A FRUGAL D-I-Y GIFT BASKET ANYONE CAN DO!

My kids laugh at me because I have to give a background story to everything I say so what’s stopping me this time…well, nothing!
The prelude to this gift basket is I have a good friend that recently moved into her first home. She loves DIY stuff and has a great taste in home décor. I wanted to make her something that would fit with her style, not break the bank, and really make something she knew I put effort into!
Now the first thing I should say before I start is spray paint is your friend!! Spray paint is a cheap way to make something frugal look fabulous!!
I’ll try to give you the run downs of prices per piece and hope she doesn’t read this because that would be kind of rude of me!  Regardless you get the idea and hopefully think “WOW I CAN DO THIS”!!
First up, the gift basket. I found this one at my local thrift store and painted it Heirloom white.  Cost $3.99

Chevron Desk–Take 2

I told you I’d have better photos of the Chevron desk that I worked on this weekend and here they are!

Before:

And After:

This is totally off subject but  have you ever tried to type with a cat that needs attention??? OH MY GOODNESS…RIDICULOUS!!  This cat keeps crossing the keyboard, laying on my hands, rubbing his head at my face (knowing full well I’m allergic to him mind you), licking my hand…

I’ve put him down three times and shoved his fat body over and he comes back and head butts my face. GEEZ!! That’s one thing I have to say about dogs, they sit on the floor and sulk…period. No, not this one. He’s laying next to my lap as I’m typing. Just getting these pictures loaded took forever. Ok, he’s getting back up now!! Gotta go!

I give up!

Rita

Dorm Décor on a Dime!

Ok you have to give me props for that alliteration!! right!?
So one thing we’ve found out about the Dorm life (since this is a first for Ashley as well as myself) is that you end up needing things you didn’t really plan for. One good thing about Ashley is she is as frugal minded as her mother!! That being said she tends to look at something and really pay attention to the benefit versus the price. For example, instead of go out and purchasing something brand new, we searched the thrift stores instead. If that doesn’t work, I always have some DIY goodies in mind.
On to the Thrift store to see what we find!!
In this case we found this cool huge flower that seemed to be for a kids room and a couple of frames that we knew we could do SOMETHING with!

Tossed and Turned Tuesday- I Chevron-ed

It took me forever but I think I finally got it!! I don’t know why I’m chevron challenged but I am (oh no).

I still need to touch this desk up and then take it outside for a few good photos. I didn’t want to keep you waiting so I snapped a quick pic with my iPhone for you guys to see.  Remember, I can only take photos outside or else they look like I dipped my house in a yellow haze. I may need to start a “Buy Rita an Awesome Camera” fund soon huh!

 

You can see it still needs some touching up and distressing…then… I’ll take some good photos and post them here Thursday.

 

Still not bad from it’s original state:

I also wanted to show you one of my new favorite home décor pieces (YAYYYYYY), it’s this Amazing sign I received in the mail from Kammy  from Kammy’s corner!!! She’s amazing and I LLLOOOOVVEEE her blog!!

Here it is, temporarily on my mantle until I can find the perfect spot to hang it:

But here are better photos from her blog:

Anyway, I LOOOOVVEEE it Kammy THANK YOU!!!

Come back Thursday for the better photos (waaaa waaa waaaa) and some more little fun goodies I have to show you.

Until then, have a great rest of the week!
Rita

Annie Sloan–I love you

Remember I said I’ve been having a tough week, what with family drama, lets just say even though I’m pretty darn kind hearted my aunt threatened to send me to jail (true story), Work is not so great and I keep screwing up there, Brianna’s trying a new medication for depression and I’m scared, scared, scared that she won’t be better than a 4-5 on a 10 scale that her therapist asks her about. Oh and what else…well I guess that about covers it.

Don’t worry I don’t feel sorry about any of the above. I just look on the bright side and there is always a  bright side. Oh don’t get me wrong I’ll have my little break downs but I call up my sis, Ashley or BFF Steven and the world always seems so much better. Thank God for support systems

So now back to my title! I worked my butt off this past week and what better way to treat myself??? Not a trip to the spa, or a make over, no I went for something better!! Something that I’ve been wanting for for months but refused buy myself because there is ALWAYS something that my hard earned money can go to (coffee excluded). That for me is Ann Sloan Dark Wax and a Wax brush!!! I even drove a city away to go get it! Yep that’s right and it was SOOOO worth it. I love it.

this is was my first target with this awesome stuff:

Here it is before:

Man look at the difference!! Oh and if you like it with out the wax finish, please don’t tell me I’m in a fragile state.

Here are some more photos:

 Yay!!!  LOVE!!! 

I hope you love it too! See you next week!
Rita

Thrown Away Thursday–Table Trouble

First of all this weekend I’d like to finish up my other projects like my sister’s table and the gray chest that each need some sprucing up.

Just so I don’t lose yet another week of project fulfilling, I thought I’d throw in this small table which I think can be quite fun to look at rather than the blah-ness it has going on right now.

Don’t mind the junk in the back please.

I’ve got lots to do, not to mention all the other stuff in my life. It wears me out actually but I will get through it. I had a bad day yesterday so I went out and bought Snow White and the Huntsman and ate cookies. I also called Ashley and told her I needed to vent. She knows the drill. She was so cute when she told me “remember you are amazing and beautiful, now make your own sunshine!”  She must have a really good mom to be such a great girl! Ha ha!

Another thing to be on the look out for is a spruce up of my blog page. I need more color in my life and don’t know where to begin but Susie and I will figure it out. If you have suggestions, please let me know. I just don’t want my blog to be one of the boring ones that you have to scroll and scroll and scroll just to get to the good stuff.

That’s if for now. I’m off today THANK GOODNESS, as I really needed it. Lots of errands to do, not to mention paying a ticket (ugh) and paint, paint, paint.

I hope you have a great weekend and remember to make your own sunshine!!

Rita

Tossed and Turned Tuesday- A Horse is a Horse

Of course unless…he is a little rocker fellow like this one!

So still working on my sister’s table but in the mean time, here is the horse I’ve been working on in my spare time. Ha ha..spare time…that’s pretty funny!!

And you don’t have to adjust your monitor color, this grass is a yellow green due to being part dead and part weeds…I blame Sam.

Now the story behind this horse is he is probably as old as am. I was contacted by a lady who needed a rocking horse remodeled. It belong to her son and she was giving it to her grandchild. The problem was it was old and dirty and falling apart. Her husband wanted it to be stained and I warned her that you never know what’s hiding under old paint and when it is stained, EVERYTHING shows up. Case in point, all of this horse but she sled is painted with the same color stain. You can see the differences in the legs.

I opted to paint the bottom sled a tinted black stain color because it was pretty beat up and just needed something to ground it. I thought this worked.

This is what Billy looked like before…oh yeah…I named him. Hell, I worked on him so long I thought it wasn’t proper to call him “horse” anymore. I’ll keep that part from my client

By the way, Billy was a blond and I made him a Brunette. I didn’t do it on purpose, I just couldn’t find hair for him to save my life. I think dark hair suites him just fine.

Here he is now:

And there you have the new and improved Billy. He’s actually a pretty big horse. Don’t know if you can tell from my photos.

(I seriously need to look at getting a better camera don’t I)

Well, thanks for stopping by and have a great week!!
Rita

Table Woe’s and Aha Moment!

As much as I was dying to work on this table for my sister this weekend, I ended up at two stopping points during the process.

1. I had to work until 10:30 p.m. Friday night so needless to say, I did nothing but eat and go to bed that day. Then I had to get up to go back to work on Saturday for half a day to finish what I needed to. (Boo)

2. This table came with a dilemma I didn’t foresee and I’ll tell you why.

Here we have the table in question:

Solid wood, awesome, right ??? WRONG!

The table top which I had an idea to stain rather than paint isn’t going to look like I had planned. When I was sanding,the awesome wood grain began showing through and then…BAM!!! Particle wood!!

So that stopped me dead in my tracks. Now lets move on to the chairs. I’m assuming these probably aren’t the best chairs but I can give them a light sanding and paint them black (remember kids will be on these chairs) and as soon as I start sanding, the paint comes off really fast and what do I find?? Beautiful wood…. UGH now what. This changes my plan completely!

Needless to say I’m not going to make my Tuesday deadline, not that I would have anyway…what was I thinking???

But before I leave you with nothing, AS PROMISED I will show you how much I paid (yes PAID, this was not free) for this set.

If you can’t see it, the price started at $50.00, marked down to $35.00, marked down to $30.00 and I ended up purchasing it for $4.00!!!

WOO HOO is RIGHT!!

Damn that was a good day!!

I’ll also have a Tossed and Turned Tuesday surprise for you. It won’t be this table (obviously) but it’s a fun one!

Have a great week!
Rita

Thrown Away Thursday–Bargain Table

I’m going to apologize in advance for this quick little photo of a table I purchased for my sister. I didn’t feel like digging out the chairs and the table is in the house covered with stuff, so this quick shot will have to do for now.

The chairs are behind the table if you can see them hiding.

If I tell you how much I paid for this set you’ll never believe me!!

I’ll reveal the price and the “after” shot on Tuesday.

That’s it for now!

~Rita~

Tossed and Turned Tuesday- Labor Day Weekend

Ahhhhh – that was a MUCH needed break and the best part was I got to see Ashley and hear of all the fun college stories (so far) this week and a half.

Oh and can we say “Family Drama” yeah that happened too. One day I may bore you with ALL the gory details of it just to see what your intake is. And after everything is said and done, I could really use the help in Therapeutic comments and anything else to help me get thorough it all!!

And lets not forget the much needed break from work…yep, I definitely needed an extra long weekend!!

Without further ado, here is the chest of drawers I worked on this weekend. I’m happy to say it came out exactly as I pictured it to be!

I saw this awesome color combo on Cassie’s Blog “Primitive and Proper”. She used the same colors on her living room cabinets. The minute I saw them I thought the color was to die for and I had to find the right piece to use them on. Ahem…meet the “right” piece.

Oh yay guys, I’m looking forward to a great September, so much more laid back than August that’s for sure!! 

Have a great and fantastic month and I’ll see you later!!

Rita

P.S. If you want to know the color combo I used here, email me and I’ll let you know!