Garage Sale Finds

Shopped at quite a few garage sales last Saturday in hopes of finding stuff for Rachel's room. What is it about yard sales? One that said estate sale was pitiful--just a woman seller her old costume jewelry and makeup. Actually, I did pick up a couple puka shell necklaces for 20 cents each so it wasn't a total loss. In fact, I probably could have picked up more just for the beads but I had to stay focused. I was looking for furniture. Now, we already have some furniture that my dad made for me using plywood covered in gray formica. It actually still looks pretty cool but, being from the eighties, the formica is chipped in some places and just doesn't look "Harry Potterish". I hit pay dirt at the second yard sale. This guy was selling about 15 dressers, 8 desks, some brass headboards, and the like. I picked up a prefab desk for $8 and a wood dresser for $12 plus a couple of computer chairs for $3 each. I think the desk had a Harry Potter feel and I am planning on spray painting/decoupaging the dresser. I figure, if I mess up the restoration and they look bad then I haven't invested much.

Oh, and I ordered my French Doors from Home Depot. Here they are:

Jeld-wen prehung, preprimed at $299. The guys were excited and thought this was a great deal. I hope they arrive next week! I'm so excited. It actually seems like this could get done before we start school!

I also got my little etsy purchase this week from mudinmyblood. Not the first time I purchased from them. I highly recommend them for the Harry Potter geek. Really cute light switch will be perfect for the room.

Dining Room Makeover Begins

My dear daughter is very much into Harry Potter right now. We've decided to make over our dining room into a bedroom for her as she is sharing one with her sister right now. The dining room was never used for it's intended purpose, anyway. It was first a scrapbook room and then a homeschool room. But, the books are moving into the bonus room upstairs and it will be a new Hufflepuff themed room for our girl.

For those of you unaware of what is a Hufflepuff I will attempt a background summary. Harry Potter attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The school is divided into four "houses" which room together and compete with the other houses in academics and athletics. The Hufflepuff house colors are black and yellow and it's mascot is a badger. I didn't want her room to be black and yellow. She may not be into a Hufflepuff themed room for ever and I don't want to make it too "themey" or too costly. I talked her into a gray for the wall color but we, instead, I surprised her with a gray/yellow room. It coordinates with the Hufflepuff colors and is, actually, pretty fashion forward.

My sister found some great fabric at Wal-mart which we thought looked pretty Harry Potterish. I love that my fabric department is back! I also found a couple of paint chips that I thought would be perfect. Look how nicely they go together.

The paint colors are Glidden WGY10 Crisp Ginger Ale (which we called Butterbeer) and WGN63 Pebble Gray (great castle-type color).

My dear brother-in-law offered to paint--yay! 

Not a great picture...I'll have to try that again later.

Next up...curtains.