Craigslist love, part two

Hope your weekend was FAB! My “claw” is back – I spent much of my free time over the weekend painting various things around the kitchen, and let’s just say there were numerous coats each. FAB. (I hope to show you those this week!)

For now, the Craigslist luvin’ continues peeps. I told you last week how I am starting to fall in love with this ahhhhmazing invention where people sell lovely stuff for really good prices. Um. Brilliant.

That is, as long as I’m going to the seller’s house and they’re not coming to mine. And I've told hubby exactly where I’m going. And it’s daylight. And I may have done a drive by past the house first.

THEN I’m loving it. :)

Last week I showed you my new perfectly-perfect-I-love-it buffet I found on Craigslist. Well, I had originally purchased a dresser to go in that spot. When I asked the length of the dresser, and the seller’s response was “53 inches -- but it was measured by my 15-year-old so I wouldn’t quite trust it.”

Hmmm. OK. I figured, holding a tape measure up against the dresser couldn’t be THAT hard, so I trusted the 15-year-old. (Note to self:  Teach the Bub how to use a tape measure before he’s 15.)

When the dresser was too long to fit into the back of my SUV, I started questioning the skills of the teenager. We finally got it in, and when I got home I did a quick measurement – uhhhh, let’s try 63 inches…not 53. Which made it way too large for the foyer.

Drats! I would just have to put it somewhere else. :) And I knew just the spot:

I changed up this space a bit a few months ago – it started out as a very dark spot and with a little spray paint, it got a quick and easy transformation. (YES, you regular Squeezes. I SEE the cord. That is a very rare occurrence around here!)

But pretty much everything was still bugging me – the sconces on the wall just weren’t working anymore. I loved the lamp, but it seemed out of scale for that space. And I was always trying to add more light and it never seemed like enough. (By the way, that lamp is the one on my IKEA sofa table in the kitchen, and I got it from HomeGoods.)

Sooooo…I dragged the massively long dresser into that spot in our family room and oooh baby. I was in luuurve.

When I went to pick up the dresser, I could tell the seller was a bit hesitant to let go of it. It was her grandmother’s for something like 40 years. She showed me the wear on the top:

And that’s when I said what was probably totally the wrong thing -- “Oh, that’s OK, I’m just going to paint it anyway.”

Ouch. Probably not what she wanted to hear. :) (More on that plan later.)

Then she mentioned the brand name and I didn’t hear much more after that because the birds were singing too loudly in my ears:

It is in really good shape, other than the top. With some conditioning oil, it really started to shine:

And the longer it sat in our house, the more I fell in love with it. Even the knobs (that still need to be cleaned) make my heart go pitter pat:

And soon, the top didn’t even bother me. It didn’t look worn, it looked loved. Like it had been in our house for 40 years.

When I tried out just about every lamp we own on the dresser, it was dwarfed. I checked out a couple of Goodwill’s and didn’t find anything – so it was off to HomeGoods I merrily skipped drove:

Um. If it is possible to want to flirt with, then date, then introduce a lamp to my parents and then marry it, this lamp would be the one. It is chunky. It is green. It has character. It has a drum shade.

I ask you, what more could you want out of a lamp?

Nothing I say! NOTHING.

Thank you sir may I have another?:

(C’mon, I know you know that movie quote!! If your husband/boyfriend/significant other/best friend is male, you do.)

The lamps were tall and substantial enough that I didn’t even need the sconces anymore – funny how I never considered just not having anything next the art!

Can we talk about how the lovely lady lamps perfectly pull out the smidges of the green on the Ballard discount print?:

OK, sue me. My symmetrical-ness won out on this one. I love how simple and classic it is:

     

And shall I even mention all of the fantastical storage?:

Once I get liners in here, I have some great ideas to free up a bit of space in the kitchen. Can’t wait!

This time I was a smart cookie and kept the tag to the lamps – I know some of you will love them too:

I just got them last week and our HomeGoods had a bunch left, but if you can’t find them there, you maybe you can email the company to find out where to buy?

The cost for the Drexel dresser? One hundred buckaroos. And it’s HEAVY. They don’t make them like that anymore. Well, they do -- but not for $100.  ;)

The lamps were $40 each, and I wanted the second one so bad, I returned a lamp from another project just so I could get it. I heart them.

I think the transformation in this spot, which never seemed right:

Was well worth the price for an I now LOVE it spot:

And you know what? At least for now, I’m not going to paint this beauty. Even with the bit of damage on top, I think it’s perfect as is. It’s warm and lovely and I can’t bear to paint over it. :)

And this is where I lie and say I’m not picturing Christmas decor on there.

I’m not!

:)

What’s your greatest Craigslist score? Or are you still too sceered to try it out? I don’t blame you – but the first time you try it, you may find yourself hooked too.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  ;)

What a great idea!

I’m kicking off the weekend by joining up with my friend Beckie’s Great Idea Day Party! What a great idea for a linky party. Wink wink. Hardy har.

This project is super quick, super cheap, super easy. And of course, super cauuuute!

A few months ago, I fell. in. love. with a glass jar display in a kitchen magazine – it was simple, adorable, fun. You may remember my love of all things glass and container-like that I can put stuff in. (By the way, Stink Eye Sister still shakes her head at me. And I still tell her to shut. it.)

While on a trip to Walmart a few weeks ago (the place I love to hate and hate to love) I found more of the jars I use for our laundry detergent – and they had a HUGE one. Gleee!

So I grabbed the big one and a smaller one and skipped along with my new glass jars to put stuff in. The magazine picture that was my inspiration had flour, sugar and other various baking supplies in theirs, but I already have these cuties in our pantry for just that purpose.

So I was trying to think of what would be just as cute, that we use fairly often, and then it came to me:

I mean, you’ve seen what happens when I bake. I don’t do it often so the flour doesn’t need to be out and easily accessible. Cereal -- now that I do often.

Then I was thinkin’, and a brilliant idea hit to cutesy them up even more. I’m sure I’m not the first to think of it, but just humor me here. I thought I was pretty smart. If you’ve already done this, you’re even smarter.  :)

I took some black vinyl (I had to use very, very little) and my fun little $1.99 craft scissors:

And cut out “chalkboard” labels for the jars. The great thing about the vinyl is it has the lines along the back, so it’s easy to keep straight:

OK, mine aren’t totally straight, (Stink Eye, shut it), but you really can’t tell. Swear.

Then I took my Chalk Ink pen (thanks Beckie!):

(I LOVE THESE THINGS. So so so much easier to use than chalk!)

And labeled my glass jars to put cereal in because I have an obsession with labeling:

Shut. up. Is that not adorable? Frosted Flakes never looked so good peeps!

I was on the hunt for equally adorable “scoops,” and found a set of $4 measuring cups that work perfectly:

I’ve seen the jars at various places, but the cheapest is Walmart by far – the large jar was $10, the medium was $7 (I think?) and the smallest I found at Target, and it was around $7 as well:

It only took five tries each before I was happy with my handwriting – and Cheerios still looks like it’s spelled Chrerios. Ah well.

The best part -- the chalk wipes right off! So when I want to change up Chrerios for Apple Jacks (to add a little more apple green to the kitchen!), I can just change the label.

I have noticed that if you leave the Chalk Ink on there for a while, it may leave a little bit of a shadow – but a quick swipe with a Magic Eraser took it right off. (LOVE those things!)

All I gotta say is…poor, poor hubby:

:) Ah yes, yummy fiber cereal. The breakfast of champions.

Hope you have a great weekend!!

You can continue to link up your Before and After posts until this Tuesday!

Shake your money maker

Hello there! I have emerged from under the massive, huge, endless piles of LAUNDRY I have been tackling for the past two days. We had SO much to do since the dryer went on the fritz – so now that it’s fixed, it’s been 48 hours of nonstop, never-ending loading, washing, loading, drying, folding, putting away (I hate that part!), repeat.

BUT, I do have to say, it isn’t as bad when the machines actually work. Who would have thunk it? :)

I’m back today with another (what I hope will be helpful!) installment in my blogging series. It’s not really a “series” – just a bunch of posts labeled “blogging” – but you know what I mean. :) 

Many of you know I’m pretty transparent when it comes to what I’ve learned about blogging. I have met so many wonderful women who have been so forth-coming and helpful along the way, and I figure this is my way to pay it forward. :)

One of the most common questions I get about blogging is when/how/why to include advertising on your site. My first piece of advice is the most important one – and it’s a BIGGIE.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT start a blog to make money.

:)

The only reason you should start a blog is because you enjoy what you do, you want to share it with the world, and you love writing about it.

NEVER to make money. If you start for that reason, blogging will NOT be fun. It will become a job, a burden, and you will not have nearly as much fun as you would if you just did it because you love it.

Now, if you have done it, you love it, you are seeing more traffic to your site, you are still loving it, maybe someone has contacted you about advertising, you STILL LOVE IT, then it may be time to try out some advertising! Whoohoo!

There are a few different types of advertising that I was totally confused about in the beginning so I thought I would go through the options a little deeper for you blogging Squeezies!

In January of 2009, I decided it was about time I start accepting private ads on my blog. I wrote this post announcing the ad space, which is the first step in the process. I felt SO uncomfortable putting it out there – it was the most awkward feeling, assuming that someone would actually pay to put their ad on my blog.  Ugh.

I looked back at my analytics for the day I wrote that post, and I had 2,149 page views the day I made that announcement. When I started, my ad rate was only $10 a month.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to start out with a (fairly) low ad rate. You will open up ad opportunities to so many small businesses – and if it goes well for both parties, they may be able to stay with you as your rates go up and your site grows.

About six months after I started taking private ads, I learned my first lesson in advertising rates – I was charging way too little. :) By that time my page views were up to about 7,000 a day, and after I started asking around, I found out I was charging an obscenely low amount compared to other bloggers with similar traffic.

Since then, I have raised my ad rates numerous times, and most recently lowered them a bit. So how do you decide what your rates should be? You need to consider a few things – your traffic, rates for similar blogs (don’t be afraid to ask around!), what folks are willing to pay, and even the general economy. Things are tough right now for many, so I decided my rates should reflect that.

There is a rule of thumb, called CPM, floating around out there that says you can/should charge $1 (or more!) per 1,000 hits per month. Say your blog gets 20,000 page views a month – this means you should be charging $20 a month. I’m still not sure how I feel about the CPM equation for blogs. Some use it and charge accordingly, and it works great for them. But if I followed this, even at the lowest conversion, I’d be a very rich woman, and I am so not.  :)

Basically, you need to “listen” to what’s going on around you and take many aspects into consideration when deciding on your private ad rates.

If you want to avoid trying to figure all of that out (and I don’t blame you!) – you can always go for a pay per click or impression type of ad instead. Examples of that type of advertising are the Google ads I have along the side of my site, over there

<---------------------------------------------------

:)

They don’t say Google, but they are the rotating ads you see along my sidebar. They have a few options available – text ads, image ads, ads for your “feed,” for mobile sites – in just about any size you can think of!

I started out with the text and search ads a year ago, way down low on my site, and saw such a small result I took them down. Then I put an image ad up a few months ago, and I tell. you. what. They ROCK! Zero effort on your part, and you can make decent money.

I added another Google ad to my sidebar a couple weeks ago just to try it out, and it’s doubled my revenue. These are such a great option for just about any blogger – no matter what your traffic! Google ads are a fantastic way to get into the whole ad thing without having to deal with the logistics of private ads. (And no, Google is not paying me to say this – ha!)

A third option that I am very pleasantly surprised with is the network-type ads, like my fun Juice Box Jungle ad in the upper left corner.

I am LOVING working with these folks! JBJ ads do not have any restrictions on my content/site – you have to watch those with this type of advertising. (They vary based on the company.) BlogHer is another option – but I think there has been a waiting list for years now. (Not sure of the current status though, so it wouldn’t hurt to check it out!)

I find the Juice Box and Google ads are fantastic options because there is very little upkeep on my end. The downside is you have to be patient when it comes to getting paid. :) No instant gratification in the bank account where those are concerned.

My advice? Diversify as much as possible! I am seeing great results from including ads from each type – private, network and Google. The success of each one varies month to month as well – sometimes private ads are low, and Google goes through the roof. Then I’ll get a bunch of private ads, and the others don’t do as well. Having some variety helps.

So, once you’ve got your ads, where the heck do you put them? My past life marketing experience and recent research continues to show that the upper left of your site is the best spot – the reason for that is that our eyes reads left to right, so the upper left is the first spot your readers see when they reach your site.

There are arguments for other placements as well, and I see the benefits of either left or right. Research also shows the higher up the ads are, the better the results for your advertisers. Again –- I am NO EXPERT peeps! I’m just sharing what I’ve learned along the way. Some bloggers I’ve seen have them on the bottom right and do very well! Sometimes I think placement doesn’t matter as much as the content of the blog does.  :)

I know a few readers are put off by some ads – the blinking ads for instance. Because I know it was driving a few people nuts, I stopped taking those and only take static (non-blinking) ads now. The pop-up ads are another annoyance fro some, and I can promise you you will never see one of those on my site.

My general rule is if I would be annoyed by it, you won’t see it on my site.  :)  I do my best to keep the ads clean and relevant. And I will make one more promise to you – you will NEVER be directed to anything other than what the ad says – no spammy or offensive links here.

And if you do ever see anything like that, please let me know so I can address it. I love having an extra few thousand sets of eyes. :)

Oh by the way – having NO advertisers is always an option too.  :) Ads aren’t for everyone – and I completely respect those that decide it’s just not something they want on their site.

So what about you? If you have  a blog, have you made the jump to accepting ads yet? If yes, how has it gone? If no, is there something holding you back? As a reader, are there ads that drive you bonkers?

Oh wait – one more thing. You will not get rich from advertising on your blog. It will help – maybe a little bit or maybe a lot. The advertising from my site has been a Godsend – we are thisclose to having our debt paid off (after years of chipping away at it) and it allows me to continue doing what  love – tackling new projects and sharing them with you!

Before and After Party: Craigslist love

Dearest Craigslist,

So, you know way back when, when I may have said that you give me the heebies? Like, I don’t like strange people coming to my house, heebies?

Well, I take it all back. Well, not the strange people coming to my house part. The part where I acted like I anything-less-than loved you. Cause I do. Very, very much.

You are now my latest BFF. I have many of them, but being the latest one makes you extra special. For about a week.

                                                              Smooches,

                         Me

:)

Do you have spots in your house that always bug you, and you can’t put your finger on what it is, so you just keep messing with it?

I have a few, but the one that got my attention last week was our foyer. I showed you back on this post how our foyer had started out like this:

With a very large Ballard Designs art print (bought on discount at the outlet, whoohoo!) and our hall table. I never seemed right, so I took the mirror from the family room instead:

And I liked it for awhile, but lately I’ve realized what’s been bugging me really hasn’t been what’s on the wall, it’s what’s below it.

Enter Craigslist. (This is where hearts flutter out of my eyes.) I downloaded the Craigslist app on my phone a few months ago, and would play around with it every once and a while. Last week, I looked up dressers, just to see what I would find.

Um, what I found was THREE pieces I thought I may just curl up and die without. Dannnngah! What the heck? Why did I have to find three?

I ended up picking one, but after I got home with it, I realized the length of the dresser was really a foot longer than what the the seller told me it was. Meaning it was MASSIVE and there was no way it was fitting in this space. I put it in a different spot (which I luuuurve and will show you soon.)

But gosh darn it. That meant I may have to try to get another one I loved.  ;) I decided if the one I wanted was still available a couple days later, it would be “meant to be” and I’d go get it.

Well Squeezies, it was meant. to. be. The piece was still there, waiting for me. So it came home with me. And all was right with the world:

Awww yeah, it was PERFECT! But of course, then nothing else was right. The skinny lamp that I had on the hall table was lost on there, and I was craving some COLOR against that black.

So I took this vintage lamp I had spray painted last year:

And sprayed it with a green paint I had in my stash. A new drum shade (stolen from another lamp) and I was in love:

I’m also in love with these two:

:)

I am so into the look of non symmetrical wall displays right now, so I decided to try something similar using what I already had.

I spray painted the frame on some art I’ve had since college:

Then I took some Rub n Buff (can you believe I had never used it?):

And touched up the raised parts:

It was SO easy to use! I love this stuff!

I took an old frame that held an adorable photo of my hubby (that is going in a new spot) and replaced it with part of an old art print:

The greens in the art match the new lamp color perfectly!

The round mirror was too busy for what I was going for – ideally I’d love one with a big, chunky frame, but because I had bought two pieces of furniture within days, I figured it would be best I didn’t spend any more money. My marriage is important to me.  ;)

So I took a mirror from upstairs and added some Rub n Buff to the detail:

And I’m pretty happy with the result, especially for only using what I had around the house:

The piece is actually a buffet, which is exactly what I was looking for in this spot! It has a lovely little curve to it:

I did end distressing it just a tad, just to add some character:

OK, let’s be real here folks. It will get “distressed” around here anyway, so I decided to beat the wear and tear to the punch. :)

It has SO much storage, and storage makes me soooo very happy:

 

I love love LOVE this buffet/dresser/lovely thing!:

I’m still messing around with accessories, and may be on the lookout for different art. But for only spending money on the furniture, I’m pretty happy with it!:

By the way, the buffet was $160 – way more than I wanted to spend, but I could not get it out of my head peeps! It was love at first sight. And the fact that it was still available after a couple days means it was meant to be for us, me and my Craigslist buffet.  ;)

So, my before:

And my after, thanks to my latest BFF:

Now it’s time for you to link it up! As always, I ask that you please link to your blog post, not your blog address (by right clicking on your blog post, copy shortcut, then paste into the linky.

I would love it if you would link back to my site and use this purdy little button:

The party will be open to links until next Tuesday, July 13th. Have FUN and enjoy!

I hope you all had a GREAT Fourth of July holiday!!

Kitchen redo: Week ?? (and Indy Style!)

Hello there! Are you ready for the holiday weekend? We sure are – we’ve been preparing every night this week by setting off fireworks and annoying the crap out of the neighbors participating in the festivities. Our son is OBSESSED with fireworks this year.  :)

Some of you may remember I was one of the VERY fortunate bloggers to be picked by American Express to use Membership Reward Points for our kitchen redo! The points are gone, but I have most everything I need to finish up the space. I’m still trying to figure out a few of the details, which I’ll talk about in a bit.

I haven’t gotten nearly as much done as I wanted recently, but there is a little bit of progress. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I wanted to make some kind of fridge surround:

But when I showed you the beadboard backsplash, one of you brilliant Squeezies mentioned putting it on the side of the fridge – uhhhh – that is SMART.

I thought hard about how I could do it without having to use Liquid Nails on the side of the fridge, and I finally decided on heavy duty Velcro: 

Since I had bought extra beadboard to do the fridge, I went ahead and continued it along the side wall as well:

It’s not built in for reals, but it gives the illuuuuuusion that it is. :) What I love is I don’t even notice the side of the fridge anymore – before the black stuck out big time (especially with the white backsplash!)

I’ve planned all along to put glass fronts on a few of our cabinets, but I after looking through just a few (or 50) kitchen reno mags, I found I also loved the look of open cabinetry – no doors at all!

To see how I liked it in a couple spots, I took the doors off and we’ve lived with it for a while. Besides having an urge to shut the cabinet door that NOT THERE every. single. time. I walk by, I love the look!

I cut some simple strips of wood that I stuck against the edge of the shelves to give it a more built in look:

My plan is to go ahead and paint the inside of this cabinet, and see what I think. Then I’ll decide if I want to keep the door and add the glass, or just leave them open. (I’d have to paint them anyway, with the glass doors.)

I’m struggling with how many doors should have glass if I go that route – most of the cabinets I’d have open are all on one side of the room. The cabs with the not-so-pretty stuff are all on the other, so I don’t want to show of the contents of those. :)

I took the doors off of the cabs above our stove:

I was inspired by these wine racks you can get with IKEA cabinetry:

And I’m going to attempt my own. :) We will see how that turns out!

The inside of that one will get painted inside as well, and if I go ahead with this idea, I’ll have to cut out the center piece that goes between the doors – which is totally freaking me out!!  :)

Anyone with glass fronts or open cabs – how did you decide which ones to open up and how many did you do? This one has me stumped!

I added some trim to the shades that came with the new light fixture:

The trim is super cute and was a STEAL half off at Joann’s, but I’m not sure I love how thick it is on these shades:

Just like everything else I do that I’m not sure about, I’ll live with it for a while. The answer comes to me eventually.  ;)

I love love LOVE the new rug from Pottery Barn for under the table!:

It’s so light and fresh and it still hides EVERYTHING! Whoohoo! It’s an outdoor rug that’s made to look like jute. I love that it’s not quite as thick as real jute, so it’s easier to move the chairs in and out from the table.

The only thing I’m a teensy bit worried about is the little tufts that are coming up:

I don’t know if I just snip them down and see how they do or maybe pull them through to the other side? I could just flip the rug but that table is wicked heavy, so we do that as little as possible. :)

I still haven’t hung the new pantry door:

But I do think I’ve decided on the color for that, the base of the table and the island – black for the first two and a little something different on the island:

It has sat like this forEVER and I’m glad I didn’t continue with my idea to paint it cream. (That is just primer on there now.) The beadboard backsplash was going to be cream at first, and I didn’t like it at all. Then I saw the light island with the white backsplash and it was just too matchy matchy to me.

Sooooo…I think the island’s going apple green. :) I’m a little scared and a whole lot excited to try this out – I’m going to go for a pale apple green, not a bright one, so I’m hoping it ties in OK. ACK, I have no idea! But I won’t know if I like it until I try!

Now I just have to find the perfect apple green, and I think I know where to find it:

The Bub’s old nursery had three tones of apple green in it, and I still have some left over. :)

Next step is to get our IKEA butcher block cut down to size for the island – but I want to have a professional do that so it’s a SUPER clean cut. Any fellow Hoosiers in the Indy area know of anyone who has a very large table saw? Let me know!

Soooo…there you go! It’s definitely coming together – slowly but surely. I hope to have it finished up in the next month, but I never set a date cause that’s just the kiss of death. :)

In other news, I was on the Indy Style show again this morning, and I’ll be a monthly guest from now on!:

Are you surprised I talked about beadboard? NO?! :)

Mental note for next time – put twice as much makeup on and find something to do with my hands!! (I need a pointer or something. Seriously.)

NOTE: July’s Before and After Party will be Tuesday night next week – I know the Fourth fun is spread out over the whole weekend so I’m pushing it back a bit.

Have a safe and fun Fourth!

GOD BLESS THE USA!!