Wall Collage

A CLOSER LOOK INTO MY HOME

I am going to be taking pictures of my house and the things that I use to decorate and show you how inexpensive it can be to decorate your home! I LOVE the idea of a wall collage. The pictures on Pinterest of frame collages are so tempting to me. I also love the idea of a sliver platter collage or even a wall of white sconces. And for some reason the white animal head intrigues me too.

I don't know why but it just does.

All of these things have provided inspiration for me on what I might want do with my wall collage. However, I had a little delima. There were so many different types of collages I loved but I had only one wall to put a collage on! So not fair. So I meshed all the things I liked into one wall collage and here it is! Picture frames, animal heads, clocks, silver platters, sconces, keys, and I love the little white bull. My husband and I are both originally from Texas so of course we have to decorate with some of our heritage! This western style can be very masculine but I think I got a decent mix of our styles. Everything on this wall is from garage sales.

Here is the financial break down.

To be honest I don't really remember how much I paid for the clock. I remember it was a little more than I wanted to but I fell in love with this clock when I saw it so I gave in and bought it. I believe I paid somewhere around $50 dollars for it. The iron metal embellishment under the clock I bought for $1.50.

The little gold picture frame beside the clock I bought for $3.

The white sconce with the bird on top I bought three for a dollar which makes them just under 35 cents and for the iron bird I paid a dollar for.

The four gold picture frames I paid a dollar for so they were .25 cents a piece.

The picture frame around the cow skull was another thing I paid too much for. I paid $20 for it. The guy wanted $25 for it and I asked him to go $15 but he wouldn't take anything less than $20 so I gave in. The cow skull my mom bought at a garage sale and paid $10 dollars for.

The little brown frame under the cow skull was $2 the silver platter was $5.

The wrought iron thing beside the silver platter was $3.

Again the iron embellishment at the top was $3 for two of them, so it was $1.50. I paid $2 dollars for the mirror underneath it.

The two keys that are in the wood frames were $1.50 a piece and the iron key in the middle was another $1.

The white bull below the keys was something I found at a lady's garage sale who's mother had just gone into a nursing home and they were trying to rid of a bunch of her stuff. Her mother did lots of ceramic casts. Most of them were of dragons and other things like that but lucky for me there was one little bull who had not been painted and I love him that way! I paid .50 cents for him. The sconce he is sitting on I bought for another .50 cents.

For the entire wall I paid about $100 dollars and about 75% of that was spent on the clock and white picture frame!

Valentines Decor

DAY OF LOVE!

My guess is that many of you have gotten your Valentines decorations out and have already started to decorate. I didn't have a lot of Valentine decor but what I did have I arranged on the mantle of my fireplace and I LOVE it! Here it is.

Just about everything on this mantle is from garage sales. The only things that are not are the little hearts on string in the middle of the frame and the pink ribbon tied around the glass vases. The two vases I found at D.I. but EVERYTHING else was found at garage sales!

Here's the breakdown and how much I paid for everything.

Starting form left to right the two white iron towers I paid a total of $4 dollars for. $3 for the big one and $1 for the little one. The tin envelope that says "love letters" I paid .50 for! The brown decorative ball next to it I paid .25 cents for and the white fleur de lis next to the brown ball I paid $3 or $4 dollars for. I can't really remember which one it was. The frame behind all of it I paid $20 dollars for (yes, I know a little high but I wanted it really bad!) The hearts are magnets from Krumpets and weren't more than a few bucks. I took some twine that, yes, was bought at a garage sale and hot glued the magnets onto the string. They didn't really want to sit right once I put the frame against the wall so I was a little disappointed but with a little sticky tack I was able to get them just where I wanted them. Ghetto?... maybe, we will just call is inventive. Sometimes you have to do that when it comes to interior design.

The bird house I bought for $3 dollars and it's not just decorative! It's an actual working bird house! The flowers inside I also bought at a garage sale. I can't remember how much I spent on them but I am pretty sure it wouldn't have been more than $1.

The tan and black bodice I paid .50 cents for! The small white decorative mirror I bought three of them for $5 so that would make it a little over 1.50.

The two white wood spindle things below the mirror I bought for a $1 a piece. The white picture easel I paid $1 for and the wood thing sitting on it I bought three of them for a $1 making it just under 35 cents. Check out how they looked before I gave them a makeover! And finally, do the wood letters that spell out LOVE look familiar?

Yup, this is one of the Valentine decorations I bought a few weeks earlier! It just needed a little help. All I did was clip off the handle with the outdated dry grass and I had me a really cute Valentine decoration! I paid .50 cents for it.

The two tall vases I found at D.I. and paid $5 dollars a piece for. It was more than I wanted to pay but I bought them knowing that I could put them on my fireplace, fill them something and they would look great! The styrofoam balls inside the vases were free!

Does any one remember when I bought this? I had originally bought this to do the wreath in the center of my fireplace but thought it was a little bit small. Don't worry though, I have a different plan for this one so it wont go to waste.

I started taking off all the styrofoam beads and pulled the trash can over to throw them away

but as mine pile grew bigger I looked at it and thought "these are cute, where could I use these?" I looked around to see if I could see anywhere they could be used and saw the empty vases I bought at D.I. sitting on my mantle. Of course! Instant Valentine decor!

I think it turned out very cute.

The total amount spent on my Valentine enssemble is $52 dollars. If you take away some of the more expensive items that I over paid for because I really wanted them such as the frame and vases the total comes down to $22!

The moral of this post:

Please, Please, Please, don't spend a lot of money on holiday decoartions! I have said it a million times already! $52 dollars would have maybe bought me 2 or 3 items in the store but at garage sales it can buy you so much more!