The Turquoise Piano: August 2011

Monday, August 29, 2011

DIY Coffee Table

For the first four years that we were married, we didn't have a coffee table. Maybe it's because we don't drink coffee, maybe I just didn't care. Finally I decided that it was time so I found this orangey wood thing at D.I. and negotiated it down to $15. Then I sanded, primed, painted (Heirloom White and a glossy dark brown), and glazed, and voila... a new coffee table that I ~~like~~ love... for around $20 (including paint)!

This is how it was in the old house. Pretty soon I'll have it ready in the new house. Stay tuned.

I'll be linking up to the parties on my Linky List. Check them out for some amazing inspiration. And have your Pinterest ready!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Move, Moving, Moved!

The big move is finally over! I cannot believe how much stuff we have... even after having a garage sale. Ridiculous. I remember moving around in college and I could seriously fit everything I had in my car and move it out of the house in two loads.

We scheduled our movers to come at 10am on Tuesday morning and Tom confirmed the day before. They were set to go. So, 10am came and went. Finally it was 11:30 and we couldn't get a hold of the movers so we started to panic. I mean, we HAD to be moved out that day. So Tom called a bunch of other moving companies and found one that could do it but they cost a lot more. Since we had no choice, we hired them. They brought their two moving trucks and four men by around 1:30 and started hauling our things out of the house. Seven hours and $1,300 later they were done.

I had to snap a picture of the piano being lifted into the truck. Those guys make it look light (but really it is super heavy).

Our old house was almost 3,700 sq ft and it was all very open. Of course there were some things I would change, but I loved it (and I cried a lot on moving day). The new house is about 3,000 sq ft and 600 of that is in the theater room (yes, it was designed by a man!). So guess what. The theater room is the theater room, craft room, small sitting room, and play room. Six hundred square feet! I had apartments that size for four people!

This is our old kitchen. I will miss that fridge.

And our new kitchen. Yes, that's a plant in the sink.

Our old living room.

Our new living room. I'll be honest. I think I like the new one better. It has a more natural layout. The old one took me forever to figure out how to place the furniture.

I am so excited to decorate! I'll be featuring each room when it is done and I have tons of projects piling up that I haven't been able to work on. Can't. Wait.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Experiment: FAILED

So here's the thing. I think if I would have had the coffee table ready on Friday for the garage sale it would have sold. (Can you believe that Friday was busier than Saturday? I mean, don't most people work on Friday?) Anyway, back to the coffee table. I put it out for $45/OBO, then $25/OBO toward the end but nobody wanted it (I really can't say I blame them though).

When it didn't sell at the garage sale I kind of panicked and threw it on craigslist for $15. We're moving tomorrow and I didn't want to be stuck with it! A woman did call and buy it for $15 and honestly, I'm just glad that it's gone. If I had kept it I decided that I would have painted it red and put it outside with my bench. It could have been pretty awesome.

Something I did sell at the garage sale was this end table. I think the before is so ugly but I bought it because I have seen some on blogs that have been painted and I LOVE them. Well, this was just too rustic for me. I painted it and still didn't want it so I sold it. (Bought for $6 sold for $10 = made $0 after paint. No biggie.)

The rest of the garage sale went well. We got rid of lots of stuff and the entire sale made around $600.

If you are thinking of having a garage sale, I'll give you some tips. First, there is a guide on All Things Thrifty that you need to follow. On the 8th step, Brooke suggests posting an ad on craigslist. I am going to add how to advertise on craigslist (and really I have zero authority except that this is what I like when I'm looking).

1. Make the title semi interesting. Instead of just "Garage Sale," put "Multi Family Garage Sale" or "Moving Sale" or "HUGE Garage Sale."

2. Put the exact address where it says "where." Most people just put the city (which works, but it's best to be specific).

3. Put an intro line, such as, "We are moving! Get on over here and buy our stuff!" To me this ("we are moving") says that they may have enough for me to spend my time going there. The rest was just pure personality.

4. Next line: Put the major cross streets. When people are deciding their garage sale path, they usually don't know the address but they know the major cross streets. I put "the main cross streets are Meridian and Victory."

5. Since your signs will all be the same color (see All Things Thrifty's guidelines), next tell them to follow the [pick your color] signs. Ours were hot pink so I put, "Follow the hot pink signs to 2873 S Bear Claw Way." This way they know that your's is the one with the hot pink sign (or whatever color you use) and it gives them the address again.

6. Next, if you are located in a subdivision, put the name of the sub. I put, "Located in the Bear Creek subdivision." Again, some people don't know where the address is exactly and if they don't have a GPS, they may know where the subdivision is and since they know you have the hot pink signs, they can still get there.

7. Next line: Don't forget to put the date and time AND the days! I put "Friday and Saturday, August 19th and 20th from 9am-3pm.

8. Finally, on the next line, name some of the things you will be selling. Mine said, "2 bedroom sets, dining set, vacuum, printer, DVD player, TV, lots of baby girl clothes and other baby items, women's clothes (pants, shirts, sweaters, formal dress, other dresses, etc), shoes, kitchen items, blankets, and more!"

Good luck if you're having a garage sale! I don't envy you! :)

Friday, August 19, 2011

Crazy Garage Sale Days

OMIGOSH! It has been so busy around here with packing and moving and having a garage sale. Today was day #1 of the garage sale and we made about $300. Not bad since we would have donated most of the stuff anyway. Plus, it feels soooo good to clean and purge. I love decluttering!

I have a little experiment, but first let me tell you the story behind this piece of furniture...

Two days ago I got up and went for a 12 mile run with a couple of friends. Three blocks from my house is where we all split up to go to our own houses. I kid you not, I split from them and a half a block later I trip on a crack in the sidewalk while running down a hill. It was the kind of trip that you don't even have time to try to recover from. I landed mostly on my right side and skidded on my elbow for two feet. Yeah, if you need my DNA, it's just up the hill. Look for the 2 foot brown line of skin and blood.

Anyway, I walk around in pain all day but still have to pack up the house and get ready for the garage sale. Sad. So what do I do to feel better? Craigslist. I found a coffee table that someone was giving away for FREE. I called and he told me to go get it.

It was almost dark when I was able to go and he had left it in front of his house by the mailbox. I took my poor body and pushed the super heavy table end-over-end to my car AND I found a way to lift it all by myself. What luck!

My experiment is that I painted it white (with the paint I already have) and I'm going to sell it at the garage sale tomorrow. Not really an experiment, huh? Well, you know what I mean. If I were going to keep this, I would do a cool stencil on the top or something, but I'm not keeping it. It would just be another thing to move.

What do you think I'll get? $15? $10? I'll let you know.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Picture Board Tutorial

Quick news: I'VE BEEN FEATURED for my mom's basement makeover over at the Sizzle Into Summer Party at DIY by Desing (starting at 8pm EST this evening). Thanks Judy!

I really don't know what to call this but it's a board with pictures hanging in my bedroom. It's really a super simple way to make your 4 8x10's not look so wussy on your massive wall.

You will need 1 particle board, 4 8x10 picture frames, paint, 2 little metal things to hang art, hammer and nails.

What I did:
1. Ran on over to Lowe's and bought some particle board for $9.
2. Had the fabulous man in charge of the giant saw (still at Lowe's) cut the particle board 2 ft x 5 ft (I kept the extra pieces for a future project). They will cut it for free!
3. Painted the particle board white.
4. Marked where each picture would go. What I mean is, mark where you will hammer the nail in the board to hang the pictures. It's a little hard getting them even if you're eyeballing it, which I was. I suggest measuring once you know where the nail will need to go in the first one.
5. Flip the board over and hammer in the little metal things that allow pictures to hang. I did two -- one on each top corner.
6. Flip it back over and hammer in the 4 nails.
7. Hang the particle board.
8. Hang the pictures.

Linky partying at this list.

Monday, August 15, 2011

I Love Craigslist

I was so busy with the move and packing this weekend that I didn't have a chance to hit up any garage sales. Instead, I spent a few minutes on craigslist and found this amazing chair. I got it for $20! I know hubs is just so excited to move another chair. Haha! But I can't wait to make it mine (although I won't be able to work on it for a couple of weeks). Can you see the potential here?

Here is another craigslist find from June. It was $35. The lady wouldn't budge in price. I asked her if it was in a smoking home (not that that would prevent me from buying it but it tells me how much work I need to do) and she said, "oh heavens no," so quickly. What I learned... don't believe when someone jumps to the answer she knows you want to hear so fast. Maybe they didn't smoke in the home, but after 32 years of 2nd hand smoke, the poor chair has lung cancer. So I pulled off the groovy red and orange material and washed the cushions, which helped.

I painted the wood Heirloom White by Rustoleum (I think).

Then I decided to bring out the wood work by glazing it. See the difference above and below?

This is the end result. LOVE!

Here's the breakdown:
Chair - $35
Primer - $3
Paint - $3
Upholstery - $20 from JoAnn's (which was 1/2 price! Gulp. But I loved it so much.)
Total Cost for Chair - $61

I'll be Linky partying so see where on my Linky list! You can also find tons of other inspiring projects.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Anthropologie Inspired Lamp Tutorial

I found this lamp that I NEEDED to have over at Mama Says Sew so I bought 2 yards of burlap (on sale at Joann's for $2.99/yard) and a thrift store lamp ($8) and went to work!

Things you need: burlap, lamp shade, hot glue, scissors, and time (it took me 4 Medium episodes and a Curious George 2).

Here's the original shade. Very bla.

I started by wrapping the shade in the burlap. This was tricky because the shade I chose was smaller at the top. The first time I wrapped it I cut a rectangle so the top didn't fit. When I realized it wasn't going to work (after lots of glue, of course) I ripped it off and cut exactly how the shade was (if you do this and are confused by what I mean, email me and I'll explain more in depth). Then I hot glued about 1/2 inch edge onto the inside of the shade.

I cut a bunch of strips. Mine were about 4 inches wide and as long a the material was. You can do whatever width you want. Next I folded the strip in half and glued the center to the shade in squiggly lines. Note: You could iron the strips in half so it is easier, I just didn't want to take the time.

I didn't glue the strips in the exact squiggly pattern each time. I didn't want it to look too uniform.

Because my shade was not equal size on the top and bottom, I had to fill in some places on the lower half with strips of burlap.

Since I didn't do all squiggly lines the same pattern, there were some holes to fill so I glued some extra strips in the holes.

Here's the finished product!

And here it is with the light on (although the evening lighting is horrible). I am LOVING it.

But now I need some opinions. I am going to paint the lamp base. I was thinking of light blue (like the one from my inspiration) or a distressed/ antique white. What do you think? I'm open to other suggestions too.

UPDATE: I chose an indigo blue spray paint for the base to go with my craigslist chair.

Check out where I'm Linky partying at the bottom of the blog.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Our House Thursday

Welcome to Morgan's room. I have decided to feature it on my blog because we are moving in two weeks and I need to document our house (read about our house sale here). I'll break it down for you so you know just how inexpensive it can be to decorate.

Bedding. I made the blanket and the pillows. I bought the material at Joann's with a 50% off coupon so it all cost roughly $20-$30 (it's been a while so I don't remember for sure). I got the little rocker for $1 at a garage sale, painted it white, and reupholstered it. The book holder we had, but you could find a basket at a thrift store for super cheap. I just painted it and voila...

The curtains were from Burlington Coat Factory and I think they were $6 each. The white thingy over her bed was $10 at Ikea. And I'm thinking the garbage was from Ross and I'm sure I didn't pay much for it.

I bought the shelves at the thrift store for $1.50 and painted them. I got the pink frame for free from my old job and painted it. The lamp was a Goodwill find for $5-ish. The nightstand was my grandma's and it has been painted a willion times. The big rocker was $15 at a garage sale. It used to be red with red pillows. I painted it white and made the black and white cushions to match the rest of the room.

Total cost: Approx $64.50 for accessories and maybe $15 for paint = $79.50. Sorry I can't be exact. I'm going to be doing her new room totally different and I will feature that with exact cost.

Pretty please follow me. I will be having a give-away soon!

I will be Linky partying on these blogs.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

My First Chairs

My apologies to those who read my family blog and have seen these before, but I just love them and wanted to feature them on this blog.

I found these dirty, smokey chairs at Deseret Industries (a local thrift store) and they were, as my 2 year old would say, GROST (gross + t). But, with a little love and the same amount of paint...

They transformed! I totally redid the cushions and reupholstered them in Hollywood Teal from Joann's, which is not an upholstery material. These were my very first chairs and I didn't know you needed to buy a different kind of fabric for them (duh!). So, I guess they will be reupholstered soon, but I'm still loving them.