the Last Wrapping

I love wrapping presents.  It feels so special when your present looks pretty, I find I almost don't even care whats inside....almost.  I've done the brown paper thing which is nice, but this year I picked out a few papers that I liked and decided instead of buying ribbons and bows...which get pricey, I'd use some craft left overs to decorate.  For these gifts I used yarn and twine for ribbons and old sweater and piece of a crocheted table cloth, both of which came from a second hand shop.  I like the combination of new and old.

Making Lemonade...figuratively of course.

So my cashmere sweater went into the drier.  I suppose it would have fit the baby in a few years, but instead of waiting I used it as the base of my Christmas present to her.  I named her the Augusta Doll.  I sewed her leggings and a little sweater from the scraps of my pillow venture.  I just hope she likes her.

I'm a hacker...

Ikea hacker that is...

http://www.ikeahackers.net/2011/12/seeing-skimra-in-new-light.html

The hunt is over

I spent months scanning Kijiji, Etsy and secondhand shops for a metal cart at a reasonable price in the right size to convert to a side table.  I stumbled across this little red number at goodwill.  It wasn't as pretty as a wanted it to be, but it was a about the right size and it cost $2.50...snagged!

I used a plank of scrap wood in my basement (I think it was about $4 worth)  I cut it into two pieces, glued the together, sanded, stained and varnished about six times.  I also found the basket in the basement and it turned out to be the perfect fit, and great storage for baby toys.

its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I bought a few sweaters from Goodwill, spot them in my new Christmas decorations.  Its my baby's first Christmas and I couldn't be more excited.

Augusta Vintage

I have launched my shop on Esty Augusta Vintage.  I have started with my kids Bedtime Story Cuddle Buddies.  I am doing custom, there is still time to order before Christmas.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AugustaVintage?ref=seller_info

Liquor Cabinet Re-done

We purchased the Grevback from Ikea for our dining room as a liquor cabinet.  Painting a veneer is no fun.  I'm still worried about scuff marks, we will just have to be careful.  To get the finish we wanted we sanded, primed, under-painted in brown, top coat was dry brushed in green.  The inside we painted flat yellow over the primer.  Oh yes, and an Anthro knob to finish it off.  Makes me want to drink more...could be a problem.

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Quick Center Piece.

I found a bunch of Candle stick holders second hand (I'm sure that someone will hate me for leaving the matching one to each set)  I spray painted them a matching colour and viola!

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Getting into Holiday

So since its our first official Christmas in our home, (last year we were still living out of boxes)  I am insanely pumped for decorating.  I decided to make my own tree topper.  I bought the YRSNO decorating pack and went to town with a hot glue gun.

I took 8 of the heart ornaments and threaded them together alternating shades.  Then hot glued in between to keep them in place.

I used the stars and cones gluing them in between the hearts and the last heart in the centre.  On the back, I attached one of the silver bows so I could tie it to the tree (when we get one).  And done!

Making do with what you got.

Kathy needed a vignette over her couch in the condo.  Since we did the huge picture wall across from it, I wanted to break up the shapes.  I repainted a mirror she already had and and grouped it with some recycled items.

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What I put together:

Shelf- $5 goodwill, painted white.

Purple jar- $1 good will

Wood sculpture- $5 West Elm

Book- found at home, removed printed sleeve.

Frame $5 ikea (picture cut out of an Aritzia shopping bag, what?  they have good art)

Total cost for whole project $16

$10 find

So pretty self explanatory.  I found this ottoman second hand, I reupholstered it with a meter of Ikea fabric.  Done.  Also painted the old dresser beside it for a simple update.

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Safe stairs

I'm not going to lie.  I like bare wood stairs.  So much that I wont show you what the stairs looked without the carpet.   Its not hard to envision though.  But reality set in, with a teeny tot who will not long be climbing stairs, a dog who rolls down them every day, a broken leg seemed inevitable....I just didn't know who the first victim would be.  So with the help of many different parts we decided to do stair treads instead.  I'll just cheat and show to the previous owners crap stair runner.

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I took six ikea door mats, four which I cut into treads, hot gluing the raw edge to seal the carpet.  I took two to a carpet shop to get them to bind them together to make the runner for the landing.  The whole affair set me back $130.  Oh, and I got Steveo to do all the stapling, so I didn't even break a sweat.

Mini hack side table

I grabbed the Ikea lazy susan spinning tray and robbed the legs off and old vintage table.   I kept it on the patio which had made it pretty damaged on top but the legs still good.  I attached the legs to the under side allowing the table top to still spin. (spinning action not demoed in picture, dang!)

I later found this West Elm table, which looks pretty similar I think....Not bad.  Except my mini version cost $10, there classy version $140

http://www.westelm.com/products/dipped-side-table-g501/?pkey=ccoffee-side-tables#viewLargerHeroOverlay

The Picture Wall

So Kathy's new condo had this amazing long wall running from the main entrance to the kitchen to the living space.  We decided to treat it like a gallery wall, printing here travel architectural shots in B&W with a couple graphics in colour to break it up.  I thrifted and painted most of the frames.  We have a few more to go, but I think I like where it's going....

Night stand

So I've been busy, I swear...just too lazy to post.  So again I forgot the before pic until I was well into the project.  I picked up this little cabinet at Salvation Army for $10.  Another $10 in hardware and some leftover paint and it was quite the re-do.

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I cut the feather images from tissue paper and set them into the wet paint.  Since the cabinet was a veneer, it needed two coats of primer first, then a coat of poly to seal it up, so that the tissue wouldn't get scraped off.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

Finished Bathroom!

So after weeks of waiting we finally finished our mini bathroom reno.  A new toilet, floor, lights, paint and accessories and its good enough to last us through the next few years.  The befores I have are from what we did when we first moved in, a few months ago I posted the previous owners bathroom decor.

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New Side Tables

I saw this this first table at Salvation Army for $6 and could not pass it up.  I kind of forgot to take a before pick, so here it is kind of mid-way.  I realize I didn't do much with just a fresh coat of paint, but I think it's just about spotting a diamond in the rough.

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The second side table a a re-do of a table I got from a retailer that they were discarding after a reno.  I've always liked it but wanted to add a bit more pop to it.

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I used a paint stripper on the metal inlay in the centre of the table to bring back the metal finish.