Making the Ride Worthwhile

Moving

2010-08-24T23:56:00.003-05:00

I started this blog to chronicle my experiences of crossing things off my "bucket list". Over the past few months I have been slacking on posting. A lot of what I was wanting to post had nothing to do with my list. Plus, I was reconsidering even sharing those personal aspects with the internet world. I wouldn't just hand over my list to a stranger in real life, so why would I do that online?

I have enjoyed writing about my antique finds and the different DIY projects I have done, so I am going to continue that on another blog.

You can find new posts at lot26vintage.wordpress.com as well as a couple old posts I have copied from here.

So I'd love for you to check out the new blog, bookmark it, and leave comments if you'd like. :)

Knock-Off Wood

2010-07-03T21:35:00.006-05:00

If you haven't visited Knock-Off Wood, you are missing out! Ana creates building plans for knock-offs of popular furniture. Her plans are easy to follow and have drawings to go along with them. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars for one Pottery Barn table, you can follow her plans and build enough furniture to decorate your entire home.

I needed a nightstand in my room, so I found Ana's plans for this end table (a knock-off of this Pottery Barn table). I spent about $50 for materials and tools and it took me a few hours to complete the project.

Thank goodness for those clamps! Don't think I could have finished the project without them!

Finished the building part... now for the staining...

Voila! 2 coats of stain and 1 coat of polyurethane and it's good to go.

I'd love to build this daybed inspired by Pottery Barn:

I could put it in my office to convert it into a guest room/office.

Hello?

2010-07-02T21:54:00.008-05:00

Talk about a long hiatus from the blogging world!

I have been working so much lately, I just haven't had the motivation to update the good ol' blog. I have spent a lot of my free time doing some renovations around the house. In the past few months I have repainted my office and living room and installed wainscoting and wood floors in the living room. My house looks completely different now that my living room makeover is complete. I'm hoping to do an entire post about the living room revamp... I just need to hang stuff on the walls and it will be good to go... well with the exception of seating... I am still shopping for the perfect sofa. I have been looking for the perfect one since I moved in April of last year.

I'm loving these:

(via designsponge)

(Originally saw this in Lucky - found the photo online here)

(source unknown)

(via decorpad)

My living room isn't very large, so I need something that is large enough to seat more than 2 people, but not too bulky where it takes up half the room. Oh yeah, and it can't cost me an arm and a leg.

I found this sofa and loveseat at macys.com, but I am a little hesitant on buying furniture online.

I'd love to find a piece at an antique store or craigslist and taking on the challenge of reupholstering it, but I have yet to find one that I am in love with.

Does anyone know where I can find a antique/vintage inspired sofa in OKC?

Bright Lights

2010-02-13T00:13:00.003-06:00

I've been wanting to get new light fixtures in my home since I moved in. Two things stand in my way: 1) I am afraid of messing with the electrical work and 2) My living room has 15ft tall ceilings and I don't have a ladder tall enough to even get high enough to take down the ugly track lighting and dated white ceiling fan if I wasn't afraid of electrocuting myself!

I'd love to do something like this above my dining room table:

(via apartment therapy)

(via design sponge) ( Light kit found here)

I love the red! I think it would really pop and I know that I'd probably be able to find a chandelier at a thrift store for less than $15 - add some spray paint and voila!

(via design sponge)

This would be great for outdoors... too bad Oklahoma winds would probably destroy them in a matter of minutes:

(via casasugar)

P.S. Laying in bed sick for almost 2 days has left me looking at SO many design/DIY blogs, it's not even funny. I want to redecorate every room in my house now!

Up and Running!

2010-01-31T20:16:00.002-06:00

I've spent a majority of today working on my new etsy shop. (For those of you who aren't familiar with etsy, it is an online marketplace for people to buy and sell handmade and vintage items.)

I've got the shop up and running. Take a look around!

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
lot26vintage.etsy.com

Snow Day

2010-01-29T21:38:00.002-06:00

Being snowed in for a few days has given me a lot of free time to do some much needed cleaning and organizing around the house. While cleaning, I found some lovely little handcrafted goodies that I decided to relist on my etsy site. I've put the link on my sidebar to the right.

Once I upload all my vintage finds to etsy, I'll post that store up there as well.

Something's in the works...

2010-01-08T00:32:00.005-06:00

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you can probably tell that I enjoy antique shopping. I usually go once a week - and no, I would not consider myself addicted. I am, however, a bit quirky about how I shop.

Antique shopping is a bit different than any other type of shopping. When I shop for clothes, I like going with a girlfriend. You can ask for their opinion on something and if you shop at the same stores, you can make sure you aren't purchasing something they bought the week before. When I go antique/thrift shopping, I have to go alone. I have my regular stores that I go to and I have a weird system of shopping. If someone is shopping with me, it throws of my entire game plan because I'm concentrating more on the person than I am the merchandise. (Man, typing this all out makes me feel a lot more OCD about it than I am!) It's like when you host a party - You are so busy wondering if everyone is having a good time or if there's enough food and drinks for everyone or if everyone has a place to sit that you forget to just relax and have a good time. At the store, I am wondering if the other person has looked at everything they want to or if they are bored of the store and they are just wandering around waiting on me, so I just hurry up and end up not enjoying myself. I think I end up doing this because I'm the only one of my friends that is really into antiquing and having to dig around for the good stuff. If I was shopping with someone that was as into it as I am, it would probably be a different story.

I look at antique and thrift store shopping as a treasure hunt. Each of my regular stores has it's own "map" and I have a route set out for each one. For example, at The Rink Gallery, I always start on the south side of the building and work my way north. I know which booths to skip (the Western-themed one and the Dollhouse/Lace one) and which ones have great finds every time (the booth in the Northeast corner, next to the one with all the old oil cans and bookshelves). If I'm lucky, I leave with a fun little piece of the past. Even if I don't purchase anything, I'm still entertained by all the weird stuff people are trying to sell.

After being inspired by Three Potato Four and a conversation with my friends Beth and Brad, I have decided to take my hobby of antique shopping and work it into my List. I am working on creating an Etsy store to sell vintage goods that I find on my shopping excursions.

We'll see how it goes! I'm hoping for the best! I've already accumulated a handful of items that will be listed once the Etsy store is set up.

The only thing I am lacking right now is a name for the store... I've been trying to come up with one the past couple of days, but my mind is drawing a blank... grrrr!

I will definitely post a link once everything is set up!

Have a seat...

2009-12-16T23:11:00.006-06:00

I found this Louis-style chair at The Rink a couple months ago. I bought it knowing it could be amazing after a little bit of work was put into it.

This project took me a lot longer than expected. The actual work was pretty uncomplicated, but since I had never worked with a chair like this, I psyched myself out every time I looked at it!

I removed the old ugly fabric within the first few days of bringing it home. That didn't take too long - just a lot of muscle. I made sure when I was removing the old fabric, that I was careful to keep all the pieces in tact and that I remembered how it was attached in the first place. This is probably the most important step in reupholstering furniture. The old fabric serves as a template for the new fabric.

I was super lucky that the batting was in great shape and that I didn't have to replace it. This was my first time working with a chair of this type - The only tutorial I could find online was this one at PoeticHome and just looking at the photos for replacing the stuffing made me want to vomit!

I had considered painting the wood a bright fun color like Jenny did over at Little Green Notebook, but I decided to go with my gut and stain it instead.

After having sat in my office for forever, naked (the chair, not me), I moved the it to the garage, where it sat. And sat. And who knows how much more time passed before I stopped procrastinating and actually started working on it again. My biggest issue was not so much procrastination, but the fact that I REALLY like the chair and I didn't want to screw it up!

Stripping the old paint took a few days... those little grooves are no fun to get paint out of!

I stained the wood and finished with a coat of polyurethane.

I finally found a print that I liked, so I cut pieces of fabric using the old fabric as templates, adding a couple inches around the edges so the print with line up the way I liked. Stapling the new fabric on was one of the easiest steps of the entire project. There was a little edge of wood where the wood trim met the batting - this is where the staples went. The staples were then hidden by hot glueing the piping around the edge.

I love how the chair turned out!

What do you think?

Have you had any projects that are WAY easier than you thought they would be?

#27 - Day 365 - Crossing it off my List!

2009-12-08T18:17:00.002-06:00

Welp, a year has gone by and I've got a photo a day to show it!

Now that #27 is done, this means I've actually got to start writing on here... haha

#27 - Day 364

2009-12-08T18:15:00.002-06:00

Brayden's baby dedication.

#27 - Day 363

2009-12-08T18:11:00.001-06:00

P-p-p-poker face. P-p-Poker face!

#27 - Day 362

2009-12-05T19:08:00.001-06:00

#27 - Day 361

2009-12-05T19:06:00.001-06:00

I love it when you are pumping gas and the pump automatically stops on a round number!

#27 - Day 360

2009-12-05T19:03:00.002-06:00

Dry erase markers are a wonderful invention.

#27 - Day 359 - Antique Shopping Find of the Day

2009-12-05T18:46:00.002-06:00

Where: The Rink Gallery, Bethany, OK

When I saw this, the first thing I thought was that I could see this on a really really mean girl's wall who had a hermaphrodite as a sibling and it was her way of rubbing it in...

#27 - Day 358

2009-12-05T18:43:00.002-06:00

Another great antique store find/DIY project.

I'm striping the paint (all 3 layers of it) and then I am going to stain it and put new knobs on it.

#27 - Day 357

2009-12-05T18:41:00.003-06:00

DIY paper snowflakes.

Tutorial here: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-3D-Paper-Snowflake

#27 - Day 356

2009-12-05T18:41:00.001-06:00

#27 - Day 354

2009-12-05T18:39:00.001-06:00

Found this awesome vintage sled at The Rink - Love it!

#27 - Day 353

2009-12-05T18:38:00.000-06:00

I love decorating for Christmas!

#27 - Day 352

2009-12-05T18:37:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

#27 - Day 351

2009-12-05T18:36:00.001-06:00

#27 - Day 350

2009-12-05T18:35:00.001-06:00

Nutella makes everything taste good!

#27 - Day 349

2009-11-22T23:01:00.001-06:00

love. this. kid!

#27 - Day 348

2009-11-22T22:59:00.001-06:00

This is what happens to your face after taking a shot of sake.

#27 - Day 347

2009-11-22T22:58:00.002-06:00

Origami cranes!

#27 - Day 346

2009-11-22T22:53:00.002-06:00

I'm all about parents displaying their children's artwork, but you have to draw the line sometime. Perhaps when their art looks like a creepy forensic sketch...

#27 - Day 345

2009-11-22T22:46:00.003-06:00

A home in Edgemere Park.

Maybe one of these day's I'll live in one of these houses instead of just climbing on the roofs for work.

#27 - Day 344

2009-11-21T17:52:00.002-06:00

#27 - Day 343

2009-11-21T17:52:00.001-06:00

#27 - Day 342

2009-11-21T17:51:00.002-06:00

tights. as. pants.

#27 - Day 341

2009-11-21T17:51:00.001-06:00

#27 - Day 340

2009-11-21T17:50:00.000-06:00

work.

2 layers of gross vinyl flooring.

#27 - Day 339

2009-11-21T17:49:00.000-06:00

Say hi to Mr. Origami Swan.

#27 - Day 338

2009-11-21T17:47:00.001-06:00

Stagg Acoustic Guitar 205 Series.

#23 - Learn How to Play the Guitar

2009-11-21T17:28:00.002-06:00

When I was really little, my tape recorder was my favorite thing to play with. I would record radio shows, read books, sing, or just spout off random babble into the microphone. Often I would do this when my sister was practicing playing piano. You could even hear her playing in the background on some of the tapes. I remember thinking how lucky I was that I got to play while she had boring practice. Little did I know that it wouldn't be very long until I would start to play as well.

I was never really excited about the piano. I never liked practicing and I HATED recitals. I endured this from grade school until the beginning of high school. I finally convinced my mom to let me quit.

In high school a little part of me wanted to learn how to play the guitar. I ignored those feelings because I knew my mom and I knew what she would say - "You wouldn't practice piano, how do I know you will practice the guitar? Why should I pay for lessons and a guitar when you are just going to end up letting it collect dust?"

Why do mom's have to be so logical?

Well I have continued to want to play the guitar, so I finally took the plunge and purchased one a few weeks ago. We'll see how this goes!

P.S. The guys at Lone Wolf Guitars are awesome. I definitely felt a lot more comfortable going in there than I would have been walking into Guitar Center. Guitar Center is way too big and intimidating for a clueless beginner. You gotta gradually work up to that place!

#27 - Day 337 - Antique Shopping Find of the Day

2009-11-21T16:41:00.002-06:00

Where: Apple Tree Antiques - Bethany, OK

What: 'N Sync bobbleheads

Ladies and gentlemen, what we have here are some real gems. Lance Bass and JC Chasez bobbleheads still in the box! Don't know why the original owner decided to take Chris "No one really cares about this guy" Kirkpatrick out of the box. - Oh wait... Probably because they knew he wouldn't be worth anything IN the box. As you can see, Timberlake and Joey Fatone are missing. I can think of 2 reasons why: 1. The original owner though they would be more valuable in the future and therefore decided to keep them or 2. Someone bought them before I could (totally kidding).

I started to write about why I thought it was logical that JC, Lance and Chris were left, followed by my ranking of each NSync member. Then I realized I have spent more time thinking about NSync in the past 15 minutes than I ever did in middle school. I had to get out of the Nsync vortex while I still could. First it started with Googling Chris to find out his last name (if he didn't have those weird dreadlocks in 1996, no one would know he existed), then I went to Lance Bass' wikipedia page... if I didn't get out when I did, who knows what would have happened... I could have ended up purchasing all their music on iTunes and canceling my plans to night to have a one-person dance party - NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Dang you Internet! You and your addictive stream of useless information!

#27 - Day 336

2009-11-21T16:40:00.000-06:00

Someone needs a pedicure...

#27 - Day 335

2009-11-21T16:39:00.000-06:00

work.

#27 - Day 334

2009-11-16T22:41:00.000-06:00

Remnants of a random DIY project.

#27 - Day 333

2009-11-16T22:40:00.002-06:00

DIY curtains.

#27 - Day 332

2009-11-16T22:40:00.001-06:00

#27 - Day 331

2009-11-16T22:39:00.000-06:00

#27 - Day 330 - Antique Shopping Find of the Day

2009-11-02T18:35:00.002-06:00

Where: The Rink Gallery

Hey Jon Gosselin, I found the perfect dresser for you. I don't think anyone else would appreciate it more than you...

#27 - Day 329

2009-11-02T18:34:00.000-06:00

#27 - Day 328

2009-11-02T18:31:00.004-06:00

Costume party on Friday... Good times!

Here's the feather skirt and tail... I left a trail of feathers everywhere I went!

#27 - Day 327

2009-11-02T18:31:00.001-06:00

More of my Halloween costume.

#27 - Day 326

2009-11-02T18:28:00.002-06:00

Decided to make my Halloween costume this year after being inspired by something Maegan posted recently.

#27 - Day 325

2009-11-02T18:26:00.001-06:00

another day, another dollar.

#27 - Day 324

2009-10-27T20:33:00.000-05:00

#27 - Day 323

2009-10-27T19:05:00.002-05:00

#27 - Day 322

2009-10-27T18:11:00.003-05:00

#27 - Day 321

2009-10-27T18:11:00.001-05:00

#27 - Day 320

2009-10-27T18:09:00.001-05:00

Hot Cocoa in my favorite new mug! Hooray for cold weather!

#27 - Day 319 - Hello Fall.

2009-10-27T18:08:00.000-05:00

#27 - Day 318 - Black Eyed Peas & U2

2009-10-27T17:53:00.002-05:00

Christina, Me, and Creepy Guy we don't know

Black Eyed Peas

Concert was amazing! U2 was impressive, but to be honest with you, my main motivation for going was the Black Eyed Peas. They were so good live! Whoop!

#27 - Day 317

2009-10-27T17:44:00.002-05:00

Shaping hosiery for pregnant women... I don't get it. YOU'RE PREGNANT!

Can someone please explain this to me?

#27 - Day 316

2009-10-27T17:43:00.001-05:00

random work photo.

#27 - Day 315

2009-10-27T17:42:00.000-05:00

Bath time!

#27 - Day 314

2009-10-27T17:40:00.001-05:00

Shredded T DIY project - We'll see how this one turns out...

#27 - Day 313

2009-10-27T17:39:00.000-05:00

#27 - Day 312

2009-10-27T17:35:00.001-05:00

2009-10-13T22:59:00.004-05:00

I'll be honest with you. I don't remember a thing about Where The Wild Things Are. I know I read it at some point in my childhood, but I couldn't tell you what it was about or even the main character's name. There is all this hub-bub about it and I feel WAY out of the loop.

Despite my lack of knowledge, I have found myself inspired by it - well, not so much by it, but inspired by an inspiration that came from the book...

A couple of my favorite bloggers have written about the Where The Wild Things Are fort building contest (which ended yesterday). I loved building forts as a kid, who didn't? After seeing the following photos, I am definitely in the mood to make one for old times sake!

(found here)

#27 - Day 311

2009-10-11T15:56:00.002-05:00

My dad made me a coffee table to match my dining room table.

It's great having a handy dandy father!

#27 - Day 310

2009-10-11T15:36:00.002-05:00

This is Brad's "too fancy and complicated for me to even figure out how to turn it on" Nikon.

Once I was able to turn it on, it was fun to play around with.

#27 - Day 309

2009-10-11T15:35:00.000-05:00

#27 - Day 308

2009-10-11T15:34:00.002-05:00

#27 - Day 307

2009-10-11T15:32:00.002-05:00

This pic makes me wish that Orange Tree would deliver.

2009-10-10T01:47:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I get in moods where I just want to move somewhere random so I can have a change of pace. Something new and a little scarey, but exciting at the same time.

I'm in one of those moods now...

Helpful Hint

2009-10-06T21:42:00.003-05:00

Use rolled up magazines to help your boots stand up.

They look a lot happier this way!

Droopy boots just look sad.

#27 - Day 306

2009-10-06T21:34:00.002-05:00

See those boxes on top of my shoe shelves?

Yeah... those are Christmas presents I bought this weekend... and if I would have had scotch tape, they would already be wrapped.

#27 - Day 305

2009-10-05T22:57:00.002-05:00

On my way back to OKC, I had lunch at Two Frogs and had my first frog leg. Definitely not what I expected. They tasted like a chicken/fish combo. I could only stomach two legs before I gave up and decided they were just not for me... at least they had some good music playing in the background...

#27 - Day 304

2009-10-05T22:25:00.002-05:00

I had a 4 day weekend this weekend - gotta love those - So on somewhat of a whim, I decided to take a little road trip to see Matt & Mandy in Texas.

Kristi and I had recently cleaned out our closets and had a bunch of clothes we were trying to get rid of, so I brought a couple trash bags full to see if Mandy would want anything. We decided to go ahead and clean out Mandy's closet too. I seriously had so much fun just organizing everything - seeing which items should stay, which could be styled differently, and which ones just needed to go. I felt like Stacy London - whom, by the way, I would LOVE to meet/be friends with/eat Orange Tree with.

So if anyone knows how I can turn this into a career, give me the heads up!

#27 - Day 303

2009-10-05T22:24:00.002-05:00

Dusty the Dog.

#27 - Day 302

2009-10-05T22:22:00.001-05:00

#27 - Day 301

2009-10-05T22:21:00.002-05:00

#27 - Day 300

2009-10-05T22:20:00.000-05:00

Why yes, Phyllis, I do have Nutella for my crumpets. :)

#27 - Day 299

2009-09-29T21:15:00.000-05:00

#27 - Day 298

2009-09-29T21:14:00.002-05:00

It's amazing how many toys I have found on top of roofs.

#27 - Day 297

2009-09-29T21:14:00.001-05:00

#27 - Day 296

2009-09-29T21:11:00.003-05:00

Our precursor to poker night.

#27 - Day 295

2009-09-29T20:55:00.002-05:00

Wal-Mart greeters have nothing on this parrot.

Not only does he say "Hello" to everyone that walks in, he also whistles "Boomer Sooner".

#27 - Day 294

2009-09-29T20:50:00.002-05:00

Walked out of my backdoor and happened to look up just as I was 2 inches away from a huge web with this creepy spider right in front of my face.

Ick. Ick. Ick.

#27 - Day 293

2009-09-29T20:49:00.000-05:00

#27 - Day 292

2009-09-29T20:48:00.000-05:00

#27 - Day 291

2009-09-29T20:46:00.001-05:00

#27 - Day 290

2009-09-29T20:33:00.002-05:00

Antique Store Find of the Day: Piano Phone

Where: The Rink, Bethany, OK

It's a phone, it's a piano, AND it's see-through!

What could be better???

#27 - Day 289

2009-09-29T20:32:00.000-05:00

Speak.

#27 - Day 288

2009-09-29T20:24:00.004-05:00

Learning colors with Lizzy during the OU game.

#27 - Day 287

2009-09-29T20:21:00.001-05:00

#27 - Day 286

2009-09-29T20:17:00.002-05:00

Just another reason why I love Crest Foods.

#27 - Day 285

2009-09-15T20:50:00.000-05:00

#27 - Day 284

2009-09-14T18:16:00.003-05:00

I opened my mailbox this morning to find this:

I don't know what kind of nasty bugs these were, but I definitely squirmed. A lot.

And this is coming from the girl who ate a live cricket in college (on a video scavenger hunt).

I cleaned it all out after my work appointment, and I still randomly get the feeling that little bugs are crawling on my skin.

#27 - Day 283

2009-09-14T18:15:00.000-05:00

love the backsplash in my kitchen.

#27 - Day 282

2009-09-14T18:12:00.001-05:00

guess who wanted to take my camera...

#27 - Day 281

2009-09-14T18:10:00.001-05:00

football.

love the confused faces.

#27 - Day 280

2009-09-14T18:09:00.000-05:00

nova!

#27 - Day 279

2009-09-14T18:08:00.000-05:00

#27 - Day 278

2009-09-14T18:07:00.002-05:00

#27 - Day 277

2009-09-14T18:06:00.000-05:00

work.