Thursday, June 30, 2011

Black, White and Tan June, I Have Not Forgotten You.

It's just been busy.  I've had the room neutralized since early June.  Here are a couple mini-additions that I have yet to blog about.

I have always loved pillows like this:

Sweater-Knit Pillow Cover


And with the right sweater, I've even considered making a pillow like this:

But then I found these at Kohl's on clearance for $8.99, and then I got an additional 30% off with a coupon:

They are Euro Sham covers, and I had a few shamless Euro pillows that I had used on our Big Black Bed prior to selling it.  (The old shams were sold at our garage sale: $10 for 3).


 At first, the shams were a little too big for the pillows:


But a quick hot water wash and high heat dryer cycle took them down to a perfect size:

Pretty nice for $6.30 each.  I don't think I could make them for cheaper than that, especially taking into account the time it would take to cut and sew an old sweater.


And remember the picture frame that I posted about here:



Well, since it's our anniversary month, I landed on this handmade card to fill the frame:


And finally, I changed out the bird picture above our fireplace from last month, and added a family photo.

Before:


After:
Lucky's hand is on top, followed by my hand and then Bill's.  We couldn't convince Charm to give us a hand.  Next time:).

Here are some photos of the room as a whole:








Next month: a little red, white and blue action!!  And to see previous colors of the month, please click on the label 'Color of the Month' below. 

And also, Lucky's Room Budget Update will go up tomorrow!




Target Gift Card Finale

A while back, I challenged myself to see what I could purchase over the course of several trips to Target using a $50 birthday gift card.  You can see the first posts here and here and here.  I seem to have forgotten about the roughly $9 remaining on my gift card for about a month or so, so while running errands this week, I used the remaining balance (at least really close to all of it) on the purchase of these items:



1 drum shade: $6.24
2 Revlon Nail Products: -$2.10 (with manufacturer coupon)
2 Matchbox Cars: $0.18 for both with coupons from Target
1 Benadryl Anti-Itch Stick: $0.29 (with manufacturer coupon)
1 package of unders for Lucky: $3.74 on clearance
Total: $8.35


So in total, $50 at Target can buy you all of this:
$18.93


and this:
$8.22

and this:
$12.96 Total
and this:
$8.06
I'm pretty impressed with the overall haul!!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Lucky's Room Reveal

After a couple months, Lucky's room is finally ready for a big reveal!  (Well, there are a couple projects we will continue to work on, but it's basically done:)).  You can read more about the furniture, wall art and general organization of this room if you click on 'Lucky's Room' at the bottom of this post.

Here is reminder of what we started with:




(And it was actually less than what is pictured.  We didn't keep the daybed frame, so we were really starting with a twin mattress (no box spring), a brown reading chair and some accessories.)

And here is what the room looks like today:










Here are some close up photos of the last few room additions:

I added some poster frames (just like the ones I posted about here) to add some personalized photos.



We also hung her 'L' hook:

She loves being able to hang up her own towel at night.

And we added an embroidered prayer that my Grandma made for me just after I was born.  It was in my room as a little girl for as long as I can remember.



And remember my original inspiration for the room?  Well, I found a hat stand on Craigslist for one buckaroo, and I had to snatch it up to display the hat behind the room.  A perfect finishing touch!!



And here are a few more things that we'll be working on in the future:


We had a little problem with one of the drawer knobs already.  I think we tightened it too much when we installed them and one cracked.  No one was hurt and I replaced it with a cheapo white floral pair from the Michael's dollar bin section.  I may try to spray paint it a similar blue to the others, because I really don't love the look as is. 

And this canvas will be one of my 'hibernation' projects this winter after I find some inspiration.  It's a big canvas that I've had for quite awhile, so I'm not sure how much it cost, and I didn't include the cost for the room since it's not finished (or even started actually).

All in all, I'm very pleased with the way this room came together, and I learned so much in the process!!


The budget update for this room will come tomorrow, once I get it all calculated.  Then, we're moving on to Charm's big boy room!!

Linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

More Pier 1 Clearance

I may have been stalking a few pillows at Pier 1 for a long time.  You see I have this throw pillow obsession, but I can't justify paying more than about $10 for a pillow, especially now that I can make them on my own, so I've been waiting for these to go on sale.

Last week, I hit the jackpot when these pillows reached 75% off:
Floral Bouquet Pillow, $9.98 (was $39.95)


Sunset Chevron Pillow, $8.68 (was $34.95)


Velvet Ric Rac Pillow, $6.18 (was $24.95)



Teal Chevron Pillow, $7.48 (was $29.95)

I haven't received my 'Pier 1 Rewards Certificate' from this post yet, but I did plan ahead and order a gift card for Pier 1 from Plastic Jungle and it was discounted 15%.  (I paid about $27 for a $32 dollar gift card.) 

 My total for all 4 pillows came to just a bit over my gift card balance.  I basically paid $30 for $130 worth of pillows (Less than 75% off thanks to the additional 15% discount received by using a Pier 1 Gift Card from Plastic Jungle). 





As Lucky says, 'Yeah to the Hey!' 

Monday, June 27, 2011

Patio Additions!

At the end of my dresser reveal post last week, I mentioned that Target had started to put outdoor furniture on clearance.  Well, we took advantage and picked up a couple club chairs to add to our patio in addition to our dining set.




They were $62 each and included the beige cushions which match our yellow/beige cushions perfectly.  (I do have some extra fabric from making the cushions that I may use to add a pillow or two to the new chairs.)  I like that the curved backs of the chairs mimic our patio dining chairs, and I especially like that they are stackable for easy winter storage.  I'm excited to have some super comfy seating to use in the backyard while the kids are running around with bubbles or climbing trees or whatever:).



My goal was to keep the entire patio furnishings and accessories under $300.  So far we're at $166 + $124 = $290.  I still want to add a table of some sort for between the chairs and a few planters.  I'm going to have to get thrifty:).

We enjoyed dinner on the patio again this weekend, and it was lovely!!



Our new $4 Walmart water pitcher was a hit with the kids!!


And in other random updates: My planter is doing much better now.


 And our garden is exploding:
(Click on the garden link above to see what our garden looked like several short weeks ago.)