Well... Hello there!

Wow! So it's been a while...like 5 whole years. What?!

Truth is, I've missed blogging, but...life. (Can I get an Amen?!)

I've decided to dip my toe back in and start slowly with occasional posts as time permits.

In these past 5 years we've kept one small human alive, spent lots of quality time with friends and family, and, just under a year ago, moved into our second home. The good news, (for the blog), is that we haven't done much to the house yet, so I should have lots of thrifty home improvement projects to share in the coming months. We're about to get serious, people. (I hope.) ;)

In the meantime, I'm having lots of fun decorating for the different seasons and trying to find our style in this house.

Case in point-- our fireplace mantle...  It was billed as a "custom fireplace" in the real estate listing and we still haven't decided if we love it or not. Some days I'm all in. Other days I'm not. Maybe we just haven't refined the furniture placement to make it feel 100% yet?

Anyway, my first attempt at finding our new "style" for Spring/Summer resulted in this:

Simple. An old thrifted frame around my wedding bouquet (yes, I used faux flowers -- cheapskate, remember?), white resin deer head from Target. All the other items came from Michael's at various times--when on sale of course. ;)

Just this past week, I updated it for Fall, and I think I'm digging it.

I'm really into neutrals these days, but I decided that this Fall, I may have to re-decorate multiple times-- Early Fall (Sept.) = Neutrals, Halloween (Oct.) = Spooky Decor, Thanksgiving (Nov.) = deeper jewel tones (maybe-- I'm still debating this one).

For now though:

The off-kilter fireplace screen in this photo makes we want to gouge my eyeballs out, but of course I didn't notice it when I took the photo. Arrgghhh!

I decided to leave up the faux deer head, because, well... I like it. :)

The frame fills the space well and I needed some additional green on the mantle, so the 'M' made it's way back too.

Everything else I had in my stash already.

The little white pumpkins/gourds were actually from a bag of cheap foam pumpkins/gourds from the dollar tree. I simply spray painted them glossy white. The copper pot and the glass hurricane vase were picked up at a Goodwill for $1 each.

The leaf/berry sprigs were all picked up at Michael's during end of season sales for 70% - 80% off and the two amber glass mosaic candle holders were gifted to us. The pitcher was purchased as decor for our wedding 12 years ago, (apparently our mantle has a wedding theme), and the dried wheat I bought 4 years ago with a 40% off coupon at Michaels.

I just love this drapey (faux) greenery. I purchased this for my niece's bridal shower.

Art work in the background by my crazy talented brother-in-law.

                                                                   There it is again-- the fireplace screen...I just want to fix it so badly!

I've got lots of ideas kickin' around in my head for this house and I finally think it's time to start bringing some of them to life. I can't wait to share them with you!

And, if you followed my blog before, or you know me at all, you won't be surprised to know that in the last 5+ years, I've set-up a bunch of parties too--for all different occasions. Some better than others, but most were photographed for "some day when I bring back my blog".

Stay tuned...

St. Patrick's Day Part II

Two posts in one day?! And on a Saturday?! What the...???

The funniest part about this is that we don't usually do much to celebrate St. Patrick's Day (being that we are not Irish) except maybe wear green.  Today, we did all kinds of celebratory things, but none of us actually wore green!  Ha ha!

First thing you should know for this post -- we were not wearing green because we were instead wearing ORANGE to cheer on our Syracuse Orange Men's basketball team in the NCAA Tournament.  Go 'Cuse!  (we won-- on to the 'Sweet 16'! Hooray!!)

Secondly-- green food coloring makes EVERYTHING look completely un-appealing. That and the fact that food photography is hard and I don't have any REAL photography skills so all the pictures of food below look gross, but I promise you everything tasted just fine. :)

So, as you saw earlier today, we had an overnight visit from a leprechaun.  I love finding new traditions-- I can't wait to do this EVERY St. Patrick's Day!

Does anyone else throw all "rules" out the window on holidays and special occasions?  Cole ate 2 chocolate coins before BREAKFAST-- awesome mom or bad mom?  I guess it probably depends on who you ask.  :)

Then we had breakfast.  Green shamrock shaped pancakes and sausage for Cole and I.  And Tom had what I'm calling 'eggs-a-la-pinterest'.  (seriously if you're not on pinterest yet, what are you waiting for?  It's so awesome! Need an invite, leave me your e-mail address and I'll invite you!)

source

I had the table set in green and white.  

plastic table cloth:  Big Lots $1 (ps-- I LOVE it!  Its cheap, but it was pretty)

12" white paper doily:  Dollar Tree $1 for 18

green paper plates:  iparty  $3.79 for 24 -- makes clean up easy :)

and just our regular white paper napkins for everyday use.

I also put out my new milk glass footed bowl that I got at Goodwill for $1.  I LOVE it!  

I put some green apples in it (unfortunately the apples had seen better days at this point) and a couple of oranges since our day was going to be about both green AND orange!  

We played outside for a while because it was a gorgeous day!  And we got a package from my parents.

which promptly turned into this...

note: the addresses have been blurred for privacy reasons

 For dinner we had meatloaf with green mashed potatoes and green beans:

(warning-- I probably shouldn't even have put this picture up because it looks so unappetizing, but it really was delicious)

And for dessert (the best part of today in my opinion)-- Shamrock Shakes (using a recipe I had saved on pinterest!)

FYI-- we just used mint chocolate chip ice cream and milk and it was sooo good!

And to top it all off, there was a fireworks display in our neighborhood that we watched from Cole's bedroom window-- he was VERY excited about it.

All in all, a pretty good holiday (that we don't usually celebrate)! 

Hope you all had a great St. Patty's Day too!

I used to be a little snobby.

While I'm compiling my Independence Day picnic photos I thought I'd leave you with another post to hold you over.  (because I know you're holding your breath in anticipation)

I'll admit that before I began my career as a cheapskate, I used to think thrift stores were gross.  And some are, but there are so many wonderful hidden treasures in them.  I understand that they are not for everyone, but with a little post-purchase cleaning and lots of hand sanitizer you can find some really cool things.  And you only purchase things that are within the scope of repair, cleaning or refurbishing that you WANT to do so... what's the harm in looking?

I am super psyched with my latest finds-- totaling $5.84.

The two plates are actually pretty large.  (note: apple below to show size of plates)  I liked the color- a mustardy yellow.  Truth be told I was thinking of using them during football season for Steelers games (Go Black and Gold!) but they can also be used during fall for Thanksgiving or for other harvest related affairs.  $1.00 each.

I couldn't help myself when buying this jar.  I had 4th of July on the brain and thought it was just too perfect for the picnic I was planning so... even though I really didn't need an empty jar-- it was only $.50 and it makes me happy so...

 

I am in LOVE with this lazy susan-- also purchased mostly for the 4th.  It's so nautical looking to me and it's SUPER functional because besides being a turntable, the navy blue part is rubberized so condiments won't slide around on it when it turns.  Plus-- blue and white work for so many events-- Memorial Day, Independence Day,  a whole host of college/high school events (like SU or UCONN sporting events and Nonnewaug high school graduations), and of course any nautical themed parties that could be in our future  - who knows?  Totally worth it for $2.00.

oh, and I forgot to mention since it's rubber, plastic and metal it's also totally washable (unlike my wooden lazy susan)  BONUS!

with condiments:

and in action:

And I love picking up fabric remnants at a bargain price.  These were 3 for $1.00.  I have promised myself that I WILL learn to sew in the near future so I'm working on a little fabric stash.  Plus the pink and the black I know I can use to make some more fabric necklaces, broches or embellishments etc.

how fun is that stripey fabric?

I love my local Goodwill.  Have you checked out your local thrift shop lately?

Easiest "Artwork" Ever!

I can't remember exactly where I first saw this, but as soon as I did I began my search to find the perfect "frames".    It's the EASIEST way to add a little something to the walls and pull a room together.

Embroidery hoops with patterned fabric.  (please ignore the striped one that looks wrinkled-- I took it down to take photos of the backside of it and hung it back up to take photos without taking another look at it - until now of course.  I can assure it was straightened out as soon as I noticed it in these pictures-- like I stopped what I was doing mid-blog post and went and straightened it out.  I'm a little compulsive like that.)

When I covered the paper mache letters of Cole's name for his nursery seen here,  I made sure to buy extra for, well... I didn't exactly know what, but I figured I'd want to use it somehow to coordinate parts of his room.  I was thinking maybe pillows BUT, I don't sew... yet.   (I WILL learn to sew though... soon!)  Aannnnyyyyywaaayyy.....

When I came across the idea of "framing" fabric, I thought it was brilliant. Then I came across an ever better/easier/cheaper way to "frame" leftover pieces of fabric (and I'm all about a better/easier/cheaper way to do just about anything!).  The answer was clear--stretch it through an embroidery hoop.

So I set out to find round embroidery hoops.  I found oval embroidery hoops -- $.25 a piece, at a local thrift store (if you're in the Central New York area check out the Thrifty Shopper).  I wasn't sure I liked the oval hoops, but they totally grew on me... and then I stopped looking for round hoops.

If however, I ever find some (by happenstance) I will most likely pick them up to create something like this:

image credit: candidlyred

or this:

image credit:  apartment therapy

or this:

image credit:  apartment therapy
ps- on this website I do NOT like the embroidery hoops on the ceiling thing-- that's just odd.

AND another great feature-- they are SUPER lightweight so if you don't want to put excessive holes in your walls (or you can't because you're in an apartment)  you can use those 3M removable wall hooks with no problem!

Why are these placed so off centered-ly on the wall?  (yes, that was off centered-ly)

because I needed room for the door to open too -- which it is most of the time anyway.

How cute!  (and cheap and easy)

Cole's Room

OK people- let's be honest.  Who doesn't love peeking inside other people's homes?  Right?!   


Because the correct answer is "EVERYONE likes to peek in other people's homes", I decided to share today.  Except, it's not our home as we live currently.  As I've mentioned before, we recently moved to CT from Syracuse, NY, so this is Cole's nursery from back in our Syracuse days (plus Cole doesn't have a "nursery" anymore-- he's now got a "big boy" room).  


I thought I'd do a post about the nursery that we set up for Cole when he was born (3.5 years ago) because we DIYed a few things in his room that we really liked.  First though-- a  quick tour of the room is in order.  The good, the bad and the ugly (and some of it's kinda ugly).  We actually spent very little money putting together his room (as any good cheapskate would do), and we're pretty pleased with how it came out.  Now--- on with the show!

The house that we bought in Syracuse was built in 1920-- it was an old house and we inherited some "interesting" old house-isms.  Neither of us are all that home improvement handy so some of these things were "worked around" instead of fixed.  Case in point, the cords behind the crib.  There was an old phone jack, a cable cord, and some other cord extruding from the wall-- we're still unsure of what it was.  Instead of tearing them out and patching things up (especially since the next owners might WANT a cable hook-up in this room), we set-up the room so that they were not reachable by a small child.  Oh, and the "boom box" was there for function, not style-- I should have moved it before snapping pictures, but.... I didn't.

The rug was left over from my old apartment.  It was really girly in that apartment, but somehow it still seemed to work in this space too.


It was a fairly small room.  We liked to call it "cozy".  It also had to have multiple functions as we had "visitors" often enough that we needed to have extra sleeping spaces for the other 3 kids whenever they were at our house.  

We still wanted it to feel like "Cole's Room" though too.  please ignore the wrinkled bedskirt.  sing it with me-- emmmbaaaarraaassiiiing.

Paper mache letters that I covered with fabric. 

The crib was purchased new.  It was one of the few things we purchased new for this room.  (Allow me to address the pillow in his crib -- I didn't take photos of the room until just before we transformed it into his "big boy" room so he was old enough to safely sleep with a pillow at this point.)

We wanted Cole to get to know his brother and sisters even though they didn't live with us full time, so we took photos of the 3 kids and hung them just above the changing table/dresser so that with each diaper change we could say "hi" to the kids.


The dresser (which I didn't take a before photo of) we purchased for $15 at a thrift store.  It was kind of a "honey" color.  We painted it 'Crisp Linen' and LOVE how it turned out!  We debated changing out the hardware too, but when we put it back together, we decided we actually really liked the old (cleaned up) hardware.

The bed is an antique hand-me-down.  It was my grandmother's bed when she was a young girl which means it's somewhere in the vicinity of 90 years old (depending on exactly when she got it).  She gave it to me when I got my first apartment back in my college days.  It means so much to me. (she also gave Cole that white bear hugging the pink bear--  ummm...such a great-grandma gift).  My mother made the cute knit lion.

We re-used additional pillows from the set we registered for when we were married, but added the fun Dwell Studio dinosaur pillow from Target.  I think I paid $4.98 for it.  It takes the bed from being kinda "stuffy" to being fun for a little boy too.

Years earlier I purchased the "hassock" at an estate sale.  I think it was $25.  It is very vintage and very cool.   Made a great seat when putting on little kid shoes.  The toy basket was a shower gift filled with all kinds of baby goodies..

The rocking chair was my mother's.  She used to rock us kids in it when we were wee ones so it holds a special place for me too.  I debated the plush rockers/nursing chairs that everyone else was getting, but decided to go the sentimental route instead.  I'm really glad I did.  (there are those stupid cords again-- argh)  Elmo came from my mom too.  Of course-- the biggest toys always come from other people.  But he sticks around-- did you spot him in this post?

This piece is also an antique that I scavenged from my parent's basement when I first moved into an apartment of my own.   I always meant to re-finish it, but never got around to it.  Usually I had a plant over that one big water spot.  Eventually, I came to kinda like it like this though-- it has history and character right?  If we use it in our next home however, I will definitely find a way to transform it and get rid of those water stains on the top.  It actually has some cool details in the top that get lost because you get distracted by the water spots.

One of my personal favorite things in his room (also a gift).  It's a Meyda Tiffany turtle light.  We used it as Cole's nighlight in his room.  It's got a really pretty glow when it's turned on. (please excuse the poor photo quality too.)

Both my husband and I worked for our local PBS station at some point in our careers (it's actually where we met), so we amassed a collection of Sesame Street stuffed animals when Cole was born and it only made sense to give them a place in his room-- kind of an om age to his mom and dad.  (The three scruffy ones were actually mine when I was little-- my mom dug them up for me.)

This basket was a shower gift as well.  The safety pins were from a shower game.  We didn't ever use them, but I thought they were a nice symbol of all the love we received from our wonderful family and friends.

What's in our basket?- the usual baby stuff.  Diapers, wipes, lotions, creams, and two glass jars-- one with cotton balls, the other with cotton swabs.  We kept other baby essentials (ie. bulb syringe, baby hair brush, nail clippers etc.)  in one of the top drawers of the dresser.

And we added some unexpected touches as well- like a lizard above the window.

 Cole's first ever stuffed animal which was bigger than him when he was first born.

And I just had to include this last picture because I think it's ADORABLE. 

So there you have it.  Cole's nursery.  I'll be sharing some of the DIY things that we did in the next few days.  Hope you enjoyed our little tour!