Free Advice Friday on Salvage Savvy: I WON!!

Ok, so maybe saying I won is an exaggeration to y'all but, to me I feel like I just won a super sweet prize!  Honestly, it felt a little like Christmas to me.  About three weeks ago I rearranged our bedroom  to let in more light and as a result was inspired to redo the whole room.  It was not bad just, really dark. Anywho, after FINALLY finding a pair of the right sized dressers to use as end tables in our bedroom within my budget ($50 for the pair) I was more ready than ever to redo the room.  These are the dressers that started it all:

There were a couple of problems of course, 1.) a super limited budget and 2.) I had tons of ideas but, wasn't quite sure how to bring them all together.  As luck would have it I had recently discovered a really cool blog via Apartment Therapy called Salvage Savvy where the author, Connie, gives free decorating advice every other Friday.  I decided to send in some pictures and hope for the best.  After two weeks of anticipation (and of course coming up with other ideas what to do in the room) I was worried I might not agree with the advice or something.....Idk...silly.  So, this morning with a little spare time before I have to start getting ready for Ogglette's 2nd birthday party I got my coffee and sat down to read the blog post.  It was great!  She totally gave me so many great ideas and all of it made so much sense as far as tying the room together.  I can't wait to implement the ideas and am VERY excited she suggested turquoise on the craigslist dressers for the bedside.  Yay for color!!  So go to Connie's blog and read her post about our master bedroom but, don't stop there, she has so many great posts with excellent advice, humor, and amazing diy ideas that you WILL want to try.

Free Advice Friday featuring our room:
http://salvagesavvy.blogspot.com/2011/10/free-advice-friday-bedroom-redo-using.html

She has more on her blog than diy's but, they are pretty cool so here is a link to that, too:
http://salvagesavvy.blogspot.com/p/savvy-projects.html

Thrift Stores, Craigslist and Clearance, Oh My!

Lately my husband has accused me of "spending a lot of money"...it's like he thinks I've been going on some sort of shopping spree!  Well, maybe I have been shopping a lot this month...especially if you compare it to the last two years.  Let's just say I've been nesting.  But, in my defense I want to point out where I've been shopping and some of the screamin' deals I've gotten.  For example, just this week I dropped into the Salvation Army on Peach just to see if anything caught my eye.  Of course, more than a few things did but, they were things that I had been planning to purchase new eventually. So when I justify....er, I mean look at it that way, I consider this trip a considerable savings.
So, now for the fun stuff I found!

The wooden thing is one of those step stools that has two steps then you flip the smallest step up and it becomes a chair for your toddler.  I've been eyeballing them at thrift shops and antique stores for months and every time the Ogglette goes nuts and LOVES playing with/sitting on it.  So, for just $3 I finally bit the bullet.  The clear beverage dispenser I'm sure will be used at countless shindigs to come...IMHO an awesome find.

You might have guessed that the lamp is for the girls' room.  I had seen it at the store actually a few times before and resisted it's retro cuteness but, now that I know we're having another girl I just had to have it.  The lamp shade is actually from a previous thrift shop purchase and I'm so relieved I finally found a purpose for it since it cost me $3!  Look at that cute girl with her basket and her blue bird....too cute to resist!

The clock was purchased to replace the one in my kitchen that I bought awhile back at a yard sale for 25 cents.  That seemed like a screamin' deal until I got it home and realized it was broken. :-<  So, now I have my $2 clock that not only works but, came with it's own battery AND  tells me the day of the month and week!  Only a SAHM or retiree can understand just how helpful this is.  Now I will always know what day it is! Yes! (just imagine a little fist pump action)  And for the grand finale....my total purchase came out to $12 !  (victory dance) 

Well, I think I've maxed out my patience (and yours too, I'm sure) for good deal bragging so I will probably post again soon about some other stuff I've found and maybe even a few ideas I've picked up along the way on how to maximize your dollar even at a place like the thrift store.  So until then, stay thrifty my friends!