It's the little things...

... that bring the biggest smile to my face!

So, I know this isn't a new idea, but it's a first for me and I thought I would remind everyone how fun this simple update can be! 

I was perusing Marshalls the other day after picking up some new shirts for Adam when I spotted the cutest shelf lining paper in the home section. They had lots of great colors and fun patterns. My original idea was to use a pretty aqua quatrefoil pattern to add a little pop to the back of our bookcase in the den. When I got home I realized this was a "no go" because our books pretty much cover the back of the bookcase.

Plan B!

Here's my drawer in the master bathroom before the quick purging and update:

 

 

 

And here's after!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cute, huh?

 

I only did the two upper drawers so far, and I'm not even sure Adam has noticed the change that has taken place under his deodorant and toothpaste :)  I have TONS of the lining left, so I'm excited to add it to my crafting supplies. 

 

House Before and After: Living Room

There's nothing more relaxing than a rainy Sunday afternoon, so I'm soaking up the R&R before another busy week gets started. I realized that I haven't done a before and after post from the house in a while, so it's the perfect time to share our living room.

This is the room we spend most of our time in. The room where we argue about what to watch on TV. The room where I look like a cat lady, curled up with a blanket, a book, and two furballs in my lap. And as much as I hate to admit it, it's where we eat a lot of our meals. Ugh.

I unfortunately don't have a lot of great "before" pictures in this room, but this one will at least show the awful red and gross carpet we were dealing with...

You're seeing the opening to the dining room, which we expanded.

Here's a shot from the living room looking into the entry way.

Not much to say about the transformation, so let's get straight to the pictures! Just be prepared for switching back and forth between pictures taken two weeks apart so things changed during that time!

The huge mirror is one of two that Adam's dad made for us a few years ago.

This ladder was my big purchase during the world's longest yard sale! The chalkboard signs were purchased on decorsteals.com

The floating shelves got changed up a bit...

All of my pillows came from different sellers on etsy...

And last but certainly not least, one of my favorite things about this living room is that I made cat beds out of antique fruit and wine crates...and they actually use them!!

 There's not a lot that is left to be done in this room other than filling up some blank spaces on a wall of two.



Two Saturdays of Thrift

Yeah, so these posts are kind of way "after the fact".

Oops.

Anywhoo... A couple of weeks ago I joined up with Rhoda from Southern Hospitality along with other thrifty gals for I Love Thrifting Day! I definitely drove the farthest to participate, but as I explained to the ladies there, my husband is a DRUMMER, so any chance I get to escape our NOISY house, I take it! haha

I was a slacker and didn't take any pictures so I'm "borrowing" Rhoda's. Hopefully since I'm giving her credit she'll still be my friend :)

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Here's the group meeting up for breakfast at Great Harvest, where I had a coffee cake muffin that changed my life. You can spot me by the window on the left.

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Here is the majority of the ladies at our first stop. I'm over there on the end with Rhoda. I wish you could have seen how confused employees and other shoppers were when this big group showed up at all of the stores. haha. We had a lot of explaining to do!

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Here I am with a few of the girls checking out at the first Goodwill.

So I didn't walk away with any majorly exciting scores, but I did get a TON of books for twenty cents each and some picture frames for my ever-evolving gallery of pictures in the stairway. I also got...

A really cute lantern (with candle) in the prettiest shade of green. This is hanging out in our half bath right now but will be great to use outside when we hang out with friends on the back deck.

Continuing with the lantern theme, I snatched this one up at the antique store we visited. When I got home I flipped it over and found out it was originally from Pottery Barn. It's on the coffee table in the den for now.

I'm always on the lookout for holiday items to add to my collection, and this cute snowman spoon rest had to be mine! (Can someone please tell me how people pay high retail prices for holiday decor?)

 

The next weekend I met up with my super fun and awesome friend, Emily, to hang out before she leaves the country for a year to teach English in Korea. We decided to meet up at a halfway point, and we lucked out that our halfway point is the home of the Unclaimed Baggage Store! I had always wanted to go, but never knew it was so close to Chattanooga! I might need to admit the one of the highlights was seeing one of the puppets from my favorite movie as a child, Labyrinth... :)

I'll just throw this out there... I don't think anyone is going to find any uh-mazing deals here. It's more about the experience and the chance to imagine why in the heck someone left these things on a plane or didn't worry about tracking it down when their baggage was misplaced. I think you might find deals on designer clothing and accessories, but even that "deal" of a price is higher than I would pay for something. That being said, I did find two really cute brand new (tags still on them!) dresses.

This one is from Loft (Ann Taylor) and the original price was $79.99. I paid about $20. I recently wore this out on date night at The Melting Pot :)

This one is from a brand/store I've never heard of, but I love it! It makes my waist look tiny (or as tiny as my waist can look).

I also picked up metal wall hanging that will go in the master bedroom, so you'll see that soon enough.

And speaking of the master bedroom,  Adam and I finally went to one of those super fun painting classes and made these for that room:



We had a great time and I love how they came out! I think we may put them above the headboard.