Junk Party!!!

I'm part of the junk party!!!! After looking at my junk, click here to be inspired by some other junkers... we should form a support group!!!

I took along my 9 year old son who also found some of his own treasures... books and rollerblades, and had a very productive day at the Salvation Army store... here are my finds... I spent 16 dollars, including the wooden shoe organizer which is already in use by my garage entry door. Check out the spray paint cans in the background just itching to go! Incidentally, my trigger finger is kinda numb today... no lie... I guess I'll need to toughen up!

To the lawn with the spray paint I go... anxious to start my repurposing!

This old popcorn tin will be my new dogfood tin... it soaked up an entire can of spray paint and still needs more, so stay posted for the final reveal.

I decided to start collecting white dishes... at the beginning of the week I had none, now look at them all... I spent no more than 10.00 on this entire collection!!! I'm so excited because I've never had nice dishes for this hutch.

This candid family shot finally has a frame for 99 cents and some black spray paint!

Jars from the SA sore.. cleaned up, just waiting to be filled with something fun!

Way too much fun for just a dollar!

Before:

After:

It's baaackkk...

my thrifting, goodwill, repurposing, crafting addiction, that's what. It had been on a little break since I moved from Plano and wasn't familiar with the good junky spots around the new home. But, once I went to goodwill and found a few good things, it becomes a little bit of an obsession. There's one right by my work, so I'll pop in there on lunch or right after school and quickly walk through to see what's new... also, my parents have my boys for a few days this week while I'm finishing up school, which is freeing up some time. Today on my mind was a baby shower coming up this weekend...so I got motivated to try my hand at a personalized gift, and then with no little boys to want to get in on the painting fun, I painted a little more, and a little more...

All of these plates were from thrift stores or mismatched ones from my own cabinets.. I spray painted them a cream color and experimented with the painting and lettering... it was really fun... the C is for the new baby, Caroline. P.S. the white chair was a goodwill find last week for less than 5.oo. Great bones! P.P.S. the hydrangeas are from my backyard. I love them!

GOODWILL Hunting

Sara at Thrifty Decor Chick is hosting a Good Will party. I'm all over this... on a two-teacher income I'm all about what I can find a second-hand stores and make pretty!  Plus, It's a lot of fun, and I also like to think I'm recycling and being "green" when doing this, too.  What to share?  Well, I was inspired by all the linky posts and did a 15 minute project tonight. I'll share that, and then post a few of my thrift store finds that are proudly part of my home.

I bought a 99 cent urn on my lunchbreak today at Goodwill.

Then, following inspiration from another blog

 I stalked earlier this week. I searched throug

h my kids' toys until I found a ball the right size to sit in the urn.

About the right size, but my kids still play with this... 

Too small, and too squishy...

JUST RIGHT!!! It's an old Magic 8 ball!  

And, Ta Da, this is how it turned out. Not bad for 99 cents! (I'm already seeing some things I want to perfect on it, but not bad for a quick project. I can always add to it later. What I'd like is for it to look more topiary-ish.)

And, as promised, a few of my other thrifty treasures throughout my humble home... 

Dining Room- Thrift store plant stand and plant, which I need to re-pot since it's suffered a very shattering falls as three little boys run through the house. Round Mirror.. big Canton bargain!!!  

Hall Bathroom... Black shelf off of Hobby Lobby clearance aisle.. 3 bucks.. not goodwill, but just wanted to make you jealous... 

Lamp, lampshade, frames, and Cross all from garage sales, flea markets, or thrift stores.

Not really sure why, maybe b/c it was already painted black, my favorite spraypaint color, but this is one of my favorite 2.49 Thrift store finds.. it's a cute bulletin board I hang in my kitchen.  

Chair bought for a couple bucks.. I spray painted it black and I use it at my desk or as an extra kitchen table chair. The paint is starting to wear, but I think it kinda' adds to the charm... 

top of armoire in my bedroom... never can get it right. Thrifty candle holder collection.. and my grandma's antique books... too cheap to actually buy candles for the candleholders, though;)

I love finials.. I find them everywhere and they are spread throughout the house.  

Mistreatment

I've always been obsessed with decorating, especially the thrifty kind.  I usually feed my addiction through tivoed episodes of Decorating Cents, Designed to Sell, and other shows, but lately I've found a new drug... decorating blogs.  I found the Nester. Check her out... she is awesome! She calls herself the lazy perfectionist.. that's totally me!!!   I got some ideas for making curtains.  I do not sew, so I've been looking for some ideas!!! So, this weekend, I worked on putting some curtains up in my laundry room with some fabric I had lying around from recovering some kitchen chairs.  I bought the fringe.. but everything else I already had around the house.  My next project is to add some "mistreatments"  to my french doors to the backyard.  I'm kinda' nervous to share, but here ya go anyway!

Decor Diva

It's the only kind of Diva I'll probably ever be, so I'm going to claim it.  I'm not just into Decor, it has to be thrifty, creative, and fun. Recently, I've found some very cool blogs of others like me who always have their eyes open for "someone else trash."  I love thrift stores and garage sales, and my favorite is repurposing something to be a one-of-a-kind accessory.  Since I've recently been inspired by some cool thrifty diva blogs, I thought I'd share some of my favorite thrifty finds.

This is most recent "creation." Nothing fancy, but on a whim I decoupaged old book pages that my dog had chewed out of one of my antique books (ahhh! a whole other story) to a spaghetti sauce can. Today I clipped some flowers from a bush outside and used it as a vase. Not too shabby... well, it is shabby, that's kinda' the idea!

I can't really take credit for this one. My husband made this headboard for our foreign exchange student. We were really excited to decorate a teenage girls' room. Now that she has been here almost a year, the memo board style headboard is covered in pictures!  

My black frame collection is only because of the power of spraypaint. I spraypainted my mix matched collection of frames and hung them all over the house. 

Aahhh.. the red chair. One of my thrift store finds. When I bought it, it was cream colored with stenciled flowers. We made it match our decor with red spray paint.  Don't kids love furniture in their own size? This piece cost a couple bucks!

Curtain in my old bathroom (Oh, how I miss my former master bathroom!). I never did get around to dying it chocolate brown before we moved unexpectedly, but I was still proud that I waited until I found the perfect valance at my favorite thrift store for $1.99. It's hung in my "new" house, but I don't have a picture of it. My 1960's master bath is a work in progress, not yet ready for pictures!

That's just a few of my "treasures!"  My whole house is decorated with like items. We have the basic quality items that we purchased many years ago, but everytime I get "itchy" to change my style or try something new, it's always done with these kind of fun items.  Maybe since I can't seem to give up water bottles, this is my way of being "green!"

Not Nesting, Just "Spring Cleaning"

The other day my husband asked me if I was "nesting?" Funny. I haven't heard that word in relation to me in well, almost 4 years. (My youngest's 4th birthday is at the end of this month.) No! Not nesting, just Spring Cleaning! And, in very small doses, believe me! Every once in a while I get the bug to purge and organize, but mostly I just like to look through cool ideas on the internet. :) Here are a few I happened upon tonight. I'll let you know if I actually try any. I REALLY like the accesory board. I'm thinking it would be really cute to put cork board in a fancy frame and hang it in my bathroom. I'm going to keep my eyes open because I love to pull together projects like that from thrift store finds. It makes me miss living down the road from McKinney Trade Days.