Living Room {Before and After}

Hello! I am one of the two sisters from The White House Boutique. I wanted to share some of my home makeover with you all! My hubster and I moved into our {1st} home a little over a year ago and I've just recently FINISHed my wallpapered fiascled living room. It is a 1890's house with no straight walls and or straight windows {so it made re-wallpapering quiet difficult}. My living room was covered with this pink flowery not so cute stuff (see picture below), that I couldn't paint over it. After several painstaking months upon months of taking this flowery stuff off, I realized I couldn't paint the wall as well, due to all the imperfections this old house blessed me with. Wallpaper my friends {which I now believe should of never been invented} is tougher than it looks. Every wallpapered room I now enter I have a lot more respect for. So lets get down to it.

Here is the before {like the waaaaayyyy before, previous owners that is.}

The During

I do have to admit I'm a bit embarrassed by this photo. Our house looked like this for several months!

 Although the wallpapering may not be perfect. I do love my new living room. And all the imperfections of my old house.

One of the downfalls (as seen in the two pictures below) of a old house is the wiring. My husband or I aren't electricians and the closest we know of one is my father (whom can literally do everything I swear). He said the best way to get my chandelier in the room is to hang it from the ceiling and plug it in. So now I have this ugly cord thing in the center of my wall (we are planning on fixing it) but for now I'll take the chandelier glistening in the room any day even with the ugly cord!

 

 The fun thing about this room (which is the same in all my rooms) is that I got 98% of this stuff at a thrift store (and I'm proud to say  I am a cheapy) and or DIYs. My favorite thing in this room is the yellow couch, I scored it at a second hand store for $275! The rugs? Wal-Mart for $30 each! The chandelier? 50$ at a garage sale! The piano? FREE! The chevron chair? $2 at a thrift store and I reupholstered it for under $7! Book shelf?- 10$ at garage sale! Owl lamp?-$5 garage sale! Map wall art?-$1 garage sale! I could go on and on my friends (it makes me so excited) haha. :) 

We "BRAKE" for Rummage Sales {Our Secrets}!

 Rummage Sale is truly our Happy!  When the snow melts the bright neon signs start popping up; it puts a smile on our face and an extra giddy up in our step!  Okay that might have been a little much but we truly LOVE LOVE LOVE rummage sales.   Apparently we are feeling extra generous because today is your lucky day!  We are sharing our secrets on our JUNK HUNT!
1.} One of the MOST important crucial rule which applies MOST of the time is the areas you rummage at!  We really truly do not waste our time in the new neighborhoods.  We LOVE small town rummaging and older neighborhoods.  Not that there is anything wrong with new neighborhoods but in the older parts you find the treasures!  In the Newer parts you will usually find kid toys, clothes, and more clothes.  Sometimes you are lucky to hit up a treasure but we don't waste our time!
2.} Never Never EVER judge a rummage sale by it's cover.  The crappier it looks the better it probably is, you would be surprised at what you might find!
3.} Early bird gets the junk. If you have time the night before....great! Check out the paper, look on craigslist, find something that you might be searching for but we have found that this is and may be a huge time waster!  And not only that but everyone is doing the same thing you are doing so if you are not there at the butt crack of dawn and the first one there you will probably miss out on the item of interest!  As the saying goes "The Early Bird gets the Junk."  When my Sis and I hop in the car we have the bare necessities our bucket of change, a cell phone, a cup of coffee for that extra jolt, oh yeah and our Kids!  We can't forget them!  They love when we hit up a rummage sale with cars and Barbies!  We Never have a plan in action or it mapped out!  We have found that when you just drive around and hit up the signs that are posted on the main roads they lead us to our destination!  A hint to anyone out there that will be hosting a rummage sale that is our biggest complainant **make sure you  have signs at all turns to your garage sale**  if it's not posted well we loose all interest in trying to hunt for it!
4.} Once you find your treasure...... BARTER....always barter!  Everyone is willing to make a deal.....We remember being so embarrassed when our mother would wheel and deal at Rummage Sales but apparently we learned from the best....now it's like second nature!  When Mom sees us in action she is so proud!
5.} Never think on something!  If you like it get it, it will be gone by the time you think about it, and then you will be bummed! Remember people, this is a garage sale, there is rarely two of something so get it before the treasure is gone.
6.} If you are heading into a large multi-rummage sale and there are a couple of you going; split up!!  No point of sticking together because you will probably go for the same stuff anyway. This way you are hitting the entire building at a great speed! You can guarantee that things won't get snatched up before you!
7.} Ohhh....another great tip for a large indoor rummage sale is to be equipped with an over-sized bag or even one of those bag lady cart on wheels thing we call it our "bag lady cart". This is so nice to have because you only have two hands and we all know those will be filled fast!!  We bring with our bag lady cart even when going to Junk Bonanza and Junk Fest!! So handy and saves trips to the car!! One last one for you, if your going to a flea market, or a large rummage sale leave your purse behind! Either use a really cool fanny pack or stuff the money in your pocket; purses are just another thing to carry and get in the way of diving in.
8.} Make sure to carry cash and enough of it!! A lot of people don't want to deal with checks and that equals no good!

So let us sum it up for you! Get up early so you don't miss the goodies, just wing it...travel the main roads and let the signs lead you in the older parts of town, make sure to have caffeine always by your side so there is no dragging, barter {ALWAYS}, bring a large bag for your finds if your going to a large rummage sale, never think on it....grab it and run {fast} ;)!
Now you know the White House Gals rummaging secrets, may the best and brightest shopper win! GAME ON!

We were so proud!  We were first in line for this bad boy!  We were early risers and it paid off!

We truly Love our Junk!  And the best part about it is how much we love to share it as a family!!  Maybe not the Husbands as much!  But us ladies sure do!!

One of the many hauls we made at an indoor arena!  Wow....that was fun!  Such a high!

These are the baskets on wheels we were referring too!  Also a great thing to have in your car is an umbrella just in case you have to stand in line!  Luckily I had an extra diaper in my purse to keep me dry! 

Signs can come in any shape or form!  Make sure to keep a look out!  And Yes that is still snow on the Ground!! ugh..