October!

Although it's been 80-90 degrees here in Utah, fall, my favorite season is here! And I am a huge fan of Halloween. Thanks to Martha Stewart,  Better Homes and Gardens, and Country Living, I've found some super cute and creative Halloween decorations!

Who is the genius that thought of this?! If I only had a fireplace...

 And this? So cool

 I spotted this feather wreath at Target

 Forget those tacky bright orange plastic pumpkins.. go for the gold!

 LOVE THIS. Very classy yet festive

 I can see little kids being 1. scared or 2. fascinated by these

 Lovely

 So cute for a party. I know they've got TONS of these paper balls on etsy

 And candy corn ones?! I love it!!

Latest project

So I love TJ Maxx, that is no surprise. I came across this print and I LOVED it. However the print happened to be in the form of placements. 4 of them, to be exact, and well, I didn't really need placemats. But I had a vision.....

 I enlisted a friend (and her mom) to help sew them together to make a pillow!

 And I kinda wanted a tray to corral those pesky remotes on our coffee table so I bought this ugly thing on clearance at TJ for $5

 And painted it white, then lined it (with modge podge) with an extra placemat! Yay!

Things I'm lovin

Okay I spend a lot of time on the internet but what's a housewife to do?! In the meantime I've found some fun stuff... I love color and fun patterns obviously...

Found on Amazon and also at Bed Bath and Beyond (thanks to Paityn for discovering them!) Amy Butler has adorable bath towel sets!

Fun floral plates (amazon) and I always love green

Round velvet pillow from Urban Outfitters.. I actually just bought this in green =)

A little crazy but fun! French bull on amazon

These cute towels are at Walmart! They have blue and other colors on amazon

Michael Kors bedding

I know summer's on it's way out but I like this whale tray- very beachy

Amy Butler shower curtain. LOVE these colors (amazon)

Adorable yes? I am this close to ordering this tree with me and my husband's initials from Etsy

Also on Etsy

Trash to Treasure

Back during the summer when I had nothing to do in a hotel in Findlay, OH, I made my way to a nearby Goodwill to "treasure hunt." Now sometimes I get a little annoyed that these are donated items and are at times ridiculously overpriced! I got this lot for $15, which I guess isn't atrocious. Typical stuff your granny has laying about her house.

I later got a few more candlesticks at DI, for like $1 each. I thought the shapes on some of these were pretty cool. It's the potential we're looking at here!

And here they are, spray painted white. I'll have to post a pic of them all styled and cute with candles. I actually gave them to my sister as we're working on decorating her house =) 

Project cost: about $12. Not too shabby

While I'm at it...

I'm kind of in a look-for-less mood still and remembered I had never posted my before and afters from my mirror project this summer...

So I wanted this look but the prices were just too much for me: $178, and $420 respectively.

So I enlisted my trusty friend ebay in search of an ornate mirror that I could paint a glossy white.

I found this guy for $50 and free shipping! And you could even find them for cheaper. P.S. this gold-y stuff is called syroco. Ebay has lots of it and they look great painted fun colors.
And here is the result! Hanging in my living room above  my bookshelf. I happen to really like it.

The Look for Less

Okay so I can't stand paying full price for anything.. I've become quite ridiculous at looking for the cheapest bargains but to me it's very much worth it! Thanks to a great website called decorpad.com, I have found some wonderful examples of rip-offs and knock-offs:

This lovely chair retails for $895 but has been on sale for $459

But wait! Interesting.. a very similar chair found on Overstock.com for $292!

Now we've got this wonderful mirror from Pottery Barn: $189. Not atrocious, but alas.....

This beauty from Lowe's is only $78

Next we have a storage ottoman I AM DYING TO HAVE! (Just gotta convince the hubs)... for $249

Yet overstock has the exact same thing for $131

Last but not least, a little garden stool, which surprisingly I do not own yet because I think they're cute... this one is $118 and that's even cheap, I've seen them over $300 before, just for this ceramic stool!

And once again an identical one for $85 on lampsplus.com. (Oh but can I mention that I have spotted a red one and a brown for as little as $15?! Big Lots and Burlington, my friends. Who would have thought?)

Here's a dining table for...  $1,998!! I know right? Crazy expensive

And our lovely friend IKEA has got the same idea- could be a table OR desk, for only $139, and I kinda like this IKEA one better!

So there you have it... shop around! There is always a better deal somewhere!

Chair Makeover!

My good friend Paityn had some chairs hanging about her house that just weren't cutting it. Probably 6 years old from Shopko I believe, and they didn't match any style in her house, being blah neutrals. So she went to work finding discount fabric, and hit up Walmart for spray paint. This is how they turned out...!

I love that these are bright, fun colors because beige is SOOOO 2008!