Adding Colour

 

S l o w l y but surely, I've been adding colour to our home. Granted, we did paint our walls this beautiful blue/green/grey colour in our living room (I can't for the life of me remember the name) but other than that, things were pretty neutral. Grey rug. Beige couches. Black coffee table. Nothing special. Colour has been showing itself (besides the walls in the living room) by accessories: art, pillows, mirrors, flowers, and books.

Take this mirror for example. A couple weeks ago, my youngest sister and I went thrift shopping and I found this little beauty for $5. 

I knew that I wanted it yellow as soon as I saw it. Instead of spray painting it, I grabbed a bottle of acrylic yellow paint, a foam brush and got to it. If I knew how difficult it was going to be painting all the millions of nooks and crannies with a foam brush, I would have gone out and bought a can of spray paint, but I didn't. *Sigh* It took way longer than I was expecting to paint it, but once it was finished, and hung on the wall, it was all worth it. 

As you can see, I still have the black coffee table, beige couches and grey carpet, but there is a lot more colour going on. The red bench, the yellow mirror, the banner over the fireplace, the pillows on the couch, and the globe on the bookcase. Oh, and let's not forget the bright yellow exersaucer behind the couch. :) 

Here's a side-by-side from when we just moved in, to how it is right now:

How do you add colour in your home? 

Thrifty Treasures

 

It's no secret that I love going into a thrift store or stopping at a garage sale and scoring a great deal.There is something about seeing something that just captures you and is the right price.

I thought I'd let you see some of the things that have recently caught my eye and came home with me.

Oh yes, this lovely plate. True words. Especially when you have an infant and a toddler who likes to get up at 6:00 am. 

I have been seeing pictures of globes all over Pinterest and I just love how happy they look when they are all grouped together. This is the beginning of a, hopefully, great collection.

How pretty are these daisies all over this coffee canister? It's not actually holding coffee but a whole lot of Earl Grey tea.

I found this little wooden caddy/container/whatever it is, and decided it would be perfect for holding some pretty yellow napkins.

I'm hoping to get to some garage sales today and tomorrow and see if there are any cheap globes, embroidery hoops, and unique picture frames.

Do you love garage sales and thrift stores? What treasures are you hoping to find this summer?

Happy weekend! 

{DIY} Bulletin Board...For Cheap!

 

I have always loved the look of a nicely framed bulletin board. Every time I saw one in a store, I would pick it up...contemplate buying it...turn it over to look at the price...and put it right back on the shelf. I seriously could not justify spending $30+ for a bulletin board. 

Then I found this little $3 beauty in the thrift store: 

  (I had already taken the picture out of the frame)

First I thought I would use it for a chalkboard. Then because I made this chalkboard out of our old bathroom mirror, I changed my mind to a bulletin board. The only problem was to find a big enough piece of cork material for the frame. 

I searched around in a couple of stores (too expensive and not big enough) and then my dear husband said they had tons of extra lying around in the warehouse from old flooring jobs. 

After spray painting the frame antique white, I rolled out the cork and measured it to the frame. I used heavy duty tape and a staple gun so it would lie flat on the back of the frame. 

Not too shabby for $3! 

Now it's the perfect spot to pin up Scripture, words of encouragement and any other reminders that we might need.

Happy weekend! 

Open Those Eyeballs

Weird title. But it works. Because today we're going to have a little look into my home and discover what items I've bought from one of our thrift stores in town.

When you go to the thrift store, keep your creative mind open and be ready to look at an item in a different way. A tiny crate? It's now a remote holder. An ugly picture frame? With a little spray paint, it's now something that you are proud to hang in your home. For next to nothing. 

So open those eyeballs and get ready to see some of the items that have come home with me in the past. 

First up: a little blue wooden caddy that I put crayons into and voila: Gavin is now a budding artist (And I get to colour too. Bonus!)

I usually start in the book section when I get into the thrift store. I use to work at a book store and when I was working there I could afford to buy books. Now that I'm not working there, the thrift store is a great place to pick up a cheap book. If it's terrible, I just give it back (and I have done that).

I discovered pant hangers make great displays for printable art. Just print and hang. Easy and can be changed up however often you want. 

Furniture is a great thing to find at the thrift store. Look for sturdiness, but don't worry if it's ugly. That's what paint is for, which is what I did with the little bookshelf that is in Gavin's room. 

I like to find little crates that I can place on my table, bookshelves, or like I mentioned before, for our T.V. remote. Cute and functional. 

Baskets are a great item to find at the thrift store. I don't really know why people give them away, but I am grateful that they do! I have a mild obsession with baskets. However, like I have told Jesse, I can always use them for something - Gavin's books and toys (and him too I guess), extra candles, cookbooks, towels, craft supplies.

Like I mentioned before, furniture is great to buy at the thrift store, like Gavin's stool and the old metal stool that I gave a little makeover to.

This mirror was an ugly shade of brown before I gave it a coat of white spray paint. Now it looks like I paid and arm and a leg for it, while I actually probably spent $15. 

I mentioned that I usually start out in the book section in the thrift store, because they are not only good for reading, but also for stacking and displaying items. If you think the cover is ugly, just take it off and show the beautiful colours of the book. 

Containers are another great item that I keep my eyes out for. I am storing paintbrushes in one in my craft room, cooking utensils in another in our tiny kitchen, and then the white jug that is above is perfect for wild flowers or just on it's own! Again, if it's not the colour that you are wanting, break out the spray paint and make it yours! Just not in the store. That would be awkward. And wrong. 

Don't be afraid to look in the material section. That's where I buy a lot of my fabric for pillows, curtains, and my fabric hoop art. Just wash before use. 

Oh and before I forget, children's clothes are a great thing to buy at the thrift store. Just double check on the quality and if there are stains. Since kids grow out of things so quickly and their clothes are for some reason still pretty expensive ($20 for a pair of baby jeans? I don't think so!), thrift stores are a great place to find some cute new outfits for your kiddos. If you're lucky, they may have 50% off days where you can get clothes even cheaper. Always remember, wash them before wearing. 

So there's a few items for you to grab some inspiration from. Never been in a thrift store? I'll wipe my shocked expression on my face and urge you to go exploring in one today! You'll never know what you might find. Really. So get to it! 

Happy weekend! (And hopefully thrift store hunting!) 

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Stool Re-Do

A few years ago when I was out thrift store shopping and garage-saling, I bought this stool that was extremely ugly but had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, I can't show you how ugly it was since I didn't take any pictures of the process. I redid it in a beautiful white fabric with yellow fern leaves all over it. It was perfect. Until I realized that having a stool for kids to sit on with light fabrics was a very bad idea. 

As you can see from the pictures, it has stains all over it. It looks quite gross. I decided to redo it once again, but this time with a darker fabric. I picked up some navy blue fabric with yellow flowers and set to work. If you've never done an upholstery on something because you think it's too hard, it's really not! Simple remove the old fabric and staples. I find needle-nose pliers are the best tool to have on hand. Since the padding was still nice and clean, I reused it. I cut the new fabric to size and attached it using a staple gun. It only took me 15 minutes in total to redo this stool.

Much better, right? I'm sure it will get spilled on and stained but hopefully, (fingers crossed!) you won't be able to see it quite so badly. 

Have you ever redone something only to find out 

that you used to wrong fabric or supplies? Share with us :) 

Hopefully on Monday I'll have some fun pictures of what we're going to be doing tomorrow and Saturday. I'm also hoping to get a few more projects completed to show you!

A Thrifty Makeover

It's no secret that I like to wander the aisles of a thrift store. I love the hunt and the find of something that you had no idea that you were looking for! For cheap! 

A little while ago, I pulled into the parking lot of one of our local thrift stores with the intention of looking for more embroidery hoops for this project. I always start off with the book section, then I go to the baskets, containers, huge ugly frames, material, and then end up in the furniture section. 

And that is where I found these beauties: 

I didn't mind the colour of them, besides the fact that they were disgustingly filled with who knows what kind of dirt and the metal legs looked horrible. But for $4.99 for each, I knew I could use them for our small entrance way. 

I spray primed and painted the legs a dark blue that actually matches the large mirror above (not on purpose). I then covered the seats with one of my favourite patterns that I have found at the thrift store, which is actually a double flat sheet. 

 It brings some cheerfulness to a small entrance wall and a place to put on our shoes. 

Not bad for $4.99! 

What have you made over from the thrift store lately? 
 
Oh and Happy Canada Day! I hope you get a chance to play outside (or read), do some BBQing and watch some fireworks! If the rain stays away, those are our plans too. Here's hoping! 


Happy weekend!

 

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