Thursday, March 10, 2011

One Thing In, One Thing Out (Via The Thrifty Abode)

We don't have much room to store unnecessary stuff at our house, so when something comes in I try to get an item that we already own out.  Judging by the state of one of our junk drawers, you could guess that I'm not very good at sticking to my own little policy. 

Today, however, was different.  I followed my own rule and the olive green drapes that were in our living room have found a new home thanks to Craigslist.
They will not sit in a closet for years taking up space while I wait for them to be useful again.  Plus, the cash I got for the drapes pretty much covers the cost of the new ones.  Woo hoo!

This weekend I plan on taking care of our many junk drawers (and closets) to make up for a couple years of not following the "one in, one out" rule.  Wish me luck.

I'd love for all the followers of Cheap Thrills to join me over at my new blog, The Thrifty Abode!

Monday, February 28, 2011

Join me at The Thrifty Abode

I've started blogging again under a new address and I'd love for you to join me!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Christmas Card!


Berry Merry Christmas
Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.
View the entire collection of cards.

Just stopping in to say Merry Christmas!  I'm really missing the Christmas decorating linky parties this year.  Oh, well.  I also wanted to share this great deal that Shutterfly has.  If you post your completed project on your blog they'll give you $25 towards your next purchase!  We did all of our parents' and grandparents' presents there this year and I love how they turned out. 

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

A VERY Easy DIY Fall Wreath and....

...a quick "Hello!"

First of all....hello!  It's been a while (eight months!) since I've posted anything and I'm hoping that my little one takes a nap that's long enough to let me finish this post in one sitting.  Second....we have all seen the "Sorry it's been so long since my last post" line on plenty of other blogs, and I have to say right off the bat that I am not sorry!  I have been busy!  I went back to work as a teacher seven weeks after I had my son and I've been keeping all the balls in the air ever since.  I might as well go a head and say that this blog is not another ball that I intend to start juggling any time soon.  I have some ideas and I may do some reorganizing to get this thing going in the future (perhaps sooner rather than later), but for right now I'm just stopping in to say hello.

One more thing before I get to my wreath...thank you to those of you who have started following in the last few months.  Maybe you accidentally clicked on the "follow" button before you discovered that I'd basically shut it down or maybe you were completely intentional...either way...I'm glad you're here.

And now....here is my super-simple, super-easy, (maybe a little too plain?) fall wreath:
DIY Fall Wreath

A couple of weeks ago the temperature really dropped for the first time and I was inspired to do a little fall decorating.  I looked and looked for an easy DIY fall wreath and just couldn't find one that I liked that really looked easy.  I am not good with florals, I'm not a huge fan of bows, and the DIY versions of wreaths like this just looked too time consuming.

Better Homes & Gardens

I made a little trip to Michael's to see what I could come up with and ended up spending $10 give or take a little for the materials for my wreath.  The 18" grapevine wreath was $3.99, the strand of berries was $2.99 and the bunch of dried leaves was $2.99.  I ended up getting two bunches of leaves, but I only used a very small portion of one bunch. I don't have a step-by-step tutorial because I didn't think I'd be doing a post about it, but the process was very easy.  I fastened the berries with floral wire then hot-glued the leaves where I wanted them.  Done and done.

I used the dried leaves because I liked the way they looked better than the fake ones.  They were also cheaper.  If you'd like to make this project a little cheaper here's link that tells you how to preserve your own leaves.  Gathering leaves for a wreath could also be a nice activity for kids. 

 Well, that's all I have for now.  James has been awake for about 15 minutes and he's starting to let me know that he's gonna need my undivided attention very soon.  Y'all have a happy fall!


Join me at my new blog!




Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I've Been a Little Busy...

Last Wednesday evening I went into labor and by 1:45 a.m. on Thursday, February 18 my little James Brooks was born.  I've been settling into motherhood and the blog has been put on the back burner for now.   

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Nothing Says Happy Valentine's Day Like....

knock-off Jack Rogers Navajo sandals from Target!  This was actually not my discovery since I haven't shopped for clothes or shoes in quite a while since I'm about a week away from my due date.  I saw these on The Budget Babe's website yesterday and I couldn't wait to go get some...I didn't even wait for them to go on sale!  I almost dropped $100 on some real ones at Christmas, and I could not be happier that I didn't.  I've been hoping to find a cheaper version of the Navajo sandal for a while and these look almost just like the real thing for 1/5 of the price. 

Jack Rogers $96:


 Merona for Target $19.99:
 
This is the first post I've done that has absolutely nothing to do with home decor, but I had to let y'all know because they're going fast...even in February!  My Target was almost out!  Happy Valentine's Day!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Spotted at Big Lots:

I keep running into pieces that I love, but have no use for.  I went to Big Lots hoping to find a cheap lamp or two, but instead I left with a six pack of Bounty select-a-size paper towels for $6.50...not as great as a lamp, but still pretty good.
How cute is this little blue side table? And only 70 bucks.
 

 
This ottoman is pretty cute too.  

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Project Repost: The Look for Less Resoration Hardware Key Art

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I'm getting a little lazy, but can you blame me?...I'm 39 weeks pregnant.  I also just wanted another excuse to show off one of the projects I'm most proud of, and since it was one of my very first posts there's a good chance that this is new to most of you.


These are 18.5x18.5 and retail for $199. I saw some old keys at the flea market at the NC state fair grounds and did a similar piece of wall art with a shadow box I got from Michael's. If you go to the right guy you can get a handful of keys for $5 and if you go to Michael's at the right time or have a coupon you can get a shadow box for about $25 or less. Here's what mine looks like:


I tacked on the thicker ones in the center with thread and just hot glued the flat ones.

Back to Finding Fabulous 
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Thursday, February 4, 2010

Plan Ahead, Save Money: Part I

Wouldn't it be so easy to decorate your home if you had a huge budget for every room?  I would pretty much look in a Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware catalog, find a room I liked, buy everything and transplant it in my house.
 Ta da!  Done and done.

Having a small budget (sometimes no budget) has forced me to be resourceful and learn how to plan ahead.  I am not a planner, but I wasted enough money on things I ultimately didn't like that I finally learned my lesson.  I've also learned to be patient.  Planning forces you to figure out exactly what you want...then you don't buy a thing until you've found "IT".  Sometimes it only takes a few days of searching and sometimes it takes months. 

This was my kitchen wall for about the first eight months we were in our house:

Absolutely blank, blah, nothing.  I finally decided what I was going to do with it and came up with a plan.  I didn't have super fancy PhotoShop or any other kind of editing software, so I used the Paint program that's on every PC to sketch out what I wanted the wall to eventually look like.
 
Nice, huh?  I already had the small frames ($1 in the Target dollar spot bins years ago), medium frames ($5 at Michael's) and the clock (wedding gift!) so I knew what to draw on the wall.  I was missing the plates and the large frames.  I knew that I was going to get a large frame from Michael's for $10.00, but I didn't know where those plates were going to come from.  I got the frames and clock up and for about four months my wall looked like this:


Empty spaces with empty frames.  I was able to fill the frames pretty quickly with free botanical prints I got online, but plain, solid, plates (I decided on red instead of orange or yellow) were a lot trickier to find.   All in all it took me about a year to get it the way I wanted it.  


It didn't come out exactly how the first draft I made in Paint looked, but I didn't waste any money on stuff that I didn't like or that didn't work. I spent $10 on a frame, $10 on the plates and about $2 on the "R" that I stained myself.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Spotted at TJ Maxx

I love this lamp!  I don't have any where to put it, but it's only $39.99.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

One of My Ikea Finds

Who knew babies needed so much stuff?  I didn't until I was putting away the first batch of shower presents.  One of the things I didn't anticipate needing for the nursery was storage.  I found myself sitting in the floor with all this great stuff around me, but I had no where to put it.  Thank goodness for Ikea.  The unit was about 50 something dollars.  It's not one of the greatest deals, but it's pretty sturdy and should be with us for quite a while.  The blue hamper next to it was $3.  Perfect for tucking away in a closet and holding stinky, dirty baby clothes.  Speaking of clothes...I think my unborn child has more than I do.  There's a dresser full in addition to what's in the closet.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Did It Myself: Cornice Board

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I'm hoping my lack of posts doesn't become a trend, but I have been so busy over the past two weeks.  Last night Raleigh got snow and I'm trapped in my house for the next couple of days.  The timing couldn't be more perfect.  I have so many things to do to my house to get ready for this baby boy to be here.  I'm 37 weeks and I'm in full nesting mode.  My house is going to be spotless and everything is going to be in it's place by tomorrow evening (maybe).

I took this afternoon to finish a project I'd started Monday.  I was going back and forth between making a box valance or a cornice board for the nursery.  I'm usually not a fan of cornice boards, but for the nursery it seemed to fit and the best part is that I had to do absolutely no sewing.  I also didn't need any power tools.  I literally stepped back from the window when I was finished and thought, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe that worked."  It could very likely be on the floor in a couple of hours, but for right now I'm going to enjoy my success.  Here's the finished product:

I had all of the materials except the batting and fabric which cost about $8 total.  The board I used was that old foam board from my memo board.

I'm a little hesitant to show you how I did it, because it's pretty embarrassing.  I'm not a perfectionist, so to me, whatever can't be seen just isn't there.  Some people would be driven crazy by knowing that there is a mess behind that cornice board.

Here's what it looked like before the fabric was on it:
 
Not bad, but here's what the back looks like:
Yes, that is tape holding the batting on.  I was afraid I was going to run out of glue sticks, and I still had to put the fabric on.  I doubled the foam board and it's held together by hot glue.  The board was roughly cut with a box opener.  Luckily, the batting covers any less than perfect lines.  I hung a valance rod and attached the board with floral wire.  Like I said, it could be on the floor in a couple hours, but for right now it's up, and the only person who knows how awful the craftsmanship is is me...and you.

I can't wait to have the whole window finished with a faux Roman shade made out of this: