Craigslist Find...New Bar Stools

About a year ago I had purchased these bar stools from Kirklands.  

I loved them but unfortunately they didn't fit in our new home because our counter tops were lower, we needed 24 inch bar stools not 28 inch.  I began my search of craigslist looking for new bar stools.  After months I finally found these beauties online.  

Don't mind the baby stuff in the background my dinning room is now the baby staging area and my work space.

Aren't the lines great!!  They are just perfect except for one thing, the color.  They are a lovely shade of honey straight out of the 90's, but that's ok I just bought some great Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Versailles.  I have been dying to find the right project for my new paint.  I think these two beauties are perfect.  Stay tuned for my follow up post once they are complete.

Our Nursery Part 3..every princess needs a chandelier right?

So the nursery is coming along slower than I thought.  Being pregnant really slowed me down and limited what I could do.  Now that I have had baby Madison I have finally been able to finish up her nursery.  I never thought in a million years that her nursery wouldn't be finished before I had her, life has definitely been filled with curve balls lately. 

I fell in love with with this chandelier off Pinterest! Isn't it great!!  Perfect for a little girls room.

 After searching the Internet looking to buy it I found it but was a little sticker shocked!  So I decided to make my own.  I found the chandelier at Ikea called the Kristaller.

Unfortunately the light was a little long so with a little bit of help from my hubby he was able to shorten it.  We had to take the metal rod and cone off the top of the light and purchase a new topper from Home Depot.

Next was recreating the sweet dreams medallion.  I went to Home Depot and bought the medallion in the clearance section.  I bought little wooden letters and circles at JoAnn Fabrics in their unfinished wood section with my 40% off coupon.  It was hard to find the same medallion and letters after searching I decided to add my own twist to my version.  Plus the medallion I found on clearance was at a good price!

I had some paint from the nursery furniture and took it to Lowes for color matching and bought lotus flower pink from Sherwin Williams.  Now came the fun part putting it all together.

The medallion was plastic which meant I couldn't paint it to match the furniture, so I had to prime it first.  I bought plastic priming spray paint and after 2 coats I was good to go.  A little side note don't paint late at night, I learned my lesson.  I can't tell you how many bugs I had to scrape off the medallion while the paint was drying but a girls got do what a girls got to do.  I then painted the middle part with the cream color and the outer rim with the lotus flower.  

 

While I was at JoAnns I bought a package of some cheap brushes in all different sizes which really came in handy with this project.  Plus they were so cheap I didn't feel bad throwing them out after this project.

I then painted the letters and circles with the lotus flower paint to tie everything together.  The hardest part of the project was gluing the letters down and spacing, no matter how many times I laid it out it I couldn't get it just right.  After about the 3rd time I finally decided that I couldn't make it perfectly even but just good enough, plus its on the ceiling so people aren't going to be staring right at it because it isn't at eye level.  I have found over the years that some times you just have to go with it and if its not perfect its ok.  Sometimes we can't be perfect like a computer or someone who does this day in and day out as their job and its ok.

All in all I am happy with the light in her room and it only cost about $60 with light and medallion.  Way better than the one I saw online for almost $200.  

Our Nursery Part 2...Let There Be Pink!!!

Our nursery is slowly coming together.  We finally put some paint on the walls this weekend, so what do you think?  

No more builder white.

We went with Sherwin Williams White Dogwood a very, very light pink.  I think it will go really good with the bedding.  I still haven't decided what to do behind the crib. 

I am still in love with doing these stripes behind the crib.

Or painting the wall Sherwin Williams Lotus Flower with a white tree behind the crib and the baby's initials.






Isn't this tree great?  I found it on Etsy by Wall Decal Depot. They have a ton of colors to pick from.  I am leaning towards this tree in white.

Stay tuned for part 3 as we finish up the nursery for our new little arrival.

Baby Jogger City Mini GT Double Stroller - Black/Shadow (Google Affiliate Ad)

Top 10 Favorite Stores for Thrifty Decor

I get asked all the time for my top 10 favorite stores to shop for thrifty decor.  So I thought I would put together a list of my favorite stores:

Home Goods 

I don't know anyone who doesn't love this place, it is the best place to find inexpensive yet unique times.  The key to finding the best stuff before anyone else is to talk to the store employees and find out which day or days the new truck comes and is unloaded.  I found out my favorite store gets it's truck on Tuesdays and Fridays..  So Tuesday afternoon and evening is prime picking time, as well as Saturday morning.  So go ahead and befriend the employees!  My other piece of advice is if you see it buy it, or it might not be there the next time. 

Garden Ridge

When I first discovered this place I thought that it was a garden center, boy was I wrong.  They have tons of patio furniture cushions and garden decor but much, much more. There are rows and rows of pictures, mirrors, lamps, lamp shades, bedding, area rugs, and other home decor items at great prices. You do need to have a list of what you are looking for (of you will be over whelmed) and you might need to dig for that perfect item but it is well worth it for the price. 

Christmas Tree Shops

With a name like this you would think they only had Christmas items all year around, but they don't.  They have awesome home decor and seasonal holiday items for every holiday.  I have bought awesome Halloween, Thanksgiving, and 4th of July decor for out side of my house.  I always get compliments on the items I buy there.  I also bought 2 awesome night stands for my guest room for only $25 each, I just had to screw on the legs and presto I had new night stands.  Great place to find the unexpected. 

Big Lots

Another great store for home decor and holiday decor.  They have great prices on close outs from other stores.  I get most of my holiday decor from here, great selection of out door decor.  My husband and I bought our Broyhill bed room set at a local furniture store when they were closing out the heirloom cherry collection.  Unfortunately they didn't have another night stand we happened to go buy Big Lots that week and there it was for less than the other store.  We loved that collection so much we bought the coffee table and end tables to match at Big Lots all for a whopping $150. What a steal for 3 pieces of real wood furniture!!

Home Decorators

While this store is mainly online you can find some of their pieces at your local Home Depot Stores, Home Depot owns them.  Crazy I know!  I have loved this store since I can remember, we used to have a Home Depot Expo store in my home town when they closed they moved everything online plus more.   Great place to find inspiration and home decor.  I will let you in on a little secret if you see something you like you can wait for it to go on sale and get it for a steal!!! Or sign up for their coupons and shipping specials, I don't buy anything that I don't have a shipping special on.  We have bought furniture from their site for my husbands man room that we adore, but each piece was 75 lbs so thankful for my coupon or the shipping would have been an arm and a leg. 

Ross Stores

Not only is this a great place for clothes but home decor. They have a great selection of accent furniture, pictures, mirrors, and unique vases.  I have been shopping here since I moved into my first apartment.  In fact my husband loves to remind me of the time we went to the Ross Store in San Francisco while on vacation.  We needed to kill an hour before our dinner reservation when I noticed a great picture frame shaped like a window pane that holds 20 photos, 1 in each pane. My poor husband had to carry it 3 blocks on his head back to the hotel, to this day I never hear the end of it.  If you ever go to San Francisco please stop by there 4 story Ross Store.   I have never seen a better Ross in my life. 

Habitat for Humanity

What can I say about this place other than amazing.  Each store is unique as everything is donated by the community and the profits go to Habitat so they can build homes for much deserving families.  I have shopped at stores in Ca and now here in VA.  Both stores have great things but its first come first serve.  So if you see it, you like it, then buy it!!  They have great building materials that you can transform into anything, just like my laundry room sign. I have also bought amazing furniture there that I restored.  Great place especially if you are starting out and are looking for great furniture. 

Cost Plus World Market

I love this store for curtains and pictures for your walls. They have a great selection of pictures for every room in your house.  They curtain selection is equally great if you are looking for 84 inch or 95 inch curtains.  Plus they generally have coupons for 20% off online, via email or with my iphone app.  I have also bought a fabulous pair of towels for my powder room, they have some unusual patterns that are a little out of the box to help jazz up a boring powder room.

JCPenney

I love this place for its curtains.  If you are looking for curtains for any room at a great price this should be your first stop, especially for unique lengths like 108 inch.  We bought are living room curtains here last year for $25 a curtain, that was a great price for 108 inch thermal black out curtains.  I couldn't beat that price anywhere else, plus I had a coupon for more money off. 

Target

Who doesn't love this place?  They have great prices on everything for your home from bedding to picture frames.  My favorite home decor isle is the seasonal decor, this isle is usually located on an end cap of a major isle.  Great accent pieces in fabulous colors.  Keep your eye out for this isle as it changes often and you can score some great deals when they start marking things down.  I bought 2 purple bottle vases for my guest bedroom for under $5.  Someone returned them and they were sitting at an end cap at the back of the store on the bottom shelf when I spotted them. I had seen them weeks earlier for $15 each.  That reminds me walk the back of the home decor isles and look at the end caps for great clearance deals.  Don't be afraid to dig and look on the bottom shelves for great deals. 

These are just a few of my favorite stores.  I have others that I like to score a great deal at as well.  What stores do you love to find a good deal at?

Potter Barn Book Inspiration

Where to find inspiration?

This past July we finally bought our for now dream home.  Our move was such a blur.  I bought the house over the Memorial Day weekend all alone as my husband was still in Afghanistan.  We had just a few weeks to buy a home, move before he came home and we both started our new jobs mid July 60miles from where we currently lived.  Talk about a whirlwind.  Over all I am happy with the home and its blank canvas it provides me.  

I was so focused on getting us moved in that I didn't even think about painting or decorating.  My focus was get us in so we could start our jobs and we will sort everything else out at some point.  

After weeks of packing, moving, and the stress of welcoming home my husband after a year I wasn't in the creative place to decorate.  In a way I had a block similar to writers block.  Has that ever happened to you?

After being sick of living in an unfinished house I need something to help me out of my block.  We had moved 4 times in 4 years and this was the first time I didn't have the house decorated in a matter of days.  I can usually go around and figure out how to make our furniture and decor fit into our new space but this time it was different.  I think partly because I knew we would be in this house for the next 5-7 years and wanted to make sure everything was right.  I didn't want to paint or decorate and not be happy with it.

One day while visiting Pottery Barn Outlet I picked up this book and began flipping thru it and came across a few pictures that I loved.  I really wanted the book but my husband talked me out of it.  Not knowing that while I was looking at it he had ordered it from Amazon to surprise me for my bday.  What a good hubby!!  When the book finally arrived I was so happy I spent a few days marking pages I loved with post it notes.   I finally felt that this block was lifting and the creative juices were flowing.

 If you haven't seen this book I recommend picking it up, they no longer sell it at the stores but you can find it on the internet used for a great price.  The book is full of great inspiration from pictures to how to articles.  A really good read.

One of my favorite sections in the book is the Color chapter.  They really help you pull together groupings of colors that work really well together.  Pottery Barn has really taken a lot of the guess work out of it.  Of course I still had to buy 12 other sample colors just to make sure I was making the right choices but that is another post.

By far my favorite page is 307.  

I love this article about building a color plan, which can be a great foundation to beginning the process of decorating your home.  It shows you how to incorporate different colors in a similar color family and pull it all together so it doesn't look choppy.  We bought a few of the colors from Benjamin Moore who sells Pottery Barn paint.  We loved Collingwood OC-28 and Cape Hatteras Sand AC-34 both have been used in our home. 

Are these not great color plans? Have you put together a color plan for your house?  Where do you get your inspiration from?

 

Restoration Hardware Light Knock Off...

We have this great family room off of our kitchen where I tend to hang out and watch TV.  I wanted a great light for that room.  While my husband wanted a ceiling fan which I can't stand, needless to say I won the war.  While looking I came across these great lights that I fell in love with but I didn't fall in love with the price. 

This option was $300+.  I found the shade in silver sage at the local Restoration Hardware Outlet but the cost was still over $200.  

This one was from the lighting source.  Which was still over budget. 

After having no success finding a light that I would like under $100 I gave up for a few weeks.  It's funny when you stop looking for something all of a sudden you find it!!  

While shopping at our local Cost Plus World Market I came across this great large drum shade that I fell in love with and bought for $25!!!!!  When I brought it home I noticed that it matched my curtains perfectly, needless to say I was in love.  I then began to look for a light fixture to hang in the ceiling to go with my drum shade. 

My next trip to World Market I asked the sales person if they had a light fixture to go with my shade, she said they did.  In the corner we found a $10 kit to hang and light my shade from the ceiling.  It came in black, white, and brushed nickle (pewter).  I bought the nickle/pewter color to go with the everything else in our house.

It only took about 15 minutes for my husband to hook it up and another 15 minutes to figure out the perfect height.  The light was a little too long for our room and I didn't want to hit my head on the light fixture.  We took out a zip tie and began fixing the issue.  Its not perfect but I would say for under $50 it will do. 

What do you think?  The next improvement for this room will be the wall behind the couch I need to figure out what to put on the wall.  I have a mix of paintings and photos to hang I just haven't decided what to do.  I also need to paint the newly installed crown molding or get the hubby to do it.

New Mirrors From Big Lots

While at Big Lots the other day I came across these great silver mirrors for only $5 each., what a steal of a deal!

I have been wanting something to place over my dresser in our bedroom, for a while now.   When I saw these mirrors, I knew they would be perfect to go with the silver sage and brown decor we have in our bedroom.  

I purchased two mirrors to place on the wall above my dresser, for just $10.  Usually you can't find one great mirror for under $10 much less 2 mirrors for $10.  To finish off my dresser I added two vases that I got at Home Goods for $11.99 that match the silver sage bedding that I purchased from Restoration Hardware.  I also found a little vase with white hydrangeas in the clearance section at my local Target for $4.  

This is one of my favorite corners of my home, I love the way the mirrors reflect the light in our bedroom and coordinate with the other decor items in our room.

What great finds have you found at your local Big Lots?

What To Do With Cake Stands?

I don't know about you but we have three cake stands in our home.  Way more than one person needs.  Although they do come in handy around the holiday time, the rest of the year they just sit in my cabinets.

I recently bought this great hutch/wine cabinet that matched our kitchen table in the clearance center at RC Willey.  I loved this piece at the price was really great.  Once we got it into the home I had no idea what to place on the top of it.

While cleaning out our kitchen cabinets I found my large cake stand that turns into a punch bowl and two little cake stands left from our wedding.  These three great pieces take up tons of precious storage space in my kitchen.  As you see we don't have much cabinet space.

I decided to display the cake plates year around on my new hutch.  Not only did it free up two cabinets but I also got to display some of my glass pieces.

To finish up my display I found these great prints at Homegoods for $15.99 each.  I think they are really nice and add to the final look of this previous empty corner.

Next time you are looking for decor for your kitchen, look around your cabinets for items you can display and use in your kitchen.  Double duty decor not only saves money but can save space in your kitchen cabinets.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

I have been dreaming of redoing our mantel for some time.  I have never really liked what was displayed on it.  The only problem is our mantel is only 5 inches deep, which doesn't give you much room. 

 

Here is a picture of what it looked like before.

I decided that I didn't like the candle sconces any more and removed them.  I also didn't like the picture frames up there any more, it really cluttered the mantel.  After I removed these items I felt the mirror was lacking something.  I bought this mirror and two others just like it for $5 about 4 years ago at Big Lots.  I really wanted a new mirror but with our big move coming up I knew a new mirror wasn't in the budget.  My husband said if I could just live with the mirror for a little while longer he would buy me a new one once we move.  

I really don't like the color of the mirror, the mirror was kind of a silver color but looked more gray than silver. 

I forgot to take a picture of the before, but this is the other mirror that is almost identical.

Another picture of the other mirror to show the before.

I decided that I would paint the mirror and give it a new look.  This way I get a new mirror for a few months until I can buy something else.  I took out my Blue Sage paint from Restoration Hardware and got to work.

After two coats of paint I used Rub n' Buff silver to hi-light the detail in the piece and bring out the details.

By making over the mirror using things I had on hand I saved money and got a new look for my mantel and essentially a new mirror.

After making over my mirror, I don't know if I really want a new one (but don't tell me husband).  I really liked the way it came out.  It's amazing how a coat of paint can transform an old, tired, out dated mirror, and turn it into a brand new piece.

***Parties I am linking to this week.***
Twice Owned Tuesday
All Thingz Related
Craft Edition
The Gypsy’s Corner
Coastal Charm
A Silly Little Sparrow
The Pumpkin Patch
Between Naps on the Porch
Making The World Cuter
Cottage Instincts
The Girl Creative
Sumo’s Sweet Stuff
The DIY Showoff
Skip To My Lou
Super Stinky Boys
Keeping it Simple
Tools are for Women too
Mad in Crafts
It’s So Very Cheri
Me and my Bucket
Domestically Speaking
The Trendy Treehouse
Gettin’ Crafty on Hump Day
Heart and Home
T-shirt Diaries
Someday Crafts
Blue Cricket Design
Sew Much Ado
My Backyard Eden
The Thrifty Home
Creations By Kara
House of Hepworths
Somewhat Simple
Tales from Bloggeritaville
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Beyond The Picket Fence
Seven Thirty Three – A Creative Blog
Life as Lori
Thrilling Thursdays @Paisley Passions
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
Decor Momma
Remodelaholic
Fingerprints on the Fridge
Fun to Craft
Miss Mustard Seed
It’s a Hodge Podge Life
The Shabby Nest
Frugal and Fabulous
Kojo Designs
The Girl Creative New Friend Friday
A Few of My Favorite Things
It’s a Blog Party!
My Romantic Home
A Vision to Remember
Funky Junk Interiors
A Little Lovely Along for the Ride
Style Feature Saturday at Perfectly Imperfect