More ideas for decorating the teen's room.....

This room was decorated for a 15 year old girl. She wanted the room to be purple and some accents of animal prints. The comforter wasn't easy to find but luckily this one has both elements in it.

Zebra seems to go best with the purple backdrop so that's what was used for the accents.

Have you taken a good look at gift bags lately? They make them so cute these days-cute enough to frame. The four little frames above the mirror are actually framed gift bags.

One of the most creative elements in this room is the beaded curtains. These beads are available in retail stores like Target, JC Penney or Pier 1 . They are meant to be hung in a doorway, but in this case they act as a curtain. They are attached to the back of the cornice board with staples.

These two beaded curtains were purchased at JC Penney for $5.00 each. I was looking around the Internet to find what was available and was pleasantly surprised to find a nice selection of beaded curtains at amazon. Some start at $9.99 and go up from there.

Here is another view of the beaded curtains. They really don't provide any privacy but that isn't a problem if there are shades up. A creative alternative to standard curtains and there are so many styles and colors to pick from.

The vanity is the latest edition to this room. I built this to coordinate with the Zebra print. My next post will show you how I went about creating a vanity for this teenager's room. Naturally beaded curtains aren't a good choice for a child's room, but great for the older gang.

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Decorating Rooms For Teens

Decorating a teens room is always a challenge. What's in and what out? Putting all the colors together, matching up paint, curtains and linen. What do you do first? Pick the paint color or pick the linens?



If decorating more rooms that I can count and I can tell you from experience that picking out the linens and fabric first is always the easiest way to go. Home Depot and Lowes are very good about matching any colors you want. Bring them a pillow and they can match it.



The hardest part for me is getting the room to the point where both of us will be happy.....that's not always easy.

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Scratch and Dent

From the Scratch and Dent Shelf.............




If you have the retail store Kirklands by you, consider yourself lucky. This is hands down one of my favorite stores ever. I found one at the local mall and most recently one opened only 5 minutes from my house.



They have a great eclectic mix of home decor items that pretty much fit with any decorating style. Their prices are great and their sales even better.



They always have a "scratch and dent" section that has items that are broken or damaged. The wall plaque to the left was found for $5.00. Where you see the black and white photograph was originally a broken mirror. For 5 bucks where can you go wrong?



Take the mirror out, replace with a photo and you have yourself an item that is now in perfect condition.







The best part of this wall plaque is how it has become a conversation piece. Who are all those people in the photograph? Who knows? The photo was picked up at a thrift store for pennies.

I have no idea who all those people are but they definitely are an interesting group of people.

If you have a Kirklands by you, get onto their web site and register your email. They send out coupons every once and a while. I got a 20% coupon a month ago and recently got another 10% coupon for voting on my favorite painting.

http://www.kirklands.com/

I would like to take a moment to wish you all a Merry Christmas. I won't be posting anything for the next two days but I'll be up and running after Christmas. Hope to see all of you come back for a visit.

Thanks to all that have come for a visit.
Christy01 02 12

Matching Fabric To Your Rooms..........

Matching The Bathroom......


Every time I decorate a room the most difficult part is to match up the fabric. The stores have a limited selection of items that will eventually tie the room together. Things like pillows, curtains and linens are basically what I'm referring to and I really don't love what I see out there.





I've figured it out now....but it has taken a few years. I just make most of the stuff I need myself. Basic sewing skills and a decent sewing machine is all that's needed. Thank you mom, for teaching me how to sew!

Fabric stores have such an extensive selection of designs to choose from and I can find just about anything that is needed to coordinate a room, but I have to make it myself.


Animals prints have been popular for years and I really enjoy using them. The bathroom above needed an animal print shower curtain. Believe it or not, at the time it was impossible to find in any retail store. Buying the fabric and sewing it up-no problem. It's easy enough for a sewing novice to put together. One large square, hem the sides, hem the top for the shower pole and a hem on the bottom. The valance is made the same way with trim added for an extra touch.






If you truly want your room to have a special touch, making your own curtains will pull it all together and make it your own. I know that I've saved my family thousands of dollars over the years by making my own curtains, pillows and accessories. Trust me-they are easy to put together.


I do look around in the retail stores at curtains but I'm always somewhat shocked by the prices and surprised that only "one" panel comes in a package. Who puts up one panel?

Notice in the top photo the little wicker shelf over the toilet? It was a thrift store find (cost $5.00) that was originally a floor shelf. The feet were cut off and it became a wall shelf. Cute for 5 bucks!

Here is another example of a "home made" shower curtain also with the animal print motif. Take notice of the pole that these curtains hang from. It is a plain wood dowel with twine glued onto it. The curtains obviously do not move over the twine. This was done just for the affect.







The border in this bathroom was useful in two ways: as a wallpaper border and a picture.





As an added creative idea I cut out one piece of the wallpaper and put it into a frame. This hangs in another room (otherwise, too many elephants in one place).

If you can't find what you want out there, consider making it yourself. You will save money and definitely get exactly what you want.01 02 12

Product review...flameless candles

Candles for the window sill....battery operated, stays on for 6 hours and then turns off, no wires...........

Once and a while I like to include some product reviews. They can be very helpful when deciding if something is worth the money and if it really works. This is a review about flameless candles.

I love the look of candles in the windows at Christmas time, but I hate wires all over and really hate going around shutting them all off at the end of the day. Too many wires, too much work.........

Every season I am on the hunt for "the perfect candle". I 've already given up on buying one for every window in my house. I'll need too many and they'll cost to much.

One year I picked up a few battery operated candles. They lasted about one week and the batteries needed to be replaced. Who needs that!

The next year I purchased a few more to try. They were battery operated and supposedly flickered like a real candle. Yes, indeed they did flicker but the flame was Halloween orange, not exactly what I had in mind. It's a good thing I only bought one at a time in my pursuit to find the perfect candle.

This year, once again I stumbled across a battery operated, with a timer(goes on for 6 hours and then turns off), flickering candle. I found it in Linen's and Things and used my 20% coupon. It was a perfect size for a window sill, nicely made and does flicker like a candle with a yellow glow. You can see it pictured below. This candle is made by a company called Carlon.

This little candle turns on and off manually or shuts off after 6 hours. It sits on a little pewter-like base

The story of my life: I loved this candle so much I went back to buy more (with multiple coupons on hand). SOLD OUT! I have not found them anywhere that cheap, but you can bet I'll check back at Linens and Things for more.

I did however find a pair of flameless, taper candles made by the same company. Same concept and basically the same candle, just a taper in shape. I placed them on my fireplace and every night around 5Pm they magically go on and stay on until 11PM. I've had them going for three weeks and have not replaced the batteries!

The taper is pictured at the top of this post and to the left. I was surprised when I opened these tapers up that the bulbs are made out of soft rubber. That makes sense because if it falls-no break!

I am really enjoying these candles and so far they seem to be holding up very well.

I searched around and found a pretty comprehensive web site that carries this brand. I have no experience shopping with them but they do carry the brand that I got at Linen's and Things. If you want to look: check out

http://www.flamelesscandles.net/

Which brings me to the next subject. Last year I bought two of these wall sconces in a Thrift Store. Total cost: $6.00 for both. They were painted mustard gold. I brought them home and repainted them with colors that would match the room where I was going to place them. I used acrylic paint and then sealed them with clear polyurethane spray.

I have a candle in each but I'm not brave enough to light those candles up, it's just too close to the wall and I don't feel comfortable leaving them unattended. While I was looking around the Internet researching the flameless candles I realized they make them for this very purpose. All widths and sizes are available, so I'll just replace the real candles with the flameless ones.

You better believe I'm ordering two for my sconces. How nice that I can now light them up and walk away. Safe, easy and convenient.

01 02 12

Thrift Store Makeovers........

Thrift Store Makeovers......................

This tower cabinet was purchased in the Goodwill for $5.00. It's tall and has 6 little shelves on the inside- the perfect place to hide toilette paper! I could not resist this one and you can see why. The roof needed a paint job but all the hand painting you see on the front and sides only needed some touching up.

I painted the roof by hand to make it look like shingles and made some minor adjustments on the hand painting.

This particular item required very little work on my part. Sometimes you just get lucky!!

Thrift stores can be hit or miss but it's definitely worth the trip sometimes.

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Easy Frame to Hang Jewelry

Easy To Make and Easy To Hang..............

These great little frames hold all your earrings and look great as well.

The frame above was purchased in the Goodwill for $1.00. Mounted in the background of the frame is drawer liner made by Rubbermaid (you can easily find these liners in Walmart, Target and other retailers). It was mounted on cardboard and the frame was attached. Easy, creative and functional. Oh yeah, cheap too!

The frame to the right (for the teenager's room) was another cheap wood frame painted to match the room with a metallic paint. Fortunately the drawer liner comes in an assortment of colors.

Not a bad idea for a gift either!

If you can't find the shelf liners they sell hard plastic sheets in the craft store (I think they are used for stitching) that would also work.

01 02 12

Furniture Delivered To Your Door.......

Picking out furniture for your home is no easy task. What style will match? What kind of wood or upholstery do you want? How large or small does the furniture need to be? Will you have to special order it? Purchasing furniture requires lots of thought, planning and searching around. Looking around in the furniture stores that are convenient to your home seems like the best way to go about it, but what happens if you look around and you can't find anything that you like?
How about an Internet site that shows you all the furniture styles and how they look in a room. I found this site one night while looking around at different furniture combinations. It's very comprehensive and user friendly. A great way to see what's out there. I have not purchased any furniture from this company, but it's is definitely something to think about. The site provides you with a great way to discover what's new in the furniture industry and to visually see rooms already set up with the furniture arranged in it.
They carry extensive lines of designer furniture and also have items on clearance. They claim to give you the best prices out there. So for shopping around, comparing or just getting ideas take a look:

http://www.thefurniturewarehouse.netbar/

http://www.thefurniturewarehouse.net/group/Bar_FurnitureDining

http://www.thefurniturewarehouse.net/group/Dining_Room_Furniture01 02 12

Decorating The Game Room

Creative ways to decorate the game room.......

Everyone seems to want either the game room or the home theatre room these days . Once you have bought the plasma TV, the plush comfy chairs or the pool table, hockey table and foosball table how much money do you have left? Did I forget the curtains, rug and the specialty lighting? It can get expensive to put this kind of room together. There are ways to decorate on a budget. Most of these items were purchased at local thrift stores.

01 02 12

Thrift Store Makeover

Before and After.........




I purchased the clock to the left in a local thrift store for $2.00. It looked a little worn but the clock worked fine and I loved that it had a little storage area below it, so it got a face lift.



I use Modge Podge a lot to cover areas that need help. It's so versatile and you can get very creative with the type of tissue paper that's available.


I selected a plaid tissue for the roof and a plain tan color for the rest of it. As usual I got carried away, glued small tiles around the face of the clock and hand painted a small vine under it.



Admittedly, the clock was sort of cute to begin with, but it really didn't match my house so the choice became clear: change the look entirely.



















Supplies:

Modge Podge
paint brush (cheap kind at least 1/2 " wide)
Tissue paper, any color of design


Directions:

• cut 1" x 1" squares of tissue paper. This isn't an exact art so don't worry if the squares are different sizes. Mine are always different in size and sometimes shape.
• Work in small areas at a time. Apply Modge Podge to the small area and then place your tissue on. Smooth the tissue down with more added Modge Podge. Continue until all your area is covered.
• After it drys (it only takes a few minutes), I usually apply another coat of Modge Podge.

01 02 12

Thrift Store Makeovers

Thrift Store Makeovers..........

The king size headboard above was purchased at the Goodwill for $5.00!!! It isn't solid brass or anything that was originally a lot of money, but it was in great condition and impossible to pass up. When I first took a look at it I noticed that one of the two ceramic balls on the top was cracked. Since I didn't like them to begin with, I decided to Modge Podge some colored tissue onto them, this changed the color to better match the room and repaired the crack that was in one of them.

• To cover the two ceramic balls I cut many 1"x 1" pieces of tissue (wrapping paper tissue)
• Applied the Modge Podge (Glossy coat) to the the ceramic ball with a paint brush
• Then I applied Modge Podge over the tissue

Modge Podge is a great product to use for covering items that are damaged. It adheres to almost anything. It also comes in several finishes including glossy, satin, sparkle and hardcoat. I've used it on wood, glass and plastic. To find out more visit their site at: http://www.plaidonline.com/apMP.asp#ModPodgeBrands

This was a great find for a spare bedroom that needed a headboard.




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