The history post we mentioned last time is coming, folks, we promise!  We’re tracking down a little bit more information and then we can give you the most up-to-date version of the story we have.

In the meantime…

Chad and I would like to share our mentality about this whole fixer-uper process.  We like to do things right, but sometimes that can be expensive (we dream of Viking, Sub-Zero, custom cabinetry, and granite counters).  Our approach is to keep the shabby things we can live with until we can afford  the things we REALLY want (read: when we’re mortgaged up to our necks).

This post is about some exceptions to that general  rule.

For example, one of our current “dining room” chairs is a little shield back we almost literally stole at an estate sale:

Price tage: $3.  For serious.

We love estate sales for finding great deals, especially on antiques or interesting art.  Our rules: be picky (don’t buy something just because it’s cheap) and set hard budgets before the heat of the auction starts to carry you away.  Recently, this practice has helped us score a couple desperately-needed rugs, bedroom pieces, and some…unique…items.  We keep our eye on the monthly auctions at both Pangle’s and Laughlin’s in Woodstock.

Today, we also broke down and made another purchase that clearly breaks our rule, as this purchase was neither high style nor high dollar – purely a temporary fix, but this time we are completely thrilled with the decision.

Here is our bedroom, originally a formal dining room, but en suite to the only serviceable full bath in the house:

And here is the truck stop, as seen out the above-pictured right-hand window:

Aaaand they often pull up just outside this window, as their office is immediately to the right of our third bedroom window:

(That white portion you can see is the entrance to the addition where the trucking business office is located, on the other side of our kitchen).

There are three primary reasons we decided is was positively imperative that we update the decor of the bedroom:

1) The windows are approximately 6 feet by 4 feet, which is great for illuminating this large, dark old house…

BUT Afton, the World’s Neediest Great Dane, wakes up with the sun at approximately 6:30 a.m. to let us know her bladder will absolutely not make it one more second and can she please go out right now I mean RIGHT NOW MOM AND DAAAAAAAD!

2) Due to their irregular schedule, we are fairly sure that the drivers, on more than one occasion, had the chance to catch us mid-wardrobe change (hopefully they missed the show, sorry guys…and girls!).

3) Lighting:

So today, while I was a busy-bee with law school responsibilities, Chad made a stop at our closeout retailer of choice, Tuesday Morning.  As his cousin/aunt Susan says, the “thrill of the hunt” is the only way to make it through these places.

During today’s excursion, a “kill” was achieved!  In our last few trips, we could find some curtains, but never enough that matched.  Today, not only did we find four that matched, but they go with the gold-and-maroon theme we, ahem, inherited with the house.  (Hey Dan: Go Maroons?).

Also, we found some bargain lamps to complete the look:

Tying it all together:

Not too bad!  And for $130, this splurge was a good way to achieve essential functionality while saving for the down-the-road furnishings this future dining room will demand.