Blessed Update/Budget décor for the budget-less

Okay, remember a few days ago when I introduced you to my newly charming living room? Well, it’s even better after a few more additions! It is STILL a work in progress, as there are a few more projects planned, but here it is as it stands:

Like I said, there are a few more projects planned. Most pressing would be that green couch, which The Mister affectionately refers to as The Green Monster, or the Ugly Green Couch.  It was a craigslist freebie (way back when craigslist was good). I like the style of the couch (I think it’s called Mid-Century Modern) but it could use some new upholstery. I also love the color and it fits well into the current color scheme, so I think I’d do green again. I’m just waiting for the weather to warm up so I can tackle it. 

How about that beautiful red rug! I instantly fell in love when I saw this at Pier 1. I love it even more because it cost me $9.00! Yes, that’s right $9.00! My $9.00 rug!!!  Okay, here’s the math breakdown:  The rug was originally priced at $79.99, but was on clearance for $39.98. I had a coupon for 20% a regular priced item (yes, clearance was considered regular price!). I also had the $25 gift card from my fabulous sis-in-law, which meant I only came out of pocket $9!  How awesome is that?

 

Later the same day I went to my favorite haunt, the Goodwill Outlet. If you haven’t yet, read the entry I did on my old blog here. There I picked up this pair of shelves in the above pictures. They were just the perfect color for the room and I lucked out since there were two of them. I also picked up 4 large picture frames used as part of the stairwell o’ pictures. (That’s still a work in progress, hence no up-close pictures.) Oh, and the 2 yards of upholstery fabric which I used on this bench below:

Did I mention I spent a grand total of $12.90! Again, that’s 2 nice wall shelves, 2 yards of upholstery fabrics, 4 large picture frames (complete with glass and backing) for a total of $12.90. It doesn’t get better than that.

This small side table actually has a short story behind it. In its first life it was  desk. Yup, a desk. I purchased it for $40 from the thrift store. It was originally in my daughter’s bedroom. Her room in our current home is too small to accommodate it, so I decided to bring it downstairs and use it as my desk. During the process of moving I broke 2 of its very delicate legs! It broke in such a way that it didn’t look salvageable, until my daughter suggested the I cut off the desk side (which is the side where the legs broke.) Genius that girl. I took my jigsaw to it (on the right side) and the result is what you see above. I did a little retouch on it (more on that in the future) and it looks amazing, don’t you think?

This lamp thingy? Actually a diy embellishment of Ikea’s new Lobbo lampshade. Here’s the basic gist of what I did (once again, more on that in a future post). I glued (what felt like) a million 1inch circles of natural colored tissue paper onto the shade. Can you see where my kids ‘helped?’ Who am I to crush their creativity and sense of adventure with my pursuit of perfection? The lamp shade: $5, Tissue paper: already on hand (but $2 if purchased.) The result? Priceless. I plan on doing another one  *ahem* without the kids’ help.

Above is a close up of my wall art. A friend of the The Mister (upon seeing it for the first time) said ‘Oh cool, you have the Olympic rings on your wall!’, followed by, ‘No, wait, it’s Google’s logo!’ Eh.  I tried.  The wall words I cut from my little Silhouette Machine using adhesive vinyl I purchased a while back from a sign shop for about $3. Since this area doubles as my creative space, I figured the words ‘dream, create, inspire’ made sense there.

 

 

Here is a close-up of the roses in the pictures above. Just gorgeous! I picked them up from our local farmer’s market the morning of my birthday party. I wish flowers didn’t have to wilt and die. Anyone have good tips for preserving them?

With everything I do, I aim for the biggest bang I can get for my buck, since my buck is getting less and less mileage these days. I think even if I was rich, I’d still do the same thing because it is so fun stretching the limits of my creativity to see what I can come up with. I hope that you do the same. Got any good tips? Leave ‘em below!