THRIFTY FARMHOUSE DÉCOR ideas!

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I am always combing through online and brick and mortar stores looking for décor or home items that look great, that are made well and most of all, are the least expensive version that I can find. I love junk stores and thrift stores but sometimes even they want to charge a bit much for the cool vintage items that turn up or they have nothing but junk there the days I go. With two year old twins, I find myself like anyone else out there, that also have small children or lots of time consuming obligations. Therefore, it is always super exciting for me when I find some of the best deals online.Here are some of the places that I’ve been able to find great deals on cool farmhouse and vintage items we all desire!

SAVE ON CRAFTS

Milk Bottles and Crate

Milk Bottles and Crate

 

 

 

 

$ 9.99 or 3/$27

 

 

 

 

 

$6.99 or 10/$60.00

Mason Jar Lights

 

 

 

 

$6.99 or 10/$60.00

 

 

 

 

 

Set of Three Steel Trays

Set of Three Steel Trays

 

 

 

$34.99

 

 

 

 

 

Three Nesting Trays

Three Nesting Trays

 

 

 

$24.99

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken Wire Basket

Chicken Wire Basket

 

 

 

12×9 $3.99

 

 

 

 

 

Large Pallet Wood Sign

Large Pallet Wood Sign

 

 

Great for all the “pallet” signs we want to make for those of us who don’t have the time to hustle pallets and then take them apart….

11.75” x 30” for 12.99

 

 

 

 

 

WALMART

I know most of us either love or hate “Wally World” but you can’t argue that their prices are tough to beat on most items. I do love Walmart because they really try to offer quality items that people want, at prices that are affordable to the average or below average paid consumer. I just hate going to Walmart in person. However, they now offer their new “3-day free shipping” pass on most items for just $50 a year….kind of like Prime.

Galvanized Steel Basket

Galvanized Steel Basket

 

 

$7.47

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken Wire Basket

Chicken Wire Basket

 

 

 

$7.47

 

 

 

 

 

 

World Market

World market always has tons of beautiful items but they tend to be on the upper end of what I am willing to pay. However, there are a few items they come out with that are beautiful and very decently priced.

Metal Cup Tree

Metal Cup Tree

 

 

 

$14.99

 

 

 

 

 

LTD COMMODITIES

I feel like LTD Commodities doesn’t get the credit they deserve. Granted, they do sell a lot of really cheesy junk but they also have some great prices on quirky gifts and cute décor. I have bought from them several times and have never been disappointed. You do have to patiently look through all their pages though, to find the cool stuff.

Farm Table Runner

Farm Table Runner

 

 

 

$10.95

 

 

 

 

 

Farm Signs

Farm Signs

wickedchickensign

 

 

 

$6.98

 

 

 

 

 

Rustic Clock

Rustic Clock

 

 

 

$11.98

 

 

 

 

 

metalmonogram

 

 

$8.98

 

 

 

 

Metal Monogram

Amazon

Of course too, I am completely in love with  Amazon and my prime membership so I am always searching them for great deals. Sometimes it is hit and miss but usually you can find awesome deals on random items.

Compass Arrow Pillow

Compass Arrow Pillow

 

 

One of my favorite things to search for there are pillow covers, like the one below. I see “Fixer Upper” written all over this! There are so many other cute options too. This pillow cover is only $3.00!!! I buy these and just stuff another throw pillow that I’m not using in them.

 

 

 

Deer Antler Pillow Cover

Deer Antler Pillow Cover

 

This bad boy is only $3.80! I personally bought this one here and it is very durable and beautiful. To me, this embodies the “modern farmhouse” or “modern rustic” look that people are in love with.

 

 

 

Craft Outlet

I recently discovered this site and they have some pretty awesome bargains too!

Magnolia Wreath

20” Magnolia Wreath

 

First glance, these prices might seem a bit high. Trust me, they are great! Wreaths are not cheap anywhere, especially ones like these.
20″ (36 leaves) $29.95
22″ (48 leaves) $39.95
26″  (? leaves)   $59.75

 

 

 

 

Recycled Burlap Sack

Recycled Burlap Sack

 

 

These are recycled burlap sacks from either coffee or various grains.

26″ x 40″ $1.99

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope this helps some of y’all out there, even if only a smidge. Trying to subdue the urge to want to decorate and redecorate is a difficult task, especially because most of us don’t have an unlimited décor budget. However, finding great deals that can give us a bit of what we want is always refreshing! Good luck and many blessings towards KEEPING your home, the best place on earth!

DIY No Sew Curtains

You never truly realize just how EXPENSIVE curtains and window treatments are until you have to start buying them for a house with, what feels like, a bajillion windows. There are a lot of ideas out there circulating about DIY curtains and most of them are great. This is what I personally used and found to be the cheapest ,but best looking, alternative to traditional curtains.

Materials:

Drill (or a Hammer,nail and screwdriver)

Mainstay Cafe Rod Set ($2.97 @ Wal-Mart)

Mainstay Cafe Curtain Clips ( 14 ct $2.84 @ Walmart)

Mainstays Twin Flat Sheet ($4.99 @ Walmart)

or

Ikea Vivan Curtain Pair ($9.99 @ Ikea) Buy Here

Rod,Clips and 1 Flat Sheet

 This window is 24″ wide so I cut my sheet in half for each side. If your windows are much larger,I would recommend 2 flat sheets.One for each side. i used 7 cafe clips on each side since 14 came in a pack.

This is with them closed. They look much fuller closed if you use two sheets or the Ikea curtain pair, but I never close them now. I’ve been using two sheets on the majority of my other windows.

I keep thinking I want to eventually upgrade my curtain rods, but then my money saving conscience keeps saying, “why?!”. They look fine and are functional. I may, perhaps, make some DIY valences one day if anything. I don’t know about you, but I hate the idea of spending 10 or 20 PLUS dollars on ONE curtain rod.It’s absurd, even if you have unlimited funds. It totally blows my mind.

COST:

$10.80 plus tax (one sheet method)

$15.79 plus tax (two sheet or Ikea method)

Window Safety

With two year old twins, my mind is always thinking of ways that they can possibly hurt themselves. We have windows on either side of the fireplace in our family room.If by some slim chance, those windows broke or gave way, there’s about a 10-12 ft drop on the outside to the ground. The windows are 24 inches wide so it’s difficult to find any kind of guard or gate. However, even if there was one for them, I’m almost certain it would look hideous.

So one day, going through all the stuff still not unpacked from our move, I came across a garden trellis that used to hang on the wall in my dining room. Then the idea struck me to cut it in half and to use each piece as a gate.

Materials:

Trellis

White Spray Paint

Sanding Block

Circular saw (jigsaw or hand saw can work too)

Brad Gun (hammer and nails work too)

See the windows on either side of the chimney,above the basement door? See the potential drop? Yeah. Better safe than sorry.

 Similar to the original trellis that was used. I happened to score two of these free (usually $11) at Home depot in October because they were a little weathered. The one I used I bought five years ago at Lowe’s.

 I used a battery powered circular saw and cut this bad boy in half. Used a block sander to sand down the rough edges and spray painted them white.

 The pictures are bit dark, but you get the idea. I used my handy dandy battery powered nail gun and “stapled” the end pieces to wall. They’ve been up almost six months now and have held up great!

Cost: $12

$1 (cheap spray paint @ Wal-Mart) + $11(trellis @ Lowe’s)

This entry was posted in Home.

Laminate Countertop Makeover

Did I mention how much I love paint!? I don’t exactly love painting but I love what paint can do to transform almost anything. Going back to Giani Granite, they are best known for their countertop makeover kits. I chose the White Diamond kit because I wanted to create something that looked similar to marble or least the same color scheme.

Source

So, we have those dreaded 1980’s faux wood countertops that are hideous. We will EVENTUALLY replace them with DIY wood countertops but we really want to make sure we know what we are getting into before we make a final decision. Meanwhile, I don’t want to look at these ugly counters in the meantime.

Of course the prep work is never fun, but obviously you will need to thoroughly clean your surface area. I also rubbed the countertops down with denatured alcohol as well. Then I taped off the edges and tacked up craft paper to protect my newly painted cabinets. The first coat is the black primer.

 Then the Pearl Mica sponging comes next.

 Then comes the white limestone.

 A sponge comes with the kit.

I made my own with a cheapo sponge brush and just cut the tip.

 Beginning the second coat.

 I thinned it out just a tad to make it a little easier to spread and dab.

Finished product before the epoxy coat is applied.

This is the epoxy glaze I used to get a super shiny look that would help make it look like it wasn’t painted.It does look pretty good but I really, really don’t recommend it. You have to work very very quickly with it before it gets tacky, you have to mix it until your arm falls off and your mixture ratios have to be measured perfectly.

My first batch was a bust! Apparently, I didn’t mix it enough so it never cured. It was tacky,sticky and gross. Everything I read said I had to scrape it off and start over.WRONG. I didn’t want to scrape because I didn’t want to mess up my pretty paint job. I mixed up a second batch, poured it over the bad batch and waited for it to cure overnight. It worked! It took a 3rd batch to finish the rest of the counters.

Again, it looks pretty good but I wish I would have just used the polyurethane top coat that came with the kit. Either way, it’s temporary for now and looks way better than the faux wood.

 After the epoxy.

 Finished and functional.

I highly recommend the Giani Granite kits, however, I do not recommend the epoxy glaze (not included) if you have never used it before.

I’ll throw in my “Clayton,NC” art gallery wall for good measure. All the frames were different colors so I decided to spray paint them all in the same color that I did the cabinet hardware in. The Rustoleum Dark Bronze looks great on just about anything.

Kitchen Cabinet Makeover

I’ve been wanting to share this post for some time now because I am super happy with the results and am really proud of my hard work. Granted, it did take me almost 3 months to complete because taking care of (almost 2 yrs old) twin girls,while doing projects like this, comes with many challenges.

To start off, the most daunting work for me was removing all the doors and hardware and then putting them back up. I sanded the first half of the kitchen cabinets but cheated and only rubbed everything down with denatured alcohol in the second half. So far, you can’t tell the difference and it seems just as durable at this point.

This is what the kitchen looked like when we moved in. Everything was original and from 1983.

Removed all the doors. Cleaned with cleaner and sanded with fine grit paper.Don’t forget to use cheese cloth to clean up the dust if you choose to sand.

Scraped for hours getting all this nasty ivy contact paper out of every single cabinet and off of EVERY SINGLE shelf. Meh.

 I used this amazing paint by Giani Granite in White Titanium, that I bought on Amazon. I sanded this half of the kitchen before I painted. Not gonna lie. It sucked. I cheated in the second half and only rubbed them down with denatured alcohol (Can be found in any painting section near thinners and such.) after I cleaned them really well with a kitchen degreaser like Kaboom and a scrubby.

I boiled all the brass hardware in water and about a 1/4 cup of vinegar in order to get all the gunk and  top coats to peel off. I also scrubbed them with a wire brush so I could repaint them.

Once they were ready, I painted them with a few coats of this stuff in Dark Bronze and they came out great!

You can buy painting pyramids if you want but I just used canned food. I slapped a moving quilt on the table and did most of my painting in the kitchen so I could easily hear and check on my kiddos in the family room.

TA DA!!

Second half of the kitchen.

I decided to paint the walls before finishing the cabinets because I had to order more paint. It took 4 of cans of the Giani paint for our kitchen. They only come in quarts. It’s a little pricey but totally worth it because of the durability. I have scrubbed mine down already a few times and spills easily wipe off.

Love the Universal Gray paint!

Next up:Let’s paint the ugly faux wood countertops!

New Adventures!

I am so excited to share our current journey that has brought us from Central Florida to Central Arkansas on a bit of a whim due to a job promotion for my husband. I find myself as a stay-at-home-mom of 20 month old twin daughters, a nurse by trade….but not currently working, and a Florida native that has NEVER lived anywhere beyond the realms of Central Florida. Grant you, I’ve grew up in RURAL parts of Florida, and since college, have lived in more mixed metro/rural areas.However,I will and forever always have that classy but country,Southern, multi-generation Florida native vibe. Yes, Disney was always about an hour away, but Disney and Florida tourism were and have always been so out of my realm, so please don’t get me confused with a tourist city girl. I’m the farthest thing from it, even though I have occasionally tried hard to be “cool” and “city minded” over the years.

I’m cultured, I’m educated but I have a Southern,down home way of life that I love beyond measure. I love DIYing whatever I can to save money, I love being a creative and crafty Mom and I LOVE, LOVE saving money, especially because we are “kid poor”…lol. As of May 2015, I have three amazing stepsons in college and two 20 month olds. To say the least, we have a lot of expenses. We’ve just moved 1000 miles, door step to door step, and I’m hoping our story will gain the interest of others and will give others a bit of knowledge through our own thoughts and experiences.

Thanks for stopping by y’all!

This entry was posted in Home.