Anthropologie Gone Mad: Stem-to-Stem Candlestick

October 31, 2012

You all know that I'm as eager as the next girl when it comes to making cheap frugal knock-offs.  So when I saw this in Anthropologie's November 2012 catalog for $298.00 I just had to share the photo right away.  


I also love Anthropologie as much as the next girl, but seriously?





$298.00?

It would cost me all of $2.00 to make one of these with Goodwill goblets and a little Superglue.

I think it would look great on my Thanksgiving table.

Sorry I haven't actually made one yet.  It's just that I'm still trying to pick my jaw up off the table.

I'll be sure to share when I do.

Happy Halloween, Y'all!

xoxo

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DIY Pottery Barn Bath Storage Ladder

October 26, 2012

rustic ladder bathroom storage wire basket towel
Pottery Barn Lucas Reclaimed Wood Bath Ladder Storage 

I fell in love with this the first time I saw it. But at $279 I just had to find another way to get the look for less.  And I did!

rustic wood ladder bathroom tub wire basket towel


ladder vintage feed sack towel Brick Oven Bakers Port Chester, New York

It all started one day a few months ago as I watched my husband repairing the kids' wooden swing set.  It was old and unstable, so he was replacing a few things, including the monkey bars.  Yes, monkey bars.  They were perfectly aged and just rustic enough.  He discarded  them by the woodpile in the back yard and didn't give it another thought.  But I did.  So when I later asked him to bring it into the house he looked at me like "What the...?" Despite his reaction he was a doll and carried it inside and upstairs to our master bathroom. 

I picked up a black wire bin at Goodwill for $1.99 and tied it onto one of the rungs with jute.  I filled it with towels and a jar of bath salts with a cute little silver scoop.

vintage apothecary lidded jar epsom salts silver scoop towels


wood ladder wire basket rolled towels lidded jar epsom salts

The "bath salts" are actually Epsom Salts which I already had.


I also added a vintage feed sack from Brick Oven Bakers, Inc. in Port Chester, N.Y. to function as a rustic-looking towel.



And if you're wondering why I placed it IN the tub, well, just take a look at said eyesore tub.  It's a huge, green whirlpool tub that we've NEVER used.  I've always complained that it was nothing more than a dust-collecting eyesore and that I just wanted to rip it out.  Well, since THAT ain't gonna happen, I'll take what I can get.  In this case, at least I have something nice to look at that distracts me from all that dust.


I may still play around and eventually add another wire basket.  But I'm really happy with how my idea turned out for now. If you're interested in other ideas for ladders, just visit Ashbee Designs' blog and take a look.


You Can See More Of My Pottery Barn Knock-Off Projects Here: 


More Beach Decor: Pottery Barn DIY Faux Coral

Inexpensive DIY Pottery Barn Hurricane Knock-Off

Pottery Barn-Inspired Have Yourself A Merry Litttle Christmas Chalkboard


Well, that's it until next time, friends!
 I hope you've enjoyed reading about my
DIY Pottery Barn Bath Storage Ladder! 

Don't forget to Pin it!
rustic ladder bathroom storage wire basket towel

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DIY Halloween Wreath

October 23, 2012


I know I've been A-W-O-L for the past few weeks, but I really have been trying to get a few home decor projects finished in my nonexistent spare time.  I've been preoccupied with Halloween lately, so I thought I'd re-run my Creepy Wreath post from last year.  Hope you don't mind.  For some of you this will be new stuff, so here goes.

This is really simple, folks.  I mean, my Dollar Tree actually has a packet of instructions for this wreath hanging from a display stand that holds all the materials!  Some might say lazy.  I say genius {okay, well, maybe not GENIUS, exactly} to take advantage of a cheap, simple and unique DIY Halloween decoration.
If you don't believe my good fortune just take a look at the free instructions I brought home from Dollar Tree.


They were so kind as to list the materials, so I don't have to!  But I WILL show you what I used.


One old grapevine wreath that had seen better days as an Autumn wreath once upon a time.


Again, the rest were things from the Dollar Tree.  "Creepy cloth," otherwise known as cheeseclothy-spiderwebby-thingy, bloody rubber fingers (I already had a set of three from last year so my wreath only has three fingers instead of five as in the example), and stretchy spider web with black plastic spiders included!

$1.00 each item
Wreath free
Fingers free
Total cost to me: $2.00

1. The instructions say to use a styrofoam wreath, and then just pin the creepy cloth to the back of the wreath.  With my wreath, all I had to do was wrap it around, really, since the wood is kind of prickly and the cloth automatically stuck to it.


2. Again, the instructions say to pin the spider webbing to the back of the wreath and then bring it around to the front.  I just stuck the web into some of the grapevine sticks on the back of the wreath, brought it around to the front and started criss-crossing it over the front of the wreath and behind the back of it, alternating.  You do not really need a whole package of webbing ~ I ended up cutting quite a bit off because I found it to be a bit too much. 

3. Now, the tricky part....positioning the fingers in the wreath.  The instructions say to position them, with some webbing in front of them to hold them in place, and then to glue them to the webbing with hot glue.  I couldn't be bothered to get the glue gun out so I just stuck them strategically into the webbing, hoping they would stay in place.  So far so good.

4. Last but not least, they say to glue the spiders onto the webbing.  As before (surprise), I skipped the glue gun and just "stuck" the spiders into the web.  They really do stay put all on their own. 

5. Add one creepy black rubber Dollar Tree rat (from last year) to the top of the wreath once it's been hung.
  (Just wanted to add my own personal touch there.) 


Don't you think this would be a great addition to your Halloween party decor?  Sufficiently creeps me out!  How about you?

And by the way, you can visit my Halloween Decorations Pinterest Board here.

Don't you just love Halloween?

xoxo


Martha Stewart Halloween Silhouettes Upgrade for Less

October 12, 2012

Today I'm sharing how I combined some Martha Stewart Halloween silhouettes along with some DIY silhouettes to create a spooky Halloween stairway.


Dollar Tree rubber rat

I promised I'd show you something I did for Halloween with my friendly (creepy, spooky) rat silhouettes. I have to say, though, that those innocent silhouettes made me think outside the box and give in to those squeaky, rubber rats from Dollar Tree. Can you say Ben? I was so enamored of the rat silhouettes I had to take it one step further and add a 3-D element to the creepiness.

black rubber rat on stairs

Wouldn't you just love to stumble across this one in the dead of night?

rubber rats silhouette rat door hole silhouette

Chickadee number two helped me decide where to put them all, and she even drew some rat hole doors for effect.

rat silhouette door silhouette


three rat silhouettes on stairs



rat silhouette on clock

I especially love this one on the clock in the foyer.

I originally got this idea from Martha Stewart's Halloween Book, "The Best of Martha Stewart Halloween Handbook." You can buy her silhouettes on line here, or you can go to her website here and get the templates to print and cut these critters out for yourself.  Actually, you'll be able to print out ALL her templates from birds, to mice to witches to owls.  And speaking of witches and owls....

owl silhouette gold mirror

This owl is another one of my Dollar Tree silhouettes.  Doesn't it look absolutely marvelous on my vintage gold leaf mirror?  I also have a bunch of bird silhouettes from last year.  Who knows where they're going to go?

white pumpkin witch silhouette spider

I've always loved this white pumpkin with the witch's silhouette painted on it.  This year I placed it on a chippy, shabby thrift store candlestick and added some plastic spiders on top for effect.

cloche with rat under glass

And last but not least, I couldn't help myself and just had to place one of my teeny, tiny mice under glass.  I mean, what are cloches for, anyway?

Dollar Tree black rubber rat plate



 Well, that's it for today, friends!

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my

Martha Stewart Halloween Silhouettes

Upgrade For Less

and that I've inspired you in some way. 

Don't Forget To Pin It!

spooky Halloween silhouettes owl vintage gold mirror


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 DIY home décor post!









End Table Dropcloth Transformation

October 8, 2012



Have you ever fallen OUT of love with a piece of furniture?  I have.  Most recently it was an end table that at one time was a "must have" for our family room.  Our couch and loveseat are quite high, and require 33-inch high end tables. Have you ever shopped for a 33-inch high end table? This was about 8 years ago, so maybe there are more alternatives today.  But back then it was darn near impossible to find a decent table that tall within my price range.  I finally found a style that I liked and was the right height. I bought it and that was that.  Until now, that is.  The table just wasn't "me" anymore.  What to do?  The budget really didn't allow for a new table.

Soooooo....enter one canvas dropcloth-like curtain panel from Goodwill for $1.99.  I just love how the right fabric can cover a multitude of sins.  If you'd like to see another one of my humble-table-turned-Ballard Designs chic transformation, you can check it out here.

I love how it drapes and lends a casual vibe to the room.  And to add a little bit more shabby chic into the picture, I included a burlap-covered wire hurricane holder, stenciled with a black No. 98.  I placed it on a Goodwill silver platter with gold handles, alongside a white LED candle.  Initially, I also included a white china pumpkin lidded jar.


Then I decided to get rid of the pumpkin altogether and settled on just the hurricane and the candle.  In a tribute to Halloween, I added some creepy black Dollar Tree Halloween flowers with spiders.  I thought the hurricane made a pretty good vase, and the black really popped against all the white and burlap.





{Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy.....................don't get too close, now!}

I got the brand new hurricane for a steal at a local estate sale recently.  I'd seen it in some local shops before, but didn't want to pay full price.  I'm so glad I waited.  {I also scored a fantastic shabby chic coffee table for $35 that I'll be sharing with you later.} 


It's really pretty with a candle in it as well, only my photo taking skills are such that I was unable to get a good shot of it with a lit candle in it (I use LED's).  I also like that I can hang it, too.



So, to recap.  Ugly duckling table turned swan with the help of Goodwill fabric and estate sale decor.  It's as simple as that.  At least until I fall out of love.  Again.


Is there something you'd love to change in your house but just haven't quite figured it out yet?  I'd love to hear all about it!

xoxo

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