lake house redo...on the cheap!

 I told you I would share with you how we did our lake cottage on the cheap.  
So here it is...

Lake house on a budget...
Starting with a clean slate....
I picked a neutral color story of greys, creams, whites and naturals.... appropriate for a lake house and very easy to design into.

Starting with the Family Room- before...

Our one splurge -  was the couch and ottoman, which we found at Ashley furniture.  
This was really the only furniture we bought new. 
Almost everything else was either a yard sale, flea market or craigslist find or a very cheap find as I was working on a very small budget.
The butterfly chair is from Walmart $16.88. 
I took one of the pillows from couch to tie it in and make it look like part of the set.

The light is one of my husbands creations from a vintage tripod topped off with a Walmart lampshade.
Photos were printed off my printer and put into Ikea frames.
Another butterfly chair and some old suitcases from a flea market stacked to make an end table.

on to my Sons room-

Bed came with the house:)  
When negotiating, we asked for quite a few things and we got everything from the furniture to appliances to lawnmowers and the fooseball table!  
It never hurts to ask!  All they can say is no, and in our case they said yes!

Bedding from West Elm on sale, with a couple of Target pillows.
Vintage sign from French Hen Farm Sale
Lenda Curtains from Ikea $20 for pair!

on to my Daughters bedroom- (or Aunt Becky and Grandma's room!)

Headboards from JCP.  Saved money by not buying the footboards, just headboards.
Bedding and pillows from Ikea. 
Quilts that I bought at an auction years ago worked perfectly in this room (a lot of my things were items that I bought many years ago, but just could never part with and now have found new uses... I told my hubby it was a good thing I am a pack rat! lol!)

Bedskirts Target.
Artwork, little metal desk and suitcases - auction and flea market finds.
Vintage light one of my husbands rewire projects.

Dining room-

Farmhand table found at flea market years ago, dug it out of the barn to reuse it again.

Chairs - auction find - painted them all the same color for a cohesive look.  
You can take mis- match chairs and make them look like a set by doing this.
Stenciled galvanized bucket.
Curtains -Ikea Lenda $20 pair!
Plates - Big Lots with a 20% off coupon!
Sign - French Hen Farm sale

Master bedroom

Sleigh bed - Craigslist deal!  
Bedding - Ikea
Stripe pillows - Target
Stole the other pillows from our other bed, I like them better here!
Calligraphy artwork - flea market find, framed in cheap Walmart frames
Curtains Target

now down to the Basement...

Sectional sofa - found on Craigslist (the people had misjudged the size of their space, their loss our gain!!:)
Great for kids friends to sleep on!
Pillows to tie everything together - Ikea
Old farm tractor augers found at flea market,  filled with flowers for a new look.
Fooseball table - came with the house!

Barcelona Chairs - got these in the late 70's - dug them out of the barn!

Futon sofa that matched barcelona chairs- Walmart on sale- another spare bed for kids friends to sleep on.

Round table (with 2 leaves) - found at yard sale for $30, painted black.

Chairs - found at auction, recovered with feed sacks.
Clock - found at flea market from my friend Carrin at Chic Unique!
Curtains came with house.
Pig chalkboard - French Hen Farm Sale

It's not very fancy.  It's very minimal (I love not having clutter!)  but we love it!
I keep adding a little every time that we go. 
Came in way under my budget by recycling, repurposing, painting and bargain shopping!
So there you have it ....Lake house redo ....on the cheap!

on lake time

When we got back from our family vacation it was family reunion time!

I have two cousins that live on a beautiful lake just northeast of where we live.  

This is where we have our family reunion.

Every year, when we go to our family reunion, my husband and I always leave there wanting to have a little get- away at this lake. 

Every year we take our dream a little further....

Last year we even looked at houses and properties on the lake.

My husband and I have talked a lot about making memories for our children and we talked and asked the question to ourselves…what are we waiting on?

So this year we made the plunge and purchased a little cottage at the lake!

So I have been spending as much time with the family at the lake as we can.

We have been having so much fun!

With working full time and spending every other waking moment when I am not working, at my real job, working on French Hen Farm sales, I had forgotten how to do “nothing” and just relax. 

So this summer I have really enjoyed doing just that....  Nothing. 

There is something about the minute we get on the lake, all the stress just seems to melt away.

So, I am telling you this because, of what I haven’t done- which is spending my free time getting ready for the Fall Sale. 

We have tried to figure out when and how we can have the Fall Sale.

First of all, I used a lot of my “junk” to furnish the cottage on the cheap.  

Which I will be sharing with you over the next few posts:)

 A lot of people have e-mailed me asking me when our sale is going to be....
We know so many of you look forward to the sale and we look forward to seeing all of you!
Over the last few years we have made so many wonderful friends through the sales and we don't want to let you down!

We have toyed around with perhaps having a French Hen Farm auction, or having a combined Fall/Holiday Sale a little later in the year...

My sisters have a pretty crazy schedule this Fall too… so as soon as we figure it out I will let you know!  
Hopefully we will decide our plans in the next week or so and let you know the details!
Thank you for your patience while I have taken a little R & R with the family!

summer memories

So.... I know I have been a very bad blogger this summer.
I decided that I wanted to take the summer off from my extra curricular activities and spend as much time with the family as I could. 
My son is a senior this year and he will be leaving the nest soon :(

We started the summer, taking a much-needed long vacation to the West Coast. 

I wanted to give my kids a vacation they would never forget.  
I am very much into making memories for my children as they are getting older and soon to be leaving the nest.

We started in LA and did all the touristy fun things.  

 We took a tour, went to Venice Beach, Santa Monica Pier...

One of the most fun things we did was Universal Studio Tours.  
We splurged and did the VIP passes.  
I wasn't sure if it would be worth it but it was!! 
We had a blast!

You actually go on the sets, into the prop and wardrobe rooms (we saw all the props being selected for the new Elizabeth Taylor movie), go to the front of the line for all the rides and shows and get fed delicious food!

After a few days in LA we meandered up the PCH heading to San Francisco.  We saw so many wonderful sights.

great beaches and cliffs...breath taking sights...

My husband decided to help me sort of fulfill one of my impossible bucket list items. 

I had always wanted to see Michael Jackson in concert.....

Well, we all know, that can never be fulfilled, so we decided to take a little detour and drive to Neverland. 

So at least I was in the vicinity of where he once lived.  Oh well !!

on to San Francisco

We stayed in San Francisco for a couple days, did a very cool walking tour all over the city, crossed the golden gate bridge…

Then, we headed just out of the city to Muir Woods, one of my husbands favorite places.  
He wanted to see the children's eyes when they saw the redwoods!

Then we headed up to Sonoma Valley.  
One of the best things we did up there was spend a day canoeing down the Russian River.  
It was really beautiful. 
And of course we hit a couple wineries :)

After spending a few days in wine country we headed back to San Fran where I had planned a final fun day (evening ) for my kids.  
I had booked the night tour of Alcatraz.  

This was so much more interesting than I had thought it would be!
We had a wonderful vacation!

Hopefully some memories my children will never forget...

summer market day 1

 So the day started out nice....  We got everything set up and looking pretty.  

We got to see some old friends of ours that were set up at The Summer Market.
Everything started so nicely....


....Then the skies started changing and this rolled in....

...Then the rain came..... and boy did it come!.. 
....and then the winds came...unbelievable winds!


It took 11 people to hold our tent down!
A special thank you to the lovely family from Wooster that helped us hold the tent down!
We would have lost everything without your help!

Others were not so lucky.  Some people lost everything, so I guess we were lucky.

But we will be back tomorrow.  And hopefully the weather will hold out for us.
If you are in the area please stop by.  It is a lovely show (except for the storm :)

The Summer Market

We are so excited, we  will be set up at The Summer Market this weekend.


It's at Avon Lake this Friday 5- 9 and Saturday 9-4
for all the details go here:
www.thesummermarket.com
Hope to see you there!