Bathroom Stripes

 

 I have seen these stripes all over for a while now and I just had to have some of my own. ;) Yay.

  You can check out Nannygoats stripes here.

 

They took a lot of taping and even more patience, which I am not very good at.  But in the end I LOVE IT, and it was totally worth it. It brings the eye up to the 9 feet ceilings and the loverly arch in here.

Don't you just love my gumball machine? A $15 goodwill find. As you can see my kiddo's love it too. Man I have to refill that thing far too often.

Oh the Love!-Nursery Reveal

 I am proud to announce miss Aspen, our newest addition. Which makes 3 little princesses in our home. So, sorry that I've been AWOL for about a month now. I have been pretty busy with Christmas, being 9 months prego, having 8 house guests for over a week and then having and taking care of a precious new little girl. Phew makes me tired just typing it. But now we are back into our regular schedule and everyone is doing well.

I happy to say that she and I are very much enjoying her nursery. Decorating nurseries is my favorite! Such fun. And I just love how everything fell together so perfectly in this room, and for way cheap too. Here's a recap.

 I used the turquoise dresser I refinished forever ago as her changing table and dresser. (a $10 Craiglist steal)

 Above her dresser I dry brushed an old window and hung on a fabric bulletin board. Window was free on Craigslist and fabric bulletin board I found it at TJ Maxx for $10. Can't wait to add pictures and cute quotes. The butterfly is a $1 Walmart ornament.

 I also found this cute butterfly wall vinyl at Kohl's.

Which matches the scrapbook paper wall art above her crib perfectly.

 The bedding is Pottery Barn's Chloe- now discontinued. I found on ebay for $32 including shipping!!

I embellished the blanket with ribbon and rosettes. I also added these rosettes to the pillow sham.

 

Easily added the pink and turquoise ribbon with permanent fabric glue.

  I finished up the curtains which are just clearance sheets folded and ironed with ribbon sewn to the top. Sew easy. ;)

And you can't forget the beautiful $9 end table I refinished.

I am not the proudest of the big ugly recliner. But hey it is super comfy for middle of the night feedings, it rocks, reclines, is neutral and was only $28. haha

This room is perfect for me and baby. What do you think?

Recent Thrifty Treasures

Not to brag or anything ;), but look what I found at Goodwill for $5- This will look fabulous on my porch during the Holidays with my vintage ice skates hanging on it.

This cast iron bubblegum machine was only $15! It is pretty cute as is, but I am considering making it a fish tank. Not sure if I am ready to have a pet yet. It looks super easy to make though.
Thrifty Decor Chick did it, and all you basically do is cut a piece of glass slightly larger than the bottom and glue it to the bottom of the globe with aquarium sealant.

Last but not least...

on Craig's list I found this Bassett dresser and mirror for only $30!

I love antiques. I love the styling and that they are always so well made. It is hard to find dovetail drawers these days.

Well guess what this is going to be? Haha I feel so bad telling you this, because so many people loved it. But it will be my NEW turquoise dresser/buffet table. It will work better because it is longer and I am going to leave the top brown. And the old turquoise dresser will be redone and function as a dresser/changing table.
It was so easy to prime and paint and glaze I don't feel bad having to redo it. Good news is I will do a special glazing post when I redo the new dresser.

The Heart of Our Home

So here it is- our Kitchen. I am not completely done but I like it so far. :) It's a little romantic/shabby/country, a bit traditional, with a touch of fun and quirky.

I started decorating with the things I already had, which was white ceramics. I also love a kitchen with lots of white, it is "so fresh and so clean clean."

I added the chair pads to the chairs to tie the lighter color over in this area and soften the look and the bum :). I normally have a white bowl full of green apples here when I don't have fresh flowers. I will make a fun little table runner for here too.

Curtains, Ahh. I can't count the number of times I changed them in this room, so important but so hard. I decided on these because it ties the brown of the cabinets around the room and they went with the red ones in our family room, which are right next to these. Our family room is completely open to our kitchen. Light colored ones looked nice but were out of place next to our family room. Plus these ones were thermal and only $15 a panel.

The wall color I chose is Home Depot Cypress Grass. Yes this wall needs work. Thinking of putting vinyl above pictures or making a gallery wall with lots of pictures. I also plan on painting the kiddy table. I love that my kitchen has room for this, it is so easy to feed my girls snacks and breakfast here.

Keepin it real with all the art still on the fridge. Chandlier $40 from Craigslist.

The Little Things

Love my Scentsy & it's ribbon wrap, the cute little calendar blocks my MIL made me, and the white and blue tile. It came from Germany from my baroness grandmother's estate. Love having meaningful stuff like this in every room. I made the table runner. It's a great pop of color, especially for Spring.

I made this little flower wrap and to match the table runner on our island. Continues the punch of color around the room. I plan on making and covering a cookbook in this material. You know cuz every thing has to be in 3's or 5 or just more than 2. :)

I got his birdcage about 6 years ago on clearance at Tar'gae. It used to be black but I painted it white to give it some contrast against the cabinets and sanded it down to give it that antique look. MMMM LURVE IT.


My grandmother gave me these bar stools. It took me 3 tries but I finally got these right. First black, then brown,(cuz that what I had on hand) finally the beautiful antique white that they are. I used Ace hardware's spray paint. So easy and pretty fast. I had to do multiple coats, but each chair only took about 1 can or $3.50. I think they look great with the bead board. They kinda have a fresh beachy feel now. Oh and one more bar stool is on it's way.

Got to have a little vinyl somewhere right? I got this plate stand for $5 and turned it into my fruit/onion :) holder. cuteness.

I just love my new little pot scrubber. It makes doing dishes kinda fun! really. $5 at TJ Maxxers.

So if you read all of this thanks. I found some time and did it all. What do you think? Any suggestions for the kiddie table/ wall?

Look What I Found

So I was searching Craigslist as usual and I ran across this dresser for only $10. Ain't she purdy? HA not quite- but she will be. I'm not sure where she will be going yet but I plan on adding a shelf or two and of course repainting. Wish me luck.

While I was there I asked if the mirror was for sale, and I got it for $10 too. B-utiful

I heart Craigslist- Finding Deals 101

Since everyone was so impressed with my $50 dining room set I thought I would post some of the other things I have found on Craigslist and share some savvy skills I use when finding my deals. Hold on to your britches and be prepared to be blown away. :)

1. A tip to finding any good deal is being at the right place at the right time. Search for your item(s) as often as you can. I search for my items at least once a day. It only takes a few minutes to type in my items look though the new postings and go on my way.

The first thing I ever bought off of Craiglist was my daughter's little playhouse for $20. I bought it in October knowing that they would be scarce in December. It was Santa's big present. She loved it of course, and our neighbors gave us the little rocking horse for free. Perfect for Kentucky don't ya think?

2 . Be Patient! OH so important. I waited 6 years for a king bed and when we got into our first home we finally had the space for it. Yes! And since my husband had a bad habit of elbowing me in the head far too often it was the first thing I purchased for our new home. But I didn't go get one from the store or one of the first one's listed on Craigslist. You usually have to wait for a deal. I searched everyday for 2 months to find this brand new in the box cherry wood headboard and foot board for $50.

3. Be prepared to Act. When you find your treasure act right away. Call or email asap. I usually say something like I can pick it up at your earliest convenience and give phone #. (P.S. I looked for about 4 months before we even got in our house for my dining set)

4. Be kinda picky I found our Sealy king sized mattress and box springs for $125. I was pretty picky about that one- I made sure it was from a nice neighborhood near me. And that it had no stains. It is very comfortable and I sleep much better with no elbows in my face. Yes it is hard to find exactly what you want for the right price, but if you can live by #2 and be patient I bet you can find what you want in reasonable time. (PLEASE excuse my lack of pillows and window mistreatments. I am currently working on them.)

5. Be prepared to say no if you go see an item and it won't work in your home. This goes along with #4, be picky. If it won't work in your home don't feel obliged to buy it even if it is a good deal. It is a bummer driving away with nothing, but it is better than being stuck with something you don't really like.

I got both of these beautiful chandeliers for $100. Trust me they are much better than the cheapo builder's standard ones that were there before. Do you know how much these would have cost me new? eek.

6. Bargain. Most everyone is willing to go down on their price so just ask. They expect it.

6. Tell your friends to keep an eye out for you. I saved the best for last. This antique dresser and mirror were free!! My grandma actually found them for me on the side off the road. Who in their right mind would put this on the street? AHH I'll take it!!!! Thank you to whoever passed it on, because I love it. So any Kentucky peeps know where I can get a china cabinet for cheap? ;)

Did I miss any Craigslist Savvy Skills? What have you found lately that was a steal of a deal?