Ceiling Tin Photo Board

I could just stare at my babies all day long!!! I love them all so much!

See why we needed a new family picture, this was our last one 3 years ago! I cannot believe how big the kiddos are getting!

I love using all my cool magnets

You know how much I love old and shabby things! I love old tin!

Such a boring title I know. Sorry I am making a huge batch of Rigatoni for the whole JV baseball team (we feed them between double headers) and I am killing time before I have to leave so this will be a quickie! I saw this at a friend's house and fell in love with the concept so of course I was on the hunt for my own version. I scoured my local antique mall and found two of these pieces, I bought one initially for this project and then went back when they were all on sale for $20 and purchased a matching one to hang on the wall above our bed. I love to take pictures of my children and nieces and nephews but I have limited space to display them, this idea was a great solution, I love seeing all of my favorite photos in one place. I purchased more of those mighty strong magnets at Hobs Lobs the other day ( I am addicted to them right now! ) and I went to town hanging my photos up! Isn't this fun?!!!

My One Dollar Foyer Makeover, You Don't Want to Miss This One!

Ok this post will change your impression of me I am certain. To those of you who know me personally you know that I have a reputation for getting good deals and I am not afraid to walk up to a scary house to get one, or to walk into a thrift store, second hand store, Salvation Army etc. I have no pride where finding cool stuff for my house is concerned. Things that are pretty much junk to others are treasures to me. Hence my new title: Garbage picker!!! Yes I did. I did it. I was in a super cool little downtown area and saw people going through stuff at the curb so I just HAD to see what all the commotion was about. After they had cleared I stuck my neck out the window of my hubby's truck, (thankfully I had that today) and just about hit a parked car when I saw the coolest stuff just sitting in the street! I didn't even care if people had to wait to go around me while I loaded my treasure up! Trust me, I am sure the guys inside are telling a story at the dinner table tonight about the crazy little lady who lifted that thing all by herself! It was super heavy but I was determined to get it into the truck, I think I have a hernia and have re-activated my hemorrhoids (sorry but us garbage pickers can talk like this, ya know, in the gutter talk), plus as the day goes on I feel every muscle in my stomach and chest area starting to ache! But I did it!!! My sweet hubby even tried to help me lift it and I think I surprised him with my strength, and when Dayton got home I tried to have him lift it...he could not budge it! I was a woman on a mission! I would have loved to have room for the other one (there were two) and another super cool locker cabinet, oh where is my brother in law and his semi when I need him? As soon as I left I saw another truck pull up and take the others. That is ok, I got the best one, I made sure of that! So I got this for free!!!! Yippee! And yesterday at a yard sale this super nice lady was selling cool windows and screens for a dollar a piece! Yup, you guessed it, the screen was only a buck! And everything else I already had. So for the grand total of 100 pennies I re-made my foyer and I love it! I cleaned it up really good, you should have seen the spider nests in it! And as a bonus it was filled with some super old tags and papers. Oh and a swine flu flyer from 1976, I didn't even know it existed back then! So for now I have loaded my mittens, scarves, hats, umbrellas and rain gear in it, I love having a place to keep all of that stuff! I am so happy (and sore) with my new treasure, I am not sure how many times I will go garbage picking but I am pretty sure I will start looking now! To all my family and friends, I apologize for any embarrassment that this brings you, I promise I will never give you a gift that I found in the garbage!
Apparently, these are now my people, I am one of them. See them taking the other things that I wanted but did not have the room or strenth for! What a lucky lady, she has a truck and two guys! You think Mark will want to start joining me on my little trips?! I highly doubt it!

This screen is the only thing I purchased for my foyer, the rest was free, a gift, or I already had it in storage. It cost me a whole dollar! ( The Foyer Before) This Hall Tree was a great find about 12 years ago for $50, it was oak and I gave it a white treatment when we moved into this house. I change the decor out on this alot, I have wanted a storage piece for this area but it is an awkward little space and not very wide so I needed something kind of narrow and tall. (this photo is from a few years ago)

The foyer now! My free, junk picked, super cool cabinet!!!

Love this screen, I am not sure if I should keep everything green or give it my signature white touches, what do you think?

I love this, I have had it for a while, my son Dayton has been #8 on every team he has ever been on so I just had to have it!

I am sure I will change this up a bit but what fun I will have playing with this new piece!

Super neat (and heavy) pull out drawers, six of them to be exact! The drawers are like file cabinet drawers on heavy duty rollers, very sturdy. I could use it to hold weapons or something like that (hee hee). The sides are off white and the drawers are green, not sure if I want to paint it or not.

It is hard to get a good shot in this really narrow space sorry! ! It is a good size, it stands about 4 feet tall!

See I have already fussed a bit more and put my magnolia twigs on here! Loving this!!!

A Very Special "Tweet" From Layla!

I just about fell out of my seat the other day when I realized that her Highness Layla of The Lettered Cottage tweeted about my $30 office makeover! It was like gettting a letter from the queen! Just the thought of her acknowledging my little place in blogland made my day! Thanks so much Layla! She has no idea how inspiring she has been to me! Oh and just so you don't think I am "all that" I really have no idea what tweeting is, thanks to a comment from one of you, I went on and checked it out! Now that looks like fun!

Under $30 Office Re-do

After a few trips to Salvation Army I was inspired to change the office up a bit...yet again. Do you have a room that is just never right or am I the only one who suffers from this syndrome? Well, after a lightening bolt hitting my head moment I realized that the large hutch on top of our desk was not allowing me to use the large work surface of the desk, rather it frustrated me and gave us no place to sit down and write a letter, do homework etc. So off went the hutch ( you are wondering why we have back problems, this is why!!!) I will show you later how I put that to use, he he! I moved the desk into the middle of the room and made more of an office environment. I feel like such an executive now, I love calling my family members into my office telling them to sit down I have something I need to discuss! This is all going to my head now!!!! Actually everyone has commented about how they like the desk looking out too instead of facing the wall. We actually use this room all of the time now...as an office!!! Yippee!!! I even had room left over to add an assistant's desk, because you know she has very important work that needs to get done too. Oh, and she also cooks in here too. She multi tasks like her mother ( I mean her boss!) I think this room is done for a long time! Sometimes you just have to stop worrying about how things will look and see how best you can utilize the space, I needed storage for our stuff and this was the best that I could do on a mighty slim budget. After a few lucky trips to Salvation Army I had found some great galvanized metal pieces that helped tie the room together and gave me some great storage. I know, you want the details of how I spent my moola, here goes: Here are a few images of how the office used to look, the top pic was a few years ago, the bottom was just a few months ago....here it is now:
Cue the ooohs and ahhhs!!! Much Better!!!! See my little assistant's desk, she feels very important. I also took down alot of the pictures, it was feeling cluttered to me and I do not like clutter! I also moved the two chairs out into the family room which gave me much more space!

I even painted the chair to lighten things up a bit.
A major part of my redecorating had to do with these two galvanized metal squares that I found at S.A. for $3.99 a piece, they were from Pottery Barn Teen, I doubt they were $3.99 there! These are perfect for posting things that would normally clutter up my fridge.

I also found this cool metal drawer set for $1.99 too, I put my rubber stamps and accessories in here. The blue box was $1.99 as well and the basket/box was $2.99
As much as I love a steal, I love free and sentimental even better! These were in my Grandmas' things when we cleaned out her storage unit after she passed away, everyone looked at me like I was crazy when I claimed them, all dusty and full of spiderwebs... I saw potential. I am addicted to magnetic surfaces all of the sudden, I also love these teeny tiny but mighty magnets from Michael's, I put my favorite business cards from our vacation on here to remind me of the special shops that I visited and fell in love with....ahhhhh The little blue box I think was meant to be a recipe box but I used it to hold all of my paint chip samples that I get from the paint dept. I am constantly being asked to help pick out paint colors for friends and family so I decided just to keep these on hand instead of always running back to the store. I also have a small accordion file in here that holds all of my paint/fabric/pictures of my own home that I can throw in my purse and take with me in case I need some measurements or a visual of how something might fit into my house!

This good ol cabinet has been moved to every room I swear but this time it is really working hard. Like I said I am using all of my pieces to the best of their ability and function. I needed a place for my books.
and a place for all of my little things that little hands like to get into. I have decided that somethings still need to be kept up high and behind closed doors!! Like these things.... (like my dollar store pails and the tags that I made! )and these things.....and most definitely these things!!!!! I found an old music book that I think I might use to paper the back of the cabinet with, the green is cute and all but I am ready for a change. This was a purchase that I bought at gorgeous store that I will post about later. Just a hint, when we were in Nashville, I got to sneak in here before Mark decided he needed medical attention! Does anyone know what is the actual name for one of these? It looks like a chamber pot but smaller. I know, I am sick I go to a gorgeous store and buy a chamber pot. Someone please help me to appreciate the finer things in life!!! This tiny little ashtray was in my Grandma's things too, just too precious to trash right? I moved my $4 tool trug into the office and put it on top of my bookshelves to use for my files and misc. papers that get all messy.

I used my canvas boxes to house my ever growing ribbon collection, I have no clue how to organize this mess so I decided to let them be free and live amongst each other in harmony. Even my little assistant has her own desk. These are her necessary office supplies, oh and any kinds of paper and envelopes she can find.
She also uses the office to cook up some new recipes.

She is not a very organized cook, I mean seriously, does Ina have a tiara, a sparkly high heeled shoe and a leopard sock in her pantry?

And I just had to put this on my memo board, to remind me of the gorgeous strip that we stayed on while on vacation , (no it is not my bra size as my mom suggested!!) I will show you more of that later!!! Oh and I almost forgot to mention my favorite season has arrived, Gargae Sale Season!!! Tell me what you think of my new re-do, did I do good????

Seaside

The gorgeous beach of Seaside

These were taken on Easter Sunday

Of course there is wisteria!

This leads you to the beach

The shops were filled with super cool vingettes!

Cute little cupcake trailer!

I could not get enough of these cool metal chairs!

The bikes were everywhere, what a way to get around!

The Modica Market was so cool, full of awesome treats and special spices. The Truman Show movie with Jim Carrey was filmed here.



For years I have begged and pleaded for a trip to the Florida panhandle along the Emerald Coast. We usually go to other parts of Florida for our spring break to stay with relatives and of course to visit our most favorite place on the planet, Disneyworld! The last time we were able to go was 3 years ago and I was just about ready to burst if I did not get my beachy sunshine fix. I am one of those people whose body and soul physically craves the sand and sun. Well as luck would have it as we were planning our trip for this year our good friends called and said that there were still some condos available where they are a group of their friends were staying and that we should join them. In the panhandle! This area did not dissapoint at all, we stayed in Santa Rosa Beach and our condo looked right out over the ocean. It was a gorgeous location. There is a highway that runs along the coast called 30A, this stretch is filled with adorable little quaint towns and beaches, one runs right into the other. We fell in love with the area. Gorgeous! One of the little towns along 30A is the famous Seaside. Lets just say I went there 4 times on our trip I loved it so much! Colorful little cottages, crisp white trim, charming shops, great eateries and a breathtaking beach. It was all I had hoped it would be! Everywhere you looked there was a photo op so I took tons while we were there. I will post more later these are just a few!