Tag: metal

Thrift Store Finds

Thrift store finds: Ballard End Tables

Jessica Smith

If you follow me on Facebook you saw a couple of weeks ago that I got an AMAZING deal on two Ballard Design end tables at a local thrift store. I’m talking ah-may-zing.

I paid $9.99 per table which retail for $199.00! At least brand new ones do. These had a 2011 sticker on them, so they aren’t brand spanking new, but still fabulous.

Holy smokes was I excited when I realized (actually, my thrift store buddy showed me the Ballard sticker) what I had found.

The tables were in really good shape, minus some gum stuck to the bottom and 12 or so missing screws. After scrubbing the heck out of the tables and replacing all of the screws, I decided that I was definitely keeping these tables for myself and not doing anything (yet) to refinish or alter them.

End Table

They don’t match perfectly with the couch, and I’m really liking the different styles paired together.

End Table

I also love the shelf on the bottom. I’ve got our scrapbooks proudly displayed on one and all of my BHG magazines on the other.

End Tables

Truthfully, I am just grateful to have finally found tables for this room and at such a steal. I’ve been looking for some time and am really happy with these babies.

Also, don’t judge my lack of shades — it’s a work in progress 🙂 And I’ve been dying to get these lamps out of my craft room for more than a year now.

Now I need to tackle that blank wall above the couch. I can’t decide between a huge mirror to reflect the light from our bay window or a gallery wall of photos. What would you do?

Home Improvement

The lamppost from hell

Jessica Smith

Our lamppost has been crooked since day one of moving into our house. Well, I’ve been on a mission this spring and summer to beautify the outside of our home. Landscaping, shutters, new doors, painted driveway, new mailbox, tree removal, new lattice for the garbage, redoing the rocks alongside the driveway… you name it, we’ve tackled it. My dad even removed the well from our front yard because he’s awesome.

He even took pictures for me to put on my blog.

RemovingFrontPipe1

RemovingFrontPipe4

With the biggest eyesore of our front yard removed, we pretty much had no choice but to tackle the crooked lamppost.

It also helped that while we were on vacation by dad cleared out a spot for plants and bought a few stones to circle the post. He basically forced us into it haha.

See how much it leans? Bad news bears.

Lamp Post1

So this lamppost was the post from hell. Originally, I bought a new post to replace it all together. Then my dad suggested I simple paint the current post in the ground. So I tried that.

Lamp Post3

Many coats of black spray paint later, and it wasn’t looking to bad.

Lamp Post2

Then came time to replace the fixture at the top, which I guess we didn’t have to do…. except that when we took it off we realized it was disgusting and broken.

The fixture came off the post just fine, but the ring and the screws holding the fixture to the post wouldn’t budge. At all. I tried every trick in the book to remove those screws, from WD-40 to putting a rubber band in the groove of the screw and turning it that way. Nothing worked. So I got fed up and started to tear the metal off the post. We were going to replace that part anyway, so what did it matter?

Well, here’s a fun fact. Hammering a screw driver into metal creates a lot of sharp metal pieces. And yes, I did manage to cut my hand. And yes, I did (eventually) get a tetanus shot for the cut. And yes, the place where I got my shot it still swollen because I’m a hot mess.

See why it is the lamppost from hell yet?

If you weren’t convinced, after all of my hard work on the darn pole, I got fed up and pulled it out of the ground. I ended up trekking back to Home Depot (that’s really melodramatic since Home Depot is less than 10 minutes away… not too much of a trek) to buy and even nicer lamppost than the first one I bought. I’m talking about a built-in light sensor and an outlet. Hot damn!

Hours later, my husband and I (mainly Brian — I was so proud of him!) managed to properly wire up the new post. I don’t think I’ve ever shouted so loudly with glee over a darn light working, but we were both really shocked and really excited that it worked.

Now our post isn’t crooked (we still need to cement it in place), it has a light sensor so it turns on automatically, and it is beautifully landscaped 🙂 Total win.

Lamp Post Finished

That lamppost ain’t got nothing on us.

And it looks nice, too!

Craft Projects, Thrift Store Finds

Glammed-up circle tray

Jessica Smith

I found this ugly tray at a thrift store in New York and kind of fell in love with it. It’s old, sorta rusty, kinda ugly, and the perfect tray for filling with epoxy and fun things.

Circle tray ugly

I was combing through my craft room for things I could use to beautify this tray and I came across a jar of seed bids that I pretty much never use.

So I filled my tray with beads, covered the beads in epoxy, and three days later my ugly tray turned beautiful!

Check this out:

Circle tray pretty

I made an ever cooler tray that I’ll share with you later this week. I feel a little ingenious with the item I combined with the epoxy. It’s rather fabulous.