Thrifty Thursday-Recent Finds

It's been a busy fall so far,
what with putting the house back on the market,
and Sister Deb coming for a week-long visit.
She had all kinds of ideas about staging the house
and worked non-stop while she was here
to help us get ready for our new listing.

We actually had an offer on the house a few months ago,

but the folks changed their minds when they learned about the HOA,

so we took the listing off market for the rest of the summer.

When Sister came to visit a couple of weeks ago,

she was set on staging our home with lots of little projects.

Some of our belongings are already packed and stored in the garage,

so we are as decluttered as we are gonna get.

We just rearranged some of the things we have for a fresh look.

She cleaned and removed a lot of practical items from the back porch

and we picked up this cute lil' table and chairs from a Craig's List ad.

Instant extra living area.

Of course, I had to find a few flowers for the new hangout.

This pot was found at a recent community-wide yard sale.

Love the blue and white combination.

I got the placemats from the same seller.

We paid $1 for four of them.

The other three are used on the kitchen table and work well with our color scheme.

The funny thing is that the lady I bought them from

is the person who bought the house from a neighbor of mine,

who has since moved to Sarasota.

Wait until I tell her I bought something at her old house.

A thrift store find keeps the sage green theme going.

These two brand new pillows were found at an estate sale two weeks ago.

I like the way they add a pop of color to the hall tree

 that Deb painted on her first day here.

I paid just a few dollars for them both.

They had so many goodies there.

This vintage basket was one of the items picked up at the

39-mile yard sale last weekend.

What a treasure for $5!

I'm sure I'll find some way to repurpose it for something practical.

At the same event, this stool was picked up for $10.

It's large enough to place a book and a cup of coffee on

for those times when I can notch out a bit of reading time in our master bedroom corner.

I was thinking of painting over the patriotic, 

as it doesn't match our color scheme,

but perhaps a cover will do for now

until I find another place for it in our new home.

It would serve us well on a patio or front porch.

Just this week, we had to leave the house for a showing,
so that's always a great excuse for us to go thrifting.
This basket, in perfect condition, was marked at $8,
and the clerk thought the price was too high, 
and sold it to us for $5.
C has needed a new hamper for a while.
This bin holds more than a week's worth of clothes,
in case he forgets to do his wash on Wednesdays.
I like that it's open on the sides too,
so that the clothes can breathe between washings.
For now, it works well here,
but it's another item that can be repurposed in the future.

It feels good to have a fresh, new look to the house,
and hopefully, it appeals to buyers too.
We've gotten really good feedback so far,
so I think we're on the right track.
We'll keep you posted!
 

Shower Makeover

Well, we're back at it.

We'll be putting our house back on the market this weekend.

After 3 years of trying to sell our home,

our fingers are crossed that this will be the right time for us to successfully sell.

New realtor, new staging (thanks to Sister),

and new hope.

So, spiffing up and paring down is on the agenda.

I'm the chief cleaner in the family,

but this shower just got away from me.

Our master bathroom is one of the best features of our home,

but due to poor water quality and poor initial installation,

this shower was looking mighty ragged.

 It turns out that caulking was used where grout should have been,

and the mold grew even though I clean every week.

No matter what I used, I couldn't get it clean enough.

It's bothered me for a long time,

and we were happy to find a company that could help us make it better.

 The Grout Smith came in and cleaned it up

better than we could have imagined.

It took them 4 hours of prep,

and almost 4 more hours of regrouting and color sealing.

The process is laborious and tedious,

but they got it done.

The first step of the process requires scraping out the old grout

and thoroughly cleaning all the affected surfaces.

They have their own special product that cleans even stubborn mold.

A bottle for us was included in the price of the job,

so that we can keep it looking as good as it does now.

The difference was pretty amazing.

It looks even better than it did when we moved in.

By using the provided cleaner every other week,

it should stay this way.

Big K already said that he doesn't even want to use this shower,

just so that it stays looking so good.

The color sealer takes a full week to properly dry,

so fortunately, we have another shower in the house to use.

We are still astounded at the difference.

We're so glad that we finally called The Groutsmith

to come and beautify our home.

Hopefully, their hard work will help us sell quickly.

The Groutsmith has locations all over the US.

Feel free to browse their website for more information

Groutsmith.com.

We couldn't be more pleased with their professional attitude

and work ethic.

They were on time, worked until the job was done,

and even cleaned up after themselves.

We wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to others.

If you decide they can improve your tile work,

tell 'em daisy sent you!

The Groutsmith

(Lakeland, FL)

863-698-7730

The Maple Hill Hop 124

Welcome to 

The Maple Hill Hop.

This is a hop for folks who love the outdoors.

Feel free to post about anything that's going on

OUTSIDE

in your neck of the woods,
no matter the season.

(Please share only outdoor posts.)

*Grab the button above to link back to Maple Hill 101.*

If you've been reading our blog for a while,
you know that we've been trying to sell our house for going on 3 years.
Our home has been for sale by owner, as well as listed with three different real estate companies.
We've decluttered, painted and primped as much as we can and still no buyers.
The traffic has been good with this current realtor,
but no offers as of yet.
We don't get it, but for some reason we are still here.
We trust that it is purposeful, and we really have been patient.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

Enter St. Joseph.
We trust God's path for us, but are not "religious" people,
and this idea was just quirky enough to appeal to all of us.
And at this point, we'll take any help we can get!

The idea is that St. Joseph will help you sell your home,
even if you've had trouble finding a buyer.

So, I took Joseph out to the backyard,
where there's lots of love happening with flowers and birds and such,
read the prayer,
said my own little prayer, and

buried him upside-down, as per instructions.

Our friendly gnome is watching over him
and will help us remember where he is
so that we can dig him up when we do sell.
(You're supposed to bring the statue with you when you move,
so that you can remember to be thankful for gettin' to where you wanted to be.)

C'mon, St. Joseph!
We know you can do it!


What's goin' on where you are?
HOP on!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

One Simple Thing-Kitchen Drawer Liners

I like lined drawers and shelves.
It not only adds color to the kitchen,
it gives a more finished look and makes cleaning a breeze.
The older I get, the more I look for 
easier ways to keep the house clean.
After all, I'd rather be gardening, reading or sewing.
With the house on the market, it just makes sense
to keep everything neat and tidy.
Here's our simple solution to messy drawers. 

I found these brown cloth napkins for a steal at a thrift store.
It's one of those things that I keep my eye out for,
as they have so many uses.
Here we used them to line our kitchen drawers.
I don't like using the vinyl liners with adhesive
because I think the glue attracts bugs.

Not all of our drawers are the same size,
so the napkins were just folded over to fit.
Custom for a fraction of the cost!

With a dozen in the set, there were enough to fill every drawer
in our kitchen, which has generous storage.




When they get crumby or dirty,
we just take them out, shake them off,
or launder if necessary.
 Our drawers never looked so good!

One Simple Thing

One Simple Thing-Muffled Drawers

While we await the perfect buyer for our home,
we're getting a few small jobs done.
It's mostly in move-in condition,
but a few little extras never hurt, right?

The kitchen in this house has tons of storage,

a real plus.

One minor problem was bothering me.

The cabinet doors and drawers make noise if they get away from you.

We don't have the fancy "soft-close" drawers,

and we don't really want to put any more money into the house, 

since it's on the market.

Big K and I are up early, getting ready for our day,

which includes opening drawers and cabinet doors.

With Lil' Guy sleeping in most days

(he's a teenager, need I say more?),

I decided to tackle this easy project.

For a few bucks and in less than 15 minutes,

we were on our way to a bit more quiet around here.

These felt pad cushions have adhesive on the back,

so all you need to do is place and press.

They come in several colors to match your cabinets.

All the cabinets and doors in both the kitchen and bathrooms

originally had these buffers on them,

but some were missing, or just looked worn out.

One package was enough to do each drawer and door in the kitchen
and both bathrooms.
With just a little effort and a smidgen of time,
peace and quiet reign supreme.
I like the sound of that!

One Simple Thing

Here are a few of the posts in our ongoing 
"One Simple Thing" series:

Basket Case
It's a Date!
Hang it Up! 
Grocery Shopping

Pantry Remix

One key of thriftiness is having a well-stocked pantry.
We scratch cook and don't eat out much,
so we save a ton of money,
and the bonus is that we feel we are eating as healthy as we can.
Knowing what you have on hand ensures that meals can be quickly prepared,
which makes life so much easier.

before

We posted about organizing the pantry a while back.
You can read that here.
With the house on the market again,
I've been tweaking some of our most used spaces,
including the pantry and baking/spice areas of our kitchen.
Not only will an organized pantry make our home more appealing to buyers,
it's more motivating for us to whip up something delicious.

The main reason for tweaking the shelves in the pantry 
was to separate the gluten-free items from
the other baking ingredients.
Cross-contamination hasn't been an issue,
but it just seemed like a good idea to keep these things apart.

after

Now those items that are safe for Lil' Guy are on the second shelf,
and the other flours and conventional pastas are on the bottom shelf.
We love using jars to keep everything fresh and easily visible.

Another area where we keep ingredients for baking is one of our cabinets.
It houses things like spices, baking soda, baking powder,
pear sauce that gets added to all of our gluten-free concoctions (it keeps things moist),
and the gf flour mix we use. 
There are so many cabinets in this kitchen,
we have ample room for all of our goodies.

before

after

It may not seem like much of a transformation,
but I like the streamlined effect.
Adding the spice racks onto the inside of the doors
really does free up space elsewhere
and makes it easier to see just what you have.
(You can make photos larger by clicking on them.)

It is such a blessing to have a kitchen so well stocked
with good things for my family to enjoy.
Hopefully, the new owners will feel the same way.

All this week we've been focusing on our home being up for sale.
Tomorrow we'll show you a new way we found to market it!

Other organizing posts on Maple Hill 101:
Kitchen Organizing Ideas 
Organizing in the New Year-Kitchens 
Kid's Menu 
Pantry, Organized 
Kitchen, Organized 
Recipes, Organized
Baking, Organized