A week of good things.

One week till closing and I am so so so very excited.  I wish Matt were here so badly but alas, the life of a musician's wife is indeed a lonely one.  Good thing I have a furry 4 month old bud to keep up with.  I have lots of new projects to share, found items, and good craigslists stories.  I'll start with the stories.  So that road trip I made to Palm Harbor was fruitfull because I got the greatest circular mirror for our guest bath.  The people I bought it from were a nice enough couple but didn't expect to get this in my e-mail a week later (names withheld to protect the seller):

"Hello Rachel this is * and *,

Just want it to know how everything is going with you,

You know? * and I just moved to Palm Harbor from Boston and she was wondering if you would like to hung out with us someday, you seem like a nice person to be friends with, we enjoy music, cooking, art all types, just chatting etc.

*&*"

While not what I expected from a craigslist transaction, I was flattered at first then a little creep-ed out.  However, isn't that what part of this whole mission is about?  Building Matt and I's new home with a sense of community?  I feel for this lonely couple fresh from Boston, but we live in an age where I'm frightened from even friendly gestures.  I did get a great mirror from *&*  and so happy to share it with you.  Our new guest bathroom has almond colored tile and I'm going to paint the walls a slightly lighter shade.  The real pop comes from the garish red I painted the mirror to go in the boring almond bathroom.  Before and After....

I found this mirror (still on a mirror obsession) at a thrift store on Hillsborough whose entire proceeds goes to missions in Cuba.  I don't have a before even though I swear I took one but can't find it.  This is going in our bedroom "mirror-ed wall". 

I do have a wonderful craigslist story to balance out the bad however.  I met the sweetest couple today and their too-cute daughter in the pursuit of a quirky West Elm rug.  They live in Sarasota and I was prepared to drive the hour and a half but she called yesterday and said they'd be in Tampa today and could run it by my school to see it.  Um, yes?  I was just telling Matt yesterday that while we believe using already manufactured items as long as possible and not sending old stuff to the landfills is the greenest way to go, is driving all over Florida for used goods defying the very purpose?  So cool that Nina and her sweet family came to the "green" rescue.  I love this rug and it will be perfect in the entrance to the new homestead.  It was so hard to find a 100% wool rug with no plastic or synthetic fibers used and I am so stoked.  I'm pretty sure Matt will like this one.

It must be said that my husband is a very good man.  He is seeing these pieces and my purchases the same way my family and friends are, on my blog.  He lets me buy whatever fancies me mostly because he's away on tour.  And when I say "whatever" I mean that if he doesn't like it when he gets back, we are selling it.  This was the case in the search for a table.  I wanted a glass table and he didn't.  I wanted a particular table and his take on it was, verbatim  "anything but that".  So what would the thoughtful considerate wife do?  Keep looking of course for a table that fit every family member's needs.  I however thought that my sense of style and interior knowledge far surpasses my husband's and I bought the "anything but that".   Taking this as a mission on my part to get Matt to love my transgression,  I immediately tore off the hideous upholstery and covered the seats with a streamlined green diamond check Navajo-ish fabric.  I then sprayed white lacquer on the metal chairs and voila.  Brilliant.  I haven't finished the table yet and my mom is convinced a cave man taught me how to upholster so she's going to help me finish the rest.  But I think they are swell.  They came from Weeki Wachi (sp?) and my wonderful mother helped lasso these babies into my dad's truck.  

 

  

 

I've got still more projects to work on and a nice long weekend to get them done.  I'll leave one last image to truly intrigue you.  Matt is going to hate this.   And then love it of course.