The "Unofficial" Macklemore Thrift Shop Challenge

I've said it before and I will say it again a million times... I LOVE John and Sherry of Young House Love! I look at their blog daily... sometimes twice a day! Last Friday they issued a challenge based on the new Macklemore song...(You have to click the link and watch the music video!!! It is the BEST!)

Step #1. Go to a thrift shop with – just as the chorus of the song says – “$20 in your pocket” and take a picture.

I visited B Thrifty in Woodbridge, Virginia (13412 Jefferson Davis Hwy  Woodbridge, VA 22191) This was my first time at this thrift store and after such a successful shopping trip it will not be my last. I was armed with my $20 and my trusty shopping partners (Hunter and my mom) and boy did we make out!

I mean how could we not find something good...look how massive this store is! Also, look at all of that furniture!

Step #2 was to spend your $20 any way you’d like and photograph your spoils.
The first thing that caught my eye was this gorgeous bronze bowl... With a little rub n' Buff I'm sure that I can get this thing shinning. I plan to use it on the counter in my bathroom. it can either hold small soaps or jewelry that I take off at night. At only $4.99 it was already a steal but I managed to only pay $2.50! ** more on that discount later!

The next item that caught my eye but didn't come home with me was this awsome basket shaped like Virginia! Had to show some love to my state!

 Even though I didn't buy the basket it would have been neat spray painted a fun color up on the wall or as a gift basket for someone with items from Virgina inside... In fact now that I think about it WHY DID I NOT BUY THE BASKET??? At only $4.99 I should have swipped it up! Maybe if I go back today it will still be there??

Here is what I did end up purchasing... 

 This great solid wood trashcan was only marked $5.99... I got for $3... I plan to paint the sides a pink color and will add Emma's monogram in purple vinyl.

Brand new scented drawer liners for $4.99... I Paid $2.50. This will be perfect in Emma's room as well.

 

This large grey plastic elephant was only 99 cents! I scored for 50 cents!!! 

He has already received a coat of spray paint and will soon find a home in our bookcase as a bookend. Project Complete... click here to see the result!

To pay Hunter back for all of his assistance while shopping I bought him this super cute Gap outfit with a shawl collar.

The best purchase of the day however was this GREAT chair!!! It was $9.99 and I paid $5.00! I couldn't pass it up! I had been looking for a desk chair for Emma's room for over a month and I knew that I could make this one work the second I saw it.

This thing did have some rough spots but I could see the potential

Here is the direction I was heading in...

AND BECAUSE I COULD NOT WAIT... All other projects were put on hold while the chair received a little love on Saturday!

Just 15 minutes before heading to the thrift store I almost paid $80 for a chair from IKEA that had no personality! I'm so happy that I didn't buy it and that I found this great chair! With a little elbow grease you can have some truly unique items for GREAT prices! You do not have to spend a lot of money for great results!

Here is my final bill!

 Yes I got all of this... for only $15.75. I received a 50% discount because the cashier asked what I was taking photos for and I mentioned that I was doing it for this blog! They are actually looking to start a blog themselves about projects that people have done from items found in their store and I plan to provide them with photos of what I did. I"m so excited to share all of the fun things that I will be able to do with the items I purchased...

Do you want a discount??? B Thrifty offers 30% off every Monday!!! I bet you can guess where I will be every Monday!

Now back to the Macklemore Challenge...
Step #3. Find one item (or more) referenced in the song and snap a pic.

So tempted to run over these sofas like Macklemore did in his music video! I showed self restraint however!

Can this count as a Knee board??

I'm not going to wear my Grandpa's Clothes... but maybe my Grandma's???

**NOTE:  Be sure to ask permission before taking photos in any store.


And since we have a new little one in the house... look at this awesome parody about spending money on babies.

Giving Thanks!

One of the goals from January was to write Thank You Notes for gifts that we received for Christmas and I am happy to report that we completed this task... but not without some pain...

EMMA:
Getting Emma to write her think you notes is like pulling teeth! To make the process a bit easier to handle I decided to break down the task... While I was cooking dinner Emma had to write one thank you note a night. Of course for a very spoiled child this took the entire month of January... but we are done!

HUNTER:
I should come as no surprise that our little man cannot write! However, I felt that it was important to have him take part in the thank you notes. So this brave mommy pulled out the paint and with help from daddy we had Hunter "sign" each note with a hand print! A majority were super messy but worked... it is difficult to get a 4 month old to lay his hand flat!

ME:
I love some stationary! I probably have about 30 different thank you note options in rotation at any given time... I cannot go into a store without buying at least one option... This is why I try to stay OUT of Target... I come home with 5 new packs of Thank You Notes... I also purchase notes from Homegoods all the time... You can usually find great Vera Wang Stationary for a fraction of the price.

Here are a few options that I'm currently lusting over.

Via

Via

Via

Via

Via

Via

Via

Kitchen Organization: THE FINAL PRODUCT

Get ready for kitchen organization overload... Here are some random photos from the organization process that didn't get their own post... The final photos of our SUPER CLEAN kitchen are at the end of this posting so if you are only interested in that feel free to scroll of down..

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A few weeks ago Matt organized the spice drawer. He tossed expired spices and put everything in an orderly manner... This works for now but I would like to rethink how we organize our spices... Time to do some pintrest research

Now for our pots and pans cabinet. We raised the pull our drawers in this cabinet too in order to maximize space and create a third surface.

I don't use pot lids too often so those went on the bottom... the rest was added in from there.  

This is what I pulled out of our utensil drawer... yes all of that was in ONE drawer (it is a large drawer but still...)

Probably do not need to keep my Christmas spreaders out all year...

Tossed wooden chopsticks...

Used a Clear hair tie to hold matching chopsticks together... now we will not need to dig in the drawer to find the matching chopstick...

Love that our kitchen has a built in recycling section!

Perfect example of not knowing what I have on hand already... I mean really FOUR jars of Fish Sauce...

Current status of the cabinet above our stove/microwave

New $4.99 utensil holder for our counter top... picked up from Salvation Army!

Our Dishes cabinet... YES we did end up buying the glasses that I have been lusting over! I revealed here that I tend to break dishes and glasses... These were from Sur LaTable though

HERE IS THE BIG REVEAL OF OUR KITCHEN!!! Again I cannot believe that I have never shared this space with you... forgive the fact that I took these photos at night.

Here is our kitchen at time of purchase... Sorry for the bad picture

This is the view from our living room...

View from Dinning Room... Let me just vent that I HATE these bar stools.. Matt loves them. I think that I would like to stain them a darker color down the road.

Going into the kitchen

From the back wall of the kitchen looking toward the dining room...

LOVE our GE Cafe fridge!

Our Sink.... Since moving in we replaced the faucet.. I love this new one! I "accidentally" broke the old one. Also if you look closely you will see that there are a few new hardware options...

From the Sink looking back at the Fridge... and my AWESOME organization station.

I'm so happy to have this space organized and clean... but it is not done. Here are a few things that I hope to tackle in the coming months...

• Replace all hardware
• Window treatments
• Adding a cheap back splash... this is NOT our forever kitchen so I do not want to go all out.  I mean the kitchen looks GREAT for 16 years old but my future kitchen will NOT have pink counters...
• Stain bar stools
• Possibly paint walls??? 
  

Want more kitchen organization projects??? 

• Pantry
• Dollar Tree Storage Under the sink  
• Family Station, Hunter's baby food storage, junk drawer & more
• Coffee Station
• Baking Station

 Oh and just in case you were wondering what I had for dinner last night... haha

Kitchen: Under the sink Dollar Store organization!

This will be my second to last post about my kitchen... I'm sure that everyone is sick of hearing about it!

Here is what the space under our kitchen sink looked like before...

After cleaning everything out here is the after... All storage containers below are form the dollar store!

Plastic containers that hold brillo pads, rubber gloves, dish rags (made by my amazing Grandmother!), and microfiber rags.

Dish Soap...

These little square plastic containers were three for $1.00 and they clip together. I am using them to hold various types of sponges and Magic Erasers.

Larger plastics bins hold cleaning supplies

I loved being able to organized this space with items from the dollar store! This proves that you do not need to spend a lot of money to get organized!

February Goals: Simplify 101

Here are my goals for February!!

I even took 30 minutes last night to complete my first project... I made my February plan for this blog! This is the first time that I have ever planned a whole month in advance & I hope that it will keep me accountable and on task! I'm also going to shoot for a post a day... Here is what you have to look forward to!

The biggest task for the Month will be to take on our Master Bedroom. I was so excited that Simplify 101 already had this on their February Checklist because I have a new rug that we received for Christmas and I have not even unwrapped it yet! Cannot wait to see our room come together... there have been a million projects that I have been wanting to take on!

Get your February Checklist here!

What are you taking on in February??