7 Garage Sale Purchases

 Every spring, just a block away,  St. George's Anglican church holds a massive garage sale.  People line up down the street to get in on Friday night.

I went with Krisin this year.  She is a great garage sale companion...she has an amazing eye and she's so gracious and lovely about sharing finds.

Here's what I purchased and why:

1.

Metal box.

Because it opens like this.

.50

 

 2.

Set of 5 cabbage leaf bowls.

Because they are old and remind me of my mom.

$5

3.

Vintage tea towel.

Because vintage linens are so sweet and so much better quality than what you can buy new.

$1

4.

Table cloth.

Because I always have my eye out for something to use on this table.  

It makes a great statement for the season. 

$4

5.

Books.

Because pretty hardcover books are always, always useful and you can never have enough.

$5

6.

Cocktail Stir Sticks.

Because who wouldn't want to use one of these cuties to stir up a cocktail??

.70

7.

Frame.

Because you know how I feel about frames.

You can always use a pretty frame, especially one this big.

$2

7 purchases for a total of $18.20.

Happy garage sale season everyone!!!

Sofi's Room Makeover

Last summer Sofi and I completely redid her room.  

I meant to show it to you ages ago but my 40 something year old brain is not always the best at remembering these things.  Of course, it's also possible that I already posted it and forgot.

Help.

Sofi really wanted a complete transformation.  It was a bit of a process working with my daughter as my client.  Since the thrown out rock collection incident she does not trust me very much where her room is concerned.  We also have drastically different taste.  And, she wanted a loft bed desperately, which, as you know, is a thing I do not love!

However, we sat and made plans together.  

She eventually came to terms with no loft bed.  

Part of the deal was that she would have to purge her room on her own, 

which she did an amazing job of.

I am the worst at remembering to take before shots, but basically there was a lot of purple, 

and a whole lot of stuff.

Sofi wanted her walls painted and a more grown up look.

 We chose a new wall colour that she loved and I could live with, and then we set to work creating a clean, peaceful space that she would be able to maintain.

Most of the furniture we already had - except the desk chair, which was a consolation prize for the no loft bed situation.

I painted some things gold,

and some things black to create a cohesive look.

Those little brackets are from Ikea and come in red only.  

I loved how they mimicked the polka dots in Sofi's make up area and they were an amazing price so I sprayed them black to make them match.

I gave this unit black doors and polka dots to update it.

I just took all these after shots the other day.  

Sofi has been a complete star at keeping her space clean.  Everything looks exactly like it did 7 months ago when we first did it.  

Even her closet is a picture of tidy.

Which makes the whole transformation all worth it!

Hoarding and Hiring

I didn't even know it.

I hoard gift bags.

My gift room was in serious need of a tidy. 

I asked Darla to come help me, because it's always more fun to tackle a project with a friend, and when she saw my excessive collection of gift bags,

 she helped me realize that maybe...I had a few too many!?

 

After

Before

It's funny how you just do as you've always done.  My mom kept all gift bags so I did too, not ever even realizing that there was no WAY I could use them all.  

We were able to ween my stock down to a respectable amount, and now that I'm aware of my tendency, I can be more careful about how many I keep.

I also organized my gift storage,  

Before

After

along with the rest of the room.

Before

After

 It's nice to have this space under control.

Sometimes people have questions about hiring me to organize a space in their home.  To give perspective, this room took 2 hours with Darla and I working together. 

So, if this had been a job I'd done for a client, it would have cost $60.

Before

After

 

 

If that seems like something you have a need for, send me an email!

Room Tweak

Maddie's room needed a tweak.

She'd had a king sized bed but was finding space tight so we switched her back to a twin and then had her do some purging and sorting.  Once she had her stuff in piles, I came and rearranged.

We took out a dresser that was not working for her anymore and replaced it with a cart for her card making items.

Before

After

We put the twin bed up against the wall like a couch, creating more floor space.

After

Before

We tidied up her desk and gave her lots of spots to pin messages.

Before

After

Maddie's book collection had outgrown the photo ledges so we got her a book shelf.

Tweaked!