First (and probably last) Furniture Makeover

I love to peruse blogs and Pinterest to see the amazing furniture makeovers that people complete. After spending a few minutes hours doing that, I typically head over to Craigslist to see if there are any cheap pieces of furniture to do my own rehab.

While pregnant with Kid, I did just that. My goal was to find a changing table for under $75. I found a super cheap one and contacted the seller right away. Cheap-o as in $25. Pretty cheap, pretty awesome. It was a fairly ugly changing table, but in working condition, so we bought it and brought it home.

It's one of those particleboard changing tables, covered with a super ugly wood grain veneer. Just not cute, and not my style. At all. So my project was to complete the changing table (and nursery) before the boy arrived. Because he was 6 weeks early, none of that happened. I started the changing table before he was born, but it wasn't finished until 3 weeks after he was born. And the nursery? That still isn't complete. I'm working on it.

Here is my furniture makeover:

I, of course, did not get around to taking a before picture. Whoops!

But here is the after:

don't pay attention to the dog head...I was in a hurry!

Isn't it nice? I used the same brown that was used for two of the stripes in Kid's room. I like how dark it ended up, after two coats and some polyurethane. I'm thinking, though, that I want to change the color of the drawer pulls...thoughts on that?

But here's the thing. I am not a fan of redoing furniture. It takes FOREVER. Especially if you're pregnant and fume-sensitive! And then, when you have a newborn in the house.

But in reality, it was the best thing to do. We paid $25 for the changing table. And that was it. We already had paintbrushes, primer, brown paint and polyurethane from other projects.

So, at 25 bucks, it was pretty cheap (but the most expensive piece of furniture in Kid's room).

Linked up here and here.

{recetas} Breakfast Popsicles

Breakfast is much more fun if you get to have a popsicle. Plus, I don't really like breakfast food that much, especially if it is at breakfast. Scrambled eggs for lunch or dinner would be fabulous. But for breakfast? No thanks!

While one of the girls I nanny was at yoga, the Deuce and I made a trip to my local thrift shop. Oh my amazingness. For the last few weeks, I had been looking around (at Bethesda and another thrift shop) for popsicle molds. Just a few days ago, I contemplated buying them new online.

But yesterday's Bethesda trip came through! I snatched the popsicle mold right up. I almost bought a set of 4 aluminum containers, but decided against it. As usual, I sent my mom a picture text to shower her my find for the day. She sent me hers. Including those 4 canisters. We are so much alike, it's unreal.

Anyway. Back to the recipe.

Breakfast Smoothie Popsicles.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups yogurt of your choice (I used Chobani's strawberry yogurt)
• 1.5 cups frozen fruit of your choice (mine was a blend of blueberries, blackberries and strawberries)
• a splash or two of lime juice
• 4 tablespoons Chia seeds (optional)
• a handful of spinach (optional; I didn't use spinach this time, but usually I do.)

The steps:

• Place all of the ingredients into a blender until smooth-ish. It won't be completely smooth, especially if you added the spinach and Chia seeds...or a super seedy fruit.

• Pour the mixture into the molds and insert the popsicle sticks.

• Place the mold in the freezer overnight. Breakfast will be ready when you wake up!

Which was 10am for me today. I love summer!

Thrifty!

I had a few errands to run today, including REI (favorite store!) and the fabric store. I also had a few things that needed to be donated to the local Goodwill. I've found that I have frequented the donation line, but haven't taken the time to peruse the shelves.

As of late, my mom has been talking up this thrift store that opened a few months ago near her work. She was at work today, so I called to see if she wanted to meet me at Bethesda to wander the aisles. Mom has a new thing for dishes and she finds beautiful ones at random thrift stores all the time. I was pumped.

I've seen super DIY projects involving trays that have been spiffed up and I wanted to try it for myself. I just needed a tray (or two). Mom said that I would "for certainly" find one at Bethesda.

We walked into the thrift store and saw the sign that saved me even more money: 60% off housewares. Woo-hoo! Mom brought me right to the aisle with all of the dishes. She pointed out the sets she had her eye on. She also pointed out the things that I had dropped off at her house to donate (super cool to see, by the way!). I saw my old frying pan, a casserole dish and a soup bowl that I had dropped at her house a week ago.

Mom and I did a quick swoop down each aisle, then started over walking more slowly, actually picking through the items.

We soon realized  that we needed a cart. It was that good.

Here's my loot:

This cute green mail sorter was $1.49 (and then 60% off!). It had some black and gold labels that I peeled off before I took a picture. I promise I'll get better at this blog with pictures thing soon! I plan to put it on the wall at the top of our stairs because the hubs and I are terrible with mail. It'll be nice to have a place for it to rest.

This white pot with a lid... My dear friend has a red ceramic pot that sits on her counter for the food scraps to be taken out to the compost bin. I immediately wanted one for myself! Her mom picked hers up at a thrift store, and all I could think of was Nordic Ware Dutch Oven (um, expensive). But! I found this one at Bethesda for 99 cents! AND THEN! 60% off! I am already in love with this store.

And the I found what I went to the thrift store for in the first place. The trays! The price was a bit surprising to me, but, it did come with three trays. And, it was on sale for...you guessed it, 60% off. 6 dollars and some odd cents for three trays? Yes, please! (I still haven't gotten around to taking a picture of them. In fact, they're still in my car.)

I had a few tips from some blogging friends that Lowe's may have a better spray paint selection than my local Home Depot, so I plan on heading that way in the next few days to get to work. I may also stop by the brand new Fleet Farm (one of my favorite stores). My mom used to say: If you can't find it at Fleet Farm, you probably don't need it.