Clearance finds & Good Will

My girlfriend came down to visit me and we spent the weekend doing "girlie things" like eat, chat and shop! She and I brainstormed on decor ideas for the nursery. We hit up a couple of stores including TJMax and The Goodwill Store.


At TJMax, I score this these pretty bookends for $7.50 each and the cool red frame for $5. I love the swirl pattern on the frame. The book ends will hold some little Beatrix Potter and Winnie the Pooh books I have.


At GoodWill, I was on the look out for large frames with a bit of texture on the frames. The frames were all between $1.99 to $2.99! The white frame was also on the clearance rack at TJMax for $7.50. I like how large it was and it holds 5x7 photos. In the frames, I plan to put some DIY wall art in them and create a wall gallery.

20x30 Canvas for my Apartment

Through Social Living, I bought this 20x30 for $60 (originally $130). I love this picture taken by Scott Robert Lim with the bridge in the background and thought it would make an awesome piece of wall art in my apartment.

Who doesn't love IKEA

I had New Year's Eve off and my girlfriend and I took a trip down to IKEA. Who doesn't love Ikea? I love browsing the aisles of Ikea for inspiration.

Today, I upgraded the picture frame to house my vintage Burpee Seed illustration. I love the way it looks and the illustration goes with my new rug.

Ribba frame

I have been looking for new seat cushions for a while, so I was thrilled to see these. I like that they are contemporary looking and you can't beat that price.

Ritva Seat Cushion

Viva Las Vegas

Okay, so I know this has nothing to do with home improvements but just in case you were wondering, I was in Vegas doing this!



If the flowers look familiar to you it's because they were in my half bathroom! So it has a little to do with the house.

See more at Mariko's website or blog.

Cheap Art

As we've learned, wall art isn't cheap. Also, store bought wall art ain't all that original either. I've been doing a lot of perusing online and I think I can sketch and make my own like this "Le Chien" (The dog) by Picasso. I do have some artistic talent, so I should be able to sketch some abstract thing, frame it and call it art!


Anyhoo, I ordered this 2009 calendar over a year ago from Burpee and the illustrations are beautiful. It seemed like a waste to throw it out. So I saved it and got some frames from Ikea to frame them as wall art for our kitchen.


Ikea's RAM frames were the perfect size and I didn't even need to add a matte around it.


I framed this watercolor that I bought in Paris 14 years ago! I just love it so much. This is going into the kitchen as well.

Next, I'm going to do a one line sketch of a french bull dog like Picasso's Le Chien.

Have you made your own wall art? What do you do?

Luke Wilson

I love that Zgallerie has art work for under $100, but it's still a little too pricey for me especially with the extra $10 handling charge. I currently have a crush on these.

DIY: Canvas Art

Here's a really quick and easy way to add some color and art to your walls especially if you're renting.



I picked up a yard of fabric $6 (30% off) at JoAnn's and an artist's canvas for $10 (50%). I laid the canvas down and decided where I wanted the pattern to sit.


Cut the fabric leaving 2" over the size of the canvas.


***Practice caution*** Using a staple gun and BOTH hands, hold the gun firmly and staple one edge in the middle. No joke, I watched a girl staple her own hand once, so please be careful especially with the old school staple guns that are all silver and it's not clear which end is the staple end. Do NOT "test shoot" the gun into the air or pointing it towards you or anyone else.


If you've never wrapped a canvas before, this is how you do it. Start on one edge in the middle and staple it. Go to the OPPOSITE edge, pull it super tight and staple it in the center along the edge. Do the same with the 2 other sides.


Do the same at all 4 corners and DON'T bother making it look nice. Just pull it tight and staple. When all 4 corners are stapled, THEN go back and fold the fabric over making a nice corner and staple away around the whole frame.


Viola! Instant art!


Other ideas: Use small, square canvases and use fabrics with different patterns and/or color.

Budget Bathroom Make-Over

For 2 weeks, my bathroom Bland wouldn't stop moaning about how jealous she was of Hip the hallway. Finally, I gave her a make-over, so she would shut her lid.

The Make-Over:

• Sewed a new shower curtain.
• Gave the molding and doors a new coat of white paint in high gloss.
• Replaced the cabinets with new hardware.
• Replaced blinds with matchstick roman blinds.
• Hung some wall decor.

The break-down:
Everything, but the hardware was on sale. It took some time to shop for these things.

• Hardware $2.57/piece - Lowe's.
• Matchstick blind $17.99 - Walmart.
• 3 set of mirrors $14.99 - JoAnn's.
• Paint leftover from living room $23-27 - Home Depot.
• Magnolia picture $1 - The Goodwill Store.
• Fabric $6.38/yard - JoAnn's.

From this picture: The new knobs really give the old cabinets a face-lift. The matchstick blinds give privacy, yet allow a lot of light to get in. The glossy white molding is super shiny and easy to maintain.


This set of mirrors mimic the Celtic pattern that is in the fabric of the shower curtain.


Installing new hardware is easy and takes 2 seconds. Hold the screw from the inside of the cabinet and twist the knob on. While the hardware is off, give your cabinets a thorough cleaning with some non-toxic wood cleaner.

Sewing the shower curtain:


My make-shift pin cushion.


(right edge is top of curtain) The back of the curtain. I sewed 2 pieces of fabric together to give it the width I needed.


When I sewed the 2 pieces together, I was careful that the pattern met up in the same place, so that it looked continuous. I pinned it and sewed slowly.


To give the curtain a crisp corner, I folded the fabric back on an angle. This helps keep the curtain from flaring out when it's hung.


For the top where the curtain rod would go, I folded the fabric over by 4.5". I sewed a line 1" from the edge and then again 3" apart. The 1" is for a little ruffle. The 3" is for the rod. This allowed enough room for the rod to sit comfortable.

The finished curtain is 68"Lx90"W. I should have gone maybe 75"L, so that it could sweep the floor a little and conceal the bathrub, but I made the mistake of not factoring in the extra deep rod pocket space (4.5") when I bought the fabric. Also, 90"W was perfect! Store bought curtains are 70x72 which doesn't give enough "scrunch".

What isn't seen here is that I diligently took off all the hardware on the bathroom door and cleaned the old paint off them. It makes a world of difference in appearance in my opinion.

I have a couple of more things to do:
Sew a tiolet seat cover and mats.
Replace the TP holder with something nicer.
Add more hooks to the back of the door.
Eventually replace the medicine cabinet and put up crown molding.

Wall Art

A few weeks ago, I put these photos up from our travels - me on the beach in Saba, me in a rain forest in front of a cool looking tree, us in Chichen-Itza, Mexico, and us in Paris. The sad thing is we don't have high res photos from our travels, so my picture choices were limited and not very artistic. Now, I'm looking for various antique elements to go along with the picture frames.



Sconce in the hallway. I bought this a long time ago and never put it up until now. It adds a really pretty touch to the space.



Things to do:

• Frame photos from the garden.