I'm Back....And I'm Decorating!! Watch Out Pintrest!!

I'm not sure how many "faithful" followers I've had in the past other than my mom, but if there are any others, you'll have noticed that I've been gone....for a while.

But now I'm back...or at least I'm trying to be back.  The past year has been a crazy one full of learning and discovery.  Discovery of myself, what I want, where I'm headed, but that can all be covered in another post.

Just to get back into the swing of things I thought I'd start with redecorating....my home that is.  Up until this past year all I could ever afford furniture-wise were items from Criag's list and the Good Will.  This past year I worked as a landman in the oil and gas industry and I made decent money for the first time in my adult life.  So I took the opportunity to start updating my home with items that I really liked.  Take that word "updating" with a grain of salt...the theme of my house is essentially "old shit."

It was a slow process for sure but I'll share with you some of my more DIY/antique finds.  I live in the thriving metropolis of Lubbock, Texas. My job as a landman took me to many remote communities and gave me the opportunity to shop around outside of the normal "antique malls."  Pretty much, I'm a hobbyist Picker.

For example, my kitchen table.  It's solid wood (but I don't know what kind) and the legs bolt on.  This item still needs work....like a complete overhaul.  It needs to be sanded and painted and the legs should probably be reinforced somehow.  I found this baby in a consignment shop in Brownfield, Texas right across the street from the court house and it cost me $60.  I managed to fit this thing in the back seat of my (now dead) Buick Century, with me, my 65 lb. dog, and my gear all in the front seat.

The chairs I got off of Craig's list for $20.  The two nearest chairs match but the other two are different.

I personally feel like matching is WAY overrated and I can't wait to paint them.  I have been going back and forth in my mind for months on what color I want.

Next are my Trunks.  I LOVE trunks.  But every time I find them in Texas, and it doesn't matter what part of Texas, you're looking to spend around $300...but not me!

These two trunks I bought at a garage sale out in the middle of no where.  This lady lived right off of a major highway but still out there.  I paid $20 for both of them.  They sit in my living room as a sort of accent piece and I store all of my extra bulk items in them that I buy from Sam's.  So extra boxes of ziplocks, extra rolls of paper towels, the 500 coffee cup lids...stuff like that.

The next trunk I saw on Instagram.  It was in an antique shop that I follow on Instagram out in California called Bad Madge.  This lady has some of the most awesome antique steam trunks and she sells them for pretty much nothing.  This trunk would retail for an easy $300 in Texas, I got it for $75 and then paid minimal shipping.  There is a site called Uship where you can put up large items that you need shipped and people can bid for the job....kinda like ebay.  I found a family owned shipping company that hauls typically large objects (like sail boats) that was already going to make a trip out soon from California to Dallas, TX, so it was no hassle for them to throw the trunk in the back seat of the pickup and drop it off on their way by.  It now sits at the foot of my bed and holds extra blankets.  

While we are in the bedroom, I might as well talk about my bed frame, which I am SO in love with.  I have a full sized bed and was looking for a cool old bed frame.  I found this antique metal bed frame with headboard, footboard, and rails literally sitting in someone's yard on the outskirts of a small town called Post, TX.  I stopped and asked if it was for sale and bought it for $100.  Ive been told that this frame could actually be quite valuable because of the shells that serve as the connecting points along the frame.  No idea if it's true or not, but I love the old primer/rust look to it.  Maybe I'll paint it one day, maybe I won't.  The connection at the top right of the headboard needs a little JB Weld but other than that it's in great shape. 

My nightstand I also bought in Post, TX.  I think I negotiated it down to $25.  Also a solid wood item with what looks like original hardware.  It's cute as it is but I might paint it as an accent piece.  It served as my night stand at my old house, but now it fits nicely in between my closet doors. 

This next piece also came from Post....negotiated down to $35 I think.  It's a solid wood cabinet.  At my last house it held my zombie apocalypse stash of toilet paper in the bathroom, but here it serves as my entertainment center.

I have awesome friends and they know how much I love old things, so they are always on the look out for me.  One of my friends, Jessica drives a great deal as well and covers a HUGE sales territory.  So she has the chance to pop her head in some stores that I could only get to on a weekend.  She is responsible for some of the larger pieces in my house.

She found this whiskey barrel for me in Jacksboro, TX.  I can't remember but I think we negotiated it down to $225, which is a great deal for a whiskey barrel in general and especially since it is in such excellent condition.  At my old house it was my sort of coffee nook and in the new house it is a table in my living room.

Don't judge my Charlie Brown Christmas Tree....

She also found me a beautiful set of antique double doors - $50 (also in Jacksboro).  These doors are so old that there is not a single screw in them...they are held together by wooden dowls.  One day I will consider sanding, paining, and re-finishing them but for the time being I like them the way they are.  I bought a pair of cast iron door handles from a place in Lubbock called Coyote Candle ($12) and the most expensive part was the sliding barn door hardware (bought from Home Depot for $100.)

The project for which I can take the most individual credit is an accent table that I put together.  The table top is actually a WWII ammunition trunk that I found in Post, TX for $20.  The bottom is a cast iron base for a New Home treadle sewing machine.  The base I found in an antique mall in Lubbock.  It came with a beautiful treadle sewing machine but no table top.  I paid $50 for both of those pieces.  I mounted the ammo box onto the top of the sewing base and it sits in my kitchen and holds my collection of teas.  The sewing machine sits on a shelf in my bedroom as a decorative piece.

The last is certainly not the least.  This is still a work in progress and a big collaborative effort between me and my mom.  My mom isn't really a sentimental person and she doesn't keep many old things around, but somehow through all of the years, she still has her childhood toy chest.  It is a solid wood bench with a seat that lifts up.  I can remember this thing being around since I was a little girl and probably one of the most defining moments in my life involved my mom carrying this huge toy chest all by herself to prove a point to me.  I guess my mom forgot about that, but when I told her how I tell that story to my friends, she decided to gift the chest to me this past Christmas.  It is still a work in progress, but it has come a long way.  The bottom of the chest had certainly seen better days, so after sanding it, we put new trim made of 1x4s around the bottom to reinforce it and added a little decorative molding around the top.  Then we painted it and Mom bought me a cushion to go on the seat.  There are still some decorative pillows to be made (hint hint Mom...I hope to see those pillows before bee season ;-) ) but I now have the piece in my own home.  It sits by the front door so people have a place to sit and take their shoes off....or really for me to dump my bags on.  But now I can finally show people the actual piece of furniture my mom carried all those years ago so they too can see that this was not an easy task.  

Before

Before

After

I have some other neat little things I've found here and there, or things I made but nothing that really deserve a huge explanation...

This set of shutters from a store called Juxt-a-posh in Lubbock - $20. Needs to be sanded and painted.

And this DIY wreath I made. I started with a neutral base so I can change the decorations for all seasons and holidays...Everything came from Hobby Lobby and roughly $30 for everything to decorate for fall and Christmas.  This is just the fall version.

I know this is a lot but keep in mind it was spread out over the course of a year.  I can't wait to have the time to actually work on some of these pieces....but they have their own charm just as they are.  

Thanks for stopping by!!

 - Scarlett