the biggest changes-so far

This bedroom project has been slow coming.
One major reason why is, as always, lack of mula so I'd been looking around for the best deals-which caused the delay.

I still have a few little odds & ends I want to add, but so far I'm very pleased with it.

Again, here is the before picture:
Not bad, just needed a change & more color. And here are the after pictures:

One major lesson learned: When decorating a bedroom, buy the bedding first & paint the walls to match the bedding. I did it the other way around & had a hard time finding the perfect bedding.

The walls are a light meadow yellow color, that I painted all in one day, two coats, all four walls-without any help of the hubby. Huurrrahh for me! And thank goodness Mr. One took a four hour nap.

I decided to keep the lampshade white as well, I like the simplicity of it.
Thanks for those who gave me input on it.

The best part of the whole room is the bedding. Why you ask? Well, I found this bedding online & debated on ordering it, it wasn't too pricey, but more than I wanted to pay. It was around $90 online+shipping. I ventured out to Ross, Marshalls, TJ Max-those kinds of stores & after a few weeks I was feeling very discouraged. Then a week or so later we were doing a little grocery shopping at Sam's Club & the Hubs said, "don't they have bedding here?" We figured it would all be too far out out of our price range, but decided to take a look anyway.

And there she was. It was like a gift sent from God! It was the exact same bedding I wanted to order online, just sitting there in the middle of the isle, on the floor, all alone. There was a price tag on top of the package that said....drum roll please....$38.00!!!!!!!!!!!!
I couldn't believe my eyes!
Now, you see why the bedding is the best part.

I am still working on the wall hangings. The frames I like, but I am going to add more updated pictures, with brighter, vibrant colors in them. I repainted the star in the before picture white & may hang it above the bed...not sure, still deciding. I also may sew curtians for the glass door, which is next to the bed (you can't see in the picture) which goes out to our porch.

It didn't turn out just how I had planned, but we are very pleased with it anyway.

The total for an almost complete bedroom makeover: $70 dollars.
Not bad.

from the archives

Well, I'm finally back in town.
It takes us a while to re-adjust & get everything in order, so I now I can get back to my regular-blogging, as I did before. I'll try my best!

So, this one is from the archives (not of this blog, but my private blog).

It's SO simple & if you're lucky-very inexpensive.

First off, I hate clutter (not saying my house is perfect by any means). Here in the Northeast, it is cold for most of the year & it seems like we have a lot of jackets & coats. They use to hang all over the place & it got really annoying. After a summer trip to Bear Lake in Utah, I was inspired by some very cute coat racks that had door knobs for the hooks, in our cabin.

We have an ugly old dresser that we use to store things in, but rarely open anymore. We also had some extra pieces of wood lying around. So I took the handles off the dresser & came up with my own little coat rack. I bought a foam stamp for $.99 at Micheal's for the design.
So easy.

It's nothing fancy, but practical.

blogging break

I'm taking a little blogging break for the next week. We are flying home for a funeral & to spend time with family.

Be back soon!

easy art

Here are just a few ideas that just about ANYONE can do.
A lot of people don't think they can do a lot of painting/art for wall decor, but that isn't true.
You may not be able to paint a masterpiece, but pretty much anything is considered art these days.

I love to paint, though I am impatient & don't have a lot of time. I like doing simple pieces of artwork.

I saw this "painting'' in the PB magazine. I liked it & thought.."Pshh, I can do that."
Sorry about the bad pic, I had to take a pic of the magazine. I couldn't find the original online.

I wanted the textured look to it, so I mod podged some newspaper over my canvas board. Then I painted it with some cheap paint & to give it that goldish color, I just used a metallic gold paint over top.

I'm waiting to build my buffet or console table for my dinning room, & then I plan on hanging the painting on the wall...similar to the picture in the magazine.

Here are two more ideas:

My friend bought some canvas boards (which can be pricey sometimes, but you can ALWAYS find coupons for JoAnn's, HobbyLobby or Micheals for a canvas. Never pay full price.) and simply painted these for her son's room. It can help to use a stencil or even tape to get the straight lines or right shapes/letters/numbers you want. They turned out so cute!

My sister did this one for her front room.
It turned out great. Pick your background colors & add some swirlies on top!
I've even seen people use old bowls (big ones) & trace a few circles. Anything goes!

Art doesn't have to be fancy.
If you need ideas, just google some paintings or look through some decor magazines to get inspired. Anyone can do these & it usually isn't a very expensive project.


Some future projects I have in mind, may ending up looking something like this.
I want to do this one on a piece of wood. I'm not sure where I would put it though...

I saw this one & loved it!
I'll have to add it to my "future projects" list.

what's your style?

Over at the Shabby Nest, there was this fun link, to take a fun & easy quiz to find out your style of decorating.

Apparently, I am 33% Nantucket StyleAnd 67% Rustic Revival.
They must be right, because I LOVE these rooms.
Maybe someday I'll really be able to decorate like them.

Find out what your style is.

comfy...and a little tacky

Do you ever stand at your kitchen sink doing dishes for a while or stand anywhere next to your counter cooking?

I do & with all the hardwood floors in my house, my feet really start to hurt.

So, this was the Hubby's solution to my problem.

We had a few of these big puzzle mat squares. Three of them together was the exact length of one part of my kitchen counter. I wanted to buy a rug to go over it, but the Hubs idea was for me to just cover it. So I did. I used some fabric I had lying around & it was easy-peasy. It doesn't look wonderful, but my feet sure love that cushion under them!