Wife, Mother, Homemaker

Simple (and cheap) Home Decor

I LOVE decorating our home.  I don't mean going out to some fancy furniture or home decor store and spending lots of my husband's hard-earned money and having someone else deliver it and put it in.  I mean I love to create the things that make our house a home.  Taking something old and giving it new life gives me great satisfaction, especially when I can do it and spend next to nothing.  (The fact is: I'm a little HUGE cheapskate!)

I told you yesterday that my sister is getting married soon and I am doing some things around the house to get ready for her shower.  Well, last weekend I had some time to myself and I decided to go rummage around for some items to fill up our vast wall of shelving in the living room.  I mean, these shelves are just ridiculous.  I love them, but I am always at a loss as to what should go on them.  Seriously, what would you do with this? 

(Ok, another picture disclaimer, PLEASE ignore the brown striping at the top of the shelves.  Hubby thought that would look good and did that himself.  He's so cute.  It's going to get re-painted.  And the mess under the TV?  This beautiful specimen (of my husband's) is only 2 years old and is NOT working, can you believe it?  So the junk underneath is a bunch of parts he's working on changing out.  This is one item we did NOT buy secondhand.  He luuurves him some electronics!)

Anyway, back to the shelves.  There's just SO much space to fill.  I'm not complaining.  I just want to finish them.  I have lots and lots to buy to fill them up.  (Hence the emphasis on cheap!)  Once I do, I will love them.  It's a constant work-in-progress.

So last weekend I went to a few thrift shops and came home with a few good finds.  My favorite, though, is not going to sit on those beautiful bookshelves.  (I totally forgot about my bookshelf shopping mission when I saw this!)  I picked it up for $2 at a local antique shop.

Ooh, ahh, can you say love?  I just couldn't resist this one.  

But wait, what is that?  I turn it around and eek!  Will you just look at that crack!

I mull it over and decide that once I'm finished with it, no one will even notice it.

On my way home, I stop at my trusty Wal-mart (when I say trusty I mean trust me, I hate Walmart!  But they do carry my favorite paint, so I had to stop).  I picked up 4 cans (you have to stock up when they have it) of Krylon's Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint.  At around $3 a can, it's worth every penny!  This stuff is awesome!  I have spray painted lamps, light fixtures, curtain rods, shower rods, you name it, I've sprayed it.  It covers wood, plastic, glass, metal and just about anything you can think of.  So I get my paint home and I get to work.  After two coats, about 20 minutes of drying time, and a hydrangea plucked from another arrangement here in the house, this is what I produced:

Ah, beauty.  Much better than that sparkly white, at least in my house!  Do you see the crack?  Nope, it's turned towards the back, and even if it were facing the front, the dark paint hides it so well no one will ever notice!  So for around $2.50 (I used so little paint I can hardly add the $3) I have a new piece of home decor.  I placed it on my buffet table, which now looks like this:



Ignore the unpainted trim, um-kay?  I told you yesterday, I'm getting to that!  I still have some more work to do to make my buffet feel "finished", but I'm loving it so far.  By the way, the plate stand on the left was a goodwill find from that same shopping trip.  It was a hideous gold which I also spray-painted with the ORB (Oil-Rubbed Bronze).  Sorry, I forgot to take before pics of that one.  The candle centerpiece was from the same antique/thrift shop as the vase.  I think I spent a total of $20 on all three pieces.  I wasn't too thrilled about the costs of the stand or candle holder, but like I said, it's better than paying full-price and I think for $20 it looks pretty good!  Oh, I almost forgot!  The table-runner has been sitting in a drawer just waiting to be used.  It's a khaki-colored linen fabric.  I picked that up a few months ago for $.50.  I just LOVE a good deal!  And the buffet table?  A wonderful gift from my grandmother! 

(It doesn't get any better than FREE!  Thanks Grandma!)