Update on Refinishing a a Bedroom Set

Well, I did not meet my Thanksgiving deadline, but I(*) did get it finished by the new year! Here are some "in progress" pictures. Please ignore our messy garage. That is one area I have not gotten to yet. But I will! The first step was to lightly sand the bed and nightstand. Then prime. Then paint. We used spray paint rather than a paint brush to make it easier and hopefully allow the paint to go on smoother. I believe the entire project took less than a week (working a few hours here and there) and cost less than $50. Stay tuned for the final reveal!

*When I say "I", I really mean my husband. He took over this project after I came up with the idea and did a fabulous job on it!*

The stockings were hung.....

I don't know about you, but we are ready for Santa. We have our stockings hung on the mantle and are just waiting for the big man to make his arrival!

This was my first year to decorate a mantle, so I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted garland, but after I hung the stockings up, it just looked blah. I added pine cones in a tall vase that I already had on hand and then went to Target (the best store in the world) and picked up two small pre-lit trees. I was planning on doing bows or something to dress up the planter for the tree, but, as you can see in the picture, I just couldn't seem to get it right. Maybe next year.

How do you decorate your fireplace / mantle? Send me a picture, I would love to check it out and maybe borrow some ideas for next year. It's never too early to start thinking about it, especially with with all the great after Christmas sales coming up!

Ornaments in a Jar

I love to find different ways to display some of the beautiful ornaments they have for sale these days. There are so many great color themes out there (red & silver, red & gold, bright colors, silver & gold, etc.), but you can't exactly do every theme on your tree at once. So, I try to do little mini displays using the themes around the house. I saw these ornaments at Home Depot last week and I knew I had to have them. I already had a large jar from the Pottery Barn Outlet and I knew they were look great in it. What do you think? How do you display ornaments at your house?

Christmas Apothecary Jars

NOTE: WE'VE MOVED! Visit: Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for lots of apothecary jar ideas! 


I am not sure if this is my final product, but I wanted to share my Christmas Apothecary Jars with you. Let me know what you think. I usually do garland in one of the jars, but I wanted to try something new this year, so I did the bows.

Outdoor Christmas Decorations

I know it's still a little early for outdoor Christmas displays (typically I stick to the after Thanksgiving rule), but I just couldn't wait this year. I showed you earlier this week how I made my wreath and garland and I used to pre-lit trees from Target to finish off the display. The trees came two in a package, so it worked out perfect. I added the bulbs to them so that they would match the other items. I would still like to somehow "dress up" the planters the trees are in, but I am not sure what I want to do yet. Maybe just add ribbons / bows to them? And the doormat is more functional than part of the display.

The garland was too heavy to hang using hooks with just stickies on the back, so my husband drilled holes and attached permanent hooks to the wood surrounding the door. I hate to have to do things like this, but it will make things a lot easier in the future and I will not have to deal with coming home to sections of the garland hanging down.

If you are going to make "ornament garland", like this, I would recommend that you hang the garland first and then attach the ornaments. I am not sure why I did it the other way around, but it resulted in many ornaments falling off when it was being hung and a few shattering on the porch. Don't learn this lesson the hard way like I did!

After I did my project, I was browsing on the Pottery Barn website and saw this! Without even knowing it, I pretty much replicated their design. And for a small fraction of their insane price!

Christmas Garland

In addition to making the bulb ornament wreath, I also made a garland to hang around the doorway. The fall garland I used was pre-made and just needed to be attached. However, I was unable to find any Christmas garland that I liked, so I ended up making my own. I used the five 9ft. strands of pine (fake) garland from Michaels. The strands are very thin, so I elected to double them up. Just like with the leaf wreath, I just attached the bulbs using ornament hangers and made sure to secure them very tightly.

Price breakdown (all items purchased from Michaels):
-Garland: $2.99/strand
-Ornaments: $4.99/box (I used probably six boxes of different sizes ornaments - I am sure I could have found these cheaper somewhere).

Making a Bulb Ornament Wreath

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I was on vacation and not doing anything creative! But I am back and got started on some Christmas projects this weekend.

My first project was a Christmas wreath. I want to do a Christmas display in my entry way similar to what I did for the fall, so I figured a wreath would be the best way to get started.

I picked up a Christmas pine wreath from Michaels, some cheap bulb ornaments (two different sizes) and wire ornament hangers. I attached the bulbs using the ornament hangers and made sure to twist them very tightly so they would stay nicely. I attached most of the bulbs to the "base" of the wreath instead of to the actual branches to try and get them to attach more securely. This was a very easy project and took maybe 20-30 minutes. But I have to admit, it was a pain to secure the ornament hooks because they dig into your skin when you bend them.

Here is a price breakdown (everything was purchased at Michaels):
-Wreath: $4.99
-Ornaments: $10 (estimated - not exactly sure what they cost. I probably should have just used ones I had at home).
-Ornament Hangers: $2 (you will have a ton left over)