Tag Archives: thrifting

favorite things {holly jolly Christmas edition}

I think it’s time again to share some of my favorite things this Christmas season. Being that it is the season for sharing, giving, gifting. This is random but short, so get ready.

Seriously, is he not the cutest little warmer you’ve ever seen? He is not nearly this orange in real life. Mine looks less like a spray on tan gone bad and much more appropriately brown and woodsy.

And the best scent?

I’m not exactly sure how something can smell “warm” or “rustic”, but whatever. It smells really, really good. Both of these things came from Walmart and I’m not normally a big advocate of theirs, but my little owl and his scent have become some of my favorite wintery season things. Every morning, I come downstairs, plug in the Christmas tree lights, and click on the warmer.

Since it is also flu season, I’ve been loving this Clean Well all natural hand sanitizer {it’s thyme oil!}. I’ve been using it a lot. I think Little Bit thinks this is a standard hand-washing procedure. It smells yummy, too.

I love minty lip gloss in the winter. Yes To Carrots has this “C Me Shine” lip gloss; I like the Carrot Kiss color. A light color and a minty scent.

While out thrifting the other day, I found these vintage hand painted Santa mugs. Perfect for little hands. I now have three of them and they are all slightly different.

I was trying to keep our Christmas decor simple but festive, so instead of buying something else or crafting an ornate something-or-other, I pulled all our Christmas picture books and stuck them in a chicken wire basket. Boom. Christmas decor.

Christmas {my favorite season} + picture books {I love, love books} = Christmas happiness. And then throw in chicken wire and I about pass out with joy. ;)

And that’s about it. Merry week-before-Christmas!

{thrifted} colorful vintage nursery :: part two

I am still loving walking into our new nursery – it just makes me happy. So let’s continue our nursery discussion, shall we? Above is technically the wall behind the door – I wish you could see it without having to come all the way in the room and turn completely around. And then I feel guilty for wishing silly things like that when there are important things that actually matter to think about. But I digress.

Some fun facts: The two embroidered floral pieces (prints? creations? what do you call them?) were thrifted, as were the frames. I made the yarn balls for a baby shower a long time ago and I continue to find random uses for them all over my house. The paper bunting was made by my sister for Baby Sister’s baby shower cake. And at the very bottom of the white shelf thingy is a white diaper pin that was mine and my sister’s. My mom saved it because she is amazing like that. On the right – another cool saving story. Those jeans were my hubby’s dad’s when he was tiny. Seriously, can you believe that?? So Baby Sister’s grandpa wore them. Then my hubby wore them. And then they will hang on the wall of Baby Sister’s room because I cannot in good conscience subject them to another generation of toddlers. The bib above them was mine and my sister’s. Very early 80′s. Gotta represent.

Shelves and aqua bins were a baby shower gift, but came from Lowe’s. The small plaque by Curly Gurl Designs reads, “Welcome to this world, little one. It is even now that much better because you are here.”

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Tissue paper flowers were made by my amazing sister for this baby’s sweet baby shower. They hung over the food table at the shower and I told my sister in no uncertain terms that they were mine asked my sister if I could please take them home to use in the nursery. My mom tied/clustered them together for me and perched perilously on a small step ladder to hang them over the crib. I kept telling her I didn’t mind doing it and she just kept eying my ginormous belly. I got her message.

The adorable alphabet cards are free printables from The Handmade Home. I adore them. How can you go wrong in life if H is for high heels and I is for icing? We’re setting Baby Sister up for success, is what we’re doing.

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Apparently I am slightly obsessed with pompom fringe. I used some coral/red small trim on the new glider cushions and it makes me so happy. That trim actually came from Walmart (gasp!) and it was pretty cheap. I bought plain white heavier curtains at Lowe’s and just sewed some canary yellow pompom fringe down the inside edge. Love it. I had to order it online – Walmart failed me that time. {By the way, I used curtain clip rings to attach the curtains to the rod so they would slide super easily. I found plain blackout liner fabric for a steal at a local fabric store and I just cut it to size and clipped it to the back of the curtains with the same clip rings. No sewing involved. Bam.}

The needlepointed lady on the nightstand was made by my Gran – my mom’s mom. I love that there is a piece of her in this room. The sweet quilt draped over the crib is one that was made for my hubby when he was a baby.

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I put new blue knobs {$2 each at Lowe’s} on the small chest of drawers and spray painted the lamp base yellow. I tied a leftover crib bumper tie around the top of the lamp. {Don’t ask why I had a leftover tie – apparently I cannot count correctly from 1 to 22.} The bunny is the softest stuffed animal I have ever felt and was a gift from my sweet aunt. The mirror was an antique store find in Marble Falls. I love the aging glass on it.

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And there you have it. A colorful, vintage, “collected-over-time-look” nursery and guest bedroom combo. And best of all, it is done and waiting for a sweet Baby Sister. I’ll let you know as soon as she arrives! {If you missed part one of the nursery, go here!}

{thrifted} colorful vintage nursery :: part one

After a flurry of nesting activity spanning several weeks, I’m so happy to say that our combo guest room and nursery are done! I’ve been singing that Wizard of Oz song with my own words in there…la, la, the nursery’s done, the nursery’s done, the nursery’s done!

As soon as we found out this little one was another sweet girl, I started gathering ideas and regularly hitting up our local thrift stores. No, wait. Scratch that. I’ve been gathering ideas for another nursery since I did Little Bit’s nursery two and a half years ago. Cause that’s just how I roll.

I knew I wanted a bright, colorful, vintage-y, happy vibe. So I started with fabric. I hit the vintage fabric jackpot one random day at a thrift store and that really got my brain going. Thrift stores are the perfect place to find fabric, y’all. Sheets, pillow cases, table cloths, bed skirts, unfinished fabric craft projects, fabric remnants – it’s all there for super cheap.

I was really drawn to graphic, bright, prints in a variety of colors. So here’s what you see coming in to the room…

Y’all know I love to not spend money and use what I have and repurpose things, so let’s break it down. We’ll start with the guest bedroom side of things. The guest bed is a queen – a bit big for the room, especially for a combination nursery. BUT it is what we had and it’s comfortable for our guests. Sometimes {actually, most of the time for me} you just gotta work with what ya got! I think we tried the bed in every possible position in this room and this seemed to work the best. Definitely not ideal, but WWWYG. {Work with what ya got!}

Guest Bed Details:

I thrifted a white duvet cover for $13 to replace the dark brown duvet cover that was on the bed. It was then that I realized I had stuffed an old BLACK comforter inside the old duvet cover. And the new white cover had lace cutwork in the middle of it. Which equals black showing through my white duvet cover EVERYWHERE. So I did what any lazy girl would do. I found an old white sheet in the back of the linen closet and sewed just the corners of the white sheet {I’m telling you, super lazy} to the top of the old black comforter. Now you just see white through the lace. And I am happy because I didn’t have to spend any money.

I had the white bed skirt on the bed already. I also already had the red & white ottoman {gift from my sis a couple of years ago} and my mom gifted me the white ruffle-y shams. I thrifted the two crocheted blankets from a local shop for $5 each. The bright coral pillowcases came from Walmart for $7 for the pair. I thrifted the two throw pillows for $5 each and the quilted flower sham came from Tuesday Morning for $10. So under $50 for a complete bed remake. Be still my thrifty heart.

 

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So come on around to the other side of the room, where the crib is.

 

Crib Bedding Details:

All the fabric for the crib bedding was thrifted, except for the aqua & orange dot fabric and the ribbon piping. The outside of the bumper is yellow dotted swiss fabric. I love that is has a texture. The bumper ties are some really bright graphic vintage napkins I thrifted {$3 for set of 4} and cut into strips. Crib sheets are white ones from Walmart. The skirt is layered – the bottom layer is a thrifted bed skirt {$3} that I just had to make a little smaller. {By the way, I totally did this the lazy way and just folded it underneath the crib mattress to be the correct size. A true seamstress would have cut and sewn and done it right. Good thing I’m not a seamstress.} The top layer of the crib skirt is a vintage sheet I thrifted {$2} and again, folded under the crib mattress to be the correct size. And really, in the long run, the lazy way is great because when you have to lower the mattress, you can adjust the length of the skirt really easily. Or maybe that is just how I justify being lazy.

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On to the walls.

I wanted the gallery wall to wrap around the corner over the bed. To try to help the bed position make sense. And to try to detract from the fact that there is a giant half-door for our AC over the bed. I’m not sure if the gallery wrap-around wall helps, but I do like it. Everything was thrifted – frames, embroidery hoops, fabric, vintage needlepoint, and the vintage floral painting.

So that’s a lot of pictures and words and typing. I’ll do part two tomorrow, and cover the other parts of the room, alphabet cards, and crib mobile. Stay tuned!

the story of the kitchen lights

 

Three years ago when we bought our house, we made a TON of changes. We painted almost every surface, re-did baseboards, installed new hardware, bought new kitchen appliances, re-did the hardwood floors, scraped off all the popcorn ceilings…you get the idea. I made lots and lots of color choices/design decisions in a short amount of time. This is never good for someone like me. I like to take my time, think about it, and generally just analyze it to death before making a decision. {This applies to everything from ordering my Starbucks coffee to choosing paint colors. I’m sure everyone around me loves this :)}

So, on to the reason for this post – the four pendant lights that hang over our L-shaped island in the kitchen.

They used to be recessed, canned lights. Technically, they still are. We got those light kits at Lowe’s that turn a canned light into a pendant light. I love those kits. Absolutely great for non-committal people like me.

The problem came in on our choice of pendant light.

Meh. Faux crackles, gold colors, shiny-ness. Not horrible but very old-world, Tuscan-ish. I like them okay when we bought them, but I was ready for some simplifying and some clean lines. So I tried this first.

It was actually pretty freakin’ cool-looking, on or off. But I used hot glue for all the coffee filter flowers and they kept popping off all the live-long day. And you could see the underside of the faux crackles and I didn’t have any ideas on how to fix that.

On to the next idea.

I trekked to our local Habitat ReStore. Of course, without exact measurements for how wide the hole at the top should be. I’m a rebel like that. So about 30 minutes of sorting through the shelves of replacement glass, putting Little Bit in and out of the cart 27 times and being a broken record of “look with your eyes, don’t touch”, I finally found 4 matching glass pieces that I thought would work.

Oh wait, didya see that?

Oh yes. Three dollars each. Three dollars of simple white milk glass goodness. They needed a bath big time, so I hand-washed them and set them out to dry.

I did turn off the breaker to these lights before attempting to replace the glass, for all you safety-conscious folk out there. But then I did stand my 8-month pregnant self on top of our very high bar stools to switch them out. What can I say? I’ve gotta get my adventure somewhere.

Ta-da! I LOVE them! They bring in a lighter, cleaner, “schoolhouse” look. Pretty sweet for 12 bucks!

I keep staring at them. I love them. It totally is helping transform the kitchen. I still want to paint the kitchen cabinets SW Colony Buff to brighten things up. And I have one more light fixture to find some replacement glass for – it’s a flush-mount one in the middle of the kitchen. It needs a little less Tuscan, a little more schoolhouse. But there is always stuff on the to-do list for a refeatherer like myself.

So that’s the story of the kitchen island lights. And they lived happily ever after.

 

 

vintage chalkboard makeover

While waiting in another town for my missing phone to be found {long story}, I had an hour or so to kill. What do you do when Little Bit is in school and you have a free hour? Why, you go thrifting of course!

I stumbled across this sweet little boutique that was having a 50% off sale, so I scored this genuine vintage chalkboard for a mere $20! It is the perfect kid-size and has a fab worn feel to it. However, the supports that hold it in place when you open it were long gone and the top used to have a paper roll thing but it was in pretty rough shape, too.

You can see the moth-eaten, hole-filled paper in the top and the fabric support straps dangling off the bottom rung. Easy fixes, though. That’s the thing about thrifting with me…the repairs and fixes I will have to do to a find have to be pretty easy and quick. I think the term for this is “lazy thrifter”.

There are two dowel-like rods on the top and bottom of the paper roll. I started unrolling the scroll and the roll of paper was probably a good 2 feet long. Unfortunately, most of the paper looked like the above pic when I unrolled it. Boo. BUT, the very top was in pretty good condition, so I cut off the hole-y, torn part and now just this is showing…

I don’t mind the torn corner – adds character in my book. And this was my favorite part of the whole scroll thing anyway. The other pictures on it were kind of random and, well, weird. Think jungle birds, sports, and circus animals. Not sure what they were going for there.

I opened up the chalkboard to about how far I wanted the legs to stand apart. I simply took some of my aqua polka-dot ribbon from my ribbon stash and very scientifically and precisely measured out a length, cut it, and tied it off.

Easy, peasy. My absolute favorite kind of thrift makeover :)

 

On the backside, there is a weird half-panel of wood. So I think I’m just going to take that off and replace it with a full piece of thin wood (approximately the size of the chalkboard on the front) and then screw on a giant clip to hold large paper.

Let the toddler creativity begin!

new nursery sneak peek

 

Here’s what I’ve been thrifting/collecting/printing recently for the new nursery…



I’m really excited! With Little Bit’s nursery, I did soft and pink/green, so I’m pumped to add some big splashes of bright colors for Baby Girl #2. My mom is coming to help me move furniture around, and rearrange to start transforming our guest room into a combo guest room/nursery. 


Of course, this means Little Bit will be moving to a big girl bed in the near future. Any tips for this transition? She’ll be in a queen bed with 2 side rails and we’re not changing her room or anything. I would seriously love any comments or suggestions about this! :)

The Unexpected

I have recently been really appreciating the unexpected in styling my casa. I love to look at pretty pictures (what girl doesn’t?) and I’m loving these non-predictable pops.



This is from the Nester’s fabulous-0 house. Can you get more unexpected than a {insert correct fish name here} over your TV? She also has this and this in her beautiful home. I’m humming the McDonald’s theme song right now, I’m lovin’ it so much!

Anywho, I’ve slowly been trying to incorporate the unexpected into our home. Like this.

This is our Anthropologie-inspired wall art via the Nester. Coffee filters, burlap, and scraps of fabric. Can I get an Amen?? This hangs above our bed. And yes, the right side needs a little repair (see the big empty-looking coffee filter?). Hubby gets a little crazy flinging throw pillows off the bed. 

This rests on our mantle. Deer antlers + glass apothecary jar = LOVE. Rustic nature contrasted against reflective, airy glass. Mmmm, delish. Inside the jar is a collection of yarn balls, faux eggs, and book page-wrapped balls. Just in case any of the 3 people that read my blog didn’t know that already :)


My new end table. Had 2 of the suitcases for a while, from random thrift stores, then finally found the third at another thrift store. It does pay to be patient, after all. Who knew? 

And finally, I would not be me without an appreciation for the details. 

On our dining room table. My super-fun, curly fig plant rests on Monkeys Never Say Please, which rests on Ballet Shoes. Unexpectedness (word?) in the details, too!

Anyone else have some unexpectedness (I need a new word) in their homes? I wanna see!
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