Bear with me.

When I bought these bear lamps this week, I was pretty embarrassed saw lots of potential and knew deep down they could be something special! Some folks scoffed calling them hideous, but these poor little bears had been trapped for who knows how long and they desperately wanted freedom! And I happily obliged.

Now why would I ever pick these guys? Well, I had been on the lookout for a nice pair of matching lamps for my entry way and had been admiring the glass base lamps for a few weeks now! This is kind of what I had in mind....

Gorgeous, right? But each of the above lamps were at the least $110 over my budget and then for two...phhff. Never. So it was off to Goodwill and it was just my luck, they had two matching lamps that I knew I could make work! Funny story...my friend Jill ended up buying an almost matching set but filled with plants and weird moss instead of teddy bears! You can read about her awesome transformation here.

But back to the bears! These guys were just $6 each...

and after pairing them with two $6 lampshades from Target

(plus a little soap, water and silver metallic spray paint)...

I have these...for just $12 each!!!

And with the lights turned down they are even prettier!

Please forgive the complete lack of staging...this area still needs a lot of work :-)

Here's a quick before and after...

And here's the wide shot of my dresser and new lamps!! I am still toying with the idea of repainting this dresser.  I'm just not sure if I should go with a bright white (it's currently heirloom white) or a fun color like yellow or aqua! What do you think? Any suggestions??

Oh and I scored this large print and frame at the Habitat re-store marked down to just TWO DOLLARS! TWO DOLLARS! They had a ton that were donated from a Residence Inn that had remodeled. If you're local, there were still a handful left :-)

It needs a little work, but I'm thinking it'll be a nice addition to the wall!

**I'm linking up to Saved by Suzy, The Shabby Nest, House of Hepworth's, Happy Hour Projects, and Fingerprints on the Fridge**

Shutter console table.

Whenever I have an idea or have a particular item that I want to repurpose, I turned to my trusted friend - Google Images. With Google Images, you can type in "decorating with suitcases" and you get a million and one pictures of ways people have decorated with suitcases. It's amazing and it's how I came up with my suitcase table.

So awhile back when I was perusing the aisles of the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, I had noticed they had a wide variety of shutters and kept my eye on them until I finally picked one up last month. I ended up doing this with it but had turned to Google Images for some ideas and discovered the shutter table!!

I kept that idea in the back of my mind but it leaped to the front  when I saw the idea featured on the Nate Berkus Show!! That show is amazing and completely speaks to me in ways other talk shows never could!! If you're a decorator at heart and on a budget - you need to watch Nate!

So yesterday after work, I hopped on over to the ReStore (have I mentioned how much I love that it's literally 30 seconds from my office??) Anyhow, I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered the perfect shutter for just $5 and 4 table legs for $8 - I was sold!  I was going to make a shutter console table that night!!

And I did!!!

I love it to pieces!!! It's the perfect size and would fit perfectly in an entry way or behind a sofa....for now it's simply staged in an empty bedroom. This is the raw version - no paint yet. The shutter itself was in pristine condition and won't need any sanding!

 I love the slats!! LOVE. THEM. They are perfect. And gorgeous. And perfect.

 I also love the "R" that I picked up at Michael's for $2. I do plan on spray painting it but haven't gotten around to it yet. I just threw this look together for the sake of the pictures and I'm looking forward to shifting things around a bit to find just the right staging.

And to address the issue of sturdiness and placing items on the slats directly - I would not put 50 pounds worth of stuff on this table but a vase, a few books, even a lamp would be a-okay!

Another lamp.

Continuing with my unofficial lamp series, I thought I'd share a little something I completed about a month ago. It was originally going to be a part of Linda's bedroom makeover but after giving that design plan more thought, I knew that it wasn't going to work for Linda. But lucky for me...it fits right into my living room!

 I started with a $4 lamp from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and a can of purple spray paint. Actually, I started with the fabric first and then the purple followed but for the sake of this post let's just go with the purple first!

I found this print at a local fabric store and immediately fell in love with it! The purple, the gray, the green....it's practically perfect!

 Add that to a lampshade I found for about $3 and you get this:

My living room has very few prints so it definitely adds a little pop to the room, which I love! And the total cost for it (including the fabric) was a mere eleven dollars!!

Now you see the end table the lamp is on?? It's in horrific need of some attention and I had been putting it off because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. However, I think I've finally figured it out so it's on my list and will get a post of it's own very soon!

A suite revival.

I have the most amazing best friend in the whole world! Linda's hilarious, smart, beautiful and so much fun to be around. But nobody's perfect, right? There has to be something wrong with her. Now I hate to be the one to point this out, but she does have a flaw.

She's not much of a decorator. So she was thrilled when I mentioned how badly I wanted to re-decorate her master bedroom and give her a brand new space! And I was thrilled when she and her husband gave me complete freedom with the design! I believe his exact words were "I don't care what you do." It was music to my ears!

So here's the first area I tackled - it's an adorable little nook where they had a simple little IKEA dresser and a full length mirror. Functional but not much of conversation starter.

So anyhow, going into the project I was inspired by this little green number - I loved the shape and lines of the dresser but was leaning toward more of a lime color (which would go well with their current and remaining brown bedding.) But then something happened - we stopped at a Kirkland's Home Store and saw this gorgeous piece in a muted turquoise shade. We both loved everything about it and knew immediately that this was the look to go for! Gorgeous, right? However, the $269 price tag was most definitely not what we were going for! Luckily, I found an diamond in the rough on Craigslist a few weeks back for a mere $20 bucks! I don't have a really good before pic so these two will have to do. We had already taken out all the drawers and it was on it's back so we could paint it. Here's the top and you can see the drawers here, too. It didn't come with any hardware but that was an easy fix! And besides the finished product, the price tag on this bad boy was the best thing about it!!

Are you ready for the after? I'll warn you - it's taken several people's breath away. Including mine!I had high hopes for this dresser but truth be told, it has exceeded all expectations! And it was only $20...take that Kirkland's.

** Update - some additional pictures**

These lamps were also part of that day's makeover! They were marked $8 each at Goodwill and when I went to pay for them they were half price!! I love when that happens!

Both lamps got new lampshades from Lowe's that helped tie everything together!

And here's the other one sitting on her new goodwill nightstand painted in the same turquoise shade.

I know the picture quality isn't the best but I've been meaning to add to this post for awhile now! I can finally check that off my list :-)

Yellow chair.

I follow a lot of decorating/re-purposing/crafty blogs and I've noticed a fun trend lately that's had me contemplating how I could implement it in my design style. I see a ton of gorgeous rooms in greys, whites, and purples (which just so happens to me my living room color palette) that have one bright pop of color. I always love the look but have been a little hesitant to commit to that "pop". But this week, I finally took some action!

Enter this old chair.
It one of many great things that were in my grandpa's garage that I saved knowing that I had to fix up! It was pretty scratched and worn but in over all decent shape and nothing that a light sanding and can of spray paint couldn't fix! Have I mentioned how much I adore spray paint...because I do. It's awesome. Anyway....back to business.

I spent a good 30 minutes standing in front of the spray paint cage at Home Depot going back and forth between colors when I finally decided on this one!

I'm quite pleased with my choice and the final product!!

I love my new yellow chair!

So tell me, what have you spray painted lately?

Ugly frame.

Sometimes during my lunch break I'll aimlessly walk the aisles of the Habitat for Humanity store looking for some inspiration. And thankfully, that's exactly what I found last week with this dusty, out of date frame and "art".

For a mere $4.99 I couldn't pass it up! I really liked the outside and inside frame and the pop from the interior artwork. I knew some spray paint would magically transform it so I cleaned it up a bit and then busted out the paint!
I had my standard grey on hand so I just used that.

It was already looking better but I knew it needed a little more pizazz so I took some scrap booking paper and cut it down to fit the inside border. It was harder that it looks and I was annoyed because I couldn't get the little flower things to line up and I ran out of double sided tape but I won't concern you with those details! Here's the final product!

I tried it in a few different places around the house but I think it has found it's home above the mantle!

I love when simple things like an old frame can be turned into something new and pretty to look at!

My next project is the organization my spice cupboard! There's nothing original about it...I'm flat out stealing this idea! Stay tuned...

Record clock.

I've been meaning to blog about one of my latest creations for some time now but work has been crazy busy (and let's face it...that's where most of my blogging happens!) Things are finally slowing down so here we go!It's no secret that my grandfather loved music - he had a room in his home affectionately refered to as the "Music Room" so we have been left with hundreds upon hundreds of records. So I was estatic when I stumbled upon the idea of turning a record into a clock and decided upon "This is Artie Shaw" for my first go around! After a bit of research, I was off to Michael's in search of a clock kit. They have these cute little things that come with everything you need...the number, the hands, the battery pack, etc. I had my doubts that it would actually work...but it did! So in case any of you want to make your own...let me walk you through how I did it! I first cleaned the record to make sure it was free from dust and then sprayed a light coat of clear satin spray paint to seal it. I read on another site that this step was optional but I recommend it. Here's before the spray paint...

And here's after...

It gives it a nice smooth finish that hides imperfections in the record. The clock kit came in a brass finish so I just spray painted the pieces in heirloom white to get the look I was after.
 The numbers already have adhesive on the back so I just stuck those on and pushed the battery back through the hole in the center of the record.

Then came the fun part...actually putting the clock together! The directions are on the clock kit so it was super simple!

I put in a battery and had my clock!! It took about 25 minutes from start to finish and let me just say I love it!!

I decided to give this to my mom as a Christmas present and since she doesn't read my blog...I'm in the clear so nobody tell her! The fun part is that you can turn almost anything into a clock with these kits...plates, books, tire wheels! Trust me when I say my mind is spinning with ideas!

My new hutch.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a little impulsive. Often times I'll just begin something after I get a sudden bit of inspiration and that's what happened Friday night around 8pm. I have been wanting to do something to this hutch for awhile and had already made sure that my uncle (who bought the hutch for my grandma) didn't want it. It was in great condition which makes painting it way easy! I decided to remove the two upper cabinet doors and I'm undecided about whether I will put them back on or not, but for now they remain off opening up the space and forcing it to remain uncluttered! Here's the unstaged after pic...

I knew that I wanted to buy some new hardware for it so I made a quick run to Home Depot and spotted some great Martha Stewart pulls that I loved and some simple brushed nickel knobs! I thought that all pulls were made the same and that the holes would just line up....well that was not the case so I had to drill new holes. The problem was I didn't have a drill bit so I ventured into the garage and after searching through my grandpa's tools for awhile...I found one! It doesn't take much to make make me happy and this little thing did it...using power tools is so empowering :-)

The new pulls... And knobs...

I added some new contact paper and organized the drawers...
So here's a final look at the before....
And after...

I really love the way it turned out and I think it goes nicely with the look of my living room! I'm still not completely pleased with the accessories I have so that's a work in progress. Hmm..I think a trip to Home Goods might be in order :-)