A Fashion Don't

I was rummaging through a sack of clothing at a yard sale on Saturday. I pulled out the cutest pair of jeans.  At least I thought they were cute, until the second half of them came out of the bag.  Then I may have yelled "Holy Crap!" and thrown them to the ground.  Okay, I did. The second half was knit from the knee down.  As soon as I got over the shock of how hideous they looked, I decided to buy them for .50 and make shorts out of them.  And now, they rock.  But my white legs don't rock so much, so I will spare you "after" pictures. :)

Okay, now picture them as to the knee shorts.  Cute, right? 

Can't Find What You're Looking For?

Fake it! I scoured the world over for the perfect curtains for our toy room turned nursery.  I had painted it this crazy bright blue (that I love, by the way) but nothing matched what I was envisioning with the paint color.

Then I saw a twin bedspread.  And I called my momma.  And I begged her to make me some curtains out of it.  She said yes. :) We just took the batting out, cut it down the middle and hemmed them, then she made a pocket for the curtain rod.  They still didn't have the blue in them that I needed...so I got out a paintbrush and painted it on the white flowers.  Ta-da! Love. And one great thing about it being a bedspread is that it is double lined already.

I had the same experience where I couldn't find ANYTHING I liked for a shower curtain.  I finally found a queen size duvet on Urban Outfitters website on clearance ($20!).  Yes, I called my mom again.  (Are you sensing a pattern here?  No, I don't sew. She does. I am a lucky girl) She agreed to make it into a shower curtain for me.  She made it look easy too.

A way that I save money with window treatments too is to buy just one panel and cut it in half.  Usually panels are at least 54" wide, sometimes bigger and it makes just the right size panel for each side.

Trash Talkin' Tables

One of my favorite blogs is called Better After.  She actually just featured one of my favorite projects I've ever done, my kitchen table.

A woman down the street from us was giving away some furniture.  I went to look at what she had and she asked if I needed a kitchen table.  I didn't, but I was curious to see it.  She showed me this beauty and said that if I didn't take it and the other items, she was throwing them all away! I can't see good furniture (or a good  ANYTHING) thrown away, so I kindly asked my husband to throw his back out bringing it home for me. :)

So, here's the before and after.

With a couple coats of primer, paint and a can of black spray paint, it was transformed! I knew it would take a beating having little ones, so I distressed it on the edges and I love the look of it even more. I used a water based sealant similar to polyurethane, but without the yellowing effect. I was lucky enough to find 6 beautiful chairs on craigslist for only $15 each! And bonus for me, the bench from our last set worked perfectly too!

This next table is also on my "favorite projects" list.  I have been wanting something for my bathroom and couldn't find anything that was the right size (or the right price.) Then I stumbled upon an ugly, yet charming table for $2 at a yard sale.  I painted several coats on it...and then, to my 3 year old's horror, took an electric sander to it.  She was baffled as to why I would spend so much time working on it, only to destroy the paint.  She tried to be nice about it, but kept saying, "it looks cute there and there, but not there and there. It's only kinda cute there" (In all the sanded spots) 

Random side note:when my kids were asked to fill out "all about my mom" questionnaires for Mother's Day, they both put "painting" as the answer to "what is your mom good at?" Bless their hearts. 

This table was a hideous, peeling white mess when I bought it. I kept envisioning how great it could look.  With a lot of work.  Then I would work on it, for 3 minutes at a time.  Then I would sit in the hammock and read, pretending that I was waiting for the paint to dry.  Finally, I got all the peeling paint off and gave it a fun new color.  (Just don't look too close since I missed a couple spots. Translation:up close it looks like poo, but far away it's adorable. And the price was right at $5!)

I've always wanted one of these indoor/outdoor tables, but I'm too cheap to just buy one. A few weeks ago, a local thrift store posted a picture online of a different item for sale (first thing in the morning) and I saw this and about peed my pants. Yes, I just said that. I asked the owner, all through online chatting, if it was, in fact one of the tables I was thinking of.  She thought it was a vase.  I had to go look so I threw my 3 pajama clad, starving children in our van and ran to the store.  I wish I'd taken a before picture, it was hideous.  It had hibiscus flowers all over it, but for $5 I didn't care! After lots and lots of spray paint (and more time spent in the hammock reading between paint coats) it looks like this...

I think my favorite aspect of all of these makeovers is that I can just repaint them if after a while the colors make me nauseated. :) Don't be afraid to try a pop of color...you just might like it! 

Stripes

Stripes are so popular these days. They are also, surprisingly, much easier to do than I thought they would be. (My husband did them, but he made it look easy:)

The pictures on the wall were in ugly gold frames originally. I sprayed them brown and made flowers out of lace (just by rolling it in my fingers) and added a pearl to the center of each.

The white mirror was a gold frame from a yard sale. I sprayed it white and had a piece of mirror cut for it for a few dollars.  I'm telling you, spray paint is life changing! :)

The earring holder was actually a yard sale find. Someone had made it in, of course, a gold frame.  I just brought it home and painted it turquoise. All you need is wire (this is like a window screen, but you could also use chicken wire or punched metal), a frame and either glue or a heavy duty staple gun to make it.

P.S. Nothing wrong with being a gold lover.  It just depends on what is painted gold.  On these, I was not such a fan.

Bookcase Facelift

This is such an easy, inexpensive idea! I bought a $2 roll of wrapping paper and used scotch tape to attach it to the back of my bookcases.

You could also use fabric and apply it with liquid starch (works on walls too), it just peels right off.

Welcome!

Welcome to my little-bit-of-everything blog! I am so excited to share my love of all things diy, thrifting, dumpster diving and crafts with you.

I have been going to yard sales with my mom since I was a week old. Literally. Shopping this way, scouring yard sales, thrift stores, clearance racks and yes, an occasional dumpster allows me to afford to stay home with our girls.  You would not believe some of the things I have found used or tossed in the trash.  You would also not believe the power of spray paint.

Can't wait to get started!