Thrifty Miss Priss

Today......

Today I will visit my mom......take her a juicy sandwich and a big milkshake....

(photo taken last Saturday)

then I will hit some thrift stores....and come home and make pillows.....

 

Yes, I took this picture in my bathroom! 

What fun things are you doing this weekend?

 

Drab to Fab...bathroom re do

Two weeks ago I was searching at yard sales for items to use in my "beach bathroom makeover".  I found some cool coral and some shells and a nice mirror.  I already had a whole wall of black mirrors in the bathroom, but anytime I find them at yard sales I usually buy them.

This was my wall of mirrors a few years ago in my bedroom at my old house.  I've added to them since, and kept painting them black.  

After the decision to re do the bathroom into a beachy look I knew the black would not really work.  I repainted all the mirrors white.  

I got a box of waverly wallpaper at a yard sale last year for FREE...and tucked it away and forgot I had it.  When I re-discovered it a few weeks ago it started my mind twirling about putting it in the bathroom.  I knew there wouldn't be enough for the entire room.  I also didn't want to hang it the traditional way, which is vertical.  The stripes are SUPPOSED to go up and down.  But me being me, I like to ask "what if?" and do things totally outside of the box.  So I hung it horizontally.  

The walls in this bathroom are really damaged and need lots of plaster work.  I'm not into plastering so I just slapped the wallpaper right on top of the damaged areas.  Also....all those mirrors are meant to hide MAJOR wall damage where a big ugly bathroom mirror once hung.

Then I stopped at the Habitat for Humanity re-store and discovered a GIGANTIC warehouse full of every possible item you'd need for a home remodel.  I found some white shelves perfect for my beach bathroom, for only $2.00.

So I started bright and early Saturday Morning wallpapering.  By myself.  With no air conditioning.  With one and sometimes two dogs under my feet, in and out of that tiny little hall bath.  I often asked myself why on EARTH did I start all this nonsense on a holiday weekend when I could be laying in the hammock drinking diet coke.

I also let my mind wander to a few weeks ago when I found a bunch of old dirty wood down in the barn on this property.   Because I have decorating ADHD I ran down there to re-discover the old dirty wood.  It was PERFECT for shelves!  So forget about the cute white ones I just BOUGHT!

I scrubbed it all down with oxy clean and then hosed it off and let it dry in the sun.  

Then I went back in to do more wallpapering.

When I got sick of that, I went back out to find more wood.  And play with spray paint.  I found these hooks (what I thought were hooks) at the Habitat Re-Store. My husband laughed and thought I was SO CLEVER to use the braces meant for a stair rail as hooks!  (I confessed that I thought they were hooks and had no idea they were for a stair rail!)

They look like hooks to me!  Wait until you see what I did with them!

I also rediscovered the dock buoys that I dragged home from my parents house a few weeks ago.  I thought they'd be perfect in my beach themed bathroom!

The one on the left belonged to my parents, and it was personalized with their names on it.  They had it hanging on their dock.  A woman at the yard sale tried to buy it and told us she was going to "slap a coat of paint on it and hang it on her dock"  well....my sister said "oh sorry, we can't sell that" then made me take it home.  I had no idea I was doing a beach bathroom at the time and knew it would be jammed in my basement never to be seen again.  I'm glad I have a place for it now.

So back inside to finally finish the bathroom wallpapering.  Reminding myself to never do this again.  ever.

Then I looked up and saw that ugly light fixture.  YUCK.  What on earth can I do with this thing?  

I bought these shades at the Habitat Re Store for $1.50 each.  

I wanted to use them long ways to cover the fixture, but they are meant to be used vertically.  Again, I was thinking outside the box.  So I removed the white round thing at the bottom so it was an empty shade.  I then built a little "frame" around my light fixture

So I could "hang" the shades from the "frame"

     

I went from a plain white bathroom with no charm or character at all to this- (and let me tell you....everything was FREE except the shells from the yard sale and the $4.50 I spent on the shades 

So here you go

  
Don't you just love the FREE shelves I found in the barn?  I coated them with poly acrylic so they wouldn't peel or flake.  Check out the towel bar hanging Vertically on the wall....it's an old flaky board that I scrubbed, varnished and added my "hooks"

   

I just love the horizontal stripes.  So unpredictable.  How do you like the light fixture now?

And I think the buoys look really great stuffed into this old dirty crate....

I just love this bathroom now.  It went from completely DRAB to totally FAB!  My daughter is the primary user of this bathroom.  She was completely against a "beach theme" and wanted to keep it black and white.  She was afraid it would be "too beachy" When she returned home she ran in the bathroom and could.not.believe.it! I think by using the "found wood" it makes it a lot more natural looking and not like I was "trying too hard" to make it beachy. 

Another old board, that was already chippy white.  I used a piece of rope off my clothesline that has weathered for two years to tie the starfish on.  They were a souvenir from my Ocean City Beach Trip last Summer.  I just screwed the hooks right into the wood after I had cleaned and varnished it.  This wall is the one I left white since I didn't have enough wallpaper.

So this is absolutely proof that you CAN re do an entire room for FREE by using what you have, or costing you mere pennies!      

Linking up to

The Shabby Chic Cottage

and for hours of endless inspiration visit:

Nesting Place

The Inspired Room

DIY Showoff

    

Have you ever seen "Hoarders?"

 I set my alarm on Saturday morning and hit some yard sales.  I'm not a big fan of yard sales.....but after yesterday I'm completely addicted.  

In fact...when I arrived home two hours after I left....I walked in and told my husband that I think I'd finally achieved hoarder status.  With a nervous little laugh of course!  

Let's see what I dragged home...

an antique mirror....with cool but oddly placed hooks...they will be removed and used elsewhere.  I'm re doing a bathroom with a coastal/beach theme and thought this will work nice.  All the rest of the treasures are for my bathroom re-do

this hideous craft project gone bad from the 80's....will receive a little transformation

along with this.....

So all this will go in the new coastal/beach themed bathroom.  I'm going to be doing some wallpapering too (it was found last year at a yard sale and I forgot I had it, thus the "hoarding" reference above)

Not shown are the two Harry Potter DVD's and the 2 Wii games I found for this little one

(taken with my phone at Red Robin)

She turned 8 last week!  So....I caused quite a commotion over the Wii games I was carrying around for 30 minutes trying to decide which ones to buy for her.  When I finally narrowed it down and went to put the others back......a man asked if he could take them from me to buy.  Well apparently there was also a woman watching me waiting for me to set them down and they got into a full blown argument over who was waiting FIRST for my discards.  I had no clue I was being followed by not one but TWO people!

More fun stuff from yesterday

I will probably sell the frames...as I have more than my fair share around here (ahem......hoarder!)

The Bargain of the Month were these planters.......from my office for FREE!  

This is what they look like now

And while I'm showing you flowers.....check out this Begonia

the blooms look like roses!

So...where were we?  Oh yes....We were talking about GREAT free stuff!  So I spotted this under the table on the garage floor of a yard sale yesterday

Somebody had broken it during the sale.  How heartbreaking!  I flipped it over and saw this

what a shame it was ruined.  That didn't stop me though.  You should have seen the looks I was getting as I was carrying it around at the sale.  I marched up to the owner and she said...uh...that is trash so you can HAVE it!

What on earth can I do with it though?

  Hey it's magic!  It was such a clean break I knew I could glue the one big piece back on and nobody but me would know it.  Of course I can't use it for it's intended purpose but it will look great with the other white pitchers I've been collecting!

I hope you have a wonderful week full of your own treasures!          

***I'll share MORE later in the week about why I've officially achieved Hoarder Status....**.      

The last big clean out at Moms

It's been three years since my mom left her home and moved into assisted living.  My father passed away about six months after my mom moved and their house has been sitting there ever since.

 

My sisters and I have made numerous trips down to her home to clean, de clutter, and stage it for selling.  It sat on the market for well over a year and finally sold.  We've made two more trips down in the month of May.  The drive is over 3 hours one way.  The first weekend we went down we moved everything to the garage and staged it for a yard sale.  We had that garage looking like the cutest thrift store you've ever seen!  We drove home and went back the next weekend for the actual sale.  People started arriving at 7AM!  We sold a TON OF STUFF for dirt cheap prices.  In fact there were two older men that came back FOUR times EACH.  They were getting quite the deals out in the two sheds out back PACKED FULL OF MENS JUNK.

 

I would see little things here and there and know why my mom bought them.  They were cute.  Or clever..and I could just hear her saying "Isn't this cute?"  and buying it just for the cute factor.  I had to really stop myself from hauling EVERYTHING cute home.  I've brought home lots of stuff on these numerous trips and I was worried my emotions would get the best of me and I'd drag more home.  I'm rather proud that I turned out to be the more sensible one and turned down a lot of good stuff that I would have loved to drag home.  I did have to enlist my wonderful daughter to drive down in her truck just in case...and yes....we looked like the Beverly Hillbillies driving home last Saturday night!

Right after I took this picture of the tiny little teacup i dropped it and broke it!  I think I can glue it back together.  

Even though it was chipped I can see why my mom thought it was so cute.  It's the size of your thumb nail 

I spent all day Saturday sewing.  And using lots of my moms sewing supplies.  It makes me remember all the sewing she did for me as a kid....and I love this sweet little pink pin cushion.  

 

Having her on my mind, appreciating that she taught me to sew....it all puts a smile on my face

I'm trying to build up a small stash...some to keep...some to sell on etsy

I will be back in a few days to show you more fun things from my moms house.  One item was shoved in the back of the old shed......under a shelf, and when I saw someone carrying it I about FAINTED.  I rushed over and said, "Oh my goodness!  We can't possibly sell this!  My sister has been looking everywhere for it!" (not really true)..but I couldn't show them that really I WANTED IT!  Don't you hate estate sales where the children of the estate can't bear to part with things?  I promise I only stole one item out of a customers hands all day.  I never even knew this item existed until I saw it walking across the yard with it's almost new owner.  I had to chuckle...because I can still hear my mom saying "Hey, this is cute...I think I'll buy it" because she was, after all the original yard sale and thrift store "queen"!   

Where does the weekend go?

 I sure wish two days would fly by during the work week like they do on the weekends.....

Before you know it....it's Sunday evening....your still in your PJ's, there's been no grocery shopping or house cleaning.....

the minimal amount of laundry has been done.......

but I got to spend the morning yesterday thrifting...and guess what I found?  Lots of ruffles!   Then I went to visit my mom....and I pumped her for hidden stories of us when we were kids.  Since she can't articulate much anymore I had to play the guessing game.  When I asked her which of her kids was the cutest....I just KNEW she would say me....but without hesitating she blurted out my brothers name!  THE TRUTH COMES OUT!

spending the day in your PJ's, cutting and sewing......with a little heartbeat at my feet...

yes...it was a perfect weekend!     

Art Journal and Home Journal

Happy Day! 

I participated in a Spring Ephemera Swap and look at the packages I received!

There's enough goodies in these bags to keep me busy for a very long time!

(this was my paternal grandparents home in Middleport New York)    

 

Some of these pages are not complete yet.  I've been working on this journal for a year now!  Most people do one a month......suffice it to say I've not been a regular at it.  I enjoy working in it but don't make the time to do it.  It's really fun to go back and look through old pages....to remember where you were or what you were doing at that time.  I don't do a lot of writing...mostly quotes.

about 4 years ago I started a "home book" where I ripped out pages from decorating magazines that I wanted to keep, and pasted them into a regular book from the thrift store.  I had it packed away and forgot all about it....I found it one day this winter when we were buried in snow...and I was happy to see all the pages I'd glued way back then.  It was funny to see that I'd incorporated a lot of the ideas in my current home...even though I didn't have the book for inspiration.  Here's a few pages from that book"

This is the book I'm using....I'm just ripping magazine pages and gluing them in.  I haven't worked on this in a long time until I found it in February. When it's finished I will make my own cover for it.

here's a normal page from the book

  it's all about American homes throughout the centuries.  On pages that are dull and boring I glue my own stuff to it.

sometimes I leave part of the original pictures intact...like the building on the left hand side bottom.

I write on the pages....what it is about why I love the page.....

this is a great way to get rid of your magazines that are hard to part with.  You've saved the best...and now it's all in one place.

So grab a book and start gluing!      

 

Today we had polka dot sky....

The weather has been fabulous!  I looked up today and saw a polka dotted sky...perfect for Easter Sunday.   

Today also happened to be my sons 26th birthday.....we all got together for lots of good food and more than enough dessert to feed an army.  My daughter made this for her brother.

It's called fruit pizza....it has the tastiest glaze on top...with a soft cookie crust.  She added the "26" in the middle with blueberries! 

Since we don't have little kids around I didn't really bother with decorating for Easter.  When I learned my little friend daughter would be coming over.....my husband quickly went to the store and bought her some Easter Candy.  I told him ONE CHOCOLATE BUNNY ONLY since I knew she'd already received plenty at home.  

so one bunny multiplied into THREE.    This was his own little display that he presented on the table.

  

I found the cute table runner back in the Winter...perfect for Easter.  Of course I forgot I had it and found it purely by accident this morning.

and I have to share my all time favorite (to date) thrift shop score..........

a Nags Head Hammock!  I've wanted one FOREVER but at a cost of over $150.00 I could not justify purchasing one for only a few short months of the year.  I found this beauty for $15.00!  It's in perfect shape and it doesn't appear weathered...so I don't think it was ever used.  Everyone at the thrift store tried to buy it right out from under me after I'd taken it to the counter to hold while I shopped.  My husband set the posts this morning for me, so I haven't actually been able to lay on it yet.  I can't wait for the leaves to fill in on the tree above....I can see lots of lazy days ahead of me!  There are two eggs on the Hammock....we hid them all over the yard for my friend daughter (she's not my grand daughter buy my friend daughter)

And I'm just so proud to say that this one is finally trained to not run away!  I've worked with her every evening for two weeks off leash and she is finally able to go out and be FREE OF HER LEASH.  I'm so proud of her!  She's absolutely wearing herself out running through the yard ALL DAY LONG.  We don't have a fence and she is SUPER fast and chases EVERYTHING.  I could never trust her before to come back....but she finally "gets it"!

look at that tail!  I gave her a haircut yesterday and got all the hair off her legs and neck...she should be much cooler now.

and here's Heidi in action...she is not going to let her old age slow her down.  She is still as frisky today and she was 10 years ago....(she's 13).  

I was lucky enough to find two bird feeders at the thrift store as well.....my other ones were chewed to shreds by the squirrels last year.  After we got those hung I decided we needed a bird bath.  I quickly put two and two together and came up with this.

The top is an old light fixture we dug up (I added the crystals) and the bottom is one of those brass candlestick things you see at all the thrift stores.  I sealed the top with plumbers putty and it doesn't leak!        

I hope you have a wonderful week!

 (can you find the Easter egg?)

Today I'm linking to Rhoda's Thrifty Treasures!

Rainy days....

 On a rainy Saturday...with no obligations......I've done nothing but this ALL DAY

  

wow...that itch has been scratched.....

A box of puppies

Today I had to go to Walmart as my daughter needed film for her photography class.  I hate Walmart.  Sorry...for those of you who swear by it...but I can count on ONE HAND how many times a year I go there.  Target is my go to place.

As we are approaching the doors we see this

oh my GOD.....a box of puppies!

I was pretty sure this little sweetie was going to end up in my car.  Two young guys were selling them for $50.00.  They are part pit bull.  Who cares if it grows up to rip me apart...I really wanted one!  

   My daughter picked one up...I knew better than to do that.  I felt so awful for them.  I kept saying out loud...we have to walk away!  My daughter did her BEST job of begging throughout the store but I held firm.  When we came out they were gone. Sad to think of what will happen to these little guys.  Probably end up at the animal shelter.   

We were in the store maybe 10 minutes...I swung by the magazine section and I found this

I couldn't believe it.  I've heard all over blogworld how hard it is to find.  Walmart had about 6 copies.  

I was so curious to see this...to see if it was worth the money.  I've pretty much stopped buying magazines now that I read so many blogs.  All my favorites are gone anyway.  This one did NOT disappoint!  I'm VERY choosy when it comes to magazines.....and I was going to buy this one no matter what...just to do my own little critique...and WOW.  I'm savoring every page...every article....every photo....but I did find this and had to laugh...

a magazine rack used as a plate rack.  A magazine rack that looked VERY familiar

Two years ago I found this:

and turned it into this:

I LOVE that they are using it for a plate rack!  I might have to clean out all my dusty magazines from the past two years and re purpose this again!

So yesterday I cleaned off my dining room buffet.....shopped the house for all things cream and white.....and came up with this

I just found this plate rack about 6 months ago and I'm just now getting around to using it.  It was $3.00.

then I remembered to turn the twinkle lights on that I have underneath the fabric....makes it much nicer.

a set of two cute ceramic birds....2.99

I wanted some height on those crackled pointy things....and couldn't find ANYTHING to lift them up.  Then I remembered all the books I disassembled when I hosted the Winter White Fat Book swap....all of these were in a bag in my basement.  It worked perfectly!  I didn't want anything with color to compete with the white/cream theme I was doing so I was happy I'd saved these.  I left them as they were...ripped spine and all.

 I turned over the little mercury glass votives (thrifted for $1.00) and the lights under the fabric illuminated it as if a candle were inside.

(bird salt and pepper shakers from Target last year)

 see what a difference those lights make?

I turn them on at night....and it's just beautiful.. Not like having Christmas all year or anything...but just enough sparkle.

I found this glass house at a flea market at the beach last year....$5.00.  It's been sitting on top of my armoire for a year gathering dust.  It's about time I take it down so I can see it.  The fake flowers are the ones I got a few weeks ago to embellish a tshirt with eventually.  I'm glad I didn't cut them off yet!

The metal stand was a thrift store find a few years ago.  It's so big for the table...I bought it with the intention of selling it some day....

And the flowers....I made from tissue paper a few years ago and just rediscovered them packed away.  I guess I'm anticipating Springs arrival...even though there's still about 10 inches of snow on the ground...but it's melting every day.

Make time to enjoy the things you have...to gather the things that make you happy.

(my cute thrifted little Baby Ben clock....$2.00 at Goodwill) and it WORKS!  

Have a terrific week!   

Mom, my beautiful Valentine!

 Happy Valentines Day!  

I went to see my mom yesterday, the first time in three weeks!  The snow has kept me from the one hour drive to visit.  The roads here are still treacherous.  

My sister picked me up...and about 20 minutes before she was to arrive I decided I needed to take my mom a Valentine.  I had the box already...and I used a copy of her glossy photo from a modeling shoot in the very early 50's.

I really had to rush on this....and we stopped and got her some m&m's for the inside.  She didn't recognize that the picture was her.  She also kept starring at me throughout the visit....almost as if she was trying to figure out who I was.  Whenever I caught her starring at me I'd wink  and whistle at her.  It made her laugh.

And while we're talking about Valentines.....28 years ago yesterday....Cupid put me and my sweetheart together.

I was only 18 when I met him....and we met at a club in Georgetown (in DC).  Eight months later we were married!  It's been a FAST 28 years..... And gravity has certainly done it's job at warp speed too over the past 28 years!

Today was spent cleaning and reorganizing my craft room STILL.  I glanced out the window around 4:00 and saw the deer coming down the driveway...right down the little trench that I have shoveled.  

How did he know to make his way down the drive in the little trench?  Smart Deer he is!  You can see his buddy in the back ground making his way down too.

They are hungry, as there's no leaves on branches to eat.  Everything is buried.  

I think he contemplated what might be available in that trashcan.  The trashcan that we can't roll down the driveway because of all the snow.

    I thought for sure at this point he was going to walk straight up my clean sidewalk to the front door and knock.  I was in the window taking pictures and he even saw me.  These guys are very tame.

he thought twice about knocking on the door, because he turned around to walk back down the trench to meet his buddy. 

 He convinced them all to get in the trench!  It's much easier to walk!

They discussed amongst themselves that this was not a good eating spot....so they moved on down the road.  I wanted to throw some English muffins out there...but doubted they'd like them.  They're store brand anyway.

We have some major icicles hanging...and tons of downed branches.  WIll be quite the clean up when the weather gets warmer.

I noticed this guys head peaking out of my flowerpot on the porch.  The snow has started to melt and I wondered how he got in there in the first place.  But I already knew.....my husband likes "the element of surprise" and constantly plants little oddities around the house for me to find.  Nonetheless....the little gnome looks quite happy keeping a watch on the front yard.

Have a wonderful week!

PS......Tomorrow (a government holiday)  was supposed to be a school holiday for my daughter.  Then they said "sorry!  too many days missed because of the snow!  You have to go!" Then today they said "Sorry!  We STILL do not have the parking lots ready for school buses- so stay home!"  Geeze!  She's been out of school since Thursday February 4th!  So we're guessing schools will re-open on Tuesday.  But guess what?  ANOTHER snow storm is supposed to mosey on through here tomorrow.  Monday....which means....Tuesday....maybe no school again!