My Repurposed Ladder- Winter Edition

Well...I knew it had been a while since I last blogged.

New house, new relationship (will blog on that soon), kids, work.... all time-suckers.

But I didn't realize that my last blog was on the same item that I am writing on today- my repurposed ladder. Today it went from Fall decor to Winter decor.

I used the same ideas from the Fall sign- I wrote with a large black sharpie on 4 placemats, tied the placemats to the ladder rungs with yarn (actually saved the yarn from the fall sign, lol).

The vintage-y, Edison-type string of lights I picked up at the Re-Store for $40. 

 I never did get around to painting my garage door and my front door- but the red works for this season, I guess!

I apologize for the long break, readers, and will be writing a post on some more Christmas repurposed decorating ideas soon!

Blessings.

 

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.




 

My Repurposed Mason Jar Lighting From Teal And Black Splattered Ugliness

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of these rather hideous lights that I bought at the Re-Store on Instagram and Facebook. I made note of how excited I was for the plans that I had in store for them.

I promised my followers that I would definitely blog about the finished products.

Well, here I am- a few weeks later- after waiting for a couple of weeks for internet at my new home, posting all about my 'new' mason jar lights.

The first thing that needed to go was the paint-splattered look on the hardware of the lights. I removed all the excess fixtures and taped up the bulb sockets (not sure the correct terminology- I kind of just make this up as I go along...).

I used my new favourite spray paint colour- Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze. It has a bit of a vintage-y vibe to it, which is the look that I wanted.

I had envisioned these with mason jars (which I had laying around in my basement- WIN) covering the light bulbs. But when I went to put the mason jar lid onto the arm of the chandelier- it was just a smidge too small. So frustrating.

I decided to try sniping the lid in several points and opening it up to slide it over the hardware. this seemed to work, and was surprisingly stable once it was bent back into place. 

My next hurdle came when I realized that my jars were to small to fit over a normal lightbulb. Ugh. So, out I went to find smaller lightbulbs. I found some at Dollarama for $1.25 each.

But then, looking at the snipped-up jar lid...I was not happy at all with the result.

 

  

It was actually my mother that suggested just spray painting the lids, as well. And that worked

just perfectly.

 I do still need to add some chain/ wire to the chandelier that I will put in my new kitchen. Now that I have figured out a breakfast bar area (blog post to come), I can install it just where I want it.

But here is the finished/ installed photo of the smaller of the lights. I put it up in my front entrance way and just love it! 

 

 

 

PLEASE try to ignore all of the wood trim. Painting all of it white is on my very, very long to-do list.

Thanks for stopping in and reading, friends! Hope you enjoyed my repurposed light how-to.

Just another reason to try thrifting! You get to completely customize your own look and have a completely original home. Not to mention the money saved! The lights cost me under $35 for both of them and the spraypaint/ lightbulbs were maybe another $20 total. Not bad for 2 'new' light fixtures, I'd say!

Not too bad, at all.

Blessings.

My First Thrift Find For My New Home

I closed on my very own detached home on Monday. 

It's in a beautiful area of Hamilton, right around the corner from the last place that I lived/ rented. 

Although I was beyond thrilled to be able to purchase my townhome on my own 2 and a half years ago, when I went through a viewing of my new home- I felt like I was going back home.

I have a little over 2 weeks to rip up carpet, tear down wallpaper, paint, put down flooring....so we'll see how much gets done before move-in day.

But this post is about my first thrift find for my new place. And I love it.

I picked up this wire stand with a basket at Talize a week or so ago for $6.99.

I searched for a bit for a "Welcome" or an "Our Home" sign, or something similar- but couldn't find anything. Then I found a plain cork sign at the Dollarama. I figured that would work well, and just wrote "Welcome" on it myself. 

   

I added a potted mum plant, and now I have an adorable welcome piece for the front of my new home.

Cute, yes?

And totally worth the $6.99, I would say. :)

Happy Thursday, friends. 

Thanks for reading. 

Blessings.

Back To School Thrifting- 13 Items For $30

Again, this is a time in my life when I will be unable to post as often as I would like. 

I have purchased a detached home that needs a lot of love (work), and will be moving in the next few weeks.

I promise to keep you updated on the recycled/ reclaimed items that I will find and use around my new place...and also post about day to day thrifting as often as I can.

I've been so busy with the sale of my home that I almost missed National Thrift Day!!! I mean, that is crazy. I probably enjoy that day more than my own birthday...for real...

On my way home from work Wednesday night, I was about to leave Waterdown, ON when I remembered that Value Village was having a 50% off sale to celebrate National Thrift Day. I quickly ran into Waterdown's Value Village at 830pm and decided that I would just focus on my oldest son's back to school wardrobe. My middle and youngest are quite well stocked with hand-me-down's anyway.

In a flurry, I picked up 13 items and was pleasantly surprised when the cashier asked for $30.05.

Here is what my 30 bucks got me:

A fall jacket (London Fog).

2 hoodies.

 2 pairs of jeans. 

2 pairs of shorts.

 

5 long-sleeved T-shirts.

1 short-sleeved T-shirt.

There you have it, friends. Save money, recycle, and get a new wardrobe for your child for $30.

I just wish that I had remembered to look for shoes....

Blessings.

My Thrifted Backyard Oasis Chandelier

Now that I am a single mom again, I do relish the ability to make things girly and pretty around my home.

I really wanted to add a relaxing backyard oasis feeling to my kijiji-ed plastic patio furniture.

First off, I knew that I wanted some light and airy curtains. I had a set of those white mosquito-type netting curtains that I have seriously had in my possession FOREVER. Since I haven't bought anything at Ikea in about- oh, 5 years or so- I don't even remember what my plan was for them. But I still held on to them.

Then I found a matching set at Bibles For Missions Thrift Shop. They had priced each panel at $4.00, and I was quite happy with that. 

I attached them to my portable sun cover with some twine and I feel like it dressed it up significantly.

 

I then headed over to the Re-Source Thrift Shop

to look for a chandelier. Partly because I've seen a good selection of lighting there, and partly because it is the closest thrift shop to me.

I found this 'vintage' (a nice way of saying ugly??) light fixture for $12.00. I figured if I removed most of the busyness of it- it would do what I needed it to do. And that was just look pretty.

And after I had taken off the outer 'shell', given it a couple of coats of white spray paint, and cut off the wires (since I had absolutely no way of hooking it up to an electrical source anywhere in my backyard) I was extremely pleased with the result.

I attached the base of the light to my sun cover with white zip ties- which did the trick nicely.

But when I reattached the chandelier to the base, I realized that it, unfortunately, sat way too high.

So out I ran to Home Depot. I picked up some white links and presto, with a bit of elbow grease- I think my backyard Oasis is complete.

Thanks for reading, friends!

Blessings.