Still Considering....

...white walls.  I saw this yesterday via YHL and it's got me leaning even further towards painting everything white.  It looks so clean and fresh and not sterile at all.

Since I'm gonna need a lot of paint I started trying to find a bargain on a bunch of it.  I made a trip to the aisle of mistinted paint at Wally World, Lowe's and Home Depot.

I didn't find a great white, but I did find a great gray.  I got a whole gallon for $5.  I have quite a few ideas for it and I have a feeling it will go a long way.

(Did you notice that the "mistint" is misspelled?  Ha!)

In addition to painting my walls pretty soon, I'll also be painting the slip cover of the rocker in my son's nursery.  I started a patch test almost the second I got it in the door.

I haven't found the right green yet, but I'm really looking forward to getting started when I find the perfect shade.

My project list keeps getting longer and longer, but instead of painting this weekend, I'll be at the beach enjoying some much needed down time!


Y'all have a good weekend!

Dead Ringer: 2 for 1 Summer Sandal Edition

Ok, this post is not home related at all, but when I find a good deal I just have to share. 

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Here's the first Dead Ringer:  These babies are from the Seychelles Summer 2010 line and they were originally $90.  (There's a size 9.5 on clearance at Amazon for $31.98!)

I was thrilled when I came across these for $30 at Shoe Carnival the other day.

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I ended up getting a pair in this color....

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....they're made by LifeStride, which is why the sole is a little thicker than the Seychelles shoes, but it also makes them super comfy.  I wore them today and my feet feel fine!

I got the tan color because I was inspired by these lovely shoes worn by Emerson of EmersonMade.com.  She practically has them on with every summer dress she modeled....that tan color goes with everything.

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In my search that led me to the pair of LifeStride shoes I bought, I also found the shoes below.

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Here's the second Dead Ringer:  This pair of sandals is from this year's Seychelles line and they're $90.

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This pair of sandals is from Target and they're $17.99(amazing!).  I didn't get these because they don't come in tan (womp womp), but they are super cute and you can't beat $18 for a solid knock-off.

Painted Pillow

Yep.  I painted those stripes onto my newest throw pillow.  I had originally planned on using green fabric to Heat-n-Bond stripes to the pillow, but I figured that a little fabric medium, acrylic paint, and painters tape would be less time consuming.  Since I didn't do a very complicated pattern it only took about15 minutes to paint the stripes.

My new striped pillow is replacing this pillow:

I love the pattern, but ever since I decided to incorporate more green in my living room through the stenciled curtains and solid green pillows, it just seemed out of place.

The best part about this project is that it cost me ZERO dollars!  I used drapery fabric and paint supplies that I had left over.

Here's a shot of the new pillow with the stenciled curtains.

Love!

If you're curious about how I sewed the pillow,  here's my No Zipper, Envelope Pillow Cover Tutorial.

If you're curious about what I used to paint the stripes, here's my Stenciled Curtain Tutorial.  Just use tape to create stripes instead of a stencil!


I'll be linking up at:

White Walls?



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I saw the picture above via freshome.com.  They typically feature super modern interior design, but today they posted this shabby chic kitchen with an industrial twist.  I love the big open space and all the white.  Makes me want to paint my whole house white.  It looks so fresh!

Anyone have mostly white walls that they love or hate?  I'd really love to hear what you think about living with white walls.

I'll pretty much be thinking about my walls all weekend.  Hopefully I'll be productive and have some time to relax too. 

Happy Friday!

It's a start....

...it's not exactly beautiful...but it's a start.  I bought some things to help get me organized. 

Before I show you my very unimpressive pictures, here's another beautiful pantry to go along with the organization inspiration I posted last week.

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Ahhhh....so pretty....and now, my pictures.

Thanks to a little $10 basket from Target, my arch enemy (that I originally posted about here), the kitchen/dining area counter, has been vanquished.  All clear!  Hopefully it'll say that way.

Here's another $10 basket that's doing a great job of concealing clutter.  This one is from HomeGoods and it's on the top shelf of our pantry.

This handy dandy broom holder is another addition to my pantry.

My last purchase was not cheap, but it was necessary.  My husband and I bought some nice Henckels knives last year and they've been clanking around in our silverware drawer ever since.  We looked and looked for something to keep them in so they would stay sharp.  We didn't want a big butcher block because we only have two, but we could never find anything small to keep them in.  We came across this drawer organizer last week and despite the high price tag it came home with us. 

Obviously I still have so much to do, but I'm on my way to having more beautiful organization!

My Holey Little Secret

I have a confession:  pictures of my living room and nursery have been seriously doctored.

I had some pretty holey walls due to all of the re-arranging of art I've done in the two rooms.  I was too lazy to fix them before I took "after" pictures, so I "fixed" them with Photoshop.

This is the picture I posted of the living room shelf:

And this is what the wall actually looked like:

This is the picture I posted of the curtains in the nursery:

And this is what the wall actually looked like:

Patching up those holes is the one thing I got done this past weekend.  I had the help of two new-to-me products.

Product #1:  Erase-A- Hole

I saw this in the June issue of House Beautiful.  It was in their list of 100 things you can find at a hardware store.  Whoever thought of putting drywall filler in a deodorant dispenser is a genius.  It was so easy to use and my newly filled holes are nice and smooth.  At $6.99 it's more expensive than filler that comes in a tub or tube, but the result and ease of use was worth it.


Product #2:  Miniature Clear Paint Cans

I got two of the smallest cans so I could have small amounts of touch up paint on hand for these and any future holes I will need to patch.

One of the things that was holding me back from patching up those holes in the first place was the fact that I had to lug out huge cans of paint with lids that were most likely stuck to the can.  These are teeny and the lids come off pretty easily (not too easily though).

I'll probably be using both of these products a lot in the near future.  Now I have no reason to put off patching up the holes that will be revealed when I start moving things around in other rooms.

How 'bout y'all?  Do you have any mundane, but necessary tasks that you just can't stand to do so much that you put it off and post Photoshopped pictures to "fix" your problem?  No?  Just me? 

Uh-oh

Uh-oh.  I made it through an entire three-day weekend and I hardly got a thing done.  Even though I barely got anything done in my house, I did spend a lot of time with the little man who's face planted in the grass in the photo above.  Just a side note... he totally did that on purpose.  I'm not quite sure what he was trying to do though, perhaps downward facing dog?

Anyway...between getting very little accomplished this past weekend and having a very busy week ahead at school, it may turn out to be a slow week here at The Thrifty Abode. 

Stick with me...I've got some ideas brewing that will hopefully turn into completed projects pretty soon.

Three Day Weekend!

I've got a lot on my to-do list for this long weekend.  These are some inspiration pictures that I found via Pinterest that are just making my list even longer.

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Let' see if I actually complete these projects that I have in mind.  Either way I will definitely be spending a ton of time with this little fellow.

Have a happy thankful Memorial Day!

Seriously Craving Some Beautiful Organization

I kind of hate spending money on things for my house that nobody will see.  Yaknowwhatimean?  Very few people will ever go in my pantry, laundry room, or closets so usually I think, "Who cares what it looks like?"  As long as I can get to what I need and they're relatively clean,  I'm fine with them. 

I rarely spend much time or money dressing my storage spaces up.  Pictures like these make me think the money would be well worth it and that I'd enjoy chores a little more and keep things a little lot more tidy if I had storage that was this pretty.

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Thoughts?  Have you done a storage beautification project that was totally worth it?

Here's what I'm thinking about....

...this chair.  I have this rocker in my son's nursery.  It's a brown mass amongst the other brown masses that are my crib and changing table.

 
I think it would be a lot cuter if it was kelly green.

I'm thinking about buying the beige slipcover that's available and dyeing it.  If anyone has tips, experience, or words of caution or encouragement when it comes to dying fabric, I'd love to hear them.