Changes, Changes....

I like to change things around every so often. And I recently had a bee in my bonnet to change around lots of things.

We have 3 mostly unoccupied bedrooms and none of them were being used to their potential. So, with lots of help from Jeff with the big stuff, we have pretty much flopped around 5 rooms.

The back bedroom now holds my craft stuff and the computer - it is pretty much organized but not decorated so check back later when I finish and post some pictures.

This is one of the front bedrooms and was mostly a craft room.

Now, this end of the front corner bedroom is clean and empty - just waiting for a bed for guests, a valance for the window and some decorations on the walls.

Gavin's things are on the end of this same corner bedroom.

The 3rd bedroom is now set up as a guest room and.

Jimmy and his stuff are in that room until he goes back to college -

I'm sure you can imagine why I am not posting pictures of that room either.

We swapped out the furniture in the front dining room. It did have a big glass table with 6 heavy metal chairs.
Now, it has Jeff's grandparent's long dining table.

The black chairs were in the breakfast area and the white chairs were in the craft room. The black chair seats were pink and black stripes, but I recovered them all with fabric in my stash. Now, 2 are polka dot, one is checked and one is toile.

This long table and smaller chairs make this room seem much bigger.

I found a long enough piece of black fabric on hand to sew up a table cloth.

While I was sewing and measuring, I got out this $1 sheet from a recent garage sale and also sewed up a white tablecloth for when I want to switch out the black one.

I don't know why these pictures are so dark - I thought the flash was on....

In the breakfast room, we are now using an oak table and chairs that were in the attic.

While I was sewing up these bibs, my sewing machine quit.

I've tried everything I know to fix it but I think it is serious.

While I decide whether to get my machine repaired, if it can be repaired, or do some research on buying a new machine, Nina is letting me borrow her machine.

You all may of noticed that Nina and John do their sewing at my house anyway

She has my mother's old Singer, the machine I learned to sew on.

I made the tablecloths with it today and it sews like a dream too.

So thank you a bunch Nina!

what a difference $1 makes

I bought this nice denim bedskirt and 2 pillow covers at the $1 a bag rummage sale last month. I did not intend on using it on my bed but bought it because it was such nice denim fabric.

Yesterday, I saw that this star quilt has just a little blue in it so I thought I would try it on this bed and am really happy with it.

This bed skirt is such good quality that even the fabric part that goes under the mattress is the same nice denim, not that psuedo-interfacing material that is used for most skirts.

The sheets are red and white gingham. I was not really going for such a country, patriotic look but the room is really comfortable and looks more finished now.

One corner of the room has this quilt rack.

We put a chair in each of the corners by the window.

There are no dressers or chest of drawers in this room because our closet is big enough to hold our clothes. That leaves plenty of extra space in this room. I would really prefer this room was smaller but houses now just seem to be increasing the size of master bedrooms, not making them smaller.

Bedroom after a budget makeover

I chose blue as the main color because I wanted to keep some of the artwork we already had that was mostly blue.

The bedding set is from Ebay for about $50.

The tablecloths were from our old house.

I recovered the small pillows with fabric from my stash.

I copied the wreath from a recent cover of County Living magazine. And since all the silk flowers were left from the wedding pew decorations , the only new cost was $7 for the wreath base.

The sofa table is from the Antique Mall in our town but I don't think it is an antique. It is a nice pine Broyhill piece and was just $32.50.

My mom crocheted the afghan that looks a quilt.

And a dear old friend, Michele, gave me the Longaberger laundry basket in 1989.

My FIL painted 2 of the pictures on the wall and the other one belonged to Jeff's grandfather. They are all favorites of Jeff's so I decorated the room around them. I still want to add some things but am so far really happy with it.

(this little pile on the right that looks like dirty laundry is Theo's bed)

Total spent - about $90 plus some shipping and tax.

Craft Room Prettied-Up

First let me say, I know what a luxury it is to have a room dedicated to just my hobbies. I have always done lots of crafts and make-do projects while we were living on a very low budget and raising our children. Now that we are empty nesters and living in a 4 bedroom home, I have a room just for me. It has been very functional but I spent the last few days making it prettier.

I changed out the big long table for a smaller round one we had stored away and added the tablecloth. Jeff and his dad built the shelves for rubber stamps several years ago and they are so nice for keeping the stamps organized and easy to find.

This picture is a little dark but I wanted you to see the best ironing board in the world. The top is wider than a standard board, it has holders on the end for the iron, starch and the clothes being ironed. It also has a shelf underneath for a storage basket. Walmart sells them for about $50. I like it so much that I bought Nina one for a shower gift.

The valance is made of patchwork bandanas from Hobby Lobby. I used to have them in the guest room but when I decided to use red accents in the craft room, they were perfect to move in to there. No sewing, they are just folded over the existing rod.

The sewing desk belong to Jeff's grandparents and the stool belonged my grandmother.

I trash-picked the little black book shelf in Nina's college neighborhood.
The hat box holds glues, the red heart box holds buttons, the lunch box holds notecards and the suitcase on the bottom holds ribbon.

Inside the closet, I try to keep anything not in use in the closet. I really can't stand clutter.

I still want to add some more red accents.

Gift bag storage

I currently have a lot of gift bags on hand right now. Some were bought very cheap on clearance, some are from gifts we have received and the most recent ones are from some of the many gifts the bride and groom received. All the ones I saved are very sturdy and look good as new. From a green point of veiw and from a thrifty point of veiw, it only makes sense to reuse them.
I got this idea from Meridith at http://likemerchantships.blogspot.com/ She used a bracket and says it holds her stash of 50 bags. I did not have a bracket but I did find some large nails in hubby's tool box. The nails were free too!

I hung them in the bottom of my craft closet and the container full of roll wrap sits comfortably in front of them on the floor.
Just an FIY though, if you reuse bags, be sure to remove any to and from tags that might be on them. I once got a Christmas gift in a reused bag from my church secret sister, she had got a gift from her aunt in the same bag and she left the tag on. I had already kind of guessed that she was my secret sister but I knew for sure when I read on the tag "To Cindy, Merry Christmas from Aunt Brenda"

Backyard decorating with a tiny budget

Our budget is just a bit stretched right now, with Nina's wedding this summer and knowing we will need to help out Jimmy when he starts graduate school. We moved to this house almost 5 years ago and have spent very little time in the backyard except when Jeff is cooking on his barbecue or smoker and when we play with Theo, our dog. This pergola was put in by the previous owner but as you can see, there is no concrete or wood deck underneath it. And we have been having a drainage problem as seen in a previous post but we are working with the owner of the land behind and uphill of us to try to take care of that. So the deck or patio is not going to happen this summer but I wanted to make the backyard prettier.

I spray painted the old Rubbermaid plastic chairs white and covered the table with a cloth from the linen closet.
These are Morning Glory seeds that have been planted just about 2 weeks. I hope they will climb up the home-made stick trellis onto the pergola posts.
I spent very little money, just on some spray paint and flower seeds. It is still not what I would prefer it to be but it is a very nice place to sit with my morning tea and read a book in the evening.

I hope to just bloom where I am planted and be happy about it.