repurposing

i have yet to really share many of the things i have repurosed (with MAJOR help from the hubby of course) on this blog.  i had wanted to start a seperate blog for just that purpose but i just want to share this now and hope for the new blog to start in the new year.  this old child's size dresser was sitting in my mother inlaws garage for awhile and they were intending to just dispose of it.  being that hubby is a master-woodcraftsman, i quickly had ideas for it.  we've done a few before too but this one i had a plan for, the others we sold after refurbishing them.

 

hubby took it completely apart and sanded it all down.  then he added a covering (to make it a shelf) for the bottom of where that last drawer was to go.  he could have doctored up the broken drawer but i love the look of some open space. 

 

(don't mind the books...i was moving some things around and stuck them there to get them off the floor, lol)

after a few coats of black satin paint (hand brushed on) i was ready to use this piece in my front room.  it will display my 'Cocoa Station' that i will be sharing soon with you all.  right now it holds mags and books and would even work well backed up to my sofa that sits out in the center of the room.  for now i need it near a plug for my hot water source for the hot cocoa. =]

have you repurposed anything?

more festive decor

just thought i would share a few more peeks at some things i've put up around the house.

here is the wreath that adorns the front entry of our home.  the blue coordinates with the blue lights that outlines our house roofline and the blue ribbons that go down our step railing {future updating project, lol} and the red berries coordinate what red is 'going on' in the front living room (see previous post).

i found some fun goodies while "thrifting" at my local goodwill/salvation army stores.  this red hurricane style lamp is about 10" tall and has a battery powered light that reflects the snowflake designs around the outter cover and it casts them on the wall and table (sure wish i knew how to take a photo of that detail, sigh).  i snagged this for $1.00! 

i can not tell you how giddy i was to run across this box of ribbon candy at my cvs.  it brought back a flood of memories of my grandmother and how she use to always have three tiered candy dishes on her tables with oodles of ribbon candy and other hard candies that i just loved to sample.

each color/design has a different flavor and the best part, they are FAT FREE! =]

happy holidays

it's almost here...the BESTEST time of the year!  i'm going to give you a run down of what fun stuff i did here at our home this year.  i didn't take pics of ever. single. thing. but this is the jist of it.

this first tree is in our formal living room.  i started, two years ago, to collect ornaments of black, glass and silver colors.  everything you see on this tree is a product of an after Christmas clearance or Hobby Lobby 50% off sales before Christmas.  this year i decided it needed a splash of another color...i chose red.  i. love. it. =]

see the lamp across the room there?  that has a sign hanging from it that says "Merry Christmas" that is in black sparkly velvet covering.  i snagged two of those at HL after Christmas a couple years ago for $.99 cents!!!!  they were 90% off. sweet.

{don't mind our lack of crown molding...it's on our 'to do' list, lol}

see the silver bows with black velvet designs on them?  i have them on each lamp around this room.  love the little 'extra' that it adds.

don't mind my terrible pics of my tree lit. =[  i'm not good at having a steady hand and choosing the right flash setting.  i THINK you can get the idea though.  this was about a week ago as i have oodles more presents under it.

ok, if you've read my past blog post you will see the mantle shelf i was talking about pulling out of my attic.  this is it.  with a quick dollar store/thrift store holiday makeover it's working for me this year. =]

that empty frame is for our family photo that will go in it VERY soon.  i still will probably add a few more photos here and there. {i only put black and white photos in black frames in this room, if you haven't read my past posts}

these stocking holders have been a major topic with me this year.  well, not these particularly, but the whole holder thing itself.  i haven't ever had any before as i've never had a mantle to hang my stockings from.  since i came up with this fabulous idea of putting this mantle shelf up i was destined to get holders for our pretty stockings.

well, as frugal as i am, i didn't want to spend much of ANYTHING on FIVE stocking holders. lol  i searched the net for a couple days on ideas to make my own with NO luck.  i searched the bigger box stores and even thrift stores and the cheapest i could find was $4 each ones that weren't pretty AT ALL! blah.  i was even ready to pull the spray paint out if needed...still NO LUCK.

THEN...out of the blue i was AGAIN back at my local dollar store and there they were.  albeit, gold, but they were ONE DOLLAR each...i was resisting the urge to jump up and down.  seriously.  i have every intention of turning them to silver but i couldn't wait to get them up and take some photos to share.  although the gold tends to fade into my yellow wall color. lol  they aren't heavy enough to hold FULL stockings but that is ok as Santa always leaves heaping full stockings laying on gifts left for the kiddos. ; }

now, this tree, is in our back family room that we use daily.  it's more of a 'whimsy' style that is still 'work in progress'.  again, all these ornaments were dollar, thrift or clearance bought.  i'm ok with that. =]

{don't mind the leaning star...we've grown to love it like that, lol}

we actually use this tree to display our gifts for distant family and friends.  we keep OUR presents under the front room tree and that is where we open gifts.  this tree here is where we hold gift exchanges with a few distant family members.  it's fun to keep them separate.

this lime green birdie is my fave.  he sits nestled near the top of this whimsy tree.

thanks for browsing our holiday decor.  please share a link to yours, i would love to take a peek!

happiest of holidays to you and yours.

Design Dazzle

ever been to this site?  if not and you have children then you should.  it's a great site for room decor and party ideas for children.  they even shared my idea for my son's Wii party i had recently...check it out here. 

other news....

see that black shelf (well i call it a mantle as it is heavily constructed) on the wall?  i got an idea the other day when i was doing my daily read over at this blog and i have really longed for a proper place to hang stockings as we do not have a fireplace in our current home.  so this past spring i found this mantle at a yard sale for $3.  it had a dark stained finish and it wasn't in too bad of a shape as it was but i'm not into the wood look.  it quickly went up into the attic and that is where it stayed until a light bulb went off in my head the other day.  i dug it out, sanded it down and painted it a satin black finish.  so when hubby came home off is job it was ready and waiting (ok he works on the railroad so i had a couple days, lol).  he couldn't put it off as it was all ready to go.

i will be back here to show you how i decorated it for Christmas.  i'm still puttin some touches on it. :)

 

hey, before you go...look at this peek of a project.

(don't mind the books, i didn't have anywhere to shove them temporarily)