THIS WEEK'S DIY PLAN WAS A TOTAL BUST!!!!!!!!

The Blissful Bee Blogspot

Well this week was a bust. I had it in my head all week that this was the weekend I was building my brand new beautiful Factory Cart coffee table for the living room. I have the coffee table in there that I "checker boarded" and I'm using but it just doesn't work with the room. It isn't my style and quite frankly...I just don't like it.
So I have been surfing the net for the last 2 weeks trying to figure out exactly what I wanted and I found it in this coffee table that you can find from such places as Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn. Well if you check it out you will see that it can retail for over $1000.00! How ridiculous is that? (Sorry Pottery Barn and RH, I am sure it is beautiful and worth it -just way outside of my budget!) So after checking out EBay, Amazon and a bunch of other sites, the cheapest one I found was still almost $300.00.

So, I started "blog shopping" for all the knock plans and decided it looked pretty simple to make my own. Well, after much discouragement  input from my husband (who just wanted to buy it for me) I convinced him I could make it. 

http://www.redouxinteriors.com/

So here I sit, Saturday morning, coffee in hand, enjoying my new coffee table. NOT!!!! Nor is it even in the works. After running around all afternoon yesterday looking for the caster wheels that no one carried -I was thoroughly discouraged. Oh a few places carried some but not the spindled kind I wanted like these. I found them online and they turned out to be soooo expensive. Then I checked out the wood at Home Depot and spent another frustrating amount of time trying to decide if I wanted to use whitewood, poplar or pine...I was thoroughly frustrated! I guess I need a better plan. So I am about to start my search on eBay for the wheels to see if I can find them cheaper than $53.00 a piece! Problem is the shipping. Even when you find them cheap the shipping is high due to the weight. Geez....

So my second choice is a Pallet coffee table like this....

http://www.coolthings.com/legion-pallet-coffee-table/

This would be a cheaper alternative and much easier to make but I am not 100% sold on it. I like the industrial, kind of modern cottage/farmhouse look. So I could maybe do the pallet but add some hardware to it to "industrialize" it a bit more.

So what did I get done this week? Well, not much. It's been a rainy cold week. The kind of days you just want to curl up on the couch and watch TV. I did a little rearranging of things. I moved the big clock from above the fireplace back into my dining room. As much as I loved it above the fireplace it was kind of crowded into the mantle surround. I replaced it with another smaller clock I have that is not one of my favorites but it's good for now. I did a little touch up painting on the fireplace too.

And at the risk of looking like a fickle indecisive crazy lady...dare I say....I took down my brand new shelves I just had the mister hang for me. Yes,  we just bought 6 little shelves (not cheap) for the living room. We spent last Saturday afternoon with the level, ruler, hammer and nails bickering  spending time together hanging them. I thought I wanted them! Once up- not so much! I decorated them and re-decorated them, and then ....I re-decorated again! But I couldn't seem to get them right and I realized, I just didn't like them. So down they came. (Wall repair to be done later)

So now I need artwork. I have lots of artwork but none of my stash really works here for me. I'm not certain what I want but here's a picture with some temporary artwork and I really like it so much better than the shelves. (They'll find a home somewhere else). 

without shelves- imagine it with a new factory cart coffee table!!!

 remember the before? with the shelves...

the shelves really just seemed to crowd the space. 

 and I brought in a sofa table for behind the love seat. This is a small room but I am a believer that a small room can still live large! I didn't want this to be a room you walk through to get to the dining room. I wanted it to be defined with it's own borders. Some would disagree and say since it's small I shouldn't 'block" it off but I decorate for me. And I love it! It feels more like a cozy room you walk into purposefully instead of walk through. 

And then I moved this piece down into the living room too. It too is temporary.

I really think I want a bench and a big mirror on this wall. I decided to try this in the room for now. Lesson to be learned here though, never ever ever decide to lug a big heavy awkward piece of furniture down the stairs by yourself. Learn patience and wait for help. Because halfway down the stairs as you balance this awkward piece you will realize just how insane of a person you are.

I also found these adorable little 6 inch Ironstone plates. 5 of them for $5.99. I love them. So I hung 1 in the kitchen to see how it looked on the wall. They are Vintage Liberty Blue Staffordshire Ironstone. 

I went with my daughter to a local "estate" sales warehouse after purchasing these and found a ton more. When I asked the woman about the price she said $10.00 a piece! I of course felt the need to tell her nicely how ludicrous that price was. She reciprocated by refusing to sell me the pallet by the back door that I wanted. Really? So I go home and as I am relating my story to the mister and ranting about the ridiculous  sharing with him about the prices of the plates. The injustice of it all! One of my dogs had curled up to lay behind my feet as I griped  shared my story. I stepped back, lost my footing and threw my hand up to the wall to catch myself. Guess what I caught my hand on and watched drop to the floor and shatter? Yes, I now have 4 not 5 Ironstone plates. 
And lastly I found this little wire basket -you can find one at Pottery Barn for $69.00. I found this one at a local resale store and offered the guy $5 and he said yes. Score!

So that was my week. I'm off today to go pick up a birthday gift for little Miss Addy who turns 3 tomorrow and maybe I will find a more positive DIY challenge for this upcoming week. Have a wonderful weekend!