{ FABULOUS FINDS - PETITE PRICES - VICTORIOUSLY VINTAGE }

Two fabulous new finds for our study and I couldn't be happier. Wait till you hear the prices (or lack there of)!

The first find is a desk chair, found at a charity garage sale. I have been searching for a vintage desk chair for awhile with the following requirements:

{the look}

• antique
• fabric/leather in good condition
• coordinating colors with our study

{the functionality}

• seat with cushion for comfort
• swivel chair on wheels

My goal was to find a vintage chair for around $20, but I was one lucky girl on my Saturday afternoon garage sale hunt. This particular garage sale was nearing it's end and the garage sellers were looking to get rid of everything. Instructions when you entered the backyard : grab a box and anything you can fit in it is $5. What a deal! Unfortunatly there wasn't much left to choose from.

However, from across the driveway I locked eyes with a lovely desk chair. I could tell from afar it would meet all of my above requirements. I quickly walked over to the chair and knew it was meant to be.

Then I immediately asked if I could fit the chair in a box so my purchase could qualify for the five dollar rule I had just heard about. And to my surprise the man replied, "But THEN it would be five dollars." I was confused. What did this mean?

He explained...well, you can fit it in a box and then it would be five dollars, but it's only FOUR! Shocked at his four dollar response, I almost had to take a seat in the chair I was so excitedly about to purchase.

Obviously, I said, "I will take it!"

{the old (but new to me) desk chair}

The second find is another antique piece - a vintage radio. My mom gets all the credit for this fun find. It was sitting on a curb in my parent's neighborhood for FREE. An iPhone text (with picture) later and it was in the back of my parent's Suburban and on it's way to my house. The dials are missing, but I am on the lookout for antique knobs as replacements. This piece is still in the works, but it goes wonderfully in our study with the new desk chair addition! 

{the old (but new to me) radio}

Moral of the story: I highly recommend and encourage everyone to be on the lookout for estate sale and garage sale signs this weekend. Take a moment to stop...you never know what one-of-a-kind finds you will come across.

AND stay tuned (pun intended) for a lamp re-do in the study!

YOU NAME IT. I'LL MAKE IT.

Today's post is not a DIY project or a room transformation, but I think you will still enjoy this entry on name frames! As the busy wedding season nears, I wanted to share a wonderful gift you can give to those love birds. What better gift than one with their new last name!

I started making these name frames after I gave Clay our new last name on our wedding day. Since then, I have given and made name frames as engagement/wedding gifts, Christmas gifts and thank you gifts. I love that these custom name frames are a personalized gift AND you can choose what works best with their decor...a brown frame with sepia pictures or a black frame with black & white pictures.

Need a personalized gift or want one for your house, send me an email at pinkdoordesign@gmail.com. You name it, I'll make it!  

Fun fact - I took all of the letter pictures in my hometown of Irving, Texas.

{Please note: pricing, dimensions and other examples can be found at Pink Door Design. Unfortunately, I have tried shipping these frames out of state and the glass is too fragile - only local pick-up/deliveries available.}

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On another note:

I received my first blog award. How exciting. The rules of the Versatile Blogger Award are as follows:

• Thank the person who gave you the award by linking back to them in your post.
• Tell us seven things about yourself.
• Award fifteen (or so) recently discovered new bloggers.

*First thing first, I would like to thank the person who awarded me the Versatile Blogger Award - Hilary of My So Called Home. Visit her blog and check out her new pouf from Target. Now I want one!

*Secondly, seven things about EP:

1. During college, I lived in a house with a pink door and named my business in honor of my wonderful roomies and the terrific times we spent at The Pink Door.
2. I think my affection for the color PINK is obvious, however my new favorite color is gray and I heart the color gold.
3. I am a frugal shopper. I visit T.J. Maxx Home Goods on a weekly basis.
4. My rule of thumb while shopping for home decor - If you find something you absolutely LOVE, you should get it even if you don't know where it is going in your house. As my mom always says, you can always find a place for it.
5. If I am at a restaurant and there is a food option with mushrooms and/or onions, I can guarantee you I will order it off the menu.
6. We have a yellow lab named Bayley Boo Pickering, but I have a thing for wiener dogs. Their long bodies and short legs make me laugh.
7. My first name is in my last name: pickERINg.

*As far as the last reward requirement goes, I am a new blogger and will have to postpone my answer while I continue to discover new blogs. On the other hand, I am now a follower of My So Called Home! Thanks again Hilary!

MOMMY'S FIRST CATCH! OH BOY!

{Post brought to you by Pink Door Design}

This baby shower invitation was designed specifically for the mommy-to-be and her husband, who LOVE to go fishing. They had already chosen beautiful bedding from Pottery Barn, so I chose to use the baby's bedding as the color scheme for their invitation.

Small note to Mary (mommy-to-be), congratulations on your first catch! I know he will be a fantastic new fishing buddy!

Mary's baby shower was hosted by her co-workers and I would like to share their snazzy shower snapshots. The hostesses mimicked the fishing theme in the shower decorations and I think everything turned out swimmingly!

These fishing poles (made out of bamboo sticks) were sitting next to the shower sign-in book as guests arrived. Hanging from the fishing poles were red and white bobbers with fish cut-outs. No details were spared, check out the pictures printed on the fish cut-outs... precious photos of Mary and her husband as babies!

Here is a close-up of the table centerpiece (one of my mom's many specialities).

Fresh flowers, fun fabric and fishes, OH MY!

Mary with the yummy chocolate cupcakes, adorned with
two graham cracker fish. Notice: the dessert presentation also
included gummy worms on the plates :)

And last but not least, a picture of the entire table. How cool are the strawberry topiaries?

A very clever idea. Plus, it's an edible arrangement that adds color & interest to the table! 

{Hostesses, a job well done!}

If you are fishing around for baby shower invitations, look no further! I would love to hook you up with a baby shower invite...whatever the theme may be!

THE LAUNDRY ROOM. LOADS OF FUN.

Our laundry room was plain. Lacking in color, simply a sea of white. White walls, white cabinets, white door....made complete with a white washer and dryer. My goal with this Breath of Fresh Erin project was to make the laundry room FUN. Loads of fun.

Although white is a clean color and very fitting for a laundry room, I was looking for something bright and cheery. As you can see in the before pictures, I jumped the gun and began testing out a coral color on the walls before remembering to take a BEFORE photo...but you can still see the overabundance of white!

{BEFORE}

our white laundry room.

{AFTER}

our new cheerful laundry room.

Now, please take a look at these high sliding cabinets in our laundry room. I am not sure the rationale behind these cabinets because in order to reach them you had to stand on the washer/dryer...not very functional if you ask me!! I was determined to give these cabinets purpose and lucky for me the boards were not made of real wood. I was able to take them out by easily snapping the boards in half. Within minutes, I said good bye ugly boards and hello little nook.

{BEFORE}

the old (and oh so high) cabinets.

{AFTER}

the neat new nook.

I love the coral cubbyhole paired with the light apple green walls, but by far my favorite part of the laundry room make-over is the charming floral chandelier. It's a bit feminine (obvi) which required LOTS of convincing with Clay. After a long discussion and promising him I would do his laundry for the rest of our lives, the lovely light fixture made it's way into our laundry room! A beautiful victory if I may say so myself! 

{BEFORE}

the former light fixture.

{AFTER}

the new lovely light fixture.



Laundry is not my favorite thing to do, however this re-do has definitely made doing our laundry a bit more pleasant!

A CORNY CHRISTMAS FOR CLAY.

My hubby is a big Baylor fan and loves to tailgate at the BU football games...so for Christmas, I ordered him a gift he could use for the upcoming football season. The game of cornhole! (In Texas, it is more commonly referred to as the bean bag game.)

 

After researching online I discovered there weren't many options for Baylor boards so I made the decision to order unpainted boards and paint them myself. I was excited about the idea of a blank canvas as I was a studio art major at Baylor and haven't painted many projects like this since I graduated.

Here is a preview of the unpainted wood:

Since the boards represent opposing teams, I painted them with different Baylor logos. Thanks to the help of a handy dandy tracer, I was able to draw the BU and Baylor bear to scale with ease. After picking out a lovely green and gold at Lowes and painting several layers of paint, the boards are complete. All they lack now is a protective coat and they are ready for play! 

 

 

Baylee with the finished Baylor boards. Sic'em Bears!

A NEW PURPOSE IN LIFE...YOU WROUGHT TO BE PROUD.

In May, Clay & I will have lived in our house for two years! Wow, it's crazy to think two years have already gone by....Today I am posting one of our first home projects - an old wrought iron trellis above the planter in our entry way.

Side note: <<Our house was built in 1957 and apparently planters were a big hit back then. For those of you who can't picture "the planter" I am referring to, I found a picture of our entry way before we moved in. Take a look at the right hand side of the photo...the white wrought iron trellis is above the brick half wall and the planter is located inside the half wall.>>

{view of entry way with trellis & planter}

I knew when we moved in our house the old & dated wrought iron trellis would have to go. I didn't want to throw it away and I didn't exactly have a gameplan, but knew it could be given a face lift and a new purpose somewhere else in our house. After removing the trellis, it sat outside in our backyard for months...here is the proof.

{the trellis removed}

In the meantime, I started collecting an assortment of letters for our guest room. Once I accumulated enough letters, I began brainstorming the best way to hang them on the wall...and then I remembered the rusted wrought iron trellis in our backyard! With the help of some paint and some hefty duty nails (for hanging), I present the new and improved wrought iron trellis. No longer above the half wall in our entry way, it is now hanging in our guest room as a neat vintage frame which houses all of the letters I found!

{ the old wrought iron trellis with a new purpose}

Moral of the story: never throw anything away because almost everything has hidden potiential - with a little imagination and some paint, an old (or ugly) piece can always get a new look!

WINE A LITTLE MORE.

I am deviating from my normal design related entries to share A Breath of Fresh Erin vacation.....

My incredibly sweet & thoughtful husband surprised me for our 3 year anniversary with a trip to Napa Valley. Didn't see that one coming...I was completely surprised. I have to give Clay props for being so sneaky. He secretly requested time off at my work and everyone in the office knew besides me. Can't believe I didn't have a clue. So to my husband, family, friends and co-workers: Job well done. You are all great secret keepers!

I loved Napa Valley. We stayed at the AVIA Napa located in downtown Napa. It was decorated beautifully. As you all probably know, I love decorating so I immediately started taking pictures of the lobby as soon as we entered the hotel. Please check out their photo gallery to appreciate their decor!

We drank lots of good wine and learned lots about wine on our trip. We visited several wonderful wineries - Robert Mondavi, Castello Di Amorosa, Raymond and Schraumsberg to name a few.

Wine Tour at Robert Mondavi.

Neat set-up outside of Raymond Winery. 

Castello di Amorosa Winery.

(same castle filmed for Jake's season of the Bachelor)

Sparkling Wine Tasting at Schraumsberg.

Did you know that California produces 90% of the wine in the U.S.? and that Napa Valley produces ONLY 4% of that! A very surprising number if you ask me since Napa Valley is so well known for their wine.

 A few highlights of our trip:

>> First time to eat an IN-N-OUT Burger. Oh so delicious.

>> We saw a peacock spread its feathers at Castello di Amorosa.

>> Tried fresh oysters for the very first time...still deciding how I feel about them.

>> Met the dog who was the centerfold in Winery Dogs of Napa Valley at Trahan Winery.

>> Drove across the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.

We hope to visit Napa Valley again in the future, but in the meantime we will continue to drink all the delicious wine we brought back! :0)