home art: 2010

The top ten of ‘10

Well, the end is near. The end of the year that is. :) I had a great time recapping my top ten posts last year, and this year my friend Rhoda is having a whole linky party dedicated to the biggest and best projects of 2010. So, without further adieu, here’s my top ten of this year, based on your comments! FUN! First up was the start of our master bedroom redo. It was all about the bedding

Office update and the plan

Well hello! I’m back with another update on my office redo. I’ve mentioned before that I had only one goal in mind when redecorating this space – making it BRIGHT. And whooowee, it’s working! :) I’m SO thrilled with the direction it’s going. Last time I updated, I showed you the difference a coat of primer and a couple coats of white did to the space: OH my. Night and day. Get it? Dark

Didn’t.

I didn’t take my comfy pants off for days till last night. (Not the same pair all that time, mind you. Eww.) I didn’t put bows on the presents. Wrapped and done. I didn’t even use many tags. (Just coded them by wrapping.) We didn’t have a beautiful family picture for our Christmas cards – I ended up making a collage so all four of us would be represented. I didn’t get out of bed before 9 a.m

Merry Christmas to you and yours…

Hello all! We are prepping for the big day around here, and there’s SO much to do, but I LOVE IT. I wanted to take a minute to thank you all so very, very much for your support and love this year. I have the BEST readers out there. (I really do.) To wrap up the holiday posts, I thought I’d do a recap in pictures. A few shots I haven’t shown you yet, and some are of my favorites from this

I love my Dremel

Howdy! Remember when I told you I got a fun new tool, and that tool was the Dremel Multi-Max? (Salivating.) Well, I told you I’d share the ways I’ve found to use it, and I found some GOOD ones. :) The tool came with three attachments – two cutting blades and a sander. It was super easy to put them on – just loosen the nut, fit the attachment in and tighten: I started with this one:

Giveaway winner!

Hello!! How are you this fine Tuesday evening? I have a winner for my thank you, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, etc., giveaway. :) Emily from Frilly Details, it’s yours! Please send me a quick email at thriftydecorchick(at)gmail(dot)com and I’ll get your goodies sent out to you tomorrow! Congrats! I’ll be back in a bit. :) Thank you to my sponsor!:

A few of my favorite things…

Hello! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! We are almost done shopping…but still not one gift wrapped. We LOVE the thrill of last minute. I guess. :)Tis the season for FUN stuff – I don’t know about you, but I’m a total and complete sucker for anything Christmas-themed or related. If it has snowflakes, I’m hooked. Peppermint swirls, forgetaboutit. Glitter? Gah. I give up. It’s the one time of the

The Christmas stairs

So, remember that little bitty project I took on early this year? The one I wanted to tackle late last year, mostly because I couldn’t wait to see it all dressed up for Christmas? That “little” project was taking the carpet off our stairs – and I may have mentioned it 149 times or so. :) Our house has been decorated for Christmas for a couple weeks now, but because I had been waiting all

Peanut butter bliss

OK, peeps – I don’t claim to be a fantastic cook or baker. I mean, there was the cake fail of last summer, ifyouknowwhatI’msayin’. Well, even that one tasted good. I just looked all wrong. :) But every once and awhile I open my recipe binder (it creaks and a cloud of dust poofs out) and find one I love and I just have to share. You will thank me. :) I’ve made this “pie” for years, but for

Tour of our Christmas kitchen!

Heya! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! We were BUSY. Tis the season, eh? :) My friend the Nester is hosting a holiday home tour, and I thought I’d share our festive kitchen and link up! Warning: LOTS and lots of pictures! A couple of years ago, I decided to make our kitchen FUN for the holidays. Like, lots of candy cane stripes, red and white, a little bit of whimsy, FUN. Last year I

A white room!

Hello there!! First of all, WOW, you Squeezies have some beeeeautiful Christmas trees!! There are 445 linked up so far – and you have till next Thursday to include yours. That has to be the prettiest post I’ve ever seen. :) I’ve been working on some BIG changes in our den over the past week, and I couldn’t resist showing you the progress! I mentioned last week that, in the middle of Christmas

It’s a Christmas Tree party!

It’s here! The final party in our Holiday Home series is finally upon us. :) I hope you’ve enjoyed the parties as much as we have! Year after year, my hubby and I waffle back and forth on whether or not we should get a fake tree. EVERY. year. The conversation usually starts about January 2nd, when we’re hauling a massive, shedding tree out the front door, and trying to get it back on the

Giveaway Winners!

Hello hello! I have a bunch of winners to announce from past giveaways! Yay! The winner of the Modern Bird Studios art piece is Stephanie at skarpicke (at) gmail (dot) com! The winner of the Wuslu gift card is Sarah at The Mama Pirate! And the winner of the Deeply Fabulous gift card is Kimberly at berly02 (at) hotmail (dot) com. (Remember you can still use a special 15 percent discount using

Rustic Pottery Barn knock off

Hey HEY! The Before and After Party is going strong – be sure to check it out and link up! SO MUCH fantastic inspiration! It’s time for another holiday link up: We’ve seen some amazing mantels at Layla’s, beautiful vignettes at Rhoda’s, and now I can’t wait to see all the crafty goodness at Kate’s! I was inspired by this project months ago when I got a Pottery Barn catalog and saw this:

Before and After Party: Festive outdoors!

Hey all! Whew, we have Internet back! I actually started a different post last night for today’s Before and After Party, but when I drove up to our house this morning after running errands, I changed my mind. I love love LOVE the front of our house at Christmas. I was so taken with it, especially with all the pretty snow, I wanted to share this instead today. I usually have the same recipe

The par-tay is postponed!

Hello all! I'm writing a brief post from my cell phone cause our Internet is down! Does the cable company not know I have a Before and After party to throw?! ;)

Since it's 10 p.m. on a Sunday night, I don't have many options for places with free wifi, so for now I'm delaying the party till tomorrow.

Just wanted to let you know in case you were planning to link up. Now you can go to bed early.

Giveaway Weekend!

Hello all! I’m back with another great giveaway weekend courtesy of my friend Kelly from Deeply Fabulous:
I showed you her adorable bags back in October and I just fell in love with them. I couldn’t resist this cutie Boo bag:I was so pleased with it when it arrived! Just adorable, and perfect for treats. :)Kelly does not disappoint this time of year either – I can pretty much guarantee you will

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Dining room Christmas vignette

I’m late to the party! Ack! We’ve been busy with a choo choo tree, hubby’s birthday and my impromptu decision to finally paint the office. I am crayyyzay! Anyway, I finished up our dining room vignette today, and I’m so excited to link up to Rhoda’s Holiday Home linky party!: You may remember last summer when I removed the top of our dining room hutch: It had bugged me for YEARS, and I

Santa hat craft

Hey there! Have you checked out the Holiday Home Mantel Party at Layla’s yet? Some serious inspiration going on!! (You can see ours here.) Even if you don’t have a mantel, you’ll be sure to find some great ideas for your holiday decorating. :) Late in the season last year I did a Christmas craft that I absolutely LOVE – I wanted to show it to you again in case you wanted to try it out yourself

Let the magic begin! (The mantels.)

Well hello there!! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving week! We had such a fantastic time, but there wasn’t much resting, shopping or decorating going on. Just a lot of this: And this: And this! And watching our sweet Bub experience many firsts – first subway ride, first musical, first trip on an airplane: That’s him watching our plane pull up to the gate. Giddy. Adorable. :)

Silhouette discount code and a winner!

Well…WOW! What a fantastic response to the Silhouette giveaway!! I so wish I could give one to all of you!! (Really, I do.) The LUCKY DUCK winner of the Silhouette and accessories is…JEN from GARAGE SALE DIARIES! Yay Jen! Please send me an email at thriftydecorchick (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll get you hooked up!Sooooo…for you other 5,402 entries that didn’t win, today only you can get a steal

Eight more hours!

Well HELLO!

The Silhouette giveaway is open till tonight at 8 p.m. (Eastern time) -- and I had no idea Blogger limits comments to 5,000. Probably because I never thought I'd hit 5,000 ever. :)

So if you haven't entered yet, please do so on this post, and I'll include you in the giveaway! Good luck!

1. Leave a comment here.

2. Visit the Silhouette site here, take a look at what it can make,

Giveaway Weekend!

Hello there! How early did you get up this morning? Can you believe I have NEVER gotten up early to shop on Black Friday? Have I mentioned how much I love sleep? ;) The week of giveaways continues on this Black Friday with another great giveaway from Wuslu.com! Yasmin, the owner of Wuslu, is a buyer in the interior design industry, and is able to negotiate with manufacturers to get

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Silhouette Craft Cutter Giveaway!

Yep…you read that right. I get to give away another Silhouette Craft Cutter machine. Please say it with me… WHOO. HOO!!! If you’ve read TDC for a while, you know how I’ve fallen in love with this machine: We’re likethis. LOVE. This giveaway is full of so much good news, you may just pass out from the greatness. Not only is one of you going to WIN one…but the folks at Silhouette are going

Giveaway weekend!

Whoooeee…welcome to the week of giveaways! I’ve got some great one’s coming up, and who better to kick it off than my friends at Modern Bird Studios? First of all – Megan and Gregg have to be the most patient people I’ve ever met. We first started talking about doing this giveaway about eight months ago. I was so psyched when they offered us our own piece of art, but I wanted to find the

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The garage decrapification (again)

Awww, you SQUEEZIES. Thanks for your sweet comments this week. :) (If you haven’t seen The Nate Show segment, you can see it below. Ignore the cat.) So, there’s one thing about blogging – I’m held accountable to finish up certain projects. I finished up one this week that I mentioned about six weeks ago. It would have been so easy to let the little final details slide till…oh…the spring. Or

Winners and a video

Hello all! I wanted to announce the winners of the Accessory Steals and Decor Steals giveaways before I forgot. :) The winner of Accessory Steals $50 gift card is: Melissa at Honey Bee Hive The winner of the Decor Steals $50 gift card is: Callie at Babbling with the Bowers Congrats ladies! Email me at thriftydecorchick (at) gmail (dot) com so I can get you hooked up. I finally got video of

Mama’s got a brand new tool

Well hello! I’m so glad you like my little memo board as much as I do – totally worth the eight month wait, eh? You may know by now I’m a tool FREAK. I may have a few of them. Alright…A LOT of them. I have something like 35 screwdrivers – because you never know just the one you’re going to need. I’ve gotten rid of most of the extra STUFF around here lately…but my tools stay. Even the extra 34

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A hidden memo board

WOW!! What a surreal day! TDC was highlighted on The Nate Berkus show today and it’s been so cool seeing all the new visitors around here! :) (I don’t think the segment is up on his site, but I’ll video tape it and post it for those who didn’t see it if you’d like!) Thanks to Nate for the wonderful mention on his show, welcome to my new visitors and thanks again to my readers for all your

A thankful foyer

Hello all! Hope you had a great weekend! We are DONE with marching band season (so proud of them!!) and I now have my hubby back…for approximately two weeks. :) I haven’t done anything crafty in a while and last week I was feeling my mojo creeping back…so I got busy on a quick Thanksgiving project for our foyer. I’ve been admiring the cute “Thankful” banners I’ve seen over blogland lately,

Giveaway Weekend!

Hello there! I hope you all have a great weekend planned! I have a fun giveaway for you -- it’s a great one if you want to Christmas shop from your couch. :)Two new sites full of fantastic deals went live just yesterday – Accessory Steals brings you fun jewelry and accessories, and Decor Steals is for just that -- decor. :) You all get the first peek at the steals and first dibs at the great

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Making the old new again (spray paint love)

Well, since it was seventy-stinkin’-five degrees here today, I figured I may as well take advantage of it and spray paint something. In my flip flops. And tank top. Grrr. I know…it’s awesome and all, but I’m already missing my sweaters. I was just getting used to cozy again. :) Anyway, when we built our house, we upgraded the elevation, (exterior of the house) but didn’t add any extras to

Tricky Tricky! (Window treatments)

Howdy! I still haven’t heard from two of the winners of the HomeGoods cards -- Cammy and Stephanie, holla at me! So, remember when I showed you the start of our bedroom redo a couple of months ago? Remember the purple drapes?: Oh my. They were looking pretty sad. They were left over from the room before…and before. :) But obviously it was time for them to go. Then one of my lovely readers

Giveaway winners!

Hello there! I’m excited to announce the winners of my latest giveaways. FUN. :)First up, the randomly selected winner of the TEN craft kits for you and nine of your friends (a $250 value!) is…MelKel from For the LOVE of cooking! Congrats! You can email Alison at alison (at) howdoesshe (dot) com to get connected for your kits. Have fun! :)There was a HUGE response to the HomeGoods Mom Cave

Get ready (cause here it comes!!)

Well hellooo! Hope you had a great weekend! We did a whole lot of marching band and not much else. :) I just finally got all of the Halloween decor down a couple of days ago. (Well, except for the orange lights out front. And the stuff I forgot in the garage. And the trinkets in the car. And the nightlight in the Bub’s room.) But other than all that…it’s all put away. :) And now I’m really

Giveaway Weekend!

It's time...Craft Group TimWhoohoo! I told you I had some great giveaways coming up! (I always do…but the anticipation of the holidays makes them especially fun this time of year!)Two of my three friends over at How Does She (it’s such a fab site…check it out!) recently started a new endeavor – a business based around crafting. Even better -- crafting parties. How fun is that? A Makia Craft Group

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TDC on The Nate Show!

WHOO to the HOO. I am so excited! I’ve been keeping you in the dark about this fun little news – sorry about that. :) I just didn’t want to say anything till I had an air date, knowing the little I know about TV production…and even now with an air date scheduled, I know it could still end up on the cutting room floor. But…WHOOHOO! I’m optimistic and excited so I’m spilling! :) It started a

HomeGoods Mom Cave (Giveaway!)

Oooooh…I’ve been so excited about this one! I have a FAB giveaway for you today -- I’ve been chomping at the bit to tell you about! HomeGoods has a Mom Cave promotion going on right now that you may have heard about around blogland. I don’t care who you are…young, old, work outside or in the home, one child or seven, children or not…every woman needs a spot they can go and just relax. Recharge.

Before and After Party: A private pantry

Hello there! Welcome to the Before and After Party for November! (Can you even believe it’s November?) I can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to! But first, I wanted to show you the pain-in-the-booty project that I am SO GLAD is done. Remember the pantry door transformation I showed you?: I was lucky enough to get this beauty for FREE with some help from an Amex Points promotion. But, like

Share your Holiday Home

ACK! I am so excited! It’s time to start thinking CHRISTMAS!!! Yahoo!! YES, I know…Thanksgiving comes first. I love Thanksgiving as much as the next person…but November 1st really signals the start of the holidays for me. So I get to dream, swoon and plan for them starting today. :) I am THRILLED to share a fun event some of my beautiful bloggy friends and I have thrown together – I guess you

Autumn in Indiana

Hello there! Hope your Halloween weekend is going beautifully! A couple of weeks ago, my Sis and I took a day off from the decluttering around here to take in some of the fall beauty around us. It was her last day before heading to her new job and my last day having her around all day. :( Sniff. I do love being with her – I don’t just use her for manual labor. ;) I’m so proud to be a born

So cheap it’s scary

Can you believe Halloween is just days away? The days are going by SO FAST! I’m so excited for Monday though – November 1st is the first day I really allow myself to start thinking about Christmas. And I have a fun holiday event I’ll be announcing on Monday that you won’t want to miss! ;) So anyway, we’ve had Halloween all over the place for a while now, but I’ve let the Bub kind of take over.

Giveaway winners!

Hello there! I wanted to make sure to announce the winners from the TWO fabulous giveaways last week!

The winner of the Holiday with Matthew Mead “bookazine” is Heather at rcadenhead (at) gmail (dot) com.

Remember if you’d like to order your own copy, you can do that here.

The winner of The Rusted Chain giveaway is Amy from The Hay House!

Congrats to both of you!

Send me an email at

Welcome to Crazy Town

First of all, my husband is a SAINT. Really. On any given day when I’m working on a project, he comes home to my messes, the house torn apart and everything looking different than it did when he left in the morning. When he takes business trips for days at a time – forget about it. I think he wonders if he’ll even come home to the same house.He’s been dealing with my DOCD/DADD (put the “

Our Sanford and Son deck

Well…it’s time to show you the before and after pictures of our deck clean up! As you know, I like to show you the good and the bad around here. And this one was BAD. After reading this, you will either be highly motivated…or just highly sleepy. ;) I showed you how we upgraded our deck just a bit last year by adding some new furniture and a faux pergola to the seating area. We LOVED it: I

Mood lighting in the kitchen

Well hello! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! My stepdaughter came home for fall break and we had a blast! The Bub was so thrilled…the two of them are 16 years apart, but you would never know it -- they play (and fight) like they are only a year apart. ;) I finally finished up a project last week that was about five months past due. I installed under cabinet lighting in our kitchen years ago

Giveaway Weekend!

I am so excited to share this weekend’s giveaway with you! Beki from The Rusted Chain is one of my oldest and best bloggy friends. We talk like we’ve known each other for years. We have nicknames for each other (BADGER!) that no one understands but us – and am quite certain we annoy many people whenever we use them. :) And yet we've still never even met. That is the beauty of blogging. :)Beki

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Holiday with Matthew Mead!

YES. I’m thinking about Christmas. YES, I know it’s still October. I do this every year, and I don’t apologize for my GLEEEEEE. :)I do blame my son – the older he gets, the more magical the season gets. This Halloween will be the most fun yet, and I’m over the moon excited to see how he takes in this Christmas. We’ve been going through the holiday aisles at Lowe’s for weeks…and at Hobby Lobby for

Giveaway winners!

Well hello! Thanks so much for your sweet comments on my new pantry door. :) I do love it!I wanted make sure to announce the TWENTY winners of the Shaklee giveaway! (Whoohoo!)1. Maura from Adventures in Joyceland
2. Alisa D of While She Slept
3. Stephanie of Little Country Home
4. Loren at lorenme@bellsouth.net
5. Greta from Modern Garden
6. Christy from Scritch Not
7.

A new pantry door

One of the many reason I love to blog is because I know some of you get excited about the little projects that I get excited about too. Or at least you act like you do. (That is so nice of you.) ;) I was so happy about this one, I couldn’t wait to share it with you. I even took NIGHT pictures. Which means I REALLY wanted to show you, cause you know that’s just asking for horrible pictures. (

Giveaway Weekend!

Hello there! I hope your weekend is going great! I am so excited to share this giveaway with you, because I use this stuff and LOVE IT. BIG. FAT. love it. :) I’ve mentioned the Shaklee cleaning products before, and my friend Bonnie from Donahue Wellness is back again with a fantastic giveaway for a BUNCH of you! Whoohoo!I’m not just blathering on about these products – I really, truly love them,

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Spooky in the house

Well, it’s about time for some Halloween decorating up in here! At least that’s what the Bub said – without the “up in here” lingo. OH my goodness – he is SO exited about Halloween this year! He’s been decorating all over the place. Which in his way is pulling everything out of the bins and lining it up along every. single. surface. in the house. Adorable. :) It feels like I just put the

My nekked kitchen windows

Sooo…do you remember that little bitty kitchen project I started ohhhhh…five months ago? With the help of some free Amex points, I was able to take the simple changes I had planned for the space and amp them up just a tad. :) Well, the summer-o-lazy hit, and then the closer we got to fall, the more obsessed I got with decluttering, so the kitchen has had very little DIY action lately. I’m

Our (tiny!) fall porch

We have what is probably the teeniest porch EVER. We didn’t even think about it when we picked out this house though – we loved the exterior so much. It’s another one of those things you realize later…it would be nice to have a porch to sit and rock on. And maybe to decorate. :) But I have found ways to make it work for each season, and fall and Christmas are of course, my favorites. It’s

Giveaway winner and updates

Well hello there!! Hope you had a fantastic fall weekend! The winner of the Deeply Fabulous giveaway is (randomly drawn) comment #4 – Terrae01 of Minnesota!: Congrats! Give me a holla {thriftydecorchick (at) gmail (dot) com} and I’ll get you in touch for your two cutie bags!! I wanted to mention a couple updates as well – you may have noticed my little consult tab up above is missing, and

My great fall clean up

Well, Stink Eye Sister went and messed up all my grand plans. I was all set to hire her as my assistant, and she went and got another “real” job. WHAT-ev. Seriously, would you rather be at my beck and call, helping my clean my house, work on house projects and running my errands, or would you rather have a cushy, well-paying desk job?? WHAT-ev. I KNOW. I would totally pick the cushy job too.

Falling up the stairs

Last year, I was itchin’ to tackle a certain project for MONTHS. In fact, I researched it for quite some time – and in January I finally got up the courage and went after it…and I’m SO glad I did. :) That project was ripping the carpet off of our stairs and staining/painting the wood underneath. Hands down my favorite transformation in our house. Because we were lucky and had beautiful treads

Before and After Party: Buh bye ceiling fan

Hello there! Welcome to the October Before and After Par-tay! So…I got nothin’ against ceiling fans. Really. We have three of them in our house. Well – now two. :) We’ve always had one in our bedroom -- we hand picked it when we built the house: And pretty much since the first week we lived here, I’ve wanted to take it down. :) We used to use it fairly often, but over the past few years,

Giveaway Weekend!

Well, it really, officially started feeling like fall around here today. We woke to a dark, rainy day – it rained all morning and then turned into a crisp, beautiful 60 degree day. And now it’s just chilly enough to get the fireplace going.

PERFECT.

(But I LOVE rainy days.) ;)

Because I’m feeling so completely fallified today, it’s been especially fun looking through the highlights for

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My style is “Suburban”

So I’ve noticed something lately when watching my favorite design shows. There is one word that seems to strike fear in the heart of many a “real” decorator… Their mouth puckers up like they just drank lemon juice. They look like they just swallowed a bug. They look as if they may just spit out the word…cause it’s just so completely hideous. That word that makes them quiver… SUBURBAN

A fall mantel

Hello there! Well, the bins of fall decor have finally been pulled up the stairs, and I’m a little shocked at how much beady/leafy/pine coney stuff I’ve accumulated over the years. I mean, I lurve me some beady stuff, but it’s a little much. :) I set to work on the family room mantel today and started out putting it together like years past, but quickly realized I quite liked the way I had

Rewind: Warm fall glow

Can you believe I am just now really starting to decorate for fall? Most of you probably think I’m right on time, but this is about a month late for me. ;) My recent aversion to stuff has made me cringe at the thought of pulling the bins upstairs. But this weekend I finally got the bug, and it’s coming out slowly but surely. It’ll just be a tad simpler this year. Last year I showed you how

Bloggers in New York!

Well, enough of my bloggy friends have posted their pictures now, so I can finally steal their pics and share my post about our whirlwind NYC trip as well! ;) I was there for less than 48 hours, but crammed a crazy amount into that time. The evening I arrived, I joined the group of bloggers at the Rue Magazine launch party – it was held at Atelier in the New York Design Center, and I must

Master bedroom redo: Part one

I know I promised a post about the NYC trip today, but I’m waiting on everyone else to post about it so I can copy all their pictures. ;) That’s how I roll. So…you may or may not remember my post a couple of months ago about our bed, and why it made me cry I never made it. I told you then I was on a search for new bedding…and I found it, over time. I big fat LOVE IT. And oh yeah – IT FITS

Giveaway winner!

Well HELLO! I’m back home sweet home!

What a fantastic, whirlwind of a trip it was! So much so, I reeeeeally need to get some sleep. I'm pooped.

I at least wanted to announce the winner of the A Side of Peaches giveaway from last weekend! I know I kinda stink at the whole announcing of the winner thing. ;)

Congrats to Noralee at Keeping up with the Jones’ – you are the (randomly selected)

DIY Ballard Design Acanthus Plaque

While I’m off in NYC, my friend (in blogland and in real life) Beckie is guest posting for me. She’s sharing one of my very favorite projects of hers – enjoy!! Hello Thrifty readers! I am Beckie, from Infarrantly Creative. I am a red-headed, left-handed, frugal-living, roadkill-rescuing, furniture revamping, creative-minded, spray-painting, fun-loving Midwest girl living in the land of

Weekend fun: Famous folk

Hey there! I hope you’re having a fantastic weekend! I’m getting ready for another trip to NYC next week (pinch me!). I mentioned last week that, thanks so my friend Rhoda at Southern Hospitality, I am off to a taping of the Nate Berkus show, along with a whole slew of decorating/design bloggers. I can’t WAIT! So, I’m in the midst of laundry and trying to find SOMETHING to wear that is worthy

Show me off: Fab transformations!

Well hello there! This week is positively flying by -- crazy! I can’t believe it’s almost the weekend already. It’s time to show off a few more of you lovelies out there in blogland! I’ve received so many emails highlighting some incredible projects, and this post is all about taking the not-so-glamorous befores to fabulous afters! First off, Myra at My Blessed Life found a gorgeous

A dollar store fall wreath

Hellooo there! I’m finally pulling out the fall decor this week! This is SO late for me -- usually I’m itching to get it out in August! This year I wanted to make sure I was completely done going through the basement before I started lugging the (cough. numerous.) bins up. One of the projects I wanted to tackle this year was a DIY fall wreath. I was inspired by this one last year: But

How to paint cabinets

First of all, I must thank you for your sweet comments on my kitchen island redo. :) We love it so very much! I promised a how-to on the painting of the cabinets, so here we go… As I mentioned, it took me almost two and half years to attack this project. Now I know why. :) Nahhh…it wasn’t that bad. No really, it was. You folks who have painted ALL of your kitchen cabinets have a special

Giveaway weekend!

Hello all! It’s the start to another weekend, and that means another great giveaway here at TDC!A Side of Peaches (isn’t that name adorable?) is a deal-a-day site that offers a fantastic selection of goodies! You really don’t know what you’re gonna get when you check in each day. (And I love that!)The items are discounted up to 80 percent (wowza!), but the thing is, you have to grab them while

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Remember

Almost exactly nine years ago, my husband took me to New York City for my first visit. I had a feeling about the city – even though I had never been there. I just knew I would fall in love with it. And I fell…hard. I always say I must have been a New Yorker in a past life. :) It felt like home to me, from the very first trip. That last week in August nine years ago, we took the ferry out

A beautiful kitchen island (finally!)

Welcome to what I like to call THE LONGEST PROJECT IN THE HISTORY OF MAN. OK, a little dramatic, but really. It took forever. Serious. Serious. It started two and a half years ago when I took our builder basic kitchen island: And added some molding and paint: The sides of the island were made from that crapastic laminate stuff that you need to paint with primer. Which I

Before and After Party: Choo choo!

Hello there! I hope you had a fantastic Labor Day weekend! I got SO MUCH DONE – I labored way too much and rested too little. ;) I cannot wait to show you what I worked on – squeallllll!! (I’ll show you tomorrow!) So anyhoo, I’m pretty proud of this project because I built it with my own two hands…I can decorate and saw and craft and organize and drill like no one’s business, but I rarely

August month in review!

Well hello there! First of all, I need to announce the winner of the Stella and Dot giveaway (I have been bad at this lately!) – the (randomly drawn) lucky winner is Kelsy from We Weren’t Crazy! Congrats Kelsy! Please email me and I’ll get you in touch with Jennifer. Okie dokie, onto the review of August and the fun stuff that went on around TDC! At the beginning of the month, I showed you the

STUFF.

You know how when someone writes in all caps, you feel like they’re yelling at you? Well, I wrote this post title in all caps so I can look back on it and yell…at myself. ;) First things first – I must start by telling you something very, very important… I LIKE STUFF. (No, I’m not yelling at you, I just like stuff.) I like stuff around the house, I like buying stuff. Stuff makes me happy.

My heart is full

I truly cannot thank you enough for your incredible comments and emails over the weekend and today. I’m humbled and so grateful for of your prayers and thoughts. Each and every comment made my weekend. The past few days have been filled with so much sadness, but SO MUCH joy and love as well. Our friends and family have gathered around us with real and virtual hugs – YOU included. It always

A great man

My husband is a great man. He the most patient person I’ve ever met. He loves so true and deep. He is never threatened when I succeed – he encourages me, drives me, inspires me. He is gentle and calm and when I see a bug (and jump on the chair screaming), he will pick it up and take it outside rather than kill it. When I have a problem and ask him what I should do, he is always, always, ALWAYS

Fall inspiration: Link it up!

(source: Pottery Barn) Ohhh, the time is almost here!!! Can you feel it? It was positively CRISPY tonight! (Crispy in a good, cool way. Not a burning hot, I feel like the sun is baking me way.) :) I know, I know…we have another four weeks. Well, reeeeeeally, 27 days if you want to get all technical about it. That’s like, three weeks and six days. Stinky Eye Sister keeps harassing me

Farmhouse table turned desk

Hello there! First of all, I must announce the winner of the Wuslu.com giveaway!!(Finally, I know!) Congrats to Reeban at Rejuvenating Trisha Lou! (She went on the Goodwill Shop and Hop with us – how cool!!) Please email Yasmin at yaso_n (at) yahoo (dot) com. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I got a project completed with a little bit of help. Actually…a TON of help. But it was worth

Giveaway Weekend!

Hello there peeps! Yahoooo, it's the weekend! And you know what that means -- another fab giveaway here at TDC! I’m super excited about this one – my fellow Hoosier, Jennifer, is a Stella & Dot stylist and she is offering one of you a fantastic giveaway! But first, let’s drool over these beauties, shall we? :)I seriously had to cut down my list of favorites to show you – I loved just about

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Our warm and cozy family room

Since the beginning of August, I’ve been cravin’ some warm colors around here. Have I mentioned fall is my favorite time of year? A few times? Well, here I go one. more. time. :) The warm colors of fall make my heart go pitter pat. They’re just so…well, warm. Ah DUH. I’m a wordsmith you know. ;) I’ve never been one to really change out my decor for the seasons – I mean, I decorate for fall

Jewelry for your furniture

Often I think it’s the little things that make a big difference when decorating – or maybe I should say little splurges. :) Things like decorative pulls and light switch covers make me smile. But they aren’t cheap, and they certainly aren’t a necessity, so I add them as I can. One of my favorite little details are pretty knobs. You can absolutely transform the look of a piece of furniture with

Embracing summer

If you’ve read this blog for about, ohhhh…two minutes, you know how much I adore the autumn season. I joke about it often, but it’s not really joking…I BIG FAT LOVE fall. :) I don’t apologize for it. I mean really -- just about everything about that season rocks. But, I do need to give some props to the time of year that has typically not been my favorite – summer. I’ve always been a warm

Bamboo or blinds?

The week after we moved into our house more than six years ago, my awesome Dad came by one day and helped install two-inch faux blinds on pretty much every. single. window. I mean, there’s only so long you can live with sheets over the windows, right? :) But over the past few years, I have fallen in love with the warmth and texture of bamboo roman shades. And I have now replaced every single

The staircase is done! (Again.)

Well hello!! I hope you had a GREAT weekend! I’m starting to get my project mojo back – I’ve been highly unmotivated this summer. Well, unmotivated to do any painting, sawing, crafting or cleaning. Highly motivated to nap. ;) But as fall approaches (what is that high pitched squeal? OH yeah, that’s me.) I’m getting the urge to get more done around the house. I thought it was about time I

Giveaway Weekend!

First of all – shut the front door!! The post I wrote about our journey to pay off our debt was mentioned on Dave Ramsey’s Facebook and Twitter pages! How cool is that? WhooHOO!OK. Breathe Sarah. :)I have a little somethin’ cool for you this weekend too! Cause I’m nice like that. My friend Yasmin over at Wuslu is back for another fantastic giveaway! Yasmin is a buyer in the interior design

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True Value DIY Blog Squad!

Hello there!! I am so thrilled to tell you about a fun partnership that’s been in the works for the past few weeks. I’ve been chomping at the bit to tell you! :) I am very pleased to announce that TDC is one of the ten DIY blogs involved with the True Value DIY Blog Squad: When the folks at True Value asked me if I wanted to be involved with this project, I may or may not have squealed (

Live like no one else

Let me introduce you to my nemesis best friend debt free inspiration…Dave Ramsey. I’ve mentioned him a lot lately, and many have you responded, wanting to know our “debt” story. I’m sharing it with you because hearing the stories of others is what inspired us to become debt free. My hope is that those of you who are drowning in debt right this very second will be inspired as well. I hope that

Before and After Party: Clock cloche

Anyone else glued to the Bachelorette tonight? ;) Don’t worry, I won’t ruin it for anyone. But it was GOOD. (YES. I have watched every season of the Bachelor and Bachelorette. Good stuff.) Ohhh Lordy, the rainbow part just about KILLED me!! Sniff. Hubs and I were so taken with the shots of Tahiti, we were searching to see how much a trip there would cost. Let’s just say we need to wait till

The tale of three desks

Hello all! Hope you had a fabulous weekend! This is a long, long, LONG, slightly annoying tale (for me anyway), of finding a desk I love into our den. I started the redo of this room a few months ago, but then the kitchen, foyer, family room, dining room and bed making kind of got in the way, so I didn’t work on it for quite a while. ;) We’ve always had a Bombay Company corner desk in the

July Month in Review!

Hello there! I’m baaaack with another month in review! Can you even believe how fast this month has gone? Nuts! To start out July, I showed you the progress I had made on my kitchen redo (with help from American Express!): And see? I said I hoped to get the kitchen done in July, and looky there…NOTHIN’ else has been done. It’s the kiss of DIY death to say it out loud. :) (Well, I did work on

From before to after: It takes time

First of all, the winner of the Saffron Marigold giveaway is Betsy from Not Your Ordinary Betsy…congrats!! Betsy, email archana (at) saffronmarigold (dot) com to get your free item! You all know how much I LOVE before and after pictures. Hence the idea for the Before and After Party I have monthly. I could look at before and after pics of a space all. day. long. I love trying to find all of the

The dining room update

Heya peeps! I hope you had a great weekend! I finally finished up a project that was months in the making…really it was years. ;) Before we built our house, we had been living in a two bedroom apartment for three years or so, and a small apartment translated to VERY little furniture in our new, large house. I lived with the bare dining room as long as I could after we moved in, and one day I

Giveaway weekend!

Hello there peeps! Hope your weekend is going great! I have a fantastic giveaway for you all this weekend! Saffron Marigold offers a beautiful selection of linens that are just lovely. I am truly fascinated by process behind their gorgeous handcrafted Indian bedding and linens – each one truly is a piece of art! Before I show you the linens, I have to show you some of the steps it takes to make

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Mixing metals

You all rock! I loved your responses to the bed making post. :) Thanks for the leads on sheets that fit the monstrous mattress – I’m going to check them out! I get a lot of questions about what’s kosher when it comes to mixing metal finishes on hardware, light fixtures and faucets in houses. First of all, I must say (again) – if you want to have 15 different finishes in your house, go for it.

How to make a bed

I’ve mentioned before that our bed is unmade about 99.99999 percent of the time. I just don’t do it. I don’t make beds. It’s kind of like the movie Groundhog’s Day to me – I mean, why go through all that just to have it messed up again in a few hours? YES, I know it’s more than a few. Maybe more like twelve. Whatever. But when I do make it, I find it to be really, really lovely. A made bed

Catalog living

Well heya! How was your weekend? I spent a few hours today completely wasting my time on a project – it’s one of those that just was a total FLOP. But as hubby always reminds me, at least I know now that it didn’t work, and I won’t always wonder. ;) Gah. (More on that later!) When things don’t go right with my projects, I often take solace in a little luxury – taking a few minutes to browse my

Showing off Emily

Hello peeps! I’m kicking off my “Show Me Off” series today with a blogger I know you’ll be spending a couple hours catching up on (if you haven’t already!) So just let the kids and the hubs know they’re on their own for dinner tonight. And maybe breakfast tomorrow. ;) Emily at Decor Chick submitted a few projects that were a tuggin’ at my little decorating heart and I couldn’t wait to share them

Faux faux good

OK, get ready. I may offend some of you with this statement, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… I USE FAKE FLOWERS. And greenery. :) Sue me, but I don’t mind a little bit ‘o faux. I don’t as much of it as I used to – but I still use a little bit throughout the house. And come fall -- fake flowers in warm luscious colors spit up all over the joint. :) Lately, more than

Craigslist love, part two

Hope your weekend was FAB! My “claw” is back – I spent much of my free time over the weekend painting various things around the kitchen, and let’s just say there were numerous coats each. FAB. (I hope to show you those this week!) For now, the Craigslist luvin’ continues peeps. I told you last week how I am starting to fall in love with this ahhhhmazing invention where people sell lovely stuff

What a great idea!

I’m kicking off the weekend by joining up with my friend Beckie’s Great Idea Day Party! What a great idea for a linky party. Wink wink. Hardy har. This project is super quick, super cheap, super easy. And of course, super cauuuute! A few months ago, I fell. in. love. with a glass jar display in a kitchen magazine – it was simple, adorable, fun. You may remember my love of all things glass

Shake your money maker

Hello there! I have emerged from under the massive, huge, endless piles of LAUNDRY I have been tackling for the past two days. We had SO much to do since the dryer went on the fritz – so now that it’s fixed, it’s been 48 hours of nonstop, never-ending loading, washing, loading, drying, folding, putting away (I hate that part!), repeat. BUT, I do have to say, it isn’t as bad when the machines

Before and After Party: Craigslist love

Dearest Craigslist, So, you know way back when, when I may have said that you give me the heebies? Like, I don’t like strange people coming to my house, heebies? Well, I take it all back. Well, not the strange people coming to my house part. The part where I acted like I anything-less-than loved you. Cause I do. Very, very much. You are now my latest BFF. I have many of them, but being

Kitchen redo: Week ?? (and Indy Style!)

Hello there! Are you ready for the holiday weekend? We sure are – we’ve been preparing every night this week by setting off fireworks and annoying the crap out of the neighbors participating in the festivities. Our son is OBSESSED with fireworks this year. :) Some of you may remember I was one of the VERY fortunate bloggers to be picked by American Express to use Membership Reward Points for

Month in review!

Well hello! You are all SWEETAYS for your sweet comments on my aqua and pink flag cake. I cut a piece off tonight for hubby and I must say, it’s pretty cute. Not Fourth of July cute, but CUTE. :) And as many of you mentioned, I’m just on the cutting edge with the hot colors of aqua and coral. I totally did it on purpose. NOT. I have decided to start doing a review of posts at the end of each

Cake FAIL

Many of you know I share the good and the bad on this little ‘ol blog. I have shared my house at it’s worst, as well as many projects I deem “science fairs” (translation = they don’t go well). Well this one is in the science fair category for sure. One of the many things I love about blogging is that I will now try things that I may have never attempted, because if it turns out I’ll want to

Silhouette and Crate & Barrel winners!

It’s time to announce the lucky winners of the fantastic Amex/Crate and Barrel and Silhouette craft cutter giveaways!! First of all, the winner of the Crate and Barrel $100 gift card is: Susie of Shafer Living! Secondly, the winner of the Silhouette is…drum roll puuhleeze… April of Natural Nester! Congrats ladies!! Remember (I believe) you can still use the code “TDC123” at check out

Red, white and blue door decor!

Whew! I hope you had a FAB weekend! We had a great one! Today we got to visit with someone our son has been dying to meet for a very long time: ;) That would be Thomas the Train. I tell. you. what. He was in heaven. Can you tell?! (That’s his smile by the way.) ;) Then we started out the Fourth of July week by watching the local fireworks tonight – and we are POOPED. Happy. But pooped.

Labels make me happy

Whoohoo! It’s a Silhouette giveaway frenzy folks!! I’m back today to show you what I’ve been up to with my new favorite crafty tool: :) If you’ve read this blog for one hot second, you know I’m a little obsessed with labeling things. I label things that have their items in plain sight – like a basket full of cleaning supplies, I’ll label “cleaning supplies.” OK. I know. But it’s fun!!

Silhouette Craft Cutter Giveaway!

Ohhhhh you Squeeeeezays!!

I have been SO excited to tell you about this giveaway – I could barely contain myself. I am positively giddy about this one!

For about, forever, I’ve wanted a craft cutter – I have drooled over them in your posts. I have coveted your adorable crafts. I have sighed as I walked by them at the craft store.

And now…the day has come. I have one of my very own. My BFFs (

Girls’ weekend

Well HELLO there! I’m back, I’m back! It was a whirlwind of a weekend, for sure. We had a BLAST in the city that never sleeps. I’ve told you before how much I adore NYC, and this trip was special because I brought two friends with me who are now in love with the city as well. It is now my mission to make every single person I know a NYC lovah. :) We were there for three days, which

AMEX Crate & Barrel giveaway!

Well helloooo! First of all, I need to announce the winner of The Pumpkin Patch giveaway! The lucky gal is Kayla from Unpredictable Bliss! (She just had a sweet new baby! So precious!) Kayla, shoot me an email and I’ll get you connected with Sarah!I am SO excited for you peeps this weekend! I’m excited for me too, but more on that in a minute. :)You may know that I’ve been working on our kitchen

Comment love

You all never disappoint!! Thanks for all of the great suggestions on the dryer and your thoughts on a new one! I have tried a few more things with our dryer and so far no luck. Boo hiss! In the meantime I’ll probably call the repairman, just to get us through. :) So I get questions all of the time from so many of you who are getting ready to start a blog, have just started one, or have had one

I hate laundry

First of all, the FIVE (!) winners of the My Design Guide giveaway are: 1. gijane_84 (at) hotmail (dot) com 2. The Kesler Klan 3. Lisa Vance 4. Christe from 4 Monkeys 5. Katie from In the Grip of Grace Ladies, you can email Champe at champegranger (at) mydesignguide (dot) com to get your gift certificates! OK. Now to the topic at hand. My hatred of laundry. It’s deep. And

Giveaway weekend!

Well thank you so much for your sweet comments on the backsplash! I’m so thrilled with how it turned out. I’m taking your advice and not adding beadboard to the appliance garage and the sides of the cabs. Some of you mentioned it’s hard to know when to stop when you’re caught up in it, and you are SO right! Once I stepped away for a while and lived with it, I realized I love it just as it is.

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A beadboard backsplash

Well sheesh!! This project about kicked my booty! If you’ve been with me over the past few weeks, you know I’m redoing our kitchen with some help from American Express. (Wheee!) One of the biggest projects was getting rid of our previous shiny black tile backsplash and replacing it with something lighter and brighter. It was a long process -- but I keep reminding myself that it was a WHOLE

Showing off

OK, so this whole beadboard backsplash idea? Ummm…it’s the easiest, hardest project I’ve ever done. Easiest because it has made such a difference in our kitchen with less than $60 of materials. It will by FAR be the one project that has absolutely transformed the space. Hardest because GOOD LORD, there are so many cuts that need to be made, and because my cuts weren’t perfect, there is an

Before and After Party: Strawberry Jam!

Geez Louise, you could practically pull my fingerprints off that picture! ;) I have to start off this post by letting my Dad everyone know that yes, yes I CAN cook. I can bake. I can make dinner. And I can even pour milk into a cereal bowl. All of the above. (The last one I do very well, thankyouverymuch.) I just don’t cook and bake very often. With hubby’s crazy work schedule and a

Giveaway Weekend!

**Because of some issues with Blogger, I am keeping this giveaway open until Wednesday the 8th at noon.

Hello there and happy weekend to you! And you! ;)
I’m progressing on the kitchen projects this weekend and I continue to be pleased as PUNCH with how it’s turning out! My plan is to finish up the backsplash so I can show you this week. But I still have about eleventy billion things to do with

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Kitchen redo: Week three!

HELLO! So are you tired of hearing about the kitchen redo yet? Yes? Too bad. I’m back for more. :) Thanks to American Express, I am redoing our kitchen using Membership Reward Points – and this week they asked me to use the remainder of the points – 150,000! If you have an Amex and you use the points to shop, you know that’s A LOT of points. Still pinching myself. :) I told you in my last

Grundtal, Hemnes, Karlstad Huh?

First of all, the winner of the Single Stone Studios giveaway is Cassie from Primitive and Proper! Congrats Cassie – email me and I’ll get you connected for your gift card! Because they rock, Single Stone is offering ten percent off the entire order for anyone who orders through the end of June! Whoohoo! Use promo code thriftydecorchick to get your ten percent discount. Sooo, I know many of

The 411 on spray paint

I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! I made a little bit of progress on the kitchen, but otherwise we just enjoyed having hubby home for four days straight! School’s out for summer!! ;) Whoohoo! If you’ve read this blog for 2.1 seconds, you know how much I luuurve spray paint. In my humble opinion, there is no cheaper way to transform accessories and furniture. And floor vents.

Giveaway weekend!

I am SO excited about this weekend’s giveaway! If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know how much I love vinyl wall art -- I think it’s a fun, easy, inexpensive way to add a unique look and a touch of whimsy to a room.
Well, my advertiser Single Stone Studios has some fantastic vinyl art you’ll be drooling over! Yippee!
I showed you how I used vinyl from Single Stone Studios in the Bub’s

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This giveaway is now closed. I’m doing another giveaway this weekend for my final $50 HomeGoods gift card!! Whoo to the hoo!!I’ve had a blast judging entries for the HomeGoods Spring Challenge over the past few weeks! I’m always blown away by everyone’s creativity. There is one week left of the challenge – for more info on how to win some great prizes and a ton o’ moola, go here. For a chance to

Goodwill transformations!

Hello there! Today I want to brag on a few of my new Hoosier/local friends who joined Beckie from Infarrantly Creative and me at our Goodwill Shop and Hop last month. We had such a blast and I’m so impressed with what these ladies did with their goodies. Erin from Beauty in the Attempt turned this $1 Goodwill find…Into this: (Click here for more!) Isn’t that cool? I love those test tube things.

How to install board and batten

First of all, the winner of the Donahue Wellness Shaklee giveaway is Clara at BookGirl! Congrats Clara -- email me and I’ll get you in touch with Bonnie! OK, onto the board and batten toot. Well, the faux kind of B and B -- the real kind involves boards on the wall (I think so anyway – hence the “board”) and the strips on top. I really have no idea. I’m guessing. :) When the Bub’s big boy

How to make a headboard.

Well before this blog was a twinkle in my eye, I was making headboards instead of buying them. DIY headboards are nothing new and I’m sure you’ve seen a ton around blogland. They are all over the “land” because they are one of the easiest and cheapest updates you can make to a bedroom – with very little time and moola you can have a custom piece for your room.

Mine are pretty basic – no cutting

Giveaway weekend!

This giveaway is now closed. Well, I’ve told you all before that I’m a bit of a freakedy freak – I kinda like to clean. Bordering on enjoy. Cleaning for me is like decluttering – when I’ve cleaned a space in our house it makes me fall in love with that room all over again. I feel like I can truly enjoy myself and relax in a clean space. Clutter + mess = one skittish chick. Hives. Itching. I’ve

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I did not say “Um”

Well, first of all, I have to tell you how much I loved reading your comments on my last post. I wrote that one hoping to help some of you that get negative comments, but look what happened yet again…you go and make me feel all gushy and mushy and LOVED. Thank you so much. (Really truly.) So anyhoo -- today I was on TV! Yes, freak. out! It was a local morning show called Indy Style. I have been

I guess I’ll go eat worms

First, the winner of The Sheet Boutique giveaway is Allison from Princess Mommy of 2! And the winner of the $50 HomeGoods gift card is #92, Red Door Home. (Check out her Before and After here. Wowza!) Ladies, please email me! Well, back in September, I shared all I knew about blogging. I know I’ve been promising a sequel to that post, but I quickly realized a follow up post about blogging would

Filling wall space (in a big boy room)

Helloooo there! Hope you had a great weekend! I am SO excited to show you the progress on the Bub’s room! It is coming together so beautifully, I’m just thrilled. There are a few toughies when decorating any space, and one of those is what to do with long, empty wall space. They are everywhere, obviously. Above sofas, down hallways, transitional areas from room to room. When it comes to

Giveaway Weekend!

I have a confession. I love to sleep. Not like a normal person loves to sleep, like, “Oh, it’s bedtime, I’m so tired, I’m going to love sleeping tonight.” No, I’m a freak about sleep. I love to sleep in, and I love to take naps. I am not a morning person. I would rather be sleeping, thankyousoverymuch. Because of this, my friend Cara at The Sheet Boutique will forever hold a special place in

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How to mix and match fabric

In my humble itty bitty opinion -- next to paint, fabric is the easiest, cheapest way to transform a room. I do not lie Squeezies. A coat of paint and new drapes, cushions or pillows, and you have a brand new room. Same furniture – different room! I suggest, encourage, beg of you to check out your nearest fabric store for inspiration. When you’re starting fresh in a room, a gorg fabric is a

Easy spring decor

I don’t do a whole lot of decorating for “smaller” holidays, or much for the seasons really (except fall!) Would you believe I didn’t even have one bird in our house before last spring? Nada. What kind of blogger am I? Sheesh. But last year I won these beauties over at my friend AnNicole’s place and they started the collection: By “collection,” I mean those and my Dollar Tree birds I used on

Before and After Party: A DIY cloche

Happy Easter to you all! I hope you had a wonderful and blessed spring day! We had planned on just lounging and eating all day – but the fantastic weather drew us outside, so we spent most of the day working on the yard. Wow. SO much to do out there this year! But it felt good to get my hands dirty again. ;) This month’s Before and After Party project is a complete and utter copy cat – but that’

Tool School: The drill

Well, I thought it was high time I had a “Tool School” session – especially since I said I would do at least one a month, starting in January. ;) Oops! I’m starting with the drill because it is hands down the one tool I could not live without. I use my drill numerous times a week for something or another. I even stopped keeping it in the basement because I was going down there all. the. time. to

A spring table

Well, it’s in the 70’s here today, and the weather has been glorious for weeks now – SO unlike the Midwest. I’m crossing fingers and toes that there is no more snow! Puhhhleaze? Considering it’s supposed to be 84 degrees here tomorrow, you’d think we’re safe. When I showed you the cute little Dollar Tree bird in this post, I told you I had some ideas in mind for others as well. I was so sure

A cozy window nook!

First of all, thanks so much for your idea on the furniture layout! It’s hard to get a feel for the room just with the pics I posted – there are walkways behind both sofas, so for now, they have to stay put. But I am going to add a console table behind the long sofa for sure – I found a perfect table that isn’t too deep and it’s gorg! But for now I’m trying not to spend any cash. ;) One of the

Moving furniture around (& the holidays?)

First of all, thank you SO much for your thoughts on the veggie garden! I am so excited! It sounds like the Square Foot Gardening technique works great, so that’s what I’m going to try. Onto the purpose of this post. I blame this one on The Nester. Darn it, I love her, but her post about moving furniture around the other day caused me to push very large and heavy sofas around our family room for

How does your garden grow?

Really. I’m asking. How does your garden grow? Cause I want to grow a vegetable garden. :) This year, I have been hit with the must-grow-our-own-food-I-may-not-ever-use-because-I-hardly-cook bug. I MUST have my own carrots. And lettuce. Pumpkins. (Ack! Can you imagine how fun it would be to grow your own pumpkins??) I do OK with plants – we can’t have many inside because we have three cats. One

Lighten up!

First of all, the winner of the $50 HomeGoods gift card is Cindy from The Flipping Couple! Congrats Cindy! Email me and I’ll get your card sent out to you! Sooo…this post could also be titled: “Hello my name is Sarah and I suffer from DOCD (Decorating OCD)” or “I am obsessed with the color green.” or “Spray paint is ahhhhmazing.” I couldn’t decide. I don’t know what’s come over me

Vinyl Love

Are you a vinyl luva like me? I think the vinyl wording and designs that have been gaining popularity over the past few years are just so FUN to use around the house. Recently I’ve been wondering if they are here to stay, and then I saw two episodes of Divine Design where Candice Olsen used vinyl on the walls – and I figured I’m good to go for quite a while. I mean, if Candice is using it…I’m

HomeGoods Spring Challenge!

Well helloooo and welcome to SPRING!! Isn’t it fantastic? It’s about darn time, that’s all I gotta say. (Although I see many of you got SNOW this weekend. For once, we had gorgeous weather!) First of all –- the winner of Donna G.’s photography print is Stacey from The Blessed Nest! (Stacey has a beautiful site, check it out!) Congrats Stacey! Email me and I’ll get you in touch with Donna. OK,

Giveaway Weekend!

Hello there! I am so excited about this weekend’s giveaway because the items just scream SPRING to me. Since spring starts this weekend, it’s perfect timing! I cannot even tell you how lovely Donna Geissler’s photography is. She has been an advertiser of mine for a while now, and I’ve been looking forward to showing off some of her beautiful work. Ahhhmazing. I’ll show you a few of my

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DIY built ins

Hello there! I’ve been meaning to do this post for about three months! I meant to do it back in January but things got in the way -- like stairs and family rooms and decrapifying and all that good stuff!
Because I’m working on the big boy room right now, I thought I would share more detail into how my Dad and I made the built ins in this room back when I was pregnant. (Sniff.) I figured a video

Thirty-One winner!

Happy St. Patty’s Day to you! Hope your day includes something green and fun – whether it be green eggs, green beer or a green margarita! (Or a green mint chocolate shake like I had today – yummo!)The (randomly drawn) winner of the Thirty-One giveaway is #621, Shelly from Kansas City! Shelly, please email me and I’ll get your info to Debbie. :)Debbie has offered a free Thirty-One key fob to

A blue room (I did not cry!)

It took me a whole year to figure out the paint colors for the Bub’s big boy room (are you tired of hearing about it yet??). I wanted something that was a bit more mature but still fun…and I was determined to NOT do primary colors. Why? I have no idea. I guess because it was predictable? I’ve mentioned before how hard it is to create a unique space for a boy no matter what the age. His apple

We hopped! And SHOPPED!

OH my goodness! We had the BEST day on Saturday! My friend Beckie and I were so excited the Goodwill Shop and Hop had finally arrived –- even if it was the first day in forever it was cold and rainy. Boo hiss! We still had a BLAST! I am happy to announce there was no cat fighting or hair pulling and ZERO knocking each other to the ground to get to an item – at least I’m pretty sure. ;) We

Giveaway Weekend!

Well hello there! I’ve got another fantastic giveaway for you this weekend! Yippee! My advertiser Debbie is a Thirty-One consultant and was the first to make me aware of these fantastic products. I absolutely LOVE the bags and items at Thirty-One and I think you will too. Thirty-One has a crazy good selection – not only bags and purses, but backpacks and baskets and coasters and adorable

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Finding space

I loved reading your sweet comments about the Bub’s room! Thank you so much! Many of you asked about the book holder in his room -- it’s actually a Goodwill find. It was natural wood and I spray painted it white and added the “books” letters. Love it. :) I’m continuing to make progress on his room’s transformation, and I continue to get more and more excited! Yesterday and today, I’ve been

My favorite parts of my favorite room

Well…the time has come. Sniff. I decided about a year ago it was time to start transforming the Bub’s room into his “big boy” room. This one has been a hard for me. I told you here how I worked on this room for weeks while I was pregnant, doing most of the work with my Dad. It is an understatement to say I love this room. Almost every day of our son’s three years, I’ve sat in here at one

My craft “room”

Well, it’s not really a room. There’s no real flooring, and zero drywall…but it works and I lurve it! I created this “space” a couple years ago, but recently have been making changes to make it function better and look cuter– as cute as cement walls and floors can get. ;) The space started out like this a few years ago: That would be a dumping zone. This is the first space as you walk down

Almost time to shop!

Hello all! Oh my, I was SO GLAD to read your responses to my last post. That’s why I love this big bloggy world – so many of us with the same messy houses who experience the same things and can share and vent about them. I am happy to announce I am blogging tonight from my pretty much, almost there, decluttered basement. It’s a bit chilly down here tonight, but I couldn’t resist. ;) The

In real life

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been just a teensy weensy obsessed with the decrapification of our basement. Usually I wait to attack that space every year after I’ve decluttered every room in the house, but I just could NOT even stand it anymore. It was making me just sick every time I walked down there…really. The amount of crap was overwhelming. So a couple weeks ago I started the biggest

The stair redo how-to

I know it took me forever to get this post up, but I’m finally going to share the rest of the steps it took to get the stairs to where they are now – that would be GORG. ;)This process took a while, but the planning before that took a good year – I took my time deciding what to do. I figured they would look fantastic, I just wanted to make sure they would be safe. I did a lot of research over the

Before and After Party! (A drape redo)

Well hello! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! I was busy keeping Kleenex in business with a lovely cold. :) I did get a bit of work done on the basement – I could actually breathe much better down in the cold! It’s going to take quite a bit more time and a ton more work, but I am SO excited about the changes down there. The amount of crap we had has been a bit overwhelming, and getting it out

Winner!

Hello all! Thanks so much for all the funny and sweet entries for the Dimples and Dandelions giveaway! They were SO fun to read. Kids are adorable. Good thing, eh? :)Anyhoo, the winner of the $50 gift card is Jude from Dolce Cape Cod! Jude, please email me (thriftydecorchick (at) gmail (dot) com) and I’ll get you connected with the Dimples and Dandelions folks. I know I promised you all a post

Science Fair

I know I’m not the only one who has created their own “language” with family and friends. I’ve done it for as long as I can remember. For example, my best friend (since 6th grade!) and I call each other “Bird.” ALL THE TIME. When we call on the phone. When we’re at dinner. ALL the time. It comes from the “pretty bird” scene in Dumb and Dumber. I believe we rewound that part of the movie

Fantastic giveaway!

**This giveaway is now closed.First of all, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your wonderful comments on our stairs! I am so proud of them and it has been a pleasure reading your sweet comments. Thank you so much!I am SO excited about this fabulous giveaway! I know I say it all the time, but I LOVE my advertisers. Dimples and Dandelions is an online children’s boutique that I

My biggest DIY project: The stairs

Well, I know it took forever, but here. they. are. My gorgeous, beautiful, I-am-so-stinking-proud-of-them (and myself!) stairs: I will give you a play by play on how I finished these up later this week. For now, let’s just enjoy, shall we? :) (Cause seriously, I am pooped.) Sorry for the craptastic pictures – it’s a dreary day here, so the lighting wasn’t great for these, but I

Stair inspiration

Well, the giveaway is still to come, I promise! Until then, I thought I would share some inspiration for what I’ve been working on all weekend – beautiful stairs. ;) I am thrilled to announce our stairs are DONE!! Well, other than a coat of poly, but not sure I’m going to even do that yet or not (the stain was a poly mix). Oh, and the landing still isn’t done. Or the the little “extra” I am

Giveaway coming soon!

I’ve had a few technical difficulties tonight with this weekend’s giveaway – so hang in there and I hope to have it up tomorrow at some point. It’s a great one, so I hope I can get this figured out! ;) Have a wonderful weekend!

Investing in what you love

I have a few priorities in my life. There are the obvious – obviously. ;) Our children, my husband, my family and friends. And our house. I have always loved our house, but I adore it because of the effort I have put into making it what it is. What it will be. I love it because I have invested in it – not just with money, but with my time. My sweat. (And YES, many times, tears.)Today the Bub was

ORB love

No, I don’t love the round orbs used as garden decoration. I do lurve some good oil rubbed bronze spray paint! (“ORB” to us spray paint obsessed folk.) I know – the picture above isn’t of the oil rubbed stuff. It’s the end of the day and I’m just plain lazy right now. Just pretend that can has a brown lid, umkay? I almost had a conniption last year because my trusty Rustoleum bronze spray

Wanna go shopping with me?

Soooo…you know when I find something at Goodwill like this (for $25):

And turn it into this:

Or this (for $10):

And turn it into this?:

Or when I just find fanfreakingtastic stuff like this cloche:

And you all ask what Goodwill’s I shop at to find these treasures?
Well…now you can shop with me!
My friend Beckie from Infarrantly Creative and I are hosting a Goodwill Shop and Hop!

If you

Click! Take a pic!

OK, first of all, you peeps are stinkin’ funny. I loved reading your comments on the last post! I was cracking UP. Secondly, to anyone with a child under ten years of age, I now officially apologize for the “Say click! Take a pic!” that will now be running through your head for the rest of the day. So sorry. Or not. It’s funny. So one of my favorite tips when it comes to decorating is

Love it or hate it?

Many of you may be surprised to know that I don’t subscribe to any decor magazines. Zip. Zero. Zilch. I appreciate a good decorating mag, don’t get me wrong. But I find most of them are WAY over my head. I’m much more of a Do It Yourself or Lowe’s magazine kind of girl. But my favorite periodicals aren’t even magazines – they’re catalogs. ;) The day the Ballard Designs, Pottery Barn or even

How to take carpet off stairs

First, stare at Harry for a while to give you inspiration… THEN, get to work. ;) No wait. First, turn on some good music to help you through the process. It works. Swear. I picked a little Kesha and Maroon 5, but whatever floats your boat. Here’s my process and the tools I used to do it… The most important step is the first one, and that’s checking to see what your stairs look like. I knew

What a week!

WOW!! I was so excited by your response to the giveaway! The winner of The Vintage Pearl’s giveaway is Laura from The Chenoweth Family. Laura, email me and I’ll get you in touch with Erin! Congrats! Last week was one of those when I wondered if I could fit one more thing in – it started with my speaking engagements at the Indy Home Show…three days, two times a day. Whew! It was a new experience

Giveaway Weekend!

**This giveaway is now closed.I am so excited for you all because I have yet another wonderful giveaway for you this weekend! I am so lucky to have such amazing advertisers with such beautiful talent. Erin from The Vintage Pearl makes some truly gorgeous stamped jewelry – you’ll be hooked after checking these out…Know someone getting married? Celebrating a milestone anniversary? Or do you just

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The $10 coffee table

I know. I know. I said I would catch you up on the stairs tonight. I know. Winces. I’m kind of at the mercy of others when it comes to this one, which I hate. I am not used to people helping out with my DIY projects, and while it is wonderful to have the help – it also means I have to be more patient than usual, which I am so not good at. ;) Anyhoo, I should be able to show you a close to

Decor inspiration

OK, these are going to be the worst pictures in the history of this blog, but I couldn’t resist showing you some of the fun ideas I saw at the design home at the Indy Home Show today. I was trying to take better pictures, but the people behind me were getting incredibly annoyed at the woman (uhh, me) taking pictures of every. single. thing., so I was trying to be quick. :) Don’t they know

Before and After Party! (A TV cabinet redo.)

Well hello! I am posting this party early this evening because I hope to spend the night finishing up loose ends on my home show presentations and spending quality time with my boys. :) I hope you had a great weekend! Since hubs was out of town, the Bubs and I were busy tearing up the house so my husband would come home and wonder what in the heck I was up to again working on the family

RIP Squishy (and come see me!)

Well, Squishy croaked. Or choked. Can a fish choke? I don’t know, but hubby checked on him the other night (he did every night, isn’t that adorable?) and all I heard was “Uhhh…honey? Did you feed the fish?” Poor Squish was a floatin’. I almost cried. I couldn’t believe it! He was fine when I fed him the night before, and I saw him eating his food. But the food was still floating too. So sad!

Sayonara swirls!

Well, it was time for them to go. I put the wainscoting on our family room walls a few years ago. Three years exactly really – the Bub was asleep in his bouncy seat while I installed all of them. :) After being on bed rest for so long I was itchin’ for a project! I think he was less than two months old when I decided to attack this one. I love stencils, I’m not gonna lie. You can see how I’

Decrapification: The pantry

OK, this is super weird, but when I just went to go find the post I did about our pantry last year, I realized it was almost exactly a year ago that I reorganized our pantry last time. I showed you here in January of last year how I used a smokin’ deal at the discount store to reorganize this space. Well, a year later, I still don’t have the new door with seedy glass and a light installed inside

No fear!

OK, first…awwwwww yeah Colts!!!!!!! What a great weekend!! Got some quality time with my hubby and my Bub, and got to go to the most exciting football game of the year because of my lovely, gorgeous, fantastic friend. No, that’s not her in the picture. ;) Hope you had a great weekend too! Amanda (lilgrebs4 (at) hotmail (dot) com) won the free room consultation by My Design Guide! Amanda,

Giveaway weekend!

Now closed, thank you!This is such a cool giveaway, and like all my others, I’m so excited about it! (For you!)I really wish I had a way to show you all what I’m talking about when I make suggestions on your consultations –- but I got nuthin’. I mean, I can send you links of items all I want, but it just doesn’t show you what’s in my head. (As some of you know, I usually have a lot going on in

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Rug Rules

You Squeezies didn’t think I would go without showing you the rug that inspired the whole family room redo, did you? No way Joe-say! (Speaking of Joe-say, can I get a moment of silence that Kath and Kim isn’t coming back? That show was funny.)I found our new rug at TJMaxx/HomeGoods – it’s a five by almost seven foot rug and it’s awesome. But my hope was to get a rug that was much bigger than our

Family room lamp redos

What a FUN party! If you haven’t checked out the cleaning shindig yet, take a look below for some great tips. I love it! Well, I’m in the midst of a family room mini-redo that started innocently enough – with a new rug. I found a gorg, lighter rug at TJ Maxx and couldn’t resist it. Once that was down in the room, it was all over – it seemed like everything was calling out to be refreshed. I am

So Fresh and So Clean Party!

I apologize now for the OutKast song that will now be playing in your head for the next 24 hours. (At least.) Buwahahaha! So it’s time for a new kind of party at TDC. I’ve told you before I’m a bit of a weirdo (which you know on many different levels). I like to clean. It makes me feel good. I mean, again, if I could go shopping or clean the house – I’d probably pick shopping. But if it were

Party Hardy!

First of all, I must say…YEAH COLTS!!OK, done. I wanted to remind you all about the party this Monday the 18th. It’s the first of it’s kind here at TDC so I hope you’ll link up and check it out! Any posts about cleaning short cuts, tips or products you love are welcome. And because I’m a sucker for it – let’s throw in decluttering and organizing cause we all know you can’t get real clean until

Decrapification: The office

Every year around this time I start tackling the clutter CRAP in our house. It takes a few weeks for me to get into it. I need to get my mind switched off from the holidays and it takes a while for the piles of crap to reeeeally start getting to me. OK, they always get to me, it’s just whether or not my get-off-yer-booty kicks in and I finally decide to address them. As much as the basement

Make it work!

I’m totally channeling Tim Gunn on that one! :) I told you awhile ago how I was obsessing over wanting to move furniture around in our house. I also mentioned how that just doesn’t happen often in our house because of the open layout. Poor me, I know. But one day a couple weeks ago I was standing in our loft/playroom and found myself staring at a corner that drove me nuts: It’s that area

Winner and THANKS!

Katie from live.love.craft. is the winner of the Shaklee cleaning giveaway! Katie, email me and I'll get you in touch with Bonnie. Congrats! And thanks to everyone for participating!I have to share something with you that I noticed the other day -- a graph of my hits from StatCounter (Google analytics is always WAY higher than this one -- anyone know why? Most of the time double what StatCounter

Rewind: DIY (no sew!) roman shades

Hello! Hope you had a great weekend! This rewind post is about a project I get a ton o’ questions about so I wanted to revisit it. I first showed you my DIY roman shades here and they are one of my all time favorite projects and are SO easy to do it’s just silly. I think it was my friend AnNicole who made me aware of a similar project a couple years ago – and like always I tweaked the project

Giveaway weekend!

This giveaway is now closed!OK, this is a different kind of giveaway and I’m super stoked about it! A few months ago I decided to host the cleaning party (coming up on the 18th) and then Bonnie from Donahue Wellness – a Shaklee distributor -- contacted me about advertising and a giveaway. It was kismet!If you haven’t heard of Shaklee (like me before I heard from Bonnie!) – they sell various “

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What’s your problem area?

Perfect decluttering weather out there today! We haven’t even left the house! So what’s your problem area? NO…not on your body. In your house. Even the most annoying organized people have a spot that they can’t keep up with. Rooms or areas where things collect, piles are created, things get out of hand. Slowly but surely the irritation starts, then the hyperventilating. The hives pop up.

A DIY Ballard Designs pendant light

Oops. I did it again. I saw something I had to have in the Ballard Designs catalog months ago and was determined to do it on my own for much cheaper. And I did. For $68 cheaper to be exact. Whoot. WHOOT.We have recessed lights in our kitchen, and I really love them. But for a while now I’ve thought it would be nice to add a little something over the kitchen sink. Just for a little somethin’

Before and After PARTY!

Hello there! I’m so glad you’re here and hope you will join me for the first linky party of 2010! Woot! I have had an overwhelming desire to rearrange furniture in our house over the past few days. It’s been totally nagging at me like never before. We just don’t move our furniture around – ever. Our home is very much an open concept, which means we have very few actual walls to work with. This

Coming in 2010!

Happy New Year! Hope you had a great evening and first few days of the year! I am SO excited about some of the bloggy events I have planned for 2010. I wanted to share the plan with you so you know what’s coming up. The first is the Before and After Party, which I’ve decide to make a monthly event. It will take place on the first Monday of every month. All you need is a before picture and your

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