A Thrifty Find Makeover

I recently did a makeover in our master bedroom. As many of my readers know we moved our furniture around and in the process didn't have room for our existing night stand. My temporary solution was to place this vintage ladder as a night stand on one side of the bed. Having received such a great response from all of you saying how well it looked...
it's staying!

Still needed a night stand for the other side of the bed, I've been looking for a thrifty solution.

Monday I made a quick stop at Goodwill and

to my surprise all furniture was 30 % off!!!

Look what I found....

...for $5.49 !!!

Of course it had its blemishes...

...but because I had plans for it that didn't matter.

The first thing to do was give it a good sanding...

...followed by a coat of Kilz primmer

and two coats of white paint left over from my board and batten project.

I removed the wooden knob and replaced it with a crystal knob;
however I didn't like the gold on it and wanted it to match my curtain rod.

My solution was to paint on some oil rubbed bronze paint to antique it a bit.

Here's the finished product...

...with my newly purchased lamp from Ross
sitting on top...

...along side with a vase of sea grass to add a coastal touch.

Have a great weekend!!!

Joy

I'm linking this post to..

Faded Charm ~ White Wednesday Tools are for Women Too

DIY Campfire Starters

Do you enjoy sitting around a campfire

roasting hot dogs or marshmallows?

I find it to be very relaxing

and since camping is still on my mind from our recent camping trip.

I thought I'd share a thrifty trick for starting campfires.

We've been making these thrifty little starters for our camp fires for many years.

When our sons were young this was a fun "craft" for them to make.

Have fun and enjoy your summer campfire!

(A reminder: always remember to be safe with fires.)

Joy

Everything Coastal

I've been gone to the coast on a vacation with my family.

We had some fun and relaxing days despite cold weather

and only a day and half of sunshine.

We enjoyed hiking and walks along the beach...

shopping in many of the little tourist shops...

...including this cute old fashioned candy shop...

...and this lamp shop.

I love all the lamps with the coastal theme!

The painting on the sides of buildings

and street lamps added to the coastal atmosphere.

Here's the view we enjoyed on the beach.

I recently found this painting at a garage sale for a dollar...

and it reminds me of this!!!

It will look great hanging in my laundry room

and will remind me of our great time at the coast.

Joy

I'm linking this post to...

DIY Ring Bearer Pillow

Ring Bearer Pillows

Wedding rings are an important part of each wedding ceremony because they symbolize the love and commitment of the marriage and thus are highlighted during the ceremony. The traditional way of doing this is to have a ring bearer, most often a young boy, walk down the aisle caring a satin pillow on which two false rings are displayed. The real rings, usually of great value, are held by the best man until the appropriate time during the ceremony.

As many of my regular readers know, we were on a limited budget for our daughters' wedding.

This meant many DIY projects.

Here's what we came up with.



Casa satin was used to form the pillow. We then added a band of green organza fabric to form a sash. This was gathered and stitched together in the middle. The finishing touches were added by placing a rhinestone earring in the middle for some added bling.

The second pillow was put together in the same manner with the exception of a pillow purchased from a garage sale. It already had the pearl edging and some ribbon which we removed. We finished it by added some rings.

Unfortunately we didn't get close up photos of the ring bearer pillows .

The pillows were to be carried with the green sash going horizontally....but for some reason both ring bearers wanted to carry them the wrong way as you can see in the photos. We were very happy that they came down the isle without incident!

The cost for these pillows was right on budget...just a few dollars.

Happy Wedding Planning!

Joy

Decorating Cash

Do you love to decorate but lack the cash?

I have a great way to make cash from your own home.

Can you guess what it is?

The answer is Coupons.

I've been doing it for years...

In the early years of our marriage and

while my husband was in seminary it was a necessity.

I saved every coupon and with a group of friends we did once a month coupon swaps. For young moms this is a fun way to get together with friends, share coupon and have a play date for the children all at the same time. It was an outing I looked forward to each month.

I also purchased a magazine that gave a lot of tips, where to find coupons and rebates etc. Today, if you have a computer and Internet, there are great sources to use. You can even print your own coupons from sources like these....

coupons.com

redplum.com

SmartSource.com

Last fall, I stepped up my coupon saving efforts beginning with a new organization notebook system for my coupons. This idea wasn't an original idea developed by me, but rather from a friend online (Wanting What You Have). It's been the best system I've ever used, however; and I want to share it with you.

Here's what I did...

I started with a binder purchased at a garage sale adding some pretty scrapbook paper and a heading "Savings Notebook" along with a quote from Benjamen Franklin,

"A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned".

An index page was formed by inserting a white sheet of paper into a sheet protector with a list of categories.

Page tabs were add next ....making it easy to find items.

Trading Card Pages

Using trading card pages for coupon storage works great!

You can see the coupon and expiration dates.

Each week, when I add my new coupons, I pull out the expired coupons. This keeps the book up to date.

In the back of the notebook, I've added a page with 3 columns...

Coupon savings (month)

(here I write the store name and what I purchaced...ie..food, clothing, gas etc.)

Dollars

(the dollar amount saved)

Date

Each month I make a new page.

I also save all receipts and file them alphabetically under the store name.

This has been very handy when you have to return an item.

Another tip that I do regularly, in addition to using my coupons, is to buy items on sale.

My total savings since I started this system in the middle of October 2009, is...

$ 1862.36

Happy Savings!

Joy