Curtain Rehab

Moving into a new house has its challenges.  Who knew that one of them would be curtains?

I really hate buying new stuff.  Really.  So, I tried to make as many of the curtains from our last house "work" in the new one.  Other than the fact that the new house has many more windows (which means buying more curtains) the biggest problem was was in fact a "big" problem.  As in, all the windows here are big, much bigger than the old house's windows.  And the ceilings are higher.  Even though I hung the curtains as low as possible, which goes against all decorating sense, they still came up short.  This made for some awkward looking curtains.

Large window - Short curtains

A close-up of the "problem"

Fortunately, most curtains have a fairly large hem.  I decided to let out the hem.  With a little ironing and stitching across the bottom, they look great!  I didn't even take them down to do this.  I will definitely be repeating this process all over my house.  It was a quick and free fix.

Up-cycled table

I've been looking for a small table to put on our back porch.  I tried yard sales and Craigslist but nothing seemed right.  Finally, my husband went to the Restore and found something acceptable.  I say acceptable because it was plain and ordinary - nothing much to look at.  But it only cost $15, so we went with it.

Something had to be done to liven up the table.  Our kids like to play games on the porch, so why not a game table?  I measured out a checkerboard on the top and taped it off.  I considered a traditional red/black color scheme but we don't have any red paint.  I considered going with black and the natural table, but that seemed boring.  I had some blue paint (I have no idea where it came from!) so I decided on blue and the natural table.  After painting and removing the tape, I applied three coats of polyurethane.  Now the kids can play checkers, chess, or even just a game of cards.

It never hurts to ask

I got an amazing deal today.  All I had to do was ask.  Well, and be a little persistent.

I saw a chair (in a box, not assembled) that would go perfectly in my living room.  It had been ordered online and returned to the store.  Originally it was $140, but was marked down to $100 because they don't carry them in the store.  I was excited already.

I took it out of the box and noticed some damage.  It was on the back and I thought I could live with it - for the right price. 

I took it to the front and asked to speak to a manager.  I showed her the damage and asked if they could give an extra discount.  She said she couldn't.  Not that it couldn't be done, but that she couldn't.  So I asked to speak to a higher manager.  Another woman came out and quickly agreed to discount it further.  I was hoping for another $20 or $25 off.  Surprisingly, she marked it down to $50!!  What an awesome deal!  Plus, I got another 5% off with my Target card.  That's a total of $47.50 plus tax for my new chair.

 

 

Free is the best price of all...

I have been wanting to buy a dresser for my daughter, but like always, I didn't want to spend much.  I searched my usual places: Craigslist, thrift stores, etc.  Everything seemed over priced.  $50 for a used dresser?  I just couldn't do it.

Then, as I was driving out of my neighborhood one day, I saw it.  A free dresser sitting on the curb.  Not only that, it had a matching night stand.  Did I say it was free??  I was so excited.  It needed a little paint and we splurged on some new hardware.  In the end, I spent less than $25 in supplies.

This is what I got...