free to fab

mr. adventure and i was driving back from dinner and saw a pretty large crowd in front of a house yard. they were a lot of stuff lying around and i thought they were having a garage sale or something, so we parked the car and got down to see what's on sale. nothing was on sale. even better, everything was free. there were a lot of broken furniture and garbage. sadly, the nice furniture were already taken :( there was a eviction notice at the door. the tenant probably left in a hurry and left everything behind.
i managed to picked up a broken mirror with an extremely ornate frame. i love these kind of frames. makes me giddy.

i removed the mirror and spray painted it grey. added some nice vintage looking fabric from garage sale for $1.

one of the corner is missing the cravings. it bugs me at first, but now I think it adds character.
total cost: $5.5 for a very nice piece in my hallway.
fabric: $1
card board: $1
paint: $3.5

 

 

chandeliers with crystal makes me wow

recently i've been decorating again. looking at diy blogs make me itch!
i picked up this free old brass chandelier last year and it's been in my storage since. i know, what a waste. i've been lazy...:P
here's the chandy before

after 4 coats of white spray paint (it's hard to get every single spot)

added some crystal that i got from an estate sale for $3 :) it wowed me. absolutely stunning. can't wait to start decorating my shabby corner(which is actually a formal dining room). the photo doesn’t do justice. I blame the lighting.


linky
coastal charm
wow us wed 25
thriftydecorchick

side table revived

painted a side table with a light bluish grey paint and added some ebony stain to create a worn look. 
before paint job

during paint job
after paint job


i'm using it as a table to put my makeup containers.
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Between Naps on the Porch {Metamorphosis Monday}

3.5 weeks vacation in asia

woohoo~~~~ i will be traveling to asia starting next week until feb 20th. i won't have any blog post until i return.

if you're interested to look at some lovely travel blog post, hop over to cushyblushy where i will be posting my travel journals.

itinerary: austin - la - tokyo - seoul - kuala lumpur - ipoh - melacca - johor bahru - singapore - kuala lumpur - seoul - la - austin

if you know of a good places to eat/shop/hangout/party in any of these cities, please comment! :)

window shopping

i had a week off between christmas and new year. i stayed at home while the mr. adventure had to work. we didn't have any travel plans as we're travelling to asia in end of this month. can't wait!

so, i did a lot of window shopping. i'm refraining myself to purchase anything for the home until spring. i still have tons of projects in my garage that i need to work on. here are some of the things i wish i could buy

from homegoods

from tjmaxx

love this lampshades

from target. even they are going to the quatrefoil motif

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i’m back! entry console table

i’ve been MIA lately. I was busy hanging out with friends during thanksgiving and bringing him around town since it’s his first time in austin. also, it’s too cold do work on any projects. don’t you agree?

anyway, I’ve worked on this console table for a while. just didn’t have time to blog about it. oppss……I forget to take a before picture just imagine it’s ugly rustic wood color that doesn’t go well with anything in my house. after primer and 2 coats of valspar summer grey (loving this color). i need to fill the bottom with some baskets. I’m so into quatrefoil motif ever since I learned about it. ballard designs has very gorgeous products with quatrefoil motif, but they’re beyond my budget. so, I decided to make grab a stencil from living livelier and painted my console table with the stencil. it’s hard work. took me a whole afternoon to finish 2 coats of stencil. if you look closely, the painting isn’t perfect with lots of brush strokes and smudges. but I think it adds more charm to it

have a nice week!

linky

halloween fun

i would like to introduce my new blog chusyblushy. i started blogging about beauty and fashion, but switched to home decor and furnishing after moving into our 1st home. i missed blogging about beauty and fashion. so, if you're a beauty junkie like me, head over to my other blog chusyblushy.

how was your halloween? i had so much fun handing out candies and chocolates to cute little and big kids. wish i celebrated halloween when i was a kid. they came with cute pumpkin/cauldrons buckets to giant pillowcase(smart kids).

candies and chocolates all ready for the little goblinstrick-or treat !!! using the basket i found on a church yard sale. cutest superman ninja assassin?? bloody boy air force & mermaid princess (he posed nicely for me) mantao(my kitty) was very worked up throughout the evening. he missed his nap time as the doorbell rang every 5 minutes. the kids love him and he got all the attention(besides the chocolates). he dozed off right away after they stopped coming around 9pm. for some reason he loves sleeping on my dumbbell. our very last minute spooky decor. made with white curtain, black paper, hemp and a “latern-style” light. he’s a boogieman. i did dress up from for the evening. i was alice and the mr. was goofy. we just dug through our wardrobe for our “costumes.” did you have a spooky halloween?

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pick me up D-table + halloween

saw this broken old D-table by the curb on the way home from work. it looked so sad and lonely. i decided to make a U-turn and jammed it inside my trunk.

before makeover. the leg was wobbly. can’t tell from the photo, but it was there.

i put some nail glue to stabilize the leg. after 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of valspar summer grey paint on the legs. i painted the top with minwax ebony stain. love the end result.

my simple and only fall/halloween decor. i’ll probably get some pumpkins and add more halloween decor on my front yard before the kids come trick-or-treating. oh….i need to get candies and chocolates too.

Spray painted the pumpkin white and the column stand metallic silver. thrifted for $0.50 each :)

have a spooky halloween peeps!!

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Pottery barn knock off corkboard

time for another project inspired by green willow pond & PB. check out her lovely paris style corkboard. i took a shortcut and made a simpler version.

supplys: corkboard, empty frame, mod podge, burlap, stencil, acrylic paint, foam brush, scissors, hot glue gun.

done! got those vintage bingo papers from an estate sale. still have lots left for other projects total cost: $2
empty frame = $1
corkboard = $1
other have in hand :)

so many bloggers “bragged” about anthropologies' knobs. “coincidently”, i passed by one on the way to happy hour last friday. i found this lovely knobs on sale for only $2.95 each. Scored! No idea what i’m going to do with them yet, but they are nicely display for me to admire now :) also, snatched up 2 napkins with map print for $3.95 each. probably going to use them as pillow covers.

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antique show VS church rummage sale

i was really excited when i found about the bi-yearly anitique week show at roundtop & warrenton. tons of blogs featured this event and i want everything single item in those photos. so i made an effort to wake up early and drove 1.5hrs to the enormous “yard sale” 2 weeks ago. apparently, A LOT of people had the same idea.

antropologie look alike

Pottery barn is selling these too for a lot more expensive. i got one from wimberley market days!

don’t you wish everything belongs to you  owl craze. are you infected? lunch at popular zapp hall. everything was good except “texas caviar” which is just beans…bleh. the crowdholiday signs

dreamy chairsunfortunately, i came home with an empty car. i do find a lot of goodies that i want, but they’re priced beyond what i like to pay for. i think it was because i went to a church rummage sale in the same morning and bought from a nice lady who priced everything below a $1. i’m spoilt!

everything for $2.50