The Lovely Queen Anne

I spotted a chair on a local auction site and I was determined to win it. Which, I knew I would because I would bid the highest, within reason, because it is capital P-erfect for our house.

Henry set the alarm on his phone and 5 minutes left on the auction we paused our movie to swoop in on the bidding process. I was nervous and Henry peering over my shoulder did not help. Turns out my first and last bid of 60.00 won me The Queen.

In order to make it fit, we had to do some rearranging, again, which is actually better for the boy's crazy wagon rides around our house circle.

From the pics on the auction site, I was a little nervous about the integrity of the seat. It looked a little springy to me. I loved it so much for this room that I was willing to take a chance. Turns out the fabric has some circle imprints and the chair is as cozy as a duck's nest. Maybe somebody stored a bunch of salad plates on the chair before deciding to sell??

This chair belongs in this room. Welcome Home Blue Chair, Welcome Home!

The big school house map use to live in Henry's office and before that Henry's office, before we moved him. It's all coming together, everything take practice.

There is no way I was letting him bust in on my new chair shots...and there is that wagon that wrinkles my rugs! 

Choo! Choo!

While we were on the hunt for our ALS Auction Furniture Piece, I spotted a train table at GW for...10.00! Can you stand it? It was missing the top, but that is nothing The Lovely's can't remedy with a trip to Home Depot.

We mention how excited we are about our great find daily. Seriously, I love a deal and Henry loves playing with the train, so this was the find of a lifetime!

The Lego train set was sitting in our basement waiting for the day when Oscar was old enough to operate it. *Tear!

We have had it for over a week now and it gets a little action everyday.

Choo! Choo!

Rug Hunt Success

After ordering and then cancelling 2 rugs. I slowed down my spunky 'put in cart' and 'purchase' finger. I searched and searched and knew it when I saw it, I sent the link to Henry and then I ordered it. It was all very calculated and mature. We received the rug a short 5 days after ordering it and I am happy to say it was worth slowing things down a little and making a rational decision.

Trying to unroll our new rug...

and here we are the next morning, completely covering the rug...

I was finally able to get some good shots this morning.

The before.

I wanted something more traditional, primarily blue to tie in with the rest of the house, and preferably wool.  Check, Check and Check. 

A few bonus features is that it hides cereal pieces really well, we love how it makes the wood floors pop, it is a whopping 8x10 from o.co so shipping was free, love that. 

If only that cute little vacuum sucked junk up... 

Is it any wonder my blogging career has taken a hit? These boys are always up in my business.

See what I mean...

Here is the link to the rug and it is nearly 100.00 more than what I purchased it for a week ago, so lucky!

This picture is for o.co customers who would like to see a more accurate representation of the color. 

Beanbagging

We are rockin' on the playroom and aside from some keys elements, I am almost ready to show and tell. Remember this picture from our garage.

I passed the white cabinets on to some friends. I refinished 2 of the 7 chairs that went to the same friend's little dude, Tui. It just occurred to me that their house is starting to look like our garage!? 

As for the beanbags, you can't see the soccer ball bag- but it's there, I saved those for The Lovely's! I paid 5 bones a piece for these bean bags. I had a big fat thrifty idea, I would just buy slipcovers and save a bundle. They turned out adorable but it didn't go down exactly as planned.

I am prepared to give you all the dirty deets. I purchased the covers from Pottery Barn Kids on sale for 30.00 for the green and 59.00 for the plaid. If I would have purchased the covers with the inserts I would have spent 239.00 + shipping! 

Right now in the story my total is 99.00 for two cutie beanbags and a savings of 140.00. The covers arrived and low and behold were much bigger than the sporty bags I bought for 5.00 a piece at GW. All the stuffing from both bags went into one PB bag. 

This is where my plan went really awry. I had options, I could ship back the plaid cover, hunt around for some cheap beanbags  to hijack the beans, or order an insert. I ordered the insert. Not from PB Kids but from Land of Nod because their inserts were 50.00 and PB does not sell them separately. In addition, the insert makes it really easy to remove the cover for washing.

Now the stats of my plan shake out at 149.00 for 2 bags. Still a savings of 90.00 had I bought these two beanbags from PB Kids. Which I would have never done in the first place. I had major beanbag remorse and still kind of do. 

It feels good to spill the beans and clear the air that my thrifty ways are not always a good deal. grrr. So, I unexpectedly splurged on a couple of beanbags...they are darn cute, Oscar we all love them and they are totally necessary!? 

Please make me feel better by sharing how an idea of yours didn't go exactly as planned.

ALS Auction Take 2

Guess who signed up to donate another piece of furniture to the ALS Auction, this time taking place in Duluth? That's right, this girl...and Henry!

Read here why supporting ALS Research is an important cause to us.

It is difficult for us to dedicate a lot of our time volunteering for events but we love being able to share our talents to benefit a great cause.

We found this beauty at the GW for 30.00. I think 30 bones is a little steep for this cabinet, but we were running short on time and my transformation vision was solid so we loaded it up...and it sat in the back of the truck for a week before I snapped this shot.

I am excited to share how we spruce up this 1980's console/media stand/buffet cabinet. 1980's, right?

Here is a reminder of our first ALS Auction donation.

You can read more about the dresser transformation process here.

Curing ALS one piece of furniture at a time!

Oscar's Club House

We are inching our way towards a cute and functional playroom. All playrooms need to have top notch storage. So I ordered some storage containers from Target and they sent us a free Club House.

 NO GIRLS ALLOWED!

Who needs a fancy playroom when this big fat Target box seems to be doing the trick!?!

My Trashy Post

Some pretty exciting news, for me:) My Garbage to Glam post was ranked #3 most visited post on Road Kill Rescue.

Check it out for a very berry reminder of how I made over these chairs that I pulled out of my neighbor's trash can.

Blush! Blush!

Papered Walls

I did it (well, my mom did it)! I am not ashamed and I love the result. I saw it, I loved it and I purchased wallpaper. I will say it again...WALLPAPER! 

Here is the very first picture of our 1st floor bathroom, as our Realtor would call it "Our Powder Room".

Eek, huh? It was dark out and I didn't have the foresight that I would need this "before" picture 2 years down the road.

This is our Powder Room as of this morning.

I know that there are some wallpapering skeptics out there, but I think wallpaper is similar to medicine, it has gotten better with time. I bought this paper at Graham and Brown. 

Although, I take the credit for Internet shopping, Mamma Kay made the transformation happen.

Thanks Mom!

And thanks to Henry for the finishing work. My employees are so good to me!

Have I made a believer out of you?

Merry and Happy

Am I too late to give a hearty Merry Christmas and Happy New Year? Never!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

 (Grandpa Don, Mrs. Lovely, Oscar, Mr. Lovely, Oma, Great Aunt Mel, Great Uncle Barney, Uncle Zach) 

(Nana, Uncle Zach, Mr. Lovely, Papa, Oscar, Mrs. Lovely)

 Fun and Fun

Our new New Year's Meal Tradition! Can you believe Oscar is sitting in his own "big boy" chair? We indulged and chatted about highlights from 2012 and what we are looking forward to in 2013. 

We feel so blessed for our health, our family and friends and most of all each other! 

I am already clicking my heels together for all the great things we have planned in 2013...

- Continuing to watch Oscar grow. He is starting to talk, so stinking cute. A couple of days ago he said "Caraline" when he saw her picture. Melts my heart.

- I am going on the Lake Superior Circle Tour with some of my best girlfriends.

- My BFF is getting married in August and I can't wait to celebrate the snot out of her.

- The Lovely's are road tripping back to Oregon in July...for a long vacation on the coast.

- House plans (decorating, rearranging and creating) are always on the mind. Big goals include fencing in our backyard, finishing starting Oscar's playroom and tackling our bathroom ventilation issues.

- Fingers crossed...this could be the year we pay off Henry's student loan, I am going to chop away at that sucker! (we paid off mine early in 2012, feels good to own my education) 

- Henry is thrilled to have started volunteering with Courage Duluth, a program where he helps folks ski the slopes with adaptive equipment.

- Continuing to nurture all of our family and wonderful friends.

May the new year bring all of you lots of happiness and snuggles from the ones you love!