Thifting

I love thrifting. Thrift store items are sprinkled all over my house. I like spray painting. I scoure the aisles of Good Will and the Salvation Army with an eye for items that can benefit from a make-over. Thrifting is truly a hobby for me. You just never know what treasure you will find to transform.Above are some recent purchases.
Now let's go on a thrifting tour of our home!
Here is the tin (from the first photo) on my kitchen counter, with an Krylon Avacado face lift.
(p.s. - I am addicted to Mrs. Meyer's cleaning products.)

Here are some favorite thrifted kitchen and dining finds - all the milk glass AND the sterling silver tray!

(p.s. - I have an obsession with milk glass. It is a CHEAP obsession.)

I love the tray, and so does Mark. It cost $3.99, and was black with tarnish when I brought it home. Initially, I was going to spray paint it Satin Nickle, and add chalk board paint to the middle, hanging it for a kitchen message board. While everyone was napping one Sunday, I started polishing, and polishing. I purchased more product, and polished some more. When Mark woke up, I had a very pretty find, too special to cover with paint!

This porcelain basket is a fun kitchen table accessory - 'jazzing' if you will. It just needed a good scrubbing and some plastic fruit. At Christmas, it holds red and green glass bulbs.

The little white vase in the middle of the top Ikea shelf was $1.99. It's nothing special, but is a nice summer display addition. In case you are wondering... those are plastic Smurf figures from McDonald's Happy Meals on the lower right shelf. I am funny like that. I like to put things on display for the Twinners to notice later.

This tissue box in our bedroom is thrifted and spray painted with Oil Rubbed Bronze.

Here is my laundry tote around, also in Krylon Avocado - $3.99. It makes me happy to transport clean towels and undies up and down. And, when 'temporarily' gets parked in the living room or kitchen, it still looks cool.
Downstairs to the kids rooms - Krylon Ballerina Pink butterflies above the mirror, a milk glass lamp (from the first photo), and a mirrored jewelry tray (each with more pink spray).

(p.s. - I am searching for a smaller lamp shade. I had this one on hand.)

I bought two of these night stands above about two years ago. Dean's will become Krylon Almond. Marly's will be white. Dean's hardware will be Oil Rubbed Bronze.

Not pictured -

-Five picture frames with matting currently located in my trunk intended for a dino art collage to be placed above Dean-o's bed. The frames will most likely become Oil Rubbed Bronze with Almond matting.

-Four wooden chairs in our garage to go around a table in the downstairs family room, which cost $3.99 each. Perhaps I will spray each chair a different sprayed pop of color???

The most recent item I left behind -

-A retro green wicker truck with brass corner protectors for $9.99 that was in decent shape and might look great near the table downstairs, or in Dean's room. I might check back for it when I drive by next. If such a cool item hasn't been snatched up by a savvy thirfter, it was probably meant to be.

Perhaps we better not discuss what I spend on spray paint, for the smooth, even finish that results. I buy a can every time I get a 40% off coupon for Michael's Craft!

(p.s. - Tonight after supper you will most likely find me methodically moving around a blue tarp on our lawn, armed with a can a spray paint! Ready to "Jazz it Up!")

Our Weekend = Moving Day for Marly & Dean

We aren't to the "Jazzing it Up" stage of the Twinner's bedroom... BUT they OFFICIALLY moved downstairs on Saturday.
To get to this stage, I have been painting their closet doors (which are NOT yet complete and remain in the garage needing a second coat.)

Mark wrapped up the magenetic and chalkboard paint last week, and the walls earlier.

We started out with this on Thursday night, before the carpet came.

By Saturday at 11 am, I had their beds in their new home... but many tasks ahead.

Above - Dean's already owned white bedskirt getting a "tea bath" to better match his new dino bedspread.

We found a new lampshade for Dean, and he loves his dino Pottery Barn bedding.

Saturday afternoon we ran to Target, Home Depot and Ikea for our accessory search. $39 later, Marly had this Ikea light above in her new room!

Their original changing table from their room upstairs (and nursery before that), repurposed with the former bathroom mirror. And of course, thrifted and spray painted butterflies (which I bought months ago for 99 cents)!

The butterfly bed and "castle" tulling (as Marly calls it), courtesy of Nana and Papa.

*Still to do/Jazzing
- Window treatments for BOTH kids. We will be doing bamboo roman shades for Dean, and a double curain rod for Marly. (Notice the trashy sheets in the window reflected in Marly's mirror

- Put on the closet doors.

- Paint both nightstands, which I purchased from the Salvation Army many moons ago.

- Paint Dean's simple hand me down headboard from Carol an almond color with Krylon spray paint. (Marly's stayed white and is already in place.)

- Both kids have a little wooden table and chairs in their room. Mark came across the strudy children's furniture for FREE, but both need painting to match their room.

- Dean has a matching toybox that needs a make over. Marly's toybox was in their upstairs bedroom.

- Dean needs a fixture for his ceiling light. We are looking at repurposing a drum lamp shade... but haven't come across the right size/color yet. I do have one Walmart return to make.
- Marly needs a lamp shade for her thrifted milk glass lamp.
- Both kids need wall art.(which will include purchasing and painting thifft store frames).

- Thirfting and spray painting of random accessories.

Despite the long list of "jazzing" ahead, their first two nights in the lower level have been a success. Their beds both sit so they can see out their doors and view each other, but of course we can close both doors. So far, this seems to have combated some of the anxiety of the move and seperation. We also added a string of sensor night lights to illuminate the past upstairs.

Stay tuned for more to come. We won't talk about the upstairs mess of a 1/2 empty room yet.

Jazzing it Up! Basement bathroom

Do you remember in April when I blogged about our basement bathroom paint color delemia, and our various sample pots before going for the same color as our bedroom...

This post???

Well, way back in APRIL, just after the post, we finished JAZZING up our basement bathroom. (Finally saying good-bye to the sherbet stripes.) I never got around to posting. But when I was taking pictures Monday morning for my weekend project post, I snapped a few photos of the bathroom as well. As usual, we still need art, and possibly some shelving still to come.

-The shower curtain (with owls and trees) is from Target. Perhaps you will recall the shower curtain inspired/dictated the paint color.

-The rugs are super cheap-o from Ikea. The small one by the shower is actually cut in 1/2. We had the same ones in orange!

-The white ceramic owls were purchased on line from West Elm in a post-holiday clearance sale, with some sort of bonus coupon I had received. They were on back-order. I had completely forgotten about them when they arrived just as Mark finished painting. A perfect fit.

-The mirror is from Home Goods. (Two prior purchases were returned and didn't fit the bill. The third time was the charm.)

-The light fixuture is the room original. It didn't match the hardware before or after the "jazzing".

I shot her up with several coats of Krylon Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. There is nothing like a $7 can of O.R.B paint for a CHEAP, super easy, classy enough make-over! The former silver shower curtain got a few coats too.There you have it...