Outdoor Folding Chairs

How was your Memorial Day week-end (U.S. readers)?  How was your Monday (non-U.S. readers)?

Our long holiday week-end was a wet one.  It was cold and gloomy.  The only positive was that we could blame our lack of productivity on the weather and not on laziness.  Thanks, Mother Nature.

We did get some stuff done.  Nate finished building our outdoor patio table (more on that next week).  Ike napped and barked at the poodle across the street.  I did some housewife stuff and a little painting.  I also did some successful thrifting.

A new antique store opened in town, The Antique Cartel.  The store has great displays, isn’t crammed with stuff and the items are priced well.  I shouldn’t be telling you all about this.  Don’t steal my bargains. My first visit didn’t disappoint.  I instantly fell in love with these chairs.

I have had my eye on some West Elm outdoor folding chairs.  The West Elm chairs are $98 per chair.  Yeah.  $100 to sit outside.  Did I mention that I also need eight of them?  Yeah.  Dream big, Michelle.

The antique chairs above were $8 per chair. Are they in perfect condition?  No. Are they sturdy? Yes. Do they have some awesome charm and character?  Yes.  And they were $90 cheaper than the ones I had been drooling over.  Think I’ll take that $720 and do something fun.  Like pay off the mortgage. (Being married to an accountant is hard.)

Speaking of the mutant, I sent Nate a text to stop and check them out.  He approved without hesitation.  Amazing.  That never happens.

We loaded eight of them up and hauled them home.  (I only drug four out of the garage for blog photo purposes.  I’ll blame it on the potential for a downpour and not laziness.)

I am currently working on cleaning them up. I’m also going to give them a quick coat of poly to help them hold up against the elements.  We don’t use our back patio a ton so I think we’ll store them inside beings they fold up easily.

Man, I love a good bargain.

How was your week-end?  Any great finds lately?

Weekend DIY

Who’s ready for a 3 day weekend?

Ike and I have a five day weekend.  We’re lucky kids.  We squandered most of yesterday with a side of cleaning.  Today we are going to be super productive.  Well, I am. I don’t know about Ike.  He looks pretty sleepy.  (As you can tell, he worked his way back into the bedroom.)

Speaking of luck, yesterday Apartment Therapy featured my little brother’s kitchen in a post of Weekend DIYs: 10 Wood Molding Projects for the Home.

Last Memorial Day Nate and I helped him add molding and paint his kitchen cabinets.  It was quite the upgrade.

This Memorial Day week-end will be a little more relaxed.  We do plan on busting out the saw and Kreg jig.  We’re going to mix the building with some hiking, thrifting, movie watching and a birthday party for a cool blogger's kid.  Should be fun!

What are your week-end plans?  Do tell.

Shopping at The Tile Shop

On Saturday, Nate and I headed to Des Moines to pick out some tile at The Tile Shop.



This is our second shopping experience at The Tile Shop.  Our first round of shopping was to pick out tile for our kitchen backsplash.  For the backsplash, we chose the Imperial Bone Gloss 3x6 subway tile. We had a tough time finding tile that would match our not quite white but not quite ivory cabinets.  The Tile Shop came to our rescue.

This trip was to pick out tile for our master bathroom.  We were super happy with the customer service/quality of tile/selection from our first round of tile shopping that we decided to make the 2 1/2 drive for our next project!

We had a good idea of the type of tile we wanted when we headed into the store but it never hurts to look.  I started by drooling over the display bathrooms in the store.



I loved both of these displays but Nate tried to get me to focus on our bathroom.  Always the voice of reason that husband of mine.
 
I then became obsessed with hex tile.  It’s just so quirky and pretty.  Nate had his work cut out for him.



We decided that blogland was clouding my judgment.  That hex tile is b-e-a-utiful but doesn’t fit well with our home’s style.  It’s really easy to get sucked into the trends of blogland and not remember what you actually like versus what is popular amongst home decor bloggers.

We ultimately decided on a super brave and daring option.  The Imperial Blanco Gloss 2x12 subway tile.



Subway tile is such a classic choice. We liked the 2x12 size.  The size was part of our daring side coming out. It’s totally not that traditional 3x6 stuff. Subway tile fits well with the modern/country/industrial hot mess vibe that we have going on in our home.  We chose the dark grout (charcoal) shown at the bottom.  We do have plans to do a little twist with this tile.  I just don’t want to fully commit on decision on the blog because we aren’t sure if it will work.  I told you we were brave and adventurous. 

The manager of the store was super helpful.  He was able to answer questions about what tools and supplies we would need to complete the project.  He pointed out tiles that may work well in our space. The only problem I had with The Tile Shop was that there were too many awesome types of tile to choose from.  I’m glad we went into the store with a good idea of what we wanted because I might still be there.  I wonder if those showers are functioning…

We can’t wait to get started. I need to get to picking out some new mirrors (And possibly lights, if I can convince Nate that they are a need and not a want.) during the long week-end. Sounds like a good way to spend the holiday week-end!

Are you a fan of The Tile Shop?  Are you a subway tile fan or do you prefer that hipster hex stuff?

This is not a sponsored post. The Tile Shop is providing me with free tiles and supplies. They aren’t requiring me to post about their awesomeness.  I’m just a really big fan!