Aye Carumba, it is too HOT!

 

     I haven’t been able to move much in the last few days because it is so hot here. Seriously, I am spoiled because our average temperature, all year long, is 70 degrees. I don’t know one person here that has air conditioning, you just don’t need it. Yesterday, it was 100! Today was cooler, but I was lazy.

  There was no way that I was garage saling, no thrifting, no going outside, no well, moving. On the bright side, I have gotten to wear some cute sundress that never get to see the light of day.

     Where was I? Oh, Thrifty finds! One of the great things about having a boyfriend that manages a grocery store is that you can call him and ask him to bring that one thing you forgot to get home. The other thing? Well, he brings the coolest freebies home!

     Yesterday, he came home with a garbage bag full of ………

Burlap bags! These aren’t small either, they are like twin size bed big. They sort of smell like the beans and coffee that was in them, but once washed they will be grand.

     Also, these weren’t really for decorating, but they were 50 cents a head and too pretty not to share.

Can you believe the colors? The one on the left is actually a bright yellow, but went wonky with the picture for some reason.

 

Murphy Grace wants his dog food in pretty colors like that. Too bad!

Mirror, Mirror~Just Who is the Thriftiest of Them All?

 

     Slim picken’s here at Murphy Grace’s home this week. I did start working on the desk that I picked up on Saturday night.

     With that in mind, it was off to my favorite paint store, Kelly Moore, to wade through their stacks and stacks of mis-tints. But wait! What was that sitting right outside their door? A big mirror, looks like it might have been a dresser mirror or something.

     So I ask Mike, my Kelly Moore connection, what the deal was with the mirror. He says that he doesn’t know it was just there when he opened that morning. Then he says the magic words, “You take it.”

     My new mirror, just awaiting transformation.

     Mike was really in a giving mood and also threw in a color wheel and a Cabot paints fandeck with my mis-tints purchase. He is getting to know me well, if I was single…….

Make sure you visit Leigh at Tales From Bloggeritaville to see all Thrifty Thursday posts!

A Really Old Ottoman Gets a New Look

 

     A couple of months ago I picked up this lovely ottoman for nothing from the leftovers of a garage sale. 

  It was worn, but well made and very soft. I have never reupholstered anything before, but what did I have to lose? It was free!

    It sat and sat while I looked for the “perfect” fabric for it. Sure, there were many fabrics to choose from, but I really didn’t want to spend too much since I had no clue what I was doing.

     Then one day I stumbled upon this heavy weight, already scotchguarded fabric on Ebay. 5 1/2 yards for $5.99. I could mess up to my hearts content and still have some leftover to do it right! SOLD!

     Then the fun began. Let me tell you, this was the sturdiest constructed piece of furniture that I have ever come across. It was nailed, stapled, glued, sewn, and nailed some more. I took the little legs off and found that the nails were square! (That means old, right?) I also found that except for the batting around the sides, it is all filled with down. (another clue to it’s age, I think)

     It took me hours to get it all taken apart. There were times that I was pert near close to finding out just how much it would cost to get it done for me.

     Then there was that top pillow. EKK! I have never made a box pillow cover before. I stumbled with it, but got her done. It isn’t perfect, but that is the beauty of DIY. RIGHT?

     Finally yesterday, with the purchase of a staple gun, the ottoman, she is finished. I purposely left the legs in their battered shape because I liked them that way and didn’t want her to look “new”.

 

     I love her. I am proud of the stick-with-it-ness that I approached her with. (even if the feather made me sneeze the ENTIRE time that I worked on her) She now has a home right near my couch.

  

A Thrifty Place to Study

 

     It was a quiet week thrift store wise for me. I have been dealing with some health stuff that makes me too tired to venture out from the house much.

     On Thursday I got a surprise though. A box of books that I won on Gather.com came. There is something that I shouldn’t admit here, but I will. I love reading more than I love decorating. So I was doing a happy dance when I opened the box to find these. Thank you Gather.

     I did sneak out yesterday to take advantage of a sale at Ace Hardware. Say hello to my little friend, Mr. Stapler/Nailer. We have already met and conquered our first ottoman.

     He also came home with a friend, Mr. Super Dooper Glue Gun. I got both for 50% off, so that counts as thrifty in my book.

     Of course there were a couple of garage sales that were sort of on my way home. The one that I stopped at had 6 beautiful Australian Shepherds. I wish that I had taken the camera, they were stunning. I am glad that I left Murphy Grace at home though, because they were NOT friendly.

     I spent two dollars and brought home these beauties.

     The best find was one that, believe it or not, I spied while sitting on my bed feeling crappy. I live on a rise and the sliding glass door in my bedroom gives me a cool bird’s eye view of the street and my neighbor’s yards. I like watching the world go while snuggled in bed. They can’t see me, but I can see much of what goes on. (okay, I swear I mean that in a not creepy way!)

     Yesterday I spied the neighbor struggling to bring this out to near their trash cans……

  It needs some major love, but Art hates dislikes his current desk and this will be perfect. It is big too, 33 X 60 and I just know that it is going to look great! I love the lines of it and it has drawers just like he wanted.

     That is it for me and my thrifty treasures. Every week, I feel like I have nothing until I sit down and try to put this together. Every week, I am surprised by all of the things that I and everyone else comes up with.

Make sure you visit Rhoda at Southern Hospitality and check out all of the thrifty finds.

Thrifty Makeover Madness

     I am running late on this post because I didn’t think that I had done much this week. Then I sat down, started looking at all of the other posts and realized something. Duh Gwen, look at the wall right across from your laptop!

     This week was a week of finishing, not really shopping. I need one of those once in a while to keep everyone happy in this house.

     I turned table sides that Art brought home from the grocery store into wall art. So what was this…..

     turned into this….

     I sanded off the Kashi labels, stained them, then added a bit of modern flair that matches my living room. I mounted the pieces with large brackets and wire in order to have them stand out a bit from the wall. (Sorry about the photo, I tried this about 50 different ways, with different light sources and this was the best that I got.) The mirror in the middle is the ceiling medallion that I painted last month.  Total cost of this wall art? $2.50 and it packs a huge unique punch!

     I had my first Freecycle experience this week. I picked up this TV stand, which I don’t need. What I do need is extra seating in my living room and this is going to become a storage ottoman. I can see it, can’t you?

     I also finally got the fabric to reupholster my other freebie ottoman. The Waverly fabric was a great Ebay find at $5.99 for 5 1/2 yards!

     Now if I can just figure out how to do the upholstery, I will be good to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go Bold or Go to Another’s Home

One of my favorite colors to decorate with is RED. Not some silly apple red or stop sign red, but deep rich almost cranberry red.

There is some hue of red in almost every room of my house, the towels, the throws, the pillows, even my bedspread is a deep red velvet from Crate & Barrel. (gotta give them a shout out because their customer service is the best!)

Still, I don’t have one stick of red furniture. So many red pieces that you find are either too bright or have that Asian flair that just isn’t me.

Not anymore! Last weekend I picked up this shelf from a garage sale…..

It isn’t anything special so I thought that it was time to try something red. Four coats of Glidden Red Delicious, one coat of Minwax Mahogany stain and 2 coats of lacquer later I have this ……

The finish is hard to capture in pictures, let’s try this one….

I am so thrilled with how it turned out. It just needs a home now, but we have plenty of space. For now, it will sit here after and take a break after I put some accessories in it.

Would you believe that everything in that picture cost me a whopping $4 and a bit of elbow grease? I swear on Murphy Grace’s precious little furry head! See what you all have started with all of this garage saling and metamorphosis-ing!

I caught the bug from Between Naps on the Porch and her Metamorphosis Monday. Make sure that you see all of the great posts, but be ready, it is catching!

Leaving on a Jet Plane….Thrifty Treasures

 

It was a dry week for garage sales and Goodwill. You can find out why at “Goodwill is dead to me”.

There is a thing or two that I have picked up in the last month that I have yet to share……..

I have a love for trunks, so when I came across this 3 piece matching Samsonite luggage set from the 60’s I had to have them. All of the pieces look totally unused, have all of the hangers and such inside and are a pretty marbled brownish red. For $20, I snapped them up. (I found just one piece similar on Ebay for $20)

I stacked them up and placed them in the bedroom. I would love to use them for a real trip in the future, but they weigh a ton empty.

 

Next up was a Home Depot garden department find for $5 on clearance.

I just love this 2’ tall finial looking thing and it now has a home on my dresser. Who says that garden art can’t be art for your home?

Now it is your turn. What did you find this week? Get over to Southern Hospitality and link up your post. Rhoda has a new address, so check it out.

Goodwill is Dead to me or it is Time for Personal Growth

 

 

This isn’t really about decorating, but it does effect my thrifty treasures, so I guess that it is.

Have you ever had a person in your life that just sucks the wind right out of your sails? You know, that person that turns that confident woman that you know that you are to a quivering mass of Jello? Just one peek of their death stare makes your blood run cold with fear. Suddenly you feel less than, inadequate, about 5 years old, facing a bully and you want to run and hide? Do you have one of those people in your life?

I am not sure if I am describing the feelings that my old roommate gives me, but let’s just say that she gives me the screaming meemees. (not really sure what that means, but it is bad)

We don’t run into her often, but being a small area, it does happen about once a year. She has a habit of jumping from job to job, so I never know where she will turn up.

Yesterday, we had a chance to run into Goodwill. YIPEE! We walked in and who is wearing a little blue vest and putting things on the shelf? My old roommate. BOOO!

I said hello and she mumbled something and went back to work. I then looked at my guy, well, I gave him THE LOOK, and we left.

Then it hit me on the drive home, I am not going to allow this woman to steal my power. I am not going to allow this woman to ruin Goodwill for me. I am tired of letting this woman bully me, three years after I left her behind. I have bloomed into a confident, creative and funny Gwen and I like this Gwen. I am not going to allow this kill my spirit.

I don’t know how in the world she ended up working at Goodwill, but I wish her well. That doesn’t mean that I am about to give up a store that I love and run and hide.

So, that is my non decorating post for this week. Don’t let one itty bitty person steal your power. I am growing this week and I hope that you do too:)

 

I have issues…project issues that is.

     Am I the only one that has 4 gazillion projects going on at the same time? Mr. M says that I have the attention span of a gnat and I try to take it as an accomplishment, but maybe he has a barbed point.

     I spend 5 minutes sewing, 10 on that project there, read blogs for a bit, shop ebay, a half hour walking Murphy Grace through the estuary, a minute or two dreading my upcoming 20 year reunion with a friend via email, etc. I get tired just typing about how much little stuff I have done today.

     Well that is it, time to make myself accountable to my bloggy friends. Here are the projects that are scattered around the house right now and it is high time that I finish before soon, if not before the week is up.

We have the silver pitcher that Embellished Bayou and I both agreed needs some added bling. I started this morning, but was so shaky that I stopped painting.

     Then there is the waterfall nightstand that I sanded and got one coat of paint on yesterday. Notice the veneer is no longer cracked because I just ripped it all off, tiny section by tiny section.

     There are all of the paintings and such that need to be hung. Some I know where they are going, some I have no clue.

Just where should a girl hang a mirror and a star?

Then there is the sewing project that I am working on in the dining area. The project is a drawstring sack, designed by Mary Jo Hiney, for a contest at The Cotton Ball. However, I can’t pay attention long enough to follow directions, so it is slow going. I think that I fell off the track of her pattern days ago, oh well. It won’t win, but will be a Murphy Grace and I original.

     There are a few more, but a girl can only admit so much online. So am I the only crazed person that has multiple projects going in so many places?

Metamorphosis Monday- August 3

 

 

     Once again, it is Monday, which would be a horrible day if it wasn’t for Between Naps on the Porch and her Metamorphosis Monday Party. I don’t know about you, but I get down in the dumps without all of the great inspiration of everyone’s posts and projects.  You can see the Thrifty Treasures post HERE.

     I have some small projects that I finished this week.

became this…

became one of my new herb containers……

I got these for 50 cents and thought that they would look good, just needed to be a different color. Surprise, I went with silver!

Nothing earth shattering here this week, but considering the deals that I got on these pieces, I am a happy girl.

I will leave you with a shot from my walk this morning…