DIY Lamp Redo

The furniture at my work is very bland. My office has generic beige and black laminate from wall to wall, yuck! It actual looks similar to this:

Laminate office furniture

In an attempt to brighten things up, and personalize my office a little more, I decided to grab a cheap lamp (it was actually free) and give it a new life! When I got this lamp I wasn't  sure if worked, I thought I might have to rewire it... BUT, luckily it turned on when I got it home and plugged it in!

However, much like the laminate furniture the gold/bronze was not doing it for me. Since I can't change my furniture I decided to spray paint my lamp for a quick makeover. This was a quick and easy as my candlestick redo!

Lamp before makeover :)

The first thing I did was take care of the lampshade. There was a layer of plastic inside the lampshade that I needed to remove because it was very cracked (hey, beggars can't be choosers).

All I had to do was take the shade out to our patio and crack the rest off. This took less than 5 minutes!

Next, I taped off the top of the lamp where the bulb goes and where the cord meets the lamp base.

Once that was done, I wiped down the lamp and used some extra spray paint I had laying around to change the color.

Krylon avocado

After a few coats I was done! Here is a final picture of my lamp in its natural environment, on my desk. :)

Love it!

Atlanta Antique Shopping Part 2

I take a lot of pictures with my camera phone when I am out. No, I don't have an iphone which is why the pictures aren't great, but I love taking pictures anyway and frequently do this until my phone dies (which is what happened Saturday). You can see part 1 on my antique adventure here.

So after I left the 1st store on Cheshire Bridge, whose name I can't remember, I headed across the street to Antiques & Beyond. This place was amazing and huge! There were so many things I would have bought if I had an unlimited budget but alas, I do not. So I window shopped instead... And this is what I found...

1- Italian ice cream servers, 2- Spanish rope pot

I really loved these 4 ice cream servers (a little bit because they are from Italy :) and a lot because I think they would be great to have for years). The $70 price was way more than I would have spent and I was not in the mood to try to talk someone down so I walked away. This yellow woven rope bowl also caught my eye, but for $60 I think I could find something similar at Homegoods.

3- Camel lamp, 4- Drum coffee table

This camel lamp was something I came across at Antiques & Beyond and while it is not my style, I think it would look great in someones home who has more traditional taste than I do. I also found this drum coffee table that I loved! I didn't check the price, it was most likely a lot more than I make in a month. This coffee table is very similar to these two drum tables in this beautiful room designed by Rebekah Zaveloff.

Drum coffee tables - HGTV

My last finds at Antiques and Beyond...

5- bench, 6- leather briefcase

This bench really grabbed my attention. It actually wasn't because of the shape of the bench, but rather for the fabric. One of the last things I saw as I walked out of the store was this leather briefcase. The leather was really worn and you could definitely see the age of the bag, but I thought it would make a great travel bag.  I was already picturing myself walking through the ATL airport carrying it. In the end I decided to hold off and think about it more, knowing if it was there when I came back it was meant to be. :)

Atlanta Antique Shopping

While browsing online I ran across this great furniture redo by Molly at The Nesting Game. She refinished  two old campaign nightstands in a bold green and did an awesome job!

The Nesting Game nightstands before

The Nesting Game nightstands after! <3

I love the final product and was so excited when I realized Molly lived in Atlanta. I asked her for the name of the store where she got the nightstands and she was happy to share, to my delight! On Saturday  I decided to take a break from doing some work to go antique shopping. There were a few stores on Cheshire Bridge I wanted to go to and I also went on a hunt for this new store.

After following Molly's directions (the north side of Clairmont and Buford Highway) and driving in a few circles I finally came across the Scavenger Hunt thrift store.

Scavenger Hunt Atlanta

This is definitely one of those places where you have to dig and search a little, or a lot, for a hidden treasure. And finally after about 30 minutes of looking I can across this gem.

I know, it doesn't look like much... And what is it? Well, it is a luggage stand and I have been looking for one to redo ever since I saw this green luggage rack on Young House Love. (Can you tell I like green?)

Luggage Rack on YHL

So, since this was the first stop of the day I was feeling very optimistic and looking forward to my new DIY project.

After I left Scavenger Hunt I drove to Cheshire Bridge. First I went to an awesome antique store that I can't remember the name of, or find online, but it was right across from Antiques & Beyond (where I went next). Here are some of my finds:

1- die cut wood chandelier, 2- large metal chandelier, 3- wood framed round mirror  

I love the nontraditional wood chandelier and think this rustic round mirror would add some nice texture to a room.

4- large metal propeller, 5- metal letter stamps, 6- elephant drawer pulls

This metal propeller would be cool mounted on a wall. I love the idea of mixing woods and metal in a living space. I really wanted to buy these elephant drawer pulls! I had idea no idea where I would put them and they are kind of creepy... but I think they would add so much interest to a room. (However the $45 price tag turned me off.)

So what did I get?

The top deer antler for our coffee table! I had so much fun shopping and part 2 of my antique adventure will be coming soon!

Bacon Egg Cheese Sandwich

Sunday morning I was craving a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast and luckily I had everything I needed at the apartment. (I know, not the healthiest thing to eat, but it was definitely delicious! And with Steven out of town I decided to treat myself.)

I started by cooking some turkey bacon. This is definitely a little better than the regular kind.

While this was cooking I threw some sliced italian bread in the toaster oven.

Next, I scrambled two eggs and when they were close to being done I added a little bit of shredded cheese.

 

After the cheese melted I threw it all on the bread and had a gourmet breakfast! :)

bacon, egg and cheese sandwich!

Yum!!

Green Monster

I first heard about the Green Monster Movement from one of my best friends Carol. My first thought was "you drink spinich??!" My second thought was "Well, I will try almost anything once." And so began my green monster obsession (I have one everyday before work). After quizzing Carol for 10 minutes about what ingredients I need, exactly how much "2 handfulls" of spinach is, and where the heck to find ground flax seeds at the store, I made a shopping list and went to Publix. (You can find Carol's posts on green monsters here and here.)

My Green Monster, YUM!

My green monster is made of 1 cup light vanilla soy milk, 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, 1/8 or 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, 1 sliced banana, 6 or 7 sliced strawberries, 1 kiwi, 1 container Chobani plain nonfat greek yogurt (this time it was strawberry), ice and 2 handfuls (about 2 cups) spinach.

green smoothie ingredients

I try to use fresh over frozen fruit whenever I can. To save time in the mornings I will cut up whatever fruit I plan on having in my smoothie the night before (except for my banana since that only takes a second).

kiwis and strawberries

To start, I throw all the fruit, chia and flax seeds, applesauce, Chobani yogurt and milk in the blender.

Custom Cornhole Bean Bags

The other day I was at Homegoods, which I frequent often, and I found an awesome cornhole set. I got very excited and sent Steven a text immediately with what I found (I do this often).

Cornhole!

The best part about it was that this set came with 8 beanbags, 2 cornhole stands and a carrying bag all for less than $40. This is a huge discount compared to the almost identical set I found online for $120  (the only difference being some school stickers).

ASU Tailgate Toss (similar to the one I bought)

The one downside to this cornhole set was the cheesy dark and light brown football looking beanbags. I decided this was something that needed to be remedied before we took this anywhere in public. :)

So one afternoon before we headed to the beach, more on that later, I ran to Joanns and grabbed a red UGA fabric and solid black fabric. I made a cut in the old bag, pulled out the sack of sand and sewed together some new covers. This project was super easy and took about 20 minutes!

beanbag cover and sand insert

final product!

I think they look so much better and can't wait to bust them out!

Sweetwater Creek State Park

Sorry for the delay in my recap of Sweetwater Creek State Park that I mentioned here, but I have been at/still am at the beach and haven't been focused.

Steven and I went to the park last Saturday for a hike after our breakfast at Bakeshop. We decided to take the white trail (3 miles  long) to the red trail (1 mile) and make a big loop.

Start of the white trail

The white trail was a easy to moderate hike, mostly shaded and full of wildlife. We saw a deer, a lizard, buzzards, and a centipede.

bambi

Centipede

Lizard

Perfect Saturday Morning

After a night of playing drunk bingo with some great friends I had what I would consider a perfect Saturday morning.

drunk pizza at Jacks Pizza and Wings

This morning started off with a delicious breakfast at Bakeshop. The restaurant is right off peachtree in midtown and is welcoming from the second you walk in the door. One thing I loved right off the bat was the tall wood tables and aluminum bar stools.

Bakeshop

I would love to have these stools or similar chairs in our next place!