thrifty thursday - thrifty finds around the house

Yes, Thrifty Thursdays is back...for now :) I have lots of projects that I want to work on but with the impending move they may not happen til after we're moved & the baby's born.

I'll start with my latest find - a bookshelf for my daughter's room.

I'd been looking for one for a little while now. She had a smaller one but given the amount of books she reads she quickly ran out of room & books started piling up on the floor. A random trip to a local children's consignment store & I found this tall, white bookshelf for 50 bucks...a great deal considering it was a good bookshelf, not a cheapo one.

As you can see, she nearly has it filled!

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Here's some of my other favorite finds (click the links for more info):

foyer dresser

Olivia's dresser

matching side table

side table in the living room

framed chalk board

front porch chair & flower box

(I'm thinking I may paint this turquoise after we move)

summer photo collage

Of course, there's other 'thrifty' redo's that you can check out on the sidebar by clicking on the 'thrifty thursdays' icon :)

thrifty thursday - how much laundry detergent do you use??

 

Well, it's still rainy, cold & gloomy outside so I still can't get decent pics. Don't get me wrong, I love it...cause I get to do this:

The sun seems to be trying to peek out for a bit so I might get some pics this afternoon. Til then I thought I'd share with you a quick thrifty tip that I discovered about 6 mos ago. It's not anything earth shattering but it will make a difference in your shopping budget.

I read an article in Yahoo news several months back about laundry soap and how you really don't need to use the amount of soap the manufacturer tells you to. Cause think about it, if you use more soap you'll be buying more soap. Isn't that what they want??

And really, the soap just helps the cleaning process along. The agitation in your washing machine is doing most of the work.

So I thought I'd try it. I used to use almost a full scoop of detergent for each load. And I went through a lot of detergent. Not sure how a family of 4 can have so many dirty clothes!! So I switched to using only 1/2 a scoop. And do you know what I noticed?? Nothing. Nadda. Zilch. My clothes were still clean. They still smelled fresh. And I was using half the amount of soap, saving my family money.

Now, I will also tell you that I use Tide, which is a bit more pricey than other detergents. But I buy it on sale, with a coupon whenever possible, saving me a little money. I have found that Tide is totally worth the extra money. When I have purchased less expensive detergents I find that I have to rewash something because a stain didn't come out. That wastes money in detergent, electricity and water. So I stick with Tide. Plus, I broke out in hives from one of those cheaper soaps and had to throw it out & rewash everything. Talk about a waste of money.

One final note - I do still use a fuller scoop when I'm washing dirtier clothes like my son's baseball uniform or clothes that my kids were playing outside in. But I can't tell you how much money I've saved in detergent. It takes me much, much longer to get through a box of soap than it used to. And I love that!

thrifty thursday - front porch decor

Yes, thrifty thursday is back! I know, y'all didn't know what to do with yourselves these last couple weeks it was missing. yeah right

I thought I'd show you my recent front porch decor...thrifter style. I have a small front porch. But it's big enough to put a few things out there to decorate and make it look pretty.

I'd been on the lookout for an old, rickety chair that looked weathered & worn. And wouldn't you know it, I found one just the other day! By the way, I also got to meet a new friend I met through this blog...hi Jen :) Anyway, it looks like it's falling apart, the wood is cracked, the paint is peeling...perfect!

On the chair I have an old crate that I picked up at Gina's a while back. It was on top of my kitchen cabinets along with some other thrifty finds. But it found a new home holding some fall mums. 

And, of course, my pup and a pumpkin. Now I just need to get a Halloween wreath on my door & my porch will be done!

thrifty thursday - girly lamp makeover

About the same time I was redoing my daughter's dresser I was also looking for a lamp that I could redo to match her room (i.e. hot pink). I had found a lamp on clearance over at Walmart that would work but then right after that I cam across this lamp on clearance over at Lowes.

14 bucks for the lamp and shade. Good deal considering I didn't have to go and buy a can of spray paint for 3 bucks (since I was out of pink after the doll bed makeover).

But I needed to make this lamp a little bit more girly :) So I found some hot pink sheer fabric on sale over Joann's. I didn't need much. But then I found a defect in the fabric so I ended up getting the fabric for less than 2 bucks. Score!! Always ask for a discount (if they don't offer one) on something that's defective (if you don't mind the defects, which I don't!). That's how I got a good deal on my charcoal grill.

Anyway, so I spread the fabric out and gathered it at a few points & tied some thread around those spots like this...

Does anyone else use their washing machine as their hot glue station?? Just me?? Ok then...

Then I clipped it to the lamp shade to see where I would want them. When I got them where I wanted them I hot glued them to the lamp shade.

Then I found these cute little crystal buttons that I glued to the gathered spots. They were only a couple bucks.

And that's it! Super simple, super easy. Just a quick way to spruce up a boring lamp for one sweet little girl :) And that little butterfly clothespin is something she already had that looks cute on her lamp!

Here's what I have coming up in the next few weeks:

inexpensive Fall wreath

DIY pegboard jewelry organizer

decorative fabric baskets

thrifty thursday - thoughts on spray paint

You might have noticed from many of my posts that I like spray paint. It makes changing your decor so easy and simple. It makes turning something that is drab and boring into something brand spankin' new! What could be better?!

So I thought I'd give a few 'thoughts' on spray paint. Ya know, from my vast experience! heh

I've tried a few different brands...Walmart brand, Krylon, Valspar & Rust-oleum. And here's what I've found - you get what you pay for. Sure, the Walmart brand is cheaper. And I have found that it's cheaper for a reason. It doesn't cover as well and you don't have nearly as many choices in colors & finishes as you do with the others. The Krylon costs about $2.67 a can at Walmart (Lowes or Home Depot has it, too), the Valspar a bit more over at Lowes. There's also Rust-oleum which is a bit more at $3.44 over at Home Depot. Both cover great, usually 1 or 2 coats and you're good to go. Plus, the better brands have a better nossle that doesn't leave your hand feeling like you want to chop it off cause it hurts so bad. Trust me, if you're painting something big you want a good spray nossle!

 

My favorite is the Rust-oleum. In my own personal opinion I think it covers the best. But like I said, the others are good, too.

Test the sprayer before spraying it on your project. Recently I had a can of Krylon primer that didn't spray. It sputtered for about 2 secs and then...nothing. Problem was I sprayed it on my lamp redo and it left a bunch of lumps that I then had to sand off after it dried. There's nothing worse than turning an easy redo into a pain-in-the-butt project because of faulty spray paint. So test it first ~ spray it in the air, on your drop cloth, anything to make sure it's working properly.

Primer ~ use it. Most things you paint will hold their paint must better if you prime it first, especially on woods or dark finishes. Some things don't really need primer. For example, I didn't prime my daughter's doll bed makeover. But remember that wooden collage frame? Yeah, I didn't have any primer...and instead of running out and getting some it took 4 coats of spray paint. That wood just sucked in all the paint.

Know what you're painting. Most spray paints are good for metal, wood, shiny surfaces, etc. However, there's special spray paint for plastic and other materials. You want to pick the right paint or it won't cover well and you'll be disappointed.

There are tons of colors of spray paints. But my favorite so far? Key lime from Rust-oleum. That color makes me smile every.single.time I use it. You can check out a couple projects using that color here.

And that's it! Just a few helpful tips :) Now go paints something!!

thrifty thursday - another dresser redo :)

I have another dresser makeover for you guys today! I've been wanting to get this one painted up for a while. What hung me up was the fact that it was in dire need of a good sanding and that's my worker boy husband's department. I mean, paint drips everywhere & lumps...ugh. Why do people do this to furniture?? I mean, why paint it if you're not even going to do a semi-decent job?? And the poor hardware, that had paint & gook all over it too.

Sorry guys, that's a pet peeve of mine. It ranks right up there with painting over outlet covers.

But I digress...

Do you remember this dresser/hutch/nightstand set I got at the thrift market back in May??

You might remember I redid the nightstand. That cute little table sold in my consignment booth in like a day! Guess I wasn't the only one that thought it was cute :)

And here is the dresser with a new coat of white paint...

Isn't she pretty?? When I first snatched up this dresser set I thought it might go in my daughter's room. But then I found that other dresser I shared last week so I decided the bottom part of this one would go in my foyer (the hutch is in the attic in case I change my mind later) I can't tell you how nice it looks now compared to what it looked like before. 

I haven't figured out what is going to go on the wall or the dresser yet. But I'm envisioning an olive green vase with some fall foliage in it. 

The handles got a new coat of espresso spray paint (brown).

And now they look brand new! By the way, I'm glad I could help some of you with the toothpicks in the styrafoam idea! 

I was thinking that this dresser might look good with some type of glaze on it. But I like the white so much I'm going to leave it alone...for now. But I can't guarantee that in 6 mos you won't see me doing a makeover on this dresser again!

I also want to share a little secret about this dresser. She has something a little special to share that not everyone gets to see ;)

Since the insides of the drawers weren't very pretty I decided to decoupage the lining. At first I was going to use some vintage sheet music and then came across one of the Winnie the Pooh books I found during one of my thrifty excursions. So I ripped some of the pages out (I know, but after you do it once or twice it doesn't hurt as much!) I used decoupage glue (or you could use Mod Podge) and applied it to the back side of each page & laid it out, pressing out bubbles. Then, after it was all dry I applied a coat across the top. 

Now, because my drawer isn't totally flat (there's some imperfections in the drawer, paint droplets, etc) my pages weren't going to lay totally flat. And I was ok with that. Hey, this is an old dresser. It's not gong to look perfect. I love that.

And it wouldn't be a vintage dresser redo without hardware issues...again. I'm missing several of the screws for the handles. Shhhh...don't tell anyone but the 2 bottom handles don't have screws in them! hehe It doesn't matter, that's one big drawer and you can use the upper handles til I get new screws ;)

In the next few weeks I'll have some non-furniture thrifty redo's that I've been working on!

I'll be linking up to Jen's weekend wrap up party!

thrifty thursday - girly dresser redo

I am so excited for today's post!! I've been working on my daughter's dresser for a while now and I'll give you the details below. I would have had the post last week but I lost one of the dresser handles and trying to find another one for a dresser that is probably as old as me was not fun. Thankfully I found it and all is well again!! hehe

But first, let's get to the good stuff, shall we??!! Here's what it looks like now:

I'm just so thrilled with how it turned out. It makes me smile each and every time I walk in her room :) Especially since this is how it looked before:

Yuck, I know!! But this dresser had such neat details and I knew that all it needed was some TLC (and a great coat of paint!) I mean, aren't the legs on this dresser cute??

First of all, excuse the weird shadowing in these photos. My daughter's room is purple and gets mostly indirect light. I've tried every which way to take great pics in her room to no avail. Something about that purple paint makes some weird shadows, especially when I'm taking pics on the wall opposite from her window.

But let's get back to the dresser! I used True Turquoise by Glidden. 

It's the same color I used for her side table redo. I had my hubby sand the top of the dresser because it had a shiny finish. I didn't sand any other part of the dresser but I did use a primer first. I really wanted this dresser to turn out nice so I wanted to do it right. It took 2 coats of paint and we also put a coat of polyurethane on the top to keep it from getting it dinged up (cause this is going in an 8 yr old's room remember!)

Now for the top I got the idea here to do the little scalloped frame. 

Isn't it cute??! I just love it. I put the tape on the edge of one side of the dresser, then ripped it in half lengthwise weaving so it would look a bit scalloped. I did that for each side. 

Just make sure that the tape is on there securely so that when you paint none of it leaks underneath ruining your shape.

Then I used a roller to roll on the white paint (2 coats). My only regret is that I didn't make it more scalloped but I'm still happy with it. By the way, be careful if your daughter decides to go pick up her guinea pig in the middle of a painting project...

Yep, she picked the most inopportune time to go get Bugsy...Geez!!


I also used the original hardware and spay painted them white. I did prime them first, then one coat of the white.

Here's a tip when painting knobs & small stuff. You don't want to lay them directly on the surface they're sitting on because when they dry they'll stick. And that's not good. So I usually use some toothpicks in a piece of styrofoam to hold them up.

This way also makes it easier to spray paint around all the little edges & details. I mentioned above that I thought I'd lost one of the pieces. Of course, it was one of the pieces that holds the handle on. Let me tell you, trying to find hardware that will fit a vintage dresser (that doesn't cost a fortune) is hard to do. Thankfully my hubby found it in the back of my truck so we didn't have to worry about finding a replacement. Cause even if I wanted to buy 'non-vintage' hardware, the holes on this dresser were an odd size. So keep that in mind if you're refinishing older furniture. Make sure it has all its parts!!


And now for my next project - decorating above that dresser. I'll give you a hint, I'm probably going to be doing something with this: