Trash to Treasure

Yesterday I finally got around to packing the baby's hospital bag. While I was piecing together outfits that would be warm enough for her, I frantically realized we have NO baby pants! Well, we have some, but only 4 pair and they are ALL pink! Normally this wouldn't bother me, but every girl's closet needs a little variety!

So Alex and I went shopping, on the crazed hunt for baby pants. We made the drive to the mall and ended up getting totally sidetracked. We managed to create a perfect Build-A-Bear for Anna, though. We made a pit stop by The Children's Place and Alex picked out a super-nice pair of lined jeans for the baby. I was so proud! It's so cute watching my husband shop for baby clothes!

Our baby now has pants.

On a different note, I went to my dad's house last week and noticed something that looked a lot like a very tall antique nightstand on his back porch. I went inside and demanded to know what it was, because it definitely looked like something I could repurpose... and he told me it was an old sewing machine that someone had left beside a dumpster.

My mind has been racing ever since-- what could I possibly do with this?

Suggestions? Let's hear 'em! I'm dying to do some sanding, staining, and painting! 

Copycat Messy Bun

Having short (shoulder-length) hair, it's hard for me to find styles of buns that will really work for my hair. Then I found The Small Things blog on Pinterest and was especially taken by this tutorial. The blogger has hair about the same length as mine, and when I looked through her how-to's I was astonished at how easy-- and cute-- they are! 

So, I decided to start with the messy side updo, and this is what I managed to do. Keep in mind that I'm by no means a hair expert, and this was easy for me even on my first try.

I do apologize for the TERRIBLE picture quality. I took them with my phone.

As you can see, I started out with my hair curled. I curled it with my flat iron. Strong, defined curls aren't really necessary since all your hair is just going up in a bun anyway. You just need some texture and softness.



Pretty in LOTS of Pink: Anna's Nursery

I am a believer in all things pink. Always have been, always will be. That said, I was over the moon when I found out we were having a girl!

Progress in the nursery has been slow, since I tend to hover from one room to the next when it comes to decorating. But we are finally finished, minus the glider; my grandmother is busy reupholstering it with a fabric more suitable to my tastes than the denim blue it was covered in before.

I chose white for the primary furniture color because our apartment walls are tan & our landlord won't let us repaint. We added some black accents here and there to go with the antique changing table a friend gave us.

I made this bow holder with a Goodwill picture frame ($3), a spool of ribbon ($1), and a hot glue gun. The original poster secured her ribbon strips with a staple gun for added stability, but hot glue works fine too. I might need to reinforce it in a few years when she's big enough to get those hands on it herself! Depending on what materials you have on hand, this is easily a "$5 and under" project.

This dresser was a diamond in the rough-- I found it hiding in my dad's attic one day (I happened to be snooping around to see what I could take off his hands while he was renovating, haha!). It's solid wood and used to be mine when I was a little girl, before I graduated up to a full-sized bedroom suite. It had a cherry finish with brass drawer pulls and was dinged up pretty good here and there. My stepmother saw me eyeing it and surprised me by painting it white with some satin exterior paint that was lying around and adding some black drawer pulls from Lowe's. Simple as that! I really like that she used exterior paint, because it's durable and high-gloss. I wish I had before and after photos, they're almost unbelievable!





 The bucket on top is also mine from when I lived at home. Dollar General, $3. (:

ANOTHER hidden childhood treasure! The coat rack below used to hang in my room for my millions of purses, and after Daddy renovated it was just lying in a closet. It was plain, unfinished wood. If I would have looked at it a year ago, I would have thought it was useless, but thanks to Pinterest I have learned that ANYTHING can be repurposed! LOL. So while the husband and my dad were enjoying some drinks, a luxury in which I can't partake for a few months still, I spread a few trash bags out over the floor (along with the gallon of white exterior paint!) and painted the rack. It took about 3 coats, but I did 4 for good measure. It looks great, if I say so myself! My husband wants to unscrew the pegs and paint them black to go with the other accents, so it's still a work in progress. (: 



Changing table, gift from a friend. Changing pad cover is from Babies 'R' Us, and the giraffe is Child of Mine by Carters. It was part of the diaper wreath. 

Every bedroom needs a bookshelf! Since my bedroom is too small to reasonably accomodate one, though, I decided it would be PERFECT to utilize the bare wall in Anna's room for the purpose. Plus, she already has so many little toys! I found this one online through Wal-Mart for $25. It's pretty sturdy and I love the white finish. When I looked on Craigslist most used ones were going for about the same price and I couldn't find one that was a reasonable size, so I considered this one a steal.





The wall art is definitely my favorite part of the nursery. I feel like it adds an elegant, personalized touch to our little girl's room. I got it through Amazon for only $20! Amazing! For the price I would have expected it to be much smaller. It's almost 3 feet wide and 2 feet tall. Perfect for the smaller wall.

Last, but certainly not least, is the crib by Storkcraft. The bedding set is the Tropical Punch collection by CoCaLo. This picture was taken at a different time from the others, if you can't already tell by the lighting. LOL. The crib was a shower gift from my father and stepmother, and the bedding set came from my husband's cousin, whose little girl recently outgrew it. I absolutely love the yellow and orange, and the set still has lots of pink without being overpowering. 

And there you have it... the cheapest nursery EVER! 

Heat+Heat=Magic!

My dad has had his formal dining room table for as long as I can remember. On special occasions when the entire family would come over to enjoy a holiday feast, hot dishes would go straight from the oven to the table when there was no counter space left. Even with potholders underneath, the damage was pretty bad. I just wish I would have been old enough to realize what was happening to his beautiful furniture so I could have done a slow-motion dive across the room, yelling "NOOOOO!" LOL.

Here is a particularly large and nasty spot, left by a big casserole dish.

GASP.

So Daddy has been looking for solutions to this problem for at least a year now. He has tried SO many things, including whole-egg mayo directly on the heat mark left overnight, a method many people will swear by. This did nothing but make our dining room smell funny, possibly due to the age and size of the mark.

And then... Pinterest to the rescue!

I found a potential solution here, thinking that it was definitely worth a shot.

Heat marks are caused from a combination of moisture and extreme heat. The solution: more heat and moisture. Could it work? We were going to find out.

The materials were especially easy to obtain. You will need:
--An iron, on medium heat and steam setting turned ON.
--2 linen cloths (I used household rags)
--Water. I found that putting water in a spray bottle greatly increased the ease of the project.

After trying several different methods, I finally found the one that helped the most.
1) Spray water directly onto the affected area.
2) Place one cloth over the water, and mist it down pretty thoroughly.
3) Repeat step 2 with the other cloth.
4) Iron for about 30 seconds. You will need to keep your iron moving.
Steam should be rising the entire time you are ironing. If at any point you don't see steam, just spritz the hell out of the cloths and do it again.

Now for the results...

I can almost hear angels singing!

I tackled the middle of the spot first, and when I saw the improvement I just couldn't wait to finish to take an "after" picture! So there you have it.

There were some black streaks on the rags after I finished, but we determined those to be from dust and furniture polish being taken off by the heat of the iron. So don't be alarmed. (:

I hope this post can be of service for someone facing the same woes as my father! Good luck!



Nice to Meet You!

Finally, I'm getting around to my first-ever blog post!

A little you should know about me:
--My husband and I are expecting our first child next month! We can't wait for our little girl to get here.
--I am a fan of ALL things DIY. I specialize in repurposing thrift store junk. (:
--We live on a rather modest budget, so I'm always looking for ways to cut costs without cutting corners.
--I'm from the South. Therefore, when I eat, it has little to do with hunger. I'm constantly trying new recipes.
--My time-sucks (er, hobbies): Facebook, Pinterest, & TheBump. Friend/follow me!

I suppose this post will be cut a little short, since my bladder is about the size of an acorn these days and it's time for my potty break. Look forward to more posts very soon!