China Cabinet Redo

Ever since moving to my new home last year I wanted a china cabinet in which to put all the ironstone and other random pieces of china/glassware I pick up along the way. I knew I needed a skinny cabinet to fit the area in which I planned to place the cabinet. For months I carried my measurements around and finally found a perfect cabinet at a yard sale. They took $30 for the cabinet and I loaded it up and took it home.

(Forgot to take a picture while the doors were still on)

My husband claimed that the cabinet "looks and smells like the 70's" and it did!
I took all doors and hinges off and my Father-in-law pried off the decorative piece at the top.
I cleaned it, primed it with Kilz spray paint, then my sister-in-law brought her paint sprayer over and we painted the cabinet with two cans of Oops paint mixed together. After painting, I distressed the cabinet and decided to paint the back of the cabinet blue.

The cabinet originally had glass shelves; however I really wanted more of a shabby chic look than a curio look so I went to Lowes and had them cut a board in half for me. I have never used power tools but in March, my husband was out of town and with much fear and trepidation, I used two of his saws to rip the board then cut it to fit (go girl power).
Liking the bamboo detail

I bought knobs 40% off at Hobby Lobby and replaced the doors.

Tada...I now have an updated china cabinet that I love!

Click to make the pictures larger

I'm linking up to The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday. Hop on over there and see what other great projects everyone has been working on!

~Victoria~

I ♥ Mantel

Sweet Girl and I shopped the house at the end of January to come up with our mantel for the month full of pink and ♥'s.

Apothecary Jar filled with old lace and pink yarn in front of one of my chippy old mirrors. I ♥ chippy old mirrors. ;)
Apothecary jar filled with pink and silver ornaments (Sweet Girl ♥'s pink.)
Pictures by my favorite photographer (Christina) clipped to a piece of string inside a frame.
Oh and see "valentine" spelled out with scrabble tiles? We did several of those throughout the house. Gave Sweet Girl something fun to do while Mom was doing the heavy lifting. ;)

Happy Valentine's to you and yours today!

~Victoria~

A Touch of Fall

A few bits and pieces of fall decor are making their way into the house.



Chloe and I made this banner a few days ago. This was suppose to be my "under $10 under an hour" project for Melissa's party last week, but it didn't happen. There are lots of great ideas over there, so make sure you stop by.



We used bamboo from a bundle of ten bought a few years ago for $9.99 at Michael's. I don't want them for a vase arrangement anymore, so I'm finding uses for them individually. Burlap, which is actually buckram, bought at Hancock Fabrics. It has a plastic backing and is a little stiffer than just burlap would be. I believe it was $2.99 a yard, and this project only took a small amount. Muslin, from an unknown origin, was found in the craft bag and torn into strips. Stamp it, glue it, hang it. Done.

Mr. Crow has seen better days, but is still hanging around. His bill is about to fall off and he is missing some tail feathers, but hey, he can't resist a vase full of acorns.



Alongside is a Kabocha squash, that was bought to eat, but acts as decor until it makes it to the oven.


Christina

A touch of my home

I found these pictures today that Christina took one day earlier this year when she ran by my house to visit. It was in the midst of us having just moved, selling our old house, end of school, sick little girl, etc and I was feeling very overwhelmed! Christina spent a few minutes making a couple areas pretty for me while I did the mundane tasks of moving boxes from one room to another and making dinner.

I am so excited to finally have a fireplace and mantle! Of course in this horrid Georgia heat and humidity, it being cool enough to light a fire sounds like light years away...

I love how she mixed the rustic with the glass and mirrors. One of these days I am going to be as talented as my sisters. ;) Until then, well I just have her over to do these things for me!

~Victoria~

Halloween decor tid bits

Do you recognize this glass??? Remember the glassware makeover I talked about? This was phase 1.

Here is it before....Isn't it beautiful in black? Take an ordinary Goodwill glass and give it a coat of black spray paint. You know, this would work in ANY color....yellow and pink in the springtime, red for summer...hmmmm...now my wheels are turning...

Can you find this jewel ...

in the picture below?

Yep, that's it on the right painted black.

In my living room I kept most of my decorating neutral, like these pumpkins in my Apothecary Jar and the mini-pumpkins above.

My dining area I decked out in black.

BOO letters are just cut out paper taped on the plates.
Brass owl painted black...
Vintage fork holding an owl I printed out last year...
Last year he was in a frame...

55 cent frame and picture I spray painted black (um you'd think I would have thought to say "Eeek" or something BESIDES "BOO"!).

Have to throw in some cute stuff for my Sweet Girl!



Want to see more? Check out Christina's and my decor from last year here.

~Victoria~

SCARY!

Gold tree anyone????



I saw this in the spring time and remembered the Pottery Barn trees from last Halloween that were around $59. Isn't that SCARY????????? Forget ghosts and goblins, I say scary is overpriced spooky trees. :)



Coat gold $2.92 Goodwill tree with some black paint and voila...you have your own
spooky tree without the scary price.

Curtains

Well...I wish there was a big TA DA moment with my curtains but I've run into a bit o trouble with them.

While the Procrastination Party over at The Inspired Room definitely helped in that I finished sewing my curtains, the rod hanging and finishing hasn't worked out exactly as I figured it would. Long ago I picked up some finials and holders at a yard sale for $1. I decided to use these and bought a dowel rod to use with the curtains. I also decided to use clip rings to hold the curtains but it just didn't look right...
My sisters suggested I paint the clip rings so I painted a few orange shower curtain hooks (I wasn't ready to commit to painting my brand new clips yet) to see what it would look like (forgive the messy look...these clips are barely holding the curtain up there and if I try to straighten them, they will fall out!) and here is the outcome...
then I wondered what it would look like if I sewed a pocked at the top of the curtain and ran the rod through it, similar to these curtains from Ballard Designs.
Since I am a visual person, I pinned the curtains over the top of the rod just to get an idea of what it would look like (again, forgive the messy look...this was a quick pinning job)
and then here they are on the same rod.
Bottom line? I need YOUR help! Please let me know what YOU think. Which do you think looks best or do you have any other suggestions?

~Victoria~

Quick Autumn wreath

I found this square wreath at Goodwill today for $1.71 and liked the shape.

I'm not too fond of hearts on things so I took all the trimmings off.

I then took this bag of potpourri that I bought on another trip to the GW for $1.51, opened it and hot glued items to the wreath.

It is very basic, not real frufru, and I like that!

And that folks, is my Autumn wreath in a jiffy!

Edited to add: I forgot to thank Robin from lolidots.com yesterday for the Best Blog award!!! Christina and I enjoy blogging and all the friends we have made in the process. Happy Friday everyone!

~Victoria~

Thrifty finds

I haven't been to many yard sales or to Goodwill of late due to my little one starting school...
ballet....
and Momma starting a new schedule (insert picture of tired Mommy here)!

I am pleased to announce that we have both adjusted well and I can get back to yard sales, Goodwill, playing house and having fun! :-)

Saturday I snuck away with my SIL Meg to a couple of yard sales and found a few great items.

First off, check out this fabric....pretty, huh? My Sweet Girl walked into the room a few minutes ago and exclaimed "Mom, what a beautiful blanket!". :)

How about a Full/Queen duvet and 2 shams made out of it for $2!

I bought this little cannister for 75 cents.

I am thinking of spray painting it white. Any thoughts???
I almost passed this next baby by since it's not my style but then it dawned on me that I could spray paint it and use scrapbook paper to make it more to my liking!

Last year I saw all the darling Advent calendars that everyone had and was wishing I had one. For $2 now I do!

I also bought my Sweet Girl a bag of Polly Pockets for a quarter, a little laptop computer game thingy for her for $1 and a bag of costumes (pirate, batman, etc) for $1 for my nephew to dress up in when he comes over to play.

I was thrilled with my finds from just 3 little yard sales!

~Victoria~