Details...make your voices heard!

My new dresser is sitting in my make-shift paint booth, otherwise known as my dining room. I've narrowed down the new colour to some sort of rustic yellow or orange, and now it's time to select hardware. Let me know what you think of the options below and cast your vote in the poll on the right hand side of my blog.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

I Did a Dicker

I am usually not very good at negotiating on price. I tend to be really competitive, so when the bartering begins, I get so caught up in winning, that I forget all about getting the item and focus on submitting my opponent. This usually ends with me leaving the establishment empty handed, and embarassed.

This time, though, I dickered, and won! I scored this great pine dresser for my living room for a mere $75! It's just the size I was looking for (5 feet long and about 3 feet tall). The plan is to paint it, not sure what colour yet, we'll see what I've got laying around and go from there.

Woo! It's good to have friends in high places!

...And by high places, I mean up north.

I have had no luck tracking down the Pier 1 'Stockton' curtain panels I wrote about in my previous post. I have been making so many trips to the local Pier 1 store to peruse their selection that I am sure the staff believe that I suffer from some sort of mental disorder.

Anyhoodles, after venting to Mr. Mel today about my frustration at the lack of window treatments...and lack of cash available to me to indulge in some fancy shmancy silk drapes, he did the only thing he could do: he got on the phone to a store three hours north and had them put six panels on hold, and then called his friend who lives there to ask if he would go and pick them up for us!

I can't wait to hang them in my living room.  I will finally be able to get some darn privacy from the constant looky-loos!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle...ain't cheap!

I have a hankering. I have a hankering for a good ol' fashioned farm table for my kitchen.

When I first started buying home furnishings, it was back when every piece had to be made from (or at least look like) cherry wood, all the hardware was brushed nickel, and everything had to be a shade of either taupe or beige: it was all so matchy-matchy. The coffee tables matched the bed, that matched the armoire, that matched the kitchen table, that matched the kitchen chairs...well, you get the idea.

I am happy to say that my tastes have evolved since then. I am anti-matchy-matchy, anti-brushed nickel, anti-faux wood, anti-looks-like-every-other-house-on-the-block. I want my home, and the furniture in it, to be comfortable. I also have a desire to re-purpose as many pieces and materials as I can. This saves me money, granted, but it also makes me feel like I'm doing a little bit to help reduce waste and give new life to something long forgotten, and that's a good thing!

Because we have a formal dining room, the table in the kitchen will likely not play host to any fancy shmancy dinner parties. It will, however, play host to some very important tea parties with the little girls I am blessed to have in my life, it will be a homework station, be a location for arts and crafts (including messy, messy, lord-help-me-it's-messy playdough), serve as the occasional food prep centre, sewing table, and buffet counter. Basically, it has to be durable. It HAS to be.

I was sure that what I wanted existed. And it does. It's made by a fantastic company called The Lorimer Workshop. At $1075 USD however it is yet another item that is far beyond my budget. A girl can dream though, right? This is my inspiration though, perhaps I might become brave enough to attempt to build my own...if I can find a pile of old wood no one's using, that is.

Wall Art Inspiration

One of the keys to being able to decorate the house on my frugal budget is to get creative about *everything*. I am scouring the internet for imaginative wall art projects and ideas for the living room. Anyone who knows us knows that Mr. Mel is very much an "in the box" kinda guy, and I am much more willing to try quirky and funky colours and projects. Here are a few of the awesome ideas that have made my short list:

How cute is this?! Mr. Mel would NEVER go for this, which gives me the sads.

This is a great use of those pricey scrapping leftovers!
I love this idea too, but I don't have that many cool dishes! ha!
I think this may be a winner...Mr. Mel approves! Who says ceiling medallions have to stay on the ceiling?

**Sometime between last night and this morning, this post lost all of it's links. I'll be sure to post links to the above asap**

It figures

I have always swooned over silk drapes. All you have to say is "Dupioni" and my heart skips. There's something so luxurious and dramatic about them. They remind me of ballgowns, and what better than to have ballgowns hanging in a room?! ha ha! I have always longed for floor length, buffalo check, dupioni silk drapes. Always.

Sadly, at $300/panel, my budget doesn't allow for such extravagance. Because our main floor is, essentially, one big open space, I wanted to do the same window treatment on each window and door - which meant that need a total of 8 panels. After many many days of searching, I finally found what I was looking for at Pier1 Imports for the bargain price of $31/panel:

Just my luck, they are sold out! They don't anticipate getting them restocked for another two months. Bummer. Damn this teeny weeny budget of mine!

DIY - Do it Your (own damn) Self!

Sooooo, I'm going to be honest with you. I went over budget on the house. Poor Mr. Mel, he had no clue what I had gotten myself into and was, understandably, shocked when the final bills rolled in.

I had big plans for furniture and decor but, with the moolah gone, I am left brokity broke and in need of some creative ideas to get it all done on a tight tight tight (did I mention tight?) budget.

Mr. Mel has agreed to pay for a new living room sofa...and the rest he has insisted must be on the cheap. That in mind, I have been scouring blogs, the internet, and magazines and have found alot of really inspiring ideas that I hope I can parlay into some awesome and totally unique decorating touches. I am hoping to share some of my ideas, and also share the results of my DIY projects!

I know it's small, but my first DIY for the house was jewelry storage for my closet. I love necklaces but have never had any way to store them that didn't end up in them becoming a tangled mess of chain and beads. Here's my solution:

I started off with a 24" shelf that I picked up from a discount store for $5, and cup hooks from WalMart for $4.
I measured for two rows of hooks, with each hook 2" apart. I staggered the top and bottom rows so that the necklaces on the top row would hang between the hooks on the bottom row. I drilled holes in the shelf with a small bit and had Mr. Mel screw in the hooks for me with his big, strong man-hands.Voila!