wallpaper decals

Most of us probably have plenty of old holiday decor that we no longer use. For me I moved to a new house, and when I did my decor changed, so a lot of my old holiday decorations no longer match my new decor scheme. I know we've all experienced this, whether we love green and red one year or aqua and ice blue the next, it can get pretty expensive keeping up with our changing moods and decor choices!

So it was in this moment of reflection that I was inspired to use some of my old seasonal holiday decor and recreate it. Why on earth would I want to spend more $$$.

Here is the before wreath gifted to me by my mother, it was from Halloween/Thanksgiving...I hope my mother won't read this! LOL

And as most of you know, I recently made feather ornament balls, so I had plenty of feathers left over...the result is a whimsical white feather wreath. I have seen ones this size retail for over $30. I am pretty proud of myself right now :)

Okay so as promised my DIY chalkboard frames. I actually had these frames, they were a faux brass colour ( sorry I forgot to take a before shot) but trust me they were ugly, I mean the colour, the frame itself was pretty nice. They originally had pictures in them, I think one was a jug with fruit and the other was a basket of fruit...don't ask! They are my sister's I think she may have used them for her art projects, still life portraits...who knows!

So they also came with glass in them. I know a lot of other bloggers out there have done similar projects with old antique frames...initially I was going to go and get some plywood cut to the size of my frame, but then I realized that the existing glass fit it perfectly, so why not use what you already have, right?

So off to Walmart for: chalkboard spray paint, packs of chalk and glass and wood adhesive for the backing of the frame.

The rest is pretty self explanatory ( but if you have any questions about the process, just message me) here is the result:

So I was all happy and ready to begin making the kicthen island for my kitchen, I posted about it, got great feedback that I could attempt to make one myself and I was on my merry way.

I got to the Home Depot and went looking for the legs of the island, the ones I wanted were great, a little tall, but I was sure they could be cut down. Price tag $55 each leg! WTF! I thought by making my own island I was supposed to be saving $$$. So if you do the math that's $248 just for the legs, never mind the other materials like the wood and the table top. So I am afraid that this little project got axed.

Then G and I  (my man) went to Ikea for some fun, I hadn't been in a while and I came across the Utby island. I remember having had bookmarked it in my pictures folder a while back, just in case I could not find my ideal island...so I just decided to try it, what's the worst that could happen, I hate it and I return it. BTW a little known fact, I am notorious in my household for buying and trying things out like, carpets, blinds, etc, and then either returning or exchanging them until I find exactly what I want. G on the other hand thinks over all of his purchases, unlike G I am an impulse buyer! terrible for the pocket book, but I just feel like if I find something I love, I will make it work! ok I digress...

So I tried it, the utby table that is, and I loved it, it gives me way more room in the kitchen, and it doubles as extra counter space.

Now the issue was chairs, I really didn't like any at Ikea, and the ones I did like in general cost about $299 a chair, I couldn't in my right mind spend that much with Christmas just around the corner! so on a trip to Walmart the same day, to pick up household supplies, I came across some counter height stools, I hated hated hated the existing fabric on them, they were a taupe micro fibre, but I knew I had just the right fabric at home, so swipe and sold!

Without further adieu... here they are:

Just when I thought that my tree was done, I spotted some whimsical feather ornaments, my heart was filled with joy, I felt so light and airy... but then I saw that each ornament cost $3.95, I know this is not super pricey, but I wasn't wanting to spend more money on my already almost finished tree. So my DIY sense kicked in ( I wonder if this is how spiderman felt most of the time? ) and I headed to my local craft store for foam balls, a pack of feathers and some ribbon. The result is my very own hand made ornaments, I just love them! What do you all think, should I have just bought them instead?