2014 year in review

Man alive, that was a fast year. Looking back, it was one that was hugely successful in the overall feeling of my home. The living room is done, the dining room is done, the sun room is done. Done is ever changing (see: blog years 2010 to current) but this time done felt D.O.N.E.  With things feeling so right, the blog took a back seat. I didn't decorate for any holidays, since who wants to mess with and clutter up D.O.N.E? There were a lot of link ups and traffic that i missed out on. I'm not sure what 2015 will bring with the blog, but beyond here, there will certainly be vacations taken and cats adored.  And if that's all that's done, well that's alright with me.

The done dining room.
 

The (almost) done living room.


Paris, France.


The DIY patio and yard makeover.


The sun room update.


Alaska cruise portion. The not to be missed land portion.


The only way you knew it was fall.


The (fully) done living room.


What makes it all good.


Thank you for reading in 2014. See you next year....
B





end of year wrap ups at domestically speaking, southern hospitality, beyond the picket fence, Currently @ Dearest Love, Random Wednesday @ Because Shanna Said So, sharing is caring: , thrifty treasures @ southern hospitality, travel photo mondays @ travel photo discovery,   , Monthly projects @ Evolution of Style Make it Pretty Mon @ Dedicated House  inspire me mondays t @ domestically speaking,   Before and After @ Thrifty Decor Chick,    Mod Vintage Life, Motivate Me Mon @Keeping it Simple, persia lou,  home stories a-z, nifty thrifty @ Coastal Charm, be inspired @ elizabeth and co, the scoop @ stone gable,  inspire me tues, lil luna, you're gonna love it @ kimsixfix, get your craft on, sugar bee crafts. your designs this time, inspire me weds @ 733, wow us weds @ savvy southern style,  twirl and take a bow @ house on the way, work it weds @ the blissful bee, outdoor weds @ a southern daydreamer, whimsy wednesday, wicked awesome weds @ handy man, crafty woman, look what i made,  whatever goes weds @ someday crafts, think and make @ houseologie, charm of home, link party palooza @ tatertots and jello, Flaunt it Friday @ Chic on a Shoestring, open house @ no minimalist here, creativity unleashed @ shaken together,inspiration gallery @ Craftberry Bush, Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest, my romantic home, jennifer rizzo, Weekend Bloggy Reading @ Serenity now,  furniture fridays @ mustard seed, Feathered Nest @ French Country Cottage, design it fridays @ finding fabulous, best diy @ 36th ave, overflowing w/ creativity @ it's overflowing, nifty thrifty sundays, under the table and dreaming. inspire me please @ liz marie blog,sunday best @ the girl creative  shaken together, 

Mostly free thrifty finds

Anybody go to one of those "i heart thrifting" events?  I heard at the last second there was a Philly event, but it was too last second for my preplanned kind of mind.  So, not from this weekend, but here are some recent thrifting/yard sale finds.  Enjoy!

How neat will this be for the basement?  We're super excited for this guy.  This is the only item in this post that actual money was exchanged for ($20).

Buh bye bears, hola picasso print.  Direct from Spain.  Shh-i know it's just a print that could have come from anywhere, but this one i guarded and finely handled through 2 different airports, security checks, and a 7 hour plane ride.  Looks a bit fancier with matting, too.

Bevvy of garage sale left over frames and can easily be painted over artwork. 

Read:  FREE

Always room for Christmas goodies-perfect for the white elephant exchange that we do every year.  (free from church leftover sale)

Gift bag.  Full of gift bags.  Plus a cat.  Why not?  (free)

Getting comfy, of course.

milk glass vase. (free)

Pretty (free) pitcher. I see lemonade, and sitting out back on a swing. And an imaginary world where there's no bugs. And no humidity. And no neighbors blaring the Phillies game. Hmm, this imaginary world is quite nice.

Who else has recent finds?  Occasionally daydreams about an imaginary world-what happens in yours?

thrift share mondays,addicts anonymous,amaze me mondays,thrifty treasures, nifty nifty thrifty tuesdays,, trash 2 treasure,  whatever goes wednesday, home sweet home tales from bloggeritaville,treasure hunt, strut your stuff, everything but the kitchen sink,show and tell, catch as catch can, show and share day,
 flaunt it friday,frugalicious friday thrifty things friday the shabby nest, look what i found, all things good, bff open house, weekend bloggy reading, nifty thrifty sunday, under the table and dreaming,seasonal sunday

Deck the halls with xmas free stuff

Picture this-you walk into this church basement lined with tables of free stuff upon free stuff. You spy glassware and furniture, kids stuff and baskets. The closest 3 tables are filled with xmas stuff.  And you're Jewish.  However, at this moment what matters is FREE and that there other people bound to take what you don't.  You start towards the xmas tables since they are closest, in which you already have your eye on some super cute trees and reindeer, rationalizing that you can surely use them in your dual holiday displays, when your inner voice butts in and reminds you that perhaps you really don't need to start there.  You tell inner voice (internally, of course) to mind its own business, this is the closest table.  I.V. yells at you about cheesedomes and cloches, and you give in, telling it it's right, you really should go to the xmas tables last.  What this appears as, to the public watching this exchange, is a mad woman violently shaking her head and pivoting back and forth, unsure of which direction to actually let her feet take her. 

These are the xmas items from the free jackpot that i got when i finally strolled over.

Honey, this is super cute, no?

I'm liking the more wintry pinecones and the gift ornaments.  Non denominational, i thought, and perhaps i don't have to use the ornaments as ornaments.

Someone tell me what these are.  They are awfully large for chocolate candy molds, could they be for soap?  Or candles?  Or is it just my over-Etsy imagination that assumes everyone is selling there these days.  

Self explanatory...

A ha!  A cheesedome i almost missed, filled with the gift ornaments. 

Could be good for either winter holiday, or even birthdays!

I thought without the big red bow and bells, i could use this for fall.  But now that it's almost time to think of winter decorating, i'll leave this as is.  What are your thrifty seasonal finds this year?

Linking to  frugalicious friday,  fabulous friday finds,  show off sunday, seasonal sunday, thrifty treasures, nifty thrifty tuesdays,trash 2 treasure, twice owned tuesday, tales from bloggeritaville, junkin' finds

Breaking it down, free style

Otherwise known as stuff in box 1 and box 2 from last week's mega haul of free stuff. 

Proof that men don't listen: I brought this license plate cover to S's attention for his dad's truck.  nothing.  I make my way over to another table, and S calls to me, waving this in the air.  What do i think about it for his dad's truck.  Classic.

Anita Shreve's "The last time they met"-anyone read it?  4 window candles, 2 of which are motion sensored and 1 of which is in another box.  Think this would be fun with orange candles for H'ween.  

Obsessed with that wicker suitcase/picnic case.  What will i do with it?  For free, it came home with me.

Frame selection, hideous shaped wood item, Easter table cloth for S's mom. 

Baseball themed BBQ set, never used.  The baseballs are salt and pepper shakers.  Perfect gift for friends who will soon be having their first BBQ at their new house and coincidentally love the Phils.

Wire baskets: inspired by the pantry redo craze at House of Smiths.  Doesn't fit on my pantry shelves, how do you like that!

Well, why not?  Spray paint cans fit perfectly, but for now corralling S's crap that lives on the kitchen table. 

More to come next week.  And the week after.  And the week after.

Linking to

thrifty treasures, Debbie doos garage salen, nifty thrifty tuesdays, second time around tuesday, tales from bloggeritaville, penny pinching party, show and tell friday, fruglalicious friday, fabulous friday finds.

The Free Jackpot!

Remember when i hit the motherload of free things jackpot?  Yeah, that ain't got nothin' on this!

S was perusing Craigslist yesterday and told me that today, after their church service, a local church was giving away everything that didn't sell at their annual yard sale.  There were specific instructions:  what street to enter on, what door to go in, an invitation to join the service b/c no one would be opening the door a moment earlier than the 11:00 start time.  11:00 start time, right up my alley!  Thank goodness S just bought a junker of a truck for situations such as these and HD runs. 

I will catalogue it in future posts, but check out the piles we got, all for free.  We spent 40 minutes there, and were the third in line to get in.  The church was thrilled to get rid of all these things so they don't have to schlep them to Goodwill.  No wonder some of these things didn't sell, they were priced way too high.

That's one bag, 4 boxes, piles of frames, wallpaper...

Giant frame

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!  Did i say fa-ree!  This will be my crafting desk, so i can spread all out and go to town!

S assures me he will cut a piece to fit where the sewing machine was.  I asked the church people (what else to call them?) if they do this every year, and this is their THIRD year!!  The guy said they've listed it on CL for the last two years, so HOW DID WE MISS THIS??  We stalk Craigslist like the paparazzi stalk Brangelina, so i can't believe we've never seen this.  Maybe since i wasn't blogging then i didn't care or want other people's crap to remake?  You can be sure that this time next year, the stalking will be amped up.  There is no way i am going to miss this!

Oh, yeah, and these 2 directors chairs.

I have to say, that's some mega haul.  I didn't mind the many trips we made to the truck, or the many trips to bring it inside.  In fact, i gleefully skipped.  No seriously.  Full of glee.  And skipping.  And clapping.  And kissed the junker truck in all his peeling paint glory for his timely arrival into our lives.

Linking to:
Southern Hospitality/ Coastal Charm/ Tales from Bloggeritaville/ Favorite Things Friday/ Second Time Around Tuesday/ Fabulous Friday Finds/ Penny Pinching Party/ Frugalicious Friday/ Show and Tell Fridays and sidebar love

I'd like to thank the Academy...and wtf

Saturday i went here, to my most favorite concert/theatre venue,

and saw this.

It was pretty good, not the greatest musical i've seen, but pretty good.  Nothing compares to seeing Morrissey play this venue.  It's really unusual to see a concert here, usually it's theatre only.  Do you have a favorite venue?  What was the best concert/show/event you saw there?

Also...check out this ad on CL

"Thing - intricately carved, hard to dust, slightly broken...but pretty."

Best. Description. Ever!

WTF Wednesdays

"swade chouch.  very negociacable".

i couldn't make this up if i tried.

WTF Wednesday

This sounds fun, i might try and keep up with this.  As long as Craigslist keeps providing me with winners, that is.  Let's have a looksy....

"saleing a full bedroom set call if you like it im takeing a big lost i got it for 1500 im even selling the bed to all  for 500$ head bord and matress w 2 night stands and a dresser mirra"

the next day....

"saleing furniture full bedroom set a sofia a full betroom set ipod lamps rideo a dineing set"

the next day...

"sealing my sofia my full bedroom set a badroom set a dieing room set.  All furniture for sell have to lave."

and again...

"i have bedroom set dresser mirra sofia for sell all furniture must goooooooo"

 What amazes me with this, besides the blatant disregard for punctuation, is that in all the posts (there are even more) the word "furniture" is spelled correctly every. single. time.  How is that possible?

I understand that there are typos, i'm not that much of a word snob and we all make mistakes, but repeated mistakes on the same word mean more than just a typo.  There was a great comment on the last CL post from Judy who called herself a "word warrior."  I love it.  I'm determined to use it in every day conversation.  Thanks Judy!

things that boggle the mind, craigslist version

"free apulstry samples"

"chester drawars"

"dinning room table"

these are just some of the items available on philadelphia craigslist tonight.  nice. 

Keep it on the CL

We at the cape on the corner obsessively peruse Craigslist, hitting refresh over and over. And over. In fact our dinner conversations begin like this "Anything good on the list today?" I'm a free stuff and furniture by owner gal. S is free stuff, materials, and tools. There are countless occasions when i wish i had instant access to a truck and the ability to just take off and grab the goods. So...that's instant access to S, a helper for loading heavy furniture, a truck, and the kind of jobs that won't mind if we dash off for a few hours to haul what could turn out to be junk back home. Good luck with that.

Lots of times i see what i think the "blogworld" would love, but isn't my style. What to do with this information? Now i have an outlet for sharing. you can thank me later.

vintage queen anne wingback chair, 35 bucks

or how bout 75 bucks for a pair of these

or this tufted chair for 20 bucks. love.
with a tufted ottoman? fantastic.

wooden table, 55 bucks
is this clover considered quatrefoil? i am sure it is called something official, and very much reminds me of all the patterns that are big right now.

holy moly i have not seen anything like this.

700 bucks for the whole set, i know, a lot, but i had to highlight this quatrefoil headboard.

All of these items are from Philadelphia CL, meaning the surrounding counties are in this too. (Delco, Montco, Chesco, Bucks)