Money $aving Mondays {11.16.2015 Edition}

This post is an easy one. We are sprucing up our condo to sell. Our large sofa is something that no longer ties in with the décor. While she is a quality made piece, she needs to be a different color. I do not want to paint her or take her to get re-upholstered. My solution? Drop Cloths! They are durable, washable, and I love the color of this particular brand. It is a lovely shade of greige (gray-beige). I used 3 drop cloths for our sofa. I ran out of them before I got to the seat cushions so I used an old linen sheet we had in the linen closet. I plan on switching that to a drop cloth also.

I bought the drop cloths at our local Home Depot store. They are all 9'x12' and NO SEAMS! I washed each one separately and dried them in the dryer. I did not iron them before I began the cover up of our sofa. I love that they have a slight linen look to them.

I have a confession to make: I cannot sew. I want to, I just don't know how. I can hand sew a straight line if you can believe that. This is my temporary no sew solution for now. The back pillows on the sofa are attached, which will make any slipcover a challenge. I could have taken the easier pricey route and headed over to Pottery Barn and paid $89 for fabric to drape over the sofa. They call it the loose draped slipcover. Really PB??? I can go to Home Depot and buy the largest size canvas drop cloth for $31 and do the same thing for less than 3/4 the price.

Anyway. Here it is moving right along. I placed one drop cloth over the back cushions tucking in around all of them (not individually like I would prefer) and tucking into the back near the springs and frame. Our sofa is seen from the back so I had to be sure it draped properly.

Draped down the backside of the sofa.

I then took two drop cloths on the bottom of the sofa and down the sides and tucked to cover the skirt around the sofa and to stay in place. I also pleated the arms slightly for a more custom look. I pinch pleated the middle of the "skirt" to hide the seams where the two drop cloths would meet.

Since I ran out of drop cloths, I used a linen sheet to cover the three seat cushions. Just wrapped them up and tucked.

I covered our two sofa pillows (18" x 18") with burlap pillow covers from Hobby Lobby (30% off this week :), the smaller pillow covers are also Hobby Lobby and are 14" x 14" with a nice gray linen look. The studded wrap with the "A" added to each burlap pillow are made by Mud Pie and I purchased them on clearance at our local Ace Hardware of all places.

In a perfect world, I would sew a custom slipcover with piping. An alternative would be to cut pieces and staple to the frame. This one has no staples and is no-sew. A temporary look tying the couch into the design updates I am going with for staging our home. The sofa will eventually have a home in my husband's man cave at our new home.

This is the perfect cover up and only took me 30 minutes to place and tuck.

Money $aving Mondays {11.01.2015 Edition}

Hello Lovelies!

Forgive my absence. I was never paid for blogging; it was a hobby of mine. Life happened. Our condo was flooded by a negligent neighbor and our master suite was gutted and renovated due to all the damage. We paid for our bathroom to be tiled (slate = swoon) and a new shower to be tiled. We love it. That story and those updates will be coming your way another day. In order to ease myself back into blogging, I have a short one today.

It's Money Saving Monday so here's what I did to save money on my monkey fist doorstop crush. This was before all things nautical arrived at Hobby Lobby at an affordable price. I love those monkey fist doorstops made of rope. Love them. Before Hob Lob, they could be found at Pottery Barn and Ballard Designs for a pricey song. I saw this dog toy at TJMaxx and for $3.99, I went with it. We use it as a doorstop in our Master Bedroom. Can't beat the price and I love that it looks different from all the others. Besides, if our dog ever grabs a hold of it, it's soft and we have no worries about her carrying it around. She has never tried to grab it. Our dog has manners. She won't gobble food dropped on the kitchen floor unless she is told she can do so. Barking at people passing by or ringing the doorbell is another story. She is kind and I like her manners. It's what makes her unique.

Anyway, here's the photo of the dog toy that is now our Monkey Fist Doorstop.

 

Not too bad. Photos were taken with my phone so forgive the lack of quality. What are your money saves?

 

Linking up to these old favorites of mine, DIY Showoff and Linda at Coastal Charm...

http://diyshowoff.com/2015/11/01/that-diy-party-65/

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/2015/11/show-and-share-no286.html

And a new blog friend...

http://strangersandpilgrimsonearth.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-art-of-home-making-mondays-please.html

 

Blessings...

 

Oh By Gosh, By Golly... It's Beginning To Look A Little Jolly

Sorry to be MIA so long. Between the sinus infection that just won't go away and the holidays, time has slipped by. I was so on top of Fall and the decor to go with it and now way behind on posts for Christmas. Forgive me for that. There are so many cute posts all over blogland right now. I'm going to link up with The DIY Showoff at the bottom. Be sure to pop on over and view the fantastic blogs showing their craftiness this holiday season. Grab your favorite cup of coffee or tea and join me for a whimsical tour of our condo decked out for the holidays. I have no doubt I'll be re-arranging things up to Christmas Eve (except for the hearth and table), but you can see what I've done so far. This year, it is very whimsical.

It has been way too cold in Atlanta this December and we had icy conditions during rush hour last night, shutting down many of our highways and stranding commuters for hours. I was trying to be a good samaritan to one of our neighbors who is single. She turned into our parking area (we are in a condo community) and where you turn, it's sharp and it follows a hill. The ice was too much and she slammed into the curb. Thankfully, she was OK and a neighbor moved her car for her, but in my quest to help her, I stepped off the grass onto the asphalt and yep, you guessed it... my feet went out from under me straight up in the air. I landed on my backside and hit the back of my head. Today, I'm very stiff and moving around like a 90 year-old. I'm on pain meds, icing my head, and heating my back. The ice has thankfully gone away today. My doctor has said I most likely have a very mild concussion. Good grief, Charlie Brown! On with the post...

While I have not posted as I decorated, I have been working on a few projects. One project is a repurpose. I purchased 3 small waxed pumpkins around Halloween. Because they are waxed, they last so long. I painted the stems gold, painted the pumpkins with green acrylic paint (only Christmas color I had on hand) and added red bows. My 3 pumpkins are now 3 "ornaments" for display. Below are the Before & After...





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Here's one on display under our entry table. I also spelled out "Merry Christmas" with Scrabble tiles on the table. Purchased the game and all tiles for $2 at a recent thrift store visit with my sister, Kathi. No worries, my three pumpkins (um, I mean ornaments) will be tossed after the holidays.



Onto Reveal #2. It's simple and anyone can do it {just like anyone can paint pumpkins}. I took a 3-inch white pillar candle and some Christmas rub-ons. I did not know if rub-ons would work with the wax, but they did. I also added a rub-on (Ho, Ho, Ho) on another candle (no photo yet for that one). Here it is...





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And now our Mantel. Well... Our entire hearth, actually. I decided against re-using the wine bottles I used {remember my earlier post about them and they spelled out THANKS?}. I used 3 cylinder candle vases (the ones I used in the fall with the leaves and LED pillars). I found some sheet music online (O Holy Night), printed it landscape on vellum sheets (use fast draft setting to print on vellum and let dry), wrapped around each cylinder, and took glitter foam letters that spell J-O-Y. I decorated our garland with ball ornaments, put Christmas lights in the fireplace :), and set up the 2 pre-lit (white lights) porch trees my husband bought me on each side of the fireplace. I added blue lights since I had them already from a small group retreat.I told him it was my nod to his family's team, UNC. His alma mater is actually Auburn (War Eagle!). Our 3 stockings were also hung (we bought a matching one for our dog, Kiley, this year). No big tree for us (there's no room in our condo, really) and less for me to put up and take down. :) Notice the rub-on white pillar on the left side of the mantel?



And a close-up shot of the candles...



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Here's what I did for our table. Simple. Some tapestry placemats with a snow couple that say, "Let It Snow", white flour sack napkins, candles of all types, a Publix S&P shaker snow couple, a vintage santa & tree S&P set from my hubby's paternal grandmother and the table is set with her china and glasses. From the chande, I put candy canes and a few silvery ornaments hung from it (not in photo). I also decorated the top of our corner cabinet.



Ignore the gift bag behind the table. That thing tempts me everyday. It's for me from dear hubby. We have yet to move it with the other presents for family. My card writing stack is on top of the stool that I should have cleared prior to snapping the photo. :)



The coat closet doors even got decorated. I could not get far enough away for a full shot. I have 2 felt bags with snowmen hanging from the doorknobs. We are into snowmen, can't you tell?!? ;)



Our Sunroom even has a few added touches. A die-cut rustic reindeer over the door and the candlescape has three pearl candy canes hanging from the three candle sconces...





A few random chairs have been decorated...

The director's chair that holds a few blankets and some pillows now holds Snoopy, the Grinch, and Rudolph, too. Also provides extra seating, if needed.



And the rocking chair that my husband's AU blanket rests on is now holding 2 snowmen, Cupid (reindeer) a felt Merry Christmas bag and a girly Santa hat.



I even decorated my husband's toy chest from childhood (holds a few seasonal books and seasonal table linens now)...



And I love this cute little 14-inch rug I found at Target on the cheap. Where to place...where to place...



I'll add more photos when I finish the breakfast bar (it's a crafting area at the moment), our coffee table, and the chairs in the sunroom that my gift wrap supplies are blocking. :)

Thanks for reading my post and following my blog! You make me smile with your sweet comments and e-mails every time I open them. May your holidays be merry & bright...

Help a Stranger
Praise a Child
Light a Candle
Share Your Love
Sing For Joy
Lend a Hand
Pray For Peace
Understand

Here's my link-up list:



May our Savior's love fill your hearts with joy this Christmas Holiday & always,

Before & After...

I love reading home decor blogs ~ especially those with a creative edge. I love that I share my hobby (turning a castaway into something useful and beautiful) with others out in blogland. Here are a few of my re-dos. I wish I had taken before pictures, but I'm learning along the way...

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