Frugal Decorating

Last minute, cheap Christmas gift/stocking stuffer

2009-12-21T16:19:00.000-08:00

So I needed a SUPER QUICK, cheap little gift for a stocking stuffer. I decided to give Mod Podge a try. I have never used it before!! It is actually really cool. So, I used my leftover tiles from my stencil/coaster project, I bought wrapping paper from the dollar store, and ribbon from the dollar store. Then I made these!

They aren't perfect, but hey they are cute, fast, and under $5.o0! All I did was put a layer of mod podge, cut out sections of the wrapping paper I liked, and then two more layers of mod podge. Then I sprayed them with acrylic sealer and glued 4 felt circles onto the bottom. By the way, I didn't buy the pre-made felt circles that are like $5.99, I just bought a sheet of felt for $.029 at Michael's and cut circles out and glued them on! Twenty-nine cents!

I finished by tying them up with my ribbon from the dollar store. They have BEAUTIFUL Christmas ribbon right now.

2009-12-14T15:44:00.000-08:00

My husband and I were doing some shopping the other night, and we stopped in J Crew. Everything in that store I am dying to have, but I really liked these delicate little headbands they had. Here is a picture of one of them.

Only problem of course, they were like $15.00! My husband gave me the idea that I could probably make them! Duh! Why didn't I think of that. So I went home and literally spent like 30 minutes and made 2. I am so glad I didn't waste my money and buy them. But I was thinking these would make cute little stocking stuffers or presents. You could even add little flowers or anything pretty really. All I did was start with a plain headband, wrap ribbon around it, and hot glue a bow on top. Easiest project ever! Since I had the ribbons and headbands already, it was also completely FREE!

DIY Christmas Presents

2009-12-07T09:22:00.001-08:00

I have been seeing a lot of really cool Christmas gift ideas in the blog land. So I decided to try and make monogrammed coasters. I bought the tiles at Lowe's for 39 cents each. SO CHEAP! I got PermEnamel for Glass, Ceramic, and Tile at Michael's. For the last project I did which involved painting letters, I used a little paintbrush, but the brush was still enormous compared to what it should be. So this time I bought two teeny tiny brushes for $1.49 each.

Having smaller brushes made all the difference! It made the project so much easier. I printed out the letter N on the computer, cut it out, and traced around it with a mechanical pencil. Then I just painted the N in with my tiny brushes! It was so easy and hardly took an hour! After that I sprayed a coat of Clear Acrylic Sealer.

Then I finished it off by glueing four felt circles on the bottom of each coaster. DONE!

I also made the famous Dollor Tree Wreath that everyone is making this year. Beautiful! And so cheap!

Oh and here is my finished project from a couple weeks ago all hung up on the wall.

Goodwill Junk to AWESOME!

2009-11-23T09:49:00.000-08:00

So... I have been looking for something to put up in the blank wall in our dining room. A lot of people have been making personalized signs with their last names on them. One in particular that I LOVE is here. So, she inspired me to make one myself! I picked up this at Goodwill for $2.00.

I took it apart, and sprayed the frame black. I took the glass off and sprayed one side of the glass with Rustoleum Almond (2 coats). Then, I really really really wished I had a cricut!!! A cricut is definitely on my Christmas list! But, since I do not have one at this time, I had to make my own stencils on the computer. So I just played around until I found a font I liked, printed it out, and then cut it out. (sounds easy, but was extremely time consuming!) Then, I took some black acrylic craft paint, and painted our last name onto the glass. I finished it all off with a coat of Acrylic sealer. I am very pleased with the result:

It turned out exactly as I was picturing! Which, honestly, so rarely happens when I do crafts.
I also got a couple of other things to put on the wall. This shelf I picked up at Goodwill for $6.00.

Now, listen to how cheap I am. I had to seriously think about whether I wanted to pay $6.00 or not for about 15 minutes. Anyway, it has a lot of really nice lines and no chips or anything, so I decided to get it. I am glad I did. I quickly spray painted over the lovely purple with black, sanded down the corners a bit and that was it!
I'm sure all of you are familiar with the awesome ladies at Shanty2Chic by now, since they are crazy creative! A couple months ago they did an adorable milk jug redo. When I saw it I fell in love with it! SO CUTE! So I have been keeping my eye out for a miniture one to redo. I found one last week for $0.99!! Here is the before:

I painted it with Rustoleum almond and then put a rub on decal (so easy!!) that I picked up at Walmart for practically nothing. What do you think?

Another thing I got at Goodwill last week to go with all this stuff was a darling little picture for $2.99. Here is what it looked like before:

And after 2 quick coats of paint on the frame:

I like it so much, I might actually put it somewhere else, but we'll see!
Now, I wish I had them all up on the wall and situated nicely together, but alas I am not that organized. I will post a picture later this week when my husband hangs them for me. (He doesn't like me to do it because I always put too many holes in the wall!! :)

Step- Stool Redo

2009-11-03T07:10:00.000-08:00

When we moved into this house, the owner had left some "stuff" around the garage. One of the things was this cute little stool:

I thought it was adorable and I wanted to put it inside, it just needed a little work. So I spray painted it, and then took off the old upholstery. This was my first time re-upholstering something and I was very nervous! But honestly it was just about the easiest project ever. I went to Jo Ann Fabrics and looked through the clearance fabric remnant section and found this for only $1.24!

What do you think?

Painting our Table and Chairs

2009-10-10T19:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, I finally got around to painting our dining room table and chairs. Let me tell you, that was quite the project!! But I am super pleased with the result. Here is what our table looked like before:

I liked it okay this way, but in our dining room and living room (which is like one giant room) we have used a lot of black to decorate and I have always wanted a black table! Well, after looking at how much a new one would cost, I decided to paint this one.
First I filled some spots on the table with wood filler. I didn't go crazy with this filling every little dent, but the noticeable ones I did. I probably spent about 20 minutes on this step. I am so glad that I took the time to do this, because now that the table is painted black, I realize you would be able to definitely see those dents that if I hadn't filled them.
Then, I sanded. I hate sanding, so I spent the majority of the time on the table top and the chair seats. Everything else, I just gave a once over. I probably spent about a half hour on this. Maybe less :)
Next I sprayed two coats of gray primer. I let it dry overnight, and realized I needed one more coat of primer, because I wanted to get every single spot covered, so there was no wood color showing. So, I went to the store real quick and grabbed a couple more cans.
Then, I started spraying it black. I could not decide whether I should spray paint the table and chairs or do it with a roller and brush. I am so glad I decided to spray paint. I HATE painting with a brush and roller! All the cleanup! With spraying, you can go out there, take about 20 minutes spraying, and then your done until the next coat. But, the one thing, is it did take many, many, many coats to finally get everything looking good. However, I would rather do many quick coats then wasting all my time cleaning brushes and rollers. I used Valspar Satin Black for like half of the coats and then Rustoleum Satin Black for the last half. Rustoleum is a dollar more expensive, but I could REALLY tell the difference! Rustoleum just covered more. It was all around better.
Then I put on 2 coats of Rustoleum High Performance Enamel in Gloss Black.
One thing I did different with this project than my other painting projects is that I got these little light sanding squares at Lowe's for just between coats. So whenever I went outside to paint, I ran these over the table real quick (it took like 30 seconds) just to make it as smooth as possible. It definitely made it super smooth!

Last I put on polyurethane.

I debated about this because here Kimba says she would skip this step because she didn't think it really made that much of a difference. Well, I decided to do it just to be safe, but I am so glad that I did! I have to disagree with my very favorite DIY girl! I'm sorry Kimba. :) I got the gloss polyurethane, and I absolutely love the finish that it left. It made a huge difference. I gave the table top and chair seats 2 coats, and everything else one coat. This was probably the most time consuming part of the process, but well worth it!
Here is the finished project! I love it!

Bathroom Tile

2009-10-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

My husband and I (ok, mostly my husband!) just took off the shower surround in our bathroom. Jake had recently tiled the floor and it turned out fabulous so he decided to tile the shower surround. It took a long time but I think it turned out great.
Here is a picture of a part of the shower surround before:

That is just a section of it, but you get the gist. It was very old and it had a lot of stains. Oh and also, it was causing water damage because it was not all the way suctioned to the wall!
Here is Jake working on it: (what a cutie right?!)

And here is the finished project! He did such a good job! I love how it looks.

Using an empty frame to decorate

2009-09-22T07:47:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law found these cute pictures somewhere and gave them to anybody in the family that wanted one. The cocoa company has the same last name as us, so it's kind of fun to put up on display, even though we have no relation to them.

At first I just put the picture itself up, but then I knew right away, it looked way too lonely up on that big wall all by itself.

Lately a lot of people have been decorating with empty frames, which can look pretty good. So I remembered that I had an old cheap frame in the closet.

I spray painted it with black satin paint, and then 2 coats of gloss spray paint.
Much better!

Finished Project!

2009-09-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

Make sure and check out Kimba's blog at http://asoftplacetoland-kimba.blogspot.com/! Every week she does a DIY Show Off and it is SO fun to scroll through all the entries!
As I wrote about in the previous posting, we found a dresser/changing table on craigslist for $35.00! I thought it was cute as it was, but I wanted it white!

I did a little sanding (very little) and primed it with 2 coats of grey primer. Then I used several coats of satin spray paint (Rustoleum in Almond) and then I finished with like 4 quick coats of Valspar Gloss spray paint. I am so pleased with how it turned out. I think it is very cute!

Dresser Project/ Crate & Barrel Candlestick

2009-09-15T07:39:00.000-07:00

It is so hard to find the time to blog! We went to the beach again last weekend, and it was absolutely perfect weather. The beach is the best. Seriously, is there anything better than taking a nap on the beach, in the sun, listening to the waves?

Even though I haven't posted anything in forever, I am working on some stuff! There are so many people that blog that are constantly finishing projects and I am always thinking "Where the HECK do they find all that time?!?" It makes me very jealous :)
Currently I am working on painting a dresser/changing table that we found on Craigslist for $35!! It was only 4 years old from Babies R Us. It did definitely need a paint job though; lots of scratches and chips. I am painting it a rich cream color and I hope to be done by Wednesday to post on a Soft Place to Land's DIY Day. I still have AT LEAST 3 coats of paint left though, so wish me luck! Here is a picture of the dresser right before I started painting it (the drawers are sitting on top of the dresser).

Here is a candlestick that I finished a couple weeks ago and just never blogged about yet! I got it at Goodwill for $1.99. Here is the before:

Isn't that lovely? Lol. When I was shopping, I looked at the bottom and it has a Crate and Barrel sticker on it. What the heck? That puzzled my mind. Anyways, I painted it cream and here it is! I love it. You can't really see in the picture, but it has a nice shiny glaze to it also.

Decorating Dilemma

2009-09-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

I'm participating in a Decorating Dilemma Party at http://serenitynow4amanda.blogspot.com/2009/09/decorating-dilemmas-partyround-2.html.
Come check out the fun!!
I have two dilemmas. Ok, I have like a thousand, but I don't want to overwhelm! :)
Here is our dining room.

It is very close to the living room, so I have used black accents to decorate in both rooms. Here is dilemma #1: Should I paint the dining room table? If so, what color? Would it be too dark to do it black? Should I be really brave and do it white? AAHH!! I have no clue!

Here is dilemma #2:

I LOVE our fireplace. It is beautiful! I would love to buy a new fireplace surround to replace that glaringly ugly brass, but we can't afford it right now. My husband thinks that if I try and paint the surround, I will have a hard time making it look "right." He thinks we should just leave it until we can afford a new one. I, on the other hand, think I can do it!! I want to paint it black. Anybody have any input? Has anybody done it? Help me please!!

2009-08-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

My husband and I spent a wonderful weekend at the beach. We had such a nice time walking by the ocean, perusing little shops, and eating a lot! Love the beach!
Want to see just how outdated our house is?? Here are some lovely lights hanging in the family room. I don't see any possible way that these lights can be updated! I think we are probably off the hook with these babies. Anybody have ANY ideas? Or is it to the goodwill for them?

Check out...

2009-08-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

Please go to A Soft Place to Land http://asoftplacetoland-kimba.blogspot.com/2009/08/diy-day_26.html? = the coolest blog ever!

Candlesticks and Frames

2009-08-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

I got some candlesticks at Goodwill for 99 cents. They were this crazy gold color, but I spray painted them black. (Of course!) Here is the before:

Here is the after:

By the way, the two frames in the back with the pink flowers I got on clearance at Michael's and the frame was originally a very nice gray color. We used them in our wedding. But, I painted them black to go in our living room. Now I need to find somewhere to put this:

Spray Painting Recessed Lights

2009-08-25T19:45:00.001-07:00

All right! We wanted to replace our recessed lighting in our living room, but we had a hard time finding something we liked. I of course kept saying to my husband, "I could just spray paint these old ones and they would be good as new!" But he thought we should just buy new ones. Well we went to a specialty lighting store and a couple different department stores, and we could not find what we wanted! Either the trim wasn't quite thick enough to cover the hole in the ceiling, or it wasn't the right color. So, Jake gave me permission to give spray painting them a try and see what happened. Here is the before picture:

And here is the after picture:

I sprayed the inside of the lights (which I now realize you can't even really see) with High Heat spray paint. Anyway, we love how they turned out! They complete the living room!

The project I'm working on right now...

2009-08-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

Of course it is a spray painting project! That is all I am into at the moment. I am spray painting our old recessed lights that go above our fireplace:

I am not sure if this will work exactly right. When I get home from work tonight, I am going to give them one last coat of paint, and I will post pictures then. We will see!

Our almost 6 month puppy

2009-08-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I did NO projects! I meant to get a start on several, but it just didn't happen. Boo! But, I wanted to share a couple pictures of our beloved dog, Raptor. He is almost 6 months now and we have been having such a blast with him. He is a big sweetheart. As I am typing this blog, he is sitting contentedly at my feet, taking a snooze. Anyway, enjoy the pictures of our cutie!

Brand new mirror!

2009-08-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

Okay here is the before again:

And here is the after!

A tip that I learned this time around:
Put some cardboard down underneath whatever you are painting! You are probably thinking "Duh!"but last time I just set stuff down on plastic, and then whatever you are painting sticks to it, and when you pick it up, some of the plastic sticks to it! It is very annoying, but easily solved by simply putting cardboard down.

Here is the paint I used:

Two coats of Valspar Porcelain Satin and then one coat of Rustoleum Almond Satin. The reason I did that is because I happened to have a lot of the Valspar spray paint, but I really like the Rustoleum color better (more of a cream), so I put that on for the final coat.

I love it!

In Process

2009-08-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

Check back later this evening to see how I re-did this old mirror. (Right now it is drying)

I got it from Goodwill yesterday for $6.00! I actually think it is ok this color, but it just doesn't match anything in our house. So stay tuned to see how it turned out!

2009-08-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

Check out Transformation Thursday at http://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/
Also

TONS of great ideas!

2009-08-19T15:50:00.001-07:00

Here is my latest project:
Before:

After:

I just spray painted the glass candlestick white! I love it.

DIY Wedding Invitations

2009-08-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

For all you brides out there, you know how expensive invitations can be! When we were planning our wedding last year (on a budget) we were shocked much they were. I found a place that was within our budget, but the only invites they could do were plain white. I wanted some color, so I decided to do them myself. I made 200 invitaions, RSVP cards, and Save the Date cards for less than $200.00! Here they are:

We printed our own address labels to put on the back of the RSVP cards. (above). Sorry about the picture quality. Here are our Save the Date cards that we printed out at Walmart (150 prints for under $30.00!)We sent these out about 4 months before we sent out the invitations.

Photo Wall

2009-08-19T11:04:00.001-07:00

I saw this article on Martha Stewart's website and loved the idea:

So I decided to give it a try. Now, this was a couple months ago, and I could have saved a heck of a lot of money if I would have bought used frames and painted them. But, at the time I didn't even know that would look good! So I bought all these frames on clearance at Michael's. Anyway, here is the finished product:

What do you think?

Painting Frames

2009-08-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite blogs did a posting on painting a frame: http://asoftplacetoland-kimba.blogspot.com/2009/07/big-ugly-painting-makeover.html. I had to try it! I was looking for a painting for my dining room, and it had to be cheap! I went off to Goodwill and returned with many things! Besides finding a picture for our dining room, I found 4 other things to paint to put in our newly remodeled bathroom. Again, I wish I had before pictures, but just imagine terribly ugly, and really old wood and that describes these frames. All of them were different wood colors as well. This is how they turned out: (We still haven't hung them up yet!)

This is the one that will go in our newly painted blue-grey dining room. I just covered the picture with tape and newspaper and did two coats of black spray paint. I know you are technically supposed separate the frame from the painting, etc, but who has that kind of time!

These last three will go in our bathroom. I don't know if you can tell, but in the bottom picture, those are two identical mirrors. So all of this for under $30.00! (not including spray paint, which I spent $8.00.)

Making Candlesticks new

2009-08-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

Can you tell which candlestick was only $4.00 from a thrift store? The little one on the right. When I got it from Red White & Blue, it was an eye-scalding, scratched silver. I brought it home, spray painted it, and put it up on my mantle. Now what I really wish is that I could return the other two from Pottery Barn and Target and go get some more at the thrift store to save myself A LOT of money! There are TONS of candlesticks like this at Goodwill and other thrift stores. Granted, most of them need a little help with color, but that's easy! Here is my next project:

I am spray painting a simple glass candlestick (left over from our wedding) white. We will see how it goes!

Updating Light Fixtures

2009-08-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

All you need is a little spray paint! Both of these light fixtures were an ugly brass color that looks so dated. I wish I had before pictures, but trust me, they were a very shiny brass! All I did was two quick coats of black spray paint (no sanding, no primer) and there you go! Total time (not counting drying time) 30 minutes!