Today I posted about our yard sale on craigslist and I was weirdly proud of my post so I wanted to put it here for safekeeping. I took photos of our stuff partly for the sale, but mostly so that I could keep a record of the things I am letting go. Going through my jewelry was probably the hardest. Nothing is expensive, and much of it is still pretty fashionable — I just don’t really wear them anymore. But I kept thinking, “if I have a daughter she would have so much fun playing with all of this. Or maybe she would actually wear some of this stuff” I loved going through my mom’s jewelry and would feel really special wearing her old pieces. I’m still half tempted to take it all back out of the “sell” pile. 

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We are purging like crazy in our household and letting go of a ton of stuff. You know, the stuff you are holding onto because you love it but maybe it doesn’t fit anymore, or you really have no use or space for it? That stuff. Come help us say goodbye to our belongings by giving them a good new home. This is our first yard sale (in probably ever) so there is loads of stuff.

WE PURGED THE CLOSETS: Tons, and I mean TONS, of men’s and women’s clothes, shoes jewelry, accessories (and we have pretty good style, so don’t miss out). Men’s dress shirts, cool casual clothes, lots of cute dresses, tops, jackets, winter coats, hats, etc.

WE PURGED THE KITCHEN: Dishes, cups, bakeware, trays, slushie machine, etc.

We have a baby so WE PURGED THE NURSERY: loads of baby clothes, toys, gear, etc.

OMG WE PURGED THE GARAGE (applause, applause): cute modern and vintage decor, lamps, blankets, a clock, sports stuff, Rock Band for PS3, vintage meat grinder, curtains, freestanding mirror, furniture, this really cool midcentury modern side table that I bought with the intention of refinishing but never got the time, etc.

Did I forget to mention the VINTAGE 1963 VESPA? Oh yeah, it’s for sale too.

FREE DONUT with $10 purchase (while supplies last!!)

Look at the photos, but know that there is WAAAAAAY more stuff than I could sanely take photos of.

New doorbell! It’s the little things, ya know?

Old doorbell. So lame!

Handy husband.

New hotness! Yeeeah!

(Doorbell is from House of Antique Hardware)

With the house paint complete it was time to put up the new numbers. Unfortnatley the silver numbers we had were impossible to read on grey brick, so a creative solution was in order. I had the idea to mount them to a board and came up with two options. I was in LOVE with the idea of mounting them on stained wood. Geoff was in rooting for a white background. I photoshopped a mockup of each option and posted it to Facebook for a poll. The results were 23 votes for wood, 37 votes for white, and 2 votes for glitter (trust me, I seriously considered it). We agreed with most people that while the wood was sexy and cool, the white was just easier to read and went better with the house. White was the winner!

We’ve had these new modern house numbers (you can buy them here for only about 4 bucks a pop) for a couple of years, just sitting in our garage. Time to put them to use!

I laid them on the ground and measured them out, then added a few inches of space around the edges to get my board measurement. I would need a board that was 7.5” x 30”.

We found this piece of red oak at Home Depot for about 8 bucks. 7.25″ is close enough!

I measured it, finally able to put my T-square from graphic design classes in college back to good use.

“I pity the fool who takes my t-square.”

I asked my friend Ryan to cut it down (we don’t have the right saw). Here I am testing the number spacing out again. Yup looks good!

I played around with the numbers for a while…

Then I got to work sanding and painting the wood. I did two coats of the leftover paint used on the trim of our house — satin exterior paint.

I took a look at the hardware that came with the numbers and know those weren’t going to work.

Geoff went to the store and found #6 1-1/4 screws that were perfect.

The numbers come with these cool little templates. I trimmed them down so that I could line them up and they would be equal spaced. I measured to make sure they were even and taped them down.

Once I was sure everything was straight and even, I used a nail to hammer little holes throughout the guides in the templates.

Then I drilled holes through.

Then I screwed in the screws, just far enough so that they poked through a tiny bit on the front. I held my finger against the hole as I screwed and waited until it poked me. Haha.

This allowed me to line up the numbers on the screw points so I could screw them the rest of the way in.

To attach the board to the house, we decided to use picture hanging hooks on the back of the board and use a screw in the brick to hang them on. The last step was to attach the hooks to the board! I realized I need to paint or seal the back of this board still to protect it from weather. I will do that soon!

I made a little guide to help line everything up on the brick.

Too bad one of the hooks fell RIGHT ON the space between the bricks!

So I moved the hooks over…

…and marked the holes on the bricks…

…and Geoff drilled holes into the brick using a special concrete drill bit.

Then the special concrete screws went in, sticking out just enough to hang the board.

And DONE! Too bad it was too dark last night to take a proper picture.

Fear not! I went out today and took a better one. So happy with the outcome! I do  like the way the white looks too. It really matches the house well. Next step for out home makeover, plants!