Thrifty Home Decorating

I know you have been sitting on the edge of your seats just waiting for me to post about my home improvement projects.  What?!?  You were?  Oh, great!  Because today the photos are ready.  And at the bottom of this post, I have a little treat for you . . . hey, don’t scan the post . . . get back here.  Read from top to bottom, or at least, let me think you’re doing that, okay?

All right, so here we go:

Last week I found this chair and table at a thrift shop for $30 total.  When Annabelle and I spotted it, we were both like, “Wee!”  I mean, I was like, “Wee!  Yay!  A kids table and chair set that is under $200 bucks!”  Annabelle was like, “Yeah, that’s a nice table.”  I tried to negotiate the price with the shop and they looked at me like I was crazy.  ”What other thrift shops negotiate on price?”  they literally asked me that.  And I was at a loss for words.  I don’t know why.  So I said, “Well, I know that estate sales do.”  And then later as I was loading up my purchase in my car, I realized, hey, other thrift shops DO negotiate!  So now I’m wondering if I will go back to said thrift shop because I hold grudges and I know that is a bad habit, but I do.  Anyway, in a few months, I’ll probably get the itch to go back there.  Maybe they’ll negotiate then?

Okay, so this is the chair.  It was a little wobbly.  And brown.  I fixed that.

The table was wobbly and brown too.  The more I think about it, I really ought have pushed for a lower price, but considering that I purchased a solid wood kid table and set for under $5o, I will temporarily stop my complaining.  Oh, and wait til you hear how much I paid for 2 pottery barn kids chairs to go with this.  Okay, I’ll tell you now.  I paid $5 total!  They were at the Goodwill with a 50% off special, so at $10 for both with half off, well, you get it.  $5!!!

This is what the chair and table looked like after the first coats of paints.  For the table, I used left over paint from Annabelle’s dresser, which I painted the old fashioned way about four years ago.  I spray painted the chair white using base paint and then a white spray paint.

Here’s what the table and chair set look like in Annabelle’s room:

And here’s one with Annabelle sitting at her table.  She says she likes the Pottery Barn (goodwill find!) chairs the best.

Yay!  Another home improvement project for under $40!!

Okay, now here is a painting project that I accomplished over the summer so that our neighborhood could have a community bench.  This is what happens.  Almost every morning and afternoon, my kids and our neighbors’ kids play outside.  We parents go outside with them.  Often, we find ourselves sitting on the curb of the sidewalk or in the grass or even on the road.  Which is fine.  But it hurts my butt.  And there are ants that walk by and salute me.  And I get bug bites on my bottom.  Since I am a big baby and my husband pretty much agrees with me about why we needed a neighborhood bench, we decided we would purchase and donate a bench.  One day when I was out thrifting, I found this ugly bench.  I photographed it with my smart phone and sent the picture to my husband.  I called him and said, “So what do you think of the ugly bench?  It’s $20.”  He said BUY IT!  We’d previously checked out the depots and furniture stores, and benches are expensive when purchased new.  Here’s the ugly bench:

I think the previous owners tried to sand off pink paint and then got tired of it . . . I finished the sanding and opted for black paint because that’s the color we all ready had and my husband has this weird thing about our (okay, MY) habit of acquiring paint.  After a few coats of paint, this is our neighborhood’s beautiful community bench:

Before I get to the little present I have for you at the bottom of this post, I want to share a few items that I’ve found thrifting at the Goodwill.  I totally love the Goodwill.  I have decorated a good part of my house between the Goodwill, estate sales, and other thrift/antiquing.  I recently read that women who like to shop live longer.  I never thought my love for rummaging through old stuff would be a health benefit, but now I can rest assured that not only am I making my home look pretty for less money (with good quality stuff, I should add)–I am going to live a long time with my old stuff too.  Woo hoo!  Now here are the goodies I’ve picked up this summer for my little boy’s bedroom:

Since he just moved into his bedroom this summer, I wanted to spruce it up for him.  Now each night, Levi lays in bed and points up at his planes and tells me stories about alligators that jump from them (not sure where this story line came from but am pretty impressed that my kid has a good imagination).  I have to say that I just love his room and all but his dresser is second hand.

Okay, now for your present!

Nah-neh-nah-neh-nah-neh!!  These are my two adorable little princesses: A & B, or my daughter and her best friend B.  They are like peanut butter and jelly.  Sweet and always together.

This is also my entry for Live Every Moment’s Aqua photo challenge.

Have a great weekend!

Jessica