I'm Moving This Blog

I have been undecided for a time of what I should do with this blog. I have two blogs. One is my personal blog and is all about my life and my home and a great deal of it's content concerns our relationships with the Lord. I'm very passionate about my walk with God. I had this blog as my "work blog" as I owned a physical and online store called Southern Charm Home Decor.

Well, in Jan. I had to close my physical store and although I have had numerous orders on my online store in 08, I have not had one single order online in 09. Not one order? I chalk it up to heavily discounted big boxes like Hobby Lobby and such. Don't get me wrong, I love Hobby Lobby too. I have seen them selling stuff I sell for less than what I paid wholesale for it. But, I had to close the online store this past month and now, alas, there is no more Southern Charm Home Decor.

I liked keeping the decor blog separate from the God/home/kids/funny stuff blog. But the more I think about it I have decided that I will just have multiple posts if I choose on any given day and do all my decor projects and ideas on my other blog also. I have decided to shut this blog down and I will probably delete the whole thing in a month or so just in case no one sees this post and wonders where I went. I think I can do it all on one blog and still maintain the integrity of the importance home decorating and our relationships with God. I'm a pretty funny gal sometimes and my adventures with God can be a real hoot.

I'd love to see you over athttp://www.blogginggodandme.blogspot.com . I guess you can see that the blog is called Blogging God And Me. Hope to see you again!!

Mr. Linky Party at Misti's

Misti over at Studio M Designs is having a Mr. Linky party today for our childhood bedrooms. I looked and looked but this was all I could find. My home & my parents home were destroyed in Hurricane Andrew in 1992 so I only have about half or less of our family photos. But I did find this picture of me all tucked into my wonderful white canopy bed. Oh, how I loved this canopy bed. The funny thing is that I had so wanted to find a room photo with my favorite all time toy EVER..... The green worm , romper worm I think it was called?? I was excited to find this.

Visit Misti at http://studiomdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/04/our-childhood-bedrooms-my-first-linky.html to participate in the linky fun!! It's her first party so give her some support please!

In my early years my mom had decorated my room in white lace. White furniture, white everything. It was a very princessy room & I loved it.

And then I grew into a teen crazy for Duran Duran!! I just knew I was going to grow up and marry the bass guitarist. Funny, I can't even remember his name now.

As a teen I covered every single inch from the top of the baseboards to the ceiling in Duran Duran posters. I even took photos of my posters and framed the photos on my dresser. I wore the pins on my clothes. Ah, good times. I just remembered!!! His name was John. Yes, I was going to marry John. My favorite song was Save a Prayer. My least favorite song was "Hungry Like The Wolf" because it had that woman making sex moaning noises & it never failed to come on when I was in the car with my Dad. EEWWW!!! Yuk. My room remained covered with Duran Duran until I moved out & grandma moved in!! Poor mom.

Independants Versus The Big Box

I have always been big on supporting Independent Retailers. Mom & Pop's are our backbone. I too was an owner of a physical retail store called Southern Charm Home Decor so I really had a stake in people supporting the little guy. Sadly, I had to close my doors in Jan. Business was too slow and the rent just couldn't be paid any longer. I am happy to have my online store and sell mostly the 20x20 painted wood picture frames by Magnolia Lane. I wanted to see where all my customers had gone so I began asking friends I know and listening to where fellow bloggers were shopping.

Mostly I hear about Hobby Lobby & Home Goods. So off to Hobby Lobby I went. The closest one is about 30 min. away. I was shocked when I went into the Hobby Lobby, I haven't been in one in over ten years. Boy has it changed. There were home decor accents everywhere I turned!! And they were all 50% off. I have gone back each week for over a month and each week all of the home decor accents were 50% off. Folks, there is no way possible for an independent retailer to compete with that. Here in Woodstock, GA just about all of the independent gift store/home decor shops have closed their doors. Even the downtown Woodstock area has only a couple of Gift Shops/Home Decor shops left!! Where were the customers going that some long time well established shops were having to close. I knew it wasn't the economy as that area is quite affluent. Yep, I found a Hobby Lobby about 10 minutes from downtown Woodstock and I'd bet my bottom dollar that now that it is so chic to be thrifty it has gotten around town to check out the Hobby Lobby.

Our wounded economy has really changed the way business is done and how pricing is managed. Who can blame the consumer for going to the place with the lowest prices? Not me! Hobby Lobby for instance has so much buying power that they get much lower prices than the independent retailers. For example I saw some Golf themed hurricane candle holders (my hubby has a pair in his office) at Hobby Lobby last Monday. I sold that same pair at my store by the same wholesaler. I purchased them wholesale for $15 plus I had to pay 15% shipping. Standard markup at retail stores (independents & not clothing!! clothing has a much higher markup usually) is 50%. So I purchased them for $15. Doubled, the retail price made them $29.99. Retailers try to get their money back for shipping which would have made them $32.99. Sometimes you just have to eat the shipping and I did for this product and sold it at $29.99. Hobby Lobby had them regularly priced at $19.99 and they were 50% off and selling for $10.

$10??? Are you kidding me? Customers can buy home decor retail for less than what independent retailers are buying the exact same stuff for at wholesale!!!!!!!!! I paid $15 plus shipping and Susan Q. Smith can buy it out the door for $10? How does Hobby Lobby even pull this off? It's genius! Why would you ever go to an independent gift store ever again? Items that used to be exclusive to the independents are now available at the big boxes. Big boxes are slashing prices and have coupons galore! Why go to the gift store on the corner to buy a Lolita martini glass for a girlfriend when you can go to Macy's with your 20% off coupon and buy the same glass for less? I could go on!! I am totally in love with the Hobby Lobby now. I am scared to death to drive to the Home Goods that is in Cumming, GA. I hear many wonderful things about our new Home Goods. I tell ya, I just can't imagine after my visiting the Hobby Lobby in Woodstock and Cumming why any of the independent retailers are even still open for business. It is just coo coo to spend double the money anyplace else. I recognized many of the items at Hobby Lobby as items I sold in my own little shop that I miss dearly. I know customer service and relationships count for much buy hey, nobody mistreated me at the Hobby Lobby. Why should I pay $29.99 for the vinyl wall lettering I've had my eye on when I can go pay $15 at Hobby Lobby for the exact same product by the exact same manufacturer? I fear the big boxes are setting up the independents for failure. I love love small little gift stores and their fun events. But hey, half price is half price!

Does anybody have an opinion of switching over to the big boxes instead of shopping the independents? Does anybody think all this price slashing is going to change retail pricing permanently? I wonder......... I have dropped the prices of my 20x20 picture frames as I no longer have a physical store to support but boy oh boy. The big guys sure aren't making it easy for the small fry. What's your opinion? Where do you buy your home decorating accents?

Bookcase To Showcase Linky Party

Welcome to my very first Mr.Linky Party!! A Bookcase to Showcase, paint/wallpaper those built ins and bookcases Partae. I'm also participating in Hooked On Houses Linky Party. http://hookedonhouses.net/.

I hope all of you are going to join in the fun today. Earlier in the week I posted about transforming your bookcases into showcases. My very own bookcases have been calling out to me for some fabulous high stylin for quite awhile now. I decided they needed to have the backs painted a couple of years ago. YES, I said years. I actually bought the paint two weeks ago. Still no paint. I thought doing a post on giving our bookcases & built ins some high falutin style would motivate me to open that can of paint. But somewhere along the way I decided there must be thousands of women like me who walk by something in their homes each day and say "That sure does need something.".

Nothing motivates us devoted blog ladies like a Mr. Linky party right? So, here I am a relatively new blogger having my first Mr. Linky party and I was scared to death that the only person at the party would be me. Oh me. Thankfully two wonderful ladies have already told me they were joining in and I am thrilled! I love me a good Mr. Linky Party.

So here is my painted project.

Before

After





Yikes!! When I look at the difference between the two pictures I am almost embarrassed to show the before. Mama Mia, I love how the paint turned out. I know better too y'all, so I finally took my own advice.





I had only put on the first coat and already I just knew I was going to love it. Oh ladies, if there is something you having been dying to do to your home please don't wait. Paint especially does not cost a lot of money and what a big impact it has.

I decided since my home is so open that it would be best to use the same paint color as in my dining room. I think it ties in the room so nicely.

I didn't just put everything back the way it was. I shopped the house. Misti over at Studio M Designs (great blog & even better friend) gave me some wonderful ideas and I tried to incorporate those too. I switched out the picture, used less books and I incorporated a lamp into the shelves. Do you see my pretty bird lamp all lit up? He had a twin brother but I sold him at my store. I am totally digging this lamp and remember that warm glow I said in the earlier post that putting a lamp in your built ins would give you? Oh, yeah baby. This room had a whole new feel this evening. My 11 year old was curled up in the chair pictured reading a book under the "warm glow". I just want to end this post with one of my favorite decor items that every woman needs.

A pretty place to hide the remote control from your husband!! The lid has a beautiful gold dragonfly on top, yeah, it's the last place he'd look. Snicker snicker.

Okay, rev up those pretty painted bookcase to showcase posts and lets party! Just write a post telling everyone about our Bookcase To Showcase Party and link back to this post. When you link up please use the permalink for your post. If you aren't sure what that is just email or comment me and I will be happy to help.

If you have a bookcase that needs sprucing and are looking for ideas go ahead and post that too, you might get a whole lot of great ideas!!

Mr. Linky Party on Friday!!

Don't forget about our Mr. Linky party tomorrow!! You can link up to the party with any project where you painted or even wall papered your shelves or the backs of cupboard or bookcase.
I'll be doing a post about painting the backs of my built in bookcases in my family room. I can't wait to show you the transformation.

Just make sure when you do your post that you link back to our Friday Mr. Linky party post and tell your readers about the party so they can join in the fun.

See you Friday!!

How Do I Know What My Calling Is? Answered.

This woman is a genius!!



I mean it. Pure genius.



I attended A Woman Inspired Conference because either Lysa Terkeurst or Melissa from the Inspired Room gave me tickets. Long story, but I received my free ticket 2 days into the conference but just in time to listen to Lysa. Her session was on Women Saying YES to God.



Have you ever had a question that was so BIG and so important that you thought you were just gonna die if you didn't find an answer to it?



Well I did and so do lots of Christians. The question? Easy.
Question: I love the Lord and I want Him to use me. I have no idea what my calling in life is or what God wants me to do. I read, I study, I love God, I love Jesus but still I don't know God's will for me. What should I do? How do I know what I should be doing? I pray, I wait, but no answer. Does this mean that God doesn't want to use me? Does the lack of my knowing God's will for me mean that I won't be faithful with what God calls me to do and He knows this so He just doesn't call me to anything?



Oh Satan, you clever clever jerk.



I can't even begin to say how many times I have wondered the above things. Talked to my pastors even about it. Just pray they say. So I did. I have also heard these things from a farkzillion men and women. All the time the answer was so obvious. It was so obvious that I am still embarrassed that I could not figure it out for myself and I laughed like a crazed lunatic cow when Lysa gave me the answer to the questions above.



The answer!! I have the answer people!! Years of waiting, oy vey. This conference gave me the chance to ask Lysa TerKeurst this question and she actually answered it.



This is what she said:

She said it is a rare thing that God just suddenly reveals His big plans for us. He won't just say "Jennifer I want you to start a Bible Study for teens and this is what you should do and it will be wonderful". God reveals his plans for us slowly more often than not. She said to take each day and anticipate Him and say "Yes" to God. She said a wonderful prayer we could pray basically telling God each morning that we love Him and that we are eagerly anticipating Him today and that today I say "YES" to Him. I submit my life to you and I want you to live through me today. Show me your will for me today and I say "YES" to you.



She told me that if I just take each day to anticipate Him and be willing to say yes to whatever it is that I feel the Holy Spirit moving me to do and be obedient then God will reveal His will for me.



It is through these small daily acts of obedience and faithfulness that we become more in tune with His will. When God sees you actually stepping out and saying "YES" to Him daily and being obedient with the small things He will use that. Through our daily obedience of saying "YES" to the small things each day God will guide us along to the bigger things.



We need to stop worrying about what God has called us to in the big picture of His plans for us. Start small. Listen for what the Holy Spirit guides you to do. She gave an example of helping a lady crying in the Star Bucks, she felt compelled to help and she did. She was obedient. Do you see someone in need in Target? Do you feel a prompting to do something for them? Do it. Be obedient in those daily small things God has asked you to do and He will take you to where He wants you to be and do.



She said often when God is going to move you to the next step He will give you these thoughts or visions of something and then the people in your life will then bring these same new things up to you as a confirmation of what God is telling you to do. Often doors will start opening and that is God showing you His will. Start small and be obedient with that. Anticipate Him each day. Tell him those two things each day. Say "YES" to His will each day and then actually go do it.



That's it? Oh sweet pickles, why is this not being preached from every single pulpit in the world? Why is this not plastered all over the walls of Churches? Are you kidding me? All this time I have been waiting on some grand master plan that God has for me. Well, I guess I'm just not called to do anything but be a wife and mother (which is fine, don't get me wrong). God hasn't shown me what I am supposed to be doing with my life. Wah wah wah. This is what I was thinking. All this time God has been waiting for me to just get off my duff and say "YES LORD. Where are we going and what are we doing today?".



I posted that phrase sometime last year after reading Grace Walk when I was learning more about resting in Christ. Now the words "Where are we going and what are we doing today Lord." have so much more meaning. I really get that more now. The person who first said this wasn't focused on the big picture of his calling from God. He just daily said "Good morning Lord. What are we going to do today?" Then he stayed tuned in to God, tuned in to the Holy Spirit and when he felt moved to do something I'll bet he did it.



You know, I am a much better speaker than a writer. I hope this is getting across correctly. So I have waited a little bit to post about this because I actually wanted to see how easy/hard this would be and give it a go. I have told God each morning that I am anticipating seeing Him today. Today I just want to say "YES" to your will for me today Lord. Please guide me and live through me today. God has been faithful to my words. We have started small. Sometimes it was the kids that needed a kind word. Sometimes it was the hubby, which God gave me a rare privilege involving God with the man. Thanks Lord. I will say though that it is easy to tune him out and just go about my day. Do you know what happened the first 3 days I said "YES" to Him? People were ministering to me. Yep. I think God was showing me how meaningful little things are. Twice in long lines a new cashier opened up in both places and all of the people told me to go first even though in both cases I was the last person in line. I told them, no please you were ahead of me. They all & I mean all of the people in the long lines said for me to go first. Okay y'all, you know that was God! My teen ministered much kindness to me too. For 3 days I had sheer pure kindness from my family and total strangers poured out on me.



So I say "Yes" Lord, come and live in me each day. Each day I just want to be and do whatever you need me to do. That is my calling. Period.



And if he chooses to take my obedience and faithfulness to a new and higher level then he does.Saying "YES" to God is the only thing I need to be focused on daily. Listening to him so I don't miss out. It's pretty easy to get caught up in our lives and tune God out. He will build on my yeses and take me to new heights through that daily obedience.



Why do we always assume that God's will for us is something big. It's a "calling". We are waiting on some grand task God has for us, right? What if our calling is to just say "YES" to him on a daily basis and do on that day whatever he asks us to. What if we were all told that is what God's will is for you. Now go do it. How many more people would be tuning in to see what God is desiring for them every single day instead of waiting on some big task God has for us to do. How much more would we all be talking to God, focusing on Jesus each day? Why haven't I ever heard this before? Has anybody ever heard this before? I've been in Church my whole life and never heard this. And it was so simple. Yep, I laughed like a mad crazed cow. Huge huge huge for me. Was this helpful to anyone? If it was please let me know. No I'm not tryin to get comments. I'm just truly interested and hoping that Lysa's words were helpful to someone else.

Love y'all!! Sorry for the long post but I had to get it out!!

Bookcase To Showcase

I want to inspire all of you to try something that is simple but has big impact.
Paint the back of your bookcases.


Off the top of my head I can name 5 homes that have bookcases just like this one. This is an easy project that looks great! You can do it. You know you want to.

Want to try a small project first? Try going at least 3 shades darker than your wall color or your can go for the big pop like this little pretty.

Kim Myles from HGTV painted this guy and added some silver metal rings from the hardware store. If I tried this in my daughter's room I would do something with flowers maybe? Can you rubber cement flowers to the wall? Hhmmm.....

Isn't she pretty?

Lovin the color. Lately I am drawn to white & black accessories. Lovin all the white here. I really like the pictures & artwork mixed in too. I may have to give that a try.

Okay. Here is the fun part. I am going to have a Mr. Linky party on Friday for our painted projects. I am going to be painting the back of my built in bookcases in my family room. You could do something as simple as painting the back of a shelf in your bathroom even!! Just paint it. You know it looks good, you know you want to!!

The more the merrier ladies so please let your readers know about our Mr.Linky painting party on Friday and let's get rollin!

***************Tip Alert

http://tipnut.com/how-to-paint-bookshelves/

Style that bad boy.

DO mix in antique/old books and accessories with new books for added interest.

DO use pretty plates, trays and framed art work . Try placing horizontal stacks with an accessory on top of a book in between vertical stacks.

DO create a zigzag pattern of large accessories and colorful books.

DO vary the texture of your items. Baskets are a great addition.

DO think "large scale" when choosing bookshelf accessories and books.

DO use a small lamp on a shelf if you have the wiring and the space. It will add a warmth to the room.

I'll Be Back Tomorrow

Due to a recent storm and flood damage of hubby's beloved new office and my computer area I haven't been able to blog. Flooding, ugh, fun stuff. I just remembered my daughter's laptop so I thought I'd come do a quickie post. No computer hookup after the flood and such. But we should be back up and running in the morning so I hope to have a wonderfully entertaining post to delight all tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We sure did.

Final Paint

Okay, the paint is done. We have a funny lighting thing going on. We have the french doors and 3 tall windows letting in a lot of natural light along with the ugly fluorescent light above. Makes an odd glow when taking photos. The colors are actually a little darker in "real life".

What do you think? My dad says being in this room makes him want to eat a Hershey's Chocolate Bar. Mmmmmmm.......

Well he wanted a manly office but well lit so I think we have accomplished that. Lots of brown but it is not overwhelming. The room is still very bright. The walls are a great blank canvas and whatever I put on them will really pop I think. I want to make it a soothing room that inspires creativity. The man has a lot of stress so when he comes in here I want him to feel relaxed and be able to think clearly and come up with new ideas and be able to problem solve easily. Not to much to ask of a room is it?

There's those 13" baseboards again. Crazy man. It does kinda look like a Hershey bar.

Office Transformation Continues

Well, we are in paint now. My toolbelt cowboy is just so excited to have his very own private office.

The walls are covered in primer with only a hint of the true color and it was making hubby nervous so our fabulous painter threw a little of the actual color on so he could have a little taste of his chocolate wall. That made him very happy.

His entrance into the house...

All of the painting will be done today so I will have some pictures tomorrow of the final paint job. The tool belt cowboy plans on moving his office in here this weekend. We are leaving the floors bare concrete for the moment. Cash is tight. We are very excited though about doing the "Taste of Forsyth" event on April 19. We will have a booth there for his company Stonecrest Homes & Renovations and we are a featured sponsor there. We are doing a giveaway so if you can make it to the big event you have to come!! Over 17,000 people were in attendance last year. Want to know what we are giving away?

One lucky winner will win a FREE exterior paint job and brand new gutters!!!

Now who doesn't want a new paint job? That's a lot of bucks......

It is being advertised in the papers along with the promos for the event so we expect to see a lot of people coming over to our booth. We will be giving away balloons too for the kids. I have been very prayerful for God's blessings to be on us for this event in that hubby will get some new jobs from it and people will take our information and call us later on when they do need work done. I am excited for him. How did I get on this topic?

Well, I can't wait to see the paint job all done. I am still a little nervous about the wall color. It is a little pinkish? The painter said it has red tones to it. Which may work out fine because his office furniture has red wood tones. ????

The hubby feels vindicated by all of your wonderful comments on the previous post about the garage/office. I was making fun of him for doing it up so grand and all of you were so sweet and loved it! I told him I was sorry for making fun of him and if all of the ladies in blog land thought it was great then it must be. He smiled big for you guys and said to tell you thank you.

See you tomorrow with the final paint pics!

My Man Has Gone Loco

My husband has lost his mind!!

Look at what he has done. Without asking me I might add.....That crazy man has bead boarded the entire garage turned office. Now my mom had a stroke in January and she needed a safe way to get into the house. None of our outside entrances had handrails or the ability to put them in unless we drilled into stone. So hubby took out the garage door and put in these:

A new entrance for mom with no stairs and then he built a whole new safe stairway with handrails at the garage entrance into the house. Which happens to be right in front of the stairway to the basement where mom & dad have their apartment. Pardon my junk.... we are still in construction. Y'all know I have to hurry and find a new home for those trash cans outside and his big silver toolbox or my Home Owners Association will be having fits!!! I fully expect the phone to ring at any moment. Mrs. Walker, your driveway is a mess...... sigh. Now he had taken over my dining room for his home office but he decided when he enclosed the garage to make that his office instead. No problem, I was happy I was going to get my dining room table back. The man has lost his screws!!

These are his baseboards. The first piece is about 9" high and the second is about 3.5". So together his baseboards are around 13" tall. I think he has been sniffing too much wood glue. He is a home builder/remodeler by the way. Have I ever mentioned that? Not only does he have huge baseboards but chair rail too. Oh, but wait, you have to look up too.

He's got crown moulding up in there. Definitely been sniffing too much wood glue. Now, I know a man's office is important to him but dang. Every time I walk in there I just start laughing. I think he is starting to get a little miffed with me. You should hear his guys make fun of him while they have been working on the place. It's been a real hoot. So anyhoo, this is our new home project and I have the lovely task of decorating it for him. Which makes me ecstatic. I picked out some paint colors that I liked and asked him to look at them. He liked them so much he had his painter go ahead and buy the paint and it is being painted this week. YIKES!! I wasn't 100% on those colors yet. I just gave them to him to do an initial consult. Boy oh boy I sure hope it looks good.

So this is a lot of wall to cover. Those are some tall walls!! I am a little nervous to tackle such a large room. He wants to start having his meetings in there so he wants it to be nice. Well, I'll have lots to blog about as far as decorating here for awhile!!

Sentiment Picture Frames

This is my new favorite frame. I heart this frame. I love every single thing about it. I love the scroll work, I am a lover of damask and anything closely resembling damask and pretty scrolly things. I love the font. I love that I can use 4 photos of my 4 beautiful kids. But one thing I really really love is the color. What color is it? I have no idea. This frame was the subject of much conversation in my shop before I closed it. Nobody can figure out what color the frame is. Depending on the lighting in the room this frame can be black, charcoal grey and a white washed hunter green. I kid you not. So really what you get is a very versatile frame that you can use in many different rooms that will give you a new look depending on the lighting. Right now I have this frame in a room that makes the color a charcoal grey. Before it was in a bright room and looked like a muted hunter green with a white wash over it. I love it! Very elegant.

This is another one of my favorites. This is a black frame/almost a charcoal black with the adorable baby's feet in a grey tone. How cute is this? Now who wouldn't want this for their sweet baby?

I love just about anything with sentiment and I love my family pictures. I am not however a big fan of having multiple family photos hanging all over a wall unless they are in matching frames and placed in some kind of pattern that makes sense. I also like the look of the big chunky frames with everyday size photos popped in.

I am all about doing more with less $$. But I do strongly believe that investing in a few good pieces is a worthwhile investment. A few good quality strong pieces in a room can really make a difference in how the room feels. I am a D.I.Y. girl all the way, don't get me wrong. But in my home you can also find beautiful items such as these frames that really make beautiful statements and they are very eye catching. Whenever I have people into my home they never fail to comment on my 20x20 wall frames. Why? Because they are big and they are beautiful and they are part of what just makes the room, that's why. I had a few customers who purchased on average one frame a month give or take and they were making collages of them in their hallways and stairways. That sounds just divine. I like to move mine around a couple of times a year. Another thing I like about these pretty frames? Whenever I see them they always make me smile and that's what your home should be about.

Do you know what else surprised me about selling these frames? I always assumed that people would mostly buy them for themselves and a small percentage as gifts. Boy was I wrong. By far the majority of the sentiment frames I sell are for gifts and most of the time the person purchasing tells or emails me about how they want one for themselves but are purchasing for a friend or family member. So of course I offer them a discount for buying 2 or more frames and many take me up on it. The generosity of people never ceases to amaze me. These aren't $5 frames, they start at $34.99 and go up to $59.99. But...... they are beautiful gifts and I can't imagine anyone receiving one of these fabulous frames and not just falling in love with it!! Many gift stores sell these frames for $79.99 to $99.99 but with independent gift stores popping up like crazy over the last few years the competition has been in favor of the consumer and prices sure have dropped. Thank goodness!! Do you know who else likes to buy these frames? MEN. Men are the majority customer base in my database. I'm thinkin though it has a lot to do with ladies telling their guy about a frame they like and want and the guy being a smart & savvy computer wizard just googles it or their wife maybe said she saw it at my store but somehow the men find me and they can buy in one easy click a great gift for the wife that will keep them out of trouble for awhile, ha ha. I sell a gorgeous black frame all about a man travelling the world in search of something but returning home to find it. Oh yeah, not only is it beautiful and classic in black & white but he gets to tell her every day when she sees it how much he loves her. Big points in guy speak.

Do you have a favorite go to gift for weddings, anniversaries and showers? These are my go to gifts because I know the receiver will love them and they will be used and enjoyed every single day. Totally worth it.

Decorating On A Shoe String Budget Part 3

Ta Da!!

This is the wall opposite from yesterday's post. Let's take a step back shall we?

I guess we can enter through the inside of the house today. What do you think? I just love it. Everything on top was already there but there was nothing on the wall before or any decorative accent of any kind. Let's see what the before looked like....

Ho hum, boring. During my trip to Wal Mart to buy chalkboard paint I saw some great black oval baskets. I even stopped and picked one up, they were so pretty. They were $5 a piece and I said to myself "These are so perfect for my laundry room! I can use these to tie in all of the black and I can use two of these black wicker baskets instead of the two white wire baskets that hold all of our socks waiting to be folded." It just seemed so perfect and would tie in all the colors so prettily. I have a lot of black on the opposite wall but very little on this wall. Just the sign and accent piece in black, gold and ivory. Not much black, these would help bring it all together and be much prettier than the wire ones. As I was contemplating the purchase I realized that I already own two of these baskets but not in black. Mine are in the natural wicker color. One is holding building blocks in Braxy's playroom and the other holding hair paraphanalia in my bathroom cabinet. So what does a girl on a budget do?

I didn't have the cash for spray paint but I still had my leftover gallon of black paint and a paint brush. This was the first coat of 3. Hey, this is a shoe string budget remember? Stop laughing. After the third coat they looked very respectable. Maybe later when I am rich again I will buy some black spray paint and give my pretties a touch up. Maybe. But for now my "new" black baskets are all FREE.

I was going to do a fourth coat but I decided I kinda liked the shabby chic look with some of the natural wicker peeking through. Okay, who am I kidding? I just wanted to get it done and the baby kept screaming every time I went outside to do another coat. I'll do the fourth coat this weekend when people are home to watch Mr. Braxton for me. Y'all are my friends, I can't lie to you.

This is the view coming in from the outside. I think these black baskets are much better than my wire ones. The cabinets were being discontinued from our kitchen cabinet maker and I bought them for $25 when we built the house.

The picture of flowers I already had. I arranged the flowers myself, I was going for a wildflower look. Nothing too perfect. The picture beside it was a clearance Hobby Lobby find. It cost $2, can you believe that? $2 and nobody had swiped it up yet. It was meant for me.

I didn't do a close up of this one yesterday. Not bad for a cost of .59 cents.

Total cost of this wall: $10 sign from Hobby Lobby. $19.99 x 50% off sale = $10. Square decor plaque $2. Clearance section at 80% off. Total cost: $12

Total cost of this wall: 2 framed artwork pieces $1.18. (I painted existing frames in the house) 2 pieces of scrapbooking paper from Hobby Lobby @ .59 cents each. Black barn star $10. $19.99 x 50% off sale = $10. Chalkboard paint $7.97 at Wal Mart. Total cost: $19.15



Total cost for laundry room re do: $31.15 plus sales tax.



Not bad, not bad. She squeals with delight! I just took an idea that I had and looked for ways to use what I already had and got creative about what I needed to purchase to achieve the look I wanted. A funny side note: As I was just starting this post my 16 year old Alexis walked over to the computer and the very first picture was up. She said, "Oh mom, thats a really pretty laundry room. Oh wait, that's our laundry room!". That made me feel really nice and we both laughed about it.



Room additions: I think I would like one of those vinyl letterings over the barn star that says "Welcome" pretty large. I think I would also like a W monogram someplace in black. I definitely want me some black and white toile fabric so I can make a pretty window treatment over the window on my outside door. The door is just begging for some toile love. But, it's not in the budget just yet and maybe some crazed looney person will have donated some black & white toile to the Goodwill so I can come along and buy it. Hey, I can dream. I hope you like it, I know I do and for $32 it sure is a big improvement. Please check out the post below to see how I did the other part of the room.

Decorating on A Shoe String Budget part 2

What a coincidence! I was ready to unveil a laundry room makeover on a shoestring budget using toile and http://prettyorganizedpalace.blogspot.com/2009/03/toile-party.html is having a toile party today. How fun is that? Please go check it out and see all the wonderful toile love going on over there.

Hello and welcome to my home. Please do not be offended that I am taking you in through the side entrance. This is the room we are going to be looking at today! That's right, my laundry room. In the previous post I talked all about decorating on a shoe string budget so I thought I'd put my money where my keyboard is. So I did a laundry room makeover. This will be a two post edition because I have lots of pictures and I didn't want this post to be a mile long.


Would you like to see the before?




In January I decided I hated what I had on the walls in here and moved these two picture frames (which I sell at my store) and the pretty bird picture in here and hung them on existing nails planing to paint the following week and put everything where I wanted it. Well, life happens and the painting never got done because a gallon of paint is expensive (when you don't have money anyway) and everything was going to cost around $100 that I wanted to do. So I just didn't do it........ and it made me crazy. Do you know what else makes me crazy? That little box cut out into my wall for the intercom system my husband was going to put in 8 years ago that never got done. That hole really bothers me.




This is the bottom part of that wall. It is all scraped up from kids scraping book bags across it and me scraping past with handfulls of grocery bags. Now, that really bothered me because it looked dirty. What to do? My 2 year old Braxton spends lots of time in this room with me becuase with four kids, hey, I have lots of laundry to do and I like to keep my laundry room neat and clean. And ORDERLY. I know, I'm a freak.

This wall really got me. Braxton took a pencil to the middle part of this wall and it drove me crazy!! Like I said, Braxton likes to spend a lot of time in here with me.

So the question became "What can I do to this room with practically no money to make it look beautiful and make it a place that I can enjoy being in?". Right after I asked myself that Braxton toddled in with a crayon and tried to color on the wall and it hit me. Chalkboard paint! So I headed to Wal Mart and purchased chalkboard paint for $7.97. Okay, now I will have a lot of black in the room so how do I tie all of that in? With no money. I know all y'all have some frames with old prints or pictures that you don't like anymore or they are sitting in a basement or closet because you might want them again right? Well, I had 2 prints hanging in my dining room that I really didn't love anymore.

So here is what I did.

I already had black paint in the garage. Love me some black paint for accents. Do you have any extra paint stored that you can do something with? I can paint these frames black and it will tie in with the black chalkboard walls, yes!! But what to put into the frames? Surely not these greek hunks.

Yes it's true, steak knives can be used to creat beautiful home decor. I'm such a professional. Just cut the back of this paper backing off if your frames are covered. But be careful with it....

Because in my case this paper backing made the perfect mat background for my new fabulous print. The mat that was in the frame had a peach tone to it and it just didn't look good at all. I was going with black and gold accents to tie in with the light green and black walls. So the paper backing was perfect! And it was FREE! I simply used blue painters tape to attach the two together. BUT..... I did have to cut down about half an inch on each side for it to look good. No big deal.

Stephanie over at http://www.notesfromthesoul.blogspot.com/ is always mentioning the Hobby Lobby so last week I happened to drive by one. I already knew what I was going to do with the frames but I had no idea what I was going to put in them yet. So I decided to go in..... I went straight to the scrapbook section and look what I found!! Some black and white toile, oh how I love me some toile. They were only 59 cents each!! So I bought 2 papers for my frames. Total cost of new artwork: 1.18. I already had the frames and the paint.



There she is all put together and I love it!! Finally I can have some toile in the house. The hubster hates it but oh, it must be a woman thing because don't all women just love toile?




Hello big boy...... $10.00 on sale at the Hobby Lobby. Was $19.99 x 50% off = $10.00.

Entire cost of this wall: $19.20.



Now I have a room I love and Braxton has a whole huge chalkboard wall that he can play with and enjoy. Bookbags and grocery bags can't hurt it and it will always be beautiful. And might I say.... I think my laundry room looks updated and elegant. Very soothing. Now I have some good stuff going on on the other wall. But that is for tomorrow's post so stay tuned!!



Before

After

Before

After

Did you notice that I hung one of the print frames over the big hole in my wall? Bye bye ugly wall. I love it! It's different, which I like to be different. How many people have black walls in their house? But I think it looks pretty and it will be covered over and over with Braxton's colorful drawings that will keep him busy instead of pulling my clothes down off the folding tables ha ha. I used what I had and was creative about using inexpensive items to give me a look that I really love. The other wall? I love it too and it really brings the whole room together. I can't wait for you to see it. I'll give you a few hints of what is to come. The total cost of the other wall? $12. Here is a sneak peek of what you will see:

The point: If I had another $50 plus dollars could I have made this room look even better?

The answer: YES! But right now I don't have $50 extra and neither do a lot of people. Don't wait to live a beautiful life. Be happy where you are right now with what you have. Use what you have or can afford (I spent $1.18 on new artwork) to make your home the one place where you can relax and feel good. If you are waiting for whatever reason to make your home the place you want it to be then stop waiting. Because whatever it is that you are waiting on may never happen and you are worth more than that.

Don't wait to be beautiful.