Pinterest Highlights and Craigslist Scariness

Because of the nature of what I do, I find myself wading through

the visual content of beautiful and inspiring photos

via Pinterest.

But there is always another side. If you've been following

along for awhile, y'all know that I'm ALL over Craigslist

and the amazing deals you can find from others

selling off their goods. But, ahhhh man....

Craigslist is like the visual OPPOSITE of the

gorgeousness thrown in you face via Pinterest.

Today I'm bringing you a few examples of

Pinterest home, furniture, and design inspiration

vs. finds on Craigslist I'd just rather....well...not find.

Let's sandwich this a little for some sanity, shall we? :-)

GORGEOUSNESS...

source

source

source unverifiable

Hmmm...Craigslist Scariness!!!

I found these ads typing the word "beautiful"

into the Furniture by Owner search

(none of the following words are mine,

but rather ad titles and descriptions)

Beautiful White King Headboard with Two Pink Lights - PIMP! - $65

"Beautiful white and pink headboard for king size bed.

Has pink lights built into the sides with 4 foot cord."

Leather Sofa -Navy Blue - Good Condition - $200

"Beautiful Leather Sofa in Navy Blue. Good Condition. Stylish and Comfortable."

Futon Sleeper Sofa - $35

"Excellent quality futon and wood Frame, heavy duty material, beautiful..."

Conference Table-Round, Beautiful - $25

For sale is a round conference table. It is in excellent condition and a beautiful finish.

OK ALREADY!!! ENOUGH, YOU SAY!!!
Ew, Ew, EW!

Maybe you have a different opinion, but I personally

do not think that "Beautiful" is the proper word to

describe the items being sold in this ad.


Needless to say...most weeks I need a major
visual break. I have literally put my
(amazingly wonderful) iPad down and said,
"That's it...I just can't take anymore."
LOL
A little ridiculous, but Oh Well! :-D

Ok.
How about we finish up with some more  Pinterest

GORGEOUSNESS??? :-)

source

source

traditional porch design by los angeles architect Tim Barber LTD Architecture & Interior Design

source

Ahhhh, that's better.   Doesn't that last picture make

you wish it were summer already??? At least here in

the Pacific Northwest! :-)

~Anneke ;-)

I'd love to have to follow along on

any or all of the following!

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Family Room Update

Awhile back I posted this design concept for

our family room, which just so happens to be one BIG

room with the kitchen and dining.

I love how open it is!

Here was my design:

And here's where I'm at:

Craigslist apothecary cabinet I need to fix up.

New natural shades on the big windows.

Here's the day view - we're going to "fix" those

parts hanging down because we would like to protect

the little view we actually have of the water! :-)

Night view - yay! No more fish bowl feeling!!!

We got all 5 of our shades from Select Blinds.

I am in no way affiliated with them and this

is just me speaking as a happy customer!

All 5 shades cost us about $325! That's it - custom ordered!

This is the second time we have ordered from them

and both experiences have been super great. :-)

Here's my view from behind the kitchen bar.

See that peeking out on the left???

It's our barstools! Hooray!!!

Let me tell you,

when you have a bar.

with NO barstools.

it drives-you-nuts!

I finally looked at my husband and was like,

"Can I just order the barstools already???!"

(He's a trained sheet-metal worker and was a little

nervous, but ecstatic that they are welded and solid!)

I got these from Overstock.com

(Again, no affiliation)

Ok...so some changes:

This rug

Two of these chairs, one each flanking the tv console.

Unfortunately, it is currently out of stock and I didn't jump

on getting them quick enough. Crossing my fingers

they get back in asap!

BUT, just in case, I also like this...

and this....

What are your thoughts???

I need your opinion! :-)

I've also sold the barcaloungers and coffee table

(both previous Craiglist purchases)

for a nice profit, and still

waiting on the rug and couch to sell.

The hubby put the tv on the wall and

it looks AWESOME! :-)

As I've been looking around for what to fill in the space,

things are always changing slightly

and I'm still debating on the styling of that huge wall!

That thing is a PAIN!

But - I've promised my husband, I'll be super picky, not

rush it, and just get it "right" and not touch the room again for at least

two years or something! ;-)

I know...funny right? Lol

~Anneke

A New Toy and Guest Post Opportunities! Fun and Fun!!!

Ah!!! I don't even know where to begin. Excited. Nervous. Intimidated. Relieved. If you follow me via Twitter, you may know by now that I got a new-used camera!

Yay!!!

Here's the proof!!!

(Unfortunately for you, this was a seriously non-glamour day!) :-)

Oh well, cuz I got a camera ladies and gentlemen. Woohoo!!!!!

In case you're wondering, this was TOTALLY a Craigslist purchase. Oh yes.

The guy (super-nice btw) upgraded and his wife didn't want it. Um...thank you!

I was hoping to get at least a Canon T1i, but I settled on this one,

which is a Rebel XT.

Here was guts of the ad:

For Sale: Canon Rebel XT Digital SLR. Package comes with the following:

Camera Body
Canon EF-S 18-55 1:3.5-5.6 zoom lens with B+W UV filter
Canon EF 75-300 1:4-5.6 zoom lens with Sunpack UV filter
Sunpack Circular Polarizer (Fits both lenses)
(2) Batteries with charger
IR remote control shutter release
SanDisk Ultra II 512MB CompactFlash card

All for $350

With the advice of my amazing photographer sister, I thought that was worth it.

The guy even met me just up the road, which definitely beats driving over two or more counties!

The only real problem is that the manual he had is in Spanish...ummmmmmmmm.......that won't help me much. Lol. Oh well - sister dates, and A LOT of them! This is getting better by the minute.

I want all of my readers to know that I am committed to improve not only the quality of my products and services, but of course in how they are presented. The power of photography is definitely no secret! Of course this won't happen overnight, but don't worry...it will happen.

Which brings me to an opportunity for some of my bloggy friends!

Next week I will be heading out of town on our annual family

hunting/camping trip. It's a BIG trip. Like two weeks.

A lot of camera practice time. ;-)

But no. It's not real camping. Trailers, motorhomes,

good food, good friends, and the occasional trip into town for a mocha. :-)

But I will be totally out of blogging, e.mail, twitter, facebook, phone,

ok - you get the picture.

I'd love to have some of my followers guest post while I'm away!

If you would like to help me out and get your name out there,

get a hold of me ASAP!

Is it really Thursday already??? Sheesh...the week's flying by!

~Anneke~

Want A Stylish Baby/Pet Gate? Check This Out!

Ok.....so this is not a paid advertisement or anything (I wish!), but an honestly amazing product that I have used in our home as a mommy of little ones. When we first moved into our 2-story home a couple of years ago, our kids hadn't dealt with stairs ever before. At that time, our youngest was 4 months old so I started the research gig and landed on this GREAT option for a baby gate.

Retract-A-Gate

 

And no, that's not me and my kid. :-)

 

The reason I'm even telling you about this is because I think it's actually a pretty stylish and affordable solution for virtually any space. I actually like really love them - a lot. I got two. One for the bottom of the stairs and one for the top. BUT you can get extra mounting brackets, pop it out, and move it - super simple and great for busy parents needing containment of kiddos!

 

 

Ok...totally copying and pasting from the website here:

 

Retract-A-Gate Advantages Ships to U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, APO/FPO addresses JPMA certified baby gate for top and bottom of stairs Retractable gate proven durable for dogs and cats Automatically and quietly rewinds to a small roll Fully retracts out of the way when not in use Tough, washable, see-through mesh barrier Locks open or closed with childproof lock Installs in minutes with included hardware 34" tall mesh and fits openings to 72" wide Baby gate for children 6 through 24 months 100% Made in USA child and pet safety gate Great outdoors on decks, porches, boats & RVs Scratch & claw resistant mesh retracting pet gate Easy, one-hand operation retractable safety gate Now available in TWO colors: Café (tan) and White Clear wall brackets; most inconspicuous on the market Retract-A-Gate can be removed and reinstalled instantly to another doorway with an Additional Wall Bracket Kit

Rewinds to a small roll (Café Shown)

Use as a retractable door gate for pets (White Shown)

Great for wide openings as a baby gate or pet gate (Café Shown)

We have an angled wall at the bottom of our stairs.

It was the PERFECT solution. Everything else I found was ugly,

permanent, and just as expensive. Seriously! No great options for angles. :-(

Except this!

We didn't use a banister kit, but we're pretty handy...we'll fix it when we remove it.

See where it "attaches" to the wall brackets?

Here's where you can "pop" it out really quick (but still baby proof people!)

Here's some price info. I think it's WELL worth it.

And I actually plan on getting a bit of that back via Craigslist!

Café (tan) 52"	0123456789	$99.50/ea
Café (tan) 72"	0123456789	$129.50/ea
White 52"	0123456789	$99.50/ea
White 72"	0123456789	$129.50/ea

My favorite (but mine wasn't the longer one)

is buying extra wall brackets, and then you can unhook and "swing" the gate

to the opposite wall in a hallway or whatnot. Does that make sense?

It is advertised as an

"Indoor/Outdoor Retractable Safety Gate For Kids & Pets"

What do you think? That was a super quick "review" of the gate,

but do you think you would go for something like this?

Do you think it looks better than most other gates?

I'll save another day for my "kid-catcher",

but SO worth it for our house on a hill. Google it. It's GREAT!

Also, just a quick reminder that you

can now follow RustiChic on Twitter and Pinterest -

I just added accounts! Yay!

Hope you're having a fantastic Wednesday!

~Anneke~

This Weekend's Big Find

Well, I'm not quite ready to reveal the hutch to you today, BUT I am excited to share with you what will be next in line.

Meet "Ava" (a beautiful name I love, but never made it to one of my daughters!)

My schedule has presented you with this night time pick, but I'll definitely get a brighter one for the sidebar. :-) Just wait until you see the inside - can't wait to get started!


I hope you had a great weekend.

Anneke

Oh Craigslist....how I loooove YOU!

Yeah....I'll cut to the chase. It was a great weekend in the realm of craigslist sales.  Awhile back I mentioned that I wanted to re-design our front "formal" room - but what we call our "reading" room - to make it more laid back and provide more seating for parties, which we do often. :-)  Here was the plan:

Well...the rule is you have to sell what you have and work with that amount of money before you buy. And then we're not storing unused personal furniture (just furniture to refinish for you).  Another rule (and I swear I will get a craigslist buying/selling series together here soon!) is that I don't buy anything I can't resell for close to what I paid - and even better, for a profit. I don't do that just because....but it's nice when I've basically used something for free for a couple years, and then I make a little on the side when I am done with it. This weekend was a great example. The selling began...starting with this guy -

So I haven't seen many people ever mention numbers on their sites, but I'm just going to throw it all out there in my ignorance excitement! :-)  We've been in our home for two years this September. Can you imagine how gung-ho I went to decorate our home when we first moved? I sold ALL of our hand me down modge podge furniture (nice stuff - just not 'us'), and started fresh.  Well...two years later, we've learned a little more.  It's good to sell every few years anyway because your items are (or hopefully would be) in great shape still. Another rule there...taking notes???

The couch above was a 3 year old custom Ethan Allen reproduction based on a couch staged in a Street of Dreams home, originally $3500. GREAT quality couch that I negotiated WAY down to $500. I still can't believe it. The poor guy selling it made us feel like we should give him visitation rights before we chucked it gently placed into the back of our truck and waved good bye. We've had it for two years - I just sold it for $900. Um...thank you!

Next...and apologizing for side-ways-ness - no time for trouble shooting at the moment. :-/

This was a 2 year old coffee table that was originally $500. Nice beveled glass and thick frame. I bought it for $125. I just sold it for $175. Um...thank you twice. :-)

So now I get to move onto decorating! And I will definitely be sharing when it's all done....or maybe I'll just have a party!

Be on the look out for a Giveaway with Kayla @ Kayla J Photography later this week!

You won't want to miss it!!!

(and yes....I'm claiming the cuties in the photo!)

HAPPY LABOR DAY!!!

&

Here's to a GREAT week!

(And that's me telling myself, because my oldest is

starting kindergarten this week - anyone know a good quality water-proof mascara?)

~Anneke~



Top 5 Craigslist Purchases from 2010

I know....you must be thinking, "What??? 2010".  I might as well talk about the 80's! ;-)

But since I am such a big Craigslister, I wanted to share with you what I would consider my Top 5 Craigslist Purchases from last year, that THIS year, I am STILL loving!!!

Here we go.....

5. Set of 3 Brand New Restoration Hardware Pendant Lamps for $200.

They just didn't work in the homeowner's house they were building and it was a discontinued item they could not return. I only needed one, so I sold two as a pair for $150, and used the one in my son's room. I scored a brand spankin' new Restoration Hardware Pendant Light for 50 bucks people.

LOVE IT!

4. Tuscan Style Wall Hanging for $80...just down the road.

This thing is HUGE....47" x 47"! It's PERFECT for our living room wall!

3. INSANITY workout DVDs for $40 (like $150 or something through their website)

These are the craziest DVDs ever. I LOVE them!

We live close to the ferry, and this was for sale on the other side (a slight price increase).

But we packed up the kids and made a little ferry/island field trip out of it,

and made a great memory.

2. Starbuck's Barista Espresso Machine for $80

The guy I bought this from was probably in his late 50s/early 60s.

He said he had bought it for his mother, who only used it once a week the past couple of years.

I use it just about EVERY day! HA!!! :-)

1. My Apple iPad 16gb wifi for $425.

I probably saved about $150 buying this barely used with the prices at the time, and I LOVE IT!!! Do you see a theme? Every day I am so glad that I got this. I just love tablets in general, and I'm so excited about the different versions coming out. I might pass this one in particular onto the kiddos since it's so basic, and keep a lookout for an iPad 2 with the cameras...that would make blogging super easy.


I hope you've enjoyed these favorite finds of mine today. I'd love to hear about yours!



~Anneke