A new project

*warning* decorating vision needed!!!

I found this very cute shaped,  but hideously painted chest on Craigslist last year for $30.  It has been waiting in my storage room (aka basement) ever since.    It has a nice french feel to it, and dovetail drawers to boot! The down side is,  there is a laminate top so I can either paint it or cover it with tile or a piece of stone....

The problem is I can't decide what color to paint it?????  I go from cream and glazed, to black with some red peeking through.  Then I think all red.  And then I skip to robin's egg blue with maybe some gold in the inset on the drawers......  HELP!     I usually have vision, but I'm stumped! 

How can you see this done?  My colors in my house are mostly golds, reds and greens with black  mixed in!  Would LOVE to hear your ideas!

Last weeks finds

I have been trying to be GOOD, but it is SO hard sometimes when you find such great things for pennies! I always stick to the rule of if something comes in, something goes out. Which works out well and hopefully I won't end up on an episode of Hoarders!!!! LOL!

I have been wanting one of these bottles since seeing the Demijohn here but the thrifty side of me would never pay that. I even bought a bottle and some twine to make my own after seeing Thrifty Decor Chic make one! And I still will prbably try my hand at it because it looks like so much fun! But when I saw this baby for $2.99 I knew she was mine! :)

The basket is one of my favorites, seriously though, what isn't my favorite?

Can you tell I like my stuff?? :) But I do have a thing for baskets, I just can't help it! I will show you some of them another time. It would need it's own post! The mugs were adorable for only 99 cents each. And the little oil, well that was going home with me! I might give it my makeover, that you can see here and here. Not sure yet though the red is growing on me a little bit!

I love books with lots of photographs of the Kennedy's. Not only do I think they truly were a happy family (despite what might have been going on). The fact that they have such a large photo journal of their life captivates me. I found this book and knew it would come home with me.

Seriously though, I have been thinking a lot about how I decorate my home. When I am looking for accessories or pictures, I always check the local thrift stores or consignment shops first. Then of course there is Craigslist and Ebay and we cannot forget ETSY! Be still my heart! I never seem to go to a "real" store anymore for those items. With the exception of an occasional visit to Homegood's or TJ Maxx.

OH and I almost forgot this cute little silver monogrammed plate. Of course it's a P and not my monogram, but what is not to love?

It just seems more fun to "hunt" for them. And now with yard sale season beginning, I'm making my shopping list and keeping it in the car! Not only is this shopping a fun way to get things but it truly results in one of a kind decorating and VERY easy on the pocketbook!

What are you on the hunt for? What are your favorite places to shop? I'd love to hear about it! :)

 I'm joining Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality's linky party.   I'm a little "blonde" and can't figure out a way to post Rhoda's Thrifty Treasures button, so just click here to join in the fun!!! 

Happy Easter!!!

I hope you all had a blessed Easter. He has RISEN for us!

My sweet hubby was one of the disciples in a reinactment of the Last Supper in church today. Jimmy Deyoung III did the story telling and it was fantastic. It really truly brought you through what happened the night before. Then they closed with a video of Jesus carrying the cross and then being crucified. I was crying and felt so moved. The price He paid for our sins is something we don't deserve. What a loving God we have!

An Easter egg hunt!

Yesterday we had an Easter egg hunt at my sisters house. The kids had a blast running around in the beautiful weather finding all the eggs filled with treats. It is a tradition my sister has done for years and it's always a lot of fun! This is our gang, we are missing my sister Monica, my nephew Joe and I'm taking the picture. So usually there are 3 more! :)

We also colored our eggs earlier in the day. I always love watching how creative they are in any project we do together. Even Madi tried to do some, but decided eating them was much more fun!

It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend here and we are all so grateful! The kids ate lunch outside yesterday, a true sign that spring is here.

I hope you all have a very blessed Easter! :)

Yankee Candle (part 2 of our roadtrip)

*Disclaimer* This post was thought to be lost in space but was found!! :)

Let me start off by saying Yankee Candle was completely different than I expected. And that is in a good way! I have recently reconnected with one of my dear friends from childhood via facebook. And it's been so nice to hang out again.

This place is a haven for children! I would have never guessed it. The kids got to meet the real Santa and also the real Mrs Santa! I think this picture says it all, a very intense conversation with Mr Clause. Very exciting stuff!

The kids got their faces painted. They also had these awesome 200 piece puzzle that I forgot to take a picture of, which was each boy in the picture with spongeBob and Patrick. Very cute and personal item. Oh and how can I forget, candlemaking!

The home section was beautiful and the Vera Bradley display was divine. A nice day spent with good friends. It was a wonderful first day of winter recess and the boys are still talking about it!

A thrifty solution

Actually, I should have named it the no cost project! I recently ordered an adorable small computer desk from Home Decorator's Collection on clearance. It was just what I needed. I had been watching Craigslist and my favorite thrift stores for months with no luck. So I bit the bullet and bought a new one.

My sweet husband put it together for me. Well after putting my keyboard in the keyboard tray I noticed that it was kind of deep and uncomfortable for typing, not good, lol. So I sat here for a minute and then the lightbulb in my head went off! I took a piece of the foam it was packed with and ran down to the basement. I found a piece of fabric in my stash to use. Then I got some spray adhesive and sprayed all sides of the foam and then smooth out the fabric on it so there were no wrinkles. Try to put it on as "flat" as possible to avoid wrinkles. Then I wrapped it on the ends like I would wrap a gift and glued it with fabri-tac, this stuff is AWESOME. And of course I took pictures to share with you!

I joined the linky parties at
My backyard Eden make it yours day
&
A Soft Place to land DIY day!
Come join the fun! :)

A new look and YAY blogger has new templates!!!

Just as I was on the vvveerrrggggeeeee of switching to Typepad (which is not free) or Wordpress (which is a little too technologically advanced for me) I got an email from Blogger that they have some fresh new templates to choose from in "blogger in draft". My biggest complaint with them before was the pictures were too teeny tiny for me! And the center column was too narrow. I want HUGE and VIBRANT pictures. And a nice wide posting column to achieve this. And was so EXCITED when I saw the edits for BOTH of these items!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!! Let's just say I'm a little happy over this, can you tell?




I have another frame makeover to show you. The first ones I blogged about are here . I got this oil painting at my favorite consignment shop (which I will be showcasing pretty soon so stay tuned!). It had red around the inside of the frame which was nice. But I thought hmmmmm black would be SO much better! And it is! At least I think so! Oh and the best part of this is that I got the oil "for free" because I bring things to consign to this store so I always have credit which = free shopping! To say this is fun is an understatement! Excuse the night time crappy pictures!

Before.....

After......

I'm linking up to Fingerprints on the Fridge's Feature yourself Friday linky party! :)
Stay tuned, next post I have a vote! I need your opinions! :)