Wine Results and Estate Sale Freebie

I talked my husband into going to an estate sale!!!  That's him above spraying our cool find.

This is epic. David, while the best bargain hunter I know, is not into thrifting. He's not excited about used treasures and he'd rather go to the swap meet than a goodwill or antique shop. This time, however, I talked him into it. So we drove up some windy roads in West Linn until we got to the estate sale.

Maybe it was because I LOST the Wine "Yay or Nay 40".  By 4 votes!!!  Can you believe that.  I did talk him into starting a blog, though.  He got a wordpress platform and his domain is mywinetips.wordpress.com and there are no posts.  It still says "hello world!" whenever I check it.  Yeah.... I don't think the blogging thing is going to stick for my honey. :)  I still can't believe I lost!  I'm a horrible loser.  That's probably why he created a blog, just to get me to stop whining about losing!  To make it worse, we played scrabble the other night and he won that too.  I'm used to him winning games, but scrabble?!  I thought I was the one who knew her words.  He got 39 points on the word "eggy".  Would you even use the word "eggy"?  Something like "that casserole was a bit eggy"?!  Oh David.  I love you but "eggy"?!

Back to the estate sale.  so yeah, I got him to go and the first thing we see is a wine rack that holds 42 wine bottles.  It was super ugly in it's metal gold look, but we both looked at each other and said the same thing... "Spray paint?!"  I love it that David doesn't mind taking a risk.  I mean not that it was much of a risk... It could only look better!

"That piece is free," the man running the estate sale said.  "Can't really go wrong with the price."

We looked at each other.  "Spray paint!"  It was an easy choice.  We carted it to the truck and went to go buy some spray paint.



 David had the job of spraying.  I always have streaks on stuff when I spray paint.  Him on the other hand, he's pretty good! 

We moved it around a bit, let it dry, did it again, got my butt whooped in scrabble, looked to see if it was dry.  He did a great job getting it to look like it was made to be black!!!

At 1 a.m., we finished scrabble and David won so I said we should bring in the wine rack and see how it looked.  I know we'll end up moving it into the living/dining room eventually since it doesn't really match the white country look we have going on in the kitchen, but for now it's fine.  I think it looks great!

It's so fun taking something that was FREE and making it work for you!

Since David's been into collecting wine lately, we've needed a place to house all our bottles!  This definitely does the trick.

I feel a wine tasting party coming on.... :)

Shopping the House

A week or so ago i was getting bored in my kitchen. 

I know, I know, I just refaced it and I looooooove it, but I felt like it was missing some spark.

I didn't want to spend any money, so...

I shopped the house.

Shopping the house is interesting.  Sometimes I find something I'd totally forgotten about.  Other times I find something to repurpose.  It makes me a little creative crazy, if you know what I mean.

My first find was an old bookshelf/ladder that I'd bought on clearance at Target a couple years back.   I decided it fit perfectly in the corner of my kitchen.  I just needed to fill it with pretty yet useful things.

I shopped the house.

I found a pretty blue caraf that my sister-in-law had given us for our wedding.  I put it on the shelf.

I found an old bottle that used to house Trader Joe's balsamic vinegar.  When I'd used up all the vinegar, I noticed I liked the shape of the glass bottle so I kept it.  Glad I did!

Nester did a series on a plate wall and so I've been searching for plates when I peruse around Goodwill.  I'd found this platter a few weeks back for $3.  Works pretty well with the teal blue caraf and the empty bottle!

Next I found a basket.  It was the perfect size, but it was large enough where you could throw stuff in it and make it look really messy.  I needed something to give it a bit of color and fill the space yet be functional.

I shopped the house.

I came up with these placemats I'd bought at Big Lots (they're Pier 1!) before we got married.  I still like them.  5 years later and I still like my placemats? Maybe I'm finding my style along the way! 

While we were in Florida, I'd found this cute beachy mirror at TJ Max on clearance for $5.  I of course had to buy it and stuff it in my suitcase along with bridesmaid dress and shoes and laptop and all the other junk I think I need when I travel.  I just adored the colors.  I immediately thought this would be a good place for it along with some cool and calm blue candles.

Next I needed a burst of color...

So guess what I did?

I shopped the house.

I found these pears that I bought at Fred Meyer a few years back (fake, of course.  I don't do weird drying of fruit or preservation or junk like that.  These are totally legit fake pears).  The yellow was a nice contrast with the teals and blues going on.

Of course I had to add a salad cook book because I adore salads.

And I ADORE David.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love this man?!  Well I do.  We have our moments but I love this man.  I had to put at least one picture on the ladder shelf!

Finally, the very top shelf was super skinny so I had to put small items that didn't need a lot of foot room. 

While shopping the house, I found this cheese slicer that I've never used.  Okay, well I used it once at my housewarming party but not to slice cheese.  Rather to put cheese on-- it made it look kind of fancy I thought.  :)

This old pottery barn lantern was purchased at a flea market in Tigard and I love how the silver/metal/whatever-it-is is kind of tarnished.  Gives it that rustic look.

You can do pretty well when you shop the house!

*Don't pay attention to the lack of baseboards.  We're still figuring that out*



Not too shabby for about an hour of shopping the house and placing things together.

$0 and an hour of my time.