Thrifty Tips

Has anyone picked up a copy of Laura Spencer's, I Brake For Yard Sales?

I'm still waiting to get my hands on it but MSN Living featured

a few rooms she put together using vintage/used items all while using a limited budget.

These are honestly my favorite types of makeovers because it takes true talent to turn something old and ugly into new and refreshing.

Here are a few of her rooms:

She offers a lot of great tips on what to use while on a budget.

Here, she found original art for $75. Compare that to a well known artist who charges in the hundreds or even the thousands and you've saved yourself quite a bit.

Another trick up her sleeve is hunting for deals on the Internet.

She found these designer nightstands on Ebay for only $135 a piece.

Everyone knows a great solution to unattractive fabric.

Reupholster! (Just like I had these chairs redone here)

And here the chairs are in a fun plaid print:

It's hard to believe that almost everything in this room was a thrift find!

I need to be more like this woman!!

Last but not least, the coveted campaign furniture...

(Very similar to my dresser, here)

Loving the inspiration!

Everyone needs to own a copy of this book!

Click here to buy it at Amazon.com



Reupholster & Repaint

Remember these chairs?

They were a thrift find from long ago. Too long ago.

Well they had a bit of a makeover and they now reside in my living room.

And here's the set a bit more dressed up...

I used this fabric that I purchased from Fabric.com

I wasn't about to take on the reupholstering job so I set out to find a professional.

I was able to get a great deal by calling around for prices. 

Don't stop at the first quote your given.

 The 4th place I called quoted a third of the price than the first place did. 

Also, don't forget to check references. Reupholstering is not cheap and you don't want to pay to do the job twice.

You will also notice my walls could pass for a patch-work quilt.

Who knew deciding on the perfect gray/green/white color could be so hard.

I'm getting to the point where almost every room in my house has been repainted.
Thank the good Lord because it was pretty obvious we did not know what we were doing when it came to paint selections!

I like to refer to the original living room color as "skin."
With a name like that, it's time to repaint.

After pictures hopefully soon!

Off To The Upholsterer

I've had these chairs sitting in storage for the past year

and a half with the hopes of one day reupholstering them.

Well that day has finally come because I just dropped them off this morning.

I'm getting them redone in this fabric I ordered from Fabric.com

Hopefully I will have some after pictures by the end of next week!

Herringbone Box

This past weekend I decided to venture into the dark corner of my

 basement where I store all my "fixer-uppers."

Fixer-Upper: Usually a sad looking household item that I claim to see potential in.

This weeks contender happens to be a very beat up, faux wood box that has seen better days.

It was a pretty easy makeover.

I already had the colored paint leftover from our bedroom so all I needed was tape, white spray paint, and decorative corners. After some tedious taping (I chose a herringbone pattern), here is my new & improved box!

I hope this inspires someone else to fix up those less than pretty leftovers!

Rug Reveal

If you've stuck with me for a while you will know I was on a mission to revamp my living room.

I removed my old rug, switched out some furniture and kinda started from scratch.

My main focus was getting a new rug. Here were my requirements:

• Had to with stand kitty claws and messy husbands
• Easy maintenance. (My last rug was a pain to vacuum)
• Subtle, neutral pattern - I want to be able to change my decor around it.
• Appropriate size & price.

I gave a rug from Ikea a try but in the end, It just wasn't working for me so I returned it.

When all stores fail, check the interent.

Overstock.com was able to provide me with my new rug and I have been living with it for the last week testing it out. Here's a link to it if anyone's interested.

Look closely at the online picture above and see if you can spot what's wrong with the rug in my living room.

 It's blue!

And before anyone thinks I accidentally ordered the navy color instead of grey, your wrong.

I double checked the the packaging and it says charcoal grey.

I guess it isn't a true blue but nonetheless, I was kinda disappointed my rug didn't show up looking like the online picture.

Since my new rug had a blue undertone, it clashed horribly with my new campaign dresser so I decided to move that into my kitchen nook.

I replaced it with a console table I scored at Target a few years back when they still did their World Bazaar. Could someone at Target talk to corporate about bringing that back please?! They had such great stuff.

 

So far I love my rug. It shows no signs of wear (even though it has only been a week) and it vacuums easily.

It may not have been the color I wanted but I don't mind the blue/grey either.

Now that I can check a new rug off my list I will be working on getting new window treatments and accent pillows for color.

I'll keep you posted!

Campaign Dresser: Before & After

My coveted campaign dresser is finally done!

Thank the Lord because this thing was wearing me out between all the wrong paint choices and never having enough time to work on it.

Here is the before shot of my campaign dresser I scored off Craigslist:

I figured I'd use a pretty basic tutorial to refinish it. Nothing over the top and fancy.

First step was to remove the brass hardware and give the whole thing a good sanding.

I used a 120 grit paper for the first sanding to get all the scratches and dents smoothed out. After that, I would sand in between each prime & paint layer with  400 grit.

Next step was to prime.

I used Zinsser Fast Prime 2.

I chose the water-base over oil-base because of the easy clean up and low odor.

It went on really well with great coverage.

You can get this primer tinted in a few options so since I was painting the dresser a dark blue, I had the primer tinted to the darkest color possible. 

I used a roller brush for the front of the drawers and top and sides but this little foam brush worked perfect for the small trim on the front.

I only needed to do 1 coat of primer because of the great coverage. But before I painted I made sure to sand lightly with my 400 grit paper to smooth out any imperfections.

I had mentioned earlier that I painted my first layer the wrong color. I was going for more of a dark navy blue but when the paint dried, it had too much of a grey undertone. I should also mention I purchased my paint in a flat finish. I knew I was going to be using a semi-gloss sealer in the end so there was no need to buy paint with any gloss to it. This paint color is called Chanson Bleu.

So I tried again with a new paint color this time. It's called Blue Navy from Pittsburgh Paint.

 I gave the dresser another sanding and then added 2 more layers of the new paint color. (Sanding in between layers of course)

The last step was to apply the polyurethane.

Here's what I used:

I chose a semi-gloss because I didn't want the dresser to have too much shine to it.

And again, water base because of the easy clean up and low odor.

It also has a drying time of only 3 hours so I was able to apply 2 coats in one evening.

And here is my new campaign dresser:

To be honest, I was going for more of a dark navy and it kind of turned into a dark royal blue.

Maybe one day when I'm ambitious enough I will redo it but for now I'm happy with the finished product.

One step closer to getting this room done!

Rug-less & Blue Paint

Since the start of this week, I have encountered a few mishaps while trying to put my living room back together. I mentioned I was in search for a new rug. I looked everywhere and while I found a few contenders, they either proved to be the wrong size or too expensive.

This is when I resorted to Ikea.

Now before anyone starts calling me an Ikea hater, let me state that I do love Ikea and shop there often.

But I tend to stay away from the bigger items like rugs & furniture because it seems like every other person out there has the same exact thing.

Well the internal battle for originality loss because I brought home this rug:

And here it is in my living room:

I guess you could say I liked it but I wasn't in love with it.

And I am looking for love here people.

 Plus, it was a little to small for the space.

Here's a better view to see what I am talking about:

Pay no attention to the random cord and cat

I had made up my mind and back to Ikea went the rug.

That left me searching the Internet for a better alternative.

That's when I found this rug on Overstock.  

I loved the distorted chevron pattern and it even came in 3 other colors!

It was priced well and was the correct size.

I was sold but apparently my husband wasn't because I was told I had to wait a week to make sure we didn't find something else for a better price.

The. Biggest. Mistake. Ever.

I went on the site this past Monday and it was sold out!

I couldn't believe it.

My husband has received the stink eye from me ever since.

So as for now, I'm still still rug-less and waiting for Overstock to HOPEFULLY bring my rug back.

Oh, and why let all the fun stop there?

I only painted my new campaign dresser the WRONG shade of blue.

The color looked nothing like the swatch so that project is currently getting fixed as well.

Lets hope the end of the week gets a little better.

Here's to blue paint and rug-stalking!

Craigslist Find: Campaign Dresser

Like every other blogger out there, I was waiting to get my hands on a Campaign dresser.

I didn't realize how difficult that would prove to be.

I was constantly checking the local Craigslist (and even the not-so-local Craigslist) but came up with nothing.

With my plans slightly diminished, I decided to let it go with the hopes of maybe stumbling upon one in the future.

So you can imagine when I saw this on Craigslist one day I was beyond excited.

And when the asking price was this: $40.00

I was even MORE excited.

Who finds a campaign dresser for $40??

Uhm, Me. That's who.

I was even more surprised when I went to pick it up how nice it was.

Very clean, Had all the original brass handles and it even came with a glass top.

Here it is in my living room.

Old age took a toll on the brass handles as you can see.

And here is the glass top.

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it but it might be handy with preventing scratches.

I'm currently half way through the refinishing process. I've got as far as sanding and priming and now I just have to paint it. I'm going to use a dark navy blue to really make the brass details stand out.

It's taking a bit longer than expected but hopefully I'll get some after pictures by early next week.

Anyone else have a campaign piece? I'm always looking for a good before & after.

Hint, Hint...

I'll give you a hint on what I recently scored off Craigslist....and it's not the bamboo mirror

Via

Via

Via

Via

 More on my new CAMPAIGN DRESSER next week!
Hope everyone has a great weekend.