Proud owners of a 1970's Lark.... {Vintage Camper}

Yes that's right.....we are proud owners of this beauty!  It all stemmed from a couple incidents: one I bought a really cute vintage tiny charcoal grill{at a garage sale for $3} which I pictured every so cutely paired with a vintage camper! Haha! And the big one was our children are getting to the age where we can go camping as a family!  And as embarrassing as it is to admit being I was born and raised on a farm I am just not a tent camper!! I am a wuss! So I kept seeing  these adorable vintage campers and I needed one! So the research began! The more I looked into them I realized that they barely stayed on the market for 48 hours! I kept writing leads but they would already be sold! I posted on our Facebook page that we were on the hunt and that is where we came across this beauty!

                 See can't you picture this grill in a cute little camper......

Here are her before pictures:

 

A 70's Lark! She definitely needs some love! My husband kept exchanging looks with me during the purchase. It was stinky and beaten! But we could both see the potential! Everything worked such as the stove, fridge, and lights; that was a major plus!  So she became ours!! Our first step was to name her!  We have came up with a couple "Ruby & Dixie" we will see if one of those stick! 

The kids are in love with it! They have been playing Burger King, they have to say good night to her, and I can't wait to create memories with her!! 

I have created a mood board and will update you all with her progress! So far we have wiped her down and given half of her, her first paint job! So excited to glam her up and to go Glamping!! Would love to hear stories or others share your experience with vintage trailers/campers! Xoxo Katie 

 

Betsy is starting to give her a new paint job!

 

 We are thinking this vintage blue will be the new color or the exterior stripe!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

{DIY} area Rag Rug

Truly ladies and gentleman this one anybody can do! As long as you have yourself a needle and thread and you found yourself some cute rag rugs your in business!! I came across these adorable rugs at a thrift store for $2 a piece!! I grabbed 9 of them with this idea in mind!! Again husband looked at me like I was crazy! But little does he know those are the looks that keep me thriving!!

The first thing I did was lined them up on the floor according to the shape and size that I wanted! Next I grabbed a large needle and embroidery thread and went to town hand stitching together the seams! I choose embroidery thread because of its extra strength but I also think fishing string would work wonders as well!! A lesson learned and tip-the extra little threads that hang off the ends of the rugs do NOT fully cut off before sewing together (your rug will fall apart) just trim them up to the knot! Once finished I have a beautiful rag area size rug!! The best part about it is that it was $22! And to put icing on the cake it's super super adorable!! Now go get your rugs and get your sew on! Enjoy!! 

Polaroid Coasters {DIY}

I am in LOVE with these! White Tiles turned --Polaroid Wannabe's--Slash Coasters! Ha, say that 5 times fast!  They were so so easy and so inexpensive {that's our favorite part}!  I purchased roughly 40 coasters at our local Restore home store for $2.50! No Joke! 

What you Need:

White Tiles {the ones I grabbed measured roughly 4 1/4" x 4 1/4"}

Mod Podge {I used the antique style Mod Podge}

Computer & printer

Scissors

Paper cloth or rag {if you use the antique style mod podge}

Ruler 

First step is to print off your pictures of desire!  I searched for ones that had a little bit of artsy flare to them! A couple of them were from a talented photographer in the area {with her approval of course}, some I found on Flickr.com, & some were from my own photo library!  How fun to even use old photos from the family or all black and white ones!  So many possibilities! Ahhhhh I love it!  So once the pictures are saved to your computer I just used Microsoft office word {I am sure there are other programs to use but I found this the easiest to print of a picture in the exact size I needed} I then opened up a new document and inserted my picture of choice!  Once it plopped into the document I re-sized it to resemble a Polaroid- leaving a little space on the edges {top and sides} and of course leaving a larger white area on the bottom! This is where your ruler comes into play! I literally held the ruler up to the computer screen measuring each picture out so it gets to be the right size!  It prints actual size that's on screen! I am sure that there is a ruler that you can pull up on your document but I am not that computer savvy! Print these suckers and then start cutting them out!  

Now it's time to get down and dirty!  Add mod podge to the bottom of the picture so it sticks to the tile and you can line it up!  Once in place and air bubbles are pushed out add mod podge to the top of it {pressing  out all air bubbles}!  Once you have completely covered the top of the picture and along the edges this is where I grabbed a paper towel and wiped off the access glue-{the antiquing mod podge has a yellowish tint to it and I did not want it on the white edges so it would lose it's polaroid effect}

Let dry and Bam!  You have your Polaroid Coasters!  Too fun for words!  I think these would make great gifts, a fun craft to do with friends!  Share you thoughts and comments!  We would love to hear from you! xoxo The White House Girls

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..

Knitted Yoga Ball {DIY}

 

  Okay so we fell in love with these knitted yoga balls while surfing the net. The only problem is they come with a hefty price tag LARGE: $440 (AU) MEDIUM: $395 (AU)!

Source

Source

 But we had to have one and by golly thats just what we are going to do! We thought they would make such cute foot stools, even a chair to a desk or for a kids play room?! So we decided to do it ourselves. Here's what we did:

• We got a yoga ball (about $5-$20) this one we found at a thrift store for $5
• An knitted granny blanket (anywhere from $Free-$10 at thrift stores/in your mom's closet)
• Needle and thread
• Scissors
• Seriously thats it!

We exchanged a couple looks like how the heck are we going to do this.....giggled a few times and then went to it!  We are getting really good at winging things! We grabbed the knitted blanket and spread it out on the floor and wrapped it around the ball so that the blanket is covering the ball in all directions.  We pinched both sides and my sister started on one side and I started on the other; and started sewing.  

We made sure that when we made the "seam" that our first stitch would be our rough draft and we would be cutting off the access fabric/blanket so make sure that you are not sewing over the seam but under it because when you trim the fabric you want it to still be in tact {hope that makes sense}! We pulled the blanket as tight as possible around the ball and sewed all around the ball which ended up making two seams.

Next we cut the access blanket off with a scissors. 

Then,  we went back and sewed it once again to make sure that the blanket stayed together and made it durable on the ball. With this stitch we were able to go on top of the seam which made the seams stronger and also cleaned and tucked up the loose and rough edges from cutting the blanket {also hopes that makes sense...haha}  The two of us completed it in less than an hour (while taking care of a 7 month old and 3 year old). It turned out even cooler than we imagined.   So much fun, so different, and so VINTAGE!  LOVe LoVe & LoVE!!

If that seems like too big of a project for you just use the adorable blankets to recover a thrift stool!  They are cute no matter where you use them!   Lov'in us some vintage! xoxo Have a great day!

Dresser Transformed

In a blog post before We speak of Multiple Design Personality Disorder....this just happens to be one of our many cases.  This is my 3rd t.v. stand in 3 years.  I just could not seem to find the perfect one.  Until now. Our first one was just one of those wood ones from Walmart {we needed one quickly} but for me it lacked character and not enough space.  The second one was a large and mustard yellow with fun newspaper print on the doors. This had the space I wanted plus the character but then it was just too loud for me...It became the focal point of the room and I was looking for something that was pleasing to the eye.  So I was on the hunt!  My husband was just thrilled that I was on the look out for yet another T.V stand {men just don't understand......plus I told him He's just lucky I don't trade my Husband like I do my furniture....{hehehehe joke of the day!}} 

   I came across this dresser which was a great size, loved the detail and character, & it had lots of storage... but ....{there is always a but} I knew I had to find something that would hold all the guy stuff such as the receiver and dvd player.  I just had to have it and I was going to find a way for it to work.  I brought it home and introduced it to my living room and got to work.  I'm going to do that trick where you remove the top drawer...never done this before but lets figure it out together!  I began by painting the dresser....Being it had so much character already in the wood I just wanted to go with the simple beautiful color white...I knew between the dark wood and white I would have a great contrast to rough it up a bit! 

• I added two coats of interior latex paint; I removed the top drawer and also painted inside the drawer area so that too could be freshened up!
• Then I grabbed a piece of sandpaper and started to rough up the edges and the detailed doors to give it more of a pop!  
• I gave it an Annie Sloan Clear Wax to seal the deal!  
• I kept the original hardware because I liked the chunkiness of them!  
• I removed the "track" that the drawer rolled on so I could have a nice flat surface to work with. 

•  I grabbed myself a tape measure and wrote down the dimensions of the inside of the removed drawer.  I thought that I could just hand an employee my measurements at Menard's and receive the board I needed cut just right but that wasn't the case.  They only cut lumber such as 2x4's so I guess that leaves me to cutting it! Oh Boy!  I was able to find a smooth thin piece of wood in their plywood area.  This board was roughly $6.  
• I brought it home measured and penciled it out on where I would be cutting.  I grabbed my husband's electric hand saw/ and safety goggles {this was an interesting sight} in the end of all the cutting I had myself a board that was going to be my electronic platform!  
• I inserted it and the fit was perfect!  I bet I couldn't do that again if I tried!  I just left it the natural light wood color because I liked the different elements being used but you could also paint that the same color as the entertainment center so it all blends!  
• Another tip is to cut a small hole through the back of the dresser where the open compartment is....this will help with cords from one electronic to another!  

I was so happy with the ending result! AND so is My Husband...I think I impressed him with the whole using the electric saw thing all by myself!  It is a perfect addition to our family room.....I think this one is going to stick around for a while!  Thanks for Stopping by our Blog! xoxo The White House Girls

Tribal Chair

So once again I got inspired by the fabulous  Vintage Revivals.  The talented Mandi from Vintage Revivals was inspired by this print from Pockettiger {which p.s. she has an AMAZING etsy shop}. Which she used as art on a mantle headboard.  I just feel in love with the tribal look.

So I added it to a different element, a folding chair!! You can find these boring folding chairs almost anywhere!  & for CHEAP!  Which is the best part about it!

 So here's how I did it.

You will need a paint pen (I got a metallic gold one at Walmart for under $3), painters tape, and a ruler. First I measured it out so that each arrow was two inches wide and taped it off with painters tape. Then I free handed arrows in each row with a paint marker. I love it more than I even imagined! Its absolutely awesome!!! I love arrows an metallic's! Inspiration is free....now run with it!