kitchen work in progress

My apologies to everyone for not updating this blog more frequently this summer thus far!!
As you may know, I have a summer place in Vermont, and up until 2 weeks ago, we didnt have internet in our trailer. Then, we finally got it, but a couple of days later, my laptop adaptor died on me, and I had to wait for a new one to be shipped from amazon (god I love being able to order stuff online from/in the USA! Canucks will know what I mean!!)

Anyway, on my fave french scrap forum, a few girls were asking me how my kitchen redo was coming along. Well, since I'm not home, apart from a couple of days here and there (I actually just came back to the trailer today after spending 2 days at home... had to see a doc; i thought I had broken my finger, but it was "just" dislocated... can you say OUCH?!) the kitchen has been put on hold. I cannot wait to get back to it, though!

But to give you a general idea...
We've decided to cover our existing laminate cabinet doors instead of replacing the whole thing. Covering with molding and bead board, new handles... We're also adding crown molding on top of the cabinets.
We;ll be changing the countertop (for another laminate: cant afford granite... but i found a great one for cheap), changing the floors (we'll put wood, yay!!!) and adding a backsplash (we dont currently have one!)

Here is a door that is not yet made over.... ugly ugly ugly laminate with a fake wood grain in it, with even more ugly black plastic handles!!! They were there when we moved in and we never thought to change them *WTF!*!!!


And now here is what a door looks like. Excuse the bad pictures, btw... i'm not home, so i cant take anything, and i had taken these just to show a friend, quickly...
This was the first door we did. It's not painted yet, just the white 'primer' thing that came on the molding and bead board!




What a change, eh?
I cant wait til it's all done!

The walls will be painted aqua and i hope to find cool aqua, green and white tiles for my backsplash :)


I will be back soon with some thrifty finds! I've found several things lately, mostly clothes and shoes and the like.... but also a few good deals @ garage sales!!
This weekend i'm hitting a town-wide sale in a little upstate ny town... wish me luck in finding treasures!!

Thrifty loving

Hi everyone!!

I missed last week because I was at the trailer in Vermont, and we dont have internet access there yet.

But I'm back home for a few days (dentist appointments, etc) so here are some pics of SOME of my thrifty and free finds this week.

Of course, I did a little curbside shopping while home, and found a box (leftover from people who had just moved) with tons of mismatched dishes in it. Most of it I just brought to the church thrift store to prevent it from going to the dump, but I did keep this set of kitschy Xmas dishes. I've never bought thematic dishes, because I'd rather get more usage for my buck, but I couldnt pass these up for free! My daughter loved them!


I also found this AWESOME wicker hamper.
It's missing one handle. I can't believe they threw it out just because of that!! The rest is in mint condition.



During the 4th of July weekend, it was the town-wide garage sale in Rouses Point, NY (little village where I kinda grew up. See, I'm from Montreal, but we spent all our summers there. Now we're in Vermont, but Rouses Point is still my second home in my heart :) ).
The kids and I had a great time yardsaling!! We found tons of stuff:
I got 2 pairs of inline skates, one for 1$, the other for 3$.
PS2 game for 5$ for my oldest
1600 (my kids counted) Pokemon cards, some quite valuable, too, for 6$.
A little metal and wicker shelving unit for our shoes at the trailer, for 2$ (pics to come next week)...

This set of silver plated platters for 1$ total (yes I plan on jumping on that blackboard bandwagon too... sigh, lol)


These huge metal urns, 3$ for the pair. I cant wait to spray paint these babies!!


Crossed off from my list of 'things i need but dont want to pay full price so i will wait until i find them' LOL: 2 clip ons lampshade for my wall sconce lamp. The original shades (which you can see here) were dry and cracked on the inside. Now I found these 2 at the Salvation Army, brand new still in package, for 1.50 a piece. Woot! They're SO pretty and chic!!


From the garage saling, found this for 50cents.... Of course it will eventually get a makeover (unfortunately, the list of items waiting for makeovers is growing longer and longer), but it's nice to have storage for all our remotes!!


And now, the piece de résistance....
these 2 vintage pop soda wooden crates!!!

Pottery barn has some now (see them HERE) for 15$ a piece (which I dont think is a bad price, actually! i just love these crates).
I got this pair for a mere 5$ :)
These'll go in my 9yo son's bedroom (which I'm planning on making over soon... well, after my kitchen, my bedroom and my daughter's room, LOL) which'll be sports and fishing theme. I can picture old baseballs and such in the RC cola one!

Cant wait to see what everyone else has in store, don't forget to check everyone out at Rhoda's!!!

Caro