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Craigslist

Mr. Handsome’s Bookshelf

March 12, 2018 by 23 Comments

About four weeks into the new year, I woke up one day and decided that our furniture needed a facelift. We had pieces of every different shade imaginable, and I was tired of it. Mr. Handsome and I have committed to living frugally, so going out and purchasing a bunch of brand new furniture isn’t something we plan on doing.After a little bit of research, I made the decision to find a few used pieces of furniture from Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and Goodwill and to refinish those along with some of our existing pieces. I started with a coffee table, for which I posted a tutorial.

refinished coffee table

We had an unexpected cold snap in late January and early February, so I worked on the furniture indoors and then hauled it out to our heated shed to allow it to dry. But by the second week of February, the weather had turned unusually warm, with a few days hitting 80F (26C), so I was able to do the bulk of the work outdoors.

My second project was a nightstand that Mr. Handsome made in high school wood shop class.

Refinished nightstand
Refinished nightstand
Refinished nightstand
Refinished nightstand
Refinished nightstand

After refinishing a small entertainment stand that I purchased on Facebook Marketplace for $25, I  finally felt skilled enough to tackle our dining room table (pictures coming soon). Now I’m working my way through our four dining chairs, which are bar stool height and have curved backs that make them quite challenging to sand and stain. I also have a couple other pieces that I’m hoping to refinish, including an end table and a stool.

You might remember my post about the free bookshelf I received from Mr. Handsome’s aunt in 2015. It has served us well for two and a half years, but our ever-expanding book collection has outgrown it. I spent quite a bit of time searching for a solid wood bookshelf that I could refinish, but I couldn’t find anything that worked.

For Valentine’s Day, my wonderful Mr. Handsome offered to make me a bookshelf! He constructed the entire thing, complete with routed edges, using two slabs of wood that we purchased from a wood supplier. The shelf took the better part of two days to build, and when it was finished, I did the staining, using the same method and materials explained in my coffee table post.

Mr. Handsome plans to write up a tutorial for his DIY bookshelf, but I wanted to give you a sneak peek.

make your own bookshelf
DIY bookshelf

Filed Under: DIY Home, Projects Tagged With: Craigslist, DIY bookshelf, Facebook Marketplace, Goodwill, wood shop

6-Mile Canoe Trip

August 13, 2016 by 34 Comments

Last weekend, we went on a six-mile canoe trip on a river in Middle Tennessee. We had five hours to complete the trip but still managed to arrive at the boat ramp just as the canoe rental shop was closing.

It was a beautiful river, and although the water was much too cold for swimming, we had a great time. For the first four-and-a-half hours, we floated slowly along while trying to catch fish. We then realized that the shop was closing in 30 minutes and we still had three miles to go!

My wrists are still not fully recovered, so I wasn’t much help when it came to paddling. But somehow Mr. Handsome was able to get us back just in the nick of time. (I’m not an experienced canoe-er, but I’d say that three miles in 30 minutes is pretty impressive with just one person paddling.)

Do you enjoy canoeing/kayaking? We had so much fun that we may try to find a used canoe on Craigslist, although we will probably wait until next summer.

Filed Under: Nashville Tagged With: canoe trip, Craigslist, Middle Tennessee

“New” Couches

October 8, 2015 by 17 Comments

We had a visit from the in-laws last weekend. Mr. Handsome’s parents and four of his six younger siblings stopped by on the way to a conference. Everyone stayed in our two-bedroom rental house, which made for very close quarters, but we enjoyed being together.On Friday night, Mom and Dad slept in our spare bedroom, while the kids spread out in the living room, where we had a twin air mattress and a three-seater couch. After much disagreement over who had to sleep on the floor, my mother-in-law decided we needed more space for hosting guests and began browsing Craigslist. Before long, she found two gently used couches for $300.

It just so happened that one of Mr. Handsome’s brothers was preparing to move into an apartment and needed a couch, so the plan was to give him our three-seater couch and purchase two new ones for us.

Much to our surprise, Mr. Handsome’s parents also offered to pay for the couches, using the money they had saved on hotels over the weekend. They also happened to be driving a 15-passenger van and sizable trailer. Something tells me they had been planning this couch swap all along, but I sure won’t complain.

By the end of the day on Saturday, we had two comfy, “new to us” couches in our living room.  That night, only one kid had to sleep on the floor.

Couch number one seats two people.

And couch number two seats three people. This one is Mr. Handsome’s favorite because it is long enough for him to stretch out.

We shared this saga with our Bible study last night, and another newlywed told us that she and her husband had recently hosted her family in their three-bedroom house. Then she proceeded to tell us that she has 10 younger siblings. Makes our story sound a little less dramatic.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Craigslist, Mr. Handsome, new couches, new to us, three-seater couch

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Meet Ellie

Mr. Handsome and I married six years ago and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Between recipes, photos from our travels, money saving tips, DIY suggestions, post about our daily life with our son, and more, our lifestyle blog features a little bit of everything. Read More…

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