I ♥ You Goodwill

 I have a love/hate relationship with Goodwill. But this week it was mostly love. Our relationship is usually on good terms. Depending on the guy in the back pricing the goods.

One of my biggest frustrations is when they tag their new Target merchandise higher than Target’s RED sticker clearance price which can clearly be seen next to theirs. I guess it’s a mental thing with me. Even if it is still a good deal, just knowing that I could have gotten it cheaper bugs the heck outta me! I try to keep in mind that I’m here for charity. ::ahem::

Anywho!  Here are some of my GW finds:

New Fieldcrest Duvet $19.99. I stood in the store for a good 15 minutes trying to decide whether or not to get this. Considering Target sells this exact same one for $100, I’d say it was a good deal. Hope I can find pillows to match! (Yes, I know, it’s wrinkled.  I was just so excited to show you guys!)


Rustic wooden tray $1.99. …maybe put some chunky white candles in it? Any other ideas?


Medium size apothecary jar $1.99.


Small apothecary jar 99¢ and small drinking glass 49¢. (Feeling the love Mr. Goodwill Sticker Man!!)


Vintage Columbia Family scales $3.99. (LOVE this!)



…And I saved the best for last, cause he’s such a cutie pa-tootie!

We found these brand spanking new navy blue Converse shoes for $2.99! Woo hoo! Any mom can appreciate a cheap pair of new shoes, and it doesn’t hurt to be stylish either. ;)



Soooo.....have you found any thrifty deals lately? Do you luuuuv your Goodwill? Do you slam on the brakes every time you drive by a Goodwill?  I’d love to here about it!

We are working on finishing our master bathroom. Just a few more annoying  little projects and we will FINALLY be done! Can’t wait to show you what we’ve done!
Have a great week everybody!

P.S. If you haven’t already done so, please “follow me”. I promise it won’t hurt….much. ;)

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Nursery Room Before and After

I had been dreaming of the perfect little girl’s nursery since the day I found out we were having our little girl. Like many of the ideas in my head this one didn’t transfer into reality quite like I had planned.

This is the what the room looked like when we began:



Simple lavender walls. I had envisioned pink but I decided to save myself an extra can of paint and stick with the current color. So I taped off every 12 inches and went to work.



I had planned to brush a sheer high gloss on every other stripe but I didn’t like how you could only see some of the stripes depending on where you were standing in the room. To me it looked like it was unfinished. So I started over again. I went through several paint samples trying to find a shade just slightly darker. EPIC FAIL.



After spending way more money on paint samples than I had intended the cheap side of me just decided to pick one of the samples I had and work with it. (The perfectionist in me was weeping violently.) So this is what we ended up with.



The only thing I could think of as I stared at this wall was Ringling Brother’s Three Ring Circus. It bugged me….so the room sat empty for a couple of days. After I was done sulking we finally got the chair rail put up and the white paint on the walls below. It didn’t turn out quite as bad as I thought it would but It’s definitely not how I had envisioned it.



This is probably my favorite part of the room. I found this sweet little chandelier at Ikea for only $39.00! Since we don’t live close to an Ikea here my hubby stopped at one on the way home from one of his business trips in Tampa.



This is our “Thoughtful Spot” as Winnie the Pooh would say. This rocking chair was a major splurge for us. I looked for one of these on Craigslist for about 6 months with no luck. We finally broke down and bought this one from Babies R Us. Worth every penny! It’s soooo comfy!! The little pink table I got on clearance at Target for a mere $9.



The frames are from Wal-Mart, I just added the pink ribbon to them to make them a little extra special. …and yes, that’s my little angel in each one. *pitter patter*



Here’s a view entering the room. I’m not a big fan of the orangy pine furniture but that’s nothing a can of paint won’t fix. Muahahahah!!



This is a little bow tree I made from sticks in our yard. All I did was spray paint the sticks white and stick them into some foam in the bottom of the little flower pot. Quick and easy! Love that! :)



Her collection of piggy banks. The first one is mine from when I was a little girl. The one with the tiara is from Hobby Lobby and the little silver pig was a Goodwill find.



This is the tutu I used in her 3 month photos. Makes for pretty room décor dontcha’ think?



I’m already thinking of how I want to decorate her “big girl” room. But for now I have a few other big projects nagging at me….who wants to come and help me paint over some dark red walls? Anyone? Anyone?

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Pine Mantel Makeover

 I had been staring at this ugly pine mantel since the day we moved it. I wasn’t really sure what to do with it until I saw Layla’s  distressed mantel over at The Lettered Cottage. And then I thought to my self “Self, you can do this!”



So I grabbed a screw driver and took a wack and a jab at it. Then I thought “Self, that looks terrible! Perhaps we should ask our other half before jumping into this”. A word of advise: Don’t take a screw driver to your fireplace mantel and decide afterwards that maybe you should talk to your hubby about it first. The damage is done and it’s a little late. Fortunately for me I have a very easy going man and although he had to swallow hard and trust that I knew what I was doing. (I didn’t by the way) So despite how bad it looked I grabbed the necessary tool to complete my distressing mission.
Here are just a few of my accomplices:



I ended up using a large towing chain, a screw driver, a tiny finishing nail, sand paper and the round end of the key to our fireplace gas switch. This is probably the most fun I’ve ever had on a project. I HIGHLY recommend distressing to let out a little stress of your own!

After I sanded down all the edges and corners I took my various tools and went to work. Again it looked reeeeally bad but I was hopeful all my sins would be covered by the stain and guess what, it was! I use a can of dark walnut stain I got from Lowes.




This is where the magic happened. See the before:



And after:



I wish I had a picture of the of between stage, with the distress and no stain but trust me, it looked bad and I was sceeerd!

I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. It looks a lot better than it did before that’s for sure!



My next big project is to paint those awful red walls. We have an open floor plan downstairs so these bold red walls stretch all the way through the back of the house and into the kitchen. It’s not terribly offensive but I’m definitely ready to see them go. Also need to paint over the brassy trim and pulls on the fireplace doors. So many things to do!

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Spring Mantel

Spring has finally sprung and I couldn’t be more excited! I just finished our thrifty spring mantel. Just about everything on the mantel came from one of my faaavorite stores, Goodwill. I spent just under $20.



The chalkboard was a super easy project that I’ve seen many thrifty and creative bloggers make. I found a framed canvas painting at Goodwill for $4, took that baby home and gave it a couple of paint coats of paint. This is what it looked like before:



And after:



Love the character that these little pencil starfish add. This is one I already had. Think I got a package of 5 from Home Goods for around $7. Not bad, these little guys can be expensive!




These sweet little nests with the robin eggs came from Tuesday Morning. I think they were $2 or $3 a piece. Both the white pitcher and little pot were from Goodwill at $2 a piece. Score!



The topiaries also came from Goodwill and were $4 a piece…a little bit of a splurge for me but I had seen something similar at Meijer for $20 a piece so I let myself go “crazy”. When I saw them I had originally planned to wrap the pots in burlap but I’m kinda diggin the green for now. I’m sure that will change, it usually does with me.

The books were paperbacks that I had lying around. I just ripped the covers off of them. I know, it just seemed wrong while I was doing it, certainly something I would scold my children for doing but I think they add a nice texture. Would still like to find some twine to wrap around them.





I keep looking at my mantel thinking there is still something missing. Perhaps something to hang up on the brick? Not really sure how to go about doing that but I’m sure Google can tell me. :) Happy Spring Ya’ll!!




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