Tag Archives: Garage Sale

Turning something ugly into something pretty

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AKA a before and after of the new nightstand for our bedroom at the farm.  Recently John and I made the trip to the farm to kick off a major makeover.  We had a new floor installed in the kitchen, one bedroom painted and the upstairs hallway painted all within 24 hours.  Needless to say we were exhausted but sleep deprivation didn’t stop me from freaking out over how ugly our “nightstand” is up there.  It may even be file drawers.  So I put a request in with Will-A-Rama.  I sent her a few photos of ones I liked at PB teen (one of my new favorite websites) setting a budget of $45.

She found this at one of her favorite stores for $45 and they agreed to sell it for $35.  The size and shape was exactly what I wanted (Pottery Barn Knock Off ish).  The finish clearly was not.

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Refinishing it was as easy as watching John sand the piece and then spray paint it :) .  He added a clear coat at the end to give it a smooth somewhat water resistant finish.

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I had my eye on the knobs for a few days, then low and behold the day I planned to run to Anthropologie to pick them up they went on sale from $8.00 each to $2.95.   They’re not just cute, they’re cheap, you can’t go wrong with that combination.

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I am counting down the weeks until I’m back up there to put it in our bedroom and build an awesome stairway gallery wall I’ve been working on the past few weeks.

Wine Night Does Wisconsin

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It was last Wednesday (thought I would take the opportunity to throw in another W word).

Instead of our typical reality tv/magazine/pizza/wine gathering Gretchen and I headed to Wisconsin to reap the benefits of the still crappy economy and the closing of yet another store. If you have been living under a rock, the economy is bad and the current administration has failed to turn it around. I just summed up about 15,000 news articles for you.

We spent the better part of last week stalking the online auction and pricing out what we were interested in. After we won we headed to Brown Deer, WI. They sold EVERYTHING in the store. I literally mean everything.
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Somewhere in WI there is an idiot whose house now says “LOWES” on the front.

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This same person also has 5 different styles of kitchen cabinets from the displays. I’m sure they’re putting the 5 mismatched sink bases to good use.
We did get some awesome deals. I scored 3 new lights for the Farm, 1 for my mudroom and a ceiling fan for one of our spare bedrooms. What I paid is in red. This would be like my own personal Will-A-Rama except for the fact that everything came legitimately new from INSIDE of a store.
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Second to the deals the highlight of the trip was pulling into the Lowes parking lot and watching a toilet being loaded into a horse trailer. Any doubt that we had officially crossed the border at that point was gone.

When Will-A-Rama goes wrong

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Last week I posted about my deal loving mother in law, she has found some real steals- my powder room was a perfect example- but then there are always the disappoinments.  Some of them are funny, like this gem.

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Yes. That IS an ancient power washer that comes with the instructions to “hit with brick OR stone” to turn on. I’m so glad we have the stone option because it’s hard to find random bricks lying around the house :) .

Presenting Will-A-Rama

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Garage sale guru, Thrift shop sovereign. Empress of the alley. Named after my mother in law, Willa, Willa-A-Rama highlights the triumphs and tragedies she finds while at estate and garage sales, thrift stores and curbside. When she stops by every other Sunday we are always in for a surprise and hoping it’s going to be a good one. She’s had some major scores and some, we’ll say, questionable items.

I recently did a mini powder room makeover with Will-A-Rama items. What started it was this awesome light fixture she found in a box outside next to the garbage at one of our favorite local stores.

Old fixture that came with the house:

Fixture she found in the box (aka FREE!), I found it online for $250, a major score! The only issue with the light is part of the paper shade is slightly indented, probably making it unsellable. We hung it so that area faces the wall and no one has ever noticed. I love how the cutouts create shadows in the room.

A few weeks prior to giving us the light she had dropped off a photo she found for a few dollars at a Good Will, it fit the space above our toilet perfectly.

Then I remembered this nightlight she bought at another Good Will a few months ago but never did anything with, it complimented the crystals in the light perfectly.

The old wood framed mirror now needed to go since it didn’t match anything. I found this one on sale for 50% off, making my total investment in the makeover $30. Not bad huh?