Good Day

There are definitely perks to living in a materialistic, wasteful culture.  One of them is the ability (if you're lucky like I was today) to score totally cool stuff for free.

Found an ad for this West Elm rug on the free section of Craigslist and kicked myself that the boyfriend had just left for work and thus I, being car-less, would be missing out on a great score.

Wouldn't you know it that the boyfriend forgot his keys and had to come back home.  So I put on my best, sugary sweet cajoling voice and asked him to kindly take a detour and see if the rug was still there.  By this time the ad had been live for over an hour, so I was not too hopeful.

The boyfriend called about 30 minutes later to tell me that he had looked at the rug and decided not to take it.  "It's weird - the color is really dark on one side and really light on the other."

Despite being together almost six years, I'm not always good at telling when the boyfriend is actually being stupid or just acting stupid.  I definitely thought that he was falling into the former category.  Because even if he hated it, we could have resold it.  So I gently tried to explained to him that the look was "ombre" and that it was very current.  "Please go back and pick it up."  Not happening, he was almost home.

The boyfriend arrived and pouty face (me) went out to meet him, only to discover that he had picked up the rug for me like I asked.  Did I mention that I have the best boyfriend in the entire world?  Even when he likes to give me a hard time for no apparent reason.

The rug is HUGE!  9x12.  Which it turns out is the perfect size for a rug in our living room.  Stupid me was only looking at the more affordable 5x8 rugs, which I now realize would have looked completely dinky.

Best part - looked it up online and the original price was $759.  Sweet!

Combined with getting to watch the Survivor finale tonight (go, Rob, go!), it's a pretty good day at my house.  Hope you're having a good one too.

Home Decorators Collection Rugs

Did a bunch of online window shopping for rugs today.  Found the most I liked at Home Decorators Collection, but haven't pulled the trigger on any yet.

I'm still going for a mustard/gold color in the living room.  I liked this one:


Greco Area Rug


5'3" x 8'3" for $269 (other sizes and colors available). 

And this is a must-have situation for our dining room.  Unfortunately, they're out of stock in the size I need (5x8).  It's an outdoor rug, so it would hold up to food messes really well, and the reviews are all very enthusiastic that it doesn't look like your typical outdoor rug.



Lyrical Area Rug


It's brown twin sells for $279, so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that it comes back in stock soon.

Edited to Add:  Found it for about the same price at Rugs-Direct.com in a lot of different sizes.
On a different note, I'm still in love with this Pier 1 chest.  It fits the entryway perfectly.  I just don't want to spend $250+ on a piece of furniture I think I could recreate pretty easily out of a garage sale piece.



Pier 1 Wycliff Chest



Check out the inside...




From Simply Seleta


Too cute!

Did I Mention I Like Roast Beef?

This post will not have pictures because I've decided pictures of raw meat don't really glam the place up.

In March when I was in Louisiana, I came across a great deal on a huge cut of beef eye of round.  Like, as big as my thigh (and I'm a pretty big girl).  So what does the bargain huntress in me decide to do?  Buy it, freeze it, transport it to Texas, and then wait until this week to cook it.  That's normal, right?

So then I had this huge chunk of cow defrosting in my fridge and had to decide what to do with it.  Here's what I came up with.

First, I cut off the two ends into about 3-4 pound roast sections.  I was happy that the middle part was still large enough to cut into 4 steaks plus about a pound of thin strips to be used in a stroganoff.  So at least 4 meals for around $10 (told you it was a good deal).  Not even counting leftovers.

But since it had previously been frozen, I needed to deal with this meat pronto.  I put one roast in a marinade and soaked it overnight for me to cook today.  Then I'll probably freeze it again for another day.  Or cut it into sandwich meat.  Haven't quite decided.  I'm going to cook the strips and freeze them so they'll be ready for a quick meal.  And the steaks are for dinner tonight.

Yesterday I made a roast from a recipe I was trying for the first time.  It was SO good I'm going to share the recipe, which is originally from Taste of Home (my favorite cookbook).  You can find the original recipe here, because I'm going to tell you my version.  (I thought the original made way too much sauce and a couple of other tweaks.)

Roast with Creamy Garlic Sauce
Serves 12.

6 oz. Dijon mustard, divided
9 garlic cloves, peeled, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper, divided
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 beef roast or tenderloin (4 to 5 pounds), halved
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sour cream

1.  Mince 8 garlic cloves and combine in a blender with 4 oz. of the mustard and 1 tablespoon of pepper.  Cover and process for 1 minute.  Add 1 tablespoon oil and process until a paste forms.  Spread over beef.

2.  In a large skillet, heat the remaining oil over medium-high heat.  Brown beef, on piece at a time, on all sides.  Place in a shallow roasting pan coated with nonstick cooking spray.

3.  Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 25-45 minutes or until meat reaches desired doneness (for medium-rare, a meat thermometer should read 145 degrees; medium, 160; well done, 170).  Remove to a warm serving platter.  Let stand for 10-15 minutes.

4.  Meanwhile, mince the remaining garlic.  In a saucepan, combine garlic, whipping cream, sour cream and remaining mustard and pepper.  Cook and stir over low heat until heated through.  Slice beef thin.  Serve with the sauce.

This is a very good Sunday dinner-type of meal.  It messes up a fair amount of dishes cooking it, but it was well worth the effort.

New Fabric Picks

I'm in love with this ikat for the living room and dining room of my house.

Robert Allen Woven Jacquard Ikat Fret Tourmaline at Fabric.com

Unfortunately, at $20/yard, it might be too cost prohibitive.  I easily need 24 yards.

I'm also digging this cute Indoor/Outdoor print for my son's room.  Matches the color scheme pretty well, I think.

Swavelle/Mill Creek Wolfram Cabana

And it's much more palatable to the wallet at under $9/yard.

Momma Did a Bad Bad Thing

Sorry to leave you in suspense yesterday about what I had done that was so bad.  Bad in a good way.  Like skanking yourself up to go out on a Friday night.  Or riding a motorcycle.

Only I'm a fairly boring stay-at-home mom, so my version of being bad was buying a piece of furniture behind the boyfriend's back.  And not just any piece of furniture - something so big that there was no way it could come home with me.  With money that was destined for the gas tank ($3.74/gallon - are you kidding me!).

But how could I resist?

Let me give you the whole story. 

After receiving my free haircut (Craigslist score) yesterday, I was feeling a little too pretty to go directly back home.  So I went to Big Lots to get another paintbrush and then decided to drop by the Salvation Army and see what was in.  Because that is obviously the two places you go when you're too cute to go home.

My local Salvation Army gets a lot of furniture in and I was hoping to find something cheap to resell since I'm quickly running out of items that I got for free that I can make money on.  I walked to the back room where they keep the furniture and just about fell over.

There was The General.  Yes, I've named him.  In the way that kids growing up on a farm might name a pet so they know he won't end up on the dinner table.  This thing is HUGE!  40 inches wide and 54 inches tall.  And solid wood - even the back.  Dovetailed drawers.  It was love at first sight.  Then I opened him up...

Are you kidding me?  Built-in organizers?

Pulls have been spraypainted, so I'm going to give them an antique brass finish.

At this point I braced myself to look at the price tag and come crashing down to earth.  Because there was no way I could afford this chest.  Nevermind that I've been wanting a piece of campaign furniture forever.  Nevermind that I quite possibly had a bigger reaction to seeing this chest for the first time than when they handed me my son for the first time.  There are things in this world that I want but cannot afford and I have learned to deal with it.  But that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.

$79.99  WTF?!?!?!?!

I literally looked around to make sure I wasn't on a secret camera prank show.  Then I double checked just to make sure there wasn't a 1 in front of that 7 that I had missed.  Nope.  $79.99.  I had that in my purse.  That's a crazy good price for any piece of furniture this large, useful, and of such quality.  It was still a lot of money for me to spend though...  Maybe too much...  I was hoping to buy something in the $40 range that I could resell, and I couldn't resell this.  It would be like selling off my arm.

Despite the doubts racing through my head, I wasn't holding myself back from publicly humping my new found love.  A salesman came racing over like he worked in a real furniture store and could see commission written all over me.  I quickly tried to act cool, which is pretty hard when you're standing in the middle of a room caressing a piece of furniture.

"It's nice, isn't it?"  Says he.

"Yeah, it's okay."  Says I.

"You know, if you're interested I might be able to make you a deal."

(I think at this point I might have started to fondle the salesman too.  It's all a haze of euphoria.)  "What kind of deal are we talking about?"

"I can cut $15 off."

Now, I am in no way, shape, or form a good negotiator.  The few times I've tried to haggle anything I've almost always ended up giving something away for practically free and offering them a turkey dinner to go with it.  My friend Katie is quite possibly the best negotiator I've ever seen because she frequently is the one getting things for half off with a free turkey dinner thrown it.  I tried with all of my might to channel Katie at this moment.

"I'm not sure...  It's awfully big."  (Like lots of storage space is a deal-breaker for any woman.)

"Okay, I can do $20 off.  $59.99."

"I'll take it!"

Maybe I could have gotten him lower, but I don't think so.  You should have seen the other customers circling us like a vultures with the hopes that I would walk away and they could pounce.  And really, $80 was a good deal.  $60 was more in my budget.  And if I brought it home and the boyfriend hated it, I was positive I could triple my investment easily.

Then there was the slapstick comedy of me thinking I could actually fit The General into the back of my car.  I am a really good packer, so sometimes I overestimate what I can physically fit into our Mazda Protege.  It wasn't happening.  So I went home and broke the news to the boyfriend, who was not thrilled, let me tell you.  Not only had I spent our money without talking to him, but I had also obligated him to once again borrow a van from his job so we could get it home.

So, what did I do to make it up to him?  I decided to make a little more money to cover the cost and take advantage of the van.  I sold futon for $75 (free to us) and threw in delivery for an extra $25.

I also sold my favorite chair.  I bought it a couple of years ago for my girls' room and it has been in the living room since the move.  But with the blue couch I couldn't keep it there and there wasn't anywhere else for it.  So I had to let it go.  Bought for $25.  Sold for $35.  I probably could have gotten more because I had tons of interest, but I'm content.  They paid for the piece that I want to keep and that works right now.

I would love to keep doing this as a side business.  I definitely get a little high from flipping furniture.  However I do realize that I'm also susceptible to falling in love with a piece and then you're not making any money.  So I'd have to strike a good balance somewhere until my new house is better furnished.

P.S. Once he saw it, the boyfriend admitted that he loves The General and said I did a good job.

Furniture Swap

Last week I sold two pieces of furniture on Craigslist for a profit of $150.

In case you didn't know, I am a Craigslist addict.  It's not good.  It's not pretty.  And once I get started, its very hard to stop.

I was pleased as punch with myself for the extra income and how much room it freed up in our house.  I vowed to finally finish the dining room table that I bought in October so we could also get it out of the garage.

So on Saturday, we went to Lowes and bought some more painting supplies and spent the rest of the day cleaning and organizing the garage enough for the boyfriend to get started on his project (building a putting green) while I worked on mine (the table). 

We still had two more pieces of furniture taking up a lot of room in the garage - my son's toddler bed and a recliner.

The todder bed, mattress and bedding were all gifts from my parents over the years.  We tried to sell it at the garage sale and people kept lowballing us because they just wanted the bedding (came with lots of extra sheets and pillowcases too thanks to a Target clearance).  I held firm because I was sure I could get the $40 I was asking on Craigslist.

Turned out I didn't need to.  A woman from down the street saw it when we had it outside on Saturday and she bought it for a friend's daughter.

The recliner was also free.  See a trend?  When we had our garage sale, our neighbor gave it to us because she didn't want it anymore and it had been sitting in her garage for months.  No one bought it, so it's been sitting in our garage for a month.  It's super comfortable and a La-Z-Boy, just not our style at all.

So I listed it on Craigslist.  Someone is coming to look at it today and hopefully take it off our hands and give us some more free money.  Which I have decided is the best money there is.  Much better than money you actually have to work for.

After my hot streak and making lots of cash - of course I started looking at what other people were offering.  That's only natural right? 

I found a great deal on a couch.  We desperately needed a couch because using a futon as a couch reminds me of when I first moved to Austin and lived with a psychopath.  But that's a story for another day.  Today's story is about this couch:




From Craigslist ad.

 Once I actually saw our new house in person I decided that the sectional of my dreams would not work and started keeping an eye out for a piece that would.  I knew I wanted it to be long, preferably 3 seats across instead of two long ones where someone always ends up sitting in the crack (our last couch).  The longer the better.  And I wanted something with modern, boxy lines.  And preferably something dirt cheap so that I could eventually recover it and still come out cheaper than buying a new one.

This one fit all of the above.  They only wanted $15 for it.  Which made me worry that it doubled as a bed of a St. Bernard.  Or something worse.  But I was hopeful, especially after grilling the owner.  I used my newly made stack of cash as a bribe to get my boyfriend to borrow a van from his job and go pick it up - sight unseen.  The worst that could happen would be that we hate it and lose $15.




At home.

 Do not hate.  Love love love.

The fabric is rough.  Actually, it's very soft and velvety - but its best days were years ago and it is now begging for a mercy killing.  However, it is by far one of the most comfortable couches ever.  I checked out the springs and legs from  underneath and everything seems solid and in place.  I am thinking of taking off the skirt when we have it recovered.  I'm hoping that the recovery cost will be on the lower end because it doesn't seem to detailed of a job.  I'm going to get some estimates.  But first I'm going to rent a steam cleaner and go to town on this bad boy.

Fresh off of the high of scoring a $15 diamond in the rough, I also scored a free haircut this morning.  Which I desperately needed.  And then I did something bad.  Something really bad.  But you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what because I don't have any pictures yet.

Out with the Old

We have reached a point in the moving process where I feel like we are as good as it is going to get without spending any cash.  Yes, I hate the bright red futon we're using as a couch in the living room - but unless a free couch drops out of the sky, it'll do until we can save up some dough.  The boyfriend and I have been working very hard at paring down our belongings even further than we did before everything went into storage.  Basically, unless it has a use to us right now - it's out the door.  When you rent, I think it is easy to get into the habit of saving furniture pieces that you like even if they don't work well in your current house - because they might work well in the next one.  But I'm over that.  Most of our pieces are free or thrifted - so there's no real reason to hang on to them like they're family heirlooms.  Plus - one of the only joys of moving is the chance to redecorate.  Right?

We had a garage sale a couple of weekends ago to clean out the garage.  The boyfriend is very excited about turning the garage into a "golf room" so its main function can't be storage.  I am happy to report we did really well - $250 in a couple of hours.  We actually didn't sell most of the extra furniture we had out.  Instead, most of the profit was made selling clothes for a quarter a piece - go figure.

Without the big pieces selling, I decided to relist two pieces I had put on Craigslist before the move but hadn't found buyers for.  The first was an Ikea wardrobe we had used for my son's clothes at the last (closet-less) place.  The boyfriend had gotten it for free from his work and it was in great condition for a used Ikea piece.




Ours was birch.


Since the new one sells for $99.99 at the store, I listed it for $50.  The other piece I listed was the Land of Nod bed I scored for free off of Craigslist last year.  I loved the bed, but because we downsized to a two bedroom house, we don't have a place for it anymore.  I put $100 on it.

Surprisingly, both items sold within a few hours for full asking price!  That's my ideal situation - getting something for free, getting my use out of it, and then selling it for a profit.  I wish I could do that every time.

I am very tempted to start selling a few clothes on Ebay.  I follow a great blog called My Dear Trash which is very inspiring.  Although I've bought lots of things off of Ebay, I've never used it to sell so I'm a little worried about the fees and shipping costs.