We are Still Here!

I promise.

I have been working on odds and ends around the house since it has been too cold to do any painting in the garage.  My poor little space heater just can't keep up.  And I will admit that I have been dreaming of Spring so have also been spending time planning my garden space.

Though we do have some interesting things coming in the next week or so.  We are finally getting things up on the walls in the office.  The home theatre is getting set up in the basment rec room (though we still need furniture).   We are starting on painting in the living room. 

So now that we are back at it, posts will be starting up again.

I do have to ask, is there any interest in seeing some of the photos and design styles that inspire us as we try to work some design magic in our house?  I know that some bloggers do this so just wanted to get some feedback to see if there is any interest from our readers.  So let us know and we will get working on those types of posts.

Sneek Peek - Night Table Redo

This little nightstand was a Craigslist find and cost $10 (I think).  We bought it with plans of putting it in our center bedroom.

A good cleaning and a coat of semi-gloss white paint will make her look like new.

Stay tuned for the reveal.

From Freecycle Castoff to Redone Bedroom Light

Have you heard about Freecycle?  It is made up of 4,876 groups with 6,905,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills.

I think it is great.  While you do see some odd requests (my favorite was someone looking for a poster with 13 black and white cows on a green background), most are for items people give away/throw away every day.  Like this lamp.

I got it from someone who was redoing their basement and the brown didn't go with the new color scheme.  It didn't come with a shade, but the price was right (free).  Glad the woman didn't know how easy it would be to make it look fresh and new with a few coats of paint. 

I started by scuffing the ceramic slightly with a sanding sponge just to give the primer something to "grab." Then a coat of white primer.  Followed by several coats of white glossy spray paint.


Top it with a shade from Target and we have a lamp that doesn't look anything like what we started with.

I think it looks lovely sitting on top of another one of my frugal finds, the Craigslist nightstand that cost less than $20.  I just love the way the white sets off the blue wall color. 

Once I get the bedding and other details finalized in our front bedroom (aka the boys room), I will be adding some coordinating trim to the edge of the white shade.  Wish me luck that I can get those decisions made in the next few weeks.

Cost of the Project:
$  0.00 lamp off Freecycle
    2.00 1/2 can primer
    3.50 can white glossy spray paint
  20.00 lamp shade from Target
$25.50 Total Cost