Bitten By The Bug

Ahhh...so many title possibilities for this post:

Needing an Intervention From Craigslist
- OR -
Yet Another Occasion For Alan to Shake His Head In Dismay
- OR -
Obsessed With Funky Florals
- OR -
The Reason Why We Have Yet Again Descended to the Depth of Squalor

However, since I can't pick them all, let's just sum it up to say that I blame Ms. Little Green Notebook. Ever since I started reading her blog, I want to completely re-do my (well, our) home. I'm feeling inspired to try new things and to make my (whoops - our) home more a reflection of me (I know I should use "us" here, but I'm just being honest, yes?).

And then right about the time I found her blog, I discovered the Dangers Of Craigslist. Obviously I am referring to addiction and not stalkers and scam artists. I have discovered that CL is something you have to look at fairly regularly and without too many specifics to find an item you want (similar to another favorite store of mine - Goodwill!). In the past few months, I have been keeping my eyes open for a buffet (4 feet-ish), a credenza, and a dining table and chairs. And I want these pieces to be vintage/antique. Nothing new. Nothing Pottery Barn. Nothing like everyone else's, you know? And since the gravy train has not stopped by our (see! there! I used the right pronoun!) home yet, cheap is always nice.
So, about a month ago, I discovered the table and chairs that you see here on CL. They were at a home in Asheboro, so after haggling a bit (knocked the price down $25!), Alan and I threw the kiddos at my parents and went to snatch up the furniture. Half of the fun of the CL purchase is meeting the seller. She was this cute, small town little older lady, and she chatted us up while she made the sale. It was love at first sight with the table, but I was a little hesitant about the chairs when I saw them on CL. However, I couldn't get them out of my mind, and I became smitten with the lines and the knobs, and yes, even the rattan. They are now living in our garage awaiting their next transformation. The table we have now in our dining room (where we eat every night) is from Alan's grandparents' home from when they passed away (as in, it needed a place to go). It's nothing fancy and not to my taste, but it has served it's purpose. The new table came with six chairs (the amount we have now), but there is room for possibly up to ten with the leaves in.
At first we (ummm...which really does mean "me" here...Alan talked about contributing his efforts, but between his schedule and limited interest, I knew who would end up with this project) toyed with refinishing the black speckled faux walnut veneer. A few rounds with the sander told us quickly that this was a no go. So, I am now planning to paint the chairs (except not the rattan) and table a satin chocolate brown and give it a coat of poly. The chairs will be recovered in this AWESOME fabric above that I bought for about the same price of Alaska at 1502 Fabrics (where we shopped with Edward when we were on TS!! Oh, the memories!). The flowers look black in the photograph, but they are really the same brown that I will use on the furniture. Which, alas, means I will then need to take down that wallpaper I put up (still like it, not in love anymore...oh, how fickle is my heart!) and painty painty painty.
And now for the sad news. Go grab some tissue. Remember this idea? Well, in addition to a lined red fabric for the roman shade, I found this wonderful floral at Jo-Ann's for the drapes. I went ahead and bought three yards to test the colors against the gold of our walls. It was - sit down - a PERFECT MATCH. I was giddy with excitment (sigh. it doesn't take much). Alas, when I went back to order 15 more yards (three windows, six panels, 95 inches in length), there was no more at the store. Or at any other store. Or in the wearhouse. Or on the internet. Or at any location in the universe. I almost cried, but tried really hard not to be that shallow (whoops - maybe I'm already there). I looked at fabrics at 1502 today, but didn't find anything that a) I liked nearly as well as the above, or b) was anywhere close to reasonable in my budget. The hunt continues...

Stay tuned: after visiting 1502, I popped over to Wonder Store and made my LAST PURCHASE FOR A WHILE. I promise.

My name is Julie. I am addicted to Thrift Store Shopping.