before&after

This was before:


And now...finally...the after!

My neighbor gave me a dining room table (free!) and my mom lent me some chairs for the time being. The hardwoods aren't yet refinished, but it finally looks like a home!


Ready for fall too!


On top of the built-in cabinet, my international corner of souvenirs from trips abroad. Okay, two vases are really from Target but they were made in China!

thrift scores!

I went to four Goodwills on Saturday for their 50% off sales, and I scored some major loot.


Brand new Halloween decorations- from Target's 06 seasonal collection. Two of the ghost bags are for my neighbor kids, the napkins and a ghost bag are for my Witches Caldron swapee. Not sure what I'm going to do with the purple spideys yet...maybe swap them? And as for the pumpkin, well, you can never have too many!


Sparkly silver purse for my sister, who lost her silver wristlet. Then found it again right after I gave this to her.


Almost-queen sized thrifted Springmaid flat sheet. It's quite a bit longer than a queen bed, and almost as wide. It's super soft, but still kind of smells like perfume even after washing. The curtain is a Shabby Chic Target curtain, and I didn't realize it was a curtain and not a table runner until later. But it perfectly matches my freshly painted bathroom!

craft breakdown

I haven't been very crafty lately. This always happens in the summer- I spend most of my time gardening, playing with the dog, or running. This year I've added "painting and fixing up the house" to the list of summer-things to do. Well, summer is pretty much officially over now (even though it was 87 degrees today!) so now I can move into the fall craft mindset. I decorated last weekend- since it was a balmy 60 degrees last Saturday, and now I'm ready for fall! I have even working on fall decorations, both for my house and my swappee for the Witches' Cauldron swap. I scored some good stuff on clearance last year, and got some good stuff on sale already and at the thrift store. I had big plans to make some elaborate halloween vases, but those will have to wait until another year b/c I can't find the right vases for them. Boo.

So hopefully these small paper projects will boost me back into knitting. I have two WIP scarves to finish, and a shawl for my mom to start. Luckily, it's only September, right? Sure, except Joanns and Michael's already have Christmas stuff out!!! It's like retail skipped fall and went straight to winter.

inspiration

I've been working diligently (mostly) on my house the past few weeks, in anticipation of my sister moving in. I've spent several weekends painting her room, and I'm still not happy with it. It will double as my craft room, and I've been dying to paint it orange. It did not turn out well. Twice. I've also been working on the bathroom, and I'm thisclose to finishing, but I just can't get my act together. I've also been scouring the web for sofas, headboards, and inspiration for my walls. I have a ton of photos to put up, but no "art." Just postcards from my travels and photos of the fam.














"Sprout," redbeandesigns

















"occie ocie 1.1," birdsandwings

and my favorite! "Flora in Blue," meArtDesign