Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or Do without... a repeat.

My sweet husband lives by this motto! Before I go shopping for home decor items, I rifle through the garage, closets and look at all the things I could "repurpose" into something fabulous. Here are a few inexpensive decorating ideas from www.pointclickhome.com. With a little extra imagination, you could use these ideas to spruce up your holiday decor without spending much... How fun would it be to have a Halloween or Christams lampshade!... Start warming that glue gun ladies!

Grab that dusty lampshade, vacuum it and then decorate it with ribbon. If you're super cheap like me, you can even spray paint the thing first (I paint everything) then attack it with ribbon. If you get sick of the ribbon, pop it off and change it out. 

I have baskets all over my house... most don't have labels. Use that cute craft paper, print labels and frame them. Attach the frames to your baskets- Wal-mart and Goodwill have great finds.


This one is pretty eco- friendly. Paint dry twiggs (Ooo... Red for the holidays!) and arrange and glue gun them over a thrift store mirror. Ta-Da! What else do you have that you could paint and glue to a mirror?

Paint Sets the Mood

Before you go painting your kitchen blue or your bedroom bright red, take a little time to think about what kind of moods you want in your space.  Do you want a kitchen that evokes strong passions, active and lively conversation, and increases metabolism?  Think Red... or some form of red...'

Green colors invite conversation and friendship.  Green also is a soothing color and the traditional color for peace... a color that's great for a living room or family room.

Yellow is a cheerful and welcoming color.  It brightens dark hallways and energizes those within her walls.  Yellows, in their more subtle form are great for hallways, entries, and living areas.... even bedrooms.

Don't worry about the color police checking to make sure you have the right color in a room. The truth is, you choose the function and mood you want a room to convey and then use color to accomplish that goal.

Take a bedroom for instance.... I want all of my children to relax and never speak another word after 8 pm.  I want them so mellow that they melt when their heads hit the pillow.  I want them always, "feeling groovy" and "chilling out" and  CALM!!!  That's why one particular room is blue... and why another room will be blue very soon... and why I'm seriously considering turning my master bedroom into a "feeling groovy, chilling out, CALM oasis" of blueness.  There is a reason Spa Blue was invented... it was for me.  I'm sure of it.
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!!Fun Reads!!

• For a professional read up on the meaning of every color and shade of the rainbow, go visit the Color Wheel Pro
• If you want to know what moods certain colors evoke, visit the Paint Quality Institute

How have you used colors to evoke moods in your home?
Photo Credits:: Decorpad.com

If I had me a Chick Garage

If I had me a Chick Garage or a (chic garage)... I'd paint polka-dots on the floor, and I'd make sure it had a chair because I'm sure after peeling potatoes for 8 I'd need it.  I'd also make sure the shelves had cute brackets to hold all of my well contained ugly garage stuff.  I'd also have a clock, because I'm pretty organized.

If I had a Chick Garage... I'd hang all my tools from Hobby Lobby hooks with labels, and I'd keep my gloves handy for really hard nail breaking work (with a file handy in case I had to fix my nails when they broke) and I'd keep some lotion near by just in case.

If I had me a Chick Garage... I'd hang my ribbon from a coat hanger, have paper towels handy, and would search every home improvement store for that nifty spray can display holder... Kimba friend, do you see this!  I'd keep my paint swatches close by and wouldn't bother with any other glue than Elmer's or Hot glue...
If I had me a Chick Garage.... I would sort by size AND color AND theme... wait, would I have themes in a garage?  Maybe they'd be more like project classifications.  I'd keep all my supplies in jars I could see through... only truthfully, I know I'd spend more on those jars than the value of the contents thereof so I'd have to use baby food jars and mason jars to be thrifty.
If I had me a Chick Garage...  I'd get rid of that awful tool case that holds all of the attachments that I need and get a magnetic strip because... I don't care what number is on the attachment. I always have to try them all out before the last one fits.  I'd order them from biggest to smallest... that way my husband wouldn't have to ask me if they were metric or standard... what?... I'd just tell the hubby, "they're ordered from biggest to smallest,YOU figure it out."  
Yes, If I had me a chick garage it would look a lot different than it does now.

What would you put in your Chick Garage?

Quick Christmas Pillows!

I've made purses out of placemats but what about pillows? Here are a few ideas that are SIMPLE to make. And of course, they're pretty cheap! I love fabulous frugal gifts and decor!

Wouldn't these make great Hostess gifts!

Get yourself some killer looking Christmas placemats. Kohel's sells Christmas placemats (often 50% off) and they're about $3. I was just there on Friday... plenty to choose from. You can also try Big Lots, Walmart, and Target.

Aproach 1- sew 2 together and stuff with polyfill. WARNING... if any of you have a sewing machine that acts like a princess and is particular... she's going to be sad about thick seams... ya may wanna stock up on sewing needles. For all you fancy machine owners... ignore me and read on.


Aproach 2- Only will work if the place mat has a lining on the back that is not attached in the center. ( You can test this by holding the front and back fabric and pulling.. do they come apart? GREAT!) Cut a slit on the end of the back side lining and stuff poly fill on the inside... sew up the slit!

If you don't want to give pillows... try one of my Pretty Organizers, Pretty shamelessly plugged, Pretty Nifty, but Pretty none the less:) Happy Shopping!

Winterizing

Okay, with Thanksgiving 2 days away I'm finally ready to THINK about Christmas decorating.   My favorite style of decorating is one that peacefully blends with the decor already present.  If you have plates on a wall (courtesy of Pointclick.com), wrap them with a bow, if you decorate with neutral colors... add a little red or green or gold... 
Am I a plate nut?  Love these colors, love the touch of Christmas though... this IS pretty opulent.
Clear jars... don't have ANY.. Gotta get me some of those pretties!  I'm afraid of my kids using them to catch bugs in. This pics from jodyguler.wordpress.com... this setup was for a wedding.
Yep, I'm a fan of red, black and white... this rooms been kissed by Christmas.  LOVE IT! Homegoods.com
Terri's Village.com   How about a winter mistreatment... the fame of Nester!  Snowmen, snow flakes, wreaths, monograms, bows, you name it... just safety pin, glue or duct tape them over what you already have.
These are real.  Use foliage to decorate... bring some of the outside natural decorations in!

Do we need to discuss this?  

Have a great Thanksgiving! Love to all my readers and my you all be richly blessed!

Pretty Organizer

Vintage Office

I've been combing the decor magazines office ideas... I need a rehaul on this office. The Santa Letters are taking over and I'm covered in Christmas paper and Pretty Organized Hat Boxes.

My style is a little frenchy, a little vintage, a little Pottery Barn. I'm pretty loose on the rules, it just has to "go" together. Check out this fabulous office. I thought you could appreciate the budget inspiration that so perfectly collided with style! This is from Better Homes and Gardens.

Gotta love drawer pulls and door knockers. I bought stunning iron door knockers at JoAnns on clearace (garden aisle) and they are a site and conversation piece at my house.. great for hanging things:)

Who'da Thunk!! Not sure how they got these gizmos on the wall 3M double sided gluey tape? Great idea... I always have rogue cutlery that reappears after I replace a set.



Muffin tins as drawer organizers!! CHEAP!! Now your office can double as kitchen storage too!! I lOVE dual purpose design!



Honestly, Can you have too many memo boards when they look this great on a wall? Notice how none of them match but the colors and textures add spice to the room. This room has great details to look at! Now I just gotta get me that desk!

What the Doctor Ordered for the Medicine Cabinet.

Here's the greatest idea I've found so far to clean up your medicine cabinet clutter. Anyone have an avalanche every morning of hairspray, tooth brushes, and Chapstick? What? Only Me? Oh, humor me people and PLEASE let me think that some of you struggle with an ugly medicine cabinet! (yes, I'm reposting... lazy me on vacation!)

Well, Marth Steward organized this one in Jan. of 2006. Check out instructions here.


In a nutshell, you remove the shelves, buy sheet metal and have it cut to fit the back of your medicine cabinet. Glue the galvanized metal in place. Use magnets to help store things vertically both on the back of the cabinet and on the door! Great for hair ties, clippers (ours always walk away), medicine, etc.

Notice though... to get your cabinet to look this good, you can only buy Clinique make-up and silver colored bottles... Don't even think of having a colorful tube of CREST toothpaste in your cabinet!!! If you're a matching nut I guess you could spray paint your toothpaste tube each month... I'll pass.



Of course, if your cabinet looks like this... you're laughing at this post. Yours probably comes with luxury parking for your lipstick, a Ben-gay garage, and Q-tip closet... standard... these cabinets hold things and look good.



A drawer? Wow, what a great idea! Carving... Oooo.... Ahhh.... Nope, this Pretty Organizer will have to wait for such luxury. Maybe for the laundry room expansion (questions??? see this post).

If you're looking for those magnetic holders, Cost Plus world market has several in their kitchen storage area... so does The Container Store (paradise for a Pretty Organizer) and I would guess Bed Bath and Beyond.... if you're looking online, this is an option.... I know, dork to copy the whole page... using the hubbys MAC- no clue how to grab an image.

Check out Magnapods

OR you can be ultra cheap like ME! I'd run out and buy a bunch of magnets, glue them on to cheap boxes or old medicine bottles and recycle my stuff to work in my Ultra Organized Magnetic Medicine Cabinet!

Relaxing Space

While browsing hgtv.com I came across beautiful space I had to share with my readers.

Now, the closest thing I have to a Master Bedroom retreat is my bathroom. I'm always trying to think of ways to make my room more of a retreat... keep in mind that I'm Pretty Organized.. not really super organized, or even close to perfect. I love how this little retreat is close and comfy... a place where you can relax.

My daughters would LOVE relaxing in here! AND... notice the pretty organizing.. Ooo and that looks like a great mistreatment (of Nester's fame) waiting to be copied!



Love this storage... might need a hatbox somewhere in there. Hot pink box coming soon to an etsy store near you!




This desk is a great storage option. It screams thrift store find made classy. Give us moms a brush and some paint and a little painters tape.... and look how much you can hide in them drawers!



Tomorrow I'll announce the "soft opening" of my holiday business. As an incentive for reading all the way through to the end, I'll be having a giveaway for 5 families. This business will only be up and running from Tomorrow until Dec 13th! So getting orders in quick assures you a spot! Check back on Thursday. I'll be doing a grand opening as soon as our website is up and running! Many thanks to my friends the Nester, Kimba, and Melissa for their help in my success.