Before & After Vanity

 My two youngest daughters are very much "girly girls".  They LOVE anything pretty.  They had inherited my old furniture from when I was young and were ready for something a little smaller and "daintier" to make room for more play space. 

Here is what we ended up with - 

Before (only $30!!):

(I apologize for the bad photo, this was the online picture posted by the seller)

After:

  

I covered the stool seat with 2 inch thick foam, batting, and then my fabric.  I stapled it to the bottom edge of the seat and added a pom pom trim around the edge.

 I got this cute dresser to go with it off 

of KSL (local site) for $120, I just love it!

 

I am thinking of adding this chevron print from Fabric.com into the room:

How cute is that?!

Guest Room Redo - On a budget

Guest Room Before:

 I get so excited to do a room/project that I forget to take a before picture.  Here are a couple photos from the "before" room taken to show a couple items that I was selling on Craigslist. Our guest room definitely was a "let's get the necessities without spending any money" kind of room. The walls were a nice tan; however, I wanted to change directions and move to the blue, green, gray tones and add some classic and antique style to give it a luxury kind of feel.

 

Remember my thrift store furniture finds post here?

I incorporated those two pieces in the new room below.

The Guest Room After:

The wall color I chose is Benjamin Moore's  - Beach Glass 

 

 

So here is the 411 on the room:

Everything I found in this room was either majorly discounted from large retailers or found at local thrift stores. My biggest splurge for the room would be the duvet comforter. The comforter was my starting point and I designed the room around it.  I love this comforter, the colors in it are gorgeous. However, I cannot pay full price for ANYTHING.  I tried to find a fabric I liked as much and contemplated sewing my own duvet....but I just kept coming back to this one and new it was it!  So, I searched eBay until I got my very own for $103.  More than I wanted to spend, but a lot less than if I ordered it directly from their site and paid their shipping. 

I created the wall art by using photos from a book I found at a thrift store for $5 and frames I found for $3/each on clearance at Target.  The photos are of Christ's tomb and Jerusalem...very meaningful to me.

I found the the brown panels on clearance for $6/each from a local fabric store, and used a coupon for the sheer at Bed Bath & Beyond, totaling only $22 for all of three window treatments! I couldn't even make them for that cheap!

I was very excited about the lamp, I found the lamp base at a thrift store for $13.  It came with a lamp shade that was U.G.L.Y.  So I told them to go ahead and keep it, because for $13...I knew I had found myself a steal with the base alone.  I found a drum shade I liked at Target for $14 to compliment it.  The same lamp base sells at Pottery Barn for $110 seen here.

paint - $30

(2) silver tray, small dish holding flowers - .99/ea (Savors thrift store)

mirror - $22 (local thrift store)

flowers - $9 (Hobby Lobby 50% off sale)

silver vase - $13 (Down East clearance)

end table - $10 (D.I. - local thrift store)

dresser - $20 (D.I. - local thrift store)


PB bed skirt - $15 (KSL - online local site)

wrought iron decal above bed - $6 (Savors thrift store)

upholstered bench – $15 (KSL - online local site) check out this post to see the before and after photos and cost breakdown of the final project ($43).

fabric for headboard and pillows - $15 (was on clearance for $2.50/yd at Home Fabrics)

The total cost of the headboard was around $80. I just completed a headboard for a client as well.  Next time, I promise to record the step by step process!

Everything else seen in the room is stuff I had sitting around my house.


Total - $440.97! - for less than $500 that included the entire room of furniture, bedding, and decor!

I hope our company enjoys this room as much as I do!

Linking up at:

Friday Remodelaholic
 

NO more blinds in the KITCHEN

I have realized over the years that I HATE cleaning blinds.  They drive me crazy!  Since I want to keep my husband the happy camper he is, I am only changing them out a few at a time instead of all at once.  A year ago, I replaced the family room blinds with roman shades seen in this post here.

Recently, I changed out the kitchen and nook windows with Tuscan bamboo roman shades from overstock.com,

and painted the walls Sherwin Williams Realist Beige, the same color as the half bath post here.  

Here is the before:

 

Here is the after:

*BIG SIGH*...much easier for this busy mommy. :)

New Master Bedding & Bench

If you are new to reading my blog, you may have missed the Master Bedroom Redo here.  Since then, I have been wanting new bedding which was not new when I redid the room.  I also wanted to add more cream to the room, and more layers on my bed with a duvet comforter and coverlet.  

I found some “steal of a deals” that I just had to share!  The best part of the shopping trip (besides the final cost) was that my husband went with me and helped pick them out.  Can I just tell you I think he is major GOOD LUCK?!  

I am always coming home with stuff and thinking, “Gee, I really will have a lot of explaining to do of why I need these lamp shades when the ones we have work perfectly fine.”  What a great feeling it was to come home and have no explanation necessary on why I got what I did, what it was for, and/or how much it cost!  

So...I picked up my man for lunch, and asked him to come look at bedding with me.  Since all our kids were in school, and he was on his work lunch break, he happily obliged.  We headed over to a fabric store where I contemplated making my own duvet.  I couldn’t find a fabric for a price I just loved, so we popped over to Bed Bath & Beyond just down the street.  The clearance section there is PHENOMENAL.  We found an ivory duvet cover for $27 (originally $150)!  Next, we find a brown bed skirt for $6 (originally $50)!!  I couldn’t believe we just got both pieces for $33.  The bed skirt was a little too plain for my liking, so I purchased some cream grosgrain ribbon at Hobby Lobby when it was 50% off.  A little “stitch witchery” made it as easy as pie to attach.

 

Later I found the brown coverlet and shams online here at Walmart, it was only $50.

I found the bench on KSL (a Utah local version of Craigslist) for $20.

The ivory drum shades were from Target - $14 each.

The sheers were Bed Bath & Beyond, with 20% off coupons. 

Let me let you in on a little BBB secret if you don't already know.  Their coupons NEVER expire.  I know they say so on the coupon but they have told me they are always good.  Also, you can use more than one coupon in a transaction.  I purchased all three sheers in the same transaction with 3 different 20% off coupons. Cool huh?!

 

New bedding and foot bench for around $100?  Not bad if you ask me :0)

Gold, But Different

Ever since I painted this accent wall below 6 years ago, my amazing hubby has continually informed me it is the color of "baby poop".  Well Folks, I have to agree.  Finding the "perfect" gold is hard.  However, I did find one that I really like by Sherwin Williams (it is not quite as yellow as the camera is making it out to be).

Before: "Baby poop" -

After: "Soft warm buttery gold" -

Now, I am searching for the perfect off-white cotton canvas fabric to recover the base cushions of my sofa in, AND a large seagrass rug to replace the red one.

Thrift Store Furniture Finds

 I have been working on redoing our guest bedroom.  This duvet is what I am designing the entire room around.  I really wanted to find some classic furniture with lots of character and pretty lines to accompany it.  Where else would I go to find what I am looking for at a bargain?  Thrift stores of course!

I purchased this piece below to use as a night stand from a local thrift store, Deseret Industries for $10!! It was an antique sewing table that was in GREAT condition. I painted it Rustoleum Heirloom White and kept the original hardware on it.

Before:

After:

 Then, I came across this baby below at the same store a few weeks later, and talked them down from $30 to $20.  After all, the drawer is obviously BROKEN.  My husband thought I was crazy and definitely thought it had seen it's last days.  But I had a vision, and was determined to give it a new life! To fix it I removed the drawer front, then headed to Lowes to find the same thickness of board and had them cut it down to match the dimensions I needed.  I also painted this piece in Heirloom White and kept the original hardware on it.  Aren't those drawer pulls awesome!?

Before:

 

 After:

I can't wait to show you the rest of the room and final "redo"

Entry Way Bench

I have been looking for the “right” entry way bench for some time now.  I finally found one that I just love, and to make it even sweeter I found it on KSL for less than 1/3 rd the price seen here at Overstock.com!

It is in perfect condition and fits perfectly in the entry way spot I had in mind.  Now I can hide my kids, hats, gloves, and shoes!

I am not crazy about the brown on brown, so I am thinking of adding some bead board, molding, and hooks behind it. 

Stay tuned for more…

Warm...to...Cool

When we built this house 6 years ago, I was really into warm/bright color tones.  This poor little half bath on our main floor has seen almost every color of the rainbow.  I really don't know what I was thinking.  Here it is at it's most "sunny" moment:

The more I research and design for others, I find my taste changing. 

Shhhhh, I did not say that out loud. (*looking around to see if the man of the house is reading over my shoulder* :)

I am finding that I am falling in love with all the cool tones, grays and soft blues.

This teeny tiny little bathroom is not the easiest to photograph.  It is so hard for my camera to pick up on the new "true" color of this bathroom.  I painted it Sherwin Williams Realist Beige.  If a color could be both tan and gray in one, then this is the color!

I love it!  We'll see how long this one lasts. :0)

Gallery Wall

 There was a large wall in my basement that needed a whole lot of something.  I have admired several gallery walls in blog land and thought this little corner could use some representation of our little family.  I wanted to mix golds, woods, and blacks together to compliment the rest of the room.  Here is what I came up with! - 

 

 

Book Wreath

I apologize in advance for the lack of tutorial. Again, I get so excited to try something not knowing if it is going to work out that I forget to take pictures of the step by step process on the "how to". Below I will give you a description on how I made this cute book wreath for our front door.

Here is what you will need to make your wreath:

1. Find a book that you don't mind ripping apart.

-I went to a local thrift store and picked a book that looked old and weathered with yellow edged pages for an "antiqued" look. *Suggestion* - make sure your book has no surprising unclean words on their pages. My 10 year old pointed out to me after patiently waiting at the door for me to come and let her in that there was a terrible (and I mean TERRIBLE) word on there that I of course had no idea about. Yikes!

2. A foam circle from your local craft store

3. Hot glue and glue sticks, sizzors, pencil

4. Ribbon (I wanted different sizes, colors, and styles to piece together and drape over my wreath)

Start by cutting your book pages in half.

Take the eraser end of your pencil and center it on the page and poke the paper into your wreath. After a gazillion times of doing this your wreath will fill up quite nicely!

Cut your ribbon different lengths and tie into a bow. Attach the bow to the top of your wreath, and VOILA!

One very cute, and hopefully "respectable" book wreath for your front door!