Special Feature: Thrift Score Thursday

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed that I use the hashtag #thriftscorethursday on every photo of a vintage treasure.  Thrift Score Thursday is a fun weekly party hosted by the lovely Trisha (from Black and White Obsession) and fabulous Brynne (from The Gathered Home).  All week long, treasure hunters share their thrift store, yard sale, classifieds and feebie finds on Instagram or Twitter using the magic hashtag (#thriftscorethursday).  Trisha and Brynne then comb through the submissions and on Thursdays they share their favorite picks - they've even featured my goodies from time to time!  Now they're adding guest bloggers to the fun, and this week it's my turn to join along and pick my favorites, in addition to showing you what I scooped up.  I was made for this because not a week goes by that I don't find something incredible.  It's partly because I just love decorating my home with vintage wares, but it's also because I'm re-opening my Etsy shop soon so I've really ramped up the search!

First up, the finds that made me pine:

Jess McGurn (@brightgreendoor) found a set of hobnail glasses with matching pitcher.  The price?  Only $3!

If you're into mid-century furniture, then you must follow Sabina (@futuristichuman).  But if you see something you like, act fast!  This gorgeous pair of dressers already sold.

Jenn Pflueger (@suite22antiques) takes the most beautifully styled instagram photos.  She recently found a sweet pair-shaped vase to make her vignettes even more gorgeous, if that's possible.  If you spot something you can't live without, she has an Etsy shop too!

One side effect of the hastag party: you'll want to start hitting the thrift stores even more!  Sometimes I'll scroll through great find after find and then get this urge to drop everything and go thrift.  It's bad because I've come home from a town run and realized I've forgotten groceries because I made an impromptu thrift store stop instead!  This week was particularly delicious as I scored two stand-out finds.  The first is a textured West Germany pottery vase.  My Mom has a small collection and so I technically picked it up for her on my way to her place for lunch.  It sat on the counter while we munched our salads and by the time I pierced the last tomato, I said, "Mom, I'm sorry, but I've decided to take it home."  I had a total Gollum moment.  Sometimes things look blah in the thrift stores when they're covered in muck and bathed in florescent lighting.  All cleaned up and basking in natural light, this vase called out to me.  It's perfect in the lakehouse - especially with the George Nelson bubble lights.  Don't feel too sad for my Mom because I've lost track of the number of things she's scooped, bartered for, or just plain stolen from me :)

Although the vase is all mine, I found something adorable for the Etsy shop as well: a Rörstrand luncheon set - cups, saucers and small plates.  Pristine condition with a mod, mid-century design in blue and grey, trimmed in silver.  To me it has an Orla Kiely feel.  Rörstrand was (and continues to be) a famous Swedish porcelain manufacturer and you can feel the quality in how delicate these pieces are.       

Just a quick tip: if you see something stamped or marked with three crowns, that typically means it was made in Sweden!  I've learned this because my Mom (although of Hungarian ancestry) was born in Sweden so whenever we're out treasure hunting, things from Sweden get scooped up.

I'm betting that now you're feeling like a stop at a thrift shop might not be a bad idea.  If you do find something awesome, play along!

• You can share any thrifty find, no matter the source (craigslist, kijiji, yard sales, etc.)
• Use #thriftscorethursday on Twitter or Instagram (or both)
• Share your finds all week long and tune in Thursdays to see if your find was featured
• Remember, by using the hashtag you're providing consent for your finds to be shared on social media and on Trisha and Brynne's blogs

Speaking of Trisha and Brynne, check out their blogs today to see their scores for the week, and to see which fabulous #thriftscorethursday finds they decided to feature.

You can also click here, plus you can find her on Twitter or Instagram!

You can also click here, plus you can find her on Twitter and Instagram!

How to Replace Damaged Hardwood Floorboards

Handy Hubby is taking over today!  He deserves a round of applause for the crummy, frustrating job that was replacing some of the floorboards in our closet (which you saw on Monday had been installed around the closet organizer).  Here's his explanation of how he did it:



We lucked out because the previous owner had left a box of flooring from the original job.  This saved us having to colour match or try to track down the original brand.  We brought it in the house the day before to acclimatize. More time is usually better though.  Some companies will stipulate a week for the best results.  This ensures the boards don't gap the day after installation.

I first removed the closet baseboard with a flat pry bar. Some of the paper from the drywall stuck to it from being painted, so it's a good idea to cut the edge with a knife first.  I was not too worried about keeping the baseboard, as we knew we could replace it with new stuff.  However, if you go slowly you can usually get it off with minimal damage.

After I got the baseboard off I noticed a roadblock.  The hardwood was installed right to the drywall, actually pushing it in slightly.  For those of you that don't know, wood expands and contracts across its grain as humidity levels change.  For this reason, hardwood floors should be installed with a gap around the sides.  This gap is covered by the baseboard (attached to the wall) and quarter round (attached to the floor).

 
As can be seen from the photos, there is a square of flooring that was located under the old closet fitting.  This was relatively easy to pry up, as it was not pressed into the wall very much and I could pry from each end.  It was also nailed down with smaller nails, as a flooring nailer probably would not fit under the closet fitting.

The rest was a bit harder.  This floor had no gap around the walls, defeating my plan of inserting a pry bar into the wall gap to lift the first board.  I tried for awhile, but began to destroy the drywall.  I was actually carving out the drywall in order to raise the board closest to the wall.  This was not going to work.  There was no room for the board to rise vertically.

On to plan B, which is the way I have typically seen it done.  This can also be used for removing boards in the middle of a floor.  I took a circular saw (also referred to as a Skil saw) and set the blade depth to 3/4", the thickness of the floor board.  I then ran the saw along the length of all the boards, as close to the wall as I could, next to the seam on the board.  This basically created a 1/8" gap and cut the tongue off so the boards were not connected.

Once this was done I was able to start to pry the board from the exposed end where the square was.  Because the board was no longer attached to the one next to it, it was much easier.  I used a flat pry bar and a hammer.

 
Once the first row, next to the wall, was out, the remainder was much easier.  Unfortunately I was not able to save all the boards, but I was not counting on it.  This is where making sure I had enough to do the whole closet beforehand adds to the peace of mind.

Once all the board rows were out I swept the sub floor and removed any nails so the surface was clean.  Using a rubber mallet (to snug the boards into place) and a 12 gauge air nailer I installed the new boards to complete the floor.  I made sure to leave about a 1/4" - 3/8" gap between the floor boards and the wall to account for swelling, and the next person who wants to take up the floor.  We found nearly identical baseboard, painted it orange, cut it, and installed it once the walls were painted.

Isn't Hubby handy?!? 

The discovery about the flooring being installed improperly by the former owner, who wedged them tight against the walls, has me worried that we could see problems down the road.  It has me thinking that, in a few years time, when we totally gut the kitchen and re-do the floors in there (and the adjacent laundry room and half bath), maybe we should just install new flooring everywhere in the house so it's all uniform (save for the entryway and main bathroom, where I'd love a dark grey slate tile).  I'd love to go with something light, maybe a pale grey-tinged bleached oak, with wide planks.  The idea has me lingering in the flooring section of the hardware stores these days.

Via

Via

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My Brooklyn Limestone Guest Post

Whenever I have a project I love so much I want to share it everywhere, with everyone, I call it my Michigan J. Frog, from a 1955 WB cartoon.  Catch the video here.

Photo Via

If you can't watch the video (are you reading blogs at work?!?), I'll summarize - but it won't be as funny.  So you have to catch the clip at some point.  A gentleman finds a singing frog and brings him from place to place (even renting an auditorium) to show him off, but the kicker is the frog only sings for him.  When I'm super excited and telling anyone with ears about my latest DIY, I picture me skulking around with a frog in a box, and laugh.

When I was invited to guest post on Brooklyn Limestone, as part of the fabulous Trash to Treasure series, I immediately thought of this Michigan J. Frog:

Because I see big, old, builder's basic mirrors in the trash all the time, I submitted my stenciled & antiqued mirror in the hopes of saving a few from a similar fate.  If you missed, or snoozed through, the original post, check out the feature on Brooklyn Limestone here.

There are more than a week's worth of fabulous projects, so I suggest you head over to Brooklyn Limestone anyway to check out these genius ideas and makeovers:

 
Here's a list of who else was invited to partake:

Besotted Brand
Freckles Chick
Go Haus Go
House Bella
Jones Design Company
Miss Mustard Seed
Dans Le Townhouse - that's me!
Tenjune

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Spilling my Guts at Go Haus Go

I'm guest posting over at Go Haus Go today, for Emily's "Double Life" series.  You can click here to read about how I sometimes feel conflicted about blogging.  As privileged as I am to be able to pursue this amazing hobby, and how lovely it is to connect with fellow DIYers, I sometimes find myself feeling guilty, deficient and short on time. 

I think it's one of my most pictures-of-me laden posts ever (and that feels weird)!



P.S. Don't forget to enter my current giveaway - it's a real life saver.

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I Love You, I Love You Not

Do you love your space unconditionally?  I don't.

Too often I berate the townhouse for being too window-less, too small . . . too attached to other homes.  Even though we have really turned this baby around, sometimes I feel like our home is deficient and I worry if it can be competitive on the real estate market.  If this was our "forever" home I'd also approach it differently, but there are only so many changes we can (and want to) make and still recoup our costs.  Plus, I want to keep the home sell-able (so that means no hot pink fireplace, darn).

But then I give my head a shake and think about how fabulous it is just to have a space to call my own (even if I have to share with the Hubs).  I'm so fortunate to have a space in which I can craft, create and sleep.  Curl up by the fire with a snack.  Be alone with my thoughts.  I am reminded too often that it is a luxury that many people can't enjoy.

Inspired by a certain little optimistic girl, I have been actively changing how I think.  Instead of thinking about what I dislike about my home, I focus on what I do like.  So when I was asked to write a post for Design OCD to commemorate J's 100th post, I was excited about discussing 5 things I love in the townhouse.  Click here to check out my post and tell me: what do you love most about your space?

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Guest Post @ The Crafty Bee

In case you missed it, yesterday I was over at The Crafty Bee, blogging some motivational words to help anyone who has ogled a piece of DIY art but hasn't given it a go - yet.  Check out the post here.

Thanks for inviting me to guest post, Beatrice!

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I'm Blogging at Fresh Home!

Today, like all days, I'm thankful for so many things.  But, as a Canadian, today I am reminded to be especially thankful.  I am thankful that:

• I found a loving, caring and supportive husband at such a young age.  Yay!
• I am privileged enough to be able to follow my educational aspirations.
• Together, my husband & I could purchase a house and make it a home.
• My family is (mostly) healthy and (mostly) happy.
• I am thankful for each experience, many documented on my charm bracelet, that I have been lucky enough to enjoy.

I am also thankful that I can pursue so many of my whims.  From making felted wool billy buttons to painting our useless table (and many other DIY projects) I've had the (albeit sometimes limited) means, time and support to pursue these projects and this is not something I can take for granted. 

On a lighter note, I am also thankful that people read my blog!  Although it is purely a hobby, it brings me joy to share my projects and sources of inspiration.  Which is why I am especially excited that I will be blogging over at Fresh Home Blog, once a month, as one of their Fresh Faces!  You might remember I was in the magazine, too!  Click on over to read today's post (it will be familiar to some readers).

To any new readers: Welcome!  So happy you stopped by.  Please tour around the blog.  I invite you to check out the Townhouse Tour,  DIY Projects page and "About Moi," if you'd like to learn more.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

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