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!

Liz's Headboard and T.V. Stand

LIZ'S HEADBOARD AND T.V. STAND

Here are two projects one of my good friends, Liz, just finished! Liz is so creative and I really love her decorating style. I know you will too! Liz needed a head board for her bed and had the awesome idea of using two doors she found at D.I. for $5 dollars a piece! Her second project was a T.V. Stand/Dresser that she also found at D.I. Got to love D.I.! This post comes straight from her blog. Take a look at how her projects turned out!

Headboard:

I'm so excited to finally be posting about my headboard.When we moved back to Utah and bought our king size bed, I knew that buying a headboard would be super expensive.

Here are a few that I was looking at...

Price: $1,899

Really? Wow. Not gonna happen!

Price: $1,799

Not much better. So I decided to take matters into my own hands! I found these 2 doors at the D.I. for $5 a piece!

Right when I saw them, I knew exactly what I could do. I loved that the two panels were continuous! So I went to Home Depot and bought:

1 Gallon Olympic Paint - Queen Anne's Lace ($24)

Valspar Translucent Color Glaze - Taupe (SALE $4.79)

3 in. foam roller ($2.87)

4 brackets ($8.89)

Crown Moulding - House of Fara ($15.48)

1/4 round moulding ($3.69)

flat piece of wood ($3.62)

pack of dowel pins ($2.97)

liquid nails ($4.94)

Elmers wood filler ($5.97)

3 pk. of sandpaper ($3.97)

Then it was time to get started! I painted a few coats of paint on each door.

Once that was dry, I took a small paint brush and painted along the cracks with my glaze.

The taupe wasn't dark enough though.. It barely showed up! So thankfully our landlords keep some paint and stain in our garage.. Because I found exactly what I needed!! They had a pint of Ralph Lauren black stain. So I added a drop of that into my bowl to darken my glaze and it worked perfectly.

Here I am.. Working away!

Then Judd's best friend CJ came over to help me cut the moulding! He has a miter saw which was the kind of saw we needed to cut the angles in the moulding. He is a definite handy-man and helped me out a lot! We figured out exactly where to cut the moulding to make the corners match perfectly. Then he used his nail gun to attach the moulding to the front of the door. Then I placed the quarter round piece down on top of that with liquid nails to round off the top of the moulding. After that, I placed the flat piece behind the quarter round.

Finally I filled any cracks and nail holes with my wood filler. Once that dried, I sanded it smooth and then painted it. Finally, we screwed in the brackets to join the two doors together and stood it up right. We leaned it against the wall and ta-da! It was finished :)

I absolutely love how it turned out!

My total cost: $91.19

Total savings: $1807.81

I'm so proud that it was just under $100.. Definitely worth it!

TV Stand/Dresser:

After making our headboard, I was excited to move on to my next project! I've been wanting a dresser for our bedroom and we've also needed a place for our tv! So when I went to the D.I. and saw these two pieces of furniture... I again knew exactly what I could do with them :) I asked one of the guys that worked there to put the top of the hutch on top of the dresser. After looking it over, I decided to buy both of them. Even though they don't go together, I knew I could make them work!

Hutch $20

Dresser $50

I talked them down on their prices a little bit but I still think the dresser was a little pricey. I settled because I had been looking everywhere and was so excited to finally find something cheaper than $120.

The first thing I did was take out the shelves. They were inserted into little slots in the side so it was not easy! Once they were out, I used wood filler to fill in the holes.

Then I took the knobs off and sanded the dresser.

Then we started painting!

My good friend Robin came over to help :) I don't know what I would've done without her! She helped so much!

Then I painted some glaze/stain inside a few of the cracks! I love how it turned out. Then I screwed the shelf back in and added crystal knobs!

And here's the final product! I absolutely love it :)

Both of Liz's projects turned out so cute! I want to see everyone else's garage sale and D.I. projects out there! If you have a project you want featured on Garagesalesrus please email us at Garagesalesrusblog@gmail.com. Please include pictures and a story about your experience!

Fashion On A Dime

FASHION ON A DIME

My financial stats for this outfit are: blue plaid shirt- $5 at the D.I., purple cardigan- $5.99 at Savers (a little high but I knew I needed it so I bought it anyway), navy blue belt- $2 at D.I., blue jean American Eagle jeggins- $7.99 at a Goodwill in AZ, nude strappy shoes- $4.99 at Savers, bag- $3 at D.I.

DPWF- $2.90

Jaysa

Plaid dress- $2 at a garage sale, black shoes- .50 cents at a garage sale.

DPWF .25 cents!

Paisley

Brown shirt-.50, pink long john under shirt- .50, jeans- $1.00, pink boots- $1. All were bought at garage sales. Her headband and flowers that I made into a bow are also from garage sales!

DPWF .30 cents

Close up of Paisley's boots. SO CUTE!

To find out what DPWF (dress-per-wear-factor) is click here

Fabric Flower Tutorial Part One: Twisted Circle Bow

FABRIC FLOWER BOWS TUTORIAL PART ONE: TWISTED CIRCLE BOW

For this tutorial you will need:

a strip of fabric

Glue gun and glue sticks

Ribbon lined alligator clip (Click here for tutorial)

Here is my strip of fabric. As you can see it doesn't need to be perfectly cut.

If you are using a fabric that has a difference in the front and back I would fold your fabric in half. Feel free to put a thin line of hot glue down the middle of the inside of your fabric to hold your fold. This will make it easier to work with.

Now take one end and fold it in half again. Don't fold the entire length of your fabric strip just the end. Just like the picture below shows. Secure it with glue.

Now add another dot of glue on top of your fabric that has been folded in half twice.

Fold the end over, as shown in the picture below.

Continue adding a dot of glue and folding the end over 3 or 4 times. Your bow should look like this when you are done...

Now you are going to start twisting your fabric instead of folding it over itself. Twist your fabric like the picture shows.

Now you will put a dot of glue on the side of your fabric and secure your twist to your newly formed center of the bow.

Continue to do this for the entire length of the rest of your fabric strip.

Continue twisting and wrapping the fabric around itself.

Stop once you reach the end

Turn your flower over and put a glob of glue on the back and fold your end onto the back of the flower.

It should look like this when you are done.

Turn it back over and you are done! Now you can embellish it with a center piece, feathers, lace or you can just leave it! It's cute either way!

This flower is pretty small. If you want a bigger one then start with a longer strip of fabric. After you are done you will need to add a ribbon lined alligator clip to the back of your bow. Click here for that tutorial!

Check out my Zipper bow tutorials here!