Antiquing

This may come as a shock to many of you (especially my mother), but I have recently gotten into "antiquing".  Now this doesn't mean that I pile in my car every Saturday and ride around town stopping at yard sales and antique shops, but it does mean that I'm intrigued by the idea of turning something old into something new and awesome!

So when did this start?  Well, in the past when we were in the market for a new piece of furniture or something similar, I would drag my husband around and around and around all over the state of Georgia looking for something I looooovvvveeed.  And we never found it.  Honestly.  My husband will gladly back me up on this - I'm hard to please :)  We are still living with a sofa and dining room table that I'm not crazy about, because it was given to us (thanks Dad!) and I never found anything to replace it with.  If I'm not crazy about it, I'm not spending my money on it.  But now we are in dire straights - it's time for us to replace those two pieces of furniture, so we are on the hunt again.

I've looked on the furniture store websites - Haverty's, Thomasville, even Pottery Barn and nothing suits my taste.  I love old, but sleek lines.  Antiqued, but fresh.  I loathe carvings and scrolling wood.  I love browns, blues, greens, khakis, and soft accent colors.  I do not love reds, golds or hunter greens.  I have found plenty of things that I love at Restoration Hardware, but who can afford that??  Not I!  So anyhoo - we're on the hunt.

Check out this friend of a friend's blog - Wood Do It Again.  How awesome is this stuff??  Too bad they are in MS, or I would definitely be a customer.

And because Spring is just around the corner, I am already making my to-do list for the outside portion of the Rutledge abode.  I really love to restore (most of Brooks' nursery is restored pieces), so I am dying for one of these -

Before

I would love to find one of these treasures to put on our deck.

After

Holy Moly Batman!  

This would be so cute with some bright accent pillows, like these -

Now you're probably thinking that I have the worst taste ever, and I probably do (that may be why I'm so hard to please), but I love this stuff nonetheless.  So pray for my husband while we search for these perfect pieces of furniture.  He may want to choke me when it's all said and done :)