Fast and Easy Frugal Magazine Holder

Okay, why didn't I straighten this up before I took the picture? ANYwhoo, I have some recipe magazines and they were ALL over the place in our butler's pantry making a huge mess. A pig sty as my mom would say. So I made a magazine holder. I saw the idea on a blog back in the day (I'd link to it, but the link has since been broken) to use a cereal box to make it. Which to me is much more reasonable than spending $7 for what is basically a cereal box at the store. I just cut off the top tabs, and then made a diagonal cut on both of the long sides. I used scrapbook paper to cover it, but wrapping paper or even fabric with Mod Podge would probably be a better choice. But my recipe mags are corralled and out of sight. It's the little things, people.

Oh, PS! We purchased a sectional and it's turning into a mini living room makeover. We won't actually receive it for a couple of weeks, but I think it's going to be good. Mostly we are relieved to have actually made a decision. :0) Can't wait to show you!

Renew, Reuse, and Recycle.

Just a simple, frugal project to share today. Mr. Wonderful bought me a cardigan for Christmas a couple of years ago. I've always liked it, but one of the buttons fell off and broke. So I couldn't just re-attach it.
So I found some new ones at JoAnn's. They are the kind that sort of look like leather. Or wood. Or something. Anyway, I love 'em and it feels like a whole new sweater.
I just cut off the remaining buttons and replaced them with safety pins so I knew where to put the new ones, made sure they were big enough for the button holes, hand sewed them on and that was it. It's like recycling for your closet.

In fact, my mom did the same thing for my jacket last winter. My winter jacket has been with me since about 2002. It's a wool toggle coat from the LL Bean outlet store in ME. I was all ready to toss it out and get a new one when I realized that the ONLY thing wrong with it was that it needed to be cleaned professionally and it needed new cording to hold the toggles. It was a consumer wake-up call for sure. So I took it to the cleaners and Mom fixed the cording. Perfectly good coat. In fact I still love it.

Here is a really great post about converting your boot cut pants to skinny pants. I haven't tried it yet, but I think it would be a great way to use some of the pants I already have and update them. I'm trying to be hip by wearing skinny jeans, but now I'm confused by that beer commercial where they make fun of that guy who is wearing skinny jeans. Did the moment pass on that trend, or am I still with it? I'm just a stay-at-home-mom who is trying to be cool, people. Help me out here.

Hi, My Name is Ally and I'm a Tag Sale-aholic.

Let me hear you now, "Hi, Ally!"

Thank you for your show of support. At least I've taken my first step, right? Admitting the problem?

I found a GREAT estate sale last weekend. I'm finding that the best recipe for a great tag sale is older house out in the country, maybe on a farm, an older lady's house. I could have bought so much more, but I stood my ground. This is actually a pillow case, but I'm using it flat on the kitchen island right now. I HEART the colors. They had a ton of stuff like this. One of the ladies running the sale said "oh you're one of those....what do you call it? Shabby chic people, aren't you? (I'm not really, but what do you say?) She then proceeded to point out all this great stuff to me. Every few minutes.

This is handmade. Not totally sure what it's going to do yet. Perhaps hold magazines in the guest room.

Some of it isn't exactly baby friendly. But I love it! An apple crate. This might flip over and be a table in the outdoor room. (the one in my mind. That MAYBE will become a reality when pigs fly. I would LOVE an outdoor room)

And this adorable vintage baby romper for a dime:

Modeled by Miss Ava herself. It's a 12 month outfit, but I don't know if it'll fit her in another month-and-a-half! I'm sure sizing is different these days. But I figured for a dime, I had to get it!

Thanks for listening, and for your support as I battle my addiction. To tag sales.

Going once, going twice, SOLD!

We tried something new on Saturday, and went to an auction! I saw it advertised in the Buyer's Guide (free publication delivered to our house once a week), and looked up the web page. They had a couple of dough bowls advertised, which I've been keeping an eye out for awhile now. My friend Marge had one in her New England cape-style home. During Christmas she would put some fresh boughs and apples in it and it looked so great. I've always wanted one. Anyway, so I did some research, found out how crazy expensive they can be, and hoped for the best.

Our Mapquest directions got us ridiculously lost on the way there. They were terrible! So we were late. Walking into the auction was super intimidating, because I couldn't make out a word of what the auctioneer said at first. I didn't know where I was allowed to walk, or if it was okay that we brought a baby along, but I pretended to know what I was doing because I figured I should keep my game face on. A friend of mine gave me a few pointers:

1) Set a top price in your head
2) Don't make it a contest
3) Pretend it doesn't matter to you whether you get an item or not
4) Don't bid on the auctioneer's first price, wait until he drops it down

As time went on I was able to kind of decipher the auctioneer and understand how it all went. I got my little number card and "practiced" on some things I liked but didn't care whether I got. When the first dough bowl came up for bid I was distracted by Ava. She was being pretty good but I was feeding her some puffs or something. So I didn't get in on the action when I could have. But anyway it went for above our limit. So I didn't hold out much hope for the bigger more primitive dough bowl.

We stuck around. Mr. Wonderful ended up getting a set of books called "The History of the World" (sounds like some heady reading!) Finally, the other bowl was up for bid and I was ready this time. I didn't bid on his first price, I waited for him to drop it down. Somebody else bit first, I held up my number high for the next price, but I wasn't the only one. I got it at $40, and then I made a rookie mistake: I double bid. The auctioneer even had to say "ma'am I already got you at $40." Embarrassment! Somebody got it at $50, and I thought I was done, but the guy behind us said "c'mon, are you going to let that get away????" So I bid $60! And the guy who was clearly a dealer ahead of us bid $70 and I couldn't keep going. SAD!

We stayed for a little while longer. They put this foot warmer for a carriage up for bid, (you would have put coals in it to keep your feet warm back in the day) and nobody was biting, so they added an enamel coffee pot to the lot. I happen to heart enamel, and I thought it was cool, so I bid on it and got it! Here it is:

It's actually pretty huge. Here is a little perspective:

So the auction was a lot of fun! I highly recommend it, but as a warning it was really addictive to bid. And even though we set a limit in our heads, it was really tempting to raise that limit. Do I really want to lose this item over a measly $10? $20? $30? But that's part of the fun. I see many more auctions in my future this summer!

Welcome Art

I have been drooling over these images for awhile now:

Look on the wall!
On.. Beadboard... I'm dying...

I thought it would be a good way to welcome-ify our entryway. So I went to Bethesda Thrift Store, which I find is the most crafty. I found some embroidery hoops on my first try! Two for $.59 and one for a hefty $.19. Yes! I just used my new fabric stash to fill them.

To try and get them flush with the wall, I gathered the fabric in the back and tried to sew it in. I think I've seen that done in the past.
Aren't they cheerful? I'm going to try and find a medium-sized one. And probably just buy every one that I find thrifting from now on and keep adding until it fills the whole wall because I love it so much. Or until it looks like the Apartment Therapy post.

Baby Steps

Hello there,

I am making a bit of headway on my projects. I wrote them all down on a list last week. Oh boy, it was a long list! So, I'm trying to just stick to one area. I chose the office, since it'll probably go the fastest and involves the least painting.

I added another jute pencil holder-thingy to the desktop plans. We had this very modern looking pencil holder already. Now there are two! See, it looks less lonely this way.

I have been getting into Mod Podging lately. I really wanted to try Mod Podging the plastic file bin that sits on our desk. I used fabric from Joann's. Seriously, it took me three visits to the store and multiple websites of searching to find fabric. Mr. Wonderful offered to watch Ava so I could browse at my leisure. I was still there for about an hour! I didn't take before pics, as I'm sure you know what a plastic filing tub looks like. I didn't even sand it or anything before I started. I started on one end, first brushed the tub with podge, then the back of the fabric and smoothed as I went along. I did two coats of podge over the top. I trimmed the top edges with a swiss army knife to make it look even. I had to go slow and do some creative folding to make it work, but I'm pretty pleased with the result:

I also did a pretty box that I got a gift in for Christmas. I really like the way it looks together! Mr. Wonderful cleaned the desk off last weekend, so it's really starting to come together. There are a few more pieces to work on, though. Centsational Girl (love!) did a series on organizing and pointed out that when your filing box is pretty it feels less like work to do your bills! So true. In fact, I'm gonna go file right now!

Featuring the Work of Mr. Wonderful

Several years ago there was an article in Real Simple magazine about turning your personal pictures into art for your home. It looked like a great way to personalize your home, and it stuck with me. After Mr. Wonderful and I got married, I loved the idea of using a picture from our honeymoon for art. Unfortunately, the cost of getting a canvas made of your pictures is prohibitive. It generally starts at around $100. So I sighed and tucked that idea away for another day....

Until Mr. Wonderful surprised me one day! He had the canvas printed for about $45 at the FedEx store, made his own frame and stapled it around the back. It is such a cheery memory and picture. (especially on gray, dreary, Februrary 22nd days. I mean, gray, dreary days.) Look at the color of that water! Here's a close-up of Mr. Wonderful's handiwork. You could also have the color strech around the sides if you choose. Doesn't that fold look great?

Mr. Wonderful customizes on the cheap! I'm so thankful for my creative and handy husband!

Our colorful HUGE homemade rag rug

So here is the infamous rug! I got the idea to make a rug last summer (July or August or something). In my quest to de-bachelorize the house, I convinced Mr. Wonderful that we should take up the...less than ideal calico carpet in our living room. If only I had a before picture. Underneath the carpet was some wood floors. They were a big improvement, and I liked them for us, but they are kind of rough and I didn't like the thought of Ava's knees getting scraped up on them. Refinishing is not in the plans for now. So I wanted to get an area rug for the room. It is about 10x10, so a big one would probably cover almost the whole floor.

Looking online at rugs was a little discouraging. Being a one-income family, we are on a tight budget, and even ikea was over it! I stumbled upon a blog tutorial about how to make rugs. It was such a revelation to me that you don't have to buy everything! So...many more tutorials, online videos, blogs, books from the library, practice, ripping out, trial, trial trial, error, error, error and here it is! I won't try to do a tutorial, because there re some good ones out there already, but this is simply strips of fabric crocheted in a circle pattern. I used a half=double crochet stitch and a huge needle. I used cotton sheets from thrift stores (22, plus a few pillowcases, table cloths and random fabric). I picked a few colors, stayed away from too much white, and I liked the vintage-y looking prints. It took about 4 months. I wish I could say that it was about the process and enjoying the relaxing art of crochet (which I hadn't done since my grandma taught me a chain stitch when i was about 10), but no, pretty much it was about saving money and getting it done before Ava started crawling. But I do like the end result!
In the end, I estimate I spent about $60-$70 on the fabric. It ended up being 7 feet diameter. Here is Ava playing on it!
Isn't she having fun??? Here I've captured a bad mom moment. That is her with her legs caught in the straps of the Baby Bjorn. Mental note....

Our Apartment Therapy kitchen island

Woot! I'm so excited about this post! Can you tell???

This is part two of the kitchen island post. Part one is Sneak Peek.

We got this dresser from Grand Repeats in Wausau. When I told Gloria, one of the owners, that I was planning to repurpose a dresser into a kitchen island, she got super excited and showed me a few pieces. This one was out in their garage, which means that they hadn't done any work to it, and sold it to us as is. They were great to work with!

Just as a reminder, here is the dresser after we took out the drawers and knocked off the top:


Since they sold it to us as is, Mr. Wonderful had to do a little work to the structure of the drawers to make them more sturdy. After that we did some light sanding, and I started priming. I also primed the towel bar and corbels that we bought:

After the priming, we did two coats of paint. We chose Behr "Happy Camper." Isn't that the best name for a paint color? I ended up attaching the towel bar before the second coat, because as you can tell from the picture above, it was kind of awkward to paint without smudging it.

After that, we attached the corbels to the back side of the dresser. The back isn't flat, but it still worked.

Meet my handsome handyman:

Handsome handyman did something with dowels in the corbels to attach the top. Boy I wish I had asked him more about this step right now. It involved wood glue, making a hole in the top of the corbel, and.....yeah:

The dresser already had casters, but we replaced them with these antique-y beauties from Home Depot. They are much smoother than the old ones. We decided on casters because you are technically supposed to have 36 inches on each side of a kitchen island and we don't (small house love!). So if we need to shove it over to get around it, it's no problem!

For the top, we found a piece of edge-glued board from Home Depot that looked like butcher block, stained and shellac-ed it, and pieced it together for the top. The thing that made butcher block sooooo expensive for this project was the custom size. Most countertop material comes in a standard width, but since we wanted a breakfast bar, cost was prohibitive. So, Mr. Wonderful used the corbels and some "T" brackets underneath to put the edges together:

Here is a shot showing off the adorable drawer liners I found at the Dollar Store. I love the vintage-y print:

And here is the final product! We looooove the extra counter space and look of our kitchen island. All together, the island cost about $200 and the chairs were another $100. I saw something sort of similar today for $550 WITHOUT the stools or the breakfast bar extension.

Thanks for reading!!!