White dresser.

There's something about white furniture. It's so classic, and clean and looks good practically anywhere! Plus, like I've mentioned before, it tends to sell quickly :-)

So when I picked up this beauty at the Habitat Restore, it was a logical choice to go with white! It was a pretty dresser before, but now she's stunning!

She's also bigger than she looks. Gosh, what a horrible thing to say, even if is about furniture! Haha! I just mean that she's a sturdy, solid piece and will, hopefully, make someone very happy!

The entire piece is solid wood and the drawers were in great condition!

While we were staging and taking pictures, my friend Jill's little boy, Grayson, just couldn't resist getting in on some of the action!

He's seriously the sweetest little thing and is practically the 3rd member of our design team :-)

**I'm linked up to Elizabeth & Co., Restore Interiors, Primitive & Proper**

Another amazing bargain.

Yesterday, I posted pictures of a sweet little nightstand that I scored for $5 at my local Habitat for Humanity Restore. I couldn't believe it was priced so low! I know some folks who say they never have anything good but mine is amazing!! Don't believe me?? Let me prove it to you...

This end table/nightstand or whatever you want to call it was in really good condition, it just needed a little boost! The price tag??

Five. Dollars. Amazing, right?? They're having a big sale on Saturday, too! I'm seriously getting spoiled with these ridiculously cheap finds! Anything above $5 just seems overpriced now :-)

So keeping with my "use the supplies I have" motto, I mixed some white paint with a little Behr "Black Bean" to create a nice light shade of gray. I don't know about you, but I LOVE these little sample sizes that Behr makes. It's the perfect amount of paint for something small like a night stand or end table. And the best part is they are only $3 each! I get mine at Home Depot but I'm sure you can find them elsewhere.

So are you ready for the after??

I have to say this has definitely become a favorite of mine!! I still need to line this puppy, but I just love the clean frame and line detailing on the drawers!

This jar of buttons is really meaningful to me. Both the jar and buttons belonged to my grandmother. She passed away when I was six years old. My grandfather never went through any of her things so after he passed away in 2010, we were left with lots of sewing supplies and I decided to hang on to these.

I just love them :-)

And I love this, too!

 

I'll add another picture once it's lined and then it's going up for sale.

Happy Friday!

*I'm linked up to Primitive & Proper, Elizabeth & Co. *

Striped aqua nightstand.

I picked up this cute little nightstand from the Habitat for Humanity Restore for a whopping five dollars!! I bought another one today (also for five dollars!) that is curing in the other room as I type. But back to this one...she was more of a minty green color with paint that looked like it had been applied with a rag - super thick and messy! The before picture doesn't really convey that, so you'll just have to trust me :-)

 I'm really trying to use up the supplies I have (since I don't have much space to store things like that) so after a really good sanding, I decided to freshen up the lower half with aqua and do a striped top in slightly varying shades of gray.

 The frog tape did really well and gave me almost perfect lines! Here's the end result...

 I kept the original hardware but just gave it a fresh coat of paint left over from my lamp makeover, added some accessories and admired the fun edges!

It's hard to believe this little thing was only $5!

I'm not sure who was manning the price gun at the Restore this week, but I just hope they keep it up!

**I'm linked up at The Not So Functional Housewife, Miss Mustard Seed, Happy Hour Projects, Nutmeg Place, The Shabby Nest, Southern Lovely, House of Hepworths, Elizabeth & Co., and Shine on Fridays**

Don and Sally.

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a nice weekend! I managed to get a lot done including cleaning out my dresser drawers, desk drawers and closet! Very productive :-)

I also finally listed and sold a thrift store dresser and side table that had been sitting in my business partner's garage for the last month! Well, technically, she listed it but it's sold, that's what matters.

Here it was before...

We felt it had a little retro Mad Men flair so we named him Don! It was in pretty good condition and we both loved the lines and detailing but it was yellowed and pretty drab.

So we did what we do best...we put a bird on it! Haha...just kidding. We painted it white. If it seems we opt for white a lot - we do! And that's solely because it sells the fastest!

 Don (above) and Betty (below) were listed around 7pm and picked up the following day by noon!

That's a Craigslist record for us!

And lastly, I must mention that for the 2nd year in a row, I am the Oscar predicting champ!

I successfully predicted 20 out 24 winners last night and walked away with what we should just call "The Rachel" and some movie tickets! All in all, not a bad weekend!!

**I'm linked up to A Bowl Full of Lemons**

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!

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...