Mom Time on a Dime

First of all, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all those who entered the Home Depot gift card giveaway!  Via Random.org, the winner is Liz M!  Thank you so much for all those who entered!!  It was a really fun giveaway and I'm so glad CouponCabin.com let me be a part of it!

So this project is pretty out of the box for me... but I always love trying something new, so why the heck not.

I found this chair at an estate sale for $17.50 (I bundled it with another chair for $35).

 I liked the bones but wasn't necessarily something I would pick for our house.  However, it totally reminded me of a chair I saw on one of my favorite blogs (and I'm sure it's yours too) Young House Love.

Picture from YHL here

 I figured for $17.50, it might be worth the try.

First thing it needed was spray paint.

 And primer...
 I decided on a mossy green (Rustoleum "Oregano" in satin)
After I let it dry outside for a day before I brought him inside and dressed him up with some pillows ('holla at ya HomeGoods!!)
 Eh, not too shabby.  I kinda like the browns and green.  Very Earth toned.  I think we are going to put it in the sunroom once we get it cleared out (this weekend?).  The rug in the definitely has the same tones, so I think it would really work.

Here's the before and after for yea.
What do you guys think?  Do you still need to see it in the sunroom before making your finally decision? I might.

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend!  I'll be back on Monday with a fun lil office update!! (spoiler alert, I Instagramed a teaser a couple days ago.  Feel free to follow: LittleHouseintheBigD)

-Samm

I'm seriously drawn to them like a moth to a flame.

Stores, garage sales, random TV spots (...Chris really loves it when I yell "WINDOW FRAME!" out of the blue when watching a show), I just love em.

We already have two sets hanging in our house.
1. In our laundry room...

Read more about how I made this window into a picture frame HERE

2. In our kitchen...

Read about that find HERE... and, if you're interested, the link to our little frame wall HERE

So it should really surprise no one that when I found a mirrored window frame for $10 at a yard sale, I sprinted over to it, claimed it was MINE! MINE! MINE!, threw it in the back of my car and speeded off laughing menacingly I calmly approached it, asked if they would take $8 (they did), thanked them kindly, then gently put it in my lil SUV, waving as I drove off.
 I know you can't really tell its a mirror from this picture since its just reflecting our fence on the other side (expertly installed by my amazingly talented and handsome husband).

Here's a better "I promise its a mirror" picture....

Ugly chair and open garage, much better.

(Oh, and those purdy lil' crape myrtles also in the picture are a $10 Home Depot find... marked down from $21.99!! Score!!)

After returning from my garage saling Saturday, I went in to tell Chris about all my "treasures" and passed by this blank spot on our fireplace wall.
Boom, it hit me.  Window mirror.
 This spot has been kind tough since I've always felt it needed "something" but didnt want it to over take the pretty fireplace or look too cluttered.
 I figured it might as well be worth a try.

The back of the frame was already set with a metal wire to hang.
But when Chris tried to lift it up, we both became concerned about the effect the weight would have (about 25lbs) on the wall.
 Rocky photo bomb.

Side story:  This is Rocky's new baby. 
 I have never regretting buying a dog toy more in my life.  Not only does he carrying it around with him EVERYWHERE, it has a mechanical sound chip inside (instead of a squeaker) that sounds like dogs barking... for about 10-15 seconds.

Rocky loves when Chris and I hold it or throw it for him, but he's VERY territorial over it with Gus... like a mama bear with her cub.
 Rocky isn't what one would call a "sharer". 

I seriously may have to hide it to bring back some peace and quiet to the house.

Sorry, back to the mirror.

Chris ran out to the garage and found some hanging hooks that would hold up to 50lbs a piece (better safe than sorry, right?)
And installed them on either side of the window frame.
 We next measured were we wanted it on the wall and approximately how high we wanted in relation to the ceiling and height of our settee.

Chris, bringing sexy back.... literally.

Perfect.
 After both of us hung it, we stepped back to see if we liked it.
First thing we both noticed "It makes the room so much brighter!!"
 It brings in a lot of natural light from the dining room without being too obvious.

I'm still a little on the fence if it makes that corner look too cluttered, but right now I think we both are liking it.

 Don't let the cleanliness, lack of clutter, and flowers fool you.  The red stain was chipped (and showing through yellow?!) and the chairs were less than comfortable.
That being said, I bought this table off Craigslist for $30 when I first moved to Dallas (it was better than sitting on suitcases and eating on cardboard boxes (true story)).  It may not be the prettiest table, but it definitely worked and when compared to our awful, uncomfortable, small couch/loveseat (which we want to replace as soon as we have the moola) so the table was kind of on the back-burner. 

So when I was out garage saling last weekend, I found this awesome pub/bar height table marked for $150 and pictured it more as a Craigslist flip rather than a piece for our house.
 It came with 4 chairs, table, and leaf.  It was in really good shape and I asked the host of the sale if they would take $100 (thinking they would counter at $125 which I was more than willing to pay so I could flip it for possibly $300 on Craigslist) but she agreed right out on $100! SCORE!!!
 Sorry the pictures aren't very good.  The sale was PACKED and I am SHOCKED that no one picked up on this table before I did!!

I called Chris to celebrate... .... ... and to ask him if he would help break it down so we could get it home.

He and our buddy Blake took the legs off the table and took one of the chairs in my Subaru Tribeca SUV and I fit the rest of the chairs in Chris's Saab with me.
 I did mention he drives a Saab, right?... as in a SEDAN...
 Totally safe(ish)...

We were only a few side streets away from home so it wasn't nearly THAT bad.

What I DIDN'T expect is how much Chris would like the table.  I knew it was in really good shape, but Chris LOVED it!  I agreed to set it up in the dining room (if it didnt work out, I still would need pictures for Craigslist).
For me, I think its a bit too tall for such a small room.

Don't get me wrong, I think its a MAJOR upgrade from what we had! I even agreed to post our old table on Craigslist and keep this one to see if I would grow on me. (Spoiler alert: We sold it for $100 in one day which makes this whole table upgrade 100% FREE!!!)
Its a gorgeous table, and I think we are going to keep it for now, but there are still two things that bother me.

1. Height.
        - I think it would look a LOT better if our ceilings were just a foot higher, but I think the tall table just makes the room look a bit "shrunk".
2. It only has 4 chairs.
      - If we have more than 2 people over, we don't have any other chairs the same height.  I'm thinking this might be remedied by getting a set of leather accent chairs to go at either end, but so far I haven't found anything.  (UPDATE:  We actually did find some AWESOME accent chairs on craigslist for $25 a pop! Click HERE to check them out!)

What do you guys think? Do you like it? Don't like it? Think it's too big? Think it works?  Chris's dad even said we could saw the part of the legs off to make it shorter... ... ... ... ... so there's that option.

Let me know what you think! Thanks!
- Samm
P.S- Tomorrow is the last day for the Home Depot give card giveaway.  If you like free money, enter HERE.

Ok, maybe not Date "Night", but Date "Day Auction" sounds a bit "swinger-ie" for us... like we are looking for something besides tile and counter tops. (But if you're into that, its fine... to each their own...)

Anyway, as I posted last Friday, Chris and I go to this auction every time its in town, so it IS our sorta multi-annual date outing.  If it wasn't for the AC going out on us a couple weeks ago, we would actually be in prep mode to start redoing the kitchen... alas, we cant start that until we pay off the new AC in full (our goal is by the end of the year if we are really strict)

So as we drove up, we had to kept repeating to ourselves that we were "just looking"...

 sketchie? yea...

Beginning of a bad horror movie? Could be...

"They thought they were going to an marble and granite auction... but they were actually being lured to their doom...."

 I'm glad Chris and I have done this before because if this would have been the first time, I would have made Chris turn around.

However, once we got inside, we were greeted by one of the planners (a lady we talk to every time we go.  She even told us she hoped she would see us this auction and thought about us when they announced they were doing another auction in Dallas... awww we made friends!) so we felt right at home and started looking around.

First thing that caught my eye were these beautiful 12x12 marble tiles...
 Auction day, these went for $3.50 a sq ft... Chris and I thought they would look awesome in a bathroom.

Next were these psychedelic floor tiles.
 Wouldnt really work in our house, but pretty fun and funky... (sorry I dont know how much these went for :-(

Next were some counter-tops that I've had my eyes on since our first auction.
 Beautiful travertine (which would look AWESOME with our travertine tiles that are going to be on the floor).  But Chris said the fact that the counters arent sealed or polished means they can be really porous which would be trouble down the line.  (sigh)... I think these went for $250 for each 7ft slab.

  Next we found some more large, pretty tiles.
 I thought these would be pretty and bright in an entry way...  .. ... of that mansion we are someday going to own.

Chris was a fan of these large travertine tiles.
 Actually, now looking at the width of these, I think they are pavers... whatever they were, they were gorgeous... especially at a only $1 a sq ft.

Walking around, of course I wanted these.
 Sadly, I was vetoed by Chris... I mean COME ON CHRIS! What house DOESNT need two large burst on either side of the driveway?

Oh, and this sink to go with it....
 Going back to stuff that was a little more practical, I thought these travertine tile mosaics were really pretty.
 I liked the diamond pattern but wasn't too sure of how it would look with the tiles next to each other and grout in between.

We then started to look at some back-splash options.
I really liked the texture of these travertine subway tiles, but Chris added that they would be REALLY hard to clean if we ever got bacon grease or any food on them... (and of course we would)...

Same for these...
They had some other options of the travertine floors we actually bought last time...
However ours are 6x4 where these were 6x6 and 4x4... we're more into the rectangle look than the squares.

We also shopped around at a couple a counter options... Like this granite one.
At $185 a slab, I really liked these since they looked a lot lighter than everything else (our kitchen is so small, we need to keep it light and bright to make it look bigger).

I also really liked these POLISHED travertine slabs... only $200 each!
I then got detracted by something shiny rocky and totally adored the look of these rock sheets.
My mom put the multicolored ones in the guest bath shower and I think it looks awesome! Plus, it gives you a little mini foot massage while you are scrubbing up!  Honest question, does anyone know if you can install these in a bathtub? I don't know if that is a stupid question or not, I mean you are already working with a flat surface and I THINK they would hold, but I have no idea... If anyone does know, I would love for you to leave a comment below!

Chris also found these large stone slabs which would be an excellent fireplace accent.
My fear is that they would be too heavy... they are pretty though.

We were just about to leave, until I saw THIS and froze...
The heavens opened, the angels sang, and Chris said, "oh no, you saw it"... LIKE HE WAS TRYING TO HIDE IT!!!

True, I did made a big scene (squealed like a Bieber-loving-14-year-old, clapped my hands like a retarded seal, and ran over to give it a hug) but he still shouldn't have tried to hide them.

THIS is exactly what I want in our kitchen!
The white and grey tones would totally compliment our white cabinets and I think the marble look is sophisticated, elegant, and classic.

As if it were fate, we also found this marble tile back-splash...
And then I fainted.

Well, not really, but I tried my best to plead to Chris about how these counter tops and back-splash would complete my life and I would never ask for anything again as long as we were married.

Sadly, it didnt work.  He also reminded me of the $7,500 AC bill and we were NOT in the market for redoing our kitchen just yet.

I then tried to see if we could switch the topic by just getting ONE and doing the less expensive bathroom project first (using the counter as a bathroom vanity) and that ALMOST worked... But sadly went home empty handed.

If its fate, it will be there next time I guess.  The counters went for $250 a slab during the auction and the backsplash for $7.00 a sq ft.

Price wise, the counters (with 3 corners already bullnosed) would have been $17.58 a sq ft, before fabrication and installation.  Does anyone know how much that would cost?  I know a lot of place's prices include the stone, all cut work, and installation, but has anyone ever just bought the stone then gotten it installed?  If anyone has done this, I would love to know your take on the experience!

So what did you guys like best? The travertine flooring? My gorgeous marble counters? Or maybe you are into greek goddess busts?  Also, if you have any questions about the auction, I would love to help and answer as much as I can for you!
Thanks!
-Samm

P.S- Don't forget! The Home Depot gift card giveaway is still going on and runs through Thursday night... Click HERE to enter!
P.P.S- Anyone worried about Marble being a "soft stone" or not being good for kitchens, please read THIS... It definitely put our minds at ease.