Treasure Hunting

The owners of our borrowed home will be coming back at the end of this month which means we'll be moving into the now unfinished (hopefully soon finished) basement. I'm excited about it, actually. I love the design challenges that small living spaces present. I've always wanted to live in a tree house or a converted train car or something like that. And our years in Japan taught us that small, if done right, can be so much cooler than big.

We gave away pretty much all of our furniture when we moved here from Boston two and a half months ago so we're kinda starting from scratch. But I'm determined to be a beggar AND a chooser when it comes to furnishing our space. I want cheap/free AND cool. So I've been scouring craigslist, thriftstores, and my grandparents' house (thanks for never throwing anything away Granny!)

This old pie safe from circa a long time ago that now sits in my grandparents' garage will soon be our new dresser or pantry, not sure yet. But I love it!

I've got my eye on that old refrigerator drawer. Papa, you might have to find a new container for your rolling office chair parts.

He probably still uses this old fan when he works in his shop in the summer. So I won't steal it. But it IS pretty sweet.
Same with these old tools--I don't want them, just thought they made a cool picture.
Several of our furniture-building plans call for some re-claimed lumber. Thankfully Papa has been reclaiming lumber since the 40's.
Granny keeps EVERYTHING--she's got shelves and shelves of little glass jars just waiting to be re-purposed...hmmmm...
And I think this braided rug my great-grandmother made will also find its way into our new living space. Nothing says vintage chic like 75-year-old dust.

So HOPEFULLY over the next several weeks I'll have fun remodeling/refinishing/repurposing photos to show you. But who knows, life seems to be anything but predictable these days : )