Home Decor – Page 8 – Dust Bunnies and Dog Toys

Blarney and Green

Published on March 17, 2015 by JennaLeave a comment

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Although neither of us have Irish heritage (that we know about anyway) and only claim to speak fluent blarney, I do enjoy decorating a bit for this fun holiday. I typically keep things simple with vignettes of green and gold. Here’s a quick tour of my St. Patty’s Day décor. In the entry way the dresser holds an Irish blessing I found online last year and a few touches of green and gold in the form of candles and glass.

My holiday tree got a few shamrocks and a gold garland with a little leprechaun hiding amongst them.

And my simple St. Patrick’s wall hanging was placed between the closets.

In the family room the media cabinet also got some green and gold vignettes, including more candles (notice one of my DIY pedestals?!) and a cute little gold shamrock print I found online.

The mantel holds a large print and my DIY button rainbow art from a few years back, with – you guessed it – more green and gold.

I paired a gold votive with my thrifted white crock filled with shamrocks on the table beside my chair. To finish it off I added our gold-tinged monogram.

The pillow covers I picked up around Christmas time were perfect for my chair and the ottoman near the entryway.

The dining room got a simple centerpiece of split pea and a flameless candle, while the buffet in the background holds a cloche of my DIY blarney stone and gold coins.

Apparently the hubs agrees with my choice of print for the mantel because I found this little addition the other day. Guess you don’t have to be Irish to be lucky! 🙂

A Master Bench

Published on March 1, 2015 by JennaLeave a comment

This is my final No-Spend January Project recap and it’s one of my favorites! Yes I know it’s now March, but life happened and I’m just getting to sit down and write this up. I’d had this project in mind for a while and had gathered all of the supplies we’d need over several months. It was just a matter of actually spending the time to put it all together.

We started with the legs, which we picked up unfinished at the hardware store for around $7 each. I decided to stain them with an oak color we had on hand and then did a light coat of rose gold paint to give it a little sparkle and depth. The hubs created this genius holder so I could do the whole leg at once and leave it to dry! It’s just a piece of scrap lumber with holes to hold the threads on the tops of the legs. (Notice my last no-spend project there in the background? You’ll see the pedestals mid-painting in the background in one of the upcoming pictures too!)

Next we attached the legs to a simple box structure the hubs built based on the dimensions we’d taken to fit the foot of our bed. He used scrap 2×4’s for the frame and a piece of plywood for the top.

I’d found a huge section of foam for just $3 at a rummage sale, which was a much better bargain than the pre-cut pieces that sell for $25 or more and weren’t the right size. We cut a piece of the foam to fit and used spray adhesive to attach it to the top of the box frame. And as you can see behind the bench, there’s still plenty of foam left over for future projects!

Since I planned to upholster around the sides of the box, I wanted it to have a bit of cushion too. A layer of batting accomplished that and made the edges of the foam less square. We realized the next few steps would work better without the legs so we removed them and stapled the batting down on the underside of the frame, pulling it tight as we went. It took us a few tries to figure out exactly how we wanted to wrap the ends, but we finally figured out the method that involved the least amount of bunching.

Next came the outer fabric, which had been a shower curtain I picked up at good will for around $4. I chose this material because it seemed to have a bit more tear resistance, which was important with three dogs and a cat! We stapled down either side of the fabric avoiding the staples from the under layer of batting.

Just like the batting, we tried several methods of folding the ends before deciding on one that kept the lines of the fabric straight. We had to cut a bit of excess fabric from the folds to keep things smooth, but the end result turned out pretty good.

Finally we reattached the legs by cutting holes where the threads attached to the frame and screwing them back on. (Notice that antique table we’re using as a work bench? I snagged that just before Christmas for $20 and plan to refinish it as a nightstand for our guest room!)

Now we have a custom bench along the foot of our bed, which is the perfect place to hold all those extra pillows each night! Which also keeps the fur babies from using it as a launching pad onto the bed! 🙂

DIY Glass Hurricanes & Pedestals

Published on February 26, 2015 by Jenna1 Comment

This was seriously one of the easiest DIYs I’ve ever done. All it took was some glass candle sticks, glass candle trays, a couple simple vases and some industrial strength glue. I found several tutorials on Pinterest for both the hurricanes and pedestals, so it’s certainly not a new idea.

The hardest part was deciding which glass candle sticks to pair with each topper. I mixed and matched the different pieces, doing a “dry fit” to finalize my selections. I decided to use the taller candle sticks for the hurricanes since the added height made them feel a bit more like the expensive versions I’ve seen in the designer catalogs.

The three shorter candlesticks were paired with the glass trays to create pedestals of varying heights. I think one of the trays was actually a paper weight, but I like that one has a thicker platform since some items might look better with that.

Once I was happy with the dry fit, I lined up all my pieces and broke out the super strength glue, which other bloggers recommended. This stuff is pretty strong, so I wore gloves while working with it as a precaution.

The directions say to apply the glue to both pieces, wait 2 minutes and then join them, so that’s what I did. And it worked like a charm. The glue does need 24 hours to cure, but once it did it created a super strong bond. I painted the pedestals white, so I could use them for multiple occasions.

My only disappointment with this project is that I don’t have a large pillar candle that fits in the curved vase hurricane so I have to use a smaller votive candle. But for a fraction of the designer price I can work around that.

Since I already had the spray paint and had picked up all the glass pieces for about $25 at thrift stores before January, all I needed was the glue which runs about $5 at the hardware store – although after a military discount and a gift card it was free. So there you have it, another 0-cost project wrap up for No Spend January!

The Sickness

Published on February 25, 2015 by JennaLeave a comment

Hi, there. After a lengthy battle with “the sickness” – a nasty, allergy-induced, head cold – I’ve finally returned to feeling human. The hubs was amazing through it all. He drove two hours to pick me up at work and bring me home early because I car pooled the day I got sick and then took great care of me until he came down with a bug himself. We’re both still fighting some congestion, but at least we’re back in action. And now begins the game of playing catch up since I spent my long holiday weekend, including Valentines, hacking up a lung instead of making progress on my to-do list.

One of the items on that list was sharing my Valentines décor with you. I know it’s now passed, but I wanted to share what I did anyway. I had this grand plan to make a sweet X & O like this, but things didn’t pan out quite how I hoped. I bought plain white X and O letters at Michaels with the rest of my no-spend January return gift card.

I originally planned to paint gold stripes on one and gold dots on the other, so I taped off the stripes and poured a bit of craft paint.

Apparently the finish on the letters wasn’t well suited for painting because the paint didn’t adhere well and bled, even with the tape.

I decided to try making the dots with the end of a large brush. That didn’t work out so well either.

Since I had limited time and didn’t feel like sanding anything, I ended up just wiping off the paint and leaving them plain, atop the curio cabinet.

The media cabinet got some love from a few of my recent bargain finds, including a super simple DIY glass hurricane candle votive, which I’ll share a tutorial for in my next post.

I was pretty happy with the mantel arrangement, which included another DIY glass hurricane votive, milk glass and a DIY lipstick heart framed art thanks to several of my gal pals donating their old unwanted lipsticks. They all thought I was nuts when I asked if they had some to donate, but thought the end result was pretty cool.

The side table held some faux tulips in a white crock (another fairly recent bargain find), paired with a long-ago thrifted gold heart votive candle. And my chair became home to my “Love you More” pillow.

I added a “Love” cover to a pillow I already had and it looked perfect on the bench near the entryway. Beyond that you can see the heart rose wreath on the wall in the entry.

The dresser in the entry gave me fits. I just couldn’t seem to make it work. I started with this set-up on one corner and really liked it, but that left the other side barren.

So I reworked things and ended up with this arrangement. Certainly not amazing, but it filled the space and didn’t cost anything, so I decided to go with it.

Clear and red glass heart ornaments, along with some pink ribbon brought my holiday tree to life. I used to have a topper for this holiday but it bit the dust last year so I just went without this time.

I kept the dining room simple, with two large felt hearts on the buffet lamp shades and a little bear holding the wooden heart the hubs mom brought back from Jerusalem under a cloche.

A flameless candle and some rose petals finished off my recent bargain hurricane for the perfect simple centerpiece.

There you have it – my 2015 Valentines décor. Just in time for me to switch it all out to for green St. Patty’s stuff! LOL. I’ll try to get that glass hurricane tutorial posted tomorrow, so stay tuned for that!

Recent Bargains

Published on February 6, 2015 by JennaLeave a comment

Just before No-Spend January started (hence the Christmas centerpiece) I snagged a couple really good bargains on a trip to the thrift store. I only paid $45 for all of this! Several of them got a makeover during the last month – I’ll be sharing those very soon – and several became part of my Valentine’s décor – which will also be shared soon.

Although my favorite find was the milk glass vase for $0.99, I was pretty excited about the tall hurricane vase since I had bought one on the local buy/sell page for $5 about this time last year and ended up selling it to someone at a spring bazaar even though it was only part of my display because she liked it so much and offered me double what I paid for it! I snagged this one for $12 and although I originally planned to paint the base I’ve decided to leave it as is for now. The wooden pedestal bowl is still mid-transformation, but I think it’s going to be fantastic when it’s done – just in time for some spring decorating.

But the best recent bargain is this leather arm chair. Wanna know what I paid for it? NADA! Zilch! Absolutely nothing! Every once in a while trolling Craigslist’s free section pays off! 😉 One of the arms is a bit wobbly and needs some reinforcement, but the hubs is pretty sure he can take care of that at some point. That point will probably be right before we have company coming one day when it’s a priority. Oh well, at least for now it looks pretty darn fancy!

Now that No-Spend January is over, I decided to check out a local clothing consignment store last Sunday and brought home a lovely Banana Republic jacket for just $7! I also found a pretty pink scarf at the thrift store in their ‘new/retail donated’ section for just $9. I’d been on the hunt for one for some time now so finding one at such a great price was even sweeter. Isn’t finding a great bargain wonderful? Tell me about your recent favorite in a comment!

Organizing My Crafty Storage

Published on February 5, 2015February 6, 2015 by JennaLeave a comment

Since I’m running behind recently I still have a few No-Spend January projects to share including getting my craft shelves organized. Although it’s not really all that exciting, I’m happy with the result and the fact that I crossed another “to-do” off the list without spending a dime. I liked the mannequin bust and wire basket I had up there already, but I had a few other items I wanted to store including already made elastic headbands, clear ornaments I never found time to make into minions back at Christmas and my inventory of seasonal hair accessories. I dug out a matching yet larger wire basket from my décor stash to hold the ornaments on the top shelf, which left just enough room to place a display board I already had made up. To finish up the lower shelf, I purchased the glass jar with my Target gift card for the headbands and returned some unused items to Michaels which gave me enough to buy the little storage box for my seasonal inventory. I may eventually paint some gold dots on the box just to give it some interest, but that’s not a huge priority right now. While I was arranging the shelves I realized that if I moved the hanging wire rack down a bit it would create the perfect space for the name plate I still hadn’t figured out how to use. Will it stay there forever? Probably not. But at least it has a home and is on display for now. The open jar on the right of the cabinet top is my trash can when working on a project and the containers on the left currently hold projects that need a little fixing. Shelves2 Here’s a full shot of the shelves and the cabinet. Normally the cabinet is centered below the shelves, but apparently I bumped it out of whack before taking this picture!. Still it’s pretty darn inspiring – especially when it’s cleaned off! If you look closely you can see the roll of kraft paper standing up next to the cabinet because I still haven’t decided how and where I want to mount it yet. I’m leaning toward mounting it with some simple hardware on the side of the cabinet so I can still use it when I roll the cart out into the living room, but it doesn’t fit quite right so I might have to pick the hubs brain to make that idea work. 🙂

Look Ma, No Wires!

Published on January 30, 2015 by JennaLeave a comment

Ok, who decided to hit the fast forward button this week? I blinked Monday morning and now it’s Friday afternoon without a single post! Anywho, I’m here now and wanted to share another No-Spend January project. Several months ago the TV in our family room started having speaker issues, so I agreed that it was time to replace it. The hubs researched options and found the exact one he wanted at Best Buy just in time for one of the fall holiday sales. Unfortunately, when he arrived at the store they didn’t have any in stock, despite the website showing several available at that location. So the sales associate made him a deal, a bigger TV for the same price! And do you know what my hubby said to that? “Well I didn’t really want a TV that big….” Say what?! He’s got to be the first man in history to ever have that thought cross his mind let alone his lips. And that’s why I love him. Still, it was an offer too good to refuse and he came home with a monster 50” TV.

The old TV, which we sold to recoup some of the cost of the new one, left room on either side for my decorating but this new behemoth filled the entire top of the TV stand. I don’t have a picture of the old TV in the space, but you can see how large the new one looked in the background of this shot.

Barstools

I suggested we hang it on the wall so it wouldn’t feel so massive once I did the gallery wall I was planning for the space, plus that would leave the top of the TV stand available for decorating improve the view of the screen from the dining table. 😉

I’d pinned another blogger’s post about mounting her TV and hiding the wires which I showed the hubs. He liked the idea and ordered the kit we needed online. It arrived right before Christmas, just in time for a few days off he had planned. He installed it while I was at work one day so I don’t have any pictures of that process (apparently it’s impossible to hold up a huge TV and take pictures of doing so at the same time. LOL), but it’s fairly simple. Attach bracket to the wall, then attach the TV to bracket. That’s about when I got home and said “but what about the wires?”

Although he was hesitant to put a hole in the wall, I insisted the wires needed to disappear and not just be camouflaged. A few days later he consented and cut two holes – one behind the TV and another behind the TV stand – so he could fish the necessary wires through the wall. Here’s the end result!

Soooo much better! Just look at all that open space on the TV stand just begging to be decorated for Valentines! Oh, and that extra speaker thing now has breathing room (cough, cough). Another improvement is the side view, which is seen from our entry way. No more mess of wires behind the stand.

Now I just need to finish prepping a few items for the gallery wall and figure out the best layout for them around the TV. I’ll be sure to share that project when I do! After that, I plan to replace the current TV stand with something like this for more storage. But that’s projects for another day. 🙂

The Cutest Pumpkins EVER!

Published on November 24, 2014November 28, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

Remember, last week when I said I had a little décor project to wrap up on the porch? Well, it’s finally done and I’m ready to share it with you! Wa-La! The cutest pumpkins EVER! At least to me anyway. 🙂

Besides being adorable, they were super easy to make. First, I spray painted some scrap pieces of 4×4 left over from our fence project. A couple coats of orange and they were looking like very square pumpkins. Now they just needed stems, so I went stick hunting in our woods, much to the dogs delight.

I let my pile of sticks “dry out” on the porch for a few days, ok, weeks – which caused several of them to fall victim to puppy playtime. But I digress. Once I deemed them “dry” I chose a few with interesting texture and curves and marked off sections for the hubs to cut. Yes I could have done it myself, but have a bad history with sharp objects so he came to my rescue.

Once I had all my stems ready to go I tested them out on the different bases and decided the combinations I liked best. A little hot glue and presto, stems!

Cute as they were at this point I felt like they needed a little softening, so I dug out some orange raffia I found at a yard sale long, long ago and tied some around the base of each stem. BAM. Delightful, rustic, recycled wooden pumpkins! On. my. porch!

They are the perfect finishing touch to my other fall decor on the front porch! Apparently Mother Nature didn’t agree because she added some little touches as well… LOL.

Thanksgiving Decor

Published on November 18, 2014November 18, 2014 by Jenna1 Comment

I’ve given ya’ll a couple sneak peeks of my fall/Thanksgiving décor and I’m finally ready to share it all. I kept things simple and used items I already had to create fun yet classic vignettes. You’ve already seen the entryway here, so today I’ll share the little holiday tree that sits next to the front door. It’s the perfect spot to show off my cute little jingle bell Thanksgiving ornaments – a turkey, scarecrow and a pilgrim couple.

Also in the entry way is the new welcome pumpkin I picked up on sale at JoAnns. It’s the perfect fit for the narrow space between the two coat closets across from the dresser and mirror. I’m loving the rustic feel and the contrast it provides with the wall color.

And here’s a full shot of the mantel with my pretty new painting made by moi! I picked up that amazing yellow ceramic vase for just $8 on the buy/sell page. I did my happy dance when I did because I’d been eyeing similar versions at different stores for months for WAY more. I filled in the rest with items I already had – antlers, pumpkins a couple gold votives, a little crow figure and some tall decorative grass in a tan vase. I finished it off with a fall colored ribbon garland I made, similar to the one in the entryway but with softer ‘harvest’ colors. Notice that one pumpkin on the floor? It’s the only one that the dogs aren’t interested in because it’s metal! 🙂

There are few other fall touches in the family room including a bouquet of orange mums in a small cream crock I thrifted earlier this year on the side table and a pretty pumpkin plate in the windowsill next to the fireplace. Somehow I neglected to take photos of those for this post, but I’m sure you can envision them. In the dining room, I paired a tall cloche holding a pumpkin and other natural elements with some gold votives on the buffet.

The windowsills in the dining room also got some attention. A metal owl thrifted last year gives a bit of contrast to my pretty purple plant and a small metal gourd on one side. On the other side I grouped a fall arrangement with a doily covered green pumpkin and my favorite little scarecrow.

I had grand plans to make a pretty centerpiece for the dining room table and a “Thankful” tree, but time is a scarce resource these days so I decided to table those ideas for next year in favor of other more important projects right now. I still have a simple craft project to wrap up out on the front porch and then I can share that with you, hopefully in time for Thanksgiving!I’d love to see how you decorated for Thanksgiving, so share a link to your site or leave a comment below and tell me what you did to show your gratitude this year.

Quick DIY Thanksgiving Decor

Published on November 4, 2014November 18, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

Now that Halloween is over, I’m in full Thanksgiving mode and that means the decorating has begun. This pretty plate was a left over from a recent work event and it just screamed to be made into a sign. It fit perfectly on one side of my entry table and I thought a simple “Give Thanks” was the perfect way to welcome guests during this season.

I loved the texture it already had and new simple white letters would play well off that. I took some quick measurements and played with a few fonts on my Silhouette and came up with this!

I do wish it filled the space a bit more, but I still love it. And it only took about 5 minutes to create! All with materials I found for free or had on hand. That’s my kind of decorating. Here’s a quick sneak peek at the other side of the entry way table.

I found that little owl lantern at the thrift store for a few dollars earlier this year, and the wooden tote started out solid black as a clearance find at JoAnns. I sanded it down on a whim one day and loved the texture the left over paint gave it. And because it’s so simple it ends up being used in many of my vignettes throughout the year. And you might remember my little lace votives from this project.

Looks like someone approves of my Thanksgiving entry way decor! I’m still working on a few things for the other areas I’m decorating, but I’ll share those soon. 🙂