Frugal Find: Outdoor Patio Furniture

As I've said before, I love a good deal as much as the next girl, especially when I've been patiently waiting to make a purchase. I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a super-affordable patio set to aid in the much-needed makeover of my back porch. I've looked a bit online to see what catches my eye, but I haven't done any serious shopping... hoping to find something used, or on sale in an end-of-the-season clearance. In my online searches, I've liked this Maldives patio set from World Market:

So you can imagine my delight when, on my 2nd lap around World Market a couple days ago, I found a few left-over pieces on a super-duper clearance tucked behind a display.

They were 50% off for basic end-of-the-season clearance. A great deal, right? Well, this particular set was an additional 25% off because the manufacturer forgot to put the outdoor sealant on it. Well, that's easy! I can take care of that! A patio set at 75% off? Yippee! Imagine my glee when they told me I could ALSO use my 15% off coupon on top of the 75% off. That's a total of 90% off! So I stocked up!

One of these:

Two of these:

And a table:

At a price tag of under $100 for all 4 pieces, I couldn't be happier! The clerk who checked me out was aghast at the deal I'd found.

Let the back porch makeover commence!

Welcome to Denver, IKEA!

If you live in the Denver metropolis, you are likely well aware of the fact that an IKEA store now resides near Park Meadows Mall. It's been quite the topic of conversation the last few months. And now that it's open, the buzz is even louder!

IKEA's brilliant advertising.
We saw this trailer driving around LoDo last week.

In honor of IKEA Centennial's opening day, I would like to share a few items I am looking forward to purchasing:

LAGAN Countertop... for my kitchen island.

New place mats...

SKURAR plant pot, but I kind of want to use this as a dainty trash can in my new bathroom...

Baby bibs for eating...

Baby bibs for drooling...

Fabrics...

Storage accessories...

HEMNES Linen cabinet...

Maybe a new dresser...

A couple shoe cabinets...

Outdoor lounger...

Ok, now I'm getting a little carried away. But my husband agreed to take me there on our next date night! Then I can stop acting like a giddy tourist, and taking pictures with the advertising buses I see around town:

That's me & my sister. Yes, we're lame. And yes, my husband & her boyfriend were a little embarrassed!

What are your thoughts on IKEA? People seem to either love it or hate it. I think I'm gonna be in the former group... but I'll keep you posted.

Unfinished Projects vs. Progress

I can't believe how July is just slipping away. I've really intended to post more often! What have I been up to (aside from normal life )? Well, I've either been dabbling in a number of projects ADD style, or I've been making progress in multiple areas... depends on how you look at it!

Dresser turned kitchen island taking shape - I began sanding a few nights ago, in the precious 1.5 hours I have to myself every day, between 8:30pm & 10pm And my neighbor only yelled at me once. Sigh. I guess I can't blame her... I was using a fairly loud power tool on my back porch at 9:45pm on a Thursday night. I was going to quit at 10:00, though, I promise! She probably doesn't realize that I have a baby who doesn't nap, and an EXTREMELY active/demanding toddler who doesn't give me a moment of peace all day. Night is the only chance I get to do things like this! I was mad/upset for a few minutes, and then I got over it. She was probably right.

messy work!

Now it's mostly painted... just a few finishing touches, and then a new top, and it'll be ready to show y'all!

Sewed a couple 20 minute pillows - no zippers, welting or adornment. (Although an attempt at a short-cut turned them into 90 minute pillows! Should have just done them properly the first time... sigh.) The striped ones are new... I already had the red & floral pillows.

The striped fabric was a remnant I found in a clearance bin a year or so ago... picked it up for some unnamed project. The back is leftover brown corduroy from M's nursery.

They're not the most amazing pillows in the world, but just a little pick-me-up for the couch, which it's been needing for a while! And I'm currently really loving yellow - so I like this little splash of yellow mixed in with the reds & greens in my house.

Made matching shirts for baby & bro (tutorial to come!):

Mostly, though, I've been hanging with baby M & big brother Finley. Today we had a family outing at Evergreen Lake with Daddy. We escaped the heat & spent time together as a family - win-win!

Under Construction!

I'm still trying to figure out this whole world of blogging...  I've barely dipped my toes into the water, but I'm liking it!  Since I think I might hang out for a while, I want to make my page more me.  I'm currently experimenting with layouts and themes and custom images and widgets and gadgets and a bunch of other words I don't understand.  Please bear with me!  My very talented future brother-in-law is working on some custom images for me, which I can't wait to see!  In the meantime, don't be surprised if you see a different layout every time you stop by.  I'm experimenting!

On a completely different note, I ran across this quote tonight on my new favorite site (Pinterest), and it resonates in my soul:

"I just want to make beautiful things even if nobody cares."

Ahhhh.  Yep.  That says so much.

Master Bath Sneak Peak

You may remember that we had to replace our entire waste line recently, just before Baby M was born. As a part of that process, we had to tear out the master bath, which really was ok, because it needed to be re-done.

BEFORE:

It just wasn't necessarily in our budget for this year - we were hoping to wait a little while. But we didn't have a choice! So we asked Justin's dad to "help" us put the bathroom back together after the plumber had fixed the waste line (read: spend all your free time & energy for several months doing all the work on your own - that's what happened after Baby M came - we were no help!). We're so very thankful for him! I truly couldn't ask for a better father-in-law. He's been working so hard on this project, coming by most evenings, after his long work-days as a PT. And of course there have been set-backs and complications at every corner! But now it's almost completely done! Here's a peak at some of the progress.

DURING DEMO:

It was a pretty serious demo project. It allllll came out - lathe & plaster walls, moldy shower tiles & old wood-framed window in the shower (yes, wood window... in the shower...) , the entire floor, sink, tub, toilet... I'm a little concerned about what my husband & father-in-law inhaled during this phase. Yuck!

DURING RECONSTRUCTION:

A friend thought I was painting the walls purple... nope! That's the color of the drywall.
This glass cabinet was a frugal find at Bud's Warehouse - "home improvement thrift store." GREAT place!

The walls are painted now with Behr's Rocky Mountain Sky -
a soothing shade of greenish blue.

Glass tile accent in the shower.

The mosaic tile floors might be my favorite part! They give a vintage feel, which I wanted, to match our 100 year-old house.

Now I get to start on the fun part - accessorizing, decorating & making it a functional space! In fact, my husband is giving me the gift of a couple hours to myself this afternoon, and I'm going shopping for a vanity mirror!

3 on the 4th

A special little boy entered this world three years ago on the 4th of July. I have such vivid memories of that day, laboring for and meeting my first baby. Talk about an empowering experience! Anyway... this post isn't about natural childbirth or mommy-hood reminiscing... it's about birthday parties! We had a wonderful time celebrating his life at a BBQ birthday party this week. And I may have had a little fun getting ready: birthday banners, patriotic flags, and a really fun cake!

The birthday boy checking out his cake! (which I couldn't have pulled off without some major help!)

Cousins "M" and "Em"!

I love holidays, and I love birthdays. The two combined are even better! Happy Birthday to my big boy Finn!