Valentine's Wreath

I raided the dollar store the other day.

Determined to not spend a lot of money, but decorate a little for Valentine's Day, I bought some floral picks, ribbon, doilies, etc. All in hopes of making a cheap wreath. 

My spoils on the floor of my basement living room. 

I found this wreath on clearance after Christmas, not really in love but unable to pass it up for $2.50

So I had the brilliant idea to fix it! I took all my heart floral picks, cut them apart, and placed them here and there until I was happy with what I saw. Then I picked up my trusty glue gun and went to town.

Here's the end product!

All in all, I think it ended up really cute. I may add a bow later. 

The entire thing only cost $7.50. Not bad, considering a store bought wreath is at least $20. 

See you next time!

Deborah

The final look of the Great Bathroom Makeover

In my first post, I spoke about the bathroom makeover. 

You can see that post here.

These are a few of the images of the final look (for now). We're already talking about "future" plans for new tile, vanity top, and a tub. Houses are never done. But this is pretty and does the job, updated, clean and exactly what I wanted for a budget makeover. 

I got a lot of the finishings on clearance, or I already had some lying around. I tend to move things from room to room until it's right. A lot of this room was based on trying to make it feel like a spa, so I used a lot of teals and greens. 

Here you can see the shelves I picked up from Hobby Lobby, on clearance ($15 each), along with some teal glass bottles (half off on sale). I also used some old wash cloths in a basket to make it look a bit spa-like. I got the jewelry armoire on a huge discount from Pier 1. It was "damaged," which meant a couple of dings and wobbly legs. I brought it home, pledged it a bit, and tightened the legs. 

Good as new. 

Any of the wall hangings were also on clearance at Hobby Lobby. I waited until they were at least 66% off so I wouldn't spend a lot. 

I'm really happy with the way it turned out. What do you think?



See you next time!

Deborah

Little Gold Roosters

We are literally in the middle of a project. And we have no idea what we are really doing.

When we bought our house, I'd decided to redo the entry closet. We have a tiny little hallway and a pretty large closet. So we're in the process of taking the doors off, painting the walls, and creating more entry space.

When we're done, I'll show you what we did.

In the meantime, I can show you these:

I found these sweet little roosters at a thrift store, all dusty and forgotten. I decided to save them. I got them home and my husband questioned my life choices. I think they are beautiful. I cleaned them up and set them on the windowsill in the kitchen. They seem to watch over me as I cook (and I've heard Roosters in the kitchen are good luck). They strike me as decor you might find in a high-end store, but I bought them for $4. I considered it a win. 

See you next time!

Deborah

The Great Bathroom "Makeover" of 2013

This is our house. 

Home Sweet Home

A sweet little 1970s tri-level. It's not perfect. Therefore, the minute we got the keys in our hand (May 28th, 2013) we decided on all the ways we would change it. As my dad says, "we bought a house we loved so we could change everything about it."

And so here we go. 

I'm crafty by nature, so of course I'm pretty handy with a paint brush. I also tend to annoy my husband with the ridiculous amount of ideas I have clunking around in my brain. In the end, he always loves it (or so he says). Too bad. 

My first great idea was to "re-do" our upstairs bathroom. We don't have a ton of money so I can't afford to renovate (but it's in the cards someday). So I decided it needed a "makeover." 

The Post Before Pic
(because I failed to take an actual before picture)

Imagine that the wood paneling on the bottom of the wall is the same color as the vanity. It was 1970s country. I don't even know if that's a genre. The walls were also a pale sky blue. Ick. Like I said, money is tight, so right now I'm making things work. So I whitewashed the wood paneling, painted the walls a peacock teal and hoped for a spa feel.

This is the gold hardware. Pretty right???
 I decided to just try to spray paint them. And so far so good!

All the knobs and towel racks.
Also the rings to the light plate. 

Bases to the towel racks and
vanity handles. 

My husband, the loving kind man that he is, helped me get down all the doors, drawers, and cabinets. Again, the wood color just brought the whole room down. It's also just basic cabinetry, so sanding and refinishing wasn't really an option. I'd read on multiple websites that I could possibly get a reliable finish by using a good quality primer. Soo…..off to the hardware store I went, finding the best primer I could as well as white paint. I cleaned all the surfaces and went to work, using a foam roller to get rid of brush marks. 

Mirrored Cabinet (sans mirrors and lights)

The Vanity "Before"

Wall Cabinet

 My living room was in shambles! Old sheets laid out on top of plastic to save my beautiful new rug (one of the only things purchased new for the house).

My "Workspace"

My Tower of Drawers (it was actually easy to paint them this way!)

I also spread out into the basement. There were bathroom pieces all over the house. Every level. You could barely walk.


But then, when the painting was complete, it started to look like I'd made good choices. One coat primer, two coats of white paint and to protect it all, I sealed it with a matte coat of water based polyurethane.

Ignore my under the sink mess. 

You have one too.

Be kind.  

Here you can see the hardware. It looks pretty good, and is holding up so far. They don't get used a lot (mostly for "pretty" towels). However, the knobs and handles on the vanity get used all the time and are doing great. 

Here you can see the final product of the vanity. We didn't replace the sink, but the multiple shades of white and ivory seems to work together (or so I tell myself).

And here is an overall picture of the final product. I'm so happy with how it turned out. This is prior to hanging the wall cabinets and basic styling as well. In my next post, I'll show you the real final product. It's so spa-like and it works for now. Clean, fresh paint works miracles!


See you next time!

Deborah