Big Kids Don't Cry

I think this was my exact face when I got off the phone with Miss Landlady yesterday. She had chosen another applicant for the apartment. I begged my little butt off. I pleaded. I gave her a pity party. I was grasping at straws but she had no mercy. And this is what I looked like after I hung up. Unfortunately I had just entered a public place and couldn't hide a thing. My emotions were on my sleeve. I was speechless to say the least.

But it's cool. Big kids don't cry...errr okay okay truth is they do, they just wear sunglasses so no one can see. Back to the drawing board.
Good news: We are flying to Utah tomorrow for 4th of July and to pick up our stuff in storage!
And one day we'll have a place to put it.

Reckless Abandon

I'd like to take you on a little journey of my last semester working at the upholstery shop: My final project. I found this baby for $20 on KSL. What a beauty. I think I was the only one who could see the vision at this point.
and I think it was a tad of my reckless abandon which made this project a happen.

I must have removed thousands of staples!

This is where I found out I would have to re-tie all of the springs. Curses.

ALL because of these little culprits and the rest of the broken strings. It had to be done!
Half way to perfection.

Love this fabric! Found it at discount place in Provo for $7.50/yard. It had to be cheap. I needed 12 yards! My fabric had a repeating pattern so I had to make sure it matched with itself throughout the project.
Final steps ahead! This is where I worked without food or drink until it was finished!
65 hours later. Would I do it again?
I think this recent purchase answers that question...

Upholstery Tips:

• Start with something small like a bench or stool
• It doesn't matter if you pull the fabric tight or really tight just make sure you are consistent.
• Use the existing fabric as a pattern for the new fabric
• Everything gets put back together in the opposite order of taking it apart (so pay attention to the order in which something deconstructs)
• Pick furniture with good bones or it won't be worth your time OR money! It MUST be sturdy unless you want to re-build the entire thing.

Have Mercy Land Lady!

Yes that is a forest in the back yard! This was or is hopefully going to be our new place. Right now, it's not looking positive...

We got our application in on Saturday and told the landlady that we wanted it. We told her it was perfect for us. Sunday, we sent in proof of excellent credit Yesterday, she received proof of employment for both of us. We thought we were set until I spoke with her last night and she said that 3 other applications had come in THAT MORNING and she was going to have to think about it now. What is the difference! We've got the cash, We are ready to rent now! I resorted to begging...

"Please, We love the apartment. It's the perfect place for us. We have the deposit and are ready to sign. We love it. We'll take really good care of it. We want it. We'll be here for a long time. We LOVE it. Pleeease." Can you lay in on any thicker???...Ben even offered to take them out to dinner so they could get to know us! Still, no budge..."We are thinking about it, and will let you know tomorrow," she said.

She had to understand how much I wanted this place. I mean look at it...There is a FOREST in our backyard! Anyways, I need anyone who is reading this to pray that the landlady will hear my begging from across the bay and that she will pick US!

Have mercy on us Landlady, I cannot resort to apartment hunting again!

Bay Area Buy

Since I have come to terms with the fact that housing will be robbing us, I'm going to be pinching my pennies and satisfying my buying urge at Goodwill. This is my first find in the Bay Area. It's a mid-century table with 6 chairs...It's not easy to find a good looking set like this, ESPECIALLY in such good condition so I had to buy it. It's totally my style.

Basically all of my furniture is mid-century and from D.I. This furniture addiction all started with my My mother-in-law, Deborah. She taught me the art of bargaining-and it is an ART. In Utah, we'd go to DI and search for hidden treasures-mostly vintage furniture and she would talk them down. I couldn't stop myself from laughing half the time. Mainly because she was so good- TOO good :) To say the least, we found some awesome pieces and took them for pennies.

This was my first time bargaining with-out Momma Steed. To be quite honest, talking someone down makes me uncomfortable so I had to pretend I was her. When I found this table, I realized it was too perfect to pass up. But it was $150. Like I had 150 bucks to give to Goodwill! That was way too much! I walked out of the store. Two seconds later, I walked back in, now in character as Deborah Steed.

To make a long story short I became the happy owner of a beautiful dining set for $105 dollars. I'm sorry but I'm sworn to secrecy on how I did it...Like I can give you ALL my secrets!

Thank You San Francisco

So I have the feeling that San Francisco and I are going to become very good friends. I actually thought this all of my life. That is until....we went apartment hunting for the first time.

It took some time but I found a few great leads on some apartments. I was pretty proud of myself because I scouted out some sweet places, made all the appointments and I mapped everything out. I even set up our first appointment with my favorite place. That way we wouldn't have to look anymore! The perfect plan...

Place #1 O'Farrel St.

+Access to any drug only a block away

+Invite your enemy and they might be killed before they reach your apartment

+The manager thought I would "most likely be safe" :)

Place #2 Broadway St.

+Close to Entertainment...Oh wait...ADULT ENTERTAINMENT

-Size of a shoe box

Place #3 Stockton

+Fabulous area-next to shops, food, and fun

-Pretty tiny

-You must sell your first born child to live there

Ben and I were pretty worn down by the end of our search. Luckily our second search went much better. We fell in love with 2 places-Place #1 Malta Dr. and Place #4 Kearny. They both have AWESOME views, rather open and large floor plan considering, safe areas and in our price range. Unfortunately there is TONS of COMPETITION. Wish us luck!