Thrifty Finds: Vintage $8 Bookcase

There is a really cool antique store where I live that I love visiting every few weeks. Before we went on vacation I had spotted this bookcase that was priced at only $8! I thought about it all the time and a few weeks passed. I decided I had to have it. Luckily it hadn't sold when I went back and now it's in my bedroom....



Of course Chloe had to check it out right away! I didn't need this bookcase but I wanted to save it.
I think it is so cute. It's handmade and did come with sliding doors if I want to use them in the future.



It could use some love. I may paint it someday or do something else fun to it!
My Keep Calm & Carry On print looks way too high now!



The items in the bookcase where sitting on my dresser before. I like my dresser cleared off better.
So I guess I did need the bookcase??? HA!



I love finding inexpensive furniture!
If we buy a house I'm going to go crazy with second hand furniture and vintage pieces.
It will be amazing. :)

What would you do with this piece? Paint it or leave it?
Any other ideas???

Linking up today over at

My Jewelry // Thrifted Shelves

I wanted to share some photos of my very small yet cute jewelry display in my bedroom. I have two shelves that I had purchased on two different thrifting trips. I had just grabbed them in hope of being able to use them in the future. One day the light bulb went off over my head and I knew what I wanted to do with them! Here's a look....


The shelves also ended up being the perfect place for my "nerd" Vinylmations!
I spray painted both of them with Rust-Oleum Paint: Real Orange & Berry Pink
My tiny jewelry box & glass ring holder

Sadly I do not have a lot of jewelry or accessories. This is something I am trying to work on. I would like to make some jewelry this winter and find some more fun things to wear. I love big rings, especially owls. I can totally see myself ending up with a collection of owl jewelry. Most everything in my jewelry box above is vintage family pieces or things that hold sentimental value to me. You may or may not have noticed I have a rock in there, yes a rock. It's shaped like the state of OHIO and I've had it since I was a child. I found it one day while playing in my backyard.

I really enjoyed photographing my jewelry display and Vinylmations. They are so cute.
Since I can't paint in my stupid rental house, this is how I add color. Toys and spray paint. LOL

My Bathroom Decorated

Since the warm weather started my decorating projects have kinda come to a stand still. Honestly though, I don't have much more decorating to do in our home. By the time I get it all done we'll be moving again! I have never shared any photos of our tiny upstairs bathroom. Since it's so small it is hard to take photos of it!


I kept it simple since it is such a tiny space.
I would love to have a bathroom with a large counter!
I hate trying to have my blow dryer, straightener and makeout all out in this bathroom.
It doesn't work out to well.
My shower curtain is from Big Lots. I felt so lucky to find it! I love the trellis pattern.

The artwork I have had for years. They are doodles by Jo from Desire To Inspire.
I found a white tissue cover/box for $1 at Goodwill!

On the opposite side of the room, I hung two floating shelves which I also purchased at Goodwill.
I spray painted them white and placed a few cute little things on them.
I designed the little framed print, "Good Morning Starshine, The Earth Says Hello!".
I had to incorporate a few of my favorite Mickey Vinylmations into the room.


It's cute and simple. There are tons of shower curtains I love on Urban Outfitters website,
but I can just get new stuff when we move again. :)

You can see all my posts of our home HERE.

Thrifty Finds: My Painted Nightstands

This isn't a major "diy" project, but I am excited to finally have my nightstands in my bedroom painted! I purchased the pair over 7 months ago for only $18! The were really beat up but I loved the style of them. Cody begged me to not paint them pink. I figured since he would actually have to look at the pair everyday and use one of them, I would give him his way. So, I have yet another white piece of furniture in my home, imagine that? HA!
I decided to not paint the hardware. I really like it the way it is!
I may consider putting new hardware on the nightstands someday.
I do think they would be pretty in PINK.
I am still loving my Union Jack painting! You can see how I painted it {HERE}.
I also found my orange lamps at a thrift store, $20 for the pair. I really love them!
I want to hang mirrors or some pictures over the lamps. The walls look to empty to me.
I just haven't found anything yet. Once I feel the room is more finished I will post more photos.
For now, Cody's side of the bed...

Guest Bedroom Update

I am making progress on my guest bedroom. I decided to purchase a mattress online since the mattress we wanted was unable to be delivered. I hate asking friends with trucks for help, so I just went with buying one from Walmarts website. The mattress came rolled up in a bag... I had never purchased something like this online before. I didn't really know what to except. I had a feeling that when we opened the plastic up covering the mattress all hell was going to break lose. I was right. To prepare for that, we laid the mattress on top of the bed frame and moved out of the way as the mattress flew open... I wish I would of got better action shots of the mattress opening up. It was pretty funny. You can see Cody laughing in the picture above. If you ever buy a mattress like this, be careful! Get the heck out of the way! Overall the mattress was cheap and you get what you pay for. It is very firm and uncomfortable. I went and purchased a memory foam topper for $30 at Walmart to add some cushion. Now I am just working on all the finishing touches in the room. I have nice white bedding that I purchased. Now I just need to find some bright colored pillows to brighten it up!
LINKS
Mattress
Bedframe
Brackets for Frame
Memory Foam Topper

View my other guest bedroom posts: My Design Board | Painting the Furniture | Thrifty Decor Finds
I forgot that I never shared a photo of the dresser I found for the bedroom... It's a great mid-century piece. We paid $95 for it, which was more then I wanted to spend on a dresser for our guest room. We both love it though and sooner or later it will be used by us or a nursery if I ever decide to have a baby. I will post more pictures of it when I reveal the finished room!

My Living Room {May 2012}

I wanted to share updated pictures of my living room! Last month I mentioned how I wanted to hang a world map over my couch. Once the idea was in my head there was no turning back! We found a world map for $6.00 at Barnes & Noble... I would of loved to had it custom framed, but paying to have that done was unrealistic for us right now. Instead we purchased foam chair rail from Lowes and just made a frame for it. The poster is just taped on the wall and then we used heavy duty poster hanging tape to hang the frame right over the map. The frame is foam and very light weight. We just glued the frame together with a glue gun. The total cost for the project was about $30. I am still hunting for throw pillows for our couch. I want some big white fuzzy ones. Homegoods just opened a new store in Fort Collins Colorado, so I see a trip in my future! Pretty sure I will find some great pillows there! Going along with the whole map theme, I decided to frame a large California map and hang it over my desk. Now I can daydream about California even MORE everyday... I already had the map from when I went to California last year, so in other words it was FREE artwork to me. I am pretty happy with the look of the living room. I think it's funny that my vintage couch ended up matching the world map! On the other side of the room is where my sitting corner where we usually eat dinner. That is where my vintage chairs are. I hung a map of downtown L.A. and Flagstaff, Arizona in the corner... I am in love with my butterfly pictures from IKEA. There are my globes I got antiquing last month! Overall I feel like the room is finished. I will add pillows to my couch if I ever find the right ones and I may hang a few more things over in my sitting corner. I feel like it's HOME now. We love our world map and look at it everyday!

Thrifty Finds: My Living Room Chairs

While thrifting a few weeks ago I found some cute mid-century modern chairs! It was $15 for the pair.
I needed chairs to put at my vintage table in my living room. I was getting so sick of looking! Everything I wanted started at $150 each. When you go thrifting over and over and NEVER find anything, you get very discouraged. I am glad I didn't go buy anything expensive and was patient.
I am very happy with the end result. The fabric is from JoAnn's and only cost me $6 for 2yards! The fabric gave me another POP of turquoise in my living room! YAY!
Chloe likes to wiggly, run in circles and play when I am trying to photograph her! She is so cute!
Stay tuned for photos of the entire living room!
(and more cute pictures of Chloe.)

Linking up over at Her Library Adventures!

My Guest Bedroom {Painting Furniture}

One thing I did last week was painted my furniture for my guest bedroom. I am not a fan of dark wood. I love white crisp furniture. It really gives a room a clean modern look.
I used to always use KILZ primer whenever I did any DIY projects. I recently switched to Bulls Eye Primer and love it! I was lucky because the headboard and nightstand that I was painting didn't even need to be sanded. I painted the furniture with a small roller and applied 2 coats of primer. I painted everything in one day. I never pay attention to the recommended dry times. (I don't recommend being like me. Inpatient!) I applied 3 coats of semi-gloss white paint purchased from Walmart. I probably should of used high-gloss paint, but I already had the semi-gloss so it saved me money. So what do you think? I am very happy with the finished product. I was going to paint the nightstand yellow but decided I didn't want to over due the color in the room. It's not for me, but guests! Plus, I can add color with the bedding. I can't wait to setup the bed and finish all the details of the room!

Stay tuned....
You can see my post about all my thrift store finds for my guest bedroom {HERE}
Check out my design board for the room {HERE}

Thrifty Finds {Decor 4 My Guest Bedroom}

Once I decided that I wanted to make a guest bedroom in our home, I knew it was going to have to be on a tight budget!  I really didn't want to just drive down to IKEA and buy a bunch of furniture.  I wanted to be thrifty!  I went to my local antique shops, thrifts stores and I was super lucky!!!

The books are for guests to read.  I spent around $8 for all of them.

I found many picture frames that I can spray paint and frame some cute artwork in quickly!  I have to have the guest bedroom decorated by the first week in June.  I was so excited to find all this stuff because usually when I go thrifting I find maybe one or two things.  Here is a close up of the tacky floral art I found... 
I loved the lines of the frame!  I am going to cover the floral part with a pretty fabric or paint a picture to place in the frame, not sure yet.  I use scrapbook paper a lot to make artwork and pictures POP more...

The picture frame will be spray painted white.

I love this Woodsy the owl picture.  The bedroom will have a very "Think Green" theme, so I found this picture very fitting.  This is also why I am trying to buy mostly second hand items to decorate with.  It really makes it fun and exciting!  I like looking at the room knowing that I saved stuff from going to a landfill, I saved tons of money and it has a cute vintage flair.  It's really a win win situation.  Here is some of the furniture we found for the room....
I loved that Cody went shopping with me.  He actually helped me pick out the furniture.  It was nice doing it together and letting him have a say in what we bought for the room.  He loved the vintage chair.  (Probably loved the price more, $18!)  We figured it was a great chair to have reupholstered someday.  It does rock, so if I ever have a baby someday it's a great nursery chair.  I picture it covered in some orange vinyl! I did also get a pair of chairs for our living room and a very cool mid-century modern dresser! I will have a before and after of the chairs next week! The dresser wouldn't fit in the car, so we have to go pick it up next weekend. I can't wait to get the guest bedroom decorated. I will be painting the nightstand and headboard this week.  You can see my design board for my guest bedroom {HERE}.

I am linking up over at Her Library Adventures! 

 Go over to her blog to see what goodies everyone else found over the weekend!

Design Board - My Guest Bedroom {think green}

I have been dreaming up a design for My Guest Bedroom. I want to buy most of my stuff from antique shops and thrift stores. (minus the mattress and bedding. Gross.) I am not against buying a cool vintage bedspread or blanket if it's clean. I am obsessed with the color green {today} and being GREEN. I thought it would be cute and fun to kinda have that theme in the guest bedroom...
The bed frame is from IKEA. The pillow is from JcPenney. Everything else is just things I found doing google image searches for vintage items and earth related artwork. The bedding is from Macy's....
I love the crisp clean look of this bedding. I think it would be perfect to balance out all the bright accessories I would like to put into the room. The price on the other hand, NO!!! I could never spend that much on bedding. I am not wired that way. I think it's an easy look and style to duplicate on a shoe string budget. (It's just white!) I am sure I can find something at Ross, TJ Maxx or Home Goods. I decided that my vintage green curtains were a great inspiration piece for my design. Green looks good with so many colors, but I lean towards adding pops of yellow and aquas to the room. I think the color scheme will go well with vintage accessories and furniture.

LINKS
1 2 3I am sure kelly green and yellow is out of style this year. Seems like last year that is all you saw everywhere. Well lucky for me I don't follow design trends,...I follow what my heart desires. (You should 2!) As much as I want to stick to only shopping for things at thrift stores, I am sure I will find some cute little ceramic owl on a clearance rack at Pier 1! With all this said, I am going shopping today. The sun is out and it's way to nice to sit inside on my computer.

My Expedit Bookcase

I have wanted an expedit bookcase from IKEA for years! I kept holding off because I dread moving it every time we move. I was sick of my dining room having a big blank wall, so I just bought one!!! YAY!
I was even more excited to find out it now comes in high gloss white. I am glad I waited, because I really love the high gloss stuff that IKEA sells.
Watch my slide show to see my expedit come to life...

The bottom shelves will be full of photo albums and some pretty storage boxes. That's a project for another day! I am so excited to have something in my dining room finally! Our place is really starting to feel like a HOME.

My mom had kept all my plants for me when we moved out to Wyoming. We didn't have a safe way to take them with us and no extra space in our cars. I brought home a few with me after visiting, since I drove. My large Peace Lilly is so tall. It would not fit on top of any of my other bookcases without being smashed up against the ceiling. The expedit was a perfect place to house my plants.
I am so happy to have my greenhouse now! I wanted it as soon as I saw it on the IKEA website. We were going to buy seeds and try to grow herbs, but we just go to the store and stare at the selection. We bought jalapeno plants instead. Not sure what we will put in the middle pot yet. Hopefully I don't kill them.

I got some great cookbooks while in Ohio. One store I miss very much is Half Price Books. I paid less then $30 for all the cookbooks. If you ever get a chance to go to Half Price Books,...GO! The other great thing about the expedit bookcase is that I was able to pretty much fill it with all my last items that were homeless and stored in the closet. Somehow it all worked together I think! I still have a lot of Vinylmation Figurines that aren't displayed though. I hope to get a curio for the rest of my collection.
My dining area is a perfect place for my vintage pyrex, vintage glassware, teapots, Vinylmations and Alice in Wonderland stuff! I originally wanted a vintage buffet that I could paint bright yellow, but I am sick of looking. I have always wanted an expedit and feel it was a perfect fit. I really would love to get a bold printed rug for under the table and chairs! That I will keep looking for. Also my walls would be painted turquoise if I was aloud to paint! (So sick of rentals!)

See my precious post of my kitchen and dining area {HERE}

See my "wrapping paper" makeover in my bookcase that houses my Alice in Wonderland collection {HERE}