My distressed desk.....

My vintage white distressed desk is being featured tonight at Roadkill Rescues...

Have you had a chance yet to check out Beckie's blog?  It's a-mazing!   I feel so inspired when I look at all of her trash to treasure projects and now she has a blog devoted entirely to people's creative makeovers of what others may call TRASH!


If you get a chance, you MUST check out Beckie's new blog:

......and be prepared to be inspired!

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Winner of the Harvest Vinyl

Congratulations to.....

      #3  Alison:  I am already a follower, and so excited about the giveaway! Thank you!
    #31  April Emery:  I follow you! prilemery (at) gmail (dot) com

I'll be in touch via email to get your information to send your vinyl!

Remember.....it's not too late to take advantage of the amazing deal that Utah Vinyl is still running this month!

Happy Fall Vinyl.....$6.50*

Give Thanks & Eat Vinyl......$4.50*

Spooky Vinyl....$5.50*

Harvest Vinyl.....$5.00*

*Prices include vinyl only.

Jill is also offering a flat rate of $2.00 shipping on all vinyl orders.... no matter what the size!  (Note:  If you would like Jill to provide the wood with your vinyl order, shipping cost will need to be adjusted to include the price to ship the wood.)

Thanks to everyone who entered!

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Stretching your Scrubbing Bubbles....

My name is Emily Soen. My husband, Philip, and daughter, Anastasia, live in Jackson, Mississippi. Philip is in a wheelchair and our blog, Rollin' with the Soens, is a collection of thoughts, recommendations, and stories about our unfamous but uncommon life in Mississippi. 

Philip has a neurological condition called Charcot Marie Tooth. We met on Eharmony almost 3 years ago and have managed to live what seems about 6 years worth of experience since then. I am originally from a rural town in the Mississippi Delta and Philip is from Chicagoland. Philip is pursuing his Masters of Divinity, I am a fitness instructor and we have a home-based business as well. 




As I was cleaning the toilet one morning I realized I could stretch my Johnson and Johnson dollar even further. First of all, their toilet bowl cleaner set comes with a wand and an attachment that fits right over the tank to store it. Given our highly limited amount of space, this is a genius invention.


Johnson & Johnson also makes a disposable cleaner to attach to this wand and then flush down the toilet. The cleaning agent is embedded in the little pieces of paper-towel like paper. My epiphany came when I realized I could rip one of those match-box sized suckers in half!


It's best to take a single sheet of toilet paper and fold it several times to put in the wand with the cleaning sheets.


Now I get twice the Scrubbing Bubbles cleaning experience from the same package. Score one for toilet bowl cleaners.

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Thanks so much for the tip, Emily!  I LOVE Scrubbing Bubbles and as much as my grocery bill was last week.....I'd love to be able to s-t-r-e-t-c-h my cleaning products!

Also....don't forget that Friday is that last day to enter 

the Fall Vinyl Giveaway!!

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Thrifty Thursday #27

Wow...another week at Thrifty Thursday with over 100 links! Thanks so much everyone!  I had so much fun looking through all the links this week!


It has been a rather busy week here with so many guest bloggers and the fabulous vinyl giveaway from Jill at Utah Vinyl!  If you haven't entered to win this gorgeous fall vinyl.....

.....then be sure to click over and leave a comment!  Jill is also running specials on other Fall/Halloween designs and an awesome deal on shipping (for the vinyl only).


There were so many wonderful projects linked up this week......but here is a quick showcase of some of my favorites!


Project Queen painted and distressed this gorgeous Vintage Blue Table...

......I'd love to add something turquoise to my home....maybe my piano??




Sweet Sewn Stitches celebrated her son's third birthday with this fabulous train birthday party...

.....Alyssa didn't miss a detail for this special party!

Artsy Vava turned some Dollar Tree pumpkins into these festive fall decorations....

I love this measuring spoon organizer from Burton Avenue.....

(As a quick aside....I tried making one of those organizers out of a paintstick....it was the same day as my Fridge Chalkboard fail.....somehow, I also messed up the organizer!)

Good times never seem so good made this skirt tutorial look so easy that maybe even I could try sewing it....

Do you have an old BBQ grill hanging out since it's the end of summer? You could turn it into an herb garden like Stylebaggage did with hers.....

I love this simple DIY dry erase board from just the Bee's Knees....

Word, Up Nerd Up (how cute is that blog name!) made these adorable typewriter tea towels!

If you were featured this week, go ahead and grab a button!

Here are some very simple suggestions for the party:

1. Please become a follower of Thrifty Decorating.

2. Be sure to link to your POST and not your blog.

3. Please copy and paste my link button somewhere in 

your post or blog so that others can link back.

After you've linked here, hop over and say "hi" 

to Johnnie at her Thrifty Thursday link party

at Saved by Love Creations!

You can also head over to visit Erika 

at Thrifty and Fabulous and join 

her Thrifty Thursday!

And remember.....enter to win the Harvest vinyl and help me decide what color to re-paint my basement!

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Basement "progress".....

I'm not sure if "progress" is the right word, but we are moving ahead....and ripping out drywall.....

I've learned more about this horrid thing....

...than I really ever wanted to know!

Did you know that most newer homes (with basements) have a french drain system?  Water runs into a drain that surrounds the perimeter of your home and empties into the above pit.....gross, I know!


Well, ours was sealed because we had a radon system installed and the company sealed our sump pit.  That created pressure that backed up the entire system and caused all the water to come out through the perimeter drain....pushing water into our finished room. (Although, we had so much water that it would have poured out of the pit....we were doomed to get water one way or another!)


Did you know that if you don't have a pit or a drain, the pressure of the water can actually crack your foundation??  Crazy how much power flowing water can have!

Dry wall also acts like a straw and just pulls up the water....and mold...oh what I know now about mold!  Mold grows f-a-s-t!  After only a week, we had it growing on the back of the drywall and the baseboard!

So....for readers who are local and may have had water damage.....pull off your baseboard and look behind it.  We thought that we were dry because we were checking the front of everything.  


Once your baseboard is removed, cut out a small piece of drywall and check behind your drywall.  Again, we thought that we were fine because we kept checking the front.  The water that seeps up can't dry between the drywall and the wall. As we took ours out, it just crumbled in our hands, but on the outside was perfectly dry to the touch.....and it was moldy....after only 6 days!


As much as this has been a dusty inconvenience, I am starting to get excited over the prospect of repainting the room....I've been pinning ideas on my Pinterest board and looking at colors.  


I'm loving this....

{Source}

And this...

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How about this.....

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Now I need to convince my hubby that gray and white would be soothing (and not depressing like he is insisting) colors downstairs.....

......what do you think?

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Make your own chalk paint....

Do you subscribe to RSS feeds?  I'll be perfectly honestly with you....I have no idea how to use the Google Reader!  Instead, I often look for an RSS Feed delivered straight to my email and with my new iphone, (which is actually jailbroken and doesn't have data except in my house!) I can scroll through my inbox in a jiffy!

One blog that I subscribe to and just love is You're talking too much.  Rebecca does a lot of fun furniture redos and she is always using chalk paint.....the paint that I have been too cheap to actually purchase!

{PB Sofa knock-off}

Well, today, Rebecca shared a link to a site that gives a recipe to make your OWN chalk paint!  For real!!

If you'd like the recipe, head over to No Minimalist Here.....Sherry painted this piece of furniture with her homemade recipe....

....she has me convinced!!

You're welcome!

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Scrap Wood Pumpkins....

Kathy truly has one of my favorite blogs....when she took some "time-off" this summer (she was actually working full-time!), I went through withdrawal from the lack of her fun craft ideas!

So I'll be honest....I kind've begged her to guest post for me knowing that she would have an AWESOME tutorial....and she does!

Here's Kathy from Dandelions and Dust Bunnies.....

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Hi, I'm Kathy from Dandelions and Dust Bunnies. My yard is speckled with those pesky dandelions and my house has a few dust bunnies lurking about here and there. So that's how I came up with my blog - in hopes of weeding out the bad and replacing it was fun crafts, recipes, thrift store find remakes and home decor projects that are a little more pleasing to the eye.

Thanks Nikki for letting me guest post.  Poor girl - she's busy putting her house back together and here I am making crafts.  Wishing you and your family the best.

I wanted to make a fall craft with things I had on hand, so I rounded up some supplies.

I painted the wood blocks Burnt Orange.

Then gave the edges a sanding for a more weathered look.

I had these knobs in my stash and figured that would make great stems, so I gave them a coat of Mississippi Mud.

Then I attached the knobs with some liquid nails, but you could hot glue them too.

Add a little raffia and ribbon and your done.  Simple project - the longest part was waiting for the paint to dry and even that didn't take very long.

Display them on a cupboard, mantel or even your kitchen table.  I put mine on a Better Homes and Garden charger I picked up a Walmart the other day for $3.00.

Super simple and super quick.  Love those kind of projects.

Thanks again Nikki for letting me stop by today.  Feel free to come visit me over at Dandelions and Dust Bunnies.

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Thanks so much, Kathy!!  I can't wait until I have some time to craft again!

Also.....don't miss out on the awesome 

fall vinyl giveaway from Utah Vinyl!!  I'll be

choosing a winner this Friday!

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Giveaway: Fall Vinyl....

Can I just tell you how much I love Jill over at Utah Vinyl?

I am so excited to partner with Jill again because not only is she sponsoring an amazing giveaway, but she is also discounting her fall line of vinyl for readers of Thrifty Decorating!!

First...Jill is giving away 2 sets of this Harvest Vinyl...

so that means 2 winners!

To enter the Harvest vinyl giveaway: 

1.  Become a follower (or tell me you already are!) of Thrifty Decorating and leave a comment HERE.

2.  Follow me on FB and leave a comment HERE telling me that you did!

NOTE:  You MUST leave an email address or have a google account 

so that I can contact you!

You have until Friday, September 23, at 8 pm EST 
to enter the vinyl giveaway.

You also have an opportunity to purchase the vinyl for these fall projects at a discounted price!

Happy Fall Vinyl.....$6.50*

Give Thanks & Eat Vinyl......$4.50*

Spooky Vinyl....$5.50*

Harvest Vinyl.....$5.00*

*Prices include vinyl only.

Jill has more amazing fall project vinyl at incredible prices over at her website.  


For the month of September, Jill is also offering a flat rate of $2.00 shipping on all vinyl orders.... no matter what the size!


Updated to add:  If you would like Jill to provide the wood with your vinyl order, shipping cost will need to be adjusted to include the price to ship the wood.  Thanks!

Happy Fall!

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