Closet Spruce Up

I think every girl needs a chandelier in her closet. It just makes it more fun to get ready in the morning, for me anyways. It adds some glamour for not a lot of money. Before we had just a regular builder's grade flourescent light in the closet. These get the job done, but don't do a whole lot aesthetically. I really thought I took a "before" picture of this chandelier but I cannot seem to find it anywhere so I'm just going to show you one that is similar to it so you can get an idea of what it looked like. It was actually in a little worse shape than this one. I found it for $5 at Goodwill, a deal that was too good to pass up!



I primed it and sprayed it black and now it makes my closet look totally different! Please ignore the holes in the ceiling that need to be patched from the previous light, I just couldn't wait to show you. I'm thinking about maybe adding some small shades to it in a fun pattern.

The glass part was one of my favorite things about it....

DIY dogwood branches

I found another fun thing to do with sticks. I love the look of just plain sticks but sometimes I like them to have something a little more, like a flower. There are so many beautiful floral stems but the ones I'm drawn to are always very expensive, probably because they are so realistic. Anyways, this challenged me to make my own. So, I started with some sticks that just happened to be from a Dogwood tree but you could use any sticks you can find. I like to find sticks that have as many branches as possible instead of straight scraggly ones. So, I spray painted all my sticks dark brown so they would all be uniform in color but if you could skip this step if you like more variation. Then I found this floral bush at Hobby Lobby for $5. I plucked all the flowers off. The great thing about this particular bush is that it had different sizes of flowers and even little buds. I used them all. I just hot glued them to the sticks where I thought the flowers would naturally be. They look surprisingly realistic! You could do this with any type of flower and they are so inexpensive and easy to do!



Here they are in my dining room...

I liked them so much that I made some for a bridal shower I just did.  The bride really liked them and we are able to use them again for her reception which is much better than real flowers!

I added limes to the vases to freshen things up.  I used two separate vases, one inside the other, to hold the limes in place.  I thinly sliced them and slid them in between the two vases.  Then I added water to keep them fresh and add another dimension.

I added some clear marbles to the vase inside the larger vase to hold the branches in place.  So easy and I think they are really elegant. 

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Another Lab Update...

Over this past year we have been making improvements to several of our sleep labs. I have been helping out with the decorating portion since I enjoy it so much. So, this is another one of the labs that we just finished up. It was pretty drab, white walls, outdated accessories, and just no real style to it. So...we spiced it up a bit with some fresh paint, new lamps and a few new accessories. Once again we were working on a pretty tight budget.

So, here's the before...

and the AFTER!!  We did one accent wall in red to give a pop of color and add some more interest to the space.  It's hard to tell from these pictures, but we also added a padded insert to the headboards to cover up the wear and tear and make it a more durable/wipeable surface.  We used OSB board, some 1/4 inch foam, batting, and faux leather vynil.  We stapled the materials to the OSB board and then screwed the insert onto the existing headboard.

The wall shelves are from IKEA and the lamps are from Marshalls ($30)

We added some new wall art from Garden Ridge ($19.99)

and the mirrors above the bed are another IKEA find for $2.99

The bathrooms also got a mini IKEA makeover with some new shelves, framed pictures, and accessories.

We updated the Lobby with a new loveseat from Garden Ridge ($199) and some new lamps and wall art ($11)

We used some existing accessories in a new way to update the coffee area.

I've learned a lot from the few commercial spaces I've designed.  You have to think in a different way when desigining commercial areas.  You have to think more about durability and functionality than you do in residential areas.  You are limited in what you can do with accessories and it's definitly harder to do on a budget especially when you are trying to make four rooms almost identical.  It's easy to find a good deal on one thing but multiply it by four and it's a little more difficult.  I have thoroughly enjoyed doing it though and hope more opportunities arise in the future!  I'll be away at a conference for a few days and will hopefully have some fun stuff to share this weekend!

The reason for my pink grass...

So...here is the reason for my pink grass. I had to decorate for a ladies event at our church and the colors were pink, white, and black. I was trying to work with a tight budget and so I once again turned to my trusty sticks. I also used the runners I made out of these tablecloths. I added small strings of beads to the sticks to give it another dimension. In these pictures they look like worms but I promise in real life they didn't :)

I made these pom pom balls for the other tables following these instructions from All Things Thrifty.

and this was just a mixture of sticks and floral stems for the food table...

What to do?

I have been contemplating painting the china cabinet in our dining room for quite some time, but I keep going back and forth.  I like that it matches the table and it's in really good shape, just not my first choice for the color of wood.  (It was from my hubby's house before we were married)  I'm very thankful for it but just feel like maybe it needs a change?  It would be quite a big project to take on.  So...I'm asking your opinion?  To paint or not to paint?  I'm thinking of painting it white and painting the inside of the cabinet gray.  I think my white milk glass collection would really pop against the gray.  My husband thinks I'm crazy for wanting to paint this, you think he'd be used to it by now :)

Here is what it looks like now...

and here are some inspiring images of what it could be if painted...

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something two toned like this, only gray and white...

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I just ran across this cabinet that centsational girl did and it is almost exactly what I had in mind...

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this one from Little Green Notebook is adorable too, love the pattern...

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or this one that Holly from inthefunlane.com did for Frugal Contessa...

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So what's a girl to do?

Dish Towels

My grandma came for a visit and brought me these adorable dish towels.  They are just too cute not to show you.  She buys them from a friend who makes them out of old flour sacks.  I love the vintage look they have to them.  They are almost too cute to use!  In fact, I thought about framing them in my kitchen or something.  I think she needs to open an Etsy shop.  She sells 6 of them for $10, which I think is a steal.

and here you can see the detail...

I found these cute flour sack towels on Etsy.

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