Thrifty Parsonage Living

BLOGGING NEWS - for friends and followers GFC

2012-02-02T12:14:00.000-08:00

Have you heard the latest news that Google Friend Connect will be stopping as of March 1st? This is effective for non-blogger platforms like WordPress, but the talk is that it may be phased out completely :( !

It's been in the news that Google is phasing it out. They may be providing a service ~ Google +, but it might not be what the GFC was.

Don't get to discouraged .... this morning I found out that there is a new FREE service for us. Many of you may be familiar with Linky Tools operated by owner/creator (Brent Riggs). He realized that we'd be in need of a “follower” system. So he created a tool that launched this week.

Linky Followers

You can sign up for free!

One question that I asked was can my Google friends connect be moved over automatically? The answer is - no.

I love all my friends and followers and would love to keep you up to date on my blog. I would hate to have you miss out. To make sure you will not miss anything you can start following me using the Linky Followers Widget on this page. You can see it in the side bar under follow me. If you are one of my loyal followers please sign up to follow me using the Linky Widget before March 1st.

Thanks!

BABY SHOWER COFFEE FILTER CUPCAKES {TUTORIAL}

2012-02-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

In my last post, I promised to give you the tutorial for the cupcakes made with coffee filters. Here is the tutorial on making these cupcakes. These cupcakes work wonderfully as a baby gift along with baby shower decorations. I gave mine as part of my gift.

In the cupcake above, a baby hat was used in place of the baby washcloth. I like how the ruffled edge gave it a little different look than the washcloth.

Here are the things you will need, along with the instructions on how to make your own cupcakes.

I made my own burp clothes by sewing two pieces of flannel right sides together. I then turned them right side out, and finished them off by top stitching 1/2" from the edge. I also made one using the same technique substituting a cloth diaper for one of the flannel cloths.

My next post will include instructions for making the nut/mint cups.

BABY SHOWER ~ {CUPCAKE THEME}

2012-01-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday I helped my daughter host a baby shower for my oldest daughter and newest granddaughter.  We decided to make cupcakes the theme of the shower.  My daughter and I had a lot of fun planning and preparing for the shower together.  One of the first things we worked on were the decorations.  

We started by making "cupcakes".

We made three of the large cupcakes.

I found these cute little cupcakes to add to the decor.

The cupcakes were place on flannel at various places in the kitchen and living room.

On top of a book case with a few candle cupcakes placed to each side and a rolled up burp cloth on the self beneath. (I made the burp cloth using flannel and a cloth diaper.)

The top of the fireplace mantle.

White Christmas lights were strung on the mantle. We added pink ribbon to the cord and cupcake liners = shades for the lights.

Each side of the mantle was flanked with cupcake artwork that my daughter made. She used the same design that she created for the shower invitations.

A mirror was used as the center piece for the food table. We placed two sock cupcakes, hair ribbons, and pins along with a cupcake candle.

Sock cupcake

For the food table, a piece of fabric I already had

served as the table cloth.

(Have you also noticed the polka dot theme going on as well?)

The cupcakes

I made these diaper nut/mint cups. In the next few posts, I"ll share how to make these cute diaper cups, along with the DIY instructions on making the larger cupcakes.

The guests of honor ~ my daughter and granddaughter!

I can't resist .... I have to share the photos of both of our granddaughters at Baptism.

They are both so cute and such a joy and blessing to us!

Linking to...

SHOPPING FOR LESS

2012-01-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

Everyone is trying to make their dollars stretch these days. I've had people ask me how do you make your home look so great on a small budget.

Some of us have grown up living on restricted budgets, while others are just starting this process by downsizing and spending less. This time of year is a great time to find sale and discounted items.

Here are a few simple tips that I use.

-Shop clearance and sale items at your retail stores.

-Thrift stores and second had stores like Goodwill
are places where you can find quality items at great prices.

-Shop garage sales

-Make use of places on the internet like Craigslist, Kijiji, Freecyle, ebay

-Shop discount stores such as dollar stores.

- Warehouse stores can also save you some money, be aware there may be annual fees so evaluate if it's a big enough savings to make it worth the investment.

Craigslist is a network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisement.

Kijiji is a online network that has free classifieds site with millions of ads.

Freecycle is a website that you can list items to give away, or browse free items.

Ebay is an world wide auction online where businesses and people buy and sell a variety of items.

Goodwill auction is an online auction where you can buy a variety of items, even vehicles.

If you shop online take advantage of days with free shipping or discount codes (These code are kind of like using a coupon, but you enter a code instead of a paper coupon).

-Paint is a frugal shoppers best friend, if you don't like the color of an item paint it!

-Student and senior discount days or a day marked as a sale discount is another great way to save.

-Use coupons

-Sign up for store membership - usually you will get coupons, emails etc. with advance notice of sales and discount coming to the store.
-Sign up for birthday clubs (restaurants)~ usually there is a gift or discount offered on your birthday.

-Take advantage of free printable downloads ~ you can get anything from subway art, banners to paper dolls for your children.

Happy Savings = Happy Shopping!

2012 HOME GOALS

2012-01-12T11:04:00.000-08:00

The Nester is having a party encouraging us to set some goals for our home this year. Included in this "checklist" is a list of what we would like to accomplish in 2012. Joining in on this party gives me the opportunity to reflect on my goals for the year and writing them down.

To start off I'm making some overall personal goals.

Be content and thankful for what I have.

( ...and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13: 5b)

Like many of you, I don't own my home and can't do anything structural to the home; but there are still many things I can do to make it lovely and make it our home.

One of the things I accomplished last year that I’d like to continue to work on and complete this year is reupholstering the wing back chairs. I have one completed and would love to have a matching pair.

Brighten up the space!

~ sew some new pillows with pops of color

~ new paint for the laundry room and kitchen

Continue DIY projects.

Save money by shopping thrifty stores, garage sales and retail sales.

Continue to be inspired by all your great blog posts

and Pinterest .

Utilize organization skills giving more order

to our home.

~ organize our storage area

~ organize my office and closets

Have you set any 2012 goals for your home?

(I will be doing a post on shopping for less, but wanted to join the party today. Sorry about the delay.)

Have a great day!

THIFT STORE SHOPPING - LOVE

2012-01-10T17:15:00.000-08:00

As you know, I love to shop thrift stores. I find some great thrifty deals at these stores.

Here are a few of my finds from today.

Four Coffee Mugs

They're an asset to my little coffee nook in the kitchen!

I also found this cute picture to hang on the wall beside the nook.

Above it hangs a wire wall hanging purchased from a garage sale this summer.

Under the cabinet is my .25 cent coffee spoon purchased at a garage sale.

Isn't it amazing what you can purchase second hand for under ten dollars!

In my next post I'll have some great tips on

"shopping for less".

CUSTOM BUILT FURNITURE

2012-01-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

Custom built furniture is a luxury to have in your home and I've been blessed with many pieces. As I've told you before, I've got a very talented husband who can build furniture. Some time ago, I showed you the pieces of furniture he has made for me. I told you he had another project started. These projects may take a while because he works on them in his spare time; and he doesn't have a lot of that. Some of you have asked about this project so I thought I would reveal the latest project even though it's not completely finished.

~Ta da ~

The Hoosier Cabinet

He's planning on making leaded glass doors to go in front of the top shelves.

He even made a custom tambour door that our bread machine sits behind. The tambour door was built by gluing slats of wood to a piece of fabric, making it bendable to slide up and down like a roll top.

The Hoosier is a perfect place to display the antique dishes given us from our grandparents and great grandparents.

The side shelves hold flour, coffee and the

coffee grinder.

He installed electricity in it, making it easy to run the coffee grinder and bread maker.

I'll soon be putting my coffee maker on

the bottom shelf.

Here is how it looked all decorated for Christmas.

I think he did a great job on this piece of furniture. I'm so thankful for his love and the use of his talents to make custom furniture for me!

A REFLECTION OF TOP PROJECTS

2011-12-28T12:02:00.000-08:00

As the year draws to a close, it has me reflecting over the past and some of the projects I've done.

Rhoda from Southern Hospitality is having a party for your top projects of the year; and I thought I would join in on the fun and share my top 10.

I'm so grateful to all of you for visiting my blog and all your kind comments. I apologize because I've been a bit behind on responding to your emails for a few reasons..... #1: We've just been blessed and became proud grandparents of our second granddaughter, born December 23rd. She's a beautiful baby weighing in at 7 lbs 1 oz. 19 inches long. #2: Sending time with family for Christmas. #3: I now have 1200 emails to sort through... :(

(If you would like to read the details on these top visited posts just click on the heading above each photo.)

To my surprise, a post that I blogged a year ago in December is the #1 post with the most hits. Even this past month the hits continue to climb on my
Epsom Salt Ornaments & Candle.

#2 DIY Tufted Upholstered Headboard

#3 Board and Batten for the Bedroom

#4 Reupholstered Wingback Chair

#5 DIY Spring Artwork

#6 Christmas Decor

#7 Pottery Barn Hanging Mason Jar Knockoff

#8 Pottery Barn Inspired Pillow

#9 DIY Pocket Pillows

#10 Create Your Own Wedding Candy Buffet
(It was a toss up on # 10 because the diy wedding posts received a lot of hits as well.)

Blogging has been a real JOY for me. I’ve been inspired and encouraged by you along the way. I thank each and every one of you; and I'm looking forward to sharing more with you my readers in 2012.

Have a happy

New Year!

CHRISTMAS 2011

2011-12-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

May you all have a very blessed Christmas

and great holiday season!

LET IT SNOW DIY FRAME

2011-12-22T20:55:00.000-08:00

Do you love to attend blog parties as much as I do? I've been enjoying going to Blog parties and seeing all the great decorating ideas, tour of homes and DIY projects. While attending a party, I came across some free printables from Amiee @ It's Overflowing. I decided to use her free printable to make a quick project.

Here's what I did.

1. Printed ~ Let it Snow onto translucent paper.

2. Removed the back from a 5 X 7 inch frame I already had.

3. Taped the glass in place (to prevent it from falling out).

4. Taped the ~ Let it Snow ~ print into the frame.

5. Place a battery operated light (candle) behind the frame ~ to give a flickering

light effect.

6. Taped a snowflake ornament to the front of the frame.

Here it is sitting in the Hoosier cabinet with my other snowflake items.

(Sorry about poor photos - I made this in the evening.)

I'm linking this post to...

DIY CHRISTMAS TABLESCAPE

2011-12-21T09:58:00.000-08:00

This year we found some very pretty sparkly/glittery gift wrapping paper. It's blue; and I thought it would be so pretty for wrapping gifts. Guess what, it has a glitch! It will not allow the tape to stick to the glitter! Since I had a big roll of it, I had to find another use for it. I decided to use it as a runner on our dinning room table. I'd love to go out and buy some fresh flowers or poinsettias, but since I'm thrifty and on a budget, I had fun and did another DIY.

Here's what I came up with.

I used candles along with some faux poinsettias, glass ornaments, ribbon and some beads.

The beads give it a little extra bling.

Here you can see the glittery table runner made from wrapping paper.

There you have it, a very easy DIY

using what you have.

Linking this post to....
The Shabby Nest: Frugal Friday

CHRISTMAS TIME IN NASHVILLE {part 2}

2011-12-19T05:00:00.000-08:00

While in Nashville, we had the fun opportunity to tour the Opryland Resort. What made the tour even more GRAND was that it was decorated for the Christmas holidays. I thought I'd share some of the photos with you.

The walkway up to the building is graced with

beautiful garland lined fences.

Each window is decorated with a wreath or garland and Christmas decor.

View of the front of the building.

One of the wings to the side of the building.

The entrance to the resort is very GRAND, with a grand staircase.

My husband and I on the stairway with the beautiful poinsettia tree off to the side.

The resort is filled with many shops and a beautiful conservatory.

Many beautiful poinsettias line the walk way.

Orchids were growing out of a palm tree.

The balconies to the guests rooms.

The bar and dinning area.

The gazebo area was set up for an afternoon wedding.

After seeing the resort, we headed out for lunch. I loved these rocking chairs that were sitting in front of the restaurant all decorated for the season. I also had to include a photo of the menu (not being from the south myself). You know you're in the south when the menu has Cajun Gator Tails, Green Fried Tomatoes and Frog Legs !

CHRISTMAS TIME IN NASHVILLE

2011-12-17T05:00:00.000-08:00

In my last post I told you that I've just returned from Nashville. It's such a pretty time of the year to visit Nashville. I've never been to Tennessee before and fell in love with the beautiful homes and all the churches with their grand steeples. We were able to view downtown Nashville from the roof top on two occasions.

Here's the view we enjoyed!

The clock tower along with the other high buildings.

The moon was gorgeous peeking out from

behind the tall buildings.

The Grand Old Opry Resort all lit up at night.

These trees are gorgeous with each branch on the tree lit with lights!

This photo is a little blurry...but you can still see how pretty everything looked.

The next photos are lights inside the resort at night.

As you can see everything is very GRAND!

In my next post I'll share the resort in the daylight.

CHRISTMAS DECOR 2011 {LIVING ROOM}

2011-12-15T09:50:00.000-08:00

Today I'm Linking to ~

Christmas Tour of Homes @ the Nesting Place

If you recall I started my Christmas home tour with my dinning room. I then moved on to the family room.

Today I'll show you our living room. I've done a lot of the same things in the living room as last year, but did make a few changes.

Here's how it looks today.

The arrangement on the cedar chest.

A mirror with candles, faux snow and snowflake ornament sit on the end table.

The arrangement on the top of the armoire is new this year. I used my dollar store ornament and distressed mirror tree, candles, poinsettia and a starfish.

Vase filled with ornaments and jingle bells.

Shelf at the entrance to the room.

My DIY JOY candles sit on top of the curio cabinet.

Christmas tree vignette sit on a side table.

Last but not least is the silver tray vignette that sits on our coffee table.

Hope you enjoyed the tour. I'll show you the kitchen soon.

I'm also linking to...

The inspired room

The Shabby Creek Cottage Christmas Home Tour

The Shabby Nest

WEDDING WEDNESDAY

2011-12-14T14:37:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've posted on Wedding Wednesday. My husband and I just returned from a trip to Nashville, TN where we attended our niece's wedding. I thought it would be fun to share some photos from the wedding on Wedding Wednesday.

The wedding took place in the historic distric of Nashville at Wightman Chapel. It's a beautiful old building with beautiful Gothic architecture containing stained glass windows, a pipe organ and grand piano. It also has a 90 foot long center aisle.

The Chapel

The 90 foot long aisle.

All the beautiful wood and organ pipes.

Beautiful stained glass windows and Gothic style lights.

The wedding reception was held at The Factory in Franklin, TN. It's an old factory converted into shops and a reception hall.

At the entrance to the room, we were greeted with

this arrangement.

Tulle with lights, candles and photo of the newly weds.

A chandelier hung in the doorway...

...off to the left was a table with note cards for writing a greeting or bit of advise to the newlyweds.

Center piece for each table included a candle chandelier.

My sister and nieces made these DIY wreaths for the wedding. They were placed on the benches at the chapel and at various places at the wedding reception.

These were pretty but yet a simple DIY.

All you need to make them is a Styrofoam wreath, pieces of fabric and hot glue gun to adhere the fabric to the wreath. A simple tulle bow was attached for hanging them.

The pretty cake table.

The couple left with all of us blowing bubbles. I love this photo capturing the joy of the happy couple leaving for

their honeymoon.

Even the bears at the exit of the building were in the wedding mood!

CHISTMAS DECOR 2011 {FAMILY ROOM}

2011-12-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to the Christmas House Tour of the Parsonage! In my last post, I showed you our dinning room all decorated for Christmas. Today we'll move on to our family room. The two rooms join together so I wanted to continue the same theme/color in both rooms.

Here is the view looking from our dinning room into the family room area.

This year I decide to place the tree in our family room instead of the living room. We sit in our family room every day, while the living room only when we have guests. We have been enjoying having the tree in our daily view. Of course this meant moving furniture. This area usually looks like this.

The tree is decorated with silver and blue and a lot of glittery items. I love the sparkle and bling the tree has this year. Of course, a lot of the items are from garage sales and thrift stores. Here are a few close up look at them.

This pretty garland was only .49 cents, and the sparely spike was free - thrift store finds (I got several of these glittery spikes free). Free makes me happy :)

More thrift store ornaments.

In the past, I had a burgundy tree skirt under the tree. Since I have a new color this year, I had to come up with a new skirt. Here's my solution using what I had.......

... a scarf from our daughters wedding. I simply wrapped it around the tree base adding more sparkle and bling!

{My camera doesn't do justice for this photo...it's so much prettier than the picture shows.}

Next to the television stand, I placed a poinsettia in my grandmothers old red wing crock.

Here's the arrangement on my desk.

{The tree is a $1 garage sale find.}

Coming up in my next post will be the living room in the Christmas House Tour.

CHRISTMAS DECOR 2011

2011-12-05T06:00:00.000-08:00

Things are starting to look very festive and a lot like Christmas at the parsonage. I started to decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. This year I decided to change things a bit, and most of the decor is done in blue, silver and white along with some beachy accents.

I'm planning to give you a little tour over the next couple of days.

I'll begin by showing you our Dinning Room. Here's the Hoosier cabinet all dressed up.

Of course most of my decorating is done on a budget and inexpensively. The two wreaths and greenery were purchased at a thrift store last year. The candle vases were also a real steal! The one on the left is a vase from a garage sale bought for 25 cents. I just added a small candle holder and candle on the inside so that it matches the candle sconce on the right. The sconce on the right was my best find.....FREE at a garage sale! It had an old dirty dusty melted candle in it. I had to work at getting the candle out, but the effort was well worth it for something free.

In fact most of the decor on the Hoosier cabinet is from thrift stores and garage sales with the exception of the mason jar, blue candles and the starfish.

Did you recognize my DIY Epsom Salt Candle and Ornaments from last year? If you missed my post on how to make them, the DIY information is here.

A snowball candle, snowflake ornament and stands, greenery and some faux snow create this little vignette.

In the corner of the room sits the cabinet my husband made for me the first Christmas after we were married.

I placed a silver cloth on the top of the cabinet and added two small trees. The one tree was in a red pot, but I fixed that problem by placing the trees in white bowls. For finishing touches, I added a starfish and a sprig of berries along with a few ornaments. On the wall beside the cabinet, I hung a shutter (the one I made over last year) to display our Christmas cards.

Please come back to see another room in my

Parsonage Christmas Tour!

LOW COST DIY CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS - {JOY}

2011-12-02T15:02:00.000-08:00

The past few days, I've been busy making the Parsonage look festive for the Christmas holidays. Wanting to add something new on top of my curio cabinet, got me thinking about what I could make using things I already had. (If you recall, I did a makeover to our living room this fall adding a lot of color changes to the room. If you missed that post, you can read it here.) My previous Christmas arrangement was in burgundy and gold. Those colors don't work well with the new colors in the room: tan, brown, and seascape blue/green.

Here is what I came up with.

Below are the DIY instructions for making your own.

I shopped the house for things to use that I already had.

- Cylinder vases left over from our daughters wedding (purchased at a garage sale.)

- Ribbon

- Dollar Store battery operated candles

- Transparency scrapbook paper

- Mirror (also leftover from the wedding)

- Mounting putty

- JOY letters - downloaded to my computer

Last December I was visiting a blog Crafty Ever After; and I came upon her JOY printable letters. She's so gracious to let you down load them for FREE for your own home use. I loved them, and put them away for a future project. Today I found a great use for them.

I began by printing the letters off on translucent paper, just like I did for my thanksgiving "place card" candles.

Taking the vases, I glued ribbon at the top and bottom and then attached the paper letters in the middle using glue. A candle was placed in each vase to give it the pretty flickering from the candle light.

To create the "O," I used a small wreath I had from other years, and placed it on the mirror using the mounting putty to hold it in place.

It gives me great "JOY" to have something on my curio cabinet that I didn't have to spend another dime to have. I could use this arrangement in my office when the holidays are done, since it spells out my name as well!

Have a great weekend!

I'm linking this post to...

Weekend Wrap up Party over at Tatertots and Jello

I {heart} nap time

Thrifty Decor Chick - Before and After Party

Best DIY Projects of December ~ Beneath My Heart

MY HIGH LOW PROJECT

2011-11-30T12:21:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that November is drawing to a close already. A new Pottery Barn magazine just arrived in the mail this week; and it got my creative juices flowing. I saw these pretty jeweled crystal wreaths . You can see them hanging on the wall in this photo but they come with a price tag of $69 - $99. I decided to try and make my own for less.

Here's what I did to make my own.

1. Got a wire coat hanger and bent it to the shape of a wreath.

2. Purchased 3 packages of snowflake Christmas ornaments @ Target for $1 per package.

3. Using the hot glue gun, I glued the ornaments to the coat hanger.

Very easy to make with little time or money involved!
The high end version $69 - $99
my low version $3!

Are you working on any inexpensive creative projects for Christmas? I'd love to here about them!

Linking this post to...

20 Below Thursday # 49

THANKSGIVING TABLESCAPE { WITH PHOTOS}

2011-11-22T17:37:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I'm grateful to be back and thankful to say that our little granddaughter is home from the hospital and doing well. We have so much to be thankful for this thanksgiving. I've been busy rushing around the house today making preparations for thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving day I'm always busy preparing food, so I like to have my table decor ready a few days before the holiday.

I'm very excited to share with you what I did for this year's table. Of course, it was done on a limited budget . I used things purchased at garage sales, thrift stores and end of year clearance items for all my decorations.

Thanksgiving day is a time to reflect on all the things we're thankful for. To create the table-scape, I used scrabble tiles ~ free from the thrift store to spell give thanks. The hurricane lamp, pillar candle, table cloth and table runner were all from the thrift store as well. I added jute string and a small leaf to embellish the candle. I then placed a mirror (leftover from our daughters wedding) under the candle to reflect the candle light. The leaves were free from a garage sale; and both small orange votive candles were bought for 1/2 price at an after holiday sale.

I wanted to do something unique for place cards this year. Here is what I did...

Using leftover votive candles from our daughters wedding, I printed out a photo of each guest on translucent scrapbook paper. I cut the paper into strips and wrapped it around the votive. To give it a little extra touch, I tied a piece of jute string around the bottom. Now all the guests have to do is look for their photo, and they'll know where to sit!

I got a great deal on the charger plates .....33 cents ~ after Christmas clearance while the napkins were brand new in the package purchased at a garage sale 8 for $2! Don't they look like the Pottery Barn napkins that sell for $54!

Here's how it looks at night with all the candles lit.

May you all have a blessed

Thanksgiving !

I'm linking this post to...

Holiday Tablescape party at Centsational Girl
Beneath My Heart Best DIY Projects of November

GRANDPARENTS

2011-10-30T16:02:00.000-07:00

I have wonderful news!!!

My husband and I are grandparents for the first time. We have a precious new granddaughter

born on

October 26th

she weighed 8 lbs and 10 ounces

and 22 inches long.

It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride around here because just when the high of being a grandparent hit along came a low. After a few short hours of being born she developed breathing problems and had to be air lifted to a near by hospital to a NICU.

I have no photos to share with you because we aren't allowed to take photos,hold or touch her.

The hospital is an hour and half drive from our home. If you notice that I'm MIA for a little while, you'll know we are spending time with our precious grand baby and her parents.

We are thankful for the Lord watching over her so far and praying for healing to this precious little girl.

GETTING READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS WITH TRHRIFY FINDS

2011-10-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

With the holidays fast approaching, now is the perfect time to begin collecting items. Thrift stores are wonderful places to shop. You can find high end items for low prices. This morning I had the opportunity to shop at my local thrift store, and they were putting out Christmas items.

Last year I started a collection for our living room using silver and blue.

I was very happy to find more items to add to my collection. Here are a few of the things I found.

Snowflakes, icicles, ribbon and noel ornament.

I also found another mercury glass snowflake candle holder.

Last but not least napkins, they'll work great with the dishes and chargers from last year.

Have you found any great deals lately? Have you started your holiday shopping and planning yet?

LIVING ROOM REVEAL

2011-10-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a year since I told you about the search for a new couch for our living room. For the most part the living room has been done for a few months already. I've been waiting to reveal the room to you because I'm still working on reupholstering the second wing back chair.(We've had a busy summer and fall.) I've kept you waiting long enough, and will reveal the room to you almost complete.

I wanted a sofa in a neutral color, one that won't go out of date as fads come and go. After much searching here's what we finally found on sale with an additional 10 % off the sale price.

The sofa came with geometric design pillows,

ugly according to my taste.

No problem.... I just whipped up a few new pocket pillow covers. Read my diy instructions for making pocket pillows if you'd like to make your own.

Here's the old and new sofa.

The first thing I found that gave me a jumping off point for the room was this rug from Tj Maxx for $29. I wanted to incorporate some new colors. It also gave me the idea for adding circular items to the room.

This purchase inspired me to apply a new paint color to the two existing burgundy colored walls.

Using the "what you have" motto: I decided to use left over paint from our master bedroom makeover and the beige that was on two of the exiting walls in the living room.

New paint color for the walls.

Yah! Much softer cooler colors!

The next thing was new curtains for the room.
After shopping, I found some that would work great for the room, but now I needed new curtain rods. Since I'm thrifty this gave me another DIY project ... the curtain rods .

You can imagine the excitement I had while shopping a few months later, when I found a smaller rug with the exact pattern of the rug under the coffee table.

The next large purchase to come into the room was a Christmas gift from my husband, a new coffee table.

Now for the accessories:
Adding the accessories to the room was fun and added the finishing touches. Most of the accessories for the room where from garage sales and thrift stores.

Wall Art

I found these plate chargers for 99 cents at a thrift store and thought they'd work great above my newly reupholstered chair. See the repeat circular element in them.

This $2.99 Goodwill shelf was hung in the entry area for guests to hang coats on. Once again, I was excited to find accessories just perfect for this self second hand for a total price of three dollars. The little lamp was the perfect circular shape as well.

New art work ($29) for above the sofa was discounted because of a small ding in one corner, nothing that a little touch up paint couldn't take care of!

Lighting

The Goodwill lamp that got a makeover,
take note of the circular/swirl pattern on the shade.

More Accessories

This display was placed on the the cedar chest and curio cabinet.

Here's a glimpse back to what I started with.

and the after.

After with a few fall accents.

A few simple changes of pillows and table top change the look for fall.

Thrifty Parsonage Living

BABY SHOWER DECORATIONS

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Recently I told you that I'm going to be a grandmother soon. Yes! both of our daughters are expecting

BABIES.

We had a baby shower for our youngest daughter a few weeks ago.

I was asked to help with the decorations for the event. I thought it would be fun to share a few photos from the day, along with a diy anyone can do.

Close up view of the banner.

Guest Book Table

The guests were asked to guess the number of almonds in the baby bottle as a little game.

The trees and tent arbor where decorated with

hanging lanterns.

The table sat under a tent that was decorated with lanterns and a clothesline hung with baby clothes. I used little buckets to place mints, animal cookies and chocolate covered pretzels in. The gender of the baby isn't known yet so I used pink, green and yellow for the colors.

The pretzel sticks were a big hit. They were coated with melted white chocolate and then rolled in sprinkles.

I've made these cute mints for other showers.

They are a simple DIY project. All you need are the ingredients shown below.

I used powder sugar and a little milk to make the glue to hold them together.

The diaper cake I made as a gift for the mother-to-be was also part of the table decor.

We are anxiously anticipation the birth of our

first grand-babies. I'll keep you posted on their arrival.

Have a great day!

A GREAT STOREAGE SOLUTION

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Over the years I've saved a collection/clippings of ideas of things I liked in a note book, and also in a folder on my computer. I've just discovered Pinterest! It's a great way to file and organize collections of things that you love and inspire you. It can be anything from food, books, DIY'S or a room you love. If you’re on Pinterest or would like to try it yourself and want to follow along as I pin; join me here or click on the Pinterest logo in my sidebar.

Here's an example of a room I've pinned.

Traci's laundry room from Beneath My Heart

Happy Pinning!!!