Moving

I started this blog to chronicle my experiences of crossing things off my "bucket list". Over the past few months I have been slacking on posting. A lot of what I was wanting to post had nothing to do with my list. Plus, I was reconsidering even sharing those personal aspects with the internet world. I wouldn't just hand over my list to a stranger in real life, so why would I do that online?

I have enjoyed writing about my antique finds and the different DIY projects I have done, so I am going to continue that on another blog.

You can find new posts at lot26vintage.wordpress.com as well as a couple old posts I have copied from here.

So I'd love for you to check out the new blog, bookmark it, and leave comments if you'd like. :)

Knock-Off Wood

If you haven't visited Knock-Off Wood, you are missing out! Ana creates building plans for knock-offs of popular furniture. Her plans are easy to follow and have drawings to go along with them. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars for one Pottery Barn table, you can follow her plans and build enough furniture to decorate your entire home.

I needed a nightstand in my room, so I found Ana's plans for this end table (a knock-off of this Pottery Barn table). I spent about $50 for materials and tools and it took me a few hours to complete the project.

Thank goodness for those clamps! Don't think I could have finished the project without them!

Finished the building part... now for the staining...

Voila! 2 coats of stain and 1 coat of polyurethane and it's good to go.

I'd love to build this daybed inspired by Pottery Barn:

I could put it in my office to convert it into a guest room/office.

Hello?

Talk about a long hiatus from the blogging world!

I have been working so much lately, I just haven't had the motivation to update the good ol' blog. I have spent a lot of my free time doing some renovations around the house. In the past few months I have repainted my office and living room and installed wainscoting and wood floors in the living room. My house looks completely different now that my living room makeover is complete. I'm hoping to do an entire post about the living room revamp... I just need to hang stuff on the walls and it will be good to go... well with the exception of seating... I am still shopping for the perfect sofa. I have been looking for the perfect one since I moved in April of last year.

I'm loving these:

(via designsponge)

(via designsponge)

(Originally saw this in Lucky - found the photo online here)

(source unknown)

(via decorpad)

My living room isn't very large, so I need something that is large enough to seat more than 2 people, but not too bulky where it takes up half the room. Oh yeah, and it can't cost me an arm and a leg.

I found this sofa and loveseat at macys.com, but I am a little hesitant on buying furniture online.

I'd love to find a piece at an antique store or craigslist and taking on the challenge of reupholstering it, but I have yet to find one that I am in love with.

Does anyone know where I can find a antique/vintage inspired sofa in OKC?

Bright Lights

I've been wanting to get new light fixtures in my home since I moved in. Two things stand in my way: 1) I am afraid of messing with the electrical work and 2) My living room has 15ft tall ceilings and I don't have a ladder tall enough to even get high enough to take down the ugly track lighting and dated white ceiling fan if I wasn't afraid of electrocuting myself!

I'd love to do something like this above my dining room table:

(via apartment therapy)

(via design sponge) ( Light kit found here)

I love the red! I think it would really pop and I know that I'd probably be able to find a chandelier at a thrift store for less than $15 - add some spray paint and voila!

(via design sponge)

This would be great for outdoors... too bad Oklahoma winds would probably destroy them in a matter of minutes:

(via casasugar)

P.S. Laying in bed sick for almost 2 days has left me looking at SO many design/DIY blogs, it's not even funny. I want to redecorate every room in my house now!

Up and Running!

I've spent a majority of today working on my new etsy shop. (For those of you who aren't familiar with etsy, it is an online marketplace for people to buy and sell handmade and vintage items.)

I've got the shop up and running. Take a look around!

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade lot26vintage.etsy.com

Snow Day

Being snowed in for a few days has given me a lot of free time to do some much needed cleaning and organizing around the house. While cleaning, I found some lovely little handcrafted goodies that I decided to relist on my etsy site. I've put the link on my sidebar to the right.

Once I upload all my vintage finds to etsy, I'll post that store up there as well.

Something's in the works...

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you can probably tell that I enjoy antique shopping. I usually go once a week - and no, I would not consider myself addicted. I am, however, a bit quirky about how I shop.

Antique shopping is a bit different than any other type of shopping. When I shop for clothes, I like going with a girlfriend. You can ask for their opinion on something and if you shop at the same stores, you can make sure you aren't purchasing something they bought the week before. When I go antique/thrift shopping, I have to go alone. I have my regular stores that I go to and I have a weird system of shopping. If someone is shopping with me, it throws of my entire game plan because I'm concentrating more on the person than I am the merchandise. (Man, typing this all out makes me feel a lot more OCD about it than I am!) It's like when you host a party - You are so busy wondering if everyone is having a good time or if there's enough food and drinks for everyone or if everyone has a place to sit that you forget to just relax and have a good time. At the store, I am wondering if the other person has looked at everything they want to or if they are bored of the store and they are just wandering around waiting on me, so I just hurry up and end up not enjoying myself. I think I end up doing this because I'm the only one of my friends that is really into antiquing and having to dig around for the good stuff. If I was shopping with someone that was as into it as I am, it would probably be a different story.

I look at antique and thrift store shopping as a treasure hunt. Each of my regular stores has it's own "map" and I have a route set out for each one. For example, at The Rink Gallery, I always start on the south side of the building and work my way north. I know which booths to skip (the Western-themed one and the Dollhouse/Lace one) and which ones have great finds every time (the booth in the Northeast corner, next to the one with all the old oil cans and bookshelves). If I'm lucky, I leave with a fun little piece of the past. Even if I don't purchase anything, I'm still entertained by all the weird stuff people are trying to sell.

After being inspired by Three Potato Four and a conversation with my friends Beth and Brad, I have decided to take my hobby of antique shopping and work it into my List. I am working on creating an Etsy store to sell vintage goods that I find on my shopping excursions.

We'll see how it goes! I'm hoping for the best! I've already accumulated a handful of items that will be listed once the Etsy store is set up.

The only thing I am lacking right now is a name for the store... I've been trying to come up with one the past couple of days, but my mind is drawing a blank... grrrr!

I will definitely post a link once everything is set up!