Long time, no blog...

Wow, June has been a BUSY month! We've gone home (as in to Oak Grove aka a-four-hour- roadtrip in which I get to showcase my vocal talent :)) two weekends in a row. Wade loves our trips home, and I think it's because he gets to hear me belt out my favorite tunes! Anyways, I have been following many blogs lately trying to get inspiration on creative and inexpensive ways to decorate our house. With Wade in law school, and I'm the only one who receives a paycheck, I try to stretch a dollar as far as it can go. Here are some of my favorite blogs: Nesting Place, Centsational Girl, Bless Our Nest and Thrifty Decor Chick. These ladies are such an inspiration to me so go check them out! They sure know what they're doing!

Living in Baton Rouge, there are thrift stores on every corner! For the past few weeks on my lunch hour, I have been going to the Goodwill store by my office. Check out some of the things I've found.

I found this silver tray for $1.00. It had a few "aged" spots, but that's what I love about it...it adds character. I had an "H" stencil so I used my handy dabber and dabbed on the "H". I think it turned out pretty good! We don't have a foyer in our townhouse, so I just put a table that I found scratched on clearanced at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $19.99 and touched it up with a wood marker. We live in a townhouse in which our rent is almost double the square feet!

I got all of this for only $7.70! I was so proud of myself. I bought the little wire basket for $1.00, the scrap piece of wood for $1.00, silver tray $1.00, round aluminum tray $1.00, glass top to a cloche $1.00, large silver tray $2.00 and the cookie sheet for a quarter, which I intend to make into a magnetic board for my kitchen...does anyone remember the blog that made this? I want to try it and post a link back to theirs.

This is the finished product of the small silver tray. Look here for the project I used as my inspiration at Bless Our Nest. I spray painted it Antique Ivory since I CANNOT find the Heirloom White ANYWHERE. I've looked at Home Depot, Lowe's and Wal-Mart, and not one can of Heirloom White! I then painted the "H" in Folk Art "Taupe" paint and aged it by watering down some brown paint. Not bad for my first one! Thanks Bless Our Nest! Stay tuned for some of my other great buys I picked up at Goodwill today!