glam cushion

I should mention that I was inspired by Sunny at Life in Rehab on this project. She is a girl after my own heart. Amazing projects, full of inspiration and a ray of sunshine. GO VISIT HER, you will be glad you did.

I picked up a sequined skirt at the thrift store yesterday for $7.99. The lovely clerk said “there’s a top that goes with that” and quickly ran down the isle to go get it, before I had a chance to say anything. She brought back a hideous sequined black and gold top. Um, I didn’t want to break her heart, after all, she was being so helpful, but I had to tell her that I will only take the skirt as I am using it to make cushions. She took it in good stride and just said “oh”.
Then I picked up 4 placemats on sale for $10.

I picked up this bag of stuffing for a couple of bucks, with the original price written on the bag of $17.98, yikes.
Now I have a glam cushion.  One down, three more to go.



My favourite party of the week is taking place at Southern Hospitality. I love a thrifty find and so do many others, so go and see what they have found or done with their thrifty finds.

Directional signs

A friend turned me on to a fantastic re-use store in a near by city. I thought I knew of all of the great thrifting stores, but boy was I surprised to find this place. It’s a mix of everything with the intention of keeping things out of landfill.  There are some real duds there, but if you pick through enough, you will come out with some treasures.
I instantly knew that I had to have these two signs. They are quite large, the biggest is about 5 feet long and the smaller one is about 4 feet long.  They are road signs that were actually in  use.  The price?  1 dollar for the larger one and 75 cents for the smaller.
Soon they will be hung up on my back fence.

Front door update done

Let me remind you of how it used to look. Snore.

Because this is a condo, I have guidelines by which to live by. If I had my way, the door would be red :)

And now

I put the lights up today, got some new plants although I still have some planting to do.  The light is pretty small but I wanted to keep it that way. By putting in a down light, it accentuates my door number. My door number is above the garage door and is barely visible, so I came up with a new one. The hardware was sprayed with oil rubbed bronze which is much nicer than the greening brass :)
I used a thrift store tin sign that had the word welcome on it. I sprayed it with oiled rubbed bronze. I printed out the numbers in a plain font, rubbed the back of the paper with white chalk, placed it down on the sign and traced it out with pencil.


Then I just painted it in with acrylic paint and a small brush and wiped the chalk away.
The CSI Project is having an Outdoor Challenge. I'm joining my update into the mix :)

And Kristin's Front Door Reveal Party at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

I am so smrt, s m r t

Ok, I’m not that smart. I put a whole lot of work today into updating my front door, only to realize that I’ve made a horrible mistake.
Here is the before; I live in a condo townhouse and there are rules about what colour the front door can be painted. It is a horrid brown, chipping, peeling and chalky. To top it off, the ceiling in the area was also brown, making it dark and dreary.

So I set to work, primed first, then painted, sprayed the pots, the mailbox and the door handle with ORB.  Much better, now I just have to do some more planting for colour, change the light and put my door number up (I have plans for that).

Ok, so maybe I’m not so smart because I used the wrong paint!  I used an indoor latex!  I’m gutted to think that I have to do the whole thing over. At least the cat likes it :)

Update:  The first coat of oil based exterior paint is on!  It went much faster than the latex paint; creamier and smoother. And bonus, it looks just like this colour :)

Linking up to the Metamorphosis Monday Party at Between Naps on the Porch.

Does this make me look fat?

The gray in the sitting area was overwhelming and much too dark. It looks great in the kitchen, but there is lots of light there with 2 good sized windows.
I tried baby fawn but it was almost white against the gray, so I went back to the store and purchased bleeker beige.
The taping took for ever! Getting it even over those corners was the pits. When they built this house they sure didn’t think the duct work placement out well. The bottom band is wider than the others ‘cause math isn’t my forte and I was tired of trying to figure it all out. Yeah, I’m like that, just jump in :)
The ottoman has found a new spot as it was just too big for the area. I’ll find a smaller footstool. I also purchased a new rug that matches the one in the living room.
 

I’ve made a few changes since this original post

A wonderful way to start the day

My daughter’s BFF had a sleep over last night. When I went to bed (with instructions on how late they could stay up, ha ha), they were drawing on the chalkboard wall.
This is what greeted me this morning …

This may give you a glimpse into their state of mind. My daughters is the ghastly character on the left (a zombie), her BFF’s is on the right. Seriously, they are such opposites I wonder how they have remained best friends since grade 1. They crack me up.

Another room painted

his is my dining room. I turned it into a sitting room, but if I ever sell my house, I will stage it as a dining room again.
The red was 8 years old!  Honestly, I don’t know how I lived with it so long.
This is the same gray that is in the kitchen, but I’m not done yet. I am going to do some wide horizontal bands of glaze. Maybe tomorrow. For the window I am going to get a bamboo blind, like the one’s in the kitchen, just to bring some natural colour in to the room.


I didn’t even prime over the red first, just two coats of this paint and it covered fine.  That’s Betty, my sweet ol’ girl.


I sprayed the lamp to add some orange. Added the blind and put up the metal candle sconces.  The colour seems to be getting darker.  Now I have to find a colour for the living room. I went to look at some BM colours today but can’t seem to narrow it down. I need something that will go with the gray, but not nearly as dark and with a hint of tan in it.
Here is the space that needs to be painted, so if you have any suggestions on a colour, I will appreciate and consider them :0)
I've completed most of the taping. And I may have found a colour I love for the living room, Baby Fawn by Benjamin Moore.  If I go with that, instead of glazing the horizontal stripes, I will use Baby Fawn, that way it will help to transition the colours from the kitchen to the living room.

Here is Baby Fawn (colour may look off depending on your monitor), a warm greige.

Linking up to the Power of Paint Party at Domestically Speaking.

The biggest cloche ever!

I don’t remember the last time I went to a garage sale. Something about stepping onto someone else's property and scouring through their things has always made me feel uneasy.
Today I decided to step outside of my comfort zone (thrift stores) and go to a garage sale. I stopped at one sale with my BFF before the rain came down in torrential buckets.  All I needed was this one sale because I found this beauty for $3.00! It’s huge!

My daughter picked me a small piece of lilac which I placed inside. I wish I could preserve the scent and it’s beauty forever.

Look at the detail on the mirrored pedestal.

I have to come up with something to display in here, something worthy of it’s beauty.

I am linking up to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.
And it's almost Thursday which means I get to link up to the thrift party at Tales From Bloggeritaville.

New Shelves

Originally I was going to do stainless shelves, but decided against it. Instead I used the black/brown version.
This is now the view as I walk into the kitchen, much nicer than a blank wall.
 

And here’s a little tip on how to save those allan keys that come with this ‘put it together yourself’ stuff: keep the key with the item. Here it is at the top of the back shelf, where it can’t be seen.


Linking this to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Chunky letter M

I saw this tutorial by Christy's Creative Chaos and since I’m such a frugal girl, I decided that I too can do it.
I’m not the neatest crafter. It still turned out pretty good.



And linking this up to Metamorphosis Monday @ Between naps on the porch

Hanging children’s art

The idea for this came from Anna at Knock Off Wood.
My daughter’s sense of “art” is much different than mine :)
This is in her bedroom. Simple to make and she can keep all of her favourite drawings in one place, instead of strewn around the house.

Hiding computer cables and cords

My computer nook recently had a mini update, but I had no idea what to do about all of those darn cords and cables. 
Before the mini makeover:
One of the green boxes above was not being used and it dawned on me that I could use it to hide the cords.
First I had to make the opening larger. Not only to get the cords through, but also to provide more ventilation.

In went the router, modem and electric cords.

After, much better. I also added some trim to the two shelves above.



I'm linking up to the trash to treasure party at Reinvented and was posted on Ikea Hacker (I love that place, the store and the blog)

An update for you negative nessie's:   This has been in place for over a year and it has not caught fire, over heated or fried my components.  The vent in the back is large as well as the vent in the front, providing adequate cross ventilation.

If you have something negative to say, it's best if you don't hide behind anonymous comments.  Or just go away. This is a drama free zone.

Kitchen, almost done

I have some trim work to do, but it’s mostly done. It was a lot of work. Warning, don’t remove drywall unless you are up for hours and hours of work.
Drywall and ceramic back splash removed. New vapour barrier and drywall and lots and lots and lots of mudd.

I knew that I definitely did not want ceramic again and mosaic tile was cost prohibitive. I decided on bead board wall paper.

I needed a change from the green walls and fell in love with Whalley Abbey by Debbie Travis.  It was a good choice as bead board is very country and that’s not the look I wanted. The grey/green (it’s hard to tell it has green in it, but it does) helps to make the kitchen look more contemporary. It brought together the flooring and counter tops (yucky laminate, but I’m stuck with them for now). I put new casing around the window. My first time and it turned out pretty good. A friend installed new electrical outlets for me.


Here is a before of the fugly ceramic tile.
Since we have had so much fun with our chalkboard, I decided to do an entire wall, I love it.  I’m waiting on it curing before I start drawing on it.


Still to do: install two new shelves above the bead board here

This is what I’m thinking of (sorry, I don’t remember the source of the photo)

I will trim out the pantry door and the door into the kitchen with new casing too.
As I said, it was a lot of work but I am loving the changes.

I'm linking up to Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. So many talented bloggers out there, go see for yourself.

Ugly back splash, be gone!

I have ALWAYS hated the ugly back splash in my kitchen. I inherited it with the house.  In fact, I’m not a fan of tiled backsplash, period!  It looks good today, but 5 years down the road, it’s totally outdated. And let me tell you, it’s a lot of work to change it.

Yesterday I  borrowed a husband (since I don’t have one), and he set me to work. Ceramic backsplash, be gone! First I put up and taped new vapour barrier.

Then with some instruction, I set out to put up new drywall.  It took several attempts at cutting out the outlets.

Finally it’s all up and my borrowed husband came back for another lesson, this time in taping and mudding.

I am off for a hike early tomorrow morning, but I already know how the rest of my day will be spent; mudding!

Stay tuned for the reveal. No tile will be involved.

Updated directors chair

I have to touch up the paint. I tried to do it today, but it bubbled because of the humidity. If it ever stops raining I will give those spots a quick sand and paint touch up.  I used the old covers as a template to make these covers and I already had the fabric that I purchased from Ikea in the liquidation bin.  Two cans of spray paint $10, chair $7, total $17 for a new to me fantastic chair.  One down, Six to go.
Before:

I'm linking up to Thrifty Thursday's at Bloggeritaville. and Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors and Mustard Seed Creations Furniture Feature Friday.