Book him, Dan-o

I also re-made this box this weekend, using what I already had around the house-so it was free.  I love this box and it was so easy (and cheap-don't forget cheap).  I used a home-made decoupage recipe found here.   I love to read, so I feel like this is really a reflection of a little piece of me!

Chevrons are the (not so new) stripes

You know I have been drooling over the chevron fabric, but being on a tight budget (and a tight-wad to boot) I have been searching for a 'cheap' price on it.  Yesterday, bored out of my skull, I decided to hop over to Hancocks in Searcy.  After searching the store and not finding my fabric I was sad and heart broken.  But then, I noticed a section of wall, with home decor fabric I had not yet looked over.  Rounding the corner, there in front of me I see---my fabric!  I was elate and excited, until I saw the price! $18.00 per yard!  The most expensive I had seen it yet!



 I was so disappointed until a nice lady let me have her sale paper, and I discovered it was 40% off!  So, even after taxes, I got 4.5 yards for $53.00.  To make my fabric (and budget) stretch farther I decided to make 2 curtain panels, each 24" wide (like most decorator fabric the width was over 50"). 

While I was sewing them, strange as it seems, I fell in love with the fuzzy selvage edges and decided to leave them as is on the panels. Having them on the inside of the panels and kind of giving it the look of a trim. I know-it's a weird idea, and right now I love it, but I figure if I decide I hate it I can always hem that side too.

 So I was able to do my curtains with only 2.25 yards of fabric, leaving half of my purchase for making pillows!  I love the color it brings to the living room, and the feel of the chevron is great.  The windows look finished and it adds a little more privacy to the room, without blocking any light.  It also looks great with the color of my couch.


But of course that is more taken from my budget, so I am left with $107.00 and I still have not found a rug solution.I also need either a new chair (which is what I really want to do, I like the shape of the chair we have but I think it is too large for the space) or a refinish on it.  I also don't have any new artwork!

Little changes

So Thanksgiving is over, thank God, and the dishes are washed. So now I can once again turn my attention from baking pies to my living room make-over.  I purchased 4 cans of spray paint: in bright ideas, blue ocean breeze, smoke grey and silver.  There are so many uses for spray paint, but today I used it for the most basic of basic, painting objects to match my decor.





 My husband and I, over the years, have picked up several items that we love.  Among my living room collection are 2 Buddhas, a few mix-and-match vases and bottles in interesting shapes, a collection of wooden boxes, and a heavy clay dish.

 (tip: this maybe weird but if you are planning to do any spray painting, save your pizza boxes-they make perfect paint catchers) Remember that the temperature needs to be no lower than 50 degrees out side-so if you live in an area that actually gets seasons you better paint now, before the temperature drops too much! 

So, a couple of layers of spray paint later, and our favorite objects took on  a new life (and a new color). The first box I did not sand, since my spray paint was supposed to stick to anything-however there was 2 small spots that refused to paint evenly.  The second box I did sand, but I have not yet decided what color I will paint this one.


So, for the 4 cans of spray paint I spent around $20.00 and I still have plenty left for some awesome do it yourself pedestals made from wine glasses and cheap plates...I can't wait! I still have $160.00 of my $200.00 budget, but I have a rug, a chair, pillows and 2 focal drapery panels to do!

Curtains are the windows to the..uh..well

OK, so I have not purchased my chevron fabric yet, but I did get the sheers taken care of.  This was  a little bit of a challenge-thanks to my very large curtain rod-I almost couldn't get the curtain over it!  I took down my solid red curtains and put these up, and I couldn't believe what a difference it made!  The red ones drew your eye to the curtains, instead of the view outside. It also formed a visual wall, that pulled that wall in closer.  My living room is already an awkward shape, with it being long and narrow.  Adding the white sheers opened it up and tricks the eye into believing the room is wider than it actually is!  So, for these 4 panels of sheers I spent about $20.00 of my $200.00 budget-so I have $180.00 left...and a long way to go!

Chevron curtains...in yellow?

I love this fabric, but it is $16.00 yard
at thefabricco.com

I have scoured the web for yellow chevron curtains, the only ones I can find are on etsy and cost over $100 for 2 panels.  As much as it pains me to say it, sometimes you can find pre-made cheaper than you can hand-make.   Not in this case.  I found a fabric that gives me a special feeling, but with a $200.00 budget the $16.00 per yard price tag was too

I found this at fabric.com for only $8.48
per yard!

much to swallow
 (I need 4 yards just for the livingroom window, and I would love to have 4 more for the french doors in the dining room) so over $60.00 just for the 2 panels for the outside edge of my windows?  My yankee ancestors are rolling over in their graves!!  So, being the parsimonious snot that I am, I continued my search on the net for my fabric-but on the cheap.  Now normally I shop the clearance at my not too
local Joann's, however I could not find anything like this on their website-so I won't make the 45 minute trip to the store.  While hitting all my favorite fabric bargin sites, I ran across this fabric for almost half the price!  Even though my idea of a good deal on fabric is $3.00 or less per yard, I have to admit $8.50 is looking pretty good.

Flea Market Fantastic

There are a lot of things you give up to live in a small town,  like convenient shopping, movie theaters, and, well, privacy.   But one advantage to living in a town with absolutely no industry, is that there are an inordinate number of flea markets in and around town.  Anyone who lives in Beebe, or close by, knows that if you heart junking, this is the place to be.  We have no less than 9 indoor and one outdoor junkaporiums.  These range from places you can find good quality antiques right down to indoor tag sales.  But if you have an afternoon to waste, a little extra money (for that great find) and a trunk large enough for just about anything, then you can be in junk market nirvana! 

One of my favorite stops in town is Southern Sassafras.  I found a wonderful antique wooden student desk there, that was perfect for my middle daughters room.  Of course, it was a hideous shade of blue-a strange cross between sea green and robin's egg-but a few coats of white paint and it looked great!  Considering I only paid $22.00 for the desk and we had the paint on hand-it was quite the steal.  Paired with the dressing table chair that my mother bought a few months ago (and that I recovered to match her Parisian theme) it made a perfect desk/dressing table.  I hung the $8.00 gold framed mirror purchased a year ago at Apple Tree and it made quite the impression!  The least expensive dressing table I have found was still over $200.00-so I count this whole thing a victory for the cheap!

Across the tracks at the Whistle Stop, I found a handmade table and chair created from cheap lumber and 2X4's for my sons room for a measly $15.00-I couldn't buy the lumber for that!  It was stained a nice dark brown and was rustic enough as is to fit in nicely with his cowboy room and sturdy enough to stand up to a kid that can tear down a steel building when he is in the mood.  It looks pretty good with the toy cabinet that my husband and I created from a cheap pressed wood pantry originally bought at Wal-mart-and given to us by my Grandmother.  I did a faux leather treatment on the outside and we added some inexpensive wood turnings from the craft store, which I painted to look like verdigris brass (we had the paint, we spent about $8.00 on the turnings).  We also bought 2 inexpensive knobs for about $2.00. 

At the Do Drop In, I found a beautiful reproduction antique bed, in a white shabby chic finish for the aforementioned Middle child, for only $109.00-getting that puppy home in my Neon was a real treat.   The Do Drop is absolutely huge, and there are so many rooms and areas in it that it is dizzying.  Not a whole lot of furniture, but there are tons of items that would make great conversation pieces!

 Once made up with the comforter I made her, and topped off with the pillows I also made, the bed is cozy and inviting. The pillows were made with scrap fabric and some close out flocked iron ons.



Another great place for antiques and higher end items is Buried Treasures...sorry I had a giggling fit.  I honestly don't know if the owner has a very dark sense of humor, or if they honestly don't know....the building they are in used to be the town mortuary...buried...treasures....

Ok, I have myself under control.

Anyhow, beautiful crystal, plates, awesome juke boxes, classic toys, anything you can think of.  Truly a delight to walk through, just not kid friendly-too much to break and some of it is pretty expensive.  One thing I am in love with (and kicking myself for not buying) was an old camera, with case for less than $20.00.  It would have looked awesome on my shelf in the living room!

It all began...with a couch.

Once upon a time I bought a couch at a yard sale.  It was a wonderful couch, sloppy Joe style.  So easy to recover the cushions, and paint the wood.  I loved that couch.  But one day a giant ogre (enter my older brother) broke my beloved couch, and I was forced to face the fact that no amount of magic beans (or screws or glue or wood) was going to put it back together again.

 So, the hunt for a new couch began.  Now, normally I believe that if you can buy it you can make it.  But, much like building space ships and performing appendectomies, I prefer to leave some things to the experts-so I embarked on a mission to find the perfect couch.  In my house perfect translates to: exactly what I want for the least amount of money.  After searching the local furniture stores, scouring the Internet for hours and generally getting very grumpy, I found the couch below for around $630.00 after shipping (which was $99) and taxes.

 After 2 weeks of waiting, the couch arrived at my door-it is fantastic!  But the rest of my living room now looks sad and frumpy.  So, now my new couch becomes a project-to redecorate my living room.  To be realistic-and since not everything will be done at once-I have set myself a strict $200.00 budget to restyle and re purpose my junk.  I have already rearranged the furniture (a few times) and am satisfied with the layout.  After a heated debate with my husband I got his "permission" to redecorate in grey, white and yellow.


This is my to do list: chair, rug, lamp shades, artwork, pillows, vase and curtains-all for $200.00.