Time Spent at Value Village = Good Weekend

Hi everyone.  Have a good weekend?  

Ours started out with a bang.  One of the dogs (Sophie most likely) defiled the music room rug.  Thanks to it being Flor carpet tiles, I was able to pull up the stinky ones and hose them off in the backyard (it was unseasonably warm this weekend.  It felt like spring.  I started spring cleaning and actually hit the linen closet and some drawers pretty hard.)

I’ll let you guys know if the stink removal treatment is effective.  As it is, we started keeping the music room door closed when we’re not around to “supervise”.  I’m starting to wonder/doubt/question my idea of using Flor in the living room (and bedroom).  Those dogs look so angelic but they can be sneaky.  Well, Sophie mostly.  Shenanigan doesn’t care what anyone thinks, he just does what he wants.  It’s a dog’s life.

I digress.  I have actually been on the hunt for some picture frames for the Christmas gift artwork that I keep hinting about.  So I did what any girl would do and dragged my husband to our local Value Village (Goodwill-esque thrift store).  I never come home empty-handed from Value Village, it’s statistically/mathematically impossible.  Case in point.

Less than $10 later and only one item resembling a picture frame. 

I was most excited about the chalkboard so I got to work on it Sunday night while JT cooked up a fabulous Rick Bayless recipe for dinner.  First I sanded all the tape gook and things off the wood frame.  Next I removed the hanging hardware off the back and applied my own “hardware” – 3M command picture hanging strips. 

Yep, $1.81.

Then, I mounted it in the kitchen where we can use it to jot down grocery list items or the menu for the evening (if we’re feeling fancy).  Still no chalk though, so the picture looks a little bare.

Pardon the pictures, I was taking them late Sunday night without any natural light.  No amount of Photoshop can overcome that obstacle.  I realized I haven’t shown a lot of views of our kitchen.  I’ve been hiding it.  Now you’ll see why.  In the next few months I hope to replace the dingy, dying peel and stick floor tile from the 60s with a warm grey (recycled content) ceramic 12×12 tile.    In the next few months I hope to replace the stove entirely (it’s beyond gross).  In the next few months, I am going to do a total overhaul of the furniture, add window treatments, paint the upper and lower cabinets, add cabinet hardware, build shelving . . . the list goes on and on.

But I digress.  Here’s another before and after highlighting the Value Village rag rug.  I’m not 100% sold on it because right now it’s not holding a true rectangle shape.  It might end up out on the back porch.  For $2.99, thankfully, I’m not too concerned.

(See Sophie and Shenanigan’s new water bowl present peeking out from under the island cart?  I still love it.  Shenanigan was scared of it at first and started out only licking around the edges instead of actually drinking water but he eventually figured it out.) 

Since I’m going all out with these kitchen glimpses, I might as well show the other two (scary) views of the kitchen as well.  Keep in mind : WORK IN PROGRESS.

Yep, needs a lot of work.  We’re going to fix you all up kitchen, don’t worry. 

So, that’s it.  One tiny South City black and white tile kitchen.  It’ll be looking a lot better in a few months.  I already like it a little better thanks to our Value Village chalkboard.

The weekend finished out with Mexican Hot Chocolate (recipe by Rick Bayless, made by JT) and No-Bake Fig bars (recipe idea from Oh She Glows, switched over from dates).  Our center island cart came from the Gypsy Caravan (a big flea market held to raise money for the St. Louis Symphony ever year — I think I paid $20 to get in.  Antiques and classical music?  I’m in.)  It used to be in a medical and/or dental type office in probably the 1920s to 1940s.  It is a heavy-duty metal with a baked on enamel coat.  I like it a lot.  The grungy floor tile and oven you can see beyond it, not so much.

And here we are, back at Monday.  Have a great one.