A "Crisp" Fall Wreath

I'll explain the "crisp" reference in a bit. But first, here's my fall wreath. 

My girl Teresa and I whipped this up during our lunch break at work. She had sent me a link to another blogger who had done a variation of it. There's a complete tutorial online telling you how to make it. They created it with a starfish embellishment. Too cute. I can see a starfish in this wreath's future - after the pumpkins and turkeys have been put away.

Now, on to the "crisp" portion of this post. I'm not sure if you can tell or not, but someone I got a new camera!!!

Woo-to-the-hoo! 

It was an early Christmas present to myself. I've been adamant about getting a new camera for some time and I just decided to bite the bullet after I'd done about 200 hours of research. It's a long, long story but basically I walked in the store looking for a Canon Rebel XS and walked out with a Sony A230. 

I'm not about to start passing out photography advice so I'm not able to discuss the tech stuff with you - yet. But, I'll get there. I want to get to a point where I can take a great picture and know the how's and why's of how it got there. In the meantime I'm still using the automatic settings. 

Here's a few examples of my other projects that I decided to snap a little "do-over" photo, since their last shots were with my newly-retired point and shoot. 

Old Frames

A Little Table Dance

And, guess what else made my day? My jars came in today! Still not sure what's going to happen to these. They may just sit on this ledge for a few days until they get moved 150 times when they find their final home. The lighting and stuff isn't exactly right with this either. It still looks too bright to me, but we're only about 6hrs in. I'll figure it out.

Blue Jars

So, home improvement projects may take a temporary backseat while I play photographer for a little while. Or, at least until I figure out what in the world Aperture and ISO means.

Blue Jars

These are on every blog and in every design magazine I look at lately. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them, but I've finally got some of my very own - I won these on eBay. For some reason winning on eBay makes you feel like you've really accomplished something. Why is that?

They should arrive in 4-11 business days. Hopefully I'll figure out what I'm going to do with them before they get here.

Another Bargain at the Bargain Box

The worst feature of my new condo is that there are NO overhead lights in any of the rooms except for the kitchen and that awful pendant light that is still hanging in the dining room. I promise its going to get replaced... at some point. But, until then I had a more pressing issue with needing to be able to actually see what I was doing in the living room. It was so dark in there. I've never been that into lamps, but more and more I find myself admiring them at TJ Maxx and Home Goods. I've got two in the living room but even that wasn't enough. And so, without another table or entertainment center to put them on I've been on the search for a floor lamp. I'm not sure why, but I just don't like floor lamps. And who wants to spend a lot of money on something they don't even like?

I've been paying attention when I went in a store and had told myself I was just going to bite the bullet and spend $50 on a pseudo cute, stand-in lamp until I found something I loved. I did actually find one I loved, but that price tag didn't love me. And I think you and your accessories should have a mutual admiration for each other.

Pottery Barn Online

Thank you Pottery Barn. You've managed once again to show me just how good $179 could look in my house. I loved the shaped of these and the lamp shade, but not the price. I can think of many more ways to spend $179.

Now, back to reality. And the reality is that I work close enough to Cameron Village that I usually venture into the Bargain Box about once a week just to be sure there's nothing new in there that needs to come home with me. Last trip it was the old picture frame. This week it was a lamp. 

At first the lamp didn't totally knock me off of my feet. It looks like many other lamps you find in most living rooms across America. However, the price tag did make me stop to take a second look. Can you say $7? Yep, $7. And it even came with one of those newfangled energy-efficient light bulbs. In case you're wondering, I was that girl that found an outlet and made sure it worked before I swiped it. 

And here it is...

This was right before I got to work on it. Brass just isn't my style. However it did look oddly similar to it's lovely twin from Restoration Hardware. 

Restoration Hardware Online

Go ahead and click on the link. Confirm for yourself that I paid $7 and this lovely light from that lovely store also costs $179! Now, do the math really quick... If I had just left it like it was I would have saved myself $172. This is how I sleep well at night. 

But, of course, not wanting to be seen as a total cheap skate, I thought I'd spend another whopping $9 on some primer and spray paint and I'd dress it up a bit. I wanted to make it look a little more like the one I actually wanted from Pottery Barn. 

Who knew you could find the exact color in a can that Pottery Barn used? Seaboard Ace Hardware - that's who.

Step 1: Primer

This is my least favorite part. Primer is boring. Primer needs to dry between each coat and I like instant results. It also requires you to tape things up and make sure you don't paint parts that shouldn't be painted.

But, once you let the primer dry for at least 30 minutes you can get to work on the fun part. Did you know that metallic spray paint shoots millions of tiny pieces of glitter in the air when you're using it? I didn't and I'm pretty sure you shouldn't inhale that stuff, but it does give you a nice party effect while you're outside, by yourself, in the dark trying to finish the project in one evening because you're impatient. (that would be me)

The satin nickel color turned out really well and I love it against my mirror and other fixtures in the living room.   And the finishing touch happened to be my other score of the day at Big Lots. My $7 lamp didn't come with a shade so I had to find something. Lucky me I had a 20% off coupon for this week at Big Lots. I crossed my fingers and went in hopes I would walk right in and find what I wanted. And in true Big Lots form, as I was looking at Halloween decorations and candy I found my shade. You just never know where you might find your treasure in that store. For $10 - my 20% coupon, I brought home my $8 shade.

And, voila - here she is in all her glory.  No more brass and dust - just pretty brushed nickel shining its light on the reading chair. The same reading chair that matched our apartment great but doesn't match a thing at the new place. BUT, that's another blog post very soon, because the upholsterer called this week and said its replacement is ready to be picked up. (insert big grin here)

Here's the rundown:

 Lamp - $7

Paint and Primer - $9

Lamp Shade - $8

Grand Total - $24

(or, $155 savings)

Old frames

When you walked in my house, it was a little less than inviting. I needed something to catch your eye when you walked in the door.

I found an old frame at The Bargain Box for $.50. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it until I found another lonely frame that my mom had laying around her house. Burlap is the "in" thing these days so instead of doing something with the glass, I just stapled some of that on the back of each frame.

And, on a recent trip to Marshall's I found that cute little yellow plate to hang over top. It was a whopping $2 on the clearance aisle. That bottom frame still needs something else, but I'm not sure what just yet. I think I'll hold off on adding another seashell. I don't want people to think I rent by the week.