SCORE at the thrift store!!

OK..........I'm addicted to my local thrift store. No surprise if you've been reading this blog for a while. I managed to squeeze in a little trip sans boys yesterday and found some GREAT things. Total bill............$13.64. One thing I found that is awesome is the red gingham lampshade you see below. It perfectly matches my new red closet curtains. Isn't that amazing? I brought it right home and replaced the plain cream shade with the new one. In the picture below you can see how well it matches. My only problem now is that the black wrought iron base of the lamp is too.......black......and modern for the shabby chic vibe I'm going for. But I haven't yet found another base that is cheap enough for me to feel okay about buying. I think I'll spray paint the base heirloom white and then maybe hot glue some fringe or pom-poms to the shade and add a tassel. However..........I am open to anyone else's opinions about what to do to spruce up the lamp. Let me know if you have any ideas.





The next photo shows the lamp "before" the new shade. You can also really see that it doesn't quite have a country chic vibe. And I'm thinking Jesus needs a cream colored frame now to match my other ones.




I also found a cute little lamp for only $5. After the bedroom makeover is complete, I am planning to add a shelf over my washer and dryer in the bathroom and add some DECOR in that room. I have been hoping to find a little lamp for that shelf and I think this one is just right. When DH saw it on the vanity countertop for my photoshoot, he said, "What's that hairy thing? Oh.....it's a lamp. I don't think that's going to work in that spot with the boys." I promptly reassured him that it's final resting place will be a shelf that he is going to very sweetly install for me in the near future. Anywho.........yes, it's hairy...........but I'm loving it. Can't beat the price either!!

And here is another GREAT find of the day. It's a little stem vase that looks like a dress. I happened to have a pink daisy left over from our May baskets (I didn't post about those yet) and added it to my new vase. I love it! It is going to live on the writing desk in my bedroom. I am scouting around for other items to share the shelf with it.

I also bought a clear glass bowl for 75 cents. I have seen them on lots of frugal decorating blogs filled with seasonal stuff..........so I don't know what I'll do with it yet......but it was a steal for less than a buck.

Very sweetly........

.............my DH hung up a shelf for me tonight. I had spray painted it this weekend, but since we adopted Buzz on Sunday, he didn't have time to hang it up for me. DH and I have a little thing we do when we are trying to get each other to do something that the other person may not want to do. We say, "Could you very sweetly................?" It is kind of hard to pointblank tell someone "no" when they ask that way. You should try it sometime. Anyway........I called DH today when I came home at lunchtime to walk Buzz and said, "Tonight when you get home could you very sweetly hang up the shelf I painted this weekend?" And of course he said, "Yes."



Before I show you the big "reveal"............the next photo shows the shelf before I painted it Heirloom White. It was hanging in our kitchen when we bought the house. It was hanging really high............we once had a plant on it (until I killed the plant), and we actually had to stand on a chair in order to water it. Anyway..........I was looking at it once and had the brillant idea to take it down, spray paint it, and hang it over our bed.

So, before I spray-painted it, here is what it looked like.

When decluttering one of my closets, I found a bunch of black and white family photos in mismatched frames in a tub. So..........I decided to spray paint them to match the shelf. Below you can see what they looked like before.

Below you can see my "new" shelf above our bed. I didn't put shams on the pillows........too lazy........but that would make the whole thing look even better. I had DH hang it high enough so I wouldn't bonk my head on it when reading in bed. However, I think I need to hang something below it........I'm thinking I'll look for an off-white serving platter to hang there.





Here's a close-up of the shelf. I really love the look of the cream-framed photos on the cream shelf. However, I wanted to add a little color. So............I placed a few other items on it that I found on a recent thrifting outing.




Here's a close-up of the little red and cream cake stand (or whatever). I placed a little photo of my mom from when she was a little girl on it along with my thrifted vase and flowers. Yes........I put my mom on a pedestal. She deserves it. If you know her, you know that is true!



Here are a few more close-ups of some of my photos. I placed ones of my family on the side of the shelf that hangs over my side of the bed and DH's family ones are over his side. That way they can "watch over" us while we sleep. Aaaaaaawwwwwwwwww............

I love how this turned out. I already have a bunch more things that are going to get refreshed and repurposed with spray paint soon!!

Closet Transformation

Our home is about 20 years old and has those sliding closet doors that slide over each other. For quite a while one of the ones on my closet has been cantankerous. It is very hard to slide and gets stuck. Very annoying! Anyway, I remembered reading somewhere (or maybe I saw it on HGTV) that replacing closet doors with fabric curtains actually maximizes your usable closet space because you can reach the middle section easily whereas you can't with the sliding doors. So.........I took off the grumpy door myself and had DH remove the other one. Below is what it looked like before both doors were removed.



I am going to repaint our kitchen/dining room/living room as soon as school is out and am planning to replace my dining room curtains. I had a complete AHA! moment when I realized that I could use 2 of the panels for my new curtain "door". The length was perfect and the red gingham check matches my quilt perfectly. I bought a new Shabby Chic brand curtain rod from Target and had DH install it yesterday. Voila! New closet doors. It's totally true that you can access the whole closet much easier without the wooden doors. I LOVE IT!

Trigger Finger

Blessedly the weather was wonderful here this weekend and I was able to do some spray painting I had been wanting to do. I've been so inspired by some of the frugal decorating blogs that I've found. Many very creative women have completely transformed mismatched, neglected, raggedy objects into beautiful ones via the medium of spray paint. I personally was a spray paint virgin until this weekend. Luckily my friend, Melissa, tipped me off to the necessity of purchasing a snap-on trigger for the paint cans. It simply snaps onto any can and transforms it from a finger-button sprayer to a squeeze-the-trigger sprayer. Then it can be snapped off and placed on another can. A GREAT tip! Below you can see my trigger and the can of paint that I used.



The next two photos show some of what I painted. I painted outside on a piece of plastic placed on the grass. It was a little windy. In the future I think I'll spray on newspaper in the garage with the garage doors open. My pieces turned out okay, but there were a few issues with the wind and the plastic.

Here is a little glimpse of my project. I am not totally finished yet........I have to wait for DH to hang the shelf. Look for the big reveal soon. I think it's going to turn out just like the visual image in my head. Hope so!

Knick-Knack Paddy-Whack.........

................give a dog a home. Yep, that's what we did today. Meet the newest addition to our family...........Buzz. Isn't he just the cutest ever? You can't totally tell in this photo, but he has a little stripe of longer fur on the top of his head which you can fluff up into a faux-hawk (AKA....a mohawk). Now let me tell you the story behind our newest pet.

The boys and I headed to Target today because I wanted to pick up a few items for my home makeover/decluttering projects. I have been doing a bunch that I will post about soon, but today's post is about Buzz. Anyway.........I told the boys that after Target we could go to the new PetSmart store that just opened. My plan was to just look at all the different pets. What kids don't love an outing to the pet store? As we neared the entrance to PetSmart I saw a little sign stating that it was Pet Adoption weekend. Right inside the door a table was set up manned by volunteers from a local pet rescue agency. Since our dog, Magic, passed away just a few weeks ago, DH and I had decided we'd wait a while before getting another dog. However, I decided to just INQUIRE about any dogs they might have for adoption. We had definitely agreed that our next dog would be an adopted pet. One of the gals said they had the cutest black and white dog with a mohawk. I spotted said dog sprawled out on the floor napping. I crouched down to pet him. He was so calm and sweet. The shelter people said he had been found running the streets a few days ago and that he was very mellow and sweet. I took one look into those soulful brown eyes and was hooked. The boys liked him too, but I told them we had to ask Daddy first. (I made a desperate phone call home to talk to him but he was outside and didn't answer.) So, we made the 20 minute drive home and told him about Buzz. My husband is a total softie when it comes to pets and he agreed to get back into the van with us to go meet Buzz. When I left the pet store I had told the adoption people that I couldn't make any type of commitment without checking with my husband, so if another family came along in the meantime, they should go ahead and give Buzz another home. When we pulled back into the parking lot with my husband, my oldest son and I ran ahead into the store to see if Buzz was still there. It was so cool because the faces of the adoption ladies lit up when they saw us come in. Buzz was STILL THERE and stood up and started wagging his tail when he saw us. (BTW.....he has a totally cute little tail that curls up over his back. I will take a picture of his tail to post later.) Buzz was the last dog left to find a family today and I was really impressed with the adoption people and the PetSmart employees. They were all so excited that we were taking Buzz home. I am thankful that we have found another good dog to share our home with and am looking forward to many happy years with Buzz.

Thrifty finds for the bedroom makeover

Today I squeezed in a little visit to my local thrift store. I was scouting out some items to use in my bedroom makeover. I have big plans for a spray paint project this weekend and after that's complete I want to add a few little items to the space to spruce it up a bit. I went to the store with only $10 cash and a commitment to not go over. I bought my little boy who was with me a diving mask for $2 and my total bill was $9.90........so I was able to snatch up a few pretty things for only $7.90, only a fraction of what I would have paid had I purchased them in a regular store at full price.

Since my bedroom color scheme is red, white and blue (but not in an Americana way, more in a shabby chic way to match my quilt), I was on the lookout for red and white. This little glass vase caught my eye. It's very unique with the embossed roses on it.



I've had my eye on this little stand for a while and finally decided to buy it. I think it will look great on the shelf I'm going to paint. I may put a framed photo on top. Haven't decided for sure yet.



I also bought this spray of silk flowers that I plan to cut down and place in the little white vase. I can't wait to see how it all comes together. I'll be sure to post about it here soon.

Continuing the Bedroom Makeover

Even though Flylady has moved on to the next "zone" this week (the living room), I have continued to be busy working in my bedroom to make it a haven. I am really happy with another little corner that I've decluttered and redecorated using things I found when I shopped my own house. Below you can see a wooden bookshelf that was originally in this space. As I mentioned in a previous post, I got rid of a bunch of books, moved some to my son's room, and consolidated the rest onto another bookshelf that was in our bedroom.

Below you can see the "new" bookshelf in its new spot. Previously the top of this shelf was stacked with books and covered with dust. I decided to intentionally decorate it to prevent me from cluttering it up again. I found the lamp, the candle cozy, candle, velvet runner, Jesus picture AND frame all in my own closets during decluttering. Who knew?

I love this picture of Jesus laughing. My mother in law gave it to my husband and I many years ago. I had forgotten about it and was pleased to find it in a tub in one of our closets. The frame it was in was bent, but I found the wooden frame in the same tub. My husband was really excited to see this picture in our room. He thought it was lost for good.

I found the velvet runner shown below in my youngest son's closet stashed way up on a top shelf. I have childhood memories of this runner. My mom always kept it on top of a marble-topped table in our living room with a certain lamp on top of it. She gave it to me a while back and I just threw it up on a shelf and forgot about it. Turns out it is perfect with the colors in our bedroom and fits just right on top of this bookshelf. I love the nostalgia of this piece (and the fringe is fun too!).

Here is a close-up of the electric candle cozy I found in our hallway linen closet. I bought this years ago to have in my classroom and had forgotten about it. I was actually about to toss it in the donation pile when I realized it would be great in our bedroom. I used to light candles a lot before kids but haven't much lately. This is great because it melts the wax in a jar candle and distributes the scent without having to light the candle. I've been turning it on in the evening after the boys are in bed and it feels like such a treat to curl up in bed with a book and to smell a fragrant candle.

The lamp on the bookshelf is also one I found in a closet. I was just about to put it in the donation pile too when I realized that it would be great on top of this shelf. My bedroom looks so cozy and inviting at nighttime now with my new bedside lamps and this additional one. One of the decorating blogs I've been reading really emphasizes collecting a lot of lamps to scatter throughout your home to boost the coziness factor. I think I'm starting to see what they're talking about! Some bloggy decorating divas even have cute little lamps in their bathrooms and laundry rooms. That could be on the horizon for me too! I love the look of diffused light that a lamp provides. So much better than an overhead light!!

Now I'd like to show you what became of the shelf I removed from the bedroom. It is a little too country looking with the heart cut-out and I'm thinking of painting and sanding it to "shabby" it up a bit. However, we needed a place in the kitchen to store our produce. Originally we had our produce in a hanging basket that broke several months ago. Since then we've been piling them all into a large plastic bowl on the counter. This is taking up a lot of counter space that I wanted back. I had a lightbulb moment and realized that my bookshelf would be perfect for this purpose. The photo below shows the shelf with some baskets I already had on hand which I'm using to hold the veggies and fruits. I took the photo in front of the door, but the shelf is actually positioned against a wall.

This divided basket was originally on a hutch in our kitchen. The hutch was on my list to declutter this weekend and I realized I could find another use for the basket. Now it is just right for holding our produce.

Thanks for joining me on my little bedroom (and kitchen) tour. Maybe I'll post a decorating challenge complete with Mr. Linky one of these days. It would be so fun to see how others are beautifying their living spaces.