March Hutch

I am in the process of getting the hutch completed for April. So I guess I should show everyone what March looked like. I made another fabric scrap wreath, they are so easy and I have tons of scraps of fabric and it instantly adds to my color theme. I found a few things at Goodwill but it was still a little bare at the beginning of the month. But thanks to some great finds at the Dollar Tree (the paper ball, moss rocks, and green apples) I was able to fill up the hutch and call her complete!

Week 11: Plate Wall

Our kitchen has an angled wall. It is open at the bottom with railings that look down to our family room playroom. It has been blank since we moved in. A while back I saw a plate wall on The Nester and thought I could do that. So I first collected all white serving plates that I had and then kept a look out for a few months at second hand stores. I was looking for plates or serving dishes in different shapes and with various detail on them.

I hung the plates at Christmas, before I decided to document the changes to our house. I had a few fall because of the way I choose to hang them. We lost two : ( So this is the before picture from the other day.

Here it is today. Not bad. I still want another circular dish to go in the top right where the little square dish is and then I will move out the square dish so it is mirrored on both sides. But I figure the wall is big so this will be an ongoing collection and will change many times as I find more. But for now, I am calling it complete!

Week 10: Dining Light Fixture

When we bought our house the previous owners had down a bit of "fixing up" including installing this light fixture and two others in the set, a three light fixture (installed in the kitchen eating area), and a single light (at the entry way). There was nothing wrong with these fixtures they just didn't go with our style at all. So I listed them on craigslist to be sold as a set or individually, I didn't really care. Well I nice lady from the next town over came one day during nap time and bought all three. It was enough for us to get a new light fixture for the dining room and a spot light for the kitchen area, thanks to the use of Lowe's coupons from the post office. (We are still debating on the entry light.)

So here is the previous light. Like I said... nothing wrong with it, just not our style.

And here is the new light!

We had seen the light a few months before at Lowe's and new we wanted it (it goes so well with the hutch)but decided to try and sell our current lights first. When we went to Lowe's to get the light and it was marked down $10 plus we had a 10% off coupon. Can't beat that!

Here is the dining room with the table cloth and February's hutch with the new light. We also got those black place mats at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for $1.00/ea on clearance. We love it... now to keep the clutter off the table!

Week 9: Table Cloth

Andy and I first saw this fabric in the Special Order section at Joann's. It was $19.99/yd and at the time we weren't quite sure where it would fit in our house. So we returned the sample piece to Joann's for the time being and kept it in the back of our heads. Then one day I was at Denver Fabrics (awesome!) and saw the same fabric and it was... wait for it.... $9.99/yd and in stock so I snatched it up.

We had previously decided it would be the fabric for our table cloth. With black chairs and the hutch behind the table this fabric helped pull the room together. Even though I didn't need to cut the cloth I still needed to finished the edges. Generally, I would instantly go to the sewing machine but I decided against it for the table cloth. I was worried that on this large of fabric I wouldn't be able to keep a straight line.

Instead, I decided to use iron-on bonding to attach 1 1/2" black binding. It took a little bit of time but was extremely easy to do. After I had the binding attached I did go over with my machine and black thread just to make sure that it was secure.

Ready for her close up!!!

Week 8: Coupon Organization

This weeks project was a bit of spontaneous challenge. I was cleaning out all of my expired coupons and ended up with them all spread out over the table. See the chaos below!

After the coupons were spread all over I decided that I need a new way and system to organize and store my coupons. And my favorite way to search for new ideas... blogs. I really liked Penny Pinchin' Mom for ideas to organize and ways to maximize my saving power.

I had this box sitting around, which was originally supposed to be to organize my receipts for the year, so this box was empty. And I thought that it would work for my receipts. (After I got all my coupons organized and realized that I would want to bring the big box to the grocery store I added a grosgrain ribbon with velcro to keep the box closed.)

I used legal sized envelopes, cardstock, and staples to list what was in each envelope. I decided to go with very specific titles so that it was easier and faster for me to find tomato sauce in a tomato sauce category instead of canned foods. You can get an idea of the categories in the photo below.

I also had this coupon book that I bought for a dollar or so. So my new system is to decide what I am buying and which coupons I will use and at which store. I pull the coupons and put in them in the Walgreens sleeve on the right side. When I get the item in my cart then they go in the left side. I also still bring the big box just in case I see a "good deal" at the store.

 

And that is how I organize my coupons now! It has been a few weeks until I posted this and my system is still working great. Here are a few other coupon blogs I like to check out... they do all the hard work for you and have tons of great tips for saving money for your family!!!

http://springsbargains.com/

http://moneysavingmom.com/

February Hutch

February is a distant memory but I still wanted to post the hutch for the month. I went with the obvious choice, red and pink. I had an old shutter that I got a couple of years ago at an antique store in New Mexico, so I added that for the month. The cute little bird on the shutter is from Hobby Lobby. The kissing balls and red frames I made for cheap and easy. Most of the glassware came from Goodwill that I got over time in anticipation of my February hutch. Next up, March!

Week 7: Corner Chair

I bought this chair in the fall at Goodwill, it was love at first sight! I think it was about $40.00 and I instantly envisioned it paint black with a black and white scroll fabric. There was a slight problem though... I didn't know where it would go. So it sat in the garage, it sat in the basement, just like our bed frame bench... seeing a pattern?

We decided that it should go in the living room for additional seating. And as lovely as the red velvet is, we chose to pick a different look. So I took the chair apart all the way to the frame. It was pretty dusty and gross and there TONS of upholstery nails. I recovered the chair and spray painted the frame gray.

We were debating between a gray scroll print and a yellow and gray which was somewhat retro. It took a few weeks to decide but we finally settled on the gray and yellow retro. When up against the wall the yellow looks like the same green as the wall color. The extra seating is awesome and the family room is quickly "filling" up with furniture.

 

Thank you Goodwill!