2010 July

Consignment store love

July 29, 2010

I have been spending a lot of time in thrift/consignment stores this week. I blame my friends, they do things like call me up and tell me to “come quick, there are these two great chairs that you want for $15 a piece”. They know I am not going to say no.

Look at these two gems that I just got. They are on their way out the door to be recovered. I tackle a lot of projects myself, but I do not do button back chairs…and these are too pretty to mess up. And then there were these two that I considered buying, but I figured my cute carpenter would have a thing or two to say about me bringing home two more misfit chairs. So the Sassy Seamstress bought them instead…she is a smart girl.

Look at this darling little find: $12 What color should I paint her?

I saved the best for last. I spotted this piece from across the warehouse in a consignment store, and my heart skipped a beat. It is an octagonal table with 2 more leaves that go in it, it is so very frenchy.

I love all the quatrefoil carvings, and I cannot wait to paint it My husband cannot wait for me to figure out where I am going to put it. I keep telling him that that is a silly little detail that us practical girls need not worry about.

So how about you, bought anything fun lately? If I were fancy I would do one of those linky things, but I have no idea how to do that, so let’s just do this the ghetto way and leave a link in the comments if you have a great thrift store project. I’m looking for some inspiration!

Filed UnderStuff to paint 13 Comments

Simple Elegance

July 27, 2010

Everywhere I go I pay attention details, I love them. While I’m sitting in the waiting room of a doctor’s office, I am noticing how the chairs are set up. Or while watching a movie, I tend to pay more attention to the set design than I do the characters (unless the character is Russell Crowe…did I just type that ). Or while shopping, I will spend more time admiring the decorative wall finishes in Anthropologie than I do the clothing. I like details. So this past spring while attending an auction for my daughter’s school, I flipped out over this simple arrangement. Can you call sticks in a vase an arrangement? It was so simple, yet so elegant. A local decorator had crafted the ensemble as decorations for the table tops at this event. She might be the smartest girl I know.

So I copied her and made my own…and you can too. All you need are sticks, color dyed moss (mine is chartreuse), and a glue gun. How stinkin’ pretty is that sitting in my dining room?

Here is another, much more lopsided view:

This moss is the coolest color. I bought mine at a local garden type shop, but I have seen something very similar at JoAnn Fabrics. One of my girlfriend’s already went out and bought some for a wreath for her front door. Oh the possibilities.

Linking up today with a few of my favorite people! Melissa over at The Inspired Room, and Wendy over at The Shabby Nest. Come join us…

Filed UnderAccessories 7 Comments

He loves me, He loves me not

July 25, 2010

He loves me, He loves me not…I am so guilty of this. Every time I think I am past it, doubt and insecurity march right back into my life and cause me to begin questioning what I believed just one day before. It is as though the path that I am on with the Lord sometimes resembles more of a track, we just keep looping around the same path over and over again. I desire our road to look more like a path through a meadow; maybe one where the morning dew still floats atop the grass, and the sunlight causes it to glisten and reflect a golden glow. Or maybe I envision our walk to be down a beach, calm and serene, yet at the same time powerful and majestic. But often all I can see is black concrete underneath my walking shoes, along with metal stadium seats packed full of onlookers mocking my lack of progress. I hear what they are saying even though they are whispering, I hear their condemning words. Do you ever feel this way? Do you ever feel like you spend way too much time plucking the petals off daisies, allowing your emotions to swing back and forth between “He loves me and He loves me not”? Do you ever feel like you are looping the same track over and over again, wrestling out the same issues with God? Do you ever feel drained from your apparent lack of progress? I do, and it can be exhausting.

There is a glimmer of hope that I cling to when discouragement begins to weigh down my spirit: God wrestles with those that He loves. Do you remember Jacob? He had buried himself so deep into the ground that there was simply no way out for him. His brother (that presumably desired to kill him) was approaching with an army of 400 men. To say that Jacob was discouraged would be an understatement, He was terrified. And so he wrestled through all the sin that had brought him to where he was…and he wasn’t alone. God was right there with him, wrestling it out, just waiting for Jacob to humble himself before his Maker and accept his blessing that the Lord desired to give him.

When you are feeling your walk with the Lord keeps bringing you back to the same place, consider the possibility that maybe you and God still have some wrestling to do. Consider the possibility that it is not that God doesn’t love you that you find yourself back at the same place again, but rather that He loves you too much to let you move on before you have received His blessing. Though our flesh tells us that we are back at this same place again because we will never be free of our sin, allow the Spirit to speak a bolder truth over your situation. Maybe God is just waiting for us to humble ourselves enough to receive the blessing that He has set aside for us. Believe Him when He says He loves you. His Son has the scars on his hands and feet to prove it.