Tonight's Thrift Store Makeover

I rarely get to experiment for fun using graphic design. Occasional fun invitations, but that's about it outside of the black, red, and blue colors in my real job as a graphic designer in the hardware industry. 

First, one of those 50% off thrift store frames. Second, taking it all apart. 

Painted the interior mat black to help the words pop a little more. 

Bonus points - Walgreens printed it (and a bunch of other projects) for 40% off. Score! I have to say....pleasantly surprised by their poster prints. I have another couple to show you once I get this all together. 

I haven't updated art in a long time....and it's time for a little personality in this joint! I'm craving color!!

Thrift Magic 101

I've become a bit of a thrift store junkie. Like the kind that would need rehab.

Remember how excited I was about this at our local Salvation Army Thrift Store? See the frames 50% off?

What, you gasp? Thrift stores have SALES!!!

 I came home with this load of loot. Check out that 1970's red covered bridge. Not a real painting....just the cardboard printed junk. 

 But the frame had potential. $4 bucks means LOADS of potential.. 

  

Sooo, I decided that after an almost year and a half sabbatical from painting, it was time to break out the brushes.

I'll fly away is one of my favorites. Reminds me of the washboard band I was in during college. But most importantly, it reminds me of my Pop. While he was in the shutting down process in hospice at the hospital, I filmed a moment that I want to be my last memory of him. He was out of it, and not very coherent. And not really himself. I had a moment alone with him, and we were singing I'll Fly Away. If you've ever been around a dying Christian, it was very much what he was wanting to do. Hard to explain, but the words are perfect. 

. 

So I did a little painting. The frame first, then a little art. A little white wash over the cardboard. Then to the fun stuff. Free hand painting. It was so nice to have paint all over my nails instead of garden dirt.

And now it has a new home on our portrait wall. 

$4 Art. Thanks to the hubs for letting Mama have a play date. ;-)

Folks love to post their idea boards. Wellllll, I thought I might need one to stay on focus with just a little more direction.

So far:

• We have the $5 chandelier from the thrift store and $4 orange spray paint
• The $18 striped bedspread from Freds (SO DIRT CHEAP I'm hate sharing my sources!)
• The Think Happy, Be Happy $14 clearance aisle hobby lobby giant canvas wall art. (This may stay in my living room. I'm LOVING it in there now!)
• $10 gallon can of grey paint from the clearance section at Lowes
• $22 of Navy Chevron duck cloth Fabric to make some (fabulous in my head) curtains. (My splurge.)
• $12 Orange chevron pillows (That have been on my living room couch, and will be relocated to their new home)
• $10 Turquoise chevron lamp from Freds (A treat from my dear Mama)

What I'm still searching for the guest room:

• A fabulously cheap rug that is orange or aqua and FUNKY. Found a great source on Ebay. I just haven't made the leap.

• The perfect frame dirt cheap from thrifting or yard sale so I can DIY my own Dr. Seuss look-a-like print. I've got it in my head that I can have my Office Depot connection print it jumbo size on the cheap.
• I need accent pieces. I love anchors and owls. They go together, right? 

 I've finally decided that I am going to make my house what I love, and say to heck with the rest. Why not?

If you know me, you know I LOVE color. And lots of it. But I've just now decided I don't have to be scared of color.

What are you most afraid of with decorating? 

Making a Terrarium

One day at Lowes, I found a bug eating plant that needed a home on the clearance rack. So, a trip to the thrift store and we have a new project. ;-)

I found a glass house that was half off for $6.

Tonight I've cleaned it up and given it a little turquoise face lift. I popped the windows back in and sealed with JB weld. Hopefully by tomorrow night we can plant!

I thought AO would like to see some bug eating critters. I just hope they like Mosquitos!

I totally heart THRIFT STORES

To mix up my lunch routine, I went in one of my favorite hole in the wall places. The Salvation Army Thrift Store. And I MAJORLY scored!

If you know me, I am obsessed with all things Jenny Lind and spindle. We've painted a cradle and crib turquoise, and a high chair yellow. And I've been on the search for a jenny lind style spindle bed for our guest room. Who found it for $10??? This girl, that's who! I'm seriously so excited I could cry. Totally beats the Land of Nod one I wanted!

I scored a ton of other stuff, too. My total bill? $30. That's it!!!

Bed, CHANDELIER, little house terrarium, moss for another project, a topiary, cute napkin holder.....yep. Today was a very ON day! Woop Woop! Apparently the entire section was 50% off today. I'm one thrilled chica!! Time to buy more spray paint. ;-)

Best part? I was in and out, stopped by Chickfila and still had time to post this (thank you blogger ap!) on my lunch break. Yippieeeeeee!!!!!

Back Porch After

And here's after elbow grease and spray paint. Still a work in progress. But it's much improved! We reused almost everything. Including our old rug from indoors. The only things we purchased was spray paint, mulch and play sand for AO's corner, and a flat of sweet potato vine for FOUR DOLLARS at the Habitat Thrift Store.

Nursery Rough Draft and Niece Cuteness

We finally have furniture! It's no where near done, and there's rearranging to do, but we're one step closer to Arleigh having a room. It's a t-tiny room, so we're having to really plan the arrangement for function. 

I went a little crazy with color, but I LOVE COLOR, and I hope my child inherits the love of all things creative just like her Mommy. And I hope she appreciates the details...The vintage details.

Rough Draft Photos: 

Here's a list of what we're recycling or creating so far: 

Crib and Cradle from Danielle, used by Libby and Millie - Poppy (David) and Papa (Johnny) did a fabulous job with the turquoise paint!

Green Antique Link Lamp - (I've loved all my life) Josh rewired, it belonged to a great aunt

Rocking Chair - Santa gave it to my mama 32 years ago before my birth

Vintage Doll house - A bargain found on Etsy. Just like NanO got for Christmas in 1957 or so

Crib Mobile - Another Etsy bargain.... Just like mine from 32 years ago. We even researched old photos. :-)

Chandelier - I think I paid $6 from the Habitat thrift store. 1 can of red spray paint and crystals from online and it's now one of my favorite things in the room!  Much better than buying the $300 one...

Curtains and Cornice - Amy Butler Fabrics. Papa (Johnny) made the cornice board, NanO (Olivia) made the curtains, and I covered the cornice. I would consider this my "splurge" piece....Fabric is outrageous! I've been a fan of Amy Butler for ages! I LOVE LOVE LOVE fabrics.com.

Vintage Mother Goose prints - NanO had from a book she'd been saving forever. 

Hospital door wreath - was the one I made for Swayze. I'm sentimental, and I love the idea of keeping things in the family. :-)

And I could go on and on.... There's lots more to come!

Speaking of Cousin Swayze, isn't she serious cuteness! Aunt Pen thinks so. :-)

I'm very excited about this week. Wednesday is my 32 birthday. Thursday we get an ultrasound of our priss-pot. Saturday my neighbor Beth is hosting a shower. Saturday afternoon D, Lib, Mil and NanO are helping get it all together! Hopefully by next week we can have "final" nursery shots instead of the rough draft! :-)

Until then, enjoy your week!

Nursery Ideas

Like most folks, the Mansell's aren't millionaires. Heck, we're still on the Dave Ramsey plan to be able to eventually have something. That means the nursery needs to be practical. And being that I'll be 32 having a baby, chances are pretty high that if we want another baby, we're not going to be able to have much time between younguns.  (We're definitely going to give one a shot first, of course. John says we need to see how that goes.) With that in mind, I'd like a reusable nursery, gender neutral, so we're able to reuse most next time. 

With this new found practicality (and a health dose of sentimentalism) we're reusing a bunch of family pieces. (And family names, but we'll get to that later.) Danielle has offered the Jenny Lind cradle and crib the girls (Lib and Mil) used, and  my mother in law has an antique family rocker (we're reupholstering) and a dresser (doubling as a diaper changing station) we can refinish. Seems we'll be using a LOT of paint. LOTS. 

Right now the walls are the standard new home taupe. We're painting the walls a pale butter yellow (it may actually be "top banana" a valspar color, just because I can't resist the paint name <><>).

Crib I'm thinking turquoise, most furniture red - we'll see how much I can get done. I hope I'm up for the challenge! Neutral bedding, because there will be so much color everywhere else. Right now I'm thinking the Harper in green from pottery barn. Basic and practically priced. 

Hopefully I can pull off a big dose of vintage eclectic modern. I know, that's a mouthful. I'm not big on themes - they don't fit us. I'm just going bright vintage....I'm loving vintage prints and pieces. (Etsy is going to have me bust my measly budget.)  I'll personalize the wall art more when we know if Skeeter is a he or a she. But the foundation is going to be neutral.

 

Look out antique stores, I'm a woman on a mission. :-)

I really hope my child loves color like me. Red, yellow, turquoise, lime, orange.... Skeeter better! :-)

P.S. Skeeter is just a nickname. Skeeter is just more fun to say than Baby M. You know?

Later gators!