Whale of a time

How's this for a cheapo frame filler - a gift bag!  I'm a big fan of framing wrapping paper but this is my first time framing a gift bag (groundbreaking, I know!).  It was a whopping $1.99 from TJ Maxx and I love the print - it looks a bit like a whale.

Not much of a tutorial for this one.  Buy cheap gift bag.  Cut up cheap gift bag.  Put cheap gift bag in frame.

Ta daaa.

In furry friend news, Murph is now sporting his Summer 2013 line (ie he had a hair furcut).

In his defense, we had just gone upstairs and the air hadn't been on so it was pretty hot.  He's not usually this much of a mouth breather, ha!

As soon as it cooled down, he was back to his crazy self.  The black and white blur is the first toy we ever gave him after bringing him home, and he LOVES that stinky thing.  We wash it regularly but it still always stinks. 

This will be the first weekend in a while with no travelling or working so I'm really looking forward to getting stuff done around the house.  Look out for more updates next week - I'm determined to have a productive weekend.

Kate

xxx

MIA in MIA

And I'm back - did you miss me?  We took a little time out to regroup and take a much needed holiday.  I'll give you one guess where....

The weather was beautiful, the beach was amazing and it was great to catch up with family and just relax.  No work, no emails, no ringing phones, perfect!

It wouldn't be a trip to Miami without a couple of gratuitous shots of palm trees and art deco buildings.

Fun times.

Not to say I wasn't planning and listing and thinking about all of the projects and updates I still want to accomplish this year (how can it be June already!).

First up was tackling the dreaded Ikea flat pack shelving we picked up on our last trip to the ATL (more on that HERE).

I was surprised at how easy it was to put together (although, to be fair, there were only 8 pieces).  One allen key and 20 minutes later, we have this:

The only surfaces we had in the bedroom were the 2 nightstands and the dresser so we were in desperate need of some shelving.  It fits perfectly next to the window in the master, and there is still plenty of room to open the closet door. 

I've also moved the TJ Maxx bench from the end of the bed to by the window to create a little nosey neighbor seat.

The bottom shelf is perfect for putting the cushions on when they're not on the bed.  The little white guy next to him is a Moomin (Google it!).

Most of the other item are either decorative or give us some extra storage.

The graphic magazine holders were from the Target dollar section and the cow photo was from Etsy seller Stephs Shoes.

And how could you not love the little smiling ceramic Russian doll.

Top shelf, front and center, is my all time favorite piece of art.

It's a vintage painting by numbers from a local flea mall.  I mean, I think it's vintage.  How can you ever really tell - it could have been painted last week by a 6 year old for all i know!  But I still love it!

Anyone else adding some extra storage or fighting with flat pack furniture?

Kate

xxx

ATL

If you follow along on Instagram (if you don't, then you should!), you'll have seen that this weekend we made the 2 and a half our trip to the ATL for a concert and for some light wandering.  It was sooo nice to have a break and escape from the daily grind.  Although I could happily live without the crazy Atlanta drivers.  Ooft, just thinking about the 8 lanes of traffic makes me nervous!

We found this great little area called Westside Provisons District that is packed with shops and amazing places to eat.

I'd heard of Room & Board but had never had the chance to visit a store (there are only 14 in the country).  The stuff they have is pricey but completely my style, and gave me lots of ideas (my main one being to pick up a winning lottery ticket on the way home so next time I can actually afford to buy something!).  It was worth visiting for the coffee table size catalogue.  Woo hoo, free stuff! 

Sorry about the phone pic, this was the only snap we were brave enough to take inside while the assistants were distracted.  It gives you a bit of an idea of the style - lots of MCM, tufting, graphic prints.

Of course no trip to Atlanta would be complete without a visit to Ikea.  We picked up a Lerberg for only $20 (it's available in white and dark grey).  Check back in to see how my fight with flat pack furniture and an allen key went.

Anyone else picked up an Ikea bargain recently?

Kate

xxx

Dollar Store Jewelry Holder

Sherry of Young House Love and  Katie of Bower Power set their spring Pinterest Challenge last week.  The idea is to stop pinning and start doing.  Take your inspiration from something you've pinned on Pinterest and create your own version. 

I decided to try and make a jewelry holder.  There are a bazillion versions on Pinterest but (as usual) I was determined to create mine on the cheap.  My Pinspiration (see what I did there?!) was this sweet little shabby chic jewelry holder from Etsy seller The Humble Bee:

Of course the first stop for any cheapo craft project is always going to be the dollar store.  I picked up a piece of foam board and a pack of thumb tacks.  The purple fabric was from Joanns and was leftover from another project I'm working on.

I cut the board in half and layered one piece on top of the other (making the size 10x15).  I covered the whole thing in fleece to give it a padded look (root around in your wardrobe and see if you have an old fleece you don't wear anymore and get cutting!).  Next I layered the lattice fabric on top of that and stapled everything together on the back of the board.

I marked out my border and stuck the tacks in at 1/4 inch intervals to give it a nail head trim look.

The whole thing was incredibly quick and easy to make.

I used some regular straight pins to hang the earrings on.

In the inimitable words of Gordon Ramsay: Dollar Store Jewelry Holder...........done!

Kate

xxx

 

Flea Market Jackpot

This weekend I ventured out to Bama Flea mall (follow me on Instagram to keep up with all the thrifty goodness).  I couldn't remember the last time I was there, which is a definite sign a trip was long overdue. 

3 hours of rummaging, and these are all of my goodies in one neat shot. 

I couldn't resist the wooden shoe forms, they were only $8 for the pair.  No clue what I'm going to do with them, maybe I'll just pop them on a shelf.  I've seen a lot of vintage suitcases, but I thought finding one in white was unusual.  Great for extra storage and looks cute, in the cart it went.

The little mid century shelf was one of my favorite finds.  The glass needs a bit of a clean but everything else was in excellent condition.  The two orange and white pieces are retro salt and pepper shakers ($3).  The 4 milk glasses were $10 for the set.  I only noticed that one has a smaller base than the other 3 when I was setting them out to take this pic (clearly that one's the runt of the litter).

The white wavy light has to be my top flea market find.  Ever.  Yep, I said it.  EVER!  I couldn't believe it when I saw it.  There was no price on it, so I went straight to Google to see how much it would cost new (not going to lie, I totally checked Ikea just to be sure it wasn't one of theirs).  Turns out this was a Le Klint 172, a pretty iconic light designed by Poul Christiansen (thank you Wikipedia). 

They came back with a price of $69 and I managed to talk them down to $50.  I'm the worlds worst haggler, so was especially smug after getting the price down.  I'm keeping everything crossed that it works.

I couldn't resist a quick whiz round Pinterest to find some other rooms the Le Klint had been used in.  Standby for a Monday montage of pretty pictures.

Pinterest

Pinterest

Pinterest

Kelly Behun Studio

 

Did you pick up any bargains this weekend?

 

 Kate

xxx

Fabric-tastic!

This weekend turned into a bit of a fabric frenzy.  First up was this purple/lilac trellis fabric for a master bedroom project I'm currently working on.

Next up was a floral fabric for the master bathroom.  I haven't shown you any pics of this space because we have done literally nothing to it since we moved in.  The walls are still a shockingly awful baby poop brown (the old owner thoughtfully left a half empty can of this paint in the garage - thanks a lot!).  I'm hoping to use this fabric as a jumping off point for the whole room - a nice neutral on the wall and definitely some new flooring.

Lastly I had a quick stop in JCPenney and picked up 2 woolen throws for an unbelievable $6 each!  I think most JCP stores are currently undergoing a major makeover and so lots of the old stock is massively reduced.  I thought these would work well in the man cave.  Another room that hasn't really been touched, but we have argued about settled on a grey/red/black colour scheme.  The carpet was new when we moved in and is a biscuit colour, so I thought these throws would tie in the colours nicely.

I did have the chance to style the screened porch, but the weather was terrible so the "after shots" will hopefully take place this week.

How was your weekend, any fun fabric finds?

Kate

xxx

Back Porch Makeover - The Before

Despite the crazy weather (sunny, raining, cold, hot....make up your mind already!) I'm determined to add some spring brights to our little screened porch.

This is how the porch looked when we viewed the house:

And here it is as a nice blank canvas when we moved in.

Like nearly everything in the south, the porch currently has a nice layer of yucky yellow pollen.  All.Over.It.  Bleugh!  So first up is to attack it with a power washer, then it's the fun part of adding furniture and accessories.

Below are some of my favorite finds from a little online window shopping.  We already have a nice seating set and some of the bright decorations ready to go, I just need to get out there and play around with the layout and maybe steal some additional pieces from other rooms in the house.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

My favorite has to be number 2.  It's only $38 from Old Time Pottery.  CB2 has the same style chair for a whopping $199!

Anyone else working on their outdoor spaces?  Check back to see how it all came together.

Kate

xxx