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West Coast Junkin’

This week my family took off to escape the heat and headed for Auburn, California to visit my husbands family and of course lots of fun junkin’.

At Kevin’s house we found Big Nanny’s minks.  I have to say, I was quite grossed out, they still had the fingernails and hands fully intac and head and nose.  But because I love you all, I put on a strong face and put them around my neck.  They were quite unique, it was actually 4 seperate minks that attached to each other with a button to make one long wrap.One day we headed out for a little junkin’ in Auburn and found this great little shop, Kevin’s mom had scoped out for me called Whistle Stop.  It was a great little shop, with lots of treasures to be found.  You walked in and were greeted with just piles of boxes of more and more stuff, so we had to do a little digging, but we found some great treasures.  And I’m pretty sure that this is the car that the owner drives to work each day.  And my kids found lots of treasures as well, lots of fun necklaces and cars and Gavin even found a teenage mutant ninja turtle, which he has just started watching on Netflix!  Even Hadley had a fun time digging through the baskets of goodies.

Another day we headed to New Castle just a short drive away to meet some friends for lunch and what would you know, that right next door was this amazing place.  How could I resist going into a store with COOL JUNK!  And after chatting with the owner some he actually buys some of his treasures from Whistle Stop, the shop we had been in the day before!  Too funny.

And inside we found endless amounts of amazing treasures.  Unfortunately I only have so much room in my car to bring things home, so I had to be very selective with my treasures.

Look at all this fun stuff!

I loved these dressers and would have loved to bring them home with me!

 Here are a few of the fun treasures that I did bring home.

We also spent one evening walking around Old Town Auburn.  The kiddos loved the little town.

On Friday the girls had a shopping day and headed to the small town of Loomis for lunch at High Hand at the Fruit Sheds.  It was this great little cafe in a greenhouse style building and next door is all the old Fruit Sheds where they used to sort all the fruit to prepare it for shipping out to stores.  It’s a beautiful old building that they have restored, but kept all the original fixtures and character.  It was so fun.  Look at some of the great eye candy to be had . . .

Well that is all for this week, but don’t worry yesterday we continued our journey up the West Coast and headed to Spokane, Washington.  So you’ll want to check back next week to see what fun stuff we saw along our drive.  And if you are on instagram be sure to follow junkinthetrunkvintagemarket to be the first to see all the fun projects we are working on and all the fun things that are inspiring us.

I will leave you with a picture of this guy, my son Gavin.  He found my hat in the car and put it on and said, “Mom, look I’m Junk in the Trunk!”  If you made it out to our last market, you would have seen us all wearing hats, this was mine to keep the sun out of eyes.  He’s a funny one.

Oh I can’t believe I almost forgot to show you the best find so far on the trip . . .

 Yep, an antique dresser!  Just sitting on the side of the road waiting for me to pick it up!  And now the antique dresser is packed in and trekking up the West Coast with us.  It’s that kind of stuff that makes what we do, SO MUCH FUN!

 

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Projects

My wonderful hubby let me sleep in today, yay!! But because of that, we missed church.  So we got busy working on projects instead.

 The lighting was bad because it is 11:30 on Sunday night and we are just stopping for the night.  I will post finished products soon!

 

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Loft Style

Hey all, I just got home from a FANTASTIC trip to Paris. Due to the fact that my recent travels consumed much of my recent time, I have not worked on any great projects around my apartment lately. But have no fear, even to and fro London and Paris I found some great inspiration that I am prepared to share with you. First off though you will of course get one token photo from my trip. Here is the Arc in all her sunsety glory.

Now onto the good stuff. On my flight I watched The Vow for the second time. Its a great movie, but really what sticks with is not the story but their AWESOME Chicago loft style apartment. I loved so many of the fun details – the set designers did such a good job of combining the two characters different styles, his with music and hers with art into a fun eclectic decor.

This picture shows the main living space, with the garage doors on one wall, industrial lighting and eclectic mix of furniture.

This picture, of the same room, just looking in from the kitchen nicely displays the shelving unit I love so much, it has a chain link type front making it look very industrial and locker like. And of course great exposed brick walls.

I don’t really recall seeing the bedroom in the actual movie, but I like how they instead of having a head board covered they covered the whole back wall with wooden slats. It looks like that could be a pretty easy DIY activity.

And finally the kitchen with a fun industrial island. I also really like the combination of both regular cabinets and open shelving, it leaves great areas to display the more colorful dish-wear.

Did anyone else just fall in love with their apartment? Or just Channing Tatum :)

 

 

 

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HAPPY 4th of JULY!

Today I just wanted us to remember why we are celebrating this special day.  Adam, Monique’s husband posted this great reminder yesterday on facebook and I just had to share it with you all . . .

Today is a very special day in the hearts of all freedom loving Americans. The anniversary of our nations birth. We owe so much to our founding fathers and those since then who have sacrificed everything so that us, their posterity, would be able to enjoy the lifestyle we have come accustomed to presently. When I was in Church this past sunday, they put in poem form, the national anthem. Most …of us know it by heart, but I wonder if you have ever read or sang the second part? It is very powerful and gives perspective that our nation’s founders knew that God Himself creates and preserves all things. God bless all of you and don’t forget that this nation was made great by great men and women and it will only continue to be great if there continues to be great men and women.
O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation, Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n – rescued land Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, for our cause is just, And this be our motto–”In God is our trust.” And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.                                                                                                                                                                                                       -Francis Scott Key
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I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend with your families.

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You Ready to Get Your Scrub On . . .

So I have something very helpful, not fun in my book but helpful, if you have some extra time over this holiday weekend.

Are you ready to get your scrub on . . .
Hey you could make it a family activity?! . . . Probably not, but its a good thought.

Alright so this week I have a very random DIY cleaner!  YEAH!  Not so much I know.  I actually hate cleaning myself, but I have to say that Pinterest has really helped me to be more motivated to clean.  They have all these great and easy diy cleaners, usually all items that I already have on hand, so it doesn’t require any extra runs to the store.  So are you ready . . .

All you need is vinegar, salt and baking soda!  That’s it!  All things you probably already have sitting in your pantry.

Now I have to start by warning you that this is not something I do on a regular basis, at all.  This is actually my first attempt at cleaning the grout in our house since we moved into our house 2 years ago.  Gross huh, I know, but I really don’t like cleaning.

Alright here is the grout before (I’m actually quite embarassed to even show you, so don’t judge me for my grout). . .

All you have to do is mix together equal parts of your 3 ingredients in a bowl and evenly spread the mix into the grout of your tile.  It works best if you let the cleaner then sit in grout for about 20 minutes or so.

Then get your srub on.  I used a small scrubbing brush that I usually use for laundry and look what happened.  YUCK!

My little helper wanted in on the action, so I got her an old toothbrush and she helped me scrub too!

After rinsing it all out, look how great it looks!  I couldn’t believe it actually, I had forgotten what color the grout should be.  What do you think?  I have to admit it was actually really easy, however it was a little time consuming for a busy mom of 3 little munchkins.  I have to admit I only got the kitchen done, so I still have a lot to go, but it does look SOOO much better!

 

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Inspiration Tuesday

Here is some 4th of July decorating inspiration.

 

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squidoo.com

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shelterpop.com

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eighteen25.blogspot.com

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thelongthread.com

 

Happy 4th of July!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Inspiration Tuesday

These rooms inspire me.  Hope they inspire you too!

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From Pinterest- can’t find resource

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greatfindz.blogspot.com

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ohhappyday.com

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pinitlink.net

 

I love the white and grey theme.  My favorite is the last photo, the ironstone and wicker baskets are so beautiful!

Enjoy your week!

 

 

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DIY Reality

Ok friends, this is not a pretty post, but reality.  As I am home resting with my new little man, I have had a few days on the couch staring at all the undone projects around my house.  I get discouraged when I read other blogs and it looks like everyone has their life together and their houses are perfect.  Then it hit me that I do that to you guys too!  I realized how careful I am when taking pictures and posting about things in my house, to only show the things that are done and pretty.  Well, that is far from the case.  Although I take a lot of pride in having my house mostly made up of DIY projects, there are some down sides.  Especially when it is a business, you tend to pour your energy into getting things done for shows and clients, and not yourself.  Here is a little dose of reality in my life…

So remember this buffet that I painted a couple months ago?

Well, I wanted to just get it done and I was pregnant, so I couldn’t lift it.  So instead of waiting for my hubby to come home and help me, I just painted it right where it was.  I didn’t want to get paint on the carpet so I just didn’t paint the bottom of the legs.  I figured I would get that done later.  Yep, you guessed it, it has been two months, and they are still bare.

And I bought this side table about a month ago and had every intention of painting it…Well, it is still unpainted (and a mess)!  Yes, I probably could have cleaned this off before I snapped the picture, but this post is about reality right??  Yes, that is my breast pump in all it’s glory!

And yet another example is my dining room table.  I bought this three months ago and started painting, didn’t like the color so I repainted half and it is currently still half painted sitting in my dining room!

Sorry the lighting is bad- the table is half white and half off-white, but hard to tell in the picture.

 

And I sanded and stained the top, but didn’t put the polyurathaine on and we ate on it anyway so now it looks like this…

Yes, this is my reality.  I hope I have made you feel better about those unfinished projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We’re Hittin the Road!

Alright well in just over a week I will be taking off for about a month.  We are hittin the road!  With all 3 kiddos!  Our first stop will be Sacramento to visit my husband family and then after 10 days or so we will be hittin the road again and headed up to Spokane, Washington.  So I have been doing my research on fun activites for LONG road trips for kiddos 3 and under.  Here is some of the ideas I have come across so far.

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Via

What a great idea.  All kinds of fun activites using a cookie sheet and magnets!  Each kiddo can have their own cookie sheet, so their will be no fighting or arguing over that and Audra just got some letter magnets for her birthday that will be perfect for all these fun activities.

chalkboard cookie sheet

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I also found this on Pinterest, which I also thought was a great idea with those cookie sheets.  You can chalkboard paint them, so they are multi-use.

in the car with a cookie tray.

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And you can take those great dollar store puzzles and add magnets to the back of them, so they can put them together on their cookie sheet!  My 3 1/2 year loves puzzles, this will be perfect.

Free Disney printables

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I am also printing out lots of these great coloring sheets.  I’m going to add 2 clothespins to the top of the cookie sheet to hold coloring pages in place.  Thankfully my kiddos do love to color.  I have bought them each their own pack of crayons, again to hopefully avoid the arguing.

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Via

This site has lots of great maps.  I have printed out a map of the united states and highlighted the route we will be taking.  At each stop we take along the way, the kiddos will get a new sticker to add to the map, so they can see how much further we have to go.

travel pillows: love this idea!

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I am also working on this little project, one for each kiddo.  A pillow with their intial and a pocket to hold their little toys or babies.  And a great handle so they can carry it themselves.  I will work on a tutorial for you guys for next week.

That’s what I’ve got so far.  If you have anymore great ideas to keep the kiddos busy, besides movies (we of course will have the dvd player with a few new movies and lots of fun snacks!) I would love to hear them.  My kiddos sure are excited to see our families and are sooo ready to get out of this crazy HEAT!  Oh wait that is ME!  Hopefully all you Arizonians are staying cool while I am enjoying some beautiful weather.

 

 

 

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