My Castle Is Complete

I realize some of you may be new to my blog...Although, since nobody COMMENTS any more, it's hard to tell!  And yes, that is a shameless ploy for more comments.  Anyway, that is not the point.  The point is that if you've been with me since the very beginning, you realize that while my house may in fact look like a typical middle class home, it is in fact a castle.  Complete with scullery maid.  You can click here to learn all about my fabulous life in a castle.

My Grandmama Dolly passed in January.  My mom and her siblings separated her belongings among themselves, and my mom had asked if I wanted anything.  "I was always fascinated by those chairs with the lion head and feet."  As it turned out, those had already been laid claim to.  I philosophically shrugged and said, "never mind.  Those chairs were too majestic for my garage sale/hand me down/eclectic house decorations anyway."

Guess what?  My mom called me a while back and said the chairs may be coming available again.  "I WANT THEM!"  I shouted into the phone before she could finish her sentence.  You see, my grandparents had a somewhat eclectic decor themselves.  From green flocked wallpaper paired with gray paneling, to chairs with lion heads carved into them and velvet bullfighter pictures, they had a little bit of everything.  Everything to be found at "ESTATE sales" that is.  "ESTATE Sale" is the more elite form of a garage sale.  You see, an estate sale apparently occurs when the family of the dearly departed simply cannot decide who gets what, so they have a giant auction and split the profits, or since it's an ESTATE and therefore very hoity toity, I'm sure the profits are donated to charity...

It is obviously nothing like it's low brow counterparts where people actually take the stuff from their dearly departed family member and then have a sale out of their garage and pocket every bit of the cash for themselves.

As you can clearly see, my grandparents only had the most discriminating tastes, and such things as a chair made from steer hide and longhorn horns, would not be found at your average run of the mill garage sales.  Such treasures as these could only be found at the very exclusive ESTATE SALE.

Okay, now that I've edified you with my vast knowledge of garage versus ESTATE sales, I will now show you what my darling husband brought home to me after a weekend of dove hunting with his brothers.  Carefully duct taped in sheets and blankets to keep their pristine condition, naturally.  At first, I was almost certain he brought home the wrong chairs.  After all, the chairs of my memory were huge and clearly once belonged in a haunted castle.  How or where my Grandpa had the opportunity to visit an ESTATE sale at a haunted castle, I was never completely clear on.  However, I was certain that these must surely belong in one!

Now that I'm the very modest age of 35, these chairs have shrunk considerably!  They are no longer giant arm chairs where I feel much like Lily Tomlin surely felt in her giant rocker when she played Edith Ann.  Instead, they are just perfectly ordinary sized arm chairs, with an unusual black upholstery and lion heads carved in the arms, with claw feet.

Oh, well.  I love them.  I can still picture their exact spot in the front living room of my Grandmama's house. I will treasure them for that reason, along with my childhood fanciful thoughts.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, my girls found them immediately fanciful.  In fact Popcorn said, "Now we can have the scary chairs with the old haunted Raggedy Anne doll sit right here in this corner."

Well, I resent that statement.  You see, I had a dear friend make me this doll.  She is gifted at making folk art crafts, and when we moved away, she gave me the doll, along with a pillow that is embroidered with "Live in such a way that those who know you but don't know God come to know God because they know you."  Isn't that beautiful?  Studmuffin, however has refused to allow the doll to sit on our bed.  He thinks it looks like a voodoo doll.  I scoff and say it's supposed to be folk art.  I fear we will never agree on the topic.

Apparently my girls agree.

15 minutes of waiting can cost you....

So, I mentioned that my mom was a few minutes behind me when we were supposed to meet Friday, right? Notice I say she was behind me, not late....just a little behind. Saying she was late seems to convey irritation and inconvenience. The exact opposite was true.

So, here's some details you should know about me. I'm impatient. I don't like to shop a lot. It makes me sleepy. the only way I'm typically able to enjoy it is if I am either
a) spending someone else's money
b) finding things dirt cheap
c)consuming lots of cookies and coffee (this is hindered by my cheapness)
If any of these situations are occurring, then I'm in heaven.

However, I had a few minutes to kill, so I decided to drop in the antique store I drive by every time I go to see my parents and always think "I should go in there some day." Some day finally came. I found the little shop absolutely charming. The precious lady who owned it greeted me immediately, and walked me through the entire store. She had a wide range of treasures. And most of them were very affordable! Since Studmuffin referred to me as "The Queen of Cheap" just last night, you can base my judgment of affordable on that title, I guess.

First, I found a dresser that I was just sure I could not live without. It was a beautiful four drawer dresser approximately 4 feet tall with a beveled mirror. Loved it. Then I found a precious little white wash stand with a mirror that I thought would be perfect in my girls bathroom. Next I found a beautiful buffet that I was just sure I knew someone who needed it. Luckily, my sister came to keep my mom company on her drive, and she was a wonderful example of my reason a to shop: someone else's money.

Well, try as my inner splurger may try to persuade me to buy the wash stand, the dresser and the buffet that I really had no idea where any of them would fit in my house, unless I ditched some furniture. Although I really don't care for my bedroom furniture (I got the whole kit and caboodle at a scratch and dent section of a furniture store before we got married for $500), the new pieces I was replacing them with was going to add up to more than, well, $500, or perhaps even....free. So, my inner cheap overrode my inner splurger. My inner cheap has very strong character, and she is very difficult to overwhelm.

However, I did get some great things. I have been trying to figure out what to hang above my bed since we moved here in July. I had the same dilemma in La Vernia. I remember I hung some arrangement of things I didn't really like, but they worked okay. Actually, I did that at every place we've had our bed. Decorating is not my forte.....But back to my new purchase.

I spotted some old plantation shutters. They're cream and a little banged up, but just barely. Actually, I sanded them down to make them look more weathered. I bought 2 of these beauties to hang in the barren space above my bed. Dawn pointed out that the slots are perfect for tucking love notes in! Aaawww....She must have me confused with our sentimental, romantic, thoughtful sister, Paula....But still it's a sweet thought!


The next purchase I made was something I've been scrounging for and begging for since we moved in. There is this empty space in the girls bathroom (okay, it's not like we have an excess of bathrooms in this house...it's the hall bath) that has been calling for an old narrow church pew or bench. I asked Studmuffin to build me one, but with his list of other "honey do's" he hasn't squeezed a random bench in the mix yet. He still hasn't found time to squeeze in the turbo play house he designed for the girls, complete with front porch and railing, that he made the mistake of showing the girls. Poor guy...he'll never hear the end of that. He just has a few chores ahead of that...like our fence for the backyard, refinishing the trim and window sills in our house (his idea, not mine), rebuilding a larger sill for my kitchen window, installing the back splash in the kitchen, ripping out the carpet and tile in the main living areas to replace with laminate wood floors....The list goes on and on....Go, ahead, pity him, you have my full permission!

Anyway, I found a bench! Now, it was covered with "treasures" and green paint with sunflowers stenciled on it. The color and pattern I was not quite so crazy about. But, the dimensions and shape were exactly what I was looking for. I bought it, brought it home and immediately painted it with some leftover paint from our kitchen. Of course, it was too "pretty" after I painted it, so I then sanded it down, and used the leftover glaze from the girls room to make it look more worn out. I love how it turned out. It now has a lovely new home in their bathroom.Not bad, eh?

Yep, finding out my mom was a few minutes behind me, cost me a bit of money. But thanks to my inner cheap, it didn't cost me near what it could have!