Before and After: Garden Obelisk

So the other day a friend passed on to me a very tall, very ornate garden obelisk/weathervane.  She and her hubby were flipping a house and didn't have need for it.  I loved the details and took it in an instant when she offered it to me...I figured it just needed some loving.

Here's the before:

Notice the greyish color?  What you can't see in the picture is the pieces of rust throughout too...There's also a medallion, look for the white spot that I figured I would replace with some scraps from my stained glass collection.

After taking a whole can of flat black spray paint, specifically designed to cover and combat rust on metal, this is what it looked like!

Once spray painting it, I realized that I loved the medallion black and won't be changing it!  I love that all the details of the obelisk finally stand out and think once it's placed in a good spot, it will look amazing!  Not bad for $7!

What do you think?




I'm linked to the following:

Funky Polka Dot Giraffe

Garage Sale Finds

So in the rain, I went garage saling...it was Birtle's town wide garage sale but because of the rain, only about 10 garage sales were actually running.

I got four items:

I bought this Christmas decoration for only 25 cents...I thought it would be adorable for the classroom!

I was super psyched to find this-a tire wrench!!  I've never been able to change my own tires before as I've always found the lug nuts screwed on too tight.  With this sucker, I can now use my arm strength to get the lug nuts off and change my tire!  Yay!  I only spent a buck too!

I found these couple of magazines and thought they'd be perfect for the classroom.  I'm looking at suitable magazines to get a subscription to for my classroom and so we'll see if the kids like these...

In total....I spent only $1.75...I would have liked to have found more but maybe next Saturday!

Down to Earth Dining Table

I came across this as I was looking at the site: Apartment Therapy.  I love this site!  Whether you have an apartment or house, it showcases all types of design all over North America and beyond.  It's quirky, modern, and eclectic.  The only downside, if you call it a downside, is that they post a lot!  Sometimes multiple times a day.  So sometimes if you're lacking time, it can be hard to catch up with all it has to share.

For a while now, I've been looking at different styles of dining tables to see what I want when I move.  I finally decided that I didn't want new at all-I wanted something old or used, something that I could really make my own.  The truth is that my tastes are really eclectic and I'm not sure that I've ever really shown my true eclectic taste in my decorating.  I definitely want to be real and true to myself as I'm on this new, way better journey.

So I found it at Apartment Therapy, which showcased a picture, linking it to the how-to.  Oh my goodness.  So easy, so cheap, and so original.  Check out this amazing table at Stylizimo.  I am absolutely considering it big time-providing I can work with a rectangular table!

The Start of a New Blog

Life is crazy.  I'm sure it's not just me that feels that way.  Each of us has huge expectations to be our best, but sometimes that "being the best" can take its toll on us.  Life has gotten crazy expensive and honestly, a lot more greedy.  We are told that in order to be the best, we need the best.  I disagree.  After nearly losing nearly everything myself, you truly know the real meaning of life and things. 

This blog is completely dedicated to making the best of your life with what you have and what you can get within your budget.  Basically, it's about your stretching your dollar to make things a little easier on yourself. That's the "cheap" part.  The "chic" part recognizes it's about getting the best for your dollar.  And sometimes that means splurging, but splurging within healthy boundaries.  We'll talk about that in posts to come.  So, I hope you enjoy this blog and the posts to come!

Cheers....

Julie