Monthly Archives: January 2012

A Two Dollar Dog Bed or Why I’m Thrifty

A Two Dollar Dog Bed or Why I’m Thrifty

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As you might have guessed from previous posts, I’m a bargain shopper. I was raised to be a bargain shopper, sort of. My Mom could sniff out a bargain with the best of them. We often shopped at outlet malls … Continue reading →

Taking My Own Advice

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My last post gave me some inspiration to tackle two things that drive me crazy here at the Button Casa. The kitchen island and next to the microwave.

I cleaned this up a lot before I took a picture of the mess. Usually the fruit basket has a newspaper, bills,  hand cream, a pack of gum or various other odds and ends. I couldn’t show you that. So here is an example what a mess on the kitchen island might look like if you walked into our kitchen.

Frustration number 2 is next to the microwave. We live in a 1,000 sq. ft. rancher style home so every bit of space is used to store something. Or shove something when we don’t know where to put it. Which happens a lot, I’m not gonna lie.

I didn’t edit this picture first. That Indiana Jones movie has been there for at least two weeks waiting for me to donate it to the library. Whenever we have people over I frantically try to find a place to hide this stuff.

The girls and I headed out to Target yesterday to find supplies to organize just these two spots. I’ve been in this position before and have tried to tackle every out of order thing at once. That usually leaves me with closets emptied and piles of things everywhere then I run out of steam and shove it back into the closet. However, once we got to Target  I was totally distracted by aisles and aisles of clearance merchandise! It’s a sickness I tell ‘ya.

The white isle. Crisp, clean and goes with everything.  I had a $25 dollar gift card that I’d gotten for Christmas with me, it was my lucky day. I was tempted by this cake stand but the top was a little crooked and I’ve already given away a slightly crooked cake plate so I passed.

I snagged this napkin holder though. It wasn’t on clearance but I was looking for one because we usually have a pile of napkins sitting on the island. Travis puts them there so we won’t grab a paper towel every time we need a napkin but are too lazy to look under the china cabinet to get one.

Then it was on to stationery. I had something simple and colorful in mind and wasn’t disappointed. It’s Target after all.

All of the grey, black and industrial choices were out. I’m not a fan of grey. I’ll catch the next trend color. Then my little Vanna White helped me find what I was looking for. She totally matches the office supplies…super cute. I could say I planned it but I didn’t. I was actually looking for something in a robin’s egg blue which they didn’t have.

I chose the apple green trey and magazine file for $4.99 each. They’re very cute, functional and budget friendly. I love it when a plan comes together.

I also chose this blue and white bowl, on clearance for $7.98. It was on an end cap in stationery, which seemed like an odd spot for it,  and I had a gift card. Lucky me.

It’s hard to tell how big it is in this picture. It’s serving bowl size and I can’t wait to take a summer salad in it to a party. My mom has the matching coffee mugs, they’re on clearance too, they also have platters and dinner ware all on clearance. If you’ve had your eye on dishes and such at Target you should check to see if it’s on sale because the whole isle had clearance stickers. It’s dangerous I tell ‘ya.

See?

I’ve sort of wanted to be a temporary redhead for quite a while and I found this yesterday that’s good for 28 washes. I have a question though. Will it actually wash out? Halle was very upset because she wants us to continue to have the same hair color. I figure if I hate it then I can just wash my hair 28 times in a day.  Some advice would be helpful…anyone?

Ahem, back to organizing. I get distracted easily. Here’s my plan for the tray. The checkbook, calculator, random mail that Travis might need to see like cable offers and whatnot, coupons we get in the mail and my phone charger that I have a terrible time keeping track of. All neatly in a tray. Now I need a plan for it to stay neatly in the tray. Baby steps, folks.

And the magazine file, I love this thing. One day I’m going to have built in shelves and I’ll have a place for all of the magazine hoarding I do. I love magazines and I hate getting rid of them. For now though it holds bills and mail nicely.

Now that space is neat and uncluttered and it only took a few minutes. I’m so happy to have done this without adding on a room or taking over one of the kid’s bedrooms for office space. So how about you? Do you have any small plans to make your life easier? I’d love to hear them.

New Year, Organize It

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Every year I think about getting organized. I’m at least tempted to buy all of the pretty organizing things I see at Target when I run out to get more paper plates. I buy pretty planners and I might even write in it but I’m more of a “having it all in my head” sort of person so even if I see value in writing things down I’m just very used to keeping a mental list. Since we homeschool though I see a need to get organized. It’s no use having everything we need right here at home if I can’t find it when I need it. I think we currently have 100 pencils hiding in various nooks and crannies around here. So I did some digging on organizing ideas and I’m sharing them with you.

Okay, so the modern minimalist look doesn’t exactly float my boat but to have a desk that clean and uncluttered…ahhhh.

Photo Better Homes and Gardens

I love the cubbies and wicker baskets. Everything is in it’s place but with style. Find it here.

Photo Pottery Barn.com

If you’re more the inbox type then maybe this is for you.

Photo Better Homes and Gardens

I think they’re so cute I just might forget the mail is there.

And If you like having everything right at your fingertips this might fit the bill.

Photo Better Homes and Gardens

You’ve got folders, recycling, pinboard and everything else you need in one compact space. I think this one’s my fave.

So what about you? What organizing plans do you have for this year? Let me (and everyone else) know in the comments.

 

A Mini-Makeover

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I was going to write about how to make crystals for a homeschool project tonight but I had a talk with Travis that went something like this:

Amy- I have to write a post so I’m going to make crystals tonight

Travis- No you’re not, you’re sick.

Amy- But I have to write two posts a week and I decided I’d write on Tuesday and Thursday!

Travis- That’s fine but you’ll have to write about something else, you’re not making anything.

Amy- But it’ll only take 10 minutes!

Travis- You’re creative, you’ll figure something out.

Sadly it was too late. Travis had flipped his stubborn switch and made himself impervious to my pouty powers. Drat! So I’m pulling out a mini-makeover. It would have been the full-on makeover but it’s winter and I can’t spray paint anything again until spring.

A few years ago a friend gave some patio chairs to us. We only had a couple of lounge chairs at the time so even though these had seen better days I was thrilled to have them. Considering we’d moved into a fixer upper of a house, these chairs were a really low priority to refinish. The I bought a new table and decided to give it a go.

Here’s a closeup of what I was working with. I had to get rid of the rust and had purchased a steel bristled stripping tool for the job. Then I lost it. Really. I still haven’t found that darn thing. Refusing to give up I decided to try an electric sander with 80 grit sandpaper.

And it worked! Color me happy! That’s a whole lot of elbow grease and time that I didn’t have to put into it. Then I recruited a cutie-pie to help brush of residue.  We used a new (but low quality, inexpensive) paint brush.

I also used a thin scraping tool to scrape off spots where the paint had bubbled up and there was rust underneath. Taking more time on the front end will save you frustration when spray painting. Promise. Those areas will show up all flaky when you paint. Not that it happened to me or anything.

I needed to get the chair legs off the ground so I could paint more easily so I grabbed some old planting pots that I didn’t mind getting spray paint on.

Then I was super happy to start painting! I love painting…I hate prepping to paint. What? You mean I’m not the only one? Who knew?

I felt like I’d hit the jackpot when I saw this paint in espresso brown on clearance for less than $6 a can. I bought 3 cans because I wasn’t sure how much I needed. Now that I know how much I need, I’d recommend a can per chair and one for the patio table (that I didn’t get to).  That way you have enough for two coats on each piece of furniture and should have some leftover for touch-ups.

Here is where I’ll offer some, “don’t make the same mistakes I did” advice. First, don’t spray paint if the wind is blowing. Just don’t. Unless you want to wear as much paint as whatever your painting. Second, don’t spray in direct sunlight. The front side of the chairs was fine but when I sprayed the back side the sun blinded me. I suppose I could have waited for everything to dry on the front side and then turned the chairs around. But I didn’t. I was a bit pressed for time because I had family coming into town for Thanksgiving a couple of weeks after that. Plus we had an unusually warm autumn and you don’t get that many 70 degree days in November so I went for it.

Here’s the after. Spraying thin, even coats keeps it from dripping and gives the best results. I’ll say though that this kind of thing is pretty forgiving and is great for a first project.

And here’s a side-by-side comparison…

Pretty, no?

Here’s the wrinkle. A couple of weeks after I finished the chairs Travis bought a fire pit for me for my birthday. Next to Daisy it’s the best.gift.ever. The fire pit is black though. You know what that means? I can’t do brown chairs and a black fire pit. I could do a black fire pit and red chairs. Or a black fire pit and turquoise chairs. Or a black fire pit and black chairs. But a black fire pit and brown chairs? Not so much. That’s probably good news for you though. Because you get to see me makeover these chairs again…in the spring.