Friday, October 28, 2011

Living Room Couches

I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but we finally got our new set of couches. I sold our brown sectional on craigslist for $250. I didn't have a new set yet, so for several weeks I combed several different areas of craigslist. (My husband said next time we buy the new couches or furniture BEFORE getting selling the old.)

It seriously took several weeks of looking. Hours. My dream couches were the Pottery Barn Basic, but full price they were $1500. Each. So I looked at tons of slipcovered sofas hoping something would fit the bill. Long story short, I found these sofas on a craigslist listing for $700 dollars. They are from JCPenney, and they look exactly like the PB Basic. After doing some research I realized that the couches were made to the same quality as the PB ones. Perfect!

I called the lady and offered $600, and she actually took it! They were brand new, the loveseat still had the plastic wrapping on it. She had moved into a small condo and realized that the couches were too dark for the space so she went to ZGallerie and found another one. She gave me the receipt, she had just paid over $2000 for them a month and a half before.

Another plus? Down the road if we want new slipcovers they are HALF the price as Pottery Barn. And I've seen them on ebay for less than half the price as retail. Needless to say I am thrilled with the couches. So... with the 250 dollars of the sectional and the 600 dollar price tag, I just got a new pair of $2000 couches for the frugal price of $350 total out of pocket. This is why I LOVE craigslist, and why its worth HOURS of looking.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

New Closet Floor for the Boys

My boys got a new closet floor in their room. We were not expecting to do this project, but take a lesson learned from me: DO NOT STICK WET GOODS IN A CLOSET! I had a #10 can of peaches on the floor as well as some other food storage items. Well, turns out that the can got botulism and exploded in the closet. Except...we didn't know for a couple of months. None got on the boys clothes, but seeped out and oozed over the other dry goods that were in there for food storage. So, goodbye carpet in the closet and goodbye to the closet doors! (Syrup from the peaches oozed out onto the track, so we pitched them as well since I want to eventually put bifold doors on)
So here is the closet in its "raw" form after the floor being thoroughly bleached. The kids slept in their brother's room for a week.
I was able to get these vinyl squares on clearance at Lowe's for 44 cents each. Super cheap, and they have the glue on the back already.
I used a ruler and then scored the plastic with a razor blade so that the desired piece would snap off.
 
And voila, the finished product.

5 minute fall wreaths

I was reading my list of blogs in my Google Reader when Allison from House of Hepworths posted 36 Inspiring Wreaths for halloween and fall. I have had two grapevine wreaths in my garage gathering dust, and I saw some beautiful grapevine wreaths on Allison's blog!

I grabbed my wreaths and hot glue gun and in less than 5 minutes I had a completed wreath! I pulled the stalks off of the fake flowers, then took a bunch of hot glue and attached them to my wreath.
Loving my new wreath! For the wreath that inspired mine, click here. She did a great job on hers and I loved her tutorial!