HOLY CURB-CHECK, BATMAN!

Last night I swung by the home of a friend of mine to borrow some cash for dog food, because I completely fail at life and am increasingly broke all the time.  I managed to get there far too early (one of the few times "good" traffic wasn't actually working in my favor), and so, seeing that some people in the neighborhood had their bulk items out on the curb for pickup, I decided to take a spin around the area to see what I could see.

Holy. Crap. Did I score big.  I picked up a hideous little 70s double-decker nightstand/side table, kinda like this one:

(images via google search.)

It's not exactly this style; but the overall construction is the same.  And the construction is sound; it's just the finish that's peeling and chipped and...is that a burn mark?

o_0

I have a very cool idea for this thing.






I also found a cute little footstool that needs kind of a lot of help, but it'll be worth it:

  (no actual furniture was photographed
during the making of this post)

Basically exactly like this, except for, again, a peeling and cracked lacquer finish, wobbly legs and frame (just needs all the bolts tightened), and the fact that the top cushion needs to be completely stripped and replaced, as it's damp and moldy and EW.  May need to clean up the wood inside, too, or replace it.











Last but not least, and this is the part that blows me away:  I stopped to scope out a big comfy-looking chair at one point, and I very nearly got it.  It was pushing the edge of my willingness to repair and clean upholstered furniture, especially since I STILL haven't covered the big, white, free couch (although I did buy a new blanket to cover it with, so it looks intentional now).  It wasn't bad, and overall it was in great shape, structurally speaking, but with enough dirt, and minor dings and rips (I'm assuming that a herd of small wrestlers, or possibly ninjas, live at this house), that was I waffling over lifting it into the truck by myself, which was going to be no easy feat, lemmetellya.  Sumbitch was heavy.

I stood, hands on hips, weighing the merits of this chair, and trying to imagine, realistically, how long it would sit in my garage before I did anything about it, when I spied something I'd missed.  While I'd seen the enormous and dilapidated headboard standing next to the chair, I hadn't seen what was propped up behind it, out of sight of the road:

Three huge mirrors.  Three.  2x4', every one of them without a single chip or scratch.  WHO THROWS AWAY GIANT AWESOME MIRRORS?!  Jesus, people!  Yeah.  Screw the chair.  The mirrors went into my truck along with the footstool and side table, and away I went.  I saw my friend, I went home and fed my animals and put the evening's booty in the garage, and have been wondering what to DO with those mirrors ever since.

And then it hit me.

(yes, I measured)

I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED A PAIR OF TALL MIRRORS FOR MY MASTER BATH VANITY!!!! 

I'm also pretty sure the third mirror of the trio is going to go into my sewing room, to replace the wimpy 12x45" door mirror I've been using to aid in my costumery.  Pish.  

ERMAHGERD MERERRS.  

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Music Room Loading [-------------80%---]

Little known fact:  putting guitars everywhere does not make a room into a "music room".  :D

Okay, so, this was a computer/office area at one time, at the north end of the looooong living room:

If you've been reading this blog long, you know that this was the latest in a medium-length line of computer desks that have been in front of this window.  I don't have internet at home anymore, therefore, I wasn't actually using my computer for anything...so this little table, salvaged from work by a friend and given to me, was basically just there to keep my laptop and some other crap off the floor.

The same friend once sold me a Casio keyboard, which I'd always planned to actually learn to use - but for that, I needed a table or stand of some kind, and before long, I got two ideas...

CraftyNest.com 

This was the first:  

The second was to designate the space at the north end of my living room as a music space - with the keyboard, my guitars, my violin, music stand, books, etc. all set up.  I LOVE seeing musical instruments displayed; and I thought if everything was out in the open, I might use them more often.

 

Meanwhile, ever the fan of combination projects that end up taking me weeks to do when mere minutes will suffice, I realized I really needed a new work table in the garage.  This thing was NOT cutting it anymore. 

Dirty?  Fine.  But the legs weren't holding the thing up anymore, because the screws were all stripped out, and the thing was bowing in the middle with the legs being so far apart.  The top was sound, but...ugh. 

Nothing a little elbow grease and spray paint couldn't fix, though. The legs from the "computer desk", the top from the old work table, and some cleaning in the "music room", and you have this! 

◄  the Ikea KAUSTBY dining room chair that I upholstered last year

◄  That's Ember, my Ibanez. She's the one I play most often, so she's out in the open, the most easily reached. 

The Gretch barely shows there in the shadows in the corner; but that's where the next part of this room comes in: that white folding settee (yes, the one I keep moving around all over the house, which never quite works, ever) needs to GO.  I'm just not sure what exactly to do with it yet. 

Anyway, once it's out of the way, more room for the Gretch and the music stand.  And for people to be able to walk up to the kitchen bar.  It reduces traffic flow in the actual kitchen at parties.  Plus, I like being able to reach over and get a glass of water without walking all the way around, hehe.  Because I'm lazy.  

This. 

And finally, here's that little brown  black  silver  turquoise black lamp I keep spray painting.  I think I actually like it now. It looks grown-up.  

So: tada!  And it turns out I was right:  with my instruments out in the open like this, I DO grab them and sit down to practice more often!  Couple more things to do in this room: 

• replace/update light fixture (I have a new one, I just have to work on it and hang it)
• find a way (and a place) to hang up my violin where it's easy to reach and out of the way of the cats
• move that damned folding settee somewhere. 
• paint the living room ceiling to match the rest of the house - it's the only one left to do! 

Whew!  

Okay, back to work...

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A Quick Check-In (To Laugh At Other People)

I'm pounding away on the SCA projects, and I'm also right in the middle of building a table for my electronic keyboard, as well as a new workbench for my shop! Whee! Busy!

If you'd like to see the SCA stuff, it's over here.  

The table and bench will be up as soon as they're finished, and I'm hoping to get at least one of them done by this weekend.

Meanwhile, I went to Texas Thrift Store last night, killing time before I had to be somewhere else.  TTS is one of my favorite thrift stores in town.  It  was recently featured on Refashionista and is mentioned often on Thrift Horror.  I follow both blogs, and I have to say, Thrift Horror in particular cracks me the f#ck UP, often first thing in the morning when I need it most.

Because schadenfreude and coffee are just a match made in heaven, dontchaknow.


Anyhow, I discovered a couple of my own thrift horrors, and I thought I'd share them with you: 

I'm sure someone made this with love.  Or something.


Just...why?


Was the bottle cold?  Do you shake this at football games when your team scores?


Who's out there scouring thrift stores for a beer bottle covered in dirty yarn?


It's too bad the bottle isn't blue.

I very nearly said something out loud when I saw this.  Then I had to pretend to admire it while I made sure the guy admiring a dish drainer four feet away wasn't watching me take pictures of thing, lol.  (I do, actually, often photograph items I'm interested in in a store, so that if I don't buy them, I know what to come back for).

I know they sell lampshades like this, but this one is homemade.  Someone glued a bunch of really cheap polyester rose petals all over this poor bell shade, and then whole roses all the way around the lip, most of which have fallen off.


Also the glue was...greebly...and peeling, and separating from things.  Which I guess was why the thing was falling apart.  I was tempted to buy it and clean it up just to make it feel better.



What I DID buy, though, was a couple of really zesty dresses, one which is fabulous as-is, and the other needs a tiny bit of "refashioning" to be completely fabulous.  I'll show you when I'm done.  It's at the end of  a loooooong to-do list.  :)

Lub yooz!

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