What’s Happening In Waldo: The Intro

By Mandi 07/06/2016

Have I got a treat for you guys. The internet brings the coolest people into your life. 5 years ago I “met” Sarah. She was a writer for Apartment Therapy and I was a very eager DIYer. We became fast friends and I adore her. She is absolutely fantastic.

Deep Breath. I’ve never had anyone else post on Vintage Revivals. This is uncharted territory for me, but I was talking to Sarah and listening to all of the crazy adventures (and misadventures) that they were having overhauling their new house and I just HAD to share it with the world. If only to make you laugh and feel better about the crazy DIY’s that you attempt.

What's Happening In Waldo

So, internet besties, I would love for you to meet Sarah and introduce you to the new series What’s Happening In Waldo!

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For someone who has written professionally (and still has horrible grammar, so don’t get your hopes up) for the last decade, I found it remarkably hard to write this introduction upon Mandi’s request. First impressions are important and as much as I want to look adorable while holding paint brushes and taping off walls for paint treatments (seriously, could Mandi BE any more adorable? I think not.), that isn’t how OUR life works. So let’s dive in shall we? Hi –my name is Sarah Rae Smith and I’m in the middle of a full house rehab with my husband, 3 kids, 2 dogs and 2 cats and until last week, 4 kittens. We scrounge materials, make things ourselves and reinvent old items to be made new to save some cash and create a cool living space, literally from the studs up.

You see there’s “internet life” — where everything is perfect and pretty and even though the rest of your house in in shambles, this small corner of your home is perfect for a single photo and everyone ooh’s and ahh’s over it. Then there’s “real internet life” where folks admit to working on projects at midnight when kids are asleep and your significant other is occupied with Netflix (or sleep… I hear that’s a thing normal humans do) and you apologize for the dark photos only illuminated by overhead lighting and the occasional barefoot shot sneaks it’s way into your blog update. Then — then there’s our life.

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Before I explain, you should know there’s some hard and fast rules I have for my life to keep me in check. First, no wearing sweatpants or spandex in public unless recreating or camping in fall. Second, no yoga pants with words like “juicy” or “pink” or “angel” on your butt. (Nobody wants to watch your cheeks bounce as you step. Jui-cy-jui-cy-jui-cy) Third, no eating of inferior ice cream or BBQ as the calories just aren’t worth it and fourth is no one can make fun of me for listening to punk rock and bad pop music on the same playlist. Simple right?

Having spent 4 years living solo in Chicago post-divorce I met an amazing man named Adrian and his 3 children and moved to Wisconsin and to a VERY small village named Waldo. Yes — as in Where’s Waldo. Yes, I’ve heard all the jokes. Yes, you can buy the t-shirt at the gas station. Yes, there are more cows in town than there are people. No seriously, there are! My entire life changed in a few short months and along with embracing the changes of a new location loaded with bratwurst and cheese, this little newlywed couple decided to renovate their entire house on a shoestring budget (wait, is there anything smaller than a shoestring?), where all my rules went promptly out the window. Every last one. I may or may not be the crazy woman in the hardware store that has so much plaster dust in her hair she looks like she was born in the 1800’s while you shield your children and tell them not to stare at my spandex and flip flops. Showers became optional, band-aids and bruises were just part of the job and I can’t even tell you when the last time I put on makeup was. Ok, confession — it was for church, but I’m pretty sure I did it while driving (don’t judge) and trying to remove drywall dust from my skirt and throwing grapes at the kids to ensure they had breakfast.

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Now, most folks talk about small budgets and working within their means, but 95% of those folks are still taking out small loans or are hiring folks to do the big things themselves — but not us. Our current financial needs leave us with the inability to head to the bank when we have a project and more often than not, simply purchasing things from a big box retailer isn’t in the budget! We run our own business flipping and reselling amazing mid-century furniture all around the Midwest, and in our world, if we sales allow us an extra $50 to go buy drywall that week, we do. If we have to buy an amazing dresser set to refinish — then we don’t and projects get put on hold. When we can’t afford countertops we sand down old gym flooring, when we can’t afford a new roof we throw a huge garage sale to raise the funds, then after doing so get in a car wreck that finds us spending that hard earned cash on a downpayment for a new truck. This is real, REAL life where Murphy’s Law is breathing down your neck and yet somehow, we muster the strength and courage to make ugly things pretty again and find enough hours in a day to do our entire renovation on our own.

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Do I currently have kitchen walls? No. Do I currently have windows that all function? No. Do I work with “oops paint” because it’s only $5/gallon at the hardware store and pray that I’ll find a color that won’t make me gag before I walk in? Yes. Always. I might also need to start a rehab group for ladies addicted to $5 paint. Can’t. Stop. Won’t. Stop. At the end of the day, we took the stress of a new marriage, combined it with a new business and renovating an 80 year old house while trying not to break all of our bones and still get laundry done in the process. Please note, actually putting away said laundry is COMPLETELY overrated. I’m so excited to be able to share stories about breaking my nose while trying to install windows in tornadic weather, tearing apart box springs to salvage the wood to make lathe board for to install our roofing with, how we’ve removed 7 walls from our home, lost cats in the ceiling and kittens in the attic (did I mention my husband built me a door to the attic that involves a wench and a car battery?! FRANKENATTIC!) and the list goes on. We might not have been on a “real date” since we were married, but we have more memories than you can shake a stick at — though I don’t see what good shaking a stick at anything is going to do.

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We’re always dirty, we’re not always happy (though determined to get there) and we’re always trying to do things for the least amount of money with our own two hands — which is really four hands –but I digress. Want to see what real, REAL life looks like? Stay tuned for more adventures of What’s Happening in Waldo where we’ll let you in on all the fun without the dust!

K guys, Mandi again. Isnt she fantastic!??! I am so excited to follow along arent you!? Do you have any questions for Sarah? If so leave them below!

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35 thoughts on “What’s Happening In Waldo: The Intro”

  1. This looks awesome! Can’t wait to read more. Apparently i’m in that 5% too- going to a bank?? hiring someone??? having all of the money for a project at once???? 🙂

  2. Oh. My. Goodness. This brings me such joy! We made a mistake (that seemed like an amazing idea at the time…) of buying the crappiest house (like finding drug needles in the walls crappy…) in a pretty ritzy area of town, thinking we’d fix it up and fit right in! When in reality, everyone thinks we’re crazy because they get sick of their laundry room colour and throw out a perfectly working 5 year old white washing machine to buy a new shade of white washing machine to match their wallpaper hidden behind the door, whereas we are still using a 37 year old washer shoved under the stairs so our table saw can fit in the basement… We spent 6 hours ripping up old hardwood in someone else’s house for our house. Pretty sure I’ve got more scars from renos than anything else in my life. And my son would rather play with a hammer than a buzz light year toy. (I don’t know why that validates anything…but it’s kinda cute nonetheless.) And $5 paint?? YES!!! I’m so excited about this feature!!! And can I just say, GO YOU!!!

  3. How exciting! I’d like to hear more about the attic door, and maybe tips for a garage sale that makes bank. I’d definitely be interested in hearing how her kids factor into the renovation, and if they problems balancing leisure time and reno/work time. Sarah’s lifestyle sounds a lot like ours, and while I really enjoy designing and renovating our space, I find it almost impossible to relax in our unfinished house.

  4. Sarah, your writing is wonderful and I love you already! Mandi, you find the best people. So excited for this series. F-E-A-R-L-E-S-S!!

  5. I personally know Sarah and cannot wait to read her posts. She is the best writer and is so entertaining. Her Instagram posts for her furniture business are even entertaining. Yay… So excited!!!!

  6. Can not wait to hear more! My husband and I have done all kinds of renovating while broke, it brought us the best of times! I have surprised my husband with knocked down walls to enlarge bedrooms! We are still renovating, but now it goes into tree houses for our grand kids!! Keep up the good work Sarah Rae and Adrian. You are making lots of memories!!

  7. I can COMPLETELY relate to this post! When my hubby and I bought our home we ripped out the kitchen before we even moved in. We didn’t have a clue how crazy expense everything would be before starting and then we realized that out 60+ year old cast iron plumbing had turned to dust in the ground. When we finally got the plumbing completed, I had the joy of washing dishes in the bathtub for over a year. Our kitchen was finally “finished” (is anything ever *really* finished?) four years later. Then came two more complete bathroom renovations. Woof. It was an insane amount of work, but so worth it in the end.

    Excited to follow along!
    PS: love the yard sale sign. 😀

  8. OMG this is AWESOME! Someone I can relate to (MidWest Represent!!)

    But for real. I’m so excited to follow along on this real life journey. Also – Sarah, my BF is from Appleton and we drive by your area often on our way to Chicago to visit my family at Christmas time. I love that side of Wisco, although we currently live in MN, which I’m definitely not complaining about!

  9. Sarah you are awesome! I will be stalking your Mid Century listing; been on the hunt for a mid century round dining table for 4 people and a brass twin bed frame for the past 2 months!! Crossing my fingers you will have them pop up soon.

  10. Thank you for sharing! This is our life too and I often feel so alone as people think we’re crazy for it. It’s refreshing and encouraging to hear someone else is attempting what many think is impossible. It’s not. It’s really really hard, but not impossible. Thank you for doing the hard thing, keeping a sense of humor, and sharing it with all of us!

  11. Bahaha , flash back time! Somewhere after baby six and before baby nine , our house was a series of “projects in work”. We had ripped out old worn carpet, removed wood paneling, lava rock from a fireplace, built an arched doorway, torn down soffit above our cabinets, hung new ceilings… few rooms were spared, we had a vision. In the middle of all this pressing forward our baby arrived early and sadly my husband was called home. What’s a girl to do? It wasn’t long before members of our church rallied around and helped pull it back together, sometimes they thought my ideas very crazy. I’ll never forget the look on the faces of the men who where painting our playroom when I informed them that I wanted the entire wall (a very large one at that) painted with chalkboard paint. One asked “the whole wall”? Yep! He had to special order the paint (this was 17 years ago so it wasn’t on the shelf). In hindsight, I love every memory of those days . They were crazy, long, stressful and happy! Enjoy your journey! Looking forward to hearing more about it.

  12. How utterly fabulous! From one serial rehabber to another, you go girl! Can’t wait to see how all of the projects in Waldo unfold.

  13. Just yesterday I picked up a couple drawers and cabinet doors (and hoping to go back today and get more) off the side of the road, so I understand your vision! I definitely don’t think you’re crazy, if anything, I’d love to do the same! I have this inability to spend much money on projects… which is why so much of my furniture is rescued from the trash and revived! I cannot wait to follow your journey!

  14. I’m pretty excited about this series. I feel like so much DIY / decor blog content isn’t even relateable anymore. I like Sarah’s voice and I am looking forward to seeing how the projects get done by someone with the same kinds of constraints I have in daily life. Yay for keeping it real-real, not internet real.

  15. Loved this post! And I can’t wait to hear and see more from Waldo! REAL life and totally relatable. Although I wish I had a business where I refinished furniture and sold it, would love to see their work.

  16. I just scored Sarah’s recent midcentury listing of the orange/navy 10′ runner. In my two days of communicating over DM, I can vouch she’s one of the good ones! So happy to have a face with the name, and to follow their journey!

  17. I just had to look up Waldo since my husband and I are heading to Milwaukee next weekend and I was hoping it would be somewhere on our way so I could check out your shop. Alas, no 🙁 I hope you’ve picked up on saying “bubbler” instead of “drinking fountain,” then you’ll have totally gone native.

    Can’t wait to follow along with this series though!

  18. This post was hilarious (and I can see why you two got to be friends:)! I grew up in a house that was constantly under construction and my parents did all the work themselves. Now that I’m an adult, I’m always working on projects of my own and am very often that dirty girl at the hardware store or trying to hide the paint crusted in my fingernails when I’m picking up my kids from school. I’m excited to hear more from Sarah!

  19. Oh man! So excited!! Love you, Mandi, so instantly love anyone you love. Sarah – you definitely lived up to the hype! And now I’m obsessed with the shop. My 1960 house is screaming for some of your finds.

  20. I found your blog while researching power drills in a home improvement magazine.

  21. While I knew we could not be the only family who had to purchase insulation one week then wait until the next paycheck to buy the drywall for the bathroom I am so glad someone said it out loud. The cashier handed me a kleenex when I saw the total of the drywall, the listed price was a per sheet but come in bundles of two sheets – double what I thought I was spending. Lesson learned and the cat didn’t mind torn up newspaper for litter that week.

  22. So glad that you’re contributing! I live in Sheboygan and am about to move to Glenbeulah, so I totally know where Waldo is!

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