I LOVE Longchamp bags. They are so classic and preppy + high quality pieces that last forever. Back before I was so into secondhand shopping I bought myself a new medium size black Le Pliage tote for my birthday, and then for my birthday last year I got a tan nylon backpack as a gift (perfect thrifting bag!)

I've been wanting a large Le Pliage tote bag for sometime. I see so many chic ladies using them for travel and I wanted one! They retail for $145, but because I know how high quality they are I was willing to buy myself a fixer upper. I had been searching sometime between secondhand sites when I found this pretty red bag on Poshmark! I had originally been looking for a navy one, but red is also versatile and goes so well with everything. The bag was listed at $20, but had been listed for some time. I was wondering if I could get away with buying the bag for a total (tax+shipping) for under $20. I sent the seller an offer of $12 and they accepted! It was all mine for under $18. Total score!

Of course, there was a catch. The bag was very worn. You can see a lot of the wear in the before pics below, but it had a lot of dark marking (probably from rubbing on jeans), small water stains, white paint, and holes had started to tear in the corners (this is pretty common on Lonchamp bags.) Keep scrolling to see what I did to make it look almost new!

To clean the nylon of your Longchamp Le Pliage bag, run it under a low stream of warm and water and scrub with a clear, mild soap. Pro tip: make sure to avoid getting the leather details too wet! Water will stain leather and is a lot harder to remove. I had the leather handles and clasp bound up out of the way, and you can also tie a plastic bag around it. I used a scrubby pad to really clean out the nylon, but don't use anything too sharp! Make sure to rinse all the soap out to avoid any discoloration lines, and let it air dry. 

The staining I was most worried about getting out was the paint. I had read online that a traditional nail polish can get paint out of a lot of materials, so I thought I would give it a try. I applied it to a q tip and lightly applied it to the paint stain spots. It dissolved SO fast! Easiest part of the clean up. 

I think it is really important to mend the holes in the corner of your tote bag because with the heavy items in your bag + gravity the rips can really spread and it's less likely you can repair it without being too noticeable. I flipped the bag inside to sew up the rips so as to make sure the stitching is not as noticeable. I used a very thick needle and dental floss because its much stronger than traditional thread. Make sure to keep your sewing very close to the the rip line to make the stitches less noticeable, and make the line as straight as possible to ensure you get crisp corners.  

The whole process took me under 30 minutes, and now I have a like new Longchamp Le Pliage large tote bag! Sometimes rehab on an item can be off putting (either for reselling or for your personal closet) but always do your research because sometimes you can get away with an amazing steal! If you are looking for your own secondhand Longchamp Le Pliage tote bag, I've linked a whole bunch of options above 50% + off  retail. Thanks for reading!

Happy 2020! 

I've been MIA the past few months because we have just been up to our eyeballs in remodeling our new house. It's going slower than we expected, but it is slowly and surely coming together. I thought it would be fun to share the journey with you guys and maybe our experiences can be helpful to you! I wanted to start by showing you where we started from (wait until you see the color of the bathroom..!!) I'm also sharing some inspo photos to give you an idea of what we want to do with the space. Overall we are going for a simple, modern look with a simple mix of white, black, and wood. Keep scrolling!

So pretty much through the entire house we are keeping the same flooring and paint for consistency. For flooring we went with a nice gray luxury vinyl plank, which I had never heard of before we started researching flooring. It's thick and waterproof, which means we can also run it through bathrooms and kitchen. I also had my heart set on a high base board, and we found a great moulding at Lowes that is 6" high. For walls we are going with a simple ultra pure white. 

For the kitchen we are actually going to be removing the wall behind the stove to open up the space into the dining room / front room. We will have an island where the stove is instead. 

For the bathroom, we have actually removed the wall with the window and moved it back a couple feet. We are in the process of building a walk in shower in the new space and will put a double vanity in beside it. 

This was previously utilized as a tool shed, however with an entry door into the living room (that looks like a bookshelf, how cool is that??) we have decided to convert it into a second bathroom! We'll just close up the exterior door. As far as design, we are going to just make into a mini version of the master bathroom.

As you can see..we have a LOT of work ahead of us. It's already going slower than expected, but we still have hope one day we will have a nice house, just the way we want it. Have experience with home renovations? Leave some tips + words of encouragement (lol) below!

This past weekend was a BLAST going to see Twenty-One Pilots' Bandito tour up with my fam in Sacramento! I definitely wouldn't describe my style as punk or rock, but I wanted to dress up for the concert without spending too much. I've been loving the combat boot trend this fall (I love the Chanel ones but they are $$$!) however I really didn't want to invest in an item that is considered "trendy" vs a wardrobe staple. In comes trusty Target to save the day!

I found this pair at Target from their Universal Thread brand for under $35! I danced all night and they were SO comfy. No rubbing or blisters! I've found some higher boots can rub at the top around the ankle/calf, but not these. I'm between an 8.5/8 and went with a size 8 which fit perfect. I wanted them a little tighter so they are not so bulky. Now through the 9th of November ALL boots from Target are BOGO 50%! My mom and I actually both got boots so we got the great deal! You can shop directly by clicking the photo of the boots below!

Ok so in the middle of all the house selling, house buying, RV madness, I made it to my first ever Poshfest in Phoenix, AZ! It was a fun time (that I will share a lot more about soon!) but I first wanted to share the most important part...what I decided to wear :D

I'd heard / seen a lot about what people liked to wear to this event in the past. Definitely a lot of fun, sparkly, eye-catching pieces! My style is more simple and classic, but I wanted to incorporate a little sparkle into my outfit. That is why I was so excited to thrift this dress the week before Poshfest! It had some glitter and sheen while still having a simple, wrap silhouette. You can scroll to see what I paid for everything!

BCBGMaxAzria Wrap Dress [secondhand, $6] Givenchy White Bag [secondhand, $65] Banana Republic Navy Block Heel Sandals [new, FREE] Hermes Wrap Leather Bracelet, [secondhand, $50] Chanel Drop Earrings [secondhand, gift]

I don't really pick up much BCBG to resell, but when I saw this dress was in my size I was so excited! I loved how fun the color + glitter was, plus I never say no to a good wrap dress (accentuates all the right places!) The thread that holds the retail tag was still attached to the label, which makes me believe it was also brand new without tags!

I've shared about this awesome score these shoes before, but essentially these shoes were past season from Banana Republic so they were on super clearance. The store was having an additional 60% off clearance AND I had a reward from the credit card I have with them. After everything was said and done I didn't pay anything for them! I couldn't believe the last pair they had were in my size. It was meant to be! 

(my favorite Apple Watch band that is a great Hermes dupe + great quality!)

The bag is vintage Givenchy that I scored off Mercari, a lesser known resale site. One thing I love about Mercari is that you can save searches so that when something in that search is listed, you get a notification right away. Thats also how I scored my Golden Goose sneakers! I made an offer on this bag, which the seller accepted!

The last detail but certainly not the least. My very favorite Chanel earrings! <3 I had told hubs I wanted a pair of Chanel earrings for my past birthday, and given him a couple links to secondhand pairs on Poshmark. Apparently none of them ended up working out, so he actually found this pair on his own! So proud! They are even more beautiful than the others I had picked, and I love the neutral coloring so they go with everything!

Did you go to Poshfest? Share what you chose to wear / what your favorite outfit was at the event below!

I've been so MIA lately on the blog and social media which has definitely not been fun, but so necessary. Ever since August we have started a pretty big undertaking which has been so time consuming in itself. Add in trying to run and grow a business and it feels like I've been needing a couple extra hours in every day (plus all the espresso). The reason for all the craziness?

We sold our house + are in the process of buying another + we are living in an RV!! :0

We had started talking seriously about selling our first home in the spring. Bjorn works at the coast and his commute was sometimes 3+ hours per day depending on what time he was driving. The value had gone up so much in our house in the 4 years we owned it, so after we came back from Europe over the summer we decided to make the jump and list our house before the market dips. We signed a contract with a real estate agent in August and since then we have been so busy. First it was prepping the house to be attractive to potential buyers for when it hit the market after Labor Day, and then to our surprise we got multiple offers over our asking price within days (the CA housing market is no joke). After that it's been a whirlwind of inspections, paperwork, and moving. We closed on the house a week ago and had to be out this past Monday (which is why I finally have the time to blog again!) Honestly, this past weekend was madness and I have vowed to myself I am NEVER moving again (until I can afford to pay someone else to do it for me of course :))

A couple days after we accepted an offer on our old house, I found a home on Redfin that was in the area we wanted to move + well below our budget. We looked at it the next day and had an offer in that night. It was a little scary because we had to make the offer contingent on our old house making it out of escrow and officially selling (we needed the money from our old house for the downpayment and closing costs on the new house) They accepted our offer and we are currently in escrow! My fingers have been permanently crossed since because we want this house so bad, and so many things can happen before it closes. 

As I mentioned, we moved out of our old house on Monday, but are still in escrow on the new house. In the mean time we are living in my parents RV! It's the perfect size for the two of us and  we are so grateful for the option. It feels like glamping! Plus in typical Fancy Free fashion we are able to save some money while we wait for our next home. This is great for us, because the house we are currently in escrow on needs some serious renovations. I'll save the details for a future post when everything is official, but we are pretty much going to remodel everything + add a half bathroom. Luckily hubs is super handy (he laid new floor in our old house + remodeled both bathrooms!) so we are going to be able to do a lot ourselves. We will probably stay in the RV for a few weeks even after we close on the new house so we can focus on remodeling as much as possible before moving in. Once everything is officially closed and sold I will share a lot more of our renovations journey! We looked at other homes for sale that did not need the amount of renovations this one needed, but the prices weren't nearly as low, and we are excited to make this home exactly how we want it. 


Phew ok so that pretty much sums up what we have been up to the past two months, aside from a lot of travel. Now that our old house is sold and we are moved out, I am excited to get back to blogging and sharing my finds + reselling adventure on social media. Aside from sharing my usual great deals, I'm looking forward to also sharing our experiences with saving money buying + selling homes (we saved thousands!) and our renovations journey! I'm a little late to the party, but I also want to share my first Poshfest (Poshmark annual conference) experiences! Make sure to follow along on IG (@fancyfreeblog) and here for all the updates, and if you have any experiences with renovations + have tips for some newbs share them below in the comments! Thanks for following along!