Thrifty Finds Friday #9

Happy Fall Y'all!

It has finally felt like fall here in the south, even if only for a day or two! But I will take it! I can't wait for this cool weather to last. I'm over the summer (like I am every year...in JULY!...)

I found several treasures I want to share with you on this Thrifty Finds Friday. First up is a ceramic pitcher and cork board I found. This cork board is the exact size as one we already own, so I will paint the trim to match and hang together for a larger board in the boy's room.

The pitcher was $4 and is a beautiful shape. There are no chips anywhere.

I spied this little table at a Thrift store this week and it is the perfect size for my bedroom. I have been looking for a little table to replace my round bedside table. I want storage and was looking for a small dresser. This only has one drawer, but I think I can find baskets for the shelves, and will paint it and it will be awesome! The best part is, it is solid wood and very sturdy (it is very...very...heavy...) and it was only 14.99!

Have a great weekend.

Pillows!

Who doesn't love a good pillow to tuck around or behind you when you get comfy on a couch or chair? ....or to support your growing belly!.....

I am in the process of changing the color scheme for our family room. We bought these curtains from Pottery Barn for the 2 windows and slider and small kitchen window. This is where I pulled my color inspiration for potential wall color, fabric color for furniture reupholstery and fabric for pillows.

Source: Pottery Barn

That is a picture of the shower curtain, but I bought 6 panels in same print....

I am deciding on paint for the walls, and have tried a color called Sand Beach on the walls in several spots, but have not completely made up my mind. I can't seem to get the image to show on my blog, but the color is called Sand Beach and it is a Sherwin Williams color. Here is a link, Sherwin Williams

I have been collecting fabric samples for months for the chairs I have. I need to reupholster at least 3 chairs! I am trying to find quality fabric but not have it be over $20 a yard because I will probably need 15 yards. Yikes! It is less that buying 3 brand new chairs though. I keep telling myself that!

Since I finally have several fabric samples for the chairs (and they are all solid and neutral), I decided to go ahead and get some fabric for pillows. I re-used the pillows we had and took those covers off, so I did not have to buy new inserts.

I bought this material at JoAnn's for 50% off (of course). It was $20 per yard, before the discount.

This stripe material was also from JoAnn's in the scrap section and the colors worked well so I bought it for my 2 small rectangular pillows.

The crewel pillows were a Thrifty Friday Find several months ago. You can see that post here.

For the blue lattice print pillows I made them an envelope enclosure style so that I could take the cover off and wash if needed. I did this because they are so light colored compared with the pillows we had for many years, and I have 2 boys plus a baby on the way. They WILL get dirty and this will make it very easy to clean.

For pretty crewel pillows I decided to back them with a thick dark brown material that I had. I was planning on using a lighter material, but liked how that dark brown worked with the pillows and makes the front the star. They are just so beautiful and I am so glad I found them! After taking them apart I hand washed them and pressed them and they just waited for me to make them back into a pretty pillow again! You can also see in one of the close ups, how I close my pillows. I never sew them together like you will find in many store bought pillows. I HATE that. I always hand stitch them closed, you can tell if you look real closely......

The little striped lumbar pillows are perfect size for squishing behind your low back when sitting. This is an indoor/outdoor fabric so is super durable. It was in the 50% off bin at JoAnn's. There was not much fabric, but just enough for these 2 little pillows. I did not make these covers removable.

In total I have SIX new pillows. All the inserts were reused, so I did not have to purchase any. I spent a total of $18 on fabric and the crewel pillows were $4 each. I am simplifing my style and chose not to do any fringe or trim on any pillows, so total cost for SIX new custom made pillows was $26. I am okay with that! The upholstery will be a LOT more.....

Thank you for stopping today! Keep coming back for more projects and inspiration. I have some projects in the works that I will post about soon, including making over 6 kitchen table chairs I purchased from Craigslist! See you soon!!!

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Between Naps on the Porch, Dwellings, Happy House and Home, Burlap and Babies, I should be mopping the floor, Designs By Miss Mandee

Laundry Room Sign

Sports started this weekend for my boys. I am so excited for it to start, but no more lazy Saturdays! We have to get going and get out of the house kinda early. Now hopefully some cooler weather will follow....it is still too hot in the South.

Today I am sharing a sign I made for my laundry room. I have A LOT of work to do in the laundry room, but that will have to wait. I have other things on my list first! However, I did have this painted wooden sign that was in my last home's bathroom. You can see it here.

I wanted to hang it in the laundry room and paint some words on it. This is how it turned out.

Some days does it feel like that is ALL you do? Never ending laundry.....

Do you want to see how I did it? It was easy and I used my favorite transfer method that I show in detail here.

After deciding on a Font and size, using Microsoft Word, I took the paper with the letters and traced on the back side around the outside of the letters. Then I carefully placed it on the front of the wood. ** This is the hardest part, getting it straight and lined up***. Next you just rub all over and it will transfer the lead to the wood sign. Like this...

After all the words are transferred, I got a small paint brush and some black paint and turned on DIY network and started filling in the letters. This is what it looked like after one coat. Thank goodness that is all it needed.

I just worked around all the imperfections in the wood, including a big knot! In keeping with the worn look, I decided to give the words a light sanding. Then I sprayed a clear coat over it to protect the letters (the sign had been waxed prior).

Then I put some hardware on the back.....

.....and hung it on the wall.

THE END! Someday I will complete the entire laundry room!

Thank you for reading about my project and please come back again!

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Between Naps on the Porch, Dwellings, Happy House and Home, Burlap and Babies, I should be mopping the floor, Thrifty Decor Chick Designs by Miss Mandee

"Frosting" a window for privacy

Happy Tuesday Y'all!! I hope everyone enjoyed a nice long holiday weekend.

We live in a new neighborhood with new construction. Our home sits on a corner and when we signed, the lots across the street from the side of our house were not even cleared yet! It was all trees. Fast forward a few months and the land was cleared, which was not so bad. After we closed and moved in the building started and we found out that a two story house would be built directly across from our house (on the side) and our upstairs master bedroom windows! The funny thing is this two story had a one story on either side..... Of course the two story would be right there....
Anyways, one is often half dressed while in your bedroom, or in the process of getting dressed. The windows in our room on that side are smaller and higher up, but the closet door is near one of them, so I would walk in front of it a lot. For months while it was being built I either left the blackout shade down, or I ducked.

Well, I finally decided to do something about it when I realized a family would be moving in soon! I could not decide what to do until I was browsing on a favorite blog of mine, Thrifty Decor Chick and came across a recent post that was all about her favorite projects. One of the projects used contact paper on a window for privacy! Perfect! I could easily do that, and if I did not like it, it was not much time or money lost.

Here is the view out my master window before adding film. My bed is (obviously) to the right and the closet is to the left. You can see by the picture, what is on my list for this room!

You can see directly in the house across the street. I walked through it a while ago to see what rooms were upstairs. From left to right; bedroom, bathroom, bedroom and bathroom. Not enough privacy for me......

Here is the after. The contact paper was just short of the window width, but it is very hard to tell unless you look at it from the side.

Much better!

In addition to my master bedroom windows I also had a bathroom window in the other bathroom upstairs that I wanted to add a little privacy to. It looks out to the sidewalk and our neighbors in front, and is right by the toilet. The boys are to small to be bothered by it, but when an adult stands or sits on the toilet, it is right there!

Keep reading if you want to know just how easy it is! Step by step follows with the window in the bathroom.

This is the bathroom window. (All the windows in our home have grids on the top portion and clear glass on the bottom portion).

First, clean your windows. It cleaned inside and outside (gotta love those tilt in windows for cleaning!)

Now, spray the cleaned and dry window liberally with water.

Now get your contact paper. I found mine at Home Depot for $8 for the roll.

Now here comes the part when you say, "uh oh!". I realized my window was wider than the contact paper - no matter how I held the paper. I don't have grids on the bottom portion of the window, so I could not line up with those.....

I decided to leave a seam towards the top part of the glass. I figured I would see how it turned out. I used my rotary cutter and mat and left a small overhang on one end, using the sides as top and bottom and the top against the left side of window. Then I stuck the side on and then unrolled while pressing.

It is easy to pick it up to move it if you have to because of the water on the glass. I was just careful to line up the edge I started with.

Next you take something to smooth the bubbles (and water) out. I used my Pampered Chef stone scraper. Anything will work, as long as it is not jagged. You don't want to rip your frosted glass!

Oh - put some towels on the window sill to catch all the water that will get pushed out!

When all the air bubbles are out, you are ready to trim the edge. I only had one edge to trim on this window. I used an exacto knife and cut very carefully with one pass. The pull then excess off slowly.

You might be done at this point. But I had to get the top portion with another strip of contact paper, using the same steps.

The seam is hardly noticeable unless you look really closely.

Could you see the seam on the last picture? It is hardly noticeable.

It is really a small thing, but will make a huge difference! I love it already in both locations. It lets just as much light in and I have privacy. I have walked around my house outside to see how it looks and you can't even notice that anything is there.

Best part is if I ever change my mind, I can just pull it off!

Thanks for reading and have a great short week (just think hump day is tomorrow!!!)