Binkies and Briefcases

Yesterday we went to visit my mom for her birthday and she sent me home with half a dozen flameless candles that she wasn’t using. Thanks mom!

When we got home and I started unpacking them Eddie asked what we were going to do with them all. I wasn’t quite sure yet. Then I realized I loved the way I had lined them up on the table. I also knew we had some 2×4 scraps from one of his old projects.

Free is my favorite word.

(It really is: free time, free stuff, free speech…. Anyway….)

I took this stuff from the garage:

and set out to make the easiest centerpiece of all time.

Step 1: Stain a piece of wood
Step 2: (after it dries) Put candles on top of it.

I loved the stamps from the hardware store.

I stained it at 9pm and let it dry overnight. I didn’t even bother to stain the bottom.

In the morning all I had to do was add the candles and… voila!

It’s going to look so cute on the farmhouse table I fully intend to build with plans from Knock-off Wood one of these days.

Do you like it? Would you like it better if I told you that this one retails for $69 at Pottery Barn

Once again, as with the book wreath, I actually like my free version better. It has more presence. Sorry, PB. I’m not spending $69 for your piece of wood (Ok, so it has hardware, maybe I’ll steal your idea later. That might make mine cost $5) Oh. Pottery Barn also wants me to pay an additional $24 for votive candles. And shipping. I think I’m ok with saving $100 and skipping the hardware for the time being. If you make something similar you could do votives instead, but I love the flameless concept with my little monkeys running around.

We really don’t have the extra money right now, but if we did I would buy this house in a heart beat! (I have a habit of stalking the MLS listings. It’s kind of like my Craigslist stalking habit, only much less productive.)

It is just a few minutes away from the house we already own and live in now, but look how gorgeous it is!

It’s 3,507 square feet (that’s huge!) with 4 bedrooms and 3 and a half baths and was built in 1910. It’s listed for $124,900! That’s less than $36 per square foot! That’s insane! At today’s low interest rates around 4.5%, even if you had no down payment, you could get a 30 year fixed rate mortgage for less than $650 a month. I have friends who pay almost 3 times that much in rent for a one or two bedroom apartment. My heart aches with longing for this house. (Is “thou shalt not covet the house down the street that is amazingly gorgeous and priced way too far below market value” one of the commandments?)

And the remodeling is already underway! Half the work is already done, and it seems to be done pretty well. Look:

Zillow.com has the house valued at $30,000 above the asking price. That’s instant equity. Zillow also says that it was purchased by a couple from out of town who were remodeling with plans to relocate. Then one of them died unexpectedly. How sad for that family! But how lucky for whoever buys this house. I wish it could be me!