For the Love of Couches, 3rd CL Find a Charm

I am taking the first step: I admit I have a couch problem. As I admired my mid-century modern style Craigslist find last night, it struck me that this is the third couch to occupy my living room. And we have lived here just shy of three years. Um...

Of course, for me, that's part of the allure of buying used furniture. I can afford to change it out on a whim. It's easy on the pocketbook and the environment. Plus, much like Tyler's "single serving friends" on "Fight Club," I almost always enjoy the people I briefly interact with through CL. Plus, I think this one's the keeper. No more couch hunting for awhile:

I'd planned to get a vintage MCM couch for this wall, wanting that sleek, long look. It was on my "eventually" list. However, while shopping for a couch for the family room, I stumbled on this Kady couch for $150 and couldn't resist. It sells new at Macy's for $899! (Yes, I am picking up a different couch for the family room tonight. No, they do not have 12-step groups for CL addiction. I already checked CL.)

Due to my husband's bum back, and a birthday party that tied up my son and his friends, I needed to hire somebody to help me get the couch in the car. CL to the rescue again, where I found Frank for $30. I knew I had a good find when every time the seller left the room, Frank would whisper, "This is so nice. You're getting a great deal!" I'm also impressed that I fit this full-size couch in our Ford Flex. The gate even closed. Look! (We'd started to pull it out a bit before I took the pic.)

Even though I'd triple checked my measurements, I was worried if the couch would actually make it. I'd Googled "moving furniture in a Flex," hoping to find somebody who'd done it. Hopefully this pic will help somebody else out down the road. The secret was removing the legs, taking the height from 35" to 29".

The Flex is a superstar, 3-row box of an SUV/station wagon hybrid, and it's interior dimensions vary throughout the car. But all that really matters, for the sake of, "Will that fit?" are the lowest and most narrow points--at it's lowest, it's 32" high. At it's most narrow, by the wheel well, is 42". Depth is 78" (Or a little more if you can scoot the chairs up.)

I'll save how we turned the Flex into a camper this past weekend for another post. Suffice to say, I'm a huge fan of this car. Maybe I'll buy another on Craigslist. But only if it comes with a couch.

Victories of Frugality

Ah, that moment of pure joy and smug satisfaction when you realize just how good of a deal you got. In this case, while shopping for appliance pulls, I came across the style of cup pulls (who knew there were so many types of pulls!) that I'd purchased at a yard sale and will be using on our new cabinets.

It turns out they are Hickory brand "Charleston" pulls, selling from $4 to $5 each, and the knobs can be had for about $3 each. So I'm feeling pretty darn good about buying a bag of 12 pulls and 16 knobs for a grand total of...$4. Victory!

Time to go list the knobs, which we are not using, on Ebay and recoup some money towards the kitchen fund. I only need 100 more discoveries like this to offset the cost of that silly load bearing wall! Baby steps.

Bullets to Bench (After)

I'm really happy with how the ammunition box upcycle went.  Here's the final product:

To get the height, we measured where other deck chairs fell and made my son pretend sit on it as we held it just to be sure (that part wasn't very scientific, but it was funny to watch).  After putting the legs on each side, we decided crossbars that connected the legs and cradled the box would add some extra support.  End result is a rustic look that I like, plus it serves double duty as storage and cost next to nothing:

• Ammunition Box - $5 at yard sale
• Spray Paint - $1 at ReStore (aka, best place on earth for scavengers)
• Poly - $0 left by previous homeowner
• Legs - $0 found wood as we cleaned the garage, prob from previous owner

So, under $10 for our new "custom" bench.  Plus, was nice bonding for the hubby & I.  The parts involving power tools were all him!  I'm the scavenger & idea person. :)  Ok, time to go test out the new bench.  Have to see if it can hold my weight along with a frosty Hoptober.  (Yikes, is it REALLY time for fall beers already???)

Bullets to Bench (Before)

I'm really happy with how the ammunition box upcycle went.  Here's the final product:

To get the height, we measured where other deck chairs fell and made my son pretend sit on it as we held it just to be sure (that part wasn't very scientific, but it was funny to watch).  After putting the legs on each side, we decided crossbars that connected the legs and cradled the box would add some extra support.  End result is a rustic look that I like, plus it serves double duty as storage and cost next to nothing:

• Ammunition Box - $5 at yard sale
• Spray Paint - $1 at ReStore (aka, best place on earth for scavengers)
• Poly - $0 left by previous homeowner
• Legs - $0 found wood as we cleaned the garage, prob from previous owner

So, under $10 for our new "custom" bench.  Plus, was nice bonding for the hubby & I.  The parts involving power tools were all him!  I'm the scavenger & idea person. :)  Ok, time to go test out the new bench.  Have to see if it can hold my weight along with a frosty Hoptober.  (Yikes, is it REALLY time for fall beers already???)

Antique Vanity Turned Desk

After hours of stripping oil-based paint, sanding and painting, my vanity to desk make over is near complete--just waiting for the vintage wooden casters I ordered on ebay to arrive, so I can ditch the shims under the left legs.
Before (sitting in Citri-strip at this stage):

After--this shot is closer to the actual color, though in real life both shades are a little more turquoisey.


I mixed the color myself, using various hues left from other projects. he drawers are what the color looked like before I added more white. My only regret was adding Zinsser primer into the paint. It caused some clumping issues that made things take longer. Live and learn.
The top is just a slab of wood from another project. Will probably paint it a creamy white down the road, but for now, it does the trick. I figure this is plenty of progress for one weekend.

Stripping Moms: Prepping My "New" Desk

While it may not look like it yet, I just inherited the piece of furniture that will transform my home office. For awhile now I've wanted an old desk that I could rig as a computer desk and refinish. Then, this vanity fell into my lap.

My sister-in-law held on to it for years before giving up on refinishing it. I saw its "desk potential" and happily agreed to take it off her hands. This is how it looks with gobs of Citri-Strip coated on it:

With a lot of elbow grease from me and my crew (aka, my mom & MIL), the ugly green crackle coat is history. Can't wait until tomorrow when I can prime it. I'm hoping to complete the whole project over the weekend and have it moved into my office by Monday morning. Too bad half of the crew heads back to NC tomorrow.