Thrifty Pink & Black Bedroom for $30!!!

Rebecca's tween room is looking awesome and she's having a sleepover tonight to show it off! :-P

I'm going to go ahead and post before and after photos now, even though we are still trying to find her a bedframe and a black bedspread with lots of little pink pillows. (Right now she's got a cute afghan we found at the thrift store on it.) I know, I know...the bed will be the center of the room that ties everything together...but it might be a few weeks before we find one and I don't want to wait that long to show how cute it's looking.(We also plan on moving her pink curtains over to her closet opening and getting black curtains with pink dots for her windows....the sun here is bright and wakes her up early so she needs some dark ones.)

We spent around $5 for knick knacks, $20 for paint, and $5 for brushes - everything else was free....I love looking at her room and thinking it only cost $30! (Click on the tag "tween" to see all the posts about us finding freecycle items and fixing them up for her room.) (And remember, we know it would look even cuter if we could paint the walls....but we rent so that's out.)

The best part is that my tween and I did everything TOGETHER. Did we just walk into a store and let her pick out a premade bedroom? No. We showed her that you can have the bedroom you want, using unwanted items, not give in to consumerism, AND have FUN doing it. We spent hours cutting, fixing, painting, and chatting and ended up with a room that she's so proud of!

Ok enough talking....photo time! (Click to enlarge)


                                  Wall 1: Before

                                               After

                    Wall 2- Before

                                   After

                              Wall 3- Before

                                               After

                                      Wall 4 - before

                                              After

And some detail shots!

So...how's that for a $30 teen room makeover? :-P

Free toddler fun

I found a huge box behind a store dumpster on my walk today, so I dragged it home for Alex! He was pleased. :-P

 Later he decided to make his box his new home. He moved in his chair, foot rest, favorite toys, and uh...stripped down to his skivvies. lol

Sunny Day Sweepin' the clouds away...

Well paint my door red, there is sunshine here! After months of snow, snow, rain, mud, rain, and more snow I was thinking I really did live where the sun don't shine.

Thank goodness I was wrong!

It's in the 70s and so nice and sunny! Now 70 degrees back home (Arkansas) would not seem all that hot but it sure feels good here!

I bought myself a $1 lawn chair at the thrift store and stocked up on library books. I expect Alex and I will be spending a lot of time out on the deck this summer. (Assuming it stays warm...for all I know it snows on and off during the summer here too.)

He saw how happy I was with my feet propped up so decided to try it also. :-)

Another thing Alex and I do every Tuesday is grocery shopping! That's when both grocery stores in town (Yes...tiny town has TWO stores....how and why I don't know as there doesn't seem to even be enough of a population for one store.) put their sale ads in our mailbox so first we walk to the one on the left and buy what's on sale, go home, have lunch, and then we walk to the one on the right. Alex loves it because he gets to push our shopping trolley! Aunt Alice gave it to us and it's so great because before we got this Alex insisted on riding in his buggy but now he walks the whole way because he likes being a big boy who gets to push the trolley!(Yes I get strange looks pushing it down the road....no I don't care. lol It was such a common sight in Belfast so I just got used to seeing people walking to the store with their trolleys. Why should I have to wait until Jason gets home to use the car when I have perfectly good legs and a nice trolley!)

Today corn on the cob, cabbage, BBQ sauce, and chicken legs were on sale so when Jason got home we had a cookout with cole slaw! It was so good that everyone asked if we could grill every night! Which is fine with me because clean-up is so much easier.

I got really hot running around outside today but....all the clothes I have are for winter! I dug around in my dresser and did find a sun dress that I brought back with me from N. Ireland but....it is now 5 sizes too big on me AND one of the straps was broken. But...being the thrifty girl that I am....I was able to cinch the back up with a brooch:

And then I cut the other strap and turned the dress into a halter top...it worked great and I am now the proud owner of.....a sunburn! lol

See...it's a good thing I drug (is that the past tense of drag? dragged? Hey, I have hillbilly roots - don't judge me.) it all the way back with me! lol

* Edit to add this helpful bit from grammarerrors.com*

"Drug is often used as the past tense of drag, as in the following example:

Example: I drug myself out of bed this morning.

The past tense of drag is actually dragged, not drug. This error is particularly common in speech. Even Bill Clinton once made this blunder on national television, returning to bad habits he developed as a youth growing up in Arkansas.
Remember that the word drug should never be associated with any kind of pulling action. It should only be used when referring to some type of medicinal substance."

Cracked me up because both Bill and I are from Arkansas!

Anyways, I'm not sure why I kept it, since I left 99% of what we had there. Maybe because I wore it when Lorraine took me out to the opera, a great night!, so I have happy feelings associated with it. Plus, I got it at a pound shop...there are no pound shops here so when someone asks me where I got it and I say "at a wee pound shop"...it's a good conversation starter. :-P

Here's me wearing it back in N. Ireland....I think it looks better now!(I look really tired in this photo....course I never did sleep really well there - being in a foreign country tends to do that to some. )

AND.....I have a new niece!
Congratulations to my big sis, Rachel!

Photo quickie

Enjoying the sunshine with my boys!

Teen's decoupaged dresser!

We are done with our weekend painting marathon!

Just in time as the rain clouds are rolling in...whew!

I had fun with my hyper, creative girl but now I really do need a nap!

She painted her dresser black and then decoupaged magazine clippings and scraps of paper to the front.
We ran out of mod podge so it will look a bit better when we get some more and can do a few more coats of shinny. Isn't it cute though?!

And here are all her bookshelves and wall shelves!
Since we rent we can't put holes in the wall so we will have to wait to hang them up until I can find some of those picture strip things.

Not bad for 2 days, huh? :-P

Free Wall Shelves!

Whew, wore out! We painted all day!
We got about half done and hope to finish the rest tomorrow!

We found these four block things when we moved in. They were waaay up on top of a shelf and covered in years of grime - a nasty gray color. We painted them and attached some awesome scrapbook paper, that my sister sent to Rebecca, to the back. (Thanks Rachel!) She's going to put them up on her wall and perhaps put candles inside. (Unlit candles!)

This shelf I got at a yard sale, it was in horrible condition and said "free or trash". lol
I think it is supposed to go over a toilet but we'll use it for knick knacks. :-P
We painted it black and put polka dots all over it. 

This little rack I found at the free sale and thought she could hang jewelry from it, or scarves.
Not fun to try to paint the pegs a different color as the base! lol

We got two of the bookshelves done so tomorrow we have 3 bookshelves left and her dresser.
And then I'll need a nap.

We are actually running really low on pink paint so I really, really hope there is enough left!

Paint time! :-P

Sweet Mother's Day

Jason kept the kids away as long as possible so I could sleep in, which was so wonderful. As soon as I opened one eye the kids ran in giggling with their tokens of love. So sweet. Breakfast in bed, cards, crafts etc.
So adorable to be pampered by them!!

Jarod's craft was really special to me. Because of his aspergers and developmental cognitive delays we were told he would probably never be able to write.

                                                  Obviously, he is overcoming sooooo much!

Jason picked up lunch from my favorite restaurant, taking all the kids with him so I could have some peace!

Then I walked over to the high school to help set up for the family prom! The high school prom was on Saturday and they left the decorations up so that they could have a family prom on Sunday for the town! I thought this was just a beautiful idea. They had donations of pizza, cakes, fruit and veggie trays, and punch from area business as well as a DJ and a professional photographer. And mums for all the mothers! It was a walk in event so Rebecca walked over after it started with the boys and I got to dance with them for awhile, and we got our photo taken but it won't come in for weeks. It was so cute - I'd say about half the people had went all out and were wearing formal gowns and there were some really good dancers there! I actually have a formal dress, that fits like a glove...I found it for 10 cents at a yard sale, but since I knew I'd be putting up decorations, cleaning up etc...you know things that required me to bend...I just wore a nice shirt and skirt. lol
I did however fix my hair...."fix" meaning "not in a bun like normal". :-)

We all had a lot of fun, I love it when the community has such awesome free events for families!

Oh and my picture ended up in the paper. (See....good thing I took the time to brush my hair!)
Jarod was upset though when he saw it "Why'd they put that one in when they could have put one of  ME dancing with you?" :-)

Let's see...what else?

Oh, Alex got his hair cut. :-(
He does not look like my baby anymore. :-(

I'm also thinking about cutting my hair...maybe even bangs! Not sure though as I don't mind my long hair and every time I get it cut I hate it and just wait for it to grow out again. So why would I cut it...I guess I'm hoping one of these days I'll end up with a cut I'll love more. Plus it's going through it's "blah" stage...limpish. We'll see if I get brave enough to do something different.

We are still having tons of rain...Rebecca and I have been waiting for over 2 weeks to paint her bookshelves! I hope it drys out enough this weekend to get them done, can't wait to see how they will turn out! They are the kitchen cabinets that my FIL tore out of his house - I saw them and thought they'd be perfect for her room! We'll see. :-)

Thrifty Reward

I finally broke down and took the MN driver's test, which you have to do here to get your driver's license. I wasn't happy to officially let go of my legal residence in Arkansas. :-(


Before I went in I was really nervous so I told myself if I passed I could go to the thrift store and buy myself a reward. LOL

It didn't look to promising when I sat down at the computer and got the practice question wrong. There I was to take the MINNESOTA driver's test and I didn't know the state capital of Minnesota! I started laughing when it said I got it wrong. lol

The thrift store bribe must have worked though because I did pass it on my first try! I was a little worried because everyone said it was really hard and lots of people have to retake it a few times, in fact about 5 people came in while I was there to take it and didn't pass! I think they went too fast though - next time they should try my method....stare at the screen in horror for a long, long time and then just close your eyes and choose a random answer. :-P

And guess what I found at the thrift store for $5?!!!

An ottoman for my chair!

Look at how perfect it is!
I'm sitting in my chair with my legs on it right now, so comfy!

I also picked up that magazine rack hiding behind the chair for $2, I've always got a stack of newspapers and junk mail sitting beside my chair waiting to be read, so now I can keep them in the rack.

Oh and the ottoman fits perfectly under the coffee table so we can slide it underneath there when it's not being used!

Made me feel better for the fact that I'm now a legal resident here. :-P

No sew curtains

I made some pretty nifty curtains for the boys room using only a twin flat bedsheet (Jason's when he was a toddler!) and half a tube of Liquid Stitch glue.

All I did was cut the sheet in half and use the glue to hem both cut ends.
Then I made a large hem on the top, leaving enough room inside to slide the rod through.

So simple!

I can do curtains!

I was complaining to my mom that I can't make curtains because I don't have a sewing machine and she told me there was a product called "Liquid Stitch" that I could try, and it works! I just got halfway done with making the boys some curtains from a bed sheet, so neat! When those are done I'll post photos.

I do have photos of the curtains I "made" for the bathroom though.

I found these crazy long curtains at the free yard sale and thought if I shortened them they would work great. I was going to make a hem using the liquid stitch but after I cut them I could see that it was a material that wouldn't fry so I left them without a hem for now. They are still a little bit too long but after I hem them that will be fixed.

Freaky long curtains:

Mini version, I made ties out of the leftover fabric. 

After I get the boys done, I can start on some for the office - get all the easy one window rooms out of the way before I have to figure out what to do with the 5 windows in the living room!!

More tween room peek

Today we dyed and painted!

I found some white curtains off freecycle and Rebecca found some pink fabric dye at the thrift store for 40 cents! The black bow is just a piece of freecycle fabric, I'm keeping an eye out of nice, thick, cloth ribbon to replace it. Dyeing is fun...we'll need to find something else to dye!

This black shelf we got off freecycle, we found the woven baskets at the thrift store for 20 cents each and painted them pink. She's not sure yet what she's going to put in them.

I mentioned the box of pink sign letters we found in my last post....this is the awesome sign her grandpa made for her to put the letters on! The letters slide into the slates. We painted it today and she can't wait for it to dry so she can test it out!

All we have left to do, is to paint the bookshelves, paint and decoupage the dresser, paint 3 wall shelves, and find a bedspread set!

*Edit to add*

It was dry enough to test out the letters! She LOVES it and said she's going to change the sayings
everyday. :-)

Tween Room preview

Stayed tune...because in a few weeks (I hope) we should have Rebecca's room all done! We are going all out!
She wanted pink and black, with a hint of kittens, and she's been hunting in thrift stores all month long and finding some amazing items!

 Berry rug - $2 from thrift store

Pink fabric - Freecycle
Black beads - Gift from a friend
Not sure if we'll keep this, might look for something else for her closet doorway but it's working for now.

Cat picture - $1 thrift store
(Ummm yes, that would be my toddler....he says the kittens make him cry. I dunno. )

6 8x10 photo collages - FREE
An online photo stir was having a special - one free collage per person, well there are 5 people in our house and a friend got us one! I just pulled random pink sweet photos off the internet. (probably infringing on several copyright laws in the process ....... but it's not like I'm reselling them or anything.) We plan on finding some frames for them on freecycle or thrift stores.

Kitten knick knacks and pink baskets she finds at sales for around 10 cents each.

My father-in-law gave me his old kitchen cabinets and we made them into a perfect bookshelf, it's huge and should hold all her books. She is helping me paint it this weekend, we got pink and black OOPS paint (half price!) at Home Depot.

She is decoupaging her dresser that we got off freecycle with pink bits of magazines. I found her 2 little black knicknack shelves at the free yard sale and she's been collecting little wall shelves that she's going to paint. And we found a box of pink letters at the free sale, that are used on signs, the ones you can change and my FIL is making her a sign so she can spell out sayings on it.  The only thing I haven't been able to find second hand is a bedspread....she wants a black one with pink pillows so I'll keep looking but we might have to break down and buy one new OR perhaps Ebay?

I can't wait until it's all done!

Gifted bathroom & laundry room for $10

We really lucked out in the bathroom department, because our relatives are so generous!
Our bathroom is also our laundry room and I love that because after the kids takes a shower their dirty clothes go right into the hamper!"

Jason's amazing aunt had asked us what we wanted as a housewarming gift and I really had no idea..."I think I have everything I need." said I. She replied "Oh poosh, well what to you WANT then?" And the first thing that popped into my head was "A nice, fluffy bathmath!".
Well her heart always overflows more than normal so she got us THREE nice, fluffy bathmats, plus a toilet cover, AND a bunch of matching towels! I get all giddy every time I go to the bathroom. :-P

The over the toilet cabinet was already here when we moved it.

I really love the tan and sage colors, so relaxing.

The tan cup and tan & sage tooth brush holder I got as the free yard sale.
The bamboo soap holder was a Christmas gift.

The washer & dryer come with the house though we rarely use the dryer since we line dry.
The shelf was from my mother-in-law and it's so perfect for our laundry nook! She had it down in her basement and I was so excited when she said I could have it!
The only thing we had to purchase was the laundry hamper ($8) and trash can ($2).

I found some crazy, long, sage curtains at the free yard sale and thought if I shortened them they would work great. I think they turned out cute, not bad for free!

I do miss having a bathtub at times but we are all getting used to just having a shower and at least I don't have to buy a shower curtain. :-)