From brass to black satin....

Saturday's always make me feel like working around the house.... so in keeping with the remodelling, redecorating, refurbishing of our guest bedroom, that by the way is very close to being ready for me to paint (thanks to my machine of a husband), I decided to tackle painting my dresser hardware. I removed it all yesterday, then this afternoon I sprayed on a couple coats of primer.... after much research, the consensus seems to be that Krylon is the best spray paint for smooth non-porous surfaces like metal. And the added bonus (for me, as I am thrifty-minded) is that it is $4. cheaper than the other brands. I checked out the Krylon website to see where I could find the paint here in Canada, and as luck would have it, it's available at Wal-Mart, which we all know is the cheapest place to buy just about anything.

And, as with most of my projects, I forgot to take a before picture.... the hardware is brass, enough said. Ok, ok, let's not knock brass. I know there are people out there who love it. And in defense of this particular set of hardware, I can't say that they were the ugliest brass fittings that I've seen, they did look like they had some kind of antiquing done to them.... but still, for me, they were brass... bleck :P

So here's a shot of one of the pieces flipped so you can see that they are, in fact, brass.... and this too, is not a true depiction of the original finish as this is the backside, but you get my point.... yellowy, brassy, tacky finish.... am I conveying my true feelings of distaste for brass here???? And another shot of what they looked like with just the primer coat.... a GREAT improvement already, I say.




And here they are almost ready for adorning the dresser and night stand.


Such a small thing, changing the colour of your hardware.... giving something a new lease on life.... a great way of getting exactly what your were looking for without having to search here-there-and-everywhere or paying way too much. One itty-bitty thing off my guest bedroom to-do list.... I'll post a picture of the dresser and night stand all decked out in their new duds tomorrow maybe.... and speaking of tomorrow.... I'm tackling my thrift store lamp re-do.... stay tuned.

It feels almost like a sit on the deck with a glass of wine after the kiddos go to bed night.... ahh, maybe a little to soon yet. I guess the couch and a good movie will have to do. Have a great night all ;)

Friday Night Video....

So, here's friday's FUN and FESTIVE tune... Neon Trees, Animal.... enjoy ;)

Unexpectedly delish....

Like all mom's, I'm always on the lookout for different ways of incorporating new (or weird, as my kids would say) veggies into our diet. The beet love has been a slow and almost agonizing sell; but, they will eat them oven roasted along with sweet potatoes and parsnips... a small victory for any mom, I say. And, being a person who loves colour; beets win me over in the veggie aisle. every. time.

So when I came across this Beet Root Pesto recipe over at Design Sponge (an amazing home dec blog, check her out!) I jumped in with both feet. I always have beets on hand for roasting with whatever main dish I've made.... roasted veggies should be a staple in anyone's meal plan just for the sheer ease of preparation - no thinking, just washing, chopping and roasting - little prep for loads of flavour - easy peasy lemon squeezy!

So what d'ya think of this yummy looking snack?


I can tell you with all honesty, my taste-buds were very happy :P And my eyes, they were taken by the breath-taking beauty of that rich jewel-toned red.... ok, ok, the colour is great; but, breath-taking? Yeah, I'm not really that much of a cheddar-head. If you're interested in trying this recipe out, click the recipe link earlier in this post and you'll get the low-down on the beet root-y goodness.

Anyhow, peeps... I'll be checkin' back in later with my friday night video (providing I don't forget).... any requests??? Ah, well, I'll think of something fun and festive to kick off this weekend!

Have a great afternoon everyone ;)

Thrifty monkey momma....

So my husband has been super busy working to finish a guest bedroom in our basement.... the killer thing about building a new home (6-1/2 years ago) is that sometimes the budget doesn't always allow to have the basement finished.... not to mention, that a builder cannot be fully trusted to give you exactly what you want.... our quasi-philosophy is if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.... I think this holds true for many things in life; of course, there are always exceptions to this rule too ;) ....

Aaaanyway, back to the reason why I've brought you all here.... I, monkey-mamma, get to paint, furnish and decorate a room from blank canvas to cozy-home-away-from-home finish! From. Scratch. I know you're probably all thinking that I got to do that when we moved into our shiny new house 6-1/2 years ago. Well, you're partially right; but, this is different. I have to purchase 99.9% of everything that will be entering this room.... So, in that respect, this is something that I've not had the pleasure to do in my whole history as a slave to the mortgage gods and goddesses. We've always had stuff to go in the rooms we were furnishing.... stuff from family, stuff we had, stuff we settled for....

This is so much more exciting, as I am determined to decorate this room with oodles of simply-stated style and at as little cost as humanly possible. So in comes my self-inflicted challenge: purchase and re-purpose. I am committed to purchasing new-to-me, previously-loved items and re-finishing, re-purposing, re-whatever needs to be done to make it exactly what I want!

So, off the checklist so far are a dresser and nightstand, which we found at a liquidation centre for 50% off the lowest ticketed price.... what. a. steal. They're nicely constructed and fit in with my clean and simple cottagey vision. Ok, yes. I just said previously-loved, and re-purpose... but, I think this still loosely fits within that criteria.... I need to remove the brass (ewww, yuck) hardware and spray paint it with a hammered antique black finish.... does that count as a re-purpose???? I think so. And yesterday while thrifting my favourite thrift store (aptly named THRIFT STORE), I spotted the perfect lamp! SCORE!!! For $3.00! DOUBLE SCORE!!! Here it is....


Isn't it pretty??? And it's in A1 condition except for the paint chip at the bottom edge of the base. It's a wooden base painted in a nice and creamy colour, the shade is a tightly woven wicker. Of course to fit with my plan, both the base and shade will be given new life with some fresh paint. I'll definitely be sharing an after photo once this little guy has undergone his extreme makeover....

I am so fortunate that my kids, even my 2 year old Ham, LOVE to browse and rummage through anything that's old and well-loved. They really seem to appreciate the idea of re-using whenever possible. And they love learning about what things were used for; especially in the case of odd or weird (to them) looking kitchen gadgets. So yesterday, while searching for some interesting items, I came across this little lovely....


I had to have it. And for only $2.00, my true love for Pyrex was able to shine through. I had so much fun with my oldest guy researching the piece when we got home. We found out that the piece is part of the Blue Horizon line released by Pyrex USA in 1970-71.... so funny that I would gravitate toward something that was released around the time I was born. On the downside.... I think I've awakened a monster. I cannot get this little casserole dish out of my head. I triple washed it as soon as we got home and used it to serve steamed broccoli and cauliflower with dinner. I keep thinking that I should be stopping into this store every week to find more Pyrex pieces.... because I have soooo much space in my little shoebox to store this stuff. What to do, what to do.

Of course, the monkeys didn't come away empty handed.... thrift stores are a haven for games, puzzles and books at garage sale prices. They each picked one thing for themselves and were very happy with their finds. All totalled; we came away with the lamp, the casserole dish, 2 books and one Pokemon puzzle for the low-low bargain basement price of $6.00 plus taxes. Yay, indeed!

What are your favourite thrifty finds? Do you enjoy the love of the hunt as much as I do? I'll be sharing more thrifty guest bedroom finds as this process moves along, so stay tuned! Have a great sunday everyone ;)

Friday night video.... on saturday....

What can you say about a classic Stones song???? Here's Gimme Shelter live in Amsterdam in '95.... fantastic!.... enjoy!