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Giant Calendar/Chalkboard/Closet Doors

This project was NOT from the thrift store for once, but it was definitely thrifty. It's been one of my favorites. We live in an early 1980's fixer upper. When we moved in, our laundry closet was festooned by ugly, louvered, bi-fold doors. With all the other things we had to replace (everything!), those doors were low on the priority list. I'd been Pinteresting around for a giant chalkboard calendar idea, but I knew my husband wouldn't take kindly to me chalkboard painting one of the walls we worked so hard to refurbish. A few months ago, one of the doors broke. Ah, sweet serendipity. I grabbed the cheapest hollow core bi-fold doors I could find at Home Depot,  put those puppies up myself, then painted them with chalkboard paint. I told my husband about my calendar idea. Thankfully he helped me measure out the lines. Straight lines are not my strong suit. We made a preliminary grid with some chalk and a yardstick. We left some room at the bottom for notes and in case our dogs happened to brush against it. They could take out an entire week with a tail swipe. Then, I simply taped over the lines with masking tape. I thought about painting the lines, but I didn't necessarily want them to be permanent in case we fell out of love with the calendar. The masking tape has held up beautifully for months now. The whole family loves the calendar. It's right in the kitchen where everyone can see what's going on in a glance. Aside from my terrible chalk drawings, it is a thing of beauty. 

Old Door = New Entryway Happiness!

With all the new furniture happiness going on in the living room, my entryway was looking pretty sad in comparison. I've always thought it would be nice to have an actual foyer area where I could put a substantial chest of drawers or something. No luck. Every house or apartment in which I've lived just dumps you straight into the living room. My current house is actually the best of the bunch. There is a little delineation at least. I've been craving some kind of small console table for awhile. For the front door not to hit it, it could only be three and a half inches wide. That didn't exactly give me lots of options. After some Pinterest inspiration, I came up with this. I like it quite well, and it really finishes the room. 

Before. Just sad.

After. Happy! I also painted the front and closet doors black. More on that in a later post.

All the hooks, accessories, purse, boots, etc. are from Goodwill. Of course.

I got the door and trim from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The door was $15 and the trim was $3. I bought three trim pieces. I rigged together a shelf with two of the trim pieces. Explaining how I did it would be highly confusing. I'm really not even sure, but it worked. I attached it with some metal brackets we had hanging around in the garage. Then I put the old hooks from the first picture under it. The second trim piece I attached to the top of the door to make it look all fancy. Here's what it started out looking like...

A new coat of paint helped it shed its boring persona. After I got it attached to the wall (with much help from my hubby), I put a spray painted thrift store frame around a thrift store work of original art (.88!) and added a little $3 thrift store lamp. I downloaded some free number stencils and painted our house number as a finishing touch. Done!

The Ugly Duckling Sofa Set Becomes Beautiful!

I bet high on the very dirty sofa set I bought at Goodwill last week. For only $108 with tax for both pieces, how could I not? It looked like a very messy toddler had been given free rein all over it. There were juice stains, marker drawings, watercolor paint marks, and general griminess. Most of the damage was confined to the cushions. I figured the worst case scenario involved me making new cushion covers. The back pillows were already missing, so I knew I'd be sewing anyway. After I got it home, I doused the the stains in stain remover and took a chance on putting the covers through the wash. To my delight, they came out nearly perfect. I borrowed a steam cleaner for the rest of the upholstery. That also cleaned up amazingly well. All I had to do then was make some new pillows for the backrests. I sold the old sectional for $75 and spent $50 on new pillow materials. It was like getting a new sofa set for $83. Besides being incredibly cheap, they are such good quality. Much more than I could ever afford at full price. Huge win! So, here is their transformation in pictures...

Here's the old dog bed sectional. It did have back pillows. I just removed them to use for other stuff before I sold it. 

The new set, calling to me at Goodwill.

The very dirty loveseat. And this was the cleaner of the two pieces.

Marker stains, juice stain, general ick. 

All prettied up! Frankie is my spokesmodel. 

A closeup.

Remember all that dirt. No more! Plus new back cushions.

Lovely!

Big Dog Daybed from Small Person Bed

With my new ugly duckling sofa set in the living room and the old, truly hideous set going out the door via Craigslist tomorrow, my dogs are a bit out of sorts. They've always been allowed on the furniture. Or more accurately, I was tired of fighting about it and my couches hid dirt beautifully. That was fine except for the fact that no people sat on the couches because they were always full of dog hair. I had to vacuum them daily just to keep it to a manageable level. We had some very large, expensive pet beds. The new set is much lighter-colored, so we're ushering in a new era. No dogs allowed. Now, that doesn't mean they don't get treated fairly. I had to come up with something to entice them away from the lure of beige canvas. They already had "real" pet beds. Only one dog actually used them. We looked into getting one of those end tables which doubles as a dog crate, but it was $550 before shipping. No. I looked at Pinterest for ideas for making end tables into a pet bed, but they seemed to all be for small dogs. Our dogs are definitely not small. So, I'm sure you can guess where my quest led me. The thrift store, of course. I found this toddler bed at Salvation Army and thought both dogs could fit on it nicely. I was planning on spending at least $50 for two fancy new regular-store dog beds if I couldn't come up with anything else. This was $49.99. Perfect! I went to pay for it, it turned out to be half-price that day. Unbelievably awesome! I told you I'm having a stellar thrift store week. Here's what I did to make it fit into our new decor...

This is it, complete with waterproof crib mattress. It originally came from Ikea. Suckers.

To further entice the dogs to their new bed, I found this electric blanket at Goodwill to use as a mattress pad. Look how happy this couple is, gazing into the sunset, enjoying their "delightful moment."

I used about a can and a half of this. The shade is called "Eden." Ooo, so forbidden.

The first coat.

 All done. Just watching paint dry. Yawn.

I put the electric blanket on top of the mattress and added a brown crib sheet.  (Target  - $10) Then I made a few dog-friendly pillows I could easily wash. It's his own mini-couch!

Frank says, "Thanks for checking out this post!"

My Ugly Duckling

Here she is. You can see the little loveseat peeking out from behind. 

This has been the most stellar thrift store week I've had in a long time. I typically make a big trip to several Goodwill stores on Tuesdays with my baby, my mom, and my 101-year-old grandmother. Mom and I load up the stroller and the wheelchair and hit as many stores as we can before we get hungry for lunch. We're quite a sight to behold with our four generations of bargain-hunting women. I almost always come home with some great finds. This Tuesday, however, was terrible. I actually left one store without buying anything! This is unheard of in my world. So, on Wednesday, I was still eager to get my fix. I headed for the one Goodwill to which we hadn't gone on Tuesday. I should have known the Goodwill gods were just saving my budget for the greatest surprise ever! There it was, at the front of the store. The fabric was so dirty, I nearly passed it up. It was also missing the back cushions. This did not deter me. It was beautiful underneath all that surface dirt, and I was going to make it shine. It was a Bauhaus set, typically sold at Haverty's for around $1000 a piece. The very picture of "good bones." The loveseat was $46 and the sofa was $56. I quickly called up the hubs to ask if it was alright to lug home this diamond in the rough. Sometimes he doesn't quite understand my vision. This time, however, he said I had to go for it. Yay! Day made! So, out goes the old microfiber Rooms to Go sectional that never really fit in our odd-shaped living room. That thing collected dog hair like a job. I'm working on fixing up the new (to us) set. A good cleaning has made it look almost new. Back pillows are being sewn tomorrow. As soon as I get it back to pretty, I will share the "afters."

Clipboard Letters

E's room is pretty small, so I hadn't given a whole lot of thought to artwork for the walls when I was working on decorating. That's also due in large part to the fact that one of her walls looks like this...

Obviously the focal point of the room! Being home with her all the time, I'd started to notice the very blank other three walls. When I found these cute, mini clipboards at Goodwill for .77 each, I didn't really know what I'd use them for. There were five, which isn't conducive to a symmetrical wall display. But, I thought, E's name has five letters. And I habitually collect random letters from the thrift store. Strange, I know. I have a whole alphabet and letter soup in a box in the garage. It worked in my favor this time. Admittedly, I had to augment with a letter from Hobby Lobby because I only had one other E and it was way too big for the clipboard. So here's what I did...

These are so cute. About the size of a half sheet of paper.

Oh, Goodwill. How I love thee! 

Painting a few of 'em up to match her zig-zag wall.

Add a little glue and...

Voila!

Here she is, pondering life's mysteries beneath her name.