400 Miles of Treasure!

It is one of my favorite times of year, YARD SALE SEASON!!!!  To kick it off, my two best friends and I hit the 400 mile yard sale that runs right through the town I live in.   Seriously, 400 miles of yard sales, laughs, good eats, and the best girls you could ask for, what could be sweeter!?  I get most of my trash to treasure projects from yard sales, and this is the mother of yard sales.  Deals, Deals, Deals (and we got a truck load of them)!!!!                                             

Thanks to my husband for letting us take his beautiful truck! 

How's that for some loot!?

I am so excited about my finds from this year!  I am most excited about the saw table I found and the huge transformation it will undergo.  I will take lots of pics so you all can see the project unfold!  I thought I would share with you a project from last year to hold you over until the posts from this year begin!  Last year was our first year for the 400 mile yard sale.   We began on a Friday with my sister, Allison, my neice, Sid and my son, AJ.  We were on the hunt for a vanity for Sid  The plastic ones were too little and the antique larger vanities were too big.  We found the vanity on the first day.   My before pictures are not as great as I'd like, but these were before blogging, so this year's will be better.  

The is the vanity as it starts.  This was a console/ entry table.  The original color was white.  It had 2 drawers and was much taller.  What made me pick this table?  #1.  It had great, simple lines.  It was a blank slate.  #2.  It was solid wood. #3  It was the right width and length for the space it was going to go in.  So the first step was to take out the bottom drawer and  cut the supports so Sid could get her legs underneath.  Next, I sanded the entire piece.  There were two reasons to sand; to get off the original varnish and to smooth out the cut pieces.  Then we painted it pink!

The following day, we found the stool.  This is my sister Allison looking it over and measuring.  No, it was not the right height, but nothing a little saw couldn't fix.  We found this stool at a "Barn Sale".  Those are my favorites.  Check out that lovely fabric!  It would definately need some new, so we added that to the list! 











I have a huge paint stash at my house so I had Sid pick the colors she wanted before we left the next day.  Look what we found!!!!  Not even kidding, the fabric we found matched PERFECT!  I actually got this piece for free, which fit our budget perfectly.  Did I mention we had a budget of $25?  The fabric was a bit dirty and had a giant peacock on it.  I washed it, cut the piece to fit, and since it was quilted, we used the back of it!

No vanity would be complete without a mirror.  We found our mirror at another yard sale for $1.  It had a cheap gold frame, but we took that off.  Remember the bottom drawer I removed?  I used it as the top of the vanity.  I affixed the mirror to the bottom of the drawer, flipped it upside down and screwed it to the top of the table.  I took the original knobs off and replaced them with some glass curtain finials I had at the house.  $0

My neice, Sid and I painting the vanity.

  Sid was so excited to have a new vanity and was so happy to have Aunt Nae Nae (that would be me) be the one doing it.  Which, of course thrilled me.  It was a really fun project.  We went over budget by a dollar but Sid loved it, it fit perfect and it was exactly what my sister was hoping for.  The best part for me was the hunt, the challenge, doing it with my sister, and of course, seeing the smile on Sid's face when it was done! 



Here is the finished product!  I suggested trimming out the mirror with a boa when they got home, which they did.  It looks fabulous!  Sid now has all her makeup in the drawers, her necklaces hanging off the glass knob tops, and the perfect place to make that already adorable face even cuter!

There has to be a starting point...This is it.

So I guess, this first post, is the first step, to being an official blogger.  For those of you who don't know me, this is a giant step!  I am putting myself and my passion out there.  What is my passion you ask?  There are many, but this blog, is all about my passion for design.  Growing up in a family of 6 children, there was not a lot of money floating around, but I never wanted for anything.  I can remember watching my Dad create the most amazing things from objects we had laying around the house.  We never threw anything out.  It was always fixable.  Not just to look ok, but Daddy always had a way of making it better.  My Dad can do anything.  To this day, when I complete a project where I have taken nothing and made it into something spectacular, I call my Dad and say "You would be so proud, guess what I did!" or " I wish you could see this.  It reminds me of something you would do."  So my love of taking things that are old, or broken, or tossed aside, grew from a necessity.  It also grew from a love for my Dad and all things that tell a story.  I love old pieces because they tell a story.  I love to listen to my husbands grandma tell stories about her youth and how they use to do things.  She has managed to hang on to objects from her family's history and I think it is important to pass those stories, along with the objects, down.  It is important to know where you come from and how you got to where you are.  As I redo each piece, I wonder about where it came from and what stories it could tell.  My workshop and my paint, are my worship and my therapy.  With each piece I create, a problem has been pondered, a prayer sent up, a good cry has been cried, or a shout of praise has been made.  This blog is my journey to find a voice.  I feel deep in my soul, I was meant to do this, to create.  Here, within these pages, I want to share with you the joy that creating these pieces brings  and the journey to make this dream come true.  It is my desire that each piece reminds you of all the simple things in life.  I want my pieces to help you remember your favorite vacation spot, your best childhood memories, and to slow down.  God has given us one life.  He has given us limitless love.  I hope my journey helps you to remember that.