Category: Deals, Steals, & Thrifting

Good deals and thrift store shopping.

Letting it Out

Published on by Our Humble Abode14 Comments

As I mentioned last week, the boys and I took an impromptu vacation to Minnesota.  In addition to our regular activities like the Como Zoo, a lake day, visits with friends and family, Ikea shopping, a quick HomeGoods date with my blog pal Jen, and indulging in all the foods of home, I made my way to a new store.  My cousin and pseudo sister told me about it, and she happily let me tag along.  Where did we go?  SR Harris Fabric Outlet in Brooklyn Park.  Jenna warned me, telling me it was 30,000 square feet filled with fabrics.  Well, now I believe her.  Look at this:

That’s one aisle of fabrics stacked over my head.  Surprisingly, the store is organized pretty well.  Cottons for quilting in one area.

Rows of home decorating fabrics.  A shelf covered in bolts of silks, taffeta, and tulle.

I had to practice serious restraint not to walk home with an carload of various silks, knowing full well it doesn’t stand a chance against my kids.

And the ribbon.  Oh, the ribbon!  Several end cap shelves of assorted ribbon.  I especially loved the velvet trims.

In a way, SR Harris reminded me of Ikea.  Huge store with plenty to look at, great prices (everything is 50% off the list price), and a do it yourself attitude.  Get this, you cut your own fabric!  How awesome is that?!?  So now, let me show you what I came home with.

Forgive me, because I don’t know most of the names.  The green stripe is actually from my Ikea shopping trip.  I couldn’t see a designer of the blue stripe, but it’s a nice weight canvas type fabric for $5.00 per yard.  P Kauffman makes the blue swirl, and I think the gray is by Ralph Lauren.  Both home dec fabrics are originally $19.99 per yard, but everything is half off.  No clue about the white sequin brand, but it was too fun to pass up.

Like a raccoon, my eyes like shiny, sparkly things.  I got a 1/2 yard to make an accent pillow or two.  To top it off, I got a few yards of an aqua grosgrain ribbon for 35 cents a yard and two yards of green velvet ribbon for 50 cents a yard.  Perhaps I’ll add it to a plain pillow cover for more detail or around a lamp shade.  Haven’t decided yet, but I’ve decided to buy things I love to work in.

Minnesotans, this is definitely worth a stop if you’re looking for any fabric.  I can’t wait to go back again to see what other treasures I can dig up.

Do you have a go to fabric store?  Do you go looking for something specific?  Or just by what catches your attention without a plan for it?

Gimme a Giveaway Winner: Heart and Craft & Shower Curtains

Published on by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

Let’s get right down to business with the winners of the Heart and Craft giveaway. 

Whitney and Nicole, come on down!  I asked what you like to craft.  Obviously my weakness is anything home related.  Art?  You got it.  Sewing pillows and more?  Sure!  Lights?  Why the heck not.  Pretty much anything cheap, I’ll take a chance.  If it works, great.  If not, well, I lost five bucks and learned something.  Still a win-win. 

We’ve had a few questions about the shower curtain in our main bathroom, including one just this morning. 

Because it was a clearance find, it’s not available.  Instead, here are some of my favorite shower curtains from around the interweb. 

Herringbone from Urban Outfitters:

It’s no secret I love Target, and I found a few fun curtains there including Lino Curtain:

Honeycomb curtain

New Grid Curtain:

and Rugby Stripe:

Kate Spade does it again!  Look at this pretty Kate Spade Candy Shop Striped Curtain, available at Bed, Bath & Beyond:

Fan Coral from CB2:

Marimekko Unikko curtain from Crate and Barrel

Tali Printed Curtain from West Elm

So many fun, colorful options are out there.  Try searching ‘geometric shower curtain’ or ‘floral shower curtain’ to get more examples to see what you can find.  Oh, and don’t forget Etsy!  Where did you get your shower curtain?  Do you prefer a pattern or solid color?  Have you made a shower curtain?  It’s surprisingly simple.  Try using a flat bed sheet.  Then you can add grommets to the top or use regular curtain clips to hold it up.

Stone Cold

Published on by Our Humble Abode6 Comments

Here’s the much requested stone counter cutting post.  Let’s dive in.  Well, not literally because smashing your head into the counter doesn’t sound like fun.

To cut your own stone counter top, you’ll need:

  • A skill saw with diamond blade
  • A right angle grinder with diamond blade and stone polishing pads
  • Clamps
  • A straight edge
  • A hose with running water
  • A GFI protected outlet
  • Saw horses or another system to hold the stone up
  • Protective gear for eyes, ears, mouth, and nose

Now you know the ingredients, let’s get to the instructions.  If you need to cut length off your stone, first mark where you want to cut.  Then, measure the guard of your skill saw.  Clamp a straight edge factoring in the width of your guard.

While wearing protective gear, slowly and carefully cut along your guide.

Now you’re ready to start polishing.  Ben asked the local granite companies for their used polishing pads, so ours were free.  To get a new set, check the link above or search ‘granite polishing pads’ to find a better deal.  Here’s what the pads look like:

For a polished finish, the pads work best wet.  Ben clamps a slow running hose to the counter top to let the water trickle over the edge.  Remember, electricity and water are not friends!  Plug your grinder in a GFI protected outlet and keep your plugs out of the water.  Use extreme caution.  Then sand the edges just like you would with a normal sander on wood.  Keep it moving to avoid gouges and slightly round the edge for a factory-finished look.

Polishing didn’t take nearly as long as cutting the sink hole did.  Ben only uses drop in sinks so he doesn’t have to have a nice looking cut, just a place for the sink to go in.  Use the sink template to mark the cut lines.

Take the polishing pad off the grinder and replace it with a diamond blade.

Plunge cut the sink hole slowly and carefully.  You won’t be able to cut through with one pass.  Slow and steady on this.  Clean the dust and water off and you’ve made yourself a stone counter top.

The polished eased edge looks just as good as the granite company, too.

What do you think?  Are you willing to try this at home?  What is your favorite type of counter top?  Granite?  Marble?  Concrete?

Disclaimer:  If you are not comfortable using this equipment, don’t try this.  Use caution and always wear safety gear.  This is an overview tutorial and we cannot be held responsible for injuries.  

Gimme a Giveaway Winner: Jillian Rene Decor & Purchases

Published on by Our Humble Abode8 Comments

We’re excited for the weekend.  Cooler weather is on the way and we get more time to work on a few house projects.  The Jillian Rene Decor pillow giveaway reminded me of pillow fight fun.  My sisters and I had pillow fights and now V and E do.

Liz S, the winner of a $50 Jillian Rene Decor store credit, was involved in sock fights.  Ha, never tried that!

On a more serious note, we’ve been busy buying things for the mountain house.  50 4 foot by 8 foot by 1 1/4 inch sheets of recycled (pulled off a remodeled building) polystyrene insulation thanks to Craigslist.

Similar products cost $18 per sheet at Home Depot.  Ben will use this to insulate the back basement wall, which now has only framework and sheet rock.  We’re hoping to score more through Craigslist and local recycle companies to wrap the house before we install new siding.

Another necessary addition is this Killer Whale by Pur Vac.

Sure, we have a central vacuüm already, but it is super lame.  It sucks so little that it sucks so much.  And only low voltage was run to the outlets, so it can’t support a rug attachment head.  Oh, and it turns on as soon as the hose is plugged in, which has worn down the motor.  Cleaning dog hair out of our rugs with the current vacuüm and hardwood floor head is not easy.

 

Ben has some wiring to run to get this behemoth hung in the garage.  Actually, we don’t have enough room in the house electrical panel, so Ben is working on adding another to the garage.  The previous owner ran wiring for a future shop/garage and we’re using that.  As if we didn’t have enough irons in the fire, Ben tore down the wall separating the two storage rooms in the garage area.  One month ago, after closing on the house, the storage room looked like this:

As of this morning, it looks like this:

Notice the square on the floor?  That should help you get an idea of the wall placement.  Soon, Ben wants to tear out the rest of the walls in this area to make room for his boat and give us room to park two cars in the garage.

Between knocking down walls and installing vacuums, he’ll have to add wire to each vacuüm port to power the new attachment kit we ordered.

That’s on our agenda this weekend.  Maybe a little bathroom work for good measure.

What are you working on?  Wall removal?  Weekends just aren’t the same without demo work.

Over the Weekend

Published on by Our Humble Abode9 Comments

Weekends are great.  Ben is home and we can get some house work done.  Nothing happened in the bathroom because we have a few other projects to deal with.  Currently, the mountain house has a geothermal system, but the compressor is broken.  Furthermore, the previous owner insisted on installing the unit in the garage.  We (and the installers) prefer it in the utility room (the rooms are back to back).  Last week a geothermal guy gave us a bid for a new unit and moving it in the utility room.

Where am I going with all this?  We ordered the unit and are waiting for it to get here.  In the interim, Ben had to pull out two old water heaters and install a new water heater to make space in the utility room for the geothermal.

Here are the two old water heaters.  The big guy in the back was used in conjunction with the solar panels to heat the pool water.  When we re-roof, Ben will pull out the non functioning solar panels, making the heater obsolete.  The littler one is a standard water heater, but we loved out tankless one at the other house.  Running out of hot water when you’re half way through your shower is never fun.

Ben installed a tankless Rheem heater from Home Depot (this one, if you’re wondering), which was part of our bathroom buying binge.  Once the new heater was running, Ben started the process of removing the other two tanks.  Disconnecting lines, emptying the tanks, and  shimmying the heavy things through the door and into the garage.  We’ve got so much more space in the utility room now.  And we’re ready for the new geothermal, just in time for AC season.

While Ben was working on mechanical problems, I was working on design problems.  Every last light fixture in this house is gaudy and overly traditional for our taste.  Like the large, you better duck or you’ll hit your head light fixture in the dining room:

Is no longer, though the glued in medallion still is.

I couldn’t take it any longer.  It had to go, even if we didn’t have a replacement light.  If you’re wondering, the folding table is what I’ve used for my sewing projects, like the striped curtains.

And a smaller, not quite as low but still low chandelier over the breakfast nook table:

We launched an attack on those fixtures over the weekend.  It all started when I found this at a thrift store for six bucks.

No, it’s not real copper.  Just steel painted a copper color.  I liked it, especially for the price.  So I bought it, thinking Ben would hate it and knowing our thrift store has a 7 day return policy.  Surprisingly, Ben actually liked the fixture.  Sure it’s a little beat up, a few scratches and dents, but for $6, I can work with it.

I did what most self-respecting DIYer would do.  Hauled out my spray paint.  Before I could start painting, I filled the socket with a paper towel to protect the inside.

While outside, between coats, I discovered a cute colony of hen and chick succulents.

Along with a few teeny tiny hostas.  Seriously, these are small.  The largest leaf is about 2 1/2 inches long.

Both the hostas and succulents are planted around this large rock.

For reference, the door in the background leads to the wet bar of the pool room.  Along the back edge of the patio, I found what I’m assuming to be Day Lilies, though they look more like grass clumps right now.  But there are old flower stems, so I’m hopeful we’ll have some color (and life!) back there soon.

You’ll have to wait to see the refinished light because I’m waiting for paint to dry and I’ve got nuts and bolts to buy.  I’m excited to add a modern/industrial touch to the house.

How was your weekend?  Did you do any landscaping?  Or spray painting?  Or changing of light fixtures?