Home Decorators Challenge

[pollypurebred39]

Theresa, I found this website and thought of you!

Thrift-Store Mediterranean | The New Homemaker

Further down in the article you'll find a section titled Accessorize Creatively Within Your Budget. I thought you might like to browse and maybe find some new ideas for your home.

[mauimagic]

Have decided to to my rod and curtain sun room change in two steps =

1. Sew new curtains.
2. Change to rods

This will make more sense financially to me. Now to choose the fabric!!

[mauimagic]

krbs - depends on the puzzle picture!!


Mamamia - health and family first - that's my motto!! Please take care of yourself!!

Also, I think when recovering furniture, your best friend will be a heavy duty stapler!! Amazing what can be done with stapler in hand!!

[mamamia]

Theresa, I found this website and thought of you!

Thrift-Store Mediterranean | The New Homemaker

Further down in the article you'll find a section titled Accessorize Creatively Within Your Budget. I thought you might like to browse and maybe find some new ideas for your home.

Polly! You've gotten to know very well..lol! That article was "made for me". Ha! I thought it was so neat that the color chart she had shown for Med. decorating, is literally found somewhere throughout my house. If I could only get rid of that baby blue 70s bathroom And then, if only I could come across some good thrift shops and garage sales. I am thinking of trying again, but I literally stopped going to the sales and thrifts because it's usually a BIG let down. I know Orlando is great for thrift stores, but then we're talking an hour's drive. Well maybe me and my hubby could make a day of it sometime. It is a thought at least. But he's not one for sifting thru "stuff", so it might not be much fun after all

So thanks Polly. I love it, and stuck it in my faves because it looks like there's alot more to read.

TTYL!

Theresa

[mamamia]

Mamamia - health and family first - that's my motto!! Please take care of yourself!!

Also, I think when recovering furniture, your best friend will be a heavy duty stapler!! Amazing what can be done with stapler in hand!!

Aaah, yes,of course....my hubby's staple gun. I should've thought of that. I had great success using it to upholster two headboards. So thanks MM! I'm so glad you reminded me, because the thought of using one of those huge curved upholstery needles was making that project very intimidating to say the least!

And thanks too for your well wishes and reminder that my health comes 1st. I really need a lesson in that area.
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MM said>>
Have decided to to my rod and curtain sun room change in two steps =

1. Sew new curtains.
2. Change to rods

This will make more sense financially to me. Now to choose the fabric!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MM, I am so looking forward to your project! And since it's a sun room, and you do live in the Tropics, will you be going for a tropical/beachy pattern? I had the pleasure of viewing your album with your hand-made dancer's costumes, and I fell in love with the one dancer who had the leaf green and brown pattern. I would love to live with those colors in my bedroom. My hubby would kill me if I suggested it because we just recently painted (lol), but maybe next time. That color combo just seems so tranquil and relaxing to me.

You also mentioned that changing to rods were more financially sensible. Just curious, but what other way would you have done it?

Don't forget to take the pictures MM! We want the whole FV to see some more of your talents!!

Theresa

[mamamia]

Hi ladies! Don't forget that today, 4/20 is the last "official" day of the Trash to Treasure challenge, and a new one will begin tomorrow. Always remember though that starting and finishing dates are NOT written in stone. So if you're a newbie here, and come across a past challenge that you'd like to do, you're free to just jump right in. And like me this week , if you need more time, just keep us posted.

I am totally looking forward to the weeks ahead and hope you girls are too! I am finally feeling that enthusiasm and excitement about decorating again, and it's great getting to share that here with all of you!

A couple of you gave me your feedback on doing Trash to Treasure and craft challenges , and it seems that those projects will probably be featured as often as I come across frugal projects that I think we'd all be able to do. I want to try to keep it variable, like the fabric challenge, so that we can all do our own thing.

I'll be posting our new challenge late tomorrow night. I'm a little nervous about getting it together for us . So please feel free to offer me any of your own thoughts and ideas to help "sharpen" it up, so to speak, ok?

See you here later!

Theresa

[baxjul]

Anxiously awaiting the next challenge!!!!

[nuisance26]

My scrap farbic project, the fabric tied wreath is completed and today I hung it on the kitchen door.

~Can't wait to see it!!

So my question is have you ever taken the time to count your windows, and just how many windows do you have in your house?

~This tiny ranch house(800 sq ft) has 14 windows(10 are new tilt-in vinyl windows), a glass front door and a glass sliding door. I do windows once a year and that's it! I don't have the patience or time to keep them sparkly all year.

I used yellow checked trim, on a muslin valance type curtain.

~After reading about your curtain project, I decided to do the same. Mine is white with red check trim!

Do you like the idea of including a "crafty" project?

How often should it be part of the challenge? Weekly, semi-weekly, monthly? Or maybe not at all?

As "decorating divas"...lol, we probably all enjoy making things. Now hee's where I' need everybody put on their thinking caps....What other ideas for frugal crafting can you suggest for the group?

Would you prefer for me to post a list of several ideas to choose from?

I've come across many ideas, here on the web. But sometimes it might involve a small cost. We're all budget minded. So please consider your own circumstances for the next answer.

What should be the limit on cost for any project?
OR...do you prefer ALL projects to be no cost, Trash to Treasure on a regular basis?

Personally, I enjoy small craft projects to beautify my home. I'm not very good with anything that takes more than a few hours, so this works for me. But I want ALL of us to have fun here.

I also think that $5 should be the limit. But you can go higher or lower with your own set of circumstances.

So girls, when you get a few minutes, please post your answers and thoughts. I'm looking forward to hearing from all of you! Your personal thoughts mean alot for shaping this challenge that has only just begun.

Thanks!
Theresa

~Post whatever challenges you think would be good! I like crafty challenges as long as it's not knick-knacky clutter stuff but maybe not too often. I have a lot of other crafty projects I'm always working on and personally need more challenge time on small fix-up projects, de-cluttering and organizing.

Don't forget that today, 4/20 is the last "official" day of the Trash to Treasure challenge, and a new one will begin tomorrow.

~I squeaked in under the wire by finishing my scrap curtain last night. I used a piece of scrap white sheet, salvaged elastic from a gift box, a tiny scrap of red check fabric I had leftover from a project 7 years ago and cheapo craft store buttons someone gave to me. The curtain part took 10 minutes but the flowers took almost an hour. Looks kinda cute in my kitchen. ~

[pollypurebred39]

nuisance26,

Oh so SWEET! Those are just darling! You know, they would look fabulous in a baby girls nursery with pastel flowers. Your so creative. I'm positive they look wonderful in your kitchen!

We live in a rancher too. They are not very big are they? Ours has about 750 square feet of living space. But, everything's on one floor including the laundry. We bought a racher because of my disability, going up and down stairs was just not going to work any more. We had lived in a apartment on the 2nd and 3rd floors, but it had just become too much for me so when we were looking for a home we had to keep that in mind. It's a fair trade off, lack of space for accommodating living space.

[pollypurebred39]

Maui, can't wait to see your curtains!

[pollypurebred39]

Good Morning Ladies,

Yesterday was my DH's birthday. We are not celebrating till Sunday. I bring this up because of his gift from DS1. Now it's not exactly a decor thing, but it is sort of.

Years ago I bought DH a wicker laundry hamper from GoodWill. (Because I'm frugal and even if I had the money I'm always going to seek out the best deal possible) It wasn't new, but it was in good condition, a really good price and fit in far better then any plastic hamper would have. After years of use this thing just started falling apart. First the bottom fell out, then the sides started spliting.The hamper had long given up it's ghost and fell over spilling it's contents at least twice a week. I kept looking for another one and could not find one in budget. They want $40 at Kmart for a wicker one (oh so not happening), and everyone I found at GoodWill for the last 6 months was poorly constructed (already coming apart) and priced $20 and up! They have gotten totally out of hand with their pricing at our GoodWill. DS1 found one at CVS on clearance for $6.25! Even comes with 4 organizing baskets! If you could have seen how happy my husband was to get this hamper! I don't think he could have gotten anything he'd been happier with. For me, I'm thrilled, it fits in with the decor without having that cheap plastic hamper thing going on (oh yuck! I just don't care for that at all) AND DH will finally have some nice looking baskets to organize his stuff in the bedroom. Stuff everywhere just wrecks the peaceful vibe the bedroom is supposed to have, and he's the stuff King! So, in a way I've got some decorating going on here, even if it's just DH organizng his things.

[pollypurebred39]

Here's a link to a website on decorating. It has a segment on drapery that is detailed and extremely helpful. There are other helpful budget decorating ideas also. Thought it might be of interest to some here.

Top 10 Tips For Decorating On The Cheap - Listverse

[nuisance26]

~What a deal on that hamper! I wish my DH would be thrilled with a gift like that.
He told me recently that he loves my themes and decor in our rooms(the ones that are decorated so far anyway). When we were shopping for home stuff before we were married our styles were sooooo different it scared me. I wanted Nostalgic Country Romantic and Light Art Deco and he wanted Asian & Contemporary. He's finally coming on board with my style!
Speaking of my style, I finally ordered our new phone this morning. We've been using cordless for years but it drives me crazy how expensive the batteries are and the fact that you can't use them when the electric is out. So I bought this:
~

[krbshappy71]

That phone is adorable!

My puzzle is one of two tree frogs kissing. It doesn't go with my decor but sitting and working on it has been relaxing so I'll go with it. *grin*

[mamamia]

Anxiously awaiting the next challenge!!!!

Well baxful! Here it is

Hi ladies, and welcome to week 3 of our challenge!

I've been putting alot of thought into just how I was going to present this, and I hope you'll find it fun, frugal, AND of course, challenging

The name of this week's challenge is "The Corners of Our Homes and The Power of Color".

I have always noticed that one of the best way to make a big design statement, is putting to use a collection of unusual items, ALL in the same color.

Those items can be as simple as a basket, candle stick, cup and saucer, books, shoe (yes shoe..lol), beads, doilies, towels, and so on, and so on. Now you're probably wondering just how is it that a bunch of "junk" like that could possibly look good, right? Well wrong! This is where the fun part begins. Take a good look around your rooms, and choose the one you'd like to do the challenge in.

Ok, now hold, hold on, I know you're wondering just where we're going with this , but it gets better. Now recall the theme "corners of our home". Well that corner can be a shelf, dreeser top, the back of your toilet , coffee table, counter top, or any other little "corner" that you want to add a little OOMPH too.

Now we're at the "all one color" step. Pick a color from your home decor that you love most, or another color you'd love to use to co-ordinate things with. Still with me? Good, because this is where the "power of paint" comes in to play. Confused? I thought you might be. (lol) Since I know "a picture paints a thousand words", I gathered together some links that should help to explain everything.

http://emmacallsmemama.com/wp-conten...makeover-1.jpg
http://emmacallsmemama.com/wp-conten...ndleabra-3.jpg

Crafts archive at Organize and Decorate Everything

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MiKu55twxr...able+after.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MiKu55twxr...nursery+16.jpg


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R6PYi2234I...0/P1012633.JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R6PYi2234I...0/P1012648.JPG


French Bleu Vintage

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zvG3rt_e98...0/100_1622.JPG


So you see the impact, and you see the "odd" collections of things. And of course you now see how much fun this could be. You probably already have some things that color match, but if you have a good thrift store by you, think of the fun you can have "hunting" for that unusual or charming little "something" to paint and add to the look.

BTW, SPRAY PAINT AT walmart is about $3.50 a can, or you might even already have paint you can use. And here's a really neat finishing product that I heard they sell up at Joann's for about $5. I want to look into it myself.

Amazon.com: rub and buff

Nice stuff, ya think?

I haven't decided on my "corner" yet, but the back of the toilet has my interest with some neat stuff I could paint. But I like the idea of a shelf too. HMMMM! Decisions, decisions!

So there you have it ladies! What are your thoughts? Like it? Hate it?
Remember, you can do your own project idea too. I'd love to see everyone join in, but if you do your own, please just post to the boards your project.

I also decided to include a "discussion" for this week. I hope everyone will pull up a chair and join in. If it goes over good, I'd like to make it a regular feature for us. Sound good?

Any questions or feedback? And please tell me what you'd like to see in the discussions, ok? Remember, I'm all ears!

Theresa

PS- I hope I explained that right

PPS- Anyone can come and join anytime they'd like. I know we'd all love to see more challengers come in

PPS- (lol) I forgot to mention that the $ limit is your own. I'd like to keep it at $5, but the possibility of having to buy paint might make that difficult for some.













color from your home decor that you love most, or another color you'd love to co-ordinate things with. Confused? and then