More pillow love and the den update

Got my Pincushion pillows yesterday and they are so sweet!  Just waiting on the new rug and the den will complete (except for one more little valance)!

Rugs, Rugs, Rugs

My latest obsession has been RUGS!  When we first moved in, I thought I could live with the faux hardwood floors and had absolutely NO intention of spending money on rugs that I may or may not use in the new house.  But let's face it, I've got a long time to live in this little house and I'm getting so tired of using the Swiffer every day!
I happened on Overstock the other day and three hours later, I found the virtually perfect rug for my living room; I just hope it's perfect in person.  It had great reviews and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's delivered before Briley's birthday party this weekend.

Transitional Rug from Overstock.com

The rug in an 8x10 was a great price and the promotion was free shipping with an additional 10% off for new customers.  I'm hoping the texture and pile of the rug will work in our high traffic living room.  The material is called polypropylene, and I'm not exactly sure what that is, but I took a chance!  We shall see!

The very day after I ordered this rug, I came across RugsUSA.  Turns out they are having a huge sale with 50%-80% off most of their rugs.  Well, that was enough incentive for me to decide I also needed one in my den.

http://www.rugsusa.com/rugsusa/rugs/rugs-usa-nadra-trellis/navy/200MTVS49C-76096.html

I am in LOVE with this rug!  I hope it's not too dark or too busy for the small space.  Again, it was such a great price - 50% off and free shipping!  I got it in 5x8, which should be perfect for in front of the couch.  Since it's going in the kid's playroom/media room, I'm hoping it won't show all the stains that are bound to happen.  

I Heart Pillows

Have I ever mentioned that I love pillows?  I'm pretty sure I have.  That's really one of the only reasons I wish I could sew.  Lucky for me, we have a sewing and embroidery shop at my workplace (that I have not taken full advantage of).  I found some great fabric to go in the den/playroom and am having some pillow covers made as we speak.  I can't wait to get them back!

So the other day, two of my favorite things came together: pillows and Bowling Green Shop and Sale (SAS).  I've needed new couch pillows for awhile; the ones I have now are looking pretty crappy.  The only really good thing about them is they are great to lay your head on, which I try to do as often as I can.  My favorite place to shop, TJ Maxx, has had some great pillows as of late, but even there they are just a bit pricey (for my taste anyway).  It's hard for me to buy just one, especially when they are for my couch.  : - (  But when you find pillows for $5 a piece, it does the trick!  Check them out!

Drop Cloth Curtains

If you frequent blogland much, this won't be anything new to you.  I'm not really sure why I didn't do this sooner, especially since I spent about $60 on living room curtains that would have worked great for this project.  It's super simple and super affordable.  That's a combination you can't beat.

These are some of my favorites I found on the web.

Decor Allure

The Old White Cottage

The Old White Cottage

Lily Button Design

So here's the story:  I've been on the lookout for some curtain panels to hang in the playroom/den for awhile.  I originally thought the matchstick shades would do the trick, but the room was just missing something.  It was converted from a garage, so the window placement is a little funny.  There are three windows and all three start at the ceiling, so the 84' panels that are found everywhere won't work.  I didn't want a lot of $ in them, and even though I'm adding color to the room, I didn't really want it in the curtains.  

My first trip to Wal-Mart was a failure.  They had like a 9x20.  Um, a little big.  The color was good, but after getting it home I decided that cutting it in half and sewing having someone sew two sides was just a little too much work, so it went in the return pile.  The next night I went to Lowe's.  I finally located the size I needed and guess what?  SOLD OUT!  Seriously?  Did everyone in BG have the same idea as me?  But what was that?  Up on the VERY TOP SHELF. . . . Yep, a whole box of 6x9 cloth drop cloths!  I'll take two!  

After a good washing, lots of fabric softener, and a couple of hours of ironing, they were ready to hang.

I - AM - IN - LOVE!  

So here's the full length picture (yep, that's my camper you see in the window).  

The clip rings were on clearance at Lowe's for $5.  I had to buy three packs of 7 since the curtains are so wide.  They were silver, but a little bit of spray paint fixed that.  

Hope you love them as much as I do!

Feeling Inspired

I'm feeling inspired - maybe because of this wonderful wonderful new blog I've found (more about that in another post), maybe because I'm tired of all the tan, cream and gray in my house, maybe because I'm sooooooooo ready for Spring and the colors that it brings.  

After lots of debating, I've decided to infuse some blue, yellow and orange into the house.  These projects are really about repurposing some of the things in my house that are stuck in closets or hiding under a bed.  So, on a weeknight trip to Wal-Mart, I scored BIG  TIME!  I was immediately drawn to a Robin's Egg Blue color and couldn't believe that it was the ONE BLUE COLOR that they sold in a tester.  They also had a really pretty golden yellow and orange in a tester, so I picked up those too!

I was itching to paint something but really wanted to make sure the color was right before I took the plunge.  Who knew that a quick trip in TJ Maxx would give me just what I needed!  

Pillow, flower pot, and lanterns (in bag) from TJ.  Crate from Rock Garden.  Wooden hanging boxes from Decor Steals.

This pillow is gorgeous!  It has all the colors in it I'm looking to incorporate and has varying shades of blue.  I really must add another photo of the front and back.  Seriously in love.  

I was so excited to break out my blue paint that I didn't even take a before picture.  Luckily, I bought TWO lanterns.  These were a great size, looked fairly simple to paint, perfect design (LOVE the Xs) and were only $10 each!

Before on right - after on left.

This is the Glidden tester in Deepest Aqua.  I paid $2.94 for it at Wal-Mart.  It looks like there were some coupons floating around on the web back in August and you could get it for $.94, but that was then and this is now.  I still didn't think the price was bad considering it had a built-in brush which means NO CLEAN UP FOR ME!! (Score!)  Since I only plan on painting some frames and accessories, the built-in brush should work fine.  

Here's the finished product!  I love, love, love the lanterns and can't WAIT to see how they look on the mantle.  

Till next time!

JH

I Heart Pillows

I stopped by my favorite store, TJ Maxx, yesterday and crushed on some pillows.  I really need pillows for the couch, but really wanted a pillow for my bed.  Right there, on the end cap between the rugs and the comforters, was a rectangle ruffle pillow in just the shabby chic look that I love.  It adds just the feminine touch it needed!

 This is how the bed looked before.  

 The pin striped Ralph Lauren pillow found a new home in the den.

Picture Frame Project

I have been wanting to do this little project F-O-R-E-V-E-R-!!!  I mean, I've even had the stuff to do it F-O-R-E-V-E-R-!!!  Since Brady was sick Friday, I was at home Friday.  Since I was at home Friday, I got almost ALL of my "chores" done for the weekend leaving me some time today for my little project.  

These were the cutest picture frames I could find at Hobby Lobby.  They were about $8 each (yes, I got them 50% off).  The two rosettes also came from Hobby Lobby and I used my 40% off coupon on them making them about $1.25 each.  The wired burlap ribbon came from Trees and Trends.  Hobby Lobby was ALWAYS sold out, and Trees and Trends was actually cheaper.  

Nothing like a project with the ole' hot glue gun.

The most difficult part was deciding how long to cut the ribbon.  The bottom piece in the picture below is a tad longer than the width of the photo frame.  (Notice the ends are cut in.)  The top piece is what makes the bow, so it's actually easier to glue with the ends pointing out.  **After getting this put together, I actually decided it needed another piece of ribbon on the very back (you'll see this in the final picture.)  If you want yours to look the same, you'll need one additional piece cut a little longer than the bottom piece in the picture below.

Make the bow by glueing the two ends together and then 

glueing the center down to where the two ends meet.  

The bow gets glued onto the flat piece of ribbon and then the rosette.

 A little hot glue on the back of the ribbon secures it to the picture frame and finishes off the project.

                                                      A closer view of the ribbon. . .

               One of the frames found a home in the living room.  I found a picture of Briley and
                 Daryl at last year's Valentine's dance (which you can't see for the horrible glare).

                                            The other frame found a home in our bedroom.