Paint + Craigslist

Well....we did it. We finally painted.

Enter Relief.
Enter sighs of contentment.
Release all frustration over ugly nasty rental house.
-aaaaaaah-
And now move your right foot above your left hip bone and repeat after me...

I am now content. I am now content. I am now content.

in case nobody got that...its ok. I'm just exhausted at this point and my humor is lacking in the wit department. We've a long last two weeks with way too much going on.

These are the starfish I had left over from the wedding...I decided to get slightly creative with them...and I think it turned out pretty good. Not important. Just nifty.

Repainted the cabinets a bright white and installed new hardware. Just the handles..and only el-cheapo, because after all...its not OUR house....I just got tired of the grimey build up on the handles that could only be chiseled off by a diamond tip drill.


Cool story on the paint. I had decided to go with Benjamin Moore's 'Dill Pickle' color. And we went into Bro. Dave's store, Sarasota Paint, with the intention of purchasing the paint needed. Well...BM came out with a new product called Aura Paint which is about 60bucks a gallon...(we weren't going to buy that...thats just info for what you're about to read next) SO...we went in to look around at their mistints to see if they had anything we could reopen and squirt some color in to get it CLOSE to dill pickle. Cuz those guys are just oh so talented. And lo' and behold...there was a gallon of Aura paint sitting in the mistints and labeled 'Dill Pickle'. So you see...God WANTED me to paint my kitchen Dill Pickle. Even if YOU don't like it. He knew my heart and I felt rather blessed to get JUST the color I wanted for FREE. Courtesy of Sarasota Paint.

This is a room we have right off the porch. It was originally white. As was EVERYTHING else in this STINKIN house!! Seriously...whoever painted this place did one coat of very very cheap and thin off-white paint. It looked horrible. And depressing.

This room is rather small and you'll remember it from my last blog post regarding furniture...this is where we had our huge FREE executive desk. Which, by the way I sold a LOT of furniture since then and got all our money back and basically our couches free.

yes...I know.

There is no charge for awesomeness.

Noah brought home some nice carpet he pulled out of someone's house. Its a truckload better than what WAS in there...which was some type of indoor/outdoor ugly grey junk. This lighter shade really opened up the room. In this picture he's using a stretcher...basically it grabs onto the carpet with these really really sharp claws and his knee hits that large rubber square really really hard...and jerks the carpet toward the wall.

I'm glad I didn't have to do that.

Bad picture...I know..but the lighting is just awful. That armoire is a new acquisition. It matches our coffee table perfectly (Mexican Pine) We got rid of the end tables we DID have...they didn't match. Sold the lamps with them for $125 on craigslist. You'll remember that we bought the two couches, end tables, lamps, executive desk, and an extra chair for $250. So...the tables and lamps alone got half our money back.
Here's a better picture...and it includes that shelving area that just did NOT make sense. I painted the backing and sides and bottom the same blue as the wall...which ended up being a GREAT decision because it kinda made it blend in better with the wall instead of jumping out and saying "HEY! look at me!! I'm an area of the wall that just DOESN'T make sense!!"

And if you were wondering where our awesome oak bookshelves went..there they are. In the dining room. Ha. Putting the room this way really opened it up for us. It's so much less crowded and we actually enjoy spending time in here now...
There's another shot...thats also a new dining table. New as in I bought it on craigslist. And it matches the armoire and coffee table (Mexican Pine). I'm just so proud of myself. Can you tell? Its from Pier One, which I'm pretty sure is kinda expensive. But I got a super good deal on it and managed to resell my old dining table.

on craigslist.

I should get an award or something.

This is just a close up of what I have in between the book cases. Mom bought me that little box for my bridal shower and had towels in it..and it perfectly matches everything i've decorated with. I'm really really happy how everything turned out...

The house feels so much cozier now and I'm almost dreading the day I have to leave it. ...almost.

And last but not least...you may have heard I got something I've been wanting for years and years.

A bearded dragon. Finally. We've named him Franklin...but he mainly gets referred to as Frankie or Frankie Fat Face. What can I say? I like mobster names.

Frankie was my birthday present. I bet you can't guess where we bought him.

That's right...craigslist. Bearded dragons generally run between $50-$100. He requires an aquarium and two different types of lights PLUS something to climb on and lots of food. A proper set up + beardie would probably cost NEW about $400. More if you count a stand for the aquarium to go on. We got our entire set-up for $150. And the dragon has been vet-checked and was only 7 months old which is pretty young considering their lifespan of 10-12 years.


So that's it folks...sorry it wasn't more entertaining for ya. But hey, at least you FINALLY get to see some pics.