A Cabinet Refinish

I thought today I would show you one of the things I have been working on in the past few weeks.  This is a little cabinet in our foyer.  I'm sure you've seen it around on the blog.  It was in our foyer in our last house, too.  Before that it was in the dining room, and in the two houses prior to that it was in the kitchen.  You get the idea, it's a super versatile little cabinet (and we move a lot.)

So, though I love my little cabinet, I had fallen out of love with it's color.  There is no natural light where it sits, and it was reminding me of a big black hole.

I didn't take a full picture before I started dismantling and taping it up, but I'm sure you can imagine, it was just black.



As you can see, it's purpose at the moment is holding all the decorating stuff that doesn't have a place in the house right now.



The colors I chose for my refinish project were:
Paint: Milk Pail by Martha Stewart
Stain: Dark Walnut by Minwax

A big BIG thank you to Katie at clarendon lane for the color inspiration.  She refinished her master bathroom vanity with those colors and I loved it.  (She's an Air Force wife, too.  Her blog is cute and has tons of decorating and furniture refinishing ideas, go show her some love!)



So after some paint, some distressing, some stain, and some poly, here's the finished result.



Much lighter and brighter.



Just seeing it now makes me so happy.



Want to see what I'm working on next?



Kinda scary, huh?

The Best Thrifty Shopping Trip. Ever.

So this morning when I got up I was grumpy.  No particular reason why, I was just having one of those days.  So after we did our morning routine and I dropped Brennan off at school, I decided to stop by the thrift store.  Shopping therapy, of course. 

I am so glad I did!  I went with the intention of looking for world globes and old suitcases.  I didn't find either of those, but I did finds lots of cool stuff.  Even better, I had a 20% off coupon for all my loot.  Whoo Hoo!

So the first thing I found was this little bunny.

He made me happy, so I figured even if I didn't find anything else, at least he gave me the attitude adjustment I needed.

In this next aisle over, I found this tray. 

I love it!  It's one of those things I didn't know I was looking for and then the light bulb went off.  I plan on growing some herbs in my kitchen here shortly, and this will be perfect to hold all the little pots.

I think I heard singing when I found this guy.

I know, it's just a cheese dome.  But I have been looking for one of these (really cheap) forever.  There are all kinds of bloggy decorators out there that have found these things and made them really cute, and they all say, "look at your thrift store to find one, they always have them."  Well, at my thrift store, cheese domes are like mythical creatures....until today.  And at $1.99, I felt like I had just won the lottery.

Pretty blue and white plate.

I have been picking up unique plates here and there over the last few months, and this fits nicely with my budding collection.

A rainbow afghan.

How cute is this?!  It doesn't look like it has even been used.  No pilling or snags or stains at all.  It goes perfectly with the new colorful decorating I have been doing lately that I haven't blogged about yet. : )  What I love most about it, is that I just know that a grandma made it, and grandma blankets are the best.

So at this point, I was on a thrifter's high.  I could have left right then and been super happy.  But the area where I would find old globes and suitcases is in the back of the store, so I thought I better check, just in case.

As I already mentioned, I didn't find any globes or suitcases, but I did find this.

A little cutie patootie, Brennan-sized farmhouse chair!  LOVE it!  It's pretty dirty, and it has no finish on it whatsoever (less sanding for me!)  but I know it's going to turn out to be the cutest chair ever.

Really, at this point, can I reasonably ask any more from my thrifting trip?

Why, yes, yes I can!

Next I found these.

...for $3.99 each.  Score!  Look beyond the tarnished brass, and just look at the shape of these beauties!  Some spray paint and some new shades and they are going to look like a million bucks!

At this point I am done.  My little cart is full, and I'm guarding it like a crazy woman.  I just knew those other ladies were eye-balling my little chair and my mythic cheese dome. 

But in this case, as luck would have it, I have to walk through the clothes and accessories section to get to the checkouts.

So first I find these.

A Spring jacket, and a shirt with a guitar on it for Brennan.  Cute.

And then I find these.

Two cute purses.  But not just any old purses.  The one on the left is a Guess purse, which I am using as my everyday purse.

The other one....

Yeah baby, Prada!  Now I am not usually one to get too caught up caring about designer purses, but a super-cute leather Prada bag for $8.99...I think so!!  I can't wait to use it for date night next weekend.

...and just so you know,  I solemnly vow that the inside of my new Prada will never see a Matchbox car or a pack of crayons. : )

Have a great weekend everyone!

My Super-Duper Awesome Mirror

I've been wanting to replace the mirror in our dining room for awhile.  It's been awhile because I wanted something really striking, but I didn't want to pay a striking amount of money for it.  Since I haven't been able to find anything I really liked locally, I hit the internet to find some inspiration.

The Sundance Catalog calls this mirror, The Factory Mirror.  This is the medium size for about $300.

{Image from Sundance}

Pottery Barn has one, too.  They call this one the Eagan Mirror, and it's about $700.

{Image from Pottery Barn}

This is what I came up with.  I call it the Super-Duper Awesome Mirror, and it only cost me $12!

I found these mirrors at the Dollar Tree (of course), and I just hung them butted up to each other.  It gives the illusion of one big mirror.  I actually bought four additional mirrors in case we hang it someplace else and want it bigger, but in the meantime, it's perfect. Or at least perfect enough. : )

Ideally, I would want to actually mount all the mirrors together on a big sheet, and then put a wider frame around them, but this works out the best for our current situation.  With Jason in the military, we move fairly often, and with each move we end up with more broken stuff, and more wear-and-tear on our good stuff.  So this way, if one mirror gets broken or lost, it's really no big deal.

Super-Duper Awesome, don't you agree? :)  Now go "build" one!  

I Made A Pillow

So, I haven't worked on my quilt much lately, but I did finish up this beauty.  For the most part I made it out of stuff I already had, scraps of fabric from past projects and a pillow insert from Savers . Yeah, baby!  The only thing I didn't already have were the buttons, and I got them for super-cheap off of eBay.  (Love, love, love eBay!)



I love just about anything monogrammed, and I'm already thinking about making another one for our bed.  I priced personalized monogrammed pillows at a couple of different places, and found out that they run from $35 to $70.  I think I'll keep my version, thank you. Super-cheap and made with love.

On My Wish List...

As you may have noticed from a few previous posts, in between being a stay at home mommy, taking pictures, making a quilt, and all the other stuff that everyday life throws at me, I am trying to revamp our whole house on a shoestring budget.  I don't know if it's even as big as a shoestring, really it more like the plastic piece on the end of the shoestring.  You know, the flugalbinder?  Ha ha, you all want to watch Cocktail now, don't you?

So on my flugalbinder budget, I have done pretty good, though it is taking a REALLY long time.  I don't mind though.  I've gotten pretty crafty with spray paint, thrift store finds, super clearance deals, and the sewing machine is trying to become my friend.  Well, not friend, but at least it's not my mortal enemy (today anyway).

I constantly keep my eyes open for things I can use, with my main focus right now being on the kitchen.  I am trying to lighten and brighten everything, and make everything more cottage-y.  In the kitchen I am going with aqua blue and white.  The aqua blue being inspired from my small collection of vintage blue mason jars, and white, just because my newest obsession is painting everything white.  This weekend I scored big time at Target.  I found some new cute towels in the perfect color, AND if that wasn't enough, some new turquoise measuring spoons and measuring cups...in the dollar section.

I should have stopped there with my thrifty finds, but I messed up.  I thought if I could find measuring cups and spoons in aqua, what else is out there?  So I made the mistake of logging onto the internet, and I found the new item on my longing for list.

  A Kitchenaid mixer in ICE BLUE.  Isn't it just beautiful?  Yep, it's also beautifully priced at $300.  My birthday is coming up in a few months.  Anybody?

Well, maybe someday.  In the meantime don't be surprised if I write a post about "How to Take Apart and Spray Paint Your Little, Old, White Mixer."  Just Kidding. Maybe.

Bringing in Some Spring

The weather this week has been great...
...for polar bears.

Actually, yesterday wasn't so bad. It got up to 60 and it was sunny, and Brennan and I were able to play outside for a couple of hours. Prior to that, however, it snowed 8", hailed, and was just downright cold. There is definitely a case of Spring fever going on in the Bal household. It didn't help that I ran across a slideshow the other day of beautiful flowers and trees that are blooming and budding right now. Around here, not so much. Well, besides an occasional daffodil in somebody's landscaping, and, of course, the garden department at Walmart.

With that mentality, (and the fact that everything looked so bare when I took down the Easter decorations) I went to work bringing some faux Spring into the house.

One of my favorite signs of Spring back in Indiana are when the dogwoods bloom. I'm not sure if dogwood trees grow in Utah, but in our house they do. The paper variety, anyway.

I just folded up some plain white copy paper, cut a scallop, punched the end with a hole punch, dabbed on some green and brown paint, and tada, paper dogwood flower.


I think they turned out pretty well.  Oh, and check out my cool moss rocks from the Dollar Tree.  We have the mother of all Dollar Trees right down the street.  Gotta love that!



After I made up several dozen flowers, I glued them to the branches leftover from our Easter tree.


I also scattered some over the mantel and on shelves and bookcases throughout the house.

If you're wondering where the mantel came from, it was the solution to the empty wall I talked about back in February. I got the mantel itself pretty cheap on eBay, and then Jason and I built the base. In it's future it will have added embelishments and a nice paint job. (Right now it's only primed.) I'm also on the lookout for a fireplace screen and a big mirror.  The mirror that's hanging right now is stolen from our bedroom. :)

Maybe I'll have all that done by the time the "real" Spring arrives.

Thrifty Thursday - Fleur-de-lis Plaque Before and After

As I am clearing out our excess stuff, I am finding all kinds of things I can repurpose. One of these things is this garden plaque.



Instead of sending it off to the Savers store, I decided to give it a makeover.



A few coats of acrylic paint, a hand painted fleur-de-lis, and the year Jason and I got married, and ta da, cool new art for the living room!

Big Blank Canvas

Over the weekend, we went thift store shopping. Around us, there isn't a Goodwill store, but there is a place called Savers, and of course, the Deseret Industries. We packed up and headed out Saturday morning to see what treasures we could find. Well, as luck would have it, I found a silver cake stand, a couple of glass hurricanes, a milk glass bowl, some big silver serving spoons and forks for an art project I have in my head, and a couple of white tea saucers. (The boys didn't get left out, Jason found several books, and I found a brand new Melissa and Doug barn yard puzzle for Brennan.) I couldn't wait to get home with my finds.

But my new treasures led to this:

A big blank wall where our hutch and buffet used to live. Now it lives in the kitchen, and the pie safe that was in the kitchen is now in the foyer, and the marble top table that was in the foyer is now homeless (and will probably stay that way. :) Gotta have some change every once in a while.)

The kitchen is shaping up nicely with my new decorating scheme, but my dining room is left looking pretty bleak. But you know me, it won't be for long. I'll be sure to post an update when there is one.

To be continued...