Large Outdoor Decor Piece Repurposed From An Old Ladder

A few weeks ago the littles and I were on our way to a friend's home for a swim. 

I happened to be distracted by a few pieces of furniture being brought out and displayed on a home's front lawn on our way. Not to be one to EVER drive by and not check out free or cheap furniture- I pulled a U-turn and parked.

An old, vintage-y-looking wooden ladder caught my eye right away. I asked how much and the guy shrugged and said five bucks. SOLD!!!

I bungee-corded the long ladder into my car along with my 3 boys and headed off to swim. When I got home and leaned the ladder up against the fence- I realized that it was a bit taller than I had first thought it was.

My original thought was to use it inside my home as an A-frame shelving unit, and decided that I would just saw off part of the legs to make it fit.

But then I saw ladders being used as outdoor decor (on Pinterest, obviously). I loved that idea. 

It was mid-September at this point- not QUITE autumn, but I decided that it was close enough. I found 4 matching placemats at Dollarama. I drew large letters on each one with a jumbo sharpie marker and had my 8 year old colour them in.

I used some yarn to attach the letters to 4 ladder rungs. This has worked perfectly.

I also picked up some fall-like leaf decor at Dollarama, as well. This will definitely be re-used for years to come. As will the placemat letters.

And, the finished product:

(Side note- the garage door was painted that way when I moved in....it's on the long list of things to paint...)

 

Hope you enjoyed my repurposed ladder DIY. And it cost me less than $15.

Thanks for reading, friends!

Blessings.

What A Successful Thrifting Trip Looks Like In The Never New Home

Let me paint you a picture of a pretty much perfect thrifting experience for me. 

Friday morning, my friend Leanne calls to ask if I want to go thrifting at Talize. And....of course I do. Even though there are boxes and boxes still that need putting away- thrifting is my zen time. So I went.

I had in my mind that I would like to get some black boots and perhaps a black purse, as well. Last fall I found some great grey wool boots (seen here) and the year before that I had snapped up some very cute and comfy brown boots (seen here).

Alright...back to my morning.

Not only did I find some great black boots, but I found a purse as well. I also found an adorable sweater, a leather skirt (that I totally stole off of a mannequin), and a super cute dress. That is what I would call a successful thrifting trip.

Here are the items that I found:

Leather skirt (stolen off of the mannequin)-   $14.99

 Penguin sweater (I'm pretty much in love with this)- $6.99
Acid wash jeans- from a previous Talize score- $7.99 (also seen here)

 

 Black boots- $14.99

Black Purse- $17.99

Flowery dress- $12.99
Black flats- A previous Bibles For Missions score- $9.99





And there you have it, friends. An extremely successful thrift shopping day in my books.


That being said...if you add it up- it's also in the books of one of my more expensive trips. But I think with everything I purchased, I still got a steal of a deal.



Thanks for reading!



Blessings.