Free printables

Holy crap!  If you somehow missed this post on Little Green Notebook, you must check out the archive of free digital images at the NYPL.  Make sure you clear your calendar first though, because I guarantee you will be lost to the world for hours.
My favorites:

And on and on it goes...  Happy browsing!

Mom and Pop

I went home this past weekend (for a friend's wedding here - it was loooovely!), and snapped a few picturess around my parent's house of general awesomeness.

Now you can see where I get my impeccable taste :)

Dining room. Complete.

I'll just get right to it.  Here are some before pics:

View from the "entry" into the dining room

Don't you just love the peach walls?!  Blecchh.

After:

Here's what we did:
- took down chair rail
- painted ceiling flat white and walls a deep, deep piney green - also flat
- took down heinous fake wood blinds, painted windows matte black and replaced broken window locks
- took down coat closet door, re-painted door and inside of closet, new closet rod, and re-mounted door with new hinges
- added shades to existing chandelier - truth be told, I think it needs to be lowered a bit, but I don't feel quite ready to tackle that yet
- "upholstered" the archway to the entry/living room
- re-located light switches, thermostat, and alarm system on wall in a grouping that made sense, and hung artwork all over that wall to camouflage them

P.S. The wood sculpture is by my insanely talented brother, and the roman shades are by my wonderful mom.
I'm embarrassed to admit this is a room we don't use that often, but it's the first room you see when you open the front door, and it just makes me giddy.

Craigslist finds

I can't actually buy all the cool stuff I see on Craigslist - sad but true.  But look at all this!

$100!!

$300 for all

$20

$100

$140

$80

$45

$30

All from one day's postings - unbelievable.

Shelf for sale

I'm cleaning house.  Perpetually, actually.

Here's the latest:

It was an experiment, but I think it turned out pretty well.  Especially considering its original state:

Yikes.  I added a vertical center divider and additional face frame for support, attached legs to give it some height, then painted/covered it with velvet and nailheads.

Go here if you're interested in taking this beauty off my hands.