Trends

Normally, I hate trends. I feel like they're created by designers to get people to pay money for things they don't need and that won't be popular in a year. Nothing wrong with fashion or interior designers making money - it's their job. But I decided a long time ago that I would never be a part of a trend unless I felt like it looked good on me or was something I would be happy looking at in my home every day. Some trends suit some people. Some suit others.
For example, it is a rare occasion indeed on which you will find me wearing a belt. They're adorable, they're chic, and they're a huge trend right now. But my body is shaped like a mollusk, and belts would make the whole situation way worse. If I lose 40 lbs, maybe I'll try out the belt thing if it's still popular.
On the other hand, I know so many women, even full-figured women, who can wear the heck out of a belt. They not only pull it off, but they also make people like me think of doing it anyway just so we can look more like that person. There's a woman my age at my church who looks amazing in ANYTHING. She's a fashion nut, and she's always up on the trends. She can pull it off. I can't.
But enough about that - I love myself. Really I do.
Some trends become permanent staples. Some (most?) fade away and only make their rounds when the fashion style wears off and reverts. You know what I mean? I mean, who thought leg warmers would come back in? Or color blocking? Or mixing prints with patterns? Or any of those other 80s styles that everyone hated once the 90s came? By the way, 90s, good job showing the 80s what real style is...
Anyway, style is permanent. Trends come in waves. It's nice to take part in trends that look good on you or in your home, but it's not worth it if you feel uncomfortable or are spending money you don't have keeping up with it.
Let me explain further: the sixties were full of clean lines, stainless steel, finished woods, and neutral tones when it came to interior decorating. Sure, you also had the paisley chairs and garish colors, but the main staples that were introduced during the Eames era are styles still used today in even new designs. Mid-century modern has become just modern, with the lines and bones staying the same throughout the last 5 decades. And weren't we glad when shoulder pads, wide lapels, and pleated pants went away (well, I wasn't, because I was born in '88, but you know what I mean)? In my opinion, the 80s were the worst in many style aspects, but some people loved the decade. I mean, rock stars are buttoning their polo shirts all the way up again! They're wearing neon colors and rolling up the sleeves of their blazers. Some guys and girls can pull it off. Not me.
I've never had the desire to participate in every trend just because it was a trend. Yeah, in high school I took some flack for it, but I'm a grown up now. I wear what makes me happy. I cut my hair short and wear very little makeup and dye my hair several different colors at once and wear my daughter's jewelry and wear big huge bows in my hair because it's an expression of myself. I don't care that it may look ridiculous to some people. It makes me happy. I don't care that it's not a trend. I love it.
What if Cyndi Lauper had paid attention to the trends? She would have been just another blonde chick trying to make a living with her voice. She didn't obey the trends. She set the trends. And according to my mom, everyone thought she was a freak... until they wanted to be like her. Does she look ridiculous? Maybe. Is she crazy? Probably. But she doesn't care. She's Cyndi effing Lauper.
The reason I felt like saying all of this is really quite simple. I have been hounded by a certain woman who sells cosmetics for several months now. She's been telling me I could obviously use a makeover. She says I always look tired. She says a little tangerine in my makeup pallet could do me some good. "Tangerine is in right now," she says.
I don't care. I don't want to look like a piece of fruit.
So one day I thought I'd try it out. I didn't get the makeover, but I bought the makeup and applied it just as she suggested. I did everything right. I even got the shadow and blush and lipstick and everything. I spent about $50 trying to look like I was with the trend because I was worried for a minute that I wouldn't be stylish.
When I looked in the mirror, I realized that I'd made a huge mistake (I say this in my best GOB Bluth voice). I looked like a clown. Sure, it was pretty, and sure, it was a great shade. But it didn't work for me. Some girls can pull it off, but not me. And there I had spent $50 on something I didn't want to do in the first place and then never wanted to do again.
If you love a trend, try it. If you don't, don't. There's nothing wrong with trends if you like to follow them. But don't spend your money if you're only doing it because everyone says you must. In fact I like to buck the trends when I can if people are telling me personally to try them. I guess it's the rebel in me. Use your money to buy more of the things you know you love. Or better yet, save your money. You know, for a rainy day or whatever. Or a great pair of vintage Converse.
Be happy because you're happy, and not because a trend makes you feel popular. When it fades, so will your happiness.

Thrift Store Find - 4/28/13

Hello again! I know it's been a while, but seeing how few people actually read my posts, I'm going to go ahead and assume the only one who missed me was me.
We recently moved, and doing so made us instantly aware of how tight our budget really was. We are paying our bills, but we're also trying to save up for a new car by the end of summer (we're thinking a 7-seater, maybe a crossover), so we've had to keep an eye on our expenses. Back when my husband was handling the checkbook, he would tell me to spend now and worry about the balance later. I like to think that's because he just loves me so much and wants me to be happy, and not because he's bad with money. Truth is, he's very good with money... he just works 80 hours a week and has no time to sit down once a week to go over the money. So I've been handling it for a while now. Truth is, I've been slacking too... this move has been crazy stressful ad my 2-year-old has a funny way of hiding things like, say, the checkbook. Not funny so much as extremely annoying.
Anyway, back to the point. I know I mentioned this before, but we've had to rehab a lot of our own things rather than buying new. We are improvising a LOT. Reusing tables in new ways, placing shelves strategically, and buying curtains from strangers has been a regular way of life lately. It's nice, though. Keeps us on our toes.
But this weekend we got some amazing news. Nathan got a new job! Ok, it's pretty much the same thing he does now, but it's so much better for a number of reasons I won't get into now. We decided to celebrate. And how do I celebrate? By thrifting of course!
We discovered a new place this weekend. Well, new to us. It's been there forever and I've been wanting to go, but I kept forgetting. It's called ReStore, and they give all proceeds to Habitat For Humanity. They have a little bit of everything, and a lot of hardware-store-type supplies (you know, paint, etc.). I found a very cool side table - probably from the 70's, very dark, solid wood. It wasn't very pretty as it was, but I took a chance on it for $20. In the same store, I bought primer and paint for it ($2 a can, btw) and wanted to find new door pulls, but couldn't find anything I was in love with. Then it occurred to me... paint the existing ones! They're cute, they're in good shape... they're just ugly. So I bought aluminum-tinted spray paint for $2. Later, while doing our grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, I found some very cute iron-on flowers for $1.50 a piece. I had never incorporated fabric in this type of project before, but what the heck, right? So I bought three of them. Cute.
The project took 2 days. I probably could have done it in one if I had started early in the morning. I put one coat of primer, 4 coats of spray paint (4 cans), and painted the pulls, and applied the flowers with my newest toy - a hot glue gun. =-)
I shall leave you now with the final result. I think it's my favorite so far.
Happy thrifting!

Home is where the Paint is

Well, we're all moved into our new apartment. The walls are (mostly) painted and everything from the old place is here. It hasn't necessarily found it's own place here, but it's here.
Something I was very excited about, maybe more so than any other thing about this new place, was my dining room. See, I've never had one. As far as I can remember, every house I've lived in since birth has not had a dining room. I don't really know why I wanted one so badly, but I did. I had a very specific plan for this space - to make it reflect the heritages in our family. I planned on what I was calling a "heritage wall" representing the Jewish, Irish, Italian, and German blood in our children's veins. I ordered a handmade wooden German flag on etsy.com (it was my one splurge), used a banner my sister had sent us from Ireland listing all the Irish family names, hung up a Jewish wall prayer mount, and ordered a collage print of famous Italian sites from Walgreens. I am working on hanging old family photos (and I mean very old, like from the late 19th century through 1920's) and I bought wooden letters to spell out the word "family" in Celtic, German, Italian, Yiddish and English.
The gray color on the walls was better than I thought it would turn out. I absolutely fell in love with it!
We now have a dining room table and chairs. Never had these of my very own, and my in-laws' neighbors were getting rid of it, so we took it. It's in perfect shape and is only a couple years old!
I will post a few pictures now so you get an idea of what I'm doing. When it's all done, I'll post more, for sure!
(Please excuse the quality. My camera broke and these pix were taken with my phone or webcam.)

Starting to paint

Heritage wall - still working on it

Dining room table set

spray painted the mirror blue to complement gray wall

Painting

Loving the way it's turning out!

Bathroom before

My sister Chloe in front of unfinished wall

After color!

Bathroom color

a work in progress

Ava eating at the table this morning

 The wall with just a swatch of paint

my etsy flag!

New(ish) furniture!

I mentioned in my last post that we haven't had a couch in over a year. This is something I was determined to change when we moved. See, the main reason we have waited so long is that we haven't been able to get a moving truck, and now finally we have the money to do that. I was so excited this morning when Nathan and I got to go thrifting for furniture.
Now I'm a firm believer that most everything you might need for your home can be found in thrift stores, but I'm also realistic about it. For US, we needed to find something clean and as new as possible because unless it's a dining room chair, I can't reupholster anything myself (although I plan on learning). A friend of a friend does it, and she is very good, but it's pretty expensive and we just need every dollar we have right now.
The other challenge at hand was that we needed to be able to find it today. We don't have another month or even another week to do our shopping - our schedule is jam-packed until we move this Saturday. And we needed to get Salvation Army to break their own rules for us just this once, allowing us to keep our furniture at the store for another 5 days, even though policy is that it must be picked up within 24 hours.
And thirdly, we had to find something in our price range. I planned on spending between $80-$150. It's a pretty generous range, but even so.... all the challenges we had were making me think it couldn't be done.
We got to Salvation Army and they were having a huge sale, so the store was packed. I pushed my way into the furniture section looking for a beautiful couch and what did I see? The usual. Purple paisley, orange stripes, wooden arms on overstuffed couches. Sure enough, I figured, there was nothing. No beautiful neutral-colored, clean-lines, well-maintained couch for our new home.
Suddenly, I hear one of the workers behind me. "Excuse me ma'am," he says, "Gotta bring some furniture through."
I moved aside, allowing the always-polite staff of the store through, and what were they bringing in? A lovely cream-colored couch! It looked new, it had those clean lines I love, it wasn't overstuffed but it was still comfy. It was the couch - MY couch!
I looked at the price tag. $150. Ouch. That was a little high. But maybe it was worth it? What to do? People start crowding around me like vultures around a freshly-killed rabbit, and I'm standing there wondering why the manna isn't filet mignon! Don't be picky, V! Buy the couch!
But there was one other obstacle. Nathan. That man I'm married to and who I love is very very picky about his furniture. He and I have opposite tastes. He likes country homes with comfy furniture and oil paintings of landscapes while I prefer modern furniture and sculptures and things that are completely unique. Would he love this couch as much as I did?
I brought him over and he looked at it. He circled around it 3 or 4 times (again, the vultures come to mind), and then he sits down. I can't read his face. He's sitting on it while 3 or 4 others are eyeing it from across the aisle. After ten minutes and a near anxiety attack from me, he finally answers. "I think I like it," he says.
That's good enough for me.
So I rush up front to pay, but as I go I see the guys with a cute little blue reading chair. It's exactly what I was looking for! And then a sideboard. Now I wasn't in love with it right away, but at $65 I could compromise. I get up front and talk to the manager, telling her I really love the furniture, but that I can not pick it all up until Saturday, etc. She very politely reminded me of their usual policy. "Can I pay extra?" I asked.
"It's $10 a day for each item."
That's $150 bucks for all three items. That's the same amount as it was just to buy the couch. I couldn't afford it, and I told her so.
"Look, you come here all the time," she smiled. "If you're absolutely sure you'll be here on Saturday, and if you get all 3 aid for today, I'll charge you only $10 a day for all of it together."
$50,,,, that I could do.
So I paid for my couch and sideboard and $35 chair. Not a bad day. Not a bad day at all.

Never underestimate the awesomeness that is thrift stores!

Wanting What I Have

We're about to move into a new apartment next week and I'm kinda dreading it. On the one hand, I'm very excited to start decorating a new place. It's like a clean slate. There is so much more storage and more room in general, and I'm really looking forward to finally living in a relatively clutter-free home.
On the other hand, moving means buying supplies, and supplies often take you to parts of the store that are full of home-improvement supplies, which for me might as well be rows and rows of designer handbags. I'm walking down the paint aisle looking at all the really great brands, and I know I can't afford paint that's $40 a gallon. It's so beautiful. I go to the craft aisle, and I want to buy everything and fill my home with homemade, personal projects. But I don't have that much money. And on and on, aisle after aisle, I find disappointment after disappointment.
We got a couple of things for the new place - a handmade piece of artwork from etsy.com for $35, a couple of dollar-store craft pieces, and we will soon be buying a thrift store sofa and sideboard. But other than that, I have to use good old-fashioned creativity to redecorate our new home. This makes me sad and here's why:
I want more money. There, I said it. I don't want to have to find ways to use the same things over and over again hoping for a different result each time (isn't that what someone said is the definition of insanity?!?!). I mean, I LOVE thrift stores and I will always shop secondhand as long as people are selling secondhand. But I walked into Michael's today and saw so many beautiful home decorations. They weren't even expensive! I think the thing I wanted most was this white porcelain lantern and it was only $15. But it was $15 I couldn't spare. $15 I didn't have. $15 I needed to use for buying diapers for my baby.
I came home from shopping for the things I did have to get and I looked at our home. Toys shoved into bins, overflowing pantry, more books than my shelves have room for - not to mention the fact that we haven't had a sofa in over a year. I thought about all the things we don't have. We don't have enough storage. We don't have the right furniture. Our son and daughter have to share a bedroom. We don't have area rugs. We don't have enough bookshelves. We don't have this. We don't have that. We don't have ANYTHING!!!!
And then I looked at the kids. My daughter doesn't know she doesn't have a sofa. She sits on my lap in the recliner and plays with my hair. She calls me "Mama." She kisses me before bedtime and tells me she loves me. My son is barely 5 months old. He smiles all the time! I've never seen a baby so happy. Everything is fun to him. He doesn't know what we don't have - he doesn't even know what we DO have. He's a baby. They're both babies. Their lives aren't polluted with knowing what they're supposed to have or are expected to own. They just love eachother and they love us and they love everything.
And when my daughter hugs me around the leg and kisses my hip and says thank you after I give her a glass of water, I know it doesn't matter what I don't have. I have her, and I have her brother, and I have their father. And I have a roof over my head and I have food in my fridge and I have love in my home and I have friends and I have church and I have EVERYTHING!!!
Life is not easy. Pain, sickness, poverty, and need happens. And it seems to be happening a lot more often to a lot more people lately. There really is no secret to being happy in an unhappy world. It's as simple as counting your blessings. And I know that sounds cliché... and it kind of is... but it really does work.
I can't wait to spruce up the new place and assemble it over time. I look forward to my kids entering the years of their lives when they will actually be able to cultivate memories they will keep for a long time. I want to have a happy home, and I know that has nothing to do with what we have, but everything to do with who we're with. I have what I want because I want what I have, and I wouldn't change it for all the fancy porcelain lanterns in the world.

Mod Podge - AKA My new Best Friend

This year for Christmas, my mom asked everyone in our enormous family if we would be willing to make homemade gifts or buy thrift store gifts for eachother since most of us are going through hard times financially lately. This required something I hope I'm pretty good at - creativity. Things came pretty easily. Thankfully many of my family members are avid readers, and books are plentiful at secondhand stores.
My youngest brother, Neville, however, isn't much of a reader except when it comes to comic books. I don't really read them so I didn't know which ones he already had. But while I was at Salvation army, I came across this nightstand for $8:

After cleaning it (with help from my daughter Ava), I cut several copies of the same comic book apart into individual pages.

Then, using mod podge, I pasted the pages to the nightstand, layer by layer.

I did learn through experience that a sponge brush works better than a sponge, and disposable latex gloves save your hands a lot of trouble. But you live and learn!
At the end, it looked like this:

the pictures really don't do it justice, in my opinion.
I loved this project!

If you've noticed something's different...

I just had a baby boy on Sept 13th, so that's why I've been absent. With 2 kids now, my husband on a new schedule at work, and a move in the near future, things have been pretty busy. I know this blog isn't very popular, so maybe no one noticed. But if you did, that's my reason. I promise I'll be back posting as soon as I can.
Thanks for your patience!

-V