Monday, November 29, 2010

Frugal Tips to Breathe New Life into Old Furniture

Guest article by Caroline Smith on Frugal Tips to Breathe New Life into Old Furniture

There’s nothing wrong with wanting different furniture for your home, but for many people trying to live on a limited budget, buying new may not always be an option. Throwing the old pieces into a landfill is not environmentally friendly either. What if your older furniture could be given new life? That would give your home a new look, save you money, and help the planet. Here are several DIY ideas to improve the look or change the style of old furniture.
Wood Items
Just like the walls of a house, a new coat of paint or an accessory can completely change the appearance of a table, chair, dresser or bookcase. When painting or refinishing, make sure to look for water-based products and those containing few volatile organic compounds.
Paint – This may be the most dramatic way to improve a piece of wooden furniture but it is also fairly easy and inexpensive. It may require stripping off the old paint, taking proper precautions against possible lead exposure. Then pick the new color and apply it to the piece. Be creative. For instance, you could paint drawers or shelves a different color to the base, or use stencilling to add patterns.
Refinish – Similar to painting furniture, refinishing doesn’t change the color of the furniture but makes the wood look new again.
Change the hardware – Replacing the drawer pulls or door handles on wooden furniture is a simple but effective way to alter its style. There are loads of different styles of hardware to choose from, so whether you prefer a traditional country cottage look or something more contemporary, you should be able to find a look that appeals to you.
Put something over it – Simply adding a table cloth or a runner will provide a different look. Even better, these can be changed frequently at a much cheaper price than swapping out new pieces of furniture.
Couches and Chairs
Changing the furniture used to relax in can be easy also. Rather than get rid of it and spend lots of money buying new pieces, consider some ways to make those older ones look new again.
Slipcovers –These coverings are formed to fit right over couches or chairs and come in various fabrics and colors. Not only will sofa covers change the appearance of seats, they can help protect them from pets and spills, too. Also, when it comes time to clean them, they can be removed and thrown right into the washing machine.
Reupholster – For furniture that is going to be used in a child’s room or a recreation room, using fabric found at craft stores to reupholster an old-fashioned easy chair will provide a very unique look at a reasonable price.
New Purpose
Sometimes a piece of furniture just may not be salvageable, even if painted or covered. Even then, it’s not necessary to throw it out. Find a new way to use it, which could still save money. For instance, older end tables with drawers may not be right for the living room anymore, but they can be moved out to a garage and used as storage for small items. The drawers of old dressers can be used for storage under a bed or in a closet.
Finding a way to extend the life of furniture in your home is good not just for the pocketbook, it’s also good for the planet. In addition, it will give a unique and individual look to your home that won’t be found anywhere else.
This is an article from guest contributor Caroline Smith, who loves to find creative ways to save money and decorate her home in a unique way. She has a site that sells a range of slipcovers for chairs, which are useful for extending the life of old furniture.


Friday, November 26, 2010

Etsy Gift Ideas!

Browsing some of my favorite Etsy stores I put together a fun list of Etsy gift ideas!


 The Dreamer

Him


 
The Artist


The Entertainer


New Home

What are some of your favorite ideas for the Holidays?

 

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Check out LimeCrime's makeup sale Friday through Monday!

Monday, November 22, 2010

CSN Review Coming Soon!

If you haven't already heard about CSN Stores, they are a 200+ store one-stop-shop kind of website. They have some of the best products around, at low prices and most items even offer free shipping!



A new suitcase would be great for Holiday travels! I have a black one currently and hate trying to find it.  Something flashy and fun would be perfect!

 



Monday, November 15, 2010

Antiquing

My favorite Minneapolis architectural antique store next to Cupcake


Ok, so I took two pictures of this Church window piece because the first one shows the true colors of the light through the windows
 And this one shows the awesome colors of the glass, chandalier, and HELLO aqua mongo bowl!
 THis is probably overwhelming for people but I looooove this huge selection of lighting they have throughout this store!
 This church piece is fantastic, I have see it now 3 times and have just gasped at it, as soon as I can find a place for it, it will be mine!
 This piece was just too beautiful!
 A tiny pic of the wall of key plates
 I LOOOOOVE these iron pieces on the side in their rusted glorious-ness
 Seen Mad Men? This is the entrance of one of Condor Hilton's hotels in Chicago, back "in the day" they used to lock up the hotels at night with one of these revolving door locking doors. This one was pulled out and is on sale for a meer $3k!
 A close up of the top piece

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Halloween Costume!!

Halloween Costume countdown!
2009 - Victorian Vampire Hunter
I made the skirt, arm warmers, hat and shrug. Corset was from LoriAnn Costumes


2008 - Beer Maid

Just bought it at a Spirit Halloween store

2007 - Sassy Pirate
Not too suprising but I just dug around my closet and put this together

2006 - Fairy (first time with the bop it)
Same shirt and skirt from pirate costume, old Corset from Charlotte Ruse, made fairy wings out of wire and cheesecloth

Here is this year's costume! Medusa :)


  • I bought my "Hulk" Contacts from YouKnowIT.com
  • Costume was made from Simplicity pattern #3647, my review is here
  • I bought my snakes from Amazon 12 Rubber RAINFOREST Snakes (can you believe I couldnt find snakes ANYWHERE?!?!) and just pinned them with bobby pins and safety pins
  • Earrings from Target
  • Necklace I made from green snake skin trim from Joanns twisted around a thick wire from a leftover fairy wings project and wrapped it around my neck to look like a snake. (see 2006 fairy wings above)
  • Snake armband from Amazon Metal Snake Armband Adult (One-Size)
  •  Greek keyTrim from Joanns
Makeup
  • Put fishnet over your head, dab Green Cream Makeup in select areas around face and hair line,
  • follow with black eye shadow, I used MAC Velvet Eye Shadow in just a few spots then any green and yellow eyeshadow, again I used a few MAC eyeshadows I had around.
  • I then added a little glitter around the eyes. I used Nyx cream glitter