Fortuitous Find

I was working on this post yesterday when the bombings happened in Boston. Just absolutely shocking, horrific and sad. My heart goes out to all the victims and their families, witnesses and Bostonians, in general. I decided to go ahead and share my somewhat frivolous post today in case you might need a little distraction in the face of the tragedy.

On my last post, I mentioned that I was going to hit up an estate sale early on Friday to try and snag some goodies. Well, I actually showed up early enough to be third in line and get the items I was going for. Yay! Specifically, I scored these mid-century chrome rolling stools/benches . . .

Here they are at the estate sale. I liked the table too, but decided to pass. It sold within minutes.

Later that same day, my Craigslist sofa was also finally delivered so I was thrilled it was all coming together. Here are the stools in the playroom with the new sofa . . . 

I didn't think they looked too bad as they were, but the fabric was a little dated and blah and had light blue and pink running through it. 

Plus, one of the stools had a small rip in the fabric, so I knew I'd have to recover them anyway. I noticed that underneath the tear, the fabric peeking through was black. Curious, I got to work pulling off the top fabric . . . 

Do you see what I see? Yes, it was a zebra striped velvet peeking through. So, I got out my fabric scissors and went to town. But, of course, I also had to get out my screwdrivers and pliers to remove the portions stapled underneath. Afterwards, I had this . . . 

Can you believe it? I think it looks pretty cool. I'm fairly certain this is the original fabric as the manufacturer's tag underneath is stapled on top of the fabric underneath. However, while there are no tears in the fabric, there are some pretty serious stains . . . 

I've tried getting them out but haven't had much luck. Any suggestions on how to get out really old fabric stains? Plus, my daughter isn't a huge fan of the zebra. I can't decide. 

What do you think? Try to clean up the old zebra fabric or go for something new? I'll be looking for fabric options regardless. I was just excited there was a little surprise in my recent find. Stay tuned for more playroom updates as things start shaping up. Next up, new carpet, lighting and hopefully curtains.

And in other big news from the weekend, my baby boy turned 8 on Sunday. Eight, people. 

There were two celebrations - one with friends and one with family. Pierce got more toys than he knows what to do with, so he's thrilled. 

Happy Birthday, my beautiful boy!

Attention, Non Wal-Mart Shoppers

I must admit, I'm a Target girl through and through. Never cared much for Wal-Mart, but recently I've been on the hunt for this stuff which led me to the mega-retailer . . .

It's Rust-Oleum's Specialty Metallic spray paint in brass. I bought three cans of it several weeks ago and have intermittently spray painted my IKEA Vittsjo shelves with it (as weather/temperature/my injured toe permitted). So, of course, the other day I ran out - I never seem to buy enough spray paint. No problem, I thought. I headed back to Home Depot - they don't stock it anymore. Lowe's - same deal. And lastly, I tried Wal-Mart - no dice there either. What the hell, Rust-Oleum, have you quit making the brass version of this paint which bloggers love and swear by?? Long story short, I ended up ordering some online. However, while at my local Wal-Mart, I picked up some cute things in addition to a garden hose. 

Behold, my new ikat cushions for my outdoor chairs (which I bought last year at World Market) . . . 

I thought they were pretty and colorful . . . 

And, I picked up some beach towels there too (it was sunny, beautiful and 80 degrees here yesterday so that may have had something to do with my largely outdoor-related purchases as well):

Cute, right? Okay, so I may not become a regular at Wal-Mart but it's nice to know they have some decent stuff.

Wish me luck as tomorrow I'm going to try and rise super early to snag some estate sale goodies. I'll let you know how it works out . . . hopefully I won't have to throw any elbows. I'm serious . . . estate sale people don't play around.

Money, Money, Money

Hi. Yes, I'm here. Just busy like you are. I do need to blog more. Lately, I've been feeling uninspired, but the beautiful spring weather is getting my wheels turning again. So, I thought I'd share a little photo that inspired me recently. As I was flipping back through my magazines again yesterday, something caught my eye in the latest issue of House Beautiful. In designer Connie Newberry's home, I found a few photos that drew me in but I just noticed a detail in one bedroom that led me to a great idea.

Source: dec-a-porter.blogspot.com via My Interior Life on Pinterest

Do you see it? She blew up photos of foreign currency and used them as art in a boy's room. Genius. I'm always looking for creative art ideas and this one seems like a no-brainer. Not sure why I haven't thought of it before. 

My husband travels to faraway lands for his scuba diving/underwater photography and often brings back foreign money that wasn't worth exchanging. So we've got all kinds of cool, colorful money lying around with no use. That's about to change.

See the pagodas on a couple of them?

And I love the animals . . . 

I've been looking for some art for Pierce's room, so this seems like a great solution. It's like a unique souvenir that he can look at every day. Now, just to decide which ones to use. I'm thinking red, blue and green ones since those are the colors in his room. 

What do you think? Are you on board with this idea? If you don't have access to foreign currency, you can always find photos online. 

Now, I've got to go make it rain in my son's room. Never thought I'd say that.