Decorate for free? You bet!

The adage 'One man's trash is another man's treasure' really resonates with me. I've been known to grab discarded household items off the curb. Don't judge.

I found two window frames at the site of a remodel. I brought them home and put them on the wall in my bedroom. I was going to sand and paint them, but decided I liked  them the way they were.

The one by the sitting area has the Father's Day and birthday cards from Bethany and Grace to their dad.

 This one is on my side of the room. I got that cute sign from Wal-Mart.

I mentioned in an earlier post the shutters I found on the side of the road that I used in my kitchen. This picture was taken a while ago, when I was in my Tuscany/Olde World decorating stage. The kitchen looks totally different now and I've since thrown these shutters out. Maybe somebody got them off the curb.....

If you haven't heard of Freecycle, you're in for a treat.

Freecyle is an online Yahoo email group that allows people to share items they no longer need with others. It's the ultimate in recycling. Clothes, sofas, books, and the like are posted on the site. Interested parties will contact you by separate email to arrange pickup. No money changes hands. All items are free.

 Items may be transferred in the safety of a public place, such as a parking lot.  Most common is the porch pick-up, where potential new owners send a private email informing what time/date they can retrieve the item from the current owner's porch.

I can't decide what I like best about Freecycle: the reduction of waste, the free treasures you find or the chance to pass on an item that still has some life but no longer works for you.

Sign up for Freecycle here. You can get started as soon as you choose your state and city.

When I was going through the aforementioned Tuscany/Olde World decorating phase, I really wanted upholstered chairs at my dining room table. I found two wing chairs listed on Freecycle. I kept them for two years. When I re-did that room, I placed the chairs on Freecycle and they were picked up within hours.

Freecycle does have a downside. No-shows are frustrating. I've actually thrown items out because a person who promised to stop by didn't. A few times they were picked up from the curb. 

You never know what you'll find on Freecycle. If you've got the imagination, you can use it to your decorating advantage. Someone posted a few empty frames and I snapped them up.

 I used the first one in the master bath. I didn't add a mirror or picture. I used it to frame a plate instead.

 I added another frame over the linen bureau on my husband's side of the bedroom. Same set-up: the frame is framing a candle holder.

You're ignoring the dust on top of the dresser, right? Thanks.

The last frame in the set was reserved for the dining room. It has a gold metallic finish. It's used to frame a smaller red mirror.

Free decorating? It can be done.

Bench Love

I mentioned in a previous post how much I love benches. I've got several. They're different but share one similarity: each started its life as a coffee table. True story.

The first bench is in our living room. That's my baby girl Gracie working on her geography in homeschool.

I love that detail in the middle of the table. All I did here was paint the legs black.

 

 

There are two coffee table-turned benches in the dining room.  The one at the table was originally wood that I painted black and had hubby add wheels to.

 

I painted the bench years ago, before I knew about priming wood before painting. A newbie error that I've never got around to correcting. We had a friend over for dinner once who thought that I'd painted the bench then sanded a portion off to give it that weathered look. Yeah, let's go with that.

 



 

This table turned bench will be our focus today. It was also wood painted black, but with flat paint instead of semi-gloss as that's all I had at the time. It's home to a pillow and cat bed, both of which are in abundance at Casa Nichols.

 

 

 

I got a wild hair tonight and decided to cover it with the wall hanging that lost its home after the entry-way makeover. The colors work in the room and it's nearly the perfect size.



Thanks for your help, Simon.

I plan to finish it off with batting and upholstery tacks. A quick tip: if you need upholstery tacks and your funds are low, skip the fabric store. I got these at Lowe's for around $2 a pack and each pack contains 25 tacks. Various finishes and styles are available. I chose an antiqued finish.

 

This bench re-do is part of a larger project: I also plan to re-upholster the head chairs at the dining room table. I'll post pictures when I'm done with the entire project. Thanks for reading!



Ten things that will kill your homeschool

Fail to plan and plan to fail so the saying goes. No matter how wonderful your intentions or great your curriculum, a few missteps or inactions will sink your homeschool. 

 

Let's read what Jenn of  Forever, For Always, No Matter What  has to say about the topic....... 

 

 

Homeschooling is a wonderful blessing, but homeschooling is not an easy road.  There have been plenty of people who have started and stopped for a variety of reasons.  Here are some reasons that homeschooling can fail and how you can avoid them.

1.  No Support – Homeschooling is not easy.  Perhaps you are trying to homeschool without the support of your spouse, perhaps it’s your parents or your in-laws, swimming upstream is tough and frankly it can wear you out!

 2.  Isolated -  Not knowing another “IRL” (In Real Life) homeschooling family or at least another homeschooling mom can make life challenging.  On-line connections are wonderful and have been such a blessing to me, but never getting to hang out face to  face with another friend who shares your same lifestyle can be tough.

3.  Too Busy -  Having the days and the weeks filled up for every child doesn’t leave much time for much book learning, or much time down time for mom or the child.  That can lead to burn out quick.  It’s okay for kids to have “nothing” to do once in a while.

 4.  Trying to do School at Home – Trying to recreate public school at home not only isn’t going to work very well, frankly it’s not that much fun.  So, leave your hair net for the real lunch ladies and carve your own course.

5.  No Structure, No Organization – Just because you don’t have bells ringing every 45 minutes and your kids don’t have to raise your hands to go to the bathroom, doesn’t mean that structure and organization aren’t necessary.  Particularly if you are a mom of many, having a routine is essential.

6.  Not Paying Attention to How A Child Learns – Trying to fit a square peg in a round hole is going to leave you banging your head on the table.  Take some time to figure out how your child best learns and proceed accordingly, it will make all the difference.

7.  Unrealistic Expectations – Homeschooling has gotten some good and well deserved attention over the years for some of the students who have done exceptionally well.  We all aren’t homeschooling little Einsteins.  That’s okay.  Our goal should be to help educate our children to their fullest potential, whatever that may be.

8.  Not Giving it Enough Time – Bailing too early.  A semester, perhaps even one year may not be enough time to see if homeschooling is a good fit or not.  Most likely it will take longer for your family to find a good rhythm.

9.  Switching Curriculum Constantly – Purchasing new curriculum constantly is not only a financial drain, it’s a drain to the teacher and the students.  It takes extra brain power to get the feeling of a new curriculum.  If you are constantly stopping and starting, you are never giving yourself or your students the opportunity to really dig in.  Here’s a little secret: there is no perfect curriculum!

 10.  It’s Run it’s Course -  This is definitely not a “failure.” Life holds different seasons for all of us, and maybe at some point homeschooling has run it’s course for one or more of our children.  Life circumstance change, children change, we change.  It’s okay to acknowledge that what was once working well is no longer working.  Homeschooling allows for so much flexibility, that means starting and stopping as well.


Jen blogs about adoption and homeschooling at her blog  Forever, For Always, No Matter What

She wrote this article for her friends at The Homeschool Classroom

 

Wow. Just wow.

I appreciate the vision it takes to transform a routine or discarded item into a work of household art.  I'm really grateful when the craftsperson shares their project. It gives newbies like me hope that we can do something similar and proves that style and taste are distinctly personal.

Occasionally during my forays through the DIY and decorating haven of the web, I come across a project that leaves me speechless, in the 'I would've NEVER thought of that'  way.

Look what I found this morning.

Shut.your.mouth. 

Picture these all spray painted black, with the open end of the crates facing up, the seat hinged (so that it could open and close) and covered with a toile fabric. Instant hidden storage. 

Mercy.

Or, perhaps the open part of the crates could face forward. There would still be storage, but you wouldn't have to open the seat to get to your items.

Beautiful project, unfortunately, I don't have the space or need for another bench. I've already got three, all homemade. I'll share those in a later post.


Here's another item I found by the same person.

The window next to the fireplace in my living room has a ledge my husband built for the cats, who love to sit high and survey what's happening in the side yard. Simon and Max would love to watch the birds feed, drink and bathe out of this.  Samantha doesn't use that ledge.

Looks simple enough: lighting fixture, dishes, spray paint. I'd modify it a bit. I'd hang the chandy off an 8 foot shepherd's hook.  I'll also paint it a different color. I'd skip the crystals.


Not sure when I'll get around to it, but I'll post it when I do.

I found both projects on 'Trash Find Redesigned' on Facebook. Go check them out.

Let there be light.....

I didn't wake up that morning expecting to re-do my entryway. It just sorta happened.

I tend to categorize my favorite thrift stores by items: one has a wonderful book section, another has awesome clothes and so forth. The CHKD in Churchland has great linen and housewares.  I mean really great.

I walked in one Saturday and found this.....

 

and this....

 

 

 Be still my heart.

The floral pattern was a standard 84 inch panel and cost  $3.99. The three or four yards of navy check was $2.99

When I saw it, a new project formed in my mind: my entryway.

 I didn't take a before picture, but the downstairs walls were brown uppers with a white modified board and batten treatment below.  Here's a pic I snapped as a sneak peak a while back.

The wall leading upstairs was beige, as that wall covered in brown paint would be too overpowering. Each window had a cornice board and swagged panel in burgundy.

I got the wall hanging from the same thrift store a few years ago.

 

 

 I used the checked material on the cornice board and swagged the print panel. I bought a pair of lace café panels at another thrift store for a buck.

 

 

 

The cornice board is a thrift store find from 5 or 6 years ago. It had a blue and yellow checked material before I recovered it in the burgundy cloth. For a millisecond I considered leaving it as it was, but these pastel shades didn't match the darker floral panel.

A few minutes with a glue gun and we were done. Umm, after I got Max out of the way.

 

 

There was only one of the patterned panels for the swag, so I used a light green sheer that I already owned to swag the window at the top of the stairs. I'm not bothered that they don't match. The cornice board is the same for both and that ties them together. The green swag better fits the décor in the upstairs landing.


The walls needed to change as the downstairs walls were too dark. I also wanted the downstairs walls and the wall leading upstairs to be the same (lighter) color.

Not a problem.  I'm a big fan of 'oops' paint--paint that has been returned to stores because shoppers changed their mind about the tint. Stores like Sears, WalMart, Lowe's and Home Depot resell this returned paint at drastic mark-downs.

I love, love, love Behr paint, especially the formula with the primer mixed in. You could easily pay $30 for their Signature line. I went to Lowe's in hopes that I'd find a lighter beige paint and looky here:

Next issue: the former wall hanging between the two windows, while perfect for the former space, not longer worked with this changeover.  I didn't see it as a problem. I wanted another wall hanging, but didn't expect lighting to strike twice, so I put it out of my mind, expecting to find the right thing at the right time.

I no longer work myself into a torrent during my home projects, convinced that if I don't locate the perfect item, my transformation will be a failure. I've now adopted the policy that the right thing will eventually show up.

If I dare to shine a spiritual light on the issue, I've determined that if my work at home is a service to my family that I do unto God, then whatever I need to complete that service will be provided.

Case in point: a few weeks after the mini-makeover, I dropped by that same thrift store and found another wall hanging that fit the new décor perfectly. It's beige, nearly the same tone as the wall.  When I get the time, I plan to add ribbon to the edges to help it stand out. Dark red probably, but green may also work.

Here she is.

 

 

 Finally, I decided to paint the entire staircase in white. I was tired of the stained wood risers and felt a white semi-gloss would really lighten the area.

The following pictures show the staircase with two coats of primer. I'd planned to paint this weekend, but we're going out of town, so I'll get to it when we return.  Even with the primer, the space already looks brighter.

Here's my entryway now. 

Total cost for this project: 22 smacks plus tax.  Can't beat that!

Fabric one:        3.99
Fabric two:        2.99
Wall hanging:    3.99
Lace curtains:    1.00
Paint (beige)     10.00
White paint for stairs: already had
Primer for steps: already had

Homeschool humor

This post is part of the '31 Days' series.

In addition to '31 Days of Decorating on a Dime', I'm also posting '31 Days of Common Sense Homeschooling'.  Join me every day in October as I share some of what I've learned during my homeschooling years.

 Let's get started with a little tongue-in-cheek.


Yes, you will survive homeschooling.......

Yeah, I've had days like this.....

Wait...you mean every homeschool family isn't like this?

Getting Ready for 31 Days......

After a couple years of reading the posts in the '31 Days' series, I've decided to throw caution to the wind and jump into the fray.

What's '31 Days?' you ask.  Basically, bloggers commit to posting every day during the month of October. It's a great way to connect with other bloggers and to learn a new thing or two or six.

The posts don't have to be long or scholarly not do you have to be an expert to participate. All that is needed is a passion for your chosen topic.

I've decided to post on two categories: '31 Days to Common Sense Homeschooling' and "31 Days to Decorating on a Dime,'  both of which are themes on this blog and topics I enjoy both writing and learning about.

I've already made a list of topics under each category. Under homeschooling, I'll be discussing curriculum, free or almost free homeschool and foreign language, to name a few.

Under decorating, I'll be covering a few frugal updates I've made around the house, including our fireplace, my home office and more than a few furniture transformations.

 Now all I need to do is type and link my posts to other bloggers who are doing the same.

Blog posts will begin in a few hours!!!