DIY Roadside Dresser Transformation

August 13, 2014 by 3 Comments

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Driving down the road you pass a dirty old dresser with missing drawers by the curb, and the remains of someone’s stinky trash. You might look at it and think that is one ugly dresser. You might look at its missing drawers and consider it rendered useless. You might think how in the world would I ever get this in my van even if I could get past the fact that its butt ugly?

You MIGHT even slow down long enough to get a good gander at its bones…

Not this girl. I stopped in my tracks and got out of my van to look it over. My suspicions of its stankiness were confirmed. There was a good reason someone was getting rid of this stinker. I made room in the back and gave hubby a call for help to load ‘er up.

I didn’t have a clue what the plan was for this piece of roadside furniture, but you know Pinterest came into play. I had a plan by that evening. Time was most definitely not wasted.

Then we made a huge move into our new and amazing home and this little guy with all its potential was locked up in our shed for a couple of months before I could get my hands on him. The anticipation was killing me and then finally one day, I got him out and began his road to transformation. Why I’m dubbing this dresser a he? I’m not sure. I’ve never called it a he before now, but it feels right so let’s go with it.

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The first thing that I had to do with this thing was to wipe it down really good. It was absolutely disgusting inside and out. It was as though someone had used it for housing small stinky animals and then, to cover up the smells, had sprayed it heavily with a chemical solution. Y’all. Y’aaaaaaall. It was bad.

After that, I removed all the hardware from the drawers. Then I sanded every inch of the dresser that I could. Some parts were solid wood and other parts were particle board type stuff so I did the best I could. Not my favorite part of the transformation I must say. It’s for real getting down to the nitty gritty. And then getting it all up in your eyeball. Should I have worn goggles? Maybe.

I decided to only use the bottom two drawers since they were really the only ones functioning anymore. I removed the drawer tracks for the other three. Then I measured the space on top of each drawer and tacked in very thin plywood as a new base. Nothing fancy here. I could’ve made this part look better. This part literally was a little rough around the edges. And as you can see, I painted the plywood before placing as to access them easier.

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 Then I began the process of painting the whole thing. I didn’t use any special paint. Just some simple Rustoleum Ultra White latex paint. It may have been trim paint? I also bought new hardware for the drawers to match the hardware in my living room. Dark and bold to contrast the stark white.

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 Here she is with added hardware. (Why is this dresser changing sex all of the sudden?)

And here’s a bonus- you get to see my screwdriver!

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 I do have a teenie tiny little obsession with chevron, so I added that to the drawers. I think it gave it some serious style. Don’t you?

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 Finished product! I searched for days for baskets and bins to use in place of the drawers for this thing. I’m horrible at making decisions. Absolutely. Horrible. I wanted to make sure they were not too dark and went ok with the chevron and color of the room, etc. I gave into these cute chevron baskets at Old Time Pottery after days of looking and complete discouragement at the price of these boogers. Not cheap!

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 It is by no means perfect, but it makes for lots of storage space for my crafts! I had it in our living room for a bit. Now it’s in the bonus providing ample and stylish storage for our craft stuff. HE turned out so good!

What do YOU think?!


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DIY Christmas Countdown

December 17, 2012 by 1 Comment

My oldest daughter is getting big enough to really start counting down the days until Christmas. And to be honest with you, I’m so excited about her excitement that I’m counting them down myself.

It’s such a simple thing to get excited about, but it makes the waiting for Christmas to come a little more exciting. ‘

I’ve seen the little blocks that count down the days. I’ve seen the little advent calendars and all the other little ideas, but none really scream exciting to me. Sure, some have little candies and treats every time you open a door, but I remember caring more about that when I was a kid than really knowing how many days there were until Christmas.

So I set out on a DIY mission to make a countdown for my girls. One that hopefully would last for years to come. We don’t have a mantle or fireplace. Which I’d say that a lot of people can relate to this, which makes hanging stockings and garland a little difficult. So I made my own way of hanging this thing and here’s how I made it.

I started with an extra piece of wood that I had in the garage. I don’t know it’s exact measurements, but it was about 3 feet long.

I spray painted the entire board white, then used painter’s tape to create stripes. I then spray painted it red which left red and white stripes like a candy cane.

Then, using the same method as my DIY Mug Holder for transfering text to wood, I added the Christmas Countdown words to the board. The white words really got lost, so I added little red polka dots to help it stand out a little.

Next came the numbers.

I am NOT a sewer (yet). Though I may someday learn, right now I’m sticking like glue to my hot glue gun. The numbers were way simpler than they look. Plus they only cost me about $3.

I purchased about 4 pieces of red and white felt at Walmart for $.23 each. I also purchased a couple of fat quarters of fabric for $.97 each. I cut out the squares and hot glued the fabric squares to the felt squares to make sure the numbers had good support.

For the actual numbers, I simply printed off the numbers in the font and size that I liked and then tape them to the felt. I then just cut them out using the paper numbers as a template. Voila! I had numbers.

I then hot glued them to the fabric and boom they were done. The clothes pins were $1 at Dollar Tree! Even the cute garland was a buck.

I debated over and over about how many hooks I would want for hanging the garland. I didn’t want it to look too tight, but I didn’t want it to be too lose either. So I ended up with 5 hooks (leftover from another project that just screw right into the board), but only used 3 total. I like the looser look.

Then as we began to take off numbers in our countdown, I realized we had nowhere to store the numbers that were coming off. I glued to ends of some leftover felt together to make this little pouch. I added some little pieces of fabric cut out into droplets to embellish it a little.

Voila! A numbers pouch to keep up with them once they come off.

Each morning, Addie is absolutely ecstatic about taking off a number. This morning she said “Momma, there are only EIGHT days until Christmas!”

It’s awesome to have something that we can use over and over again and know that I created it! Anybody can make this and I hope that this gives you ideas if you’ve considered making something like this for your home!

Does your family have a countdown that you use each year?


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Baby Shower On A Budget

December 7, 2012 by 26 Comments

I have been dying to share this stuff with you for weeks, but just haven’t had a moment to sit down and get it all together. Is it just me or is time beginning to move faster and faster? I barely have time to finish a thought before I move on to my next one. And with the holidays quickly approaching , things are sure to get even faster.

One of my dear friends is expecting a little bundle of joy next month and when it came to her baby shower, I knew that I wanted to be the one to throw it. This, ahem, was my very first shower to throw. I’ve helped out with others and attended plenty, but I’ve never had one here at my home. So naturally, I wanted it to be perfect.

Well….as perfect as one can be with an 18 month-old and 5 year-old running around while preparing. I can’t complain. They were both angels the entire time that I put this together. And thankfully, another friend of mine helped out with food and planning so it wasn’t ALL me. Sheesh, I think I’d go nuts if it was!

So I thought I’d share with you a few of the frugal touches that I used to make this shower special for my friend. At this point, I’ve only included pictures, but I do have some pictures for a tutorial if anyone is interested. Just let me know!

The first thing that I did was to make up these adorable little food tags and cupcake flags. SUPER cheap to make. Don’t you DARE go and buy them! Especially if you’re a scrapper, chances are that you have some extra scrapbook paper. And that, my friends, is a party planner’s best friend.

I did buy a new set of scrapbook paper with assorted colors for $5. It covered the entire party. I was able to make markers for all of the dishes and snacks along with the super cute cupcake flags.

I simply printed out the words with cute font on my printer, cut them out, and attached them with tape to the scrapbook paper. The food markers were folded in half so they stood up.

All in all this only cost me the $5 for the paper.

I even made a cute little tag for the party games that we played. I used an old pickle jar to hold the words and just tied a cute little bow around it to dress it up.

This didn’t cost me anything!

I picked up some hot pink tissue paper at Walmart for $.97 and made up a few of these tissue flowers to make a few decorations. It looked really cute attached to the punch.

Ok, don’t judge me but I had a lot of time on my hands. My husband went out of town and I ended up writing a poem.

Yeah, yeah, I’m a little overachiever.

It was SO cute though. I dropped into Dollar Tree and got a frame that I painted with pink paint that I already had. Printed the poem out and attached to scrapbook paper to make a nice addition to the shower table.

$1 added to the cost.

I found a tutorial on how to make a brown bag flower decoration on Pinterest and I HAD to try it. I always have brown bags on-hand.

In like 5 minutes flat, I had this darling flower that I simply spray painted and added a little glitter to. I tied it the ceiling and voila!

At some point in time, I have become obsessed with food in jars. I know I’m a little late on that, but I’m only human and my brain takes a little longer to process than most. 😉

I made cupcakes regularly in a muffin pan. Then I cut them in half placing the bottom layer in the bottom of a 4 oz jar. Added frosting, then added the 2nd layer. I then topped them once again with more frosting. These were homemade devil’s food and vanilla buttercream cupcakes and they were AMAZING.

Don’t the flags add a nice touch?

I did buy the jars just for this event, but they will be around for use later on so I’m considering them to pay for themselves. But since I did buy them, we’ll add $7.97 to our total.

These White Chocolate Covered Strawberry Wafers were so easy, but looked like a million bucks. I bought them at Dollar Tree. I tinted some white chocolate chips pink and drizzled it along with some sprinkles all over. Snazzy huh?

$2.29 was all that they cost me.

With all the scrapbook paper that I had, I knew I wanted to serve some things in cones. I simply rolled up the scrapbook paper cut to size and then taped them in place. The box they are standing up in? Oh, it’s the box from the 4 oz mason jars! I used a knife to poke holes in it so the cones could stand up.

I made up some popcorn that I already had and drizzled in pink tinted white chocolate to it all. It came out to be super tasty Pink Popcorn! I even added pink sprinkles too.

Total cost for this was $1.29 for the white chocolate chips. Aldi has the BEST price y’all!

I made these mini cupcake bouquets with the help from Dollar Tree. I got 2 vases and used 2 foam flower arrangement thingies (that’s a technical term) to place toothpicks in. The bottom is a couple of small pieces of tulle that I had on-hand to dress them up. I then made my cupcakes and stuck them all over onto the toothpicks.

I also added a few pieces of tissue here and there to fill it out.

Total cost for these was $4.

Of all the elements to this shower, THESE were my favorite. I saw a picture of these somewhere out in cyberspace recently and decided to give them a go. Without even glancing at the directions, I was able to whip up 25 of these in no time at all.

All you need is a package of napkins (your choice of color) and the appopriate amount of safety pins. SO easy and they make any treat that you’re serving look completely adorable. Obviously the smaller your napkins, the smaller your little diapers so buy the size according to what you are going to serve in them.

These also make awesome party favor bags!

Total cost for these? $2.

I also made a small diaper cake as you see in the upper right that was about $6 for the diapers. I made a coffee filter flower for the top. And the little name plaque with baby’s name on it was just $.97 at Walmart! I had the paint already.

Many of the little cupcake and serving stands that you see I made out of saucers and dessert cups that I hot-glued to each other. I get a lot of those materials at thrift stores and then paint to make them cute. So affordable and look so fancy.

All in all, what you see here cost me only around $30. And every bit of it was special because it was made with love and thought. That’s always the best gift!

What about you? Are you throwing a baby shower soon? Have any frugal baby shower tips to share?!


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A”Door”able Hall Tree

October 26, 2012 by 39 Comments

Do you have a spot in the house where everyone leaves their stuff? Perhaps the entryway or foyer area. In my house, the living room and kitchen are the drop zone. We come into out house through the garage and on the way to the living room, we tend to expel our belongings as we go. And by we, I mainly mean the children. One of our biggest problems is finding shoes. Yes, I know this may sound silly to some, but for some reason my Addie likes them off the very moment that she arrives at home. This isn’t one of those “Take your shoes off at the door” kinda situations.

We have hard floors.

This leads to shoes that go missing. Under the couch. IN the couch. Around the couch. Under random toys. IN random toys. You name it, we’ve probably found a shoe there. So I wanted an easier solution for keeping the family’s shoes in one place.

I originally wanted one of those storage benches with matching shelf and hook above. I spent countless hours on Pinterest looking for ideas. I even found a few that I liked, but I cannot justify paying the price for those sets. Many are upwards of $300-$500. Then I came across numerous ideas for hall trees made from old doors on there. What a genius idea, huh? Plus this gave me a reason to visit one of my favorite stores on earth, Habitat Restore! That place is brimming with old building materials, paint, light fixtures and all for awesomely affordable prices.

This is my creation! When I started, I really had no idea what it was that I wanted to do with this door. I knew that I wanted to have a bench, a place for bins, and hooks. I didn’t even have plans for HOW this was going to occur. I kinda just winged it to be honest.

It all started with this door. I liked this one because it was really wide and in great shape. No big scratches or gauges. It only set me back $25 bucks.

Knowing that the bench wouldn’t need a back (the door is the backing), I knew building the box for it would be fairly simple. I measured the door and the estimated height that I would want the bench and created this box that is 36 inches long and 13.25 inches high. We used a drilled to screw the boards directly into each other.

The wood for this cost about $14 at Lowes.

I also knew that I wanted to have sweet little spindle feet on the bottom of the hall tree to dress it up. I found these 3.25 inch feet at Lowes for $1.47 each for a total of $5.88. I had really only planned to have the 4, but hubby brought up that it might be more sturdy to do ahead and put on 4. It didn’t look as silly as I was expecting it to look once we got them on. Though next time, I’d probably go for thicker legs.

Then it was time to dress the bench up a bit. I got these exterior house accessories at Lowes as well. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but they made nice and delicate arm pieces for the bench. They were a whopping $8.50 each for a total of $17 bucks.

Then we attached the bench to the door using long wood screws through the backside of the door. This included one each directly into the pretty little arms.

This picture is absolutely horrific, but you can see that we added the shelf on top. We didn’t make this as wide as the door, leaving a couple inches on each side. I used wooden shelf pieces to give it some pizazz. The shelf was around $11 total including the support pieces. They were surprising inexpensive!

I knew that it had to get difficult at some point and this is where it did. Getting the shelf to line up perfectly with the screws in the back was the hardest part. In the end, we didn’t do it perfectly and the shelf is not flush on both sides, but it holds and we aren’t very concerned about it. You’d have to be looking to really notice it.

We also added framing around the bench’s opening to finish off the edges a bit. I simply got a thin framing piece and we cut with a handsaw to fit, then tacked it on. It gives the box a sort of “lip” around the edges. I also primed and painted at this point. I used paint that I found at the Habitat Restore. I got a gallon of this beautiful aqua/greenish color for just $4!

Then came the finishing touches. I splurged on these hooks at Lowes for $4.50 each for a total of $13.50. I really didn’t want to spend that much on simple hooks, but I liked the color and knew that I wanted the bins to be dark like this too.

Now for the biggest function of this hall tree—bins! I got these smaller bins at Lowes for $7 each or $21 total. They look wicker but are an eco substance that mimics it. Nice and durable for the ravaging that our family might put them through.

I am in love with this hall tree for many reasons. It was so easy to make, even for the wood-working challenged. We didn’t even have to break out a big saw. I love the color that we painted it. So cheery and such a beautiful accent to the entryway. And I love that it was completely custom and not out of a box.

Did I mention that I love its functionality? I have been working on making sure that backpacks get hung along with coats and purses. I also have a rule to make sure all shoes go in the shoe bins. Once the deep winter hits, we’ll also keep scarves and gloves here too.

And my fancy shelf? I can use it for more storage with smaller bins or maybe even just place a seasonal item up there like a pumpkin to be festive!

Yay for DIY! What do you think?


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DIY Dollar Store Graphic Sign

September 19, 2012 by 1 Comment

I’m crossing my fingers that my friend Nikki is not reading this. Not that I don’t want her reading my blog, but she’ll know how much I spent on her birthday present! Money-wise it was literally just $1. That’s all that it cost me to whip this sign up.

How much is a homemade personalized sign for a special friend worth? Worth all the love that was put into it when it was made. 🙂

I was scrambling at the last minute to figure out what to get her. She’s been into cooking lately, so I knew I wanted to do something for the kitchen. My crafty side kicked in and I knew this was what I wanted to make. Knowing I already had the paint and brushes, I knew that I wasn’t really going to need much to make this so I stopped into Dollar Tree to find some type of board or plaque to make the sign from.

The plaque that I chose was of this hideous flower bouquet. It was almost metallic in nature. But it was getting painted over, so I didn’t mind. You can see in this picture that the underlying picture still came through. No matter how many coats I gave this, it still showed up. That’s alright! I think it still turned out pretty cool with a bit of a cloud affect.

To get the lettering on the sign, I used the same technique that I used on my Coffee Mug Holder. Very simple process that just takes a little time, but not money. You use your printer to select your favorite fonts.

And the hanging fabric was just some leftover from a chair recover that I did. You could use a shoelace, yarn, or just whatever you have laying around. I used a stencil that I had for the bottom, but you can find graphics online that can be used for this.

Want to make your own sign? Many of these things you may have on-hand already. Here are step by step instructions.

What you’ll need:

  • Board or plaque for making the sign on.
  • Paint
  • Paint Brushes
  • Printer and paper for making your text and graphics
  • Pencil
  • Ballpoint pen
  • Paint Pen
  • Yarn, shoelace, fabric for hanging
  • Clear Topcoat Spray (optional)

Instructions

1) Start by giving your board or plaque a few coats of your selected paint. Let dry completely.

2) Using your computer and Word or word processing program, choose your text and graphics and their correct size for your sign. You may need to hold them up a few times to the board to get it right. Cut the words out as a whole. Do not cut each letter out separately.

3) Turn the words over and using a pencil, color over the backside of each letter.

4) When your board is dry, lightly tape your word in place how you want them on the board. Use the ballpoint pen to outline each letter. The pencil lead will be transferred to the board. Carefully remove the tape and word.

5) Use your paint pen to carefully fill in the letters. It may take you some time to get used to staying in the lines.

6) If you choose to use a topcoat, spray it down and allow it to dry before moving on.

7) Using a drill or screw, create a hole in each side of your board. My board was ridiculously hard but I managed to screw in a screw and use that hole to pull my fabric through. Pull the fabric, yarn, or whatever you are going to hang it with through these holes. Make a knot so they cannot slip through. Tie the two pieces together in the middle for hanging.

That’s all there is to it! I hope I didn’t leave anything out. Most of the time I just do these things without thinking so typing it out into steps takes some getting used to. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Let me know if you make your own Dollar Store sign and if you do, I’d love for you to share a photo of it on the Pennywise Cook facebook page!


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DIY Coffee Mug Holder

August 15, 2012 by 66 Comments

One thing that you may not know about me is that I have an obsession with mugs. No, not with faces, but with the ceramic formations that hold the most incredible substance that keeps me going every day, coffee. I only started to drink coffee about a year and a 1/2 ago and yet it sucked me in so fast that I didn’t even know what was happening!

I now enjoy scouring flea markets, thrift stores, and any other places finding the most unique and eclectic mugs that I can. I’d call it a “hobby”, but that would be giving in and I’m afraid that my obsession would deepen so I’m just going to pretend that it’s just something that I do. 🙂

When I noticed that there wasn’t any place to put regular glasses in my cabinet, I decided that something need to be done.

I needed a place just for mugs. After all, they are worthy.

So I thought up this mug holder idea and got to work. I knew that I wanted it to be inexpensive and semi-simple to make since I’m no carpenter. Brace yourself, I took a lot of photos for this one…

I started with cheap board from Lowes. I had them cut it to 2 feet so that it would fit on the side of my cabinet. I didn’t want anything too thick, but I wanted it thick enough to hold screw hooks well. I believe this board is 1 inch thick which turned out just right. I painted the board with a light blue before lightly painting over it with an off-white. Then I sanded it a bit to distress it.

And in the process I got paint on the garage floor. It needed some color anyways.

I found this fantastic technique for transferring text onto wood at Elm Street Life. It doesn’t get any simpler than your printer, a pencil, and a pen.

Print off the text of your choice from your printer. No need for reversing the text or anything. Cut out most of the white surrounding the text. Then using a lead pencil, color the back of each letter like the picture above. The need for a cheetah print pencil is not necessary, but it helps to make you feel awesome.

I may have gone a bit overkill, but here’s what it will look like on the back.

Tape your words lightly to your wood so it won’t try coming up on you. Using a pen, trace around each letter firmly. The lead will transfer to the wood and you’ll be left with an outline of your words.

Like this! Then you can use a brush (if you’re brave) or a paint pen to fill in the outline. They actually make an assortment of paint pens these days which is nice.  Just remember that it doesn’t have to be perfect. You can always sand it a little and if you’re going for a vintage feel anyways, it wouldn’t look perfect either.

Use your paint pen to go around the letters and then fill them in. When buying your paint pens, be sure to look at what kind of tip you are getting. Some are made for calligraphy and others for painting. I don’t suggest the calligraphy tips for this.

Tah dah! We have a board. We have text on the board. now we just need hooks and mugs for our mug holder!

You may have seen my post on Toilet Paper Roll Art. It’s quite genius and is so simple and fun. I used a paper towel roll to create this flower and then dipped it into some of my favorite aqua paint.

I gave the board a little detail with my flowers and I even added an orange one on top to give it some more color.

I let it dry and then screwed in the hooks in an unexpected way. Or at least it was unexpected to my husband. He thought I would have made it a little more uniform, but as I started hooking them in, it seemed to make more room with them being offset this way.

UPDATE: We hung this by screwing screws directly through the backside of the cabinet into the board itself. We used 4 screws total and it holds just fine.

And there you have it! A simple yet cute way to display your coffee mug obsession (if you have one) and to give your cabinets a little more room.

It’s not just functional, but it looks really cool too. We’re going to make one for my husband’s mugs for the other side too.

Happy DIYing!


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DIY Large Graphic Wall Sign

August 3, 2012 by 2 Comments

Since my hubby was out of town for a few days, I must admit that I’ve been quite lax on cooking. It’s nice to take a break from it every now and then. In fact, our meals for the last few days have been mainly out of the most clever invention ever…..the microwave. I’m really not sure where I would be without it.

I’m back up and cooking now so you know I’ve got some good recipes on the way. But for now, I have a really cool DIY project for you that my husband and I did one weekend. I LOVE our sign! I look at it every morning when I wake up and every night when I go to bed. Shoot, I look at it when I walk in the room and when I’m walking out.

It demands attention. I love statement pieces like that.

I wanted to make one of these as cheap as I possibly could because 1) I’m just a cheapo and 2) because I like a challenge. I priced a lot of the materials at a few different stores. My main concern was the lettering. I wanted letters that weren’t too boring and I knew that I needed a lot of each. To my surprise, a pack with just 4 E’s was $8 bucks! And that wasn’t even a cute font either. There was no way that I was going to pay $40 for just the letters.

So I opened up Microsoft Word and went to work. 🙂

You may remember me mentioning one of my favorite Bible verses when I shared my Random Acts of Kindness. If not, here it is again.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

– Galatians 5:22-23

Those words pack a wallop don’t they? Can you imagine practicing each one every single day? Seems to me that I need a reminder because it’s just not easy. So I decided that those words would make a great sign for our bedroom wall. Here’s how we did it…

It all began with a very large piece of untreated white wood from Lowes. This one cost me approximately $13. It was a HUGE board and I even had 8 inches cut off of it to make it more rectangular.

Then we used a $3 can of white spray paint to be the base of the sign. It’s essentially what the color of the letters will be when we’re done. I considered using latex paint to do this project, but in the end I figured that spray paint would be quicker with more coverage.

See that arrow there on the right of the picture? That is where the newspaper became attached to hubby’s foot because he stepped in wet spray paint. Moral of the story? Don’t spray in bare feet. 🙂

I didn’t take any pictures of the next step because it wasn’t a happy time. Cutting out a billion paper letters including many with holes is not fun. I’ll spare you the sweet talk and be honest with you. It’s work, but it’s cheaper and highly worth saving $40. At least to me and my cheap brain.

So we cut out the letters and taped each one down using only tape on the backside of the letters. Sorry that this picture is so dark. By the time that we got the letters done it was dark. I knew this wasn’t exactly the best way to do it, but I also knew that I could try to make it work. Where there’s a will, there’s a way you know. 😉

The next morning, I got out my 2nd can of $4 spray paint from Lowes and went to town going over the letters. I loved this color. It Valspar Satin Interior called Thorny Brush. Perfect color for my bedroom. As I was spraying, I could tell that the spray paint was going under my tape a bit. There was definitely more work to be done…

Here’s a close-up of what the letters turned out like once the paint was dry. See the spots where the tape was? It really bothered me so I went over all of the letters with a small brush and some leftover white paint that I had.

That wasn’t a very fun process either. I totally forgot to take a picture of it. But I did remember to take a finished product shot! Here’s what it looks like all pretty and on the wall. We used plain jane screws to attach it straight to the wall. We’ve been having things with chain from the ceilings around here lately so that crossed our mind. But I didn’t want the sign just hanging and knocking against the wall, so we went with the easy route.

We aren’t professionals by any means so I’m sure that most could probably make theirs look a lot better. But for only about $20 and a little hard work, it’s a beautiful reminder on our bedroom wall! We LOVE it!

What do YOU think of it? I’d love to hear!


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DIY Tulle and Burlap Wreath

July 14, 2012 by 1 Comment

I’m at the Dollar Tree a LOT y’all. There is one really close to my house and that’s part of the reason why. The other reason is because they have things for $1 that would most likely cost you more going anywhere else. I could be their spokesperson. I would totally do it for free dollar merchandise too. Maybe a Dollar Tree head honcho is reading this right now and wants to put me in a commercial. I would be ok with that.

I made this wreath a couple of weeks ago using one of those wicker beginning wreaths that you can find at Dollar Tree. I see them there all the time and keep thinking that I could use them in some way and I finally figured out how. I’ve been on a window kick here lately since we’ve been redoing our living room. Hanging random windows from the ceiling is so much fun and a change from plain old pictures hanging on the wall.

Tulle is a very affordable way to make arrangements, wreaths, and other crafts for home decor. It’s usually around $1 per yard at Walmart.  And my new favorite fabric is burlap. It’s so rustic and imperfect. Even with it’s strings hanging down, it’s still nice to look at.

What you’ll need:

1 Wicker beginning wreath
3 Yards Tulle in the color of your choice
1/2 yard Burlap in color of your choice

It’s SO simple. Cut your tulle into strips that are the same size. About 2-3 inches wide. You just tie bows and then make a second knot.

Tie them evenly dispersed around the wreath. Then you can come back with a second color to go in between to add more depth.

Keep going adding in colors where you think they might fit best. It will really start to fill out and then you can add in your burlap ties to make it a little more rustic. I didn’t go too crazy with the burlap strips because a little goes a long way.

But when I was finished I thought it needed a little more burlap so I made up a few burlap roses by simply rolling it up unevenly. They aren’t perfect but they do resemble roses so they will work.

The wreath looks wonderful on my window that I painted and distressed a little. I also added a little burlap behind a few of the panes to tie it all together.

I hope you enjoyed this DIY project. It’s SO easy and it looks just fabulous wherever you put it.

Enjoy!


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From Spice Rack to K-Cup Holder {Before & After}

June 23, 2012 by 5 Comments

If you have a Keurig, then you are probably aware of the ungodly prices for accessories and extras that go along with it. Honestly, I’m just glad that the machines themselves have come down in price. If you don’t have a Keurig yet and have considered getting one, you might check out Amazon. They have decent prices on the machines and they also have a huge K-Cup sale on Fridays!

Chances are that you’ve seen the K-Cup carousels and the fancy little drawers for the Keurigs. Both range in price from around $25- $35 at most stores. Sure they are handy, but after the cost of all the K-cups you have to buy and the cost of the machine itself, who wants to shell out yet another $25 for that? Somebody who really needs a place to store their K-cups I guess.

I am just too cheap to pay for one of those, so I’ve made do with the box they come in.

Until now…

Goodwill is my hero. They have given me inspiration for a lot of things and now they have swooped in to save the day for my K-cup dilema! I found this empty spice rack at my local store for just $.99. To most, this would look like junk. One might think their spices wouldn’t fit its holes or think the color was all wrong. Or some might just have no idea what it is.

But I saw my new K-cup holder in this thrift store treasure. So I went home, cleaned it up a bit and then gave it a shiny new coat of spray paint to bring it into modern-day. Wow, what a difference!

The K-cups fit just perfectly and it’s not too big nor too small for my kitchen. Just goes to show that someone’s trash (or Goodwill donation) is someone else’ treasure!

Who needs a $25 K-cup carousel when you can repurpose a Goodwill spice rack for $.99?

Question of the Day: Do you have a K-cup holder? If so, what kind?


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