Thursday, February 18, 2010

Feeling Inspired

As you know, we moved into our new home in October and since then I have been busying myself with the wonderful task of redecorating. I adore decorating and that is not an understatement. Shopping in little thrift shops and antique stores for the perfect thing is what I would choose to do everyday all day. I love going with my best little princess (who is cultivating her own unique style already!) or anyone who enjoys finding treasures in obscure ways. I would love it if my dear hub would like to come along more, but alas he prefers shooting guns and getting dirty. What does he see in that??? Speaking of the hubs, he often questions my ability and love of watching HGTV over and over. It is then that I remind him that I don't understand why he loves to shoot guns.

So, thanks to my super fantastic bestie, I am now completely addicted to blogs that feature new and cool ideas to create amazing things for the home. I was divinely inspired to use found objects like my blog friends this weekend when I visited the local Habitat for Humanity Restore. I fell in love! Can you say paneled bifold doors for $10???!!! Through a couple of hours in the Restore and a few days at home I was reminded that I had inherited a set of free standing french doors when we bought the house. I thought for a long time how to make them into a bookshelf, but my space was just not adding up to my designs. Finally, I decided to do the most simple thing and just lean them up against the wall. A second stroke of genius came when I decided to hang our extended matching portraits from ribbon on the doors. Here's the result.
I LOVE it!!! What I love most about this set up is the cost. The doors were free, as I mentioned. I have had the frames for a while, but I think they were $10 each. The mirror was also free as a hand me down, as was the lamp and two of the photo frames on the buffet. The buffet was a super surprise gift (no cost!) from a sweet couple I just met through family in Abilene. It has an adorable matching dining table in the dining room. The armchairs (still needing to be recovered) were a steal at $25 on Craigslist and the pillows (down and silk) were on the 90% off shelf at Kohl's making them $5.00 each! I bought most of the other frames on the buffet at Hobby Lobby on half off not spending more than $10 each for them. So, if I'm doing my math right that is an approximate cost of $95 for this entire area! I love that! Of course, I will be doing a little more to it in coming days adding some new fabric to the chairs (black and white) and hopefully a vinyl word phrase above the mirror.

So, I am on to find more found treasures for the rest of my home. I am planning to paint and redo my bedroom this weekend so stay tuned for before and after pics of that adventure!