Changes of Landscape- Unplanned & Planned

Last month, our area was hit with the strongest windstorm that this area has seen in years.  It did damage to many trees in the area, and caused loss of power for thousands.  We survived the storm without any major damage, and only loss power while they shut it off to do repair work elsewhere.   The first night of power loss was actually sort of fun, as we lit some candles, played guitar and sang songs, and went to bed early.   We heat with a wood stove, so we had heat throughout the 30 hours of power loss, which was wonderful.  Though none of our trees fell, we noticed that one of our pine trees, seemed to be tilted more than normal.  Upon closer inspection, we noticed the base of the tree was cracked.  Though the tilted tree looked a bit silly, it was still standing.  

The weather has been unseasonably cold and rainy for May, so we did not go outside to play today.  When the Laird went out back to weatherproof  the roof of our Top Bar Hive, in preparation for the arrival of our bees tomorrow, he discovered a very changed landscape!  That old pine tree, that we hung our hammock from during the past 3 summers, was no longer tilted or standing.  It was sprawled across our lawn!  He came back into the house to get me to come and see the changed landscape of our yard.  My first thought was that there had been another "chicken massacre"-as the last time he came into the house declaring ominous news, it was 2 incidents in one week where we had lost a chicken to a predator- likely a hawk and a fox.  Not this time.  Just the tree.  

 In other news, we found an old Jungle Gym play set on craigslist a few weekends ago. This change to the landscape was planned.  The kids are at the perfect age for a play set, but we hadn't quite found the right one.  We were also intimidated at the prospect of having to disassemble, transport and then re-assemble a play set.  So we've been sitting on this hope for some time.  This particular jungle gym was a great deal, that included the generous service of moving it in one piece (minus the slides) and transporting it to Redwoodshire.  Once the seller offered to help transport the thing in one piece, I was sold.  What kind people they were.  I have always had wonderful luck meeting wonderful sellers on craigslist.  The whole process was so easy because they had a trailer and were willing to help us out moving the monster of jungle gym.  The only drawback is that we aren't quite happy with it's location and will be looking to move it back towards the woods.  That will be a challenge for another day.  Though the weather has been lousy- cold & rainy- the couple times we have been able to play on the jungle gym, the kids have both built up their confidence to go down the slides.  We do need to re-paint and sand a bit to help smooth some of the splintery edges- which we will tackle as the weather gets drier.  

As for now, the Laird has a new task before him of cutting this pine tree up and clearing it from the yard, in time for our annual Memorial Day party in a few weeks.  Sadly we won't be able to enjoy the shade of this particular tree any longer & we have to find a new place to hang out hammock.  On a brighter note, the blueberries will receive many more hours of sunlight, and be more productive now that this tree is no longer standing.  And the pool should get a little more sun too.  This change of landscape will take a bit of time to get used to, but we are thankful that it didn't fall on anything and cause any structural damage!

Another amazing Craigslist purchase- antique hutch & pantry cabinet

I am always on the lookout for furniture that we want on Craigslist.com.  And sure enough, in 2 weeks, I found some more great deals on things that were exactly what we had wanted for our dining room and kitchen.  Our dining room renovation is the next big project we will do on the house.  We're projecting that maybe it will happen this winter.  In the mean time, I have kept my eyes open for  furniture for that room.  It actually started with looking for a bookshelf for lady genevieve's big girl room.  In the last couple on months, little lord Alastair was added to our family.  This means many changes for lady genevieve.  She will move into a big girl bed, in her new big girl room- making space for little lord Alastair in the crib.  Last week, I found a little cabinet with inset doors that seemed like a great place to store books and toys for lady genevieve's new big girl bedroom.  Once I brought it home, and it happened to fit perfectly in the space we had hoped to find a pantry for our kitchen- the Laird persuaded me to let the kitchen be it's new home.  And so we have a new little pantry in the kitchen.  Though it is not an antique, it is of similar style to the that primitive cabinet primitive cabinet we re-finished earlier this year.

This past weekend, I found my favorite piece so far!  This antique hutch listed on craigslist.com caught my eye, so I contacted to seller right away.  The price had been even reduced, prior to my discovery 

The seller needed to make space in her cozy little dining room, so she sold this to me for a mere $225 (dropped from $275)!  It's absolutely gorgeous and unique.  I can hardly believe we got so lucky.   Having been to various antique shops, this price was clearly a steal! Open shelving.  An amazing original lock & key.  Heavy duty drawer pulls.  Great detail in the woodwork.  This hutch will be quite a motivator and encouragement for the laird and I to get that dining room renovated!  

Singing the praises of Craiglist!

KidKraft Vintage Kitchen ($30 w/ new door)

I am appreciating the benefits of Craigslist more and more these days.  Yesterday, I found & bought 2 things we'd been looking for: a play kitchen set for lady genevieve and a dry sink.  I paid a total of $105 for a cute retro wooden KidKraft Kitchen & an Ethan Allen dry sink & mirror!!!  The day was a little crazy as I had never bought more than one item off of craigslist in one day.  But between working in the morning, a doctor's appointment, the bank, and driving to 2 opposite ends of the city to pick up our kitchen and dry sink, I made it everywhere on-time and without getting lost.  And as I drove home after the last pick up, I was quite excited about the deals I had found.  If you have followed this blog for any time, you have often seen some of the many different things we're found on craigslist.  As I look back over the past 2 years, I am realizing I have made quite a few craigslist purchases- and I am quite pleased with this reality.

Pottery Barn storage bench & Ikea storage tower/ shelf

Dressers, chair, cabinet, cubby shelves, jogging stroller, little shelf, slide, kitchen, dry sink, baby swing, pack & play, stroller, cubby bench & tower....

Craigslist is a wonderful resource for finding some great deals, on things you may need or simply want.  I didn't start buying off of craigslist until about 2 years ago.  At that point I was in search of gently used baby gear.  Let's face it, if you're not going to use it forever you can settle for gently used items.  The sight of how much baby items cost turned me off in a huge way.  I couldn't stand the thought of people paying full price for brand new things to give as gifts, that I wasn't sure we would even use (ie... some babies don't like swings)- and that I could probably find on craigslist.  And that's what I did.  We found our B.O.B jogging stroller, pack & play, stroller with infant seat and swing on craigslist.  I was able to then register for the smaller items that I did prefer new, like our Bum Genius cloth diapers.  I loved the idea that we could get a majority of our diapers as gifts and decrease the regular expense of diapers once the baby arrived.

Craigslist might be for you!  If you enjoy garage sales, like saving money, and don't mind gently used items, then you should check it out.

1) KNOW WHAT YOU WANT-  Craigslist has many different categories.  If you don't have something specific in mind, you may end up wasting a lot of time "browsing" all the listings.  My most frequented visits are to Baby/Kids, Furniture, Antiques, and Materials.  I have ideas in mind of what I need and want.  For example: My current search list includes:  a Potbelly wood stove, kids play food & dishes, freestanding kitchen pantry, Bum Genius newborn cloth diapers, Pedestal dining table....  These are all things we plan to buy at some point in the near future, so I am scouting to see if we can find something suitable on craigslist first.

2)  BABY/KIDS-  If you're going to have a baby or already have one, you will find that baby gear, toys, items are helpful to your whole experience & transition as a parent.  You will also find that baby items are very short lived, as they grow out of everything so quickly.  You can find great barely/ gently used items for babys/ children on craigslist.  Before you go out and buy what you need/ or want, check craigslist first!  Another benefit is re-selling your gently used things back on craigslist when you are done.

Glider & Ottoman ($27)

Mini-chair ($20)

 

2 Cubby Shelves ($45)

Pottery Barn Glider & Ottoman ($75)

3)  FIRST APARTMENT OR HOME-  Moving out on your own?  Purchasing your first home?  You will find that you now need a bunch of things you always took for granted while growing up.  Furniture can be an investment, and unless you plant to live somewhere for many years, you may not want to spend the big bucks on "permanent furniture" just yet.  When the Laird & I got married, we knew that we weren't going to live in that current apartment forever, so we didn't want to invest money into furniture until we found our "future home".  That saved us the hassle of moving lots of heavy, nice furniture- and also saved nice furniture from getting damaged in the moving process.  Now that we've settled down at Redwoodshire, we are finding pieces of furniture that fit this house and that we want to have for many years.  Even so, I love craigslist so much and restoring old furniture, that we've yet to buy anything brand new.

Tall & long & large mirror ($150)

4)  PROJECTS & RESTORATIONS-  Craigslist is an awesome place to find old and unique pieces of furniture that can be restored and refurbished, and made into something new.  This is for the crafty people out there, who like projects as a hobby.  We are those people who like projects:  Check out our Current Projects.   If you have any renovations or upgrades you are making to your home, you can also find materials on Craigslist.  We will soon be giving our sole bathroom a face lift; a new vanity/sink, bead board wainscot on walls & a coat of paint.  Nothing major, however it will be much nicer in the end.  Our bathroom is tiny, and the vanity is currently a small 25" one.  There's a bit of space between the toilet and vanity, and I wanted to increase the size of our vanity and decreased the wasted space.  Standard small vanities are 25" or 30".  The space between our toilet & vanity measured exactly 29 3/4"! You can get a vanity custom made, however the one we liked cost $800!  That was a bit out of our imagined budget for the bathroom.  After some investigating I found a totally cool idea of converting a dry sink or dresser (depending on your space) into a bathroom vanity!  I loved it and knew that's what I wanted to do.  So I started searching for a dry sink/ commode on Craigslist.  After about a month of looking, and realizing <30" dry sink was as difficult to find as a modern vanity.  But since we aren't working on the bathroom yet, we had the time to continue looking (though once we find the vanity piece, we can start the bathroom upgrade).  And low and behold, I found our 27" dry sink on craigslist this week and it only cost me $75 and came with a mirror!  Now I want to find a "vessel sink" (one that sits on top of the counter).  Since we're doing lots of renovations and changes to our very old home, I always keep my eyes open in the Materials section of Craigslist.  We may just find exactly what we're looking for, for a fraction of the cost of something brand new, that has less character.

Toddler Bed & mattress ($40)

5)  CONDITION & PRICE- Decide on the condition you're looking for.  This will influence what price is acceptable to you to pay for what you find.  It's also good to price compare- check out what the item you find costs to buy brand new.  And if it's a common item on Craigslist, you should check to see what other sellers are listing their items for.

6)  CHECK OFTEN-  I check craigslist multiple times a week.  This may seem time consuming, but because I have my specific list of items I am looking for, I can search them quickly and be done in no time.  I don't generally "browse" craigslist for random things- I only look for what is on my list.

7) TAKES TIME-  Good deals come to those who wait.  The truth is: finding good deals on what you want/ need, does take time.  The deals I have found, did not happen over night.  I often look for things for a few months before I find them.  The key to this is patience.  There are very few things that we "need" right now; and if you need something immediately then craigslist may not be the avenue to take.  Immediate needs rarely come by good deals.  So when you come up with your "want" list, be sure to put things on it that you'd like to have eventually, but don't need them right now.  Finding a deal on craigslist is about waiting (as long as you can) to find what you're looking for.  And the truth is that we won't be able to find everything on craigslist.  But it's a great place to start with saving money on things we plan to eventually purchase.

Have fun!  Good luck as you find great deals on craigslist!  I am sure there will be many more deals making their debut on this blog.

We bought this beat up canoe, but I cannot remember how much we paid!

Something old & Something new- Dresser update

After 10 years of using white plastic Rubermaid drawers to hold my clothes, I finally own a dresser.  I purchased this dresser set for $150.  The brand is: Link-Taylor

The dressers are made of solid pine, likely from the 1970's.  The previous owner had them for 30+ years.  The detail across the top reminds me of a castle.  The pulls were outdated, and were in need of replacement.  Though it is not a tough task, there are a few simple steps when updating your dresser or cabinet pulls.

1) REMOVE old knobs or pulls by unscrewing from the inside of the drawer or cabinet door.
2) Set old screws aside (the new screws that come with hardware may not be the best fit)
3) If the old pull has 2 screws/ holes you will need to measure the distance between them.  This measurement is important to have when buying new pulls.  Old pulls often have random & uncommon spaces between screws which limited my choices.
4) Determine if all pulls are the same size-  I assumed all of the pulls on these dressers were the same, only to find that the smaller drawers had slightly smaller pulls.
5) Hardware is not that expensive, but the cost adds up when replacing a dresser set or kitchen cabinets.  I had to purchase 21 pulls!

Lowes & Home Depot have a decent selection of hardware for cabinets and drawers.  I really like the Rubbed Oil Bronze cup pull.  Gives furniture an old farm-style look, which I absolutely love.  So I picked out my 21 cup pulls, purchased them and came home ready to install them on my new/ old dressers.  That is when I discovered there were 2 different sizes!  So disappointed.  What should have been a quick project now was delayed.  Lowes did not have a matching cup pull of the size I needed.  So I considered drilling new holes- what a nightmare that would have been.  The Laird suggested I search the internet.  And I am so glad that I did, before taking the drill to my drawers.

I found the exact size pulls I needed at Knobsandpulls.com.  And they were cheaper than the original pulls I had purchased!

What a simple difference new pulls make!  This outdated dresser is looking better.  There are some minor repairs to make to the drawer tracks, which will be included in a later post....