-alley, too (i.e. FREE). When no one else wanted them, I was thrilled to pick them up to bring home with me. I mean it when I say "thrilled." I felt like this inside:

GIFSoup

I was equally pumped to

Bathroom Bonanza, round deux

Get excited people--We are back to talk about business going down in the bathroom! Woohoo!

Everyone has to use the bathroom, right? After the bedroom (and maybe the kitchen?), the bathroom is one of the highest-traffic rooms in your house. I am sure that there is some researcher out there who has done the  work to figure out "how much of his/her life the average person spends in the bathroom."

If you are like me, you might be in the "above average" category for how much time you spend in the bathroom. I am not admitting to having a spastic colon or anything (that would be totally TMI and I am known for my attention to delicate discretion). Rather, I spend time in the bathroom to do what any girl does--getting beautiful. In this regard, the bathroom is kind of like a secondary office for a woman. It is a sacred work space.

Just like I fancy up my primary office at work, I prefer to a pretty space to get my pretty on. Last time I updated you on the bathroom, this is what was going on:

I was quite pleased with these little improvements. That was all well and good, until I stumbled across an awesome, picture-less frame at an antique warehouse.

This is the closest thing to a before picture that I have. Sorry.

It was gold. It had great details. It was super affordable. It made me think of this

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and this

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 And this:

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Okay, just kidding about that last one. At least for now.

Long story short--I think it took me about 57 seconds to decide to buy it. For the first time in my life, the hours I dedicated to Pinterest paid off and I experienced what has been called a "pinspiration."

Within 48 hours, the mirror (which I forgot to take a "before" picture of due to my excitement) was hanging in the bathroom.

Don't you love it? I do. In fact, there might have been some jump-up-and-click-my-heels-love going on after I successfully rigged the mirror to support the frame. (Again, totally forgot pictures of this process. But it was totally easy).

Here are a few close ups:

As you can tell, there are a few dings and cracks. I will get around to touching it up one of these days. For now I am still basking in the afterglow of this upgrade.

Mix-n-match: Bathroom Bonanza

I should probably admit, right off the bat, that this post's title is a bit of an overstatement. I didn't go all crazy and redo my bathroom. I just made a few tweaks, but I think they are splenderific tweaks at that. 

Until last weekend, I really hadn't put much effort into spiffying up the downstairs bathroom. 

If ever were the saying, "If you snooze, you lose," true--it was true for this bathroom. And that is a fact. Although this bathroom is on the main floor of the house, I don't really use it all that much. Without going into much--if any--detail, it seems that Mother Nature calls me at home only when I am upstairs. Yet, whenever I have visited the first floor commode (whether it be to tidy things up for guests, or to figure out why the toilet is running yet again, or to check out my awesome self in the mirror), I never left that closet-of-a-room without thinking, "Ohmuhgudnizz, something has to be done to that room."

Now, despite the underwhelming state of the bathroom, I am making a very conscious effort to spend as little money as possible these days. Instead of acquiring new stuff to stave off my decorating woes, I wish to use what I have before succumbing to hoarding at my relatively young age.

I did succumb to hoarding urges, slightly, while visiting a local consignment shop. But it was only $6 (total) for two sweet pastoral landscape scenes in lovely ornate frames.

Thing One

Thing Two

Aren't those classy and elegant? I instantly fell in love and, at $3 a pop,  it was $6 I happily parted with. My purchasing weakness behind me, it was back to the bathroom with my treasures. With some quick rearranging and a few extra nails, this is what I had.

Simple and not super glamorous (or even all that different, I suppose), but it does make a difference. Believe or not. I also pulled in a dried floral arrangement, previously was in the kitchen, and put it on the vanity counter.

Here is a quick before and after for you:

Again, not much, but it's a start. Maybe one of these days I'll go crazy and paint a mural on one of the walls. 

But--for now--I like it. 

Anybody else making small-but-still-worth-it adjustments to any rooms in your home?

I have an Eyedia. I think it's *just* right!

Perhaps no one will know the song to which I am referring to with this post's title. I think it is from a Christmas play I was in during my very formative grade school years. I don't even know where to begin to find any information about the song's title, the composer, or even the play's title. So let's get on to the rest of the post, shall we?

I visited my family a few weeks ago and took the opportunity to hit up an awesome local consignment shop.

It is called eyedia and did I say it was awesome? It's like a paradise.

One thing I really appreciate about this store is the way in which the owners "style" the items for sale; creating vignettes, niches, and the like. I understand that this is a sales technique: People want to buy things that [a] look nice and [b] they can imagine having in their homes. But it also is so helpful in the way of being "food for thought" for people like me. Although I don't buy much from the store, I get tons of ideas! (No pun intended, seriously) Ideas of how to arrange furniture, how to style displays, how to make the most of an eclectic array of items. So much fun!

This latest time I visited the hallowed store, I did walk away a bit poorer in my pockets but all for a good cause, of course. I bought a lovely green detailed pillow and a pair of candle sconces.

The candelabras most likely will be painted another color. Perhaps a sunny yellow or avocado green?

Speaking of avocado green, my mom scored a sweet avocado green urn from the store. 

That is one of my sisters striking a sassy pose in the background. I cut her head of to protect her anonymity, and because I can't cut her head off in real life (just kidding). 

The green urn originally was one of a pair of matching green urns. Mom only wanted one. Initially the sale lady wasn't going to let her have it. But, then, after she "checked on something in back," she said it was a-okay for Mom to have the one and for a discounted price too. Yeehaw! (Oh, yeah, and Mom also bought [another] cherub figurine for the house. She is a fan of angels.).