:-D

Happy Holidays!

Vintage Sleeping Bunny from OrbitingDebris @ Etsy

Sunny Saturday... At last!!

Today was a gorgeous day after yesterday being a nasty 35 degrees f. That means project time so I gave Ugly Lamp a make over! With just a lampshade on sale at Lowes and a can of spray paint, Ugly Lamp transformed into Glam Lamp!

Ugly Lamp Before:

Glam Lamp Transformation:

(Ignore the plastic bag- the base is a bit tacky still but I wanted to get pictures of the lamp before the sun set.)

Craigslist find -

$20 American of Hudsonville Table with a wood bottom (no clue what kind though) and a Formica top with not a single scratch on it. The drawer is clean and in perfect condition. This is one of our best Craigslist finds yet. Usually the craigslist here is littered with overpriced floral couches from the 90s that hurt my eyes.

I'm saving for a round green shag rug for under this space. I also want to add a skirt to the table. I am hoping I get lucky and find some pretty barkcloth at a thrift shop. Then the cords in the back will be hidden and the cat will have a place to hide and tease the dog.

I also have ordered a print canvas from Society 6 - A Dog Flying in Outer Space by Ryder Revolution. I think it's awesome and I plan to put it in the corner on the blank wall with some little black shelves above it. I want to paint that wall a nice light blue color soon. I have big plans for this summer.

Awesome on so many levels.

My funky Walmart lamp arrived. I love the lamp shade.

The Boom canvases from Value City are now up on the stair wall behind the futon . For just $20 a piece they made a fun pop art statement in our fun video game inspired living room.

BOOM!

My Astro Scout Tin Robot toy came in the mail. Yay!! I plan on putting him on the little black shelves I have for around the Space Dog canvas. My favorite part is the little atomic symbol on his forehead.

I also found a pineapple bowl for $1 at a garage sale. Too cute!!

I am so glad the weather is finally warming up. I have so many fun plans for this summer. I made a list the other day of what I planned to do during the warm season. It had over 28 tasks on it that I wanted to complete, and those were just the essential projects.

I recently saw the coolest TV center ever at a house that was for sale. It was a fake fireplace with the TV where the fire would be. Then they had a mantle around it and stone to the ceiling. When the TV is off and the screen is black, it just looks like an extra wide fireplace. I wish I had my camera with me at the time. It would be a cheap way to get a fireplace effect since we don't have one or the money to add a real one. Plus it's a cool way to hide the TV in plain sight.

Sunny & Warm with Blue Skies

Treasure hunting time! Today was such a beautiful day that we couldn't stay in so we went out junking! Yay! Today I got super lucky and found some items that were on my want list.

The most expensive purchase of the day at a whopping $15 was this beautiful deer planter by Shawnee USA. It's the perfect color of green and was just too cute to pass up.

I still need to clean him up. I took pictures of everything as soon as I got home so they aren't looking as shiny as they will when I'm done with them.

I got a second kitsch doggie planter for $2-

Little owl for my owl collection- $1

Little blue clock that I am going to put on the bedside table next to our bed- $1.99

Atomic bowls - 59c each

Retro Butterfly Tray - 99c

Food for Two, 1949 - $2

Vintage corelle hanging cups - 50c each

I was rummaging through a box at the thrift shop and I just happened to open these coverless books. I gasped when I saw they were books on interior design! - $1 each

I plan to scan many of these at my husband's office to share on here.

There was also a few books on how to make furniture. There are so many cool projects! It might try some of these someday. -$1 each

I also found a book with string art patterns. I saw a few cute ones on etsy and wanted to try my hand at it so I'm quite pleased with this find. -$2

A book of house plants! - $1

Today was a very successful day. My rule in order to not become a hoarder is this - for every box of stuff I bring home I have to donate a box of stuff I no longer need. Since we've been so good with our spring cleaning and had a nice big box to donate, we went a little crazy and went to every thrift shop in the neighborhood.

I'll be scanning a few pages from the furniture guides and interior design books and posting those soon. Along with pictures of an American of Martinsville side table we found on craigslist for $20. I'm not sure what kind of wood the bottom is made out of so any help with that would be greatly appreciated. We also have the new curtains hung and pictures of those are to come as well. We've been busy busy busy.

I am going to clean and organize our mud room because right now it's a random catch all of tools since we don't have a tool shed. There are also some random boxes of crap from our childhoods that got stuck in there 4 years ago when we moved here. It's just something I dread having to go through because it's just a reminder of how different things are now. I think these feelings are probably related to my agoraphobia. I get such overwhelming feelings of dread over some things, and even though I know it's completely irrational I still can't control it. Oh well, we all have our crap we have to work through.

50th Anniversary of the First Human Space Flight

It's no secret that I love space and all things space related. I've always been hugely influenced by sci fi movies of the 40s, 50s and 60s. Since today is the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight, I'm going to share some of my favorite space age inspired items.

This frosted glass coffee table from Meijer.com looks like it should be in a space station cocktail bar. It's a great price too!

Tacchini Moon Chairs are the preferred seating in my dream spaceship. I can't even look at these chairs without hearing sci-fi theremin music play in my head.

This yellow Overman sofa will be all the rage in outerspace.

No spaceship is complete without some Astronaut Ice Cream! Yummy! However, the Beef Stew Space Dinner sounds somewhat questionable .

I am in love with this Planet and Stars Pendant Chandelier. It's on my wishlist for my ultimate gaming room that I have planned. When the light is turned on, it shines different colored stars and planets around the room from the little circles. How cool is that?

I love the collection of rocket ships they have on Retrojunk. I someday plan to buy one of each to have scattered around my house.

Yet another item on my wishlist -Mr. Robot Pillows! These pillows are unbelievably cute. I love retro robots and these pillows will add a bit of awesome to a space inspired room.

Thank you Aimée Wilder! This is the first ever wallpaper I have fallen in love with. It's hands down the coolest, funkiest wallpaper I have ever seen, and I want to spread it all over a Robot-licious accent wall.

We must always remember that space can be a very dangerous place. This fantastic Red Shirt Poster can help remind you!

Ground Control to Major Tom! A vintage print of the Control Cabin of a Space Rocket - awesome!

Another vintage print from allposters.com - Building Rocket Ship, 1948

Atomic50s on Zazzle has some cute prints available on t-shirts and tote bags to get you feeling atomic in no time!

Enterprise Pizza Cutter - a kitchen essential. As a young adult, I consume massive quantities of pizza so I need a stellar utensil to help me with this task.

We finally found a clock and lamp that I feel fit in with the plan I have for our new living room. I also saw a coffee table on Craigslist this morning that is really cool and funky for a price we like. I'm just worried it's going to be a little big for the living room at 51''. Pictures to come later in the week.

I have decided to fill my new retro pot with a spider plant. My mother-in-law and husband drove around on Saturday looking for one with no luck. No place around here carries them because I guess they are not that popular or maybe because most people who want them could get them for little or no cost from friends. Unfortunately I do not have any friends who grow house plants and my mother thew away her spider plants from the 70s around the time I was five. Grr! Maybe I will have some luck posting for spider plant cuttings in the wanted section of craigslist.

My husband works at a small independent non-profit educational video game company doing web development. I know my layout on blogger looks like crap right now, but bear with me until I can get him to make a wide layout for my blog. Not that anybody is even reading this at this point.

The next few years need to be crunch time. My husband and I are some of the few young people left in a dying city. All of our friends have already found jobs in other states and have left. Since we are low on money, we were slow at working toward our degrees with the price of tuition being what it is. I can hardly stand to drive through town because it's so empty, dilapidated and sad. K will be finishing his associates degree around the summer of '12 and then we'll be looking at schools in states and cities that have a high volume of tech jobs. Ideally K will be working in the video game industry still, but at this point we'd just like to make enough to get by and be happy. I want to move someplace with sunny blue skies. I'm so tired of the lonely grey I'm used to seeing.

Busy

The husband and I have been very busy the last few months.

We took a fun trip to Florida which is one of my favorite places on Earth. We went during Christmas and there were all kinds of fun kitschy decorations to be enjoyed. I can't wait to go back.

Spring is finally here which means I should be posting some great yard sale finds soon. Spring cleaning time!! One person's junk is quite possibly my treasure.

I recently got this really cool retro planter. Now I just need to buy some potting soil so I can transplant my little house plant into it.

My new robot I ordered from RetroPlanet chilling with my new retro planter.

My Eames Molded Plywood Chair that I picked up off of Craigslist! It was a deal and I just love it!

I also ordered the Atomic Age Lamp from RetroPlanet. It's not the highest quality but I love the way it looks in my living room. It reminds me of Fallout 3 and goes with my WWII ammo can.

My Danish stacking tables. Don't worry about this ugly thrift lamp. It will be replaced in a day or two. I am going lamp hunting this weekend to find a mid century lamp for my table.

We found the perfect cheap TV stand from Walmart for $100. It looks a lot like the TV stands I admire from House of Denmark only it's in the price range our thin pocketbook can afford. It is just big enough to fit all of the octopus of cords and consoles coming from it.

Temporary seating while we wait for the new futon to arrive. We are using our two fiberglass Herman Miller shell chairs to lounge in while gaming.

We recently Craigslisted almost everything we had in our house because I was sick of it. Then I used Craigslist to find some pieces I actually wanted.

I'm still working on re-doing the living room, but I will be posting more pictures as it evolves.