Squishy #1's New Captains Bed and a little Craigslist Love

Well poor Squishy #1 had a loft bed with a built in dresser, bookcase and desk and she hated it! Actually she just hated being so far up in the air with a huge (to her unusable space beneath). So, we broke down and found her a great Captains bed on Craigslist. She can still have 3 drawers for her underclothing, socks, and pajamas but she can sit on the floor instead of the ceiling. 

Here is her "new" Captains Bed. Notice mommy got stuck underneath Squishy #1 and Squishy #2 who thought it was fun to lay on top of mommy. 

Squishy #1 hasn't decided whether she'd like the bed painted white to match the bookcases and small desk we just moved in or not. She said she'd decide after we did the faux board and batten. 

As long as she lets mommy live long enough to do the work. It's rough with two little Squishies!

NOW CLOSED: GIVEAWAY: $20 CSN Gift Card

CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find anything you need whether it be a chic handbag, tv tables or even cute cookware! 

They have been great to us at Our Frugal Future and have sponsored two giveaways with us and now they have sponsored our FIRST GIVEAWAY at Pembroke Lane! 

Now down to the nitty gritty. Here is how to enter:

MANDATORY ENTRY:

Tell me how you would spend your $50 at CSN Stores

EXTRA ENTRIES:

* Become a follower of my blog or comment if you already are  (1 entry)

* Become a fan of CSN on Facebook  (1 entry)

* Follow CSN on Twitter (1 entry)

* Blog about this giveaway and leave me a comment with a link (3 entries)

*Become a fan of Pembroke Lane on Facebook (1 entry) 

*Giveaway ends on Monday, December 6, 2010 at 11:59 p.m.* 

You can check out all the great Black Friday sales still going on at some of CSN's great sites.

Please remember promotional codes are not valid with the Black Friday deals.

http://www.csnbaby.com/holidaydeals

http://www.everygameroom.com/holidaydeals

http://www.fitnessequipmentandmore.com/holidaydeals

http://www.toysandgamesonline.com/holidaydeals

The Painted Craigslist Corner Entertainment Center

Don't forget about our $20 CSN Gift Card Giveaway! Click HERE to enter!

Alright, I've already told you I love Craigslist well it just gets better. Here is our corner entertainment center I needed to purchase after buying a fire place and removing my old entertainment center.

Here it is being sanded slightly on top and front so my spray primer adheres well.

Here is is mid-spray primer with heater behind it. It is very cold outside mid to high 30's and you really aren't supposed to spray paint unless it is 50 degrees and unless I spray paint in the middle of my kitchen, I need the heater.  I primed mostly one night then primed any areas I thought needed more in the morning.

Honestly, temperature withstanding I was not all that impressed by the primer I used. I used Valspar Indoor/Outdoor spray primer in white.  If anyone knows anything about Valspar they were originally American Traditions from Lowe's.  As far as I know they are only sold at Lowe's.

The primer went on but also had some spray and drips to it. I thought it was me so I stopped, shook the can, adjusted my angle and went on. It still did it. The whole way through the priming process. By the way, it took 1 1/2 cans of Valspar to cover this piece with primer.

Say ADIOS to the golden oak color! My mother would have shot me if she'd seen this piece before it was primed. She LOVES golden oak. Lucky for her I didn't show it to her until the coat of primer was on it.

Then later that morning I gave everything a good coat of Rust-oleum Satin Spray paint. Let me tell you this was like "butta".  Besides the fact that my finger hurt tremendously because I don't have a trigger thing (until today after church when I plan on hitting Home Depot and getting one), it worked like a charm! The paint was thick and didn't drip or spray at all! It did confirm a sneaking suspicion I've had that it wasn't me it was the primer. Whewwww! I had been a little worried.

Especially when Squishy #1 looks at me and says "Mommy, why are you covered in spray paint? I thought it sprayed on and you bought it because it doesn't make a mess." Sheer Genius that one!

Pardon the icky garage, my father's music store closed and they have moved some stuff in and so ours is just kind of here, there and everywhere. Not to blame him, our garage was a mess before just not this bad. I'm sure I'll post all about the Garage Clean-Up Day later in December when we tackle that huge job!

I brought the stand in about 4 hours after I sprayed it and it was still tacky. I thought it was just a bit too cold in the garage for it to set properly. It sat in my kitchen for another 3 hours and when I checked it around 8:30 p.m. Saturday night it was completely dry.

I moved it outside yesterday and sprayed a few spots I missed seeing before. I also sprayed the other side of the doors and touched up the bottom trim too.

I then moved it back in the house last night before bed. This morning I put the DVD cases, Wii and XBox stuff inside the bottom, put the knobs on the doors and put the doors back up. The hardware wasn't real shiny so I decided not to spray paint those with metallic spray paint. In the future I may change my mind but for now, they stay.

The finished product turned out quite well and I am very pleased with my first spray paint effort.

We have moved all the A/V equipment into the cabinet in the corner and even though my wall treatment isn't complete, I love it! It now frees up my fireplace for me to decorate for Christmas!

Stay tuned for that conclusion of the new fireplace.

Snow Flurries in November!

Okay so I look out the window yesterday morning and what do I see? Teeny, tiny white flakes gently blowing in the breeze. SNOW! As a teacher and the wife of a teacher, snow does incredible things to me. I have a quick jump in heart rate and then I worry. Will it be enough? What will happen?

Well today wasn't one of those days but it was really great to see snow flurries in November. If you look close you can see small white dots in the picture and yes that is my craptastic fence. (That is a project we will be tackling this summer and NO I didn't paint it that hideous color of red)

Oh the Simple Things: The New Outside Light That Isn't New

Wow.... talk about crazy moments. So I'm in the garage spray *primering (not a word) our new corner entertainment center when I hear this buzzing electrical sound. Now mind you I've known about the box in my garage since we moved in.

Honestly, I thought it was broke and my husband just isn't the handy sort ( I know... right?) Well, I am... mostly.

Don't ya know, I start messing with this this morning and it works! Go figure! Here is the lovely picture of my now illuminated driveway.

Why am I so excited? It's just a light? Well, you don't live where I live then! Our development has NO street lights! That's right! NONE! It is pitch BLACK in our development once the sun sets and that's just stinking creepy!






So now I have it set to turn off at 8 a.m. What time does it turn on? I still have no idea on that one. :o)

Oh the small things that make me happy!









Oh and here is one more picture just to prove how dark it really was outside :o)

Yup! That's the moon! It was actually around 4:50ish in the morning. Hubs and my Bro had just left for a morning of hunting with my Father-in-law.

The New Fireplace = Craiglist Love + a Newly Painted Wall.

I LOVE Craigslist! I mean I adore that site! I must check it out at least twice a day. I have recently been on a Craigslist splurge which the Hubs and Bro are not too thrilled about! Who has to lug it all around? Yup! Them!

I have been wanting a fire place for EVER and found on one Craigslist for $300. Yeah it was propane and I have no propane connection, yeah it was HUGE and I had no place yet to put it. But hey, yup. I got it. I actually got it for only $250 too! I was going to convert it to gel until I went to the house it previously belonged to and they whipped out a remote. Yup, a remote. After seeing all it could do I thought I'd be a fool to rip all that temperature controlled heat blowing goodness out of the fireplace and replace with nothing more than a glorified candle.

Next came the sale of our Ikea entertainment center. I sold that (with a bit of drama) and still had two tall white bookcases. I knew I wanted to use them in Squishy #1's room so I moved one in and put the other one in the hallway. In the MIDDLE of the hallway!

Yup... I'm just a bundle of fun! 

Here is what I sold:

Here is what I bought, complete with entire contents of entertainment center on top (temporarily of course).  It is still not hooked up (I need to call the propane guy) but it is beautiful! 

 

I thought it blended in with the wall too much so I decided to paint the wall behind it the same shade as the rest of our living room. After that the fire place looks MUCH better. Don't ya think? 

But.... I still think our entire walls look too *nekid (not a word) so I want to do picture molding and paint the bottom 1/2 white with chair rail. Yeah me!

And... it gives me an excuse to use my new nail gun! SCORE!

Now I have purchased a corner entertainment center to put all the A/V equipment on/in.  We eventually want to hang the LCD in the corner above it but for now it will sit on top of it. (After I finish painting it. That's happening today!)

My New Toy: Portable Nail Gun and Air Compressor

Ahhhhhhh.... Oooooooohhhhhh.... (and maybe a little drool).  That's what happened when I saw that Lowe's (one of my favorite places) was having this nail gun/ air compressor kit as part of their Black Friday sales. Well, actually the sale started online Thursday at 12:00 a.m. but who's really counting?


Not you? Okay.... back to my story.


This little baby was on sale for only $59! Regular price is $99 and it did have review on their site and while two were negative (nail gun jamming, item stopped working) most were VERY positive and people loved it! For me who has been wanting a nail gun for like FOREVER... Perfection!


My husband graciously hopped online (albeit at 4 a.m.... our smallest Squishy woke up so we were up) and purchased it for me Thanksgiving morning! He's just one more thing I'm thankful for but I digress. We'll mention Hubs later.


Black Friday around 10:00 a.m., Hubs and I wandered over to Lowe's and picked it up! Yeah! Now it currently is still sitting in that lovely box (I know... Saturday... right? It should have already been unboxed and things nailed. I get it, I do)


But... you see I have this other little project I'm working on: My $100 Craigslist corner stand purchase. It all goes back to another purchase which kind of swung things into an interesting tailspin. I'll tell you about it next. Anyway, I'm currently trying my hand at spray paint (crazy right? Yup! That's me!) so we'll see how it turns out.

For now, I just stare at the box sitting on my kitchen floor (SIGH......) and wait. Until maybe next week and then that's it! I've gotta find something to nail! (in my house :o) of course)

My new blog and a giveaway reminder

Well after much debate and stubbornness I have decided that I needed a separate blog for our home. Our other blog Our Frugal Future has dealt with mostly saving money, recipes and just frugal fun. I felt I was putting too much personal family things into that blog where that was not the original intent.


Out of that thought this blog was born. Here is where I will showcase our decor, more recipes (yum) and just plain old household things. Please bare with me as I tweak our design and modify things (I'm always doing that anyway).  And don't forget to visit our money saving blog where we are still hosting reviews, giveaways and money saving tips.


On that note, our $20 CSN gift card giveaway ends Sunday at 4:00 p.m. Click HERE to enter that giveaway!