Friday 22 February 2013

Dresser Revamp!

My grandparents finally decided it was time to sell the farm this summer.  It was  bittersweet.  I love the place, but it became hard to justify keeping it anymore.  The farm had been in the family for over 100 years so it has been accumulating TONS of stuff and crap.  And when I say stuff and crap I really mean mostly crap and junk.  There were boxes upon boxes upon boxes of ridiculous things like hundreds of bread tags and milk caps.  People really used to save EVERYTHING way back when!  I guess I might too if I had an entire farm worth of buildings to fill up!

Anyhow, my favorite find while going through things and cleaning up for sale, were of course my grandmother's hats!  I love hats! They make me happy and I wish more people would start wearing them so I wouldn't feel so ridiculous wearing mine!  I will share pictures of those after my wedding since I will be wearing one I revamped for it.

Right now my 2nd favorite find is a fabulous dresser that they have had for as long as I can remember.  I snagged that baby and my parents snagged its companion.  I loved the dresser itself, but I hated the color and the handles.  It may have taken me 49 hours of sanding, stripping, staining and varnishing (not to mention the hunt for new handles that were for a hole spacing that was no longer standard)  and I have a new dresser for my bedroom which I absolutely ADORE!!  It is complete with a false top drawer that actually flips open and houses my satellite dish receiver!  Boy, who knew adjusting hinges and installing a lid stay would be so tricky!  I do now!

not bad, but not great before





had to fill in one hole for each handle as best I could since I didn't realize the hole spacing problem until after it was all refinished.  Oops!


the lid stay didn't come with instructions so I had to wing it.  Ended up drilling 3 sets of holes before I managed to get it in the right place so it would do what it was supposed to!


After! 

Handy hints Part 1 (There may or may not be a Part 2 at a later date)

I am a big fan of tips and tricks that make my life easier.  I want to share some that I have used recently.

First off; Bobby pins.

I know you are probably thinking what tip there could possibly be to make them stay in your hair.  well, turns out I have been using them wrong all these years.  You know the bumpy side, right?  Yeah that side you always put up and often has decorative embellishments.  Turns out you can make a bobby pin stay put ALL DAY LONG if you put the bumpy side down!  Life changing I tell ya!  I figured that one out by accident early this past summer and will never wear a bobby pin the other way ever again!


Second; Bathtub grime cleaning.

 I hate my bathtub.  It is made of some kind of acrylic that is a soap scum magnet.  It looks filthy disgusting 3 days after a deep scrub.  And when I say filthy, I mean like a grease monkey showered with a dog and a slimy snail.  Not pretty.  I was out of my usual cleaner the other day and I was so beyond disgusted by my tub I had to try something different.  This is where Dawn dish soap comes in.  Yep.  Dawn dish soap!  A hearty squirt in hot hot water in the bottom of the tub, a scrubbing sponge and some hot water and
6 minutes later I had a sparkling clean bathtub!  Amazement is the word that best describes this!  I no longer dread scrubbing the tub!


Third; Stinky Towels.

You know that strange stale smell that towels seem to get after a while? That almost but not quite mildewy smell?  Yeah it sucks.  You know your towels are clean but they still smell funky.  It happens.  To make it go away, just throw in 1/4 cup of baking soda into your wash load.  Makes a huge difference!  No need to do this every time though, just once every dozen or so times you wash em.

Fourth; Strawberries

Yep. Strawberries.  We eat a ton of them in our house!  I always feel so guilty cutting the top off and losing so much of the fruit when you take the greenery off.  Well, I have heard rumors that using a straw to remove the core works well...so I tried it.  I'm hooked!  You just shove a straw right up through the whole strawberry (trying to go as straight as possible) and push that stem right out the top!  Holy time saver, Batman!  Less waste of both fruit and my time!

Core a strawberry with a straw!

I love a good sale!

I won't lie, I love shopping.  I usually try and come up with a good reason for shopping for a specific item before I go, and the reason this time was that we have an upcoming warm-ish weather vacation and my son only had 3 pairs of shorts that still fit him from last year.  We managed to snag some super adventuring shorts at Costco, but then I remembered Old Navy was having their big Baby and Kid sale!  Everything in the kids' department was 40% off, so of course I had to go check it out!

I have been seeing posts on the Old Navy Facebook page from Mommy Bloggers talking about what a great deal they got on some great outfits during this sale, but I really didn't see it as that great of a deal most of the time.  One woman mentioned getting 8 pieces for $75, which is not bad, but it certainly isn't incredible when I know you can find some great things in the clearance department and get the extra 40% off there too!

I went with the goal of getting just things for my son, but of course I stumbled across 2 shirts that I have had my eye on that were now in the clearance department!  Score!

For a grand total of $32.99 we got 1 pr of boys' chinos in a fantastic blue, 2 pairs of boys' fleece pants (so cozy!), a boys' fleece half zip, a skull covered boys' t-shirt, a ladies' sequin tank, and a ladies' ruffle long sleeve top.  (and 2 drinks because man they keep that store HOT!)  I still can't believe some things rang through at $1.26!! Un-freakin-real! Of course now that I am home and looking over my purchases, I wish I had grabbed a few more things!  Oh well, the best part about Old Navy is hitting up random sales and continually being surprised what you can get for an amazing price!



Tuesday 5 February 2013

KeySocks

I love pretty shoes.  I mean, what girl doesn't secretly want a ton of heels and flats to go with every outfit?  I didn't used to!  I used to be a get my hands dirty, work on cars, wear coveralls and steel toed boots all day kind of girl.  I still like to do those things, but now, as I have grown older and wiser, I realize how important it is for a girl to still look like a girl whenever possible!  

Anyhow, back to the shoes...We get winter here.  And when I say winter, I don't mean wear a bunnyhug and gloves winter; I mean wear 3 parkas, long underwear, ski pants, 2 toques, a neck warmer and big warm boots if you are going outside for any length of time!  I still quite often have the desire to wear my pretty heels or flats in the winter, but I can't go barefoot and let my toesies freeze!  Well, a couple of fantastically smart ladies came up with a great solution!  KEYSOCKS!

They are these fantastic knee high socks with cutouts on top so people don't know you are wearing socks!  They have worked great with every pair of shoes I have tried them on with from heels to flats and everything in between!  They don't even look horrible with peep-toes!  (Wouldn't be my first choice, but still works!)  I got 4 pair for Christmas (after sharing the link with some people when I dropped hints for gift ideas ;)  They help keep my toes warm(er) on those chilly days where I still want to look good!  Love these things!  Buy some!! Your feet will love you for it!