A little no-cost makeover

Anyone else out there relieved to pack away the holidays?  The house always looks so large once the tree is down, and the holiday decor is safely packed away and out of sight for another year.  However, the large space always leaves me feeling the urge for a change, and a fresh room.  It'd be easy, given all the money in the world, to plan out a fresh new space.  The trick though is to try a no cost makeover.

Our room has pretty good bones.  The couches are neutral, there's a brick fireplace, white slatted blinds, hardwood floors, etc.  I couldn't picture the room pulled together though (for our no-cost makeover) until the other day that I sat on the opposite couch in the room and it came to me.

Our makeover will be based on this color scheme:

 

So, the execution plan will consist of the following:

Paint ladder shelf black (I showed you this shelf before here)

Recover couch throw pillows in white fabric (I've done that once before, here)

Add series of four Black and White NY City prints to the room (from the office, that's not being used)

Reorganize picture frame ledges (see them before, here)

Add white cylinder lamp shade to current lamp, plus add another lamp (this room is dark at night!)

Re-arrange furniture

Here's the room now (right after Christmas decor was removed).  

NOTE: This is not for the faint of heart... I'm not proud, and I wouldn't consider this room pulled or put together in any way... ok, disclaimer over, now you can see the photos.  :)

How on earth do you decorate/stage a fireplace like this?!

The tree (9ft this year!) was in that back corner

Anywho, I hope to work on this room this weekend.  Our adorable baby boy though is so cute, that I just love hanging with him, so I'm not sure how much I'll get done!

Just thought I'd share.  Now, to get this done, and be excited over our room again!

Project Storage?

Is it just me, or do we as crafters/decorators run out of room to either store, display, or complete our projects?

With blogland offering so many fantastic ideas to really stimulate creative expression in your OWN crafts, I've found our house overflowing before with projects in the raw, half done, or complete, and it pains me.  I love almost everything I do, but I suppose like the catalog stores, we have to rotate our goods in order to keep it fresh.  But what do you do with all your old projects?

I assume there are some options, but I'm really actually curious what the consensus is- Do you give them to the local thrift store?  Do you sell them in a store (such as etsy, or consignment)?  Do you have regular garage sales?  Or, am I going to be jealous to hear that YOU really get to store everything, and continually rotate your projects back into the decor every year?

I've made a lot of fun things in the last year, but some of them just can't stay.

So, this comes up for me, because finally, I have the mental capacity back to have the desire to craft, even though physically, I'm out of energy.  The same cheery yellow wreath I made back in February is still on the front door.  While cleaning out the garage, I came across a stash from my last thrifting trip I took- of course all with high hopes of re-vamp.  Some of it made a trip in the back of my CR-V to Goodwill.  Some of it ended up in the rafters.

Either way, I can't store it all.  So I need to know... What type of storage solutions, purge solutions, or otherwise do you employ to keep your house in order? 

Pottery Barn Bed & Bath Catalog Early Fall 2010

Well, it's always a happy day when a Pottery Barn catalog shows up in the mail.  But HOLY CANOLI, this latest one had me captivated by page 3!

Have you received this one yet?

Um, inspired by Provence?!  Yes please!

Seeing that I have no energy to actually get out of bed, I decided to flip through and go on a small shopping spree that I would share with you all.  Now of course, most of these items are reproducable in much less expensive manner, but I sure do love browsing.

Right from the cover, this Bonne Nuit lumbar pillow ($49 for the cover only), had me at hello.  Can you say freezer paper stencil though?!

 This Rosette mirror is a doll.  ($249 though.  eek.) I just love the detail on the sides, and those grommets.

Mistral Lavender foaming bath gel ($18).  The bottle screams simplicity, and the lavender color pleases my eyes.  Lavender is one of the most soothing scents. 

This Barrett media stand (while I didn't first picture it as that...) has great detail, a great color, and perfectly scaled.  However, at $699, I'll keep my eye out at some of those thrift stores I've been missing out on while pregnant...

These chippy heirloom frames, $129 for a set of 3, have been done time and time again, but they still get me.  What a great empty frame display, and use of "old" items in new spaces.  Love that texture.

Oooh, I just want to curl up in this blanket!  I love a good chunky knit throw blanket, and with our baby boy due in the middle of October, there's going to be plenty of couch cuddling to do during the winter months!  The price isn't horrible at $79, but I have one in green already.  Maybe I could retire the hunter green one? 

This cheery "Alexis Lamp" is so chunky and simple, I just love it (I really love the yellow one!).  Even on "special" the base alone is $99 (drum shade sold separately).  I suppose you could find a similar shape lamp at a thrift store, and a can of spray paint, and go to town.  Inspiration is good though, no?
 

This Windowpane Velvet Bedding looks like I could melt into it.  I love the red color- plus it's making me think of Christmas, my favorite time of the year!  The king quilt is $229...  hmm.  Maybe HomeGoods will have something similar.  :)

all images per Potterybarn.com website.

What do you think?  All of these items add up to $1550!!!  Yea, that's not going to happen.

Any of these photos tickle your fancy?  :)  Do you get the idea that Pottery Barn may be taking a hint from the blogging/craft world?  How many of these pieces have you seen someone already create a version of?  I still heart Pottery Barn, and in fact wouldn't mind working there- inspiration would overcome me.  On second thought, it's probably better for our finances if I don't work there.  :)

A little Hemnes for the Nursery

Our nursery isn't going to have much clutter, or much furniture for that matter!  Just the basics, for now- remember when I posted our nursery design board here?

Our Pottery Barn Crib,
Our Dutalier glider & ottoman,
and hopefully soon,

the 8-drawer Hemnes dresser from IKEA:

Remember, here's a quick peek of the nursery design board:

BUT, I thought I would search for pictures of others that had used this piece that I feel is extremely versatile (not to mention, grows with the child) in their own real world settings.  I came across some great features, I now I'm convinced I'm not crazy.

As a side note, I'm thankful it's the end of the day Thursday, because I have the drive and energy to start working on other nursery projects this weekend.  Cross my fingers (yours too?) that this energy streak continues, because with about 9 weeks left, we've got a heck of a lot to do still!

Anyone else out there not use a "traditional" change table, and opt for a dresser instead?  Any pros/cons you'd like to mention?

TIA!  more coming soon... stay tuned!

Manzanita Branch Centerpiece Decor

To continue tutorial time, (I recently posted about the pearl bridesmaids bracelets as well!) today I wanted to share with you the process for completing the manzanita branch centerpieces we used for our wedding reception.  :)

I had the idea for the branches long ago, but exactly how to construct and complete them didn't really hit until about a month ago.  A few friends went to a wedding and posted pictures of what would be the final inspiration for our centerpieces:

As you may (or may not?) recall, I purchased 12 branches inexpensively from a Californian seller on eBay.  All 12 branches shipped were like $75 or something silly.

The rest was really easy-

We used 5" cedar fence boards cut to size for the bases- these we hand picked for straightness (7 of them) at Lowes, which is also where we picked up the paint too.  Originally we were going to glue them together, but ended up using a nail gun and finish nails and they were done in a snap (Z did the leg work on these, Love you!)

Yep, check out that price: $1.89/ea.  Love it!

After the boxes were built (we ended up with 14, and wood left over) they were coated twice with black semi gloss paint... another great find!  I was about to have the paint counter mix up black for me, when they took too long and I started poking around the paint section... Low and behold, there was a quart of BLACK Valspar semi gloss for $2.50 on the "oops" paint rack.  SCORE!  My friend Gina painted one coat, then later that day, Z painted another coat on the boxes, giving them a nice sheen.

I purchased 12 packs of floral foam at the dollar store, and spanish moss at Joann's (I used way less than I thought I would- I purchased 4 bags, and have 2 whole bags left- could have just purchased the same stuff at the dollar store!)

The branches were secured in the boxes with the floral foam- each one took about a whole package of the foam, and luckily it was already cut into 4 blocks (each "pack" was $1 and had 4 small bricks in it).  Some of the branches required a bit more support, and a stuck a river rock or two in with the floral foam.  Those also came from the dollar store, and I have extras!

After the branches were secured, the next day we added the spanish moss around the top of the boxes to cover the base of the branch and the foam.  Then, we used the pom poms and simply hot glued 1 at the base of every centerpiece, and a few throughout the "branches".

 There's my sister contemplating the next pom pom location.  Please excuse the messy garage background.  :)

The colors turned out perfect- and they looked exactly how I had hoped.  :)

All in, these 12 centerpieces, which we gave away to guests cost just about $110, or $9.50/ea.

Here's the breakdown:
12 manzanita branches: $75 shipped from eBay listing
7 cedar fence boards: $14
1 quart black semi gloss paint: $2.50
2 packs of tissue paper (for pom poms): $3
2 bags of spanish moss: $3
12 packs of floral foam bricks: $12
TOTAL: ~$110 (or about $9.50/ea)

When I have some good photos from the photographers, I'll post those, but for now, heres an action shots from the reception where you can see them on the tables (sort of):

Oh, and I found out that people loved "winning" the centerpieces!  One of my family friends getting married in January is even going to make them for her wedding!  I hope we get to go and see them :)

So, what do you think?  Pretty thrifty, eh?  It's the name of the game I tell ya- champagne taste on a beer budget.