My best craigslist find to date- dresser

Ok, so looking for a dresser on craigslist and I lucked out and found this beauty for $25...what, what???

Yes, yes she needs some work and a lot of TLC but I love a challenge. But even more than a challenge I love a bargain. Can't wait to get started and see how this turns out. I will post more shots as I make some progress.

Gettin' Gussied Up!- Side table to makeup table

My previous project to create an awesome tv cabinet out of a china cabinet has led to my poor, cutesy side table (turned tv stand) being homeless.

She is much cuter in person

A new focal point-tv stand

***Since I have added this to my living room and proudly sharing the pics with people I am so happy that everyone raves about it! One person thought that I bought it for....thousands! WHAT???

All decorators seem obsessed with making something other than the tv a focal point in a living space, but let's face it the tv is a focal point in most homes today. And with all of the additional components it can become an unruly mess quickly!

That is exactly what happened to me. My idea for our main living room (my room) was to keep it simple, nice and simple. So here is what ended up happening to my nice and simple tv area :(

Sit a Spell

Hmmm, what is with this chair? Did someone actually think it was comfortable? Well it will be comfortable...not just to sit in but to look at.

Provocative Pinterest

If you are anything like me, you jump on the Pinterest website with all intentions of only perusing the pages for a few minutes, then suddenly realized that it is far passed your bedtime and your butt cheeks are sore from sitting for so long. Oh well, I checked my boards and other info yesterday and was amazed that I have 24 boards and 3438 pins, most of which desperately need cleaning and organizing. Sadly as I browse through my numerous posts I realized that I have only completed a few of the ideas that I definitely wanted to do.

Let's recap shall we:

• Tried and failed at making my own wood stain with vinegar and pennies- never came close to turning green
• Painted my kitchen countertop
• Antiqued furniture
• Made wood furniture look like barn wood, well sort of
• Made homemade laminate wood floor cleaner
• Created the shadowbox piggy bank (this one I really loved, you can't really screw it up)
• Mod Podged and glittered stuff
• We are in the process of collecting pennies from year of birth for me, hubby and our girls (4 sets) so that we can make keychains- everyone is on board with this one, they love the idea and I love that my little family is soooo close!
• Put solar lights into mason jars for backyard table lights
• My girls have cut up countless t-shirts to refashion them
• Painted countless pieces of furniture
• Removed mildew stank from my towels
• Already knew how to find the best deals at Target...read this in a magazine years ago
• Made the candy cane/marshmallow/chocolate cocoa stir sticks, if that is what you want to call it, they weren't too pretty
• Created an emergency and family info binder

Ok, ok, you get the point. I have actually tried quite a bit but this doesn't even put a dent in all of the pins that I want to try. So maybe I need to take a break from perusing the picturesque pages of Pinterest and passionately partake in producing some perishables and pretty projects from Pinterest...see what I did there ;)

What projects did you find on Pinterest (or elsewhere) that you are dying to try??

Bold Statement-Laundry Room

Although I love the outcome of my laundry room, I felt the dinky little, cutesy signs above the shelf were to small. So time for a cheap, quick fix.

The fix...1' x 6" wood letters from Hobby Lobby and paint.
The letters cost about $3/ea and I bought 4. Already had the paint so total project cost $12.

The original idea was to paint the letters white and hang them right on the wall...but had to change that a bit (a new idea popped into my head)

So new plan, glue the letters to a piece of scrap wood I had lying around (happened to be the right size- how perfect) and paint the whole thing. To get the spacing right (it was going to be a tight fit) I just laid the letters on the board as best as I could fit and traced parts of each letter so I knew where it was supposed to go. 

The "S" looks a bit crazy but I realized during this step that it is a touch smaller, but no biggie. The left edge of the "W" and the right edges of the "H" were hanging off the board so I sanded them flush to the edge.

 Then I got the crazy idea to paint this whole thing black, then paint over and rough up the edges to show some black here and there...

But I didn't like it and decided to paint the whole thing white...

First coat...

Second coat...

Now just need hubby to hang it up, stay tuned...

Out of Hand DVD Collection-Organize

So my husband is a big movie freak, he pretty much buys every (and I mean EVERY movie he likes- or thinks he might like) and we often pick up movies from the $5 bin. Unfortunately out-of-the blue our DVD Collection grew from roughly 50 to over 400 in less than a year (In know, crazy right??).



Not our collection just wanted to give you an idea (I know some of you do not buy a lot of DVDs). This is roughly 1100 DVDs- if you figure about 30 movies per shelf. That is a lot of space I would rather use for something pretty!

 So hubby decided to build a cabinet specifically made to hold these gems. It was huge, 7' tall x 4' wide x 6" deep. It actually was a good way to go until our movie collection out grew this monster cabinet.

So our solution...CD Binders

They come in various sizes, and as long as you don't care about the case they are great! We removed the sleeve from each case and put it in the slot where the disc goes and the disc goes behind it (so it doesn't get scratched). We keep them in alphabetic order and we reorganize it about 2ce a year (to add in new purchases) and we try to leave at least one empty page between each letter to allow for newbies. Our collection is up to about 650 (not to mention the 40 or so video games we have as well) and we have 4 of these books (1 is used for the video games). We use a silver sharpie to mark on the outside of the book which letter range it contains to make things even easier.

**Added bonus if we go on a road trip the kids can easily just grab these books instead of choosing just a few movies to take with them!

As Miss Golightly was saying...

A few months back I introduced my 17 year-old daughter, Cydnii to 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' (she wasn't into older movies before so she wouldn't have really "got it" before). She was instantly in love with Audrey and Holly! Up until this point she was undecided about bedroom decor, Audrey/Holly changed all of that! 


As part of this transformation, I sooo wish I had before pictures to share, we HAD to paint the walls- as Cydnii had turned her walls into a giant yearbook for all visitors to sign.


The wall color: Urban Sunset (Valspar), we even painted the ceilings.

The "theme": Holly Golightly/Audrey Hepburn Inspired

The accent colors: Pink, Black and of course Tiffany Blue

We already had her bed (I bought it on craigslist.com for $50, just had to buy a mattress) we were going to paint the bed but decided not to, since it fits in ok. The bedding took some time, she had to find just the right thing. She said that she would know it when she saw it...it would scream "Holly Golightly". I think she made a great choice: Hot pink, black and gray strips with this great pattern and pink sheets with white polka dots (sorry the pattern on the comforter doesn't photograph very well).

I even lucked out at Christmas and found this great Holly-esque sleep mask at Claire's

*POP* the Canisters

Over the weekend I began working on some "blingy" art for this room, I wanted something that would add some POP, since the color pallete is really muted.

I started with these cutesy little canisters (I have 3) that were a pretty close match to the colors and patterns in the bathroom before the redo. I picked them up at a yardsale for $2 (for all three)

Choose To Shine- Lamp Redo

Holly Golightly would probably be bored out of her skull with this lamp...