Coffee Table and Makeover for $12

Table: $3 at the State Surplus Agency

Sandpaper: $1 at Dollar Tree

Spray Paint: $8 at Lowe's Hardware

A few years ago, we lucked out on finding this hideous, yet ridiculously cheap coffee table. It had a broken leg that I have since glued firmly to the table. Because this table was only $3 and still has hints of having a broken leg, I decided it would be a great project for me to practice my sanding and painting skills. I made a few mistakes, one of which was using too heavy a grain of sandpaper and overly-scratching the table. But overall, I'm so glad I was able to practice!

 Please admire the original, beautiful scratched orange-brown finish below:

I was surprised at the paleness of the fake wood underneath the paint:

The middle of the table, mostly before sanding. We love the pattern of the wood.

 Ta-da! Here is the finished product.

I didn't want the legs to stain the carpet, so that's why there are paper towels under the legs in the picture.

Bonus: The couch pictured here was free from a friend!

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"Mine House is a House of Order"

 

Lately, I've been extremely motivated to organize our house. When you live in a rental, you develop a mindset of: "This place is not permanent. I am only here for a little while. Why bother decorating?" But I think we may stay in this house for a while longer, so I am getting my act together.

As my fellow procrastinators out there may know, if you suddenly feel motivated to do something, you need to act on that motivation immediately before it passes. So this morning as I was struck suddenly and acutely with the inspiration and motivation to primp my laundry sorter, I carried out the revelation and it was completed within the hour.

from walmart.com

I bought a laundry sorter similar to the one above about a year ago. Since then, it has sat with these substandard, makeshift labels:

Time for a makeover! I created these labels in powerpoint, using the Helvetica font of course. The labels were then laminated, cut, and hole-punched. I used zip-ties to attach the labels to the sorter.

How did I ever live without my own laminator?

Handy dandy paper cutter!

Time to hole punch.

Attached with zip-ties.

Here is the finished product! So much better looking. It's a little bit of organization heaven.

If I had another laundry sorter, I would also have labels for reds and pinks, hand wash items, towels, and whites. How do you sort your laundry? Do you or anyone you know dare to sort their laundry in more ways than me?  

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Break from Blogging

If you couldn't tell, I have taken a break from blogging. I no longer work at American Eagle Outfitters, which was the main reason why I began blogging; I wanted to catalog my work outfits so I would not repeat them and I wanted to keep track of how I paired all the new clothes I was buying for work. 

Currently, I am keeping a tight lock on my clothes spending so that I can pay tuition when I begin my graduate studies in the fall. Most likely I will recommence blogging once my classes start. 

I have been doing tons of other crafts, including scrap-booking, designing, and upcycling. Let me show you what I've been up to. 

First, here is a recently completed project, which actually took me over a year to complete out of laziness!

Before I attached the circles together.

Finished: Each circle has the family member's name and date of birth.

Another current creative outlet has been scrap-booking. Here are a couple pages from a new scrapbook:

The white lacy top sheet was actually hand-punched. Each 1-inch square was individually punched out.
Talk about exhausting!

I used wood chips to designate on the map each town we visited and included a map key. 

To finish this post, here are some garage sale finds during my blogging hiatus.

A mannequin for $7 (shirt and necklace not included).

Another mannequin for $3, this one with no legs, but easily transportable and can hang in my closet.

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Fall Decorations

big metal pumpkin: $10 at Michaels       Little pumpkins: $6 for a dozen at Marshalls

 When I was growing up, I don't remember us ever decorating for fall. So I got an "innovative" idea this year to go out and get decorations to make it seem more autumn-like in my home. I know, it's not much, but I'm beyond excited about the humble beginnings of my fall decoration collection ... to be continued for years to come!

leaves: $1 for a pack of 50, at the Dollar tree               real pomegranates: grocery store

string of leaves: $4 at Michaels          little pumpkins: $1 each at Dollar Tree

Putting a spider web up is trickier than I thought! I'm pretty pleased with it, though.

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Marble Nails

Have You Tried Marble Nails Yet?

When I discovered marble nails, I was immediately addicted. There are some great tutorials out there, so I won't make another one. All you need is two colors of polish, a toothpick, a small container, some tape or vaseline, and some water. It takes a while to get the hang of it, and sometimes certain polishes aren't cut out for creating the right effect. So you may end up trying 15 times to polish your first nail.

images via google

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DIY Cheap Scarf Holder

A Non-Damage Scarf Holder
That will hold lots of scarves!

I have no idea if anyone has thought of this before. I know I've seen people use shower curtain rings to hang scarves, but I've never seen this exact idea. I needed a method to hang my scarves without damaging the walls, but I didn't want to use 20 command strips--one for each scarf. So I came up with this solution!

I used 2 large command strips, which cost me $5.88 for a 4-pack.

This tension rod was $2.17. I got it from the curtain section of Walmart.

I couldn't find any of these in the bath section.

I used shower curtain rings that wouldn't mark up my white wall, $2.96 for a dozen.

I love this solution, because if I buy more scarves, I can just extend the tension rod!

Update

I adapted this idea to hold my small, but quickly growing, necklace collection. I had to search around about 5 different stores to get a curtain hooks that matched better.

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