ikea collections

Hello all! Hope you got a touch of spring this weekend like we did! It was SO nice today – just ~~a bit~~ insanely windy. I’ll take it though!!

I’m back for another month in review, just in case you missed that one post.I know it would be awful, really.

But first, I need to announce the winner of the Sentry Safe! The lucky chick is Katie Lott of Kate Congdon Designs! Yay, congrats Katie! Please email me at thriftydecorchick (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll hook you up with your free fire safe!

OK, onto a recap of the March posts.

I jumped the gun with last month’s recap, so I’m adding in a couple from the end of February – cause I can’t leave out this guy:

That is our Peanut, or as I like to call him, The Nut. He’s a Chihuahua Rat Terrier mix and is cuddling against me as I type. :) He’s the cutest, the snuggliest, the craziest little pup we’ve ever met. He and the Bub are now best buds for life. He and the cats…notsomuch. ;)

Actually, he LOVES them – they just have very little tolerance for him. One of the cats has been great with him, the other two are still getting used to the idea of a puppy. Puppy? What the heck is a PUPPY? And why is he in OUR house?? (I’m pretty sure that’s what they’re thinking.)

I promise to do a Peanut post again soon. I’ve got plenty of content for that one.

I shared some pictures of a lady date friends and I took to one of my favorite antiquing spots in Indy:

If you live near or in Indy and haven’t been, I highly recommend it. Be ready to dig, and plan on spending at least an hour!

I FINALLY finished purging the basement, and it only took, like, five years:

We use the space often, even though it’s unfinished. But we’re starting to plan the finishing process…hopefully taking steps by summer. (YAHOO!!!)

I posted a giveaway to Oriental Furniture, and was a bit surprised to find all of the beautiful pieces that would work in our home:

The March Before and After party was the biggest yet!! I shared how the eating area in our kitchen has changed over the years:

I’ll post this month’s party tomorrow evening – get your posts ready!

Next I talked about how the economy has affected the value of our house and what we decided to do about it:

Meaning, we’re not doing anything about it. :) Staying put.

I showed off the sweet and funny Allison of House of Hepworths:

If you missed all her great projects, go here.

Next I played musical dressers with the help of Craig and his List:

I found the perfect dresser for the Bub’s room, and it had been sitting in the family room all along. :)

It took me a year, but I got all of the knobs in the house changed out from shiny brass to beeeeeautiful oil-rubbed bronze:

I showed you the steps to change out knobs, and I promise it’s not hard! Many of you asked why I didn’t spray paint the knobs – it’s because I did my research and found for the most part, they just don’t hold up. I knew I’d be banging my head against the wall if I had taken all that time to prime, spray and top coat them and then the paint came off! Ugh.

My friend Melissa at 320 Sycamore did a post about how hers turned out, and you can find that here. My friend Beckie has had better luck with her knobs, here. She emphasizes how important each step is though – including sanding each knob.

Overall, I spent less than $300 on all of our knobs, but I also have tendency to take down doors, so I didn’t purchase them for all of the doors we’ve removed. ;)

Next up, I was giddy to be able to take TWO trips to IKEA in just two weeks:

I shared some of my favorites with you in this post. Geez, I love that place.

I found a $5 light at our Habitat ReStore and with a little spray paint, it looked like a million bucks!:

OK, a million is pushing it. Maybe $15. ;)

I was tired of waiting around for perfect baseboards in the office, and went ahead and finally installed the board and batten treatment:

And ohhh my, I love it! I smile every time I walk in the room!

I shared a few little things around the house that I like, and the Zip It was a hit with you all:

And I told you not to watch the video on their site, didn’t I? :)

I didn’t realize it, but the towels I mentioned were on clearance on the Meijer site and you all SOLD THEM OUT! Ha! I freakin’ love it. But I heard from a reader that they have discountinued the towels in the store?? This I do not love. I am going to check it out on my next trip there to see what’s up!

I shared how I have tamed the paper clutter in our house:

It’s a process that’s working (for me) so far – I hope it’s helped some of you!

Last week I used mossy rocks, a sheet of moss and reindeer moss to create…you guessed it -- a mossy vignette:

Turns out I am SO not the first to make that big honkin version of the Pottery Barn letter! If you search “mossy letter” you’ll find about 5,400 ways to do it. ;)

And finally, last week I shared that our house is rarely perfectly clean, usually quite messy, how I feel like I’m barely keeping up with life sometimes and that’s why we have items like toilet seats in our bedroom at times:

I so appreciate your comments on that post! I read every. single. one.

So that’s it! March was a great month peeps – here’s to a fantastic April!

Don’t forget the April Before and After Party will go up tomorrow evening. Have a great Monday!

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Hey all! First of all, before I say anything else – I need to say a huge THANKS and a WHOOHOO!

Tonight I hit 10,000 followers:

I had to take a screenshot, just to remember that milestone! (I really, really hate that “followers” term by the way.)

But it’s pretty cool to hit five digits. I now have 10,000 of you Squeezies! Squeezays. Squishes. :)

Crazy!!

Anyway, I want to try to bring back the month in review I started doing last year. It’s been a while since I did recap of the month and it’s kind of fun (for me anyway, you may be snoring already) to see what I accomplished around these parts every month. (I link to each one if you want to check it out.)

The start of this month was an especially special one. We became debt free (except the house) for the first time in our adult lives!!

It’s still so surreal. I find myself thinking about a bill and it hits me -- and I’m grinning from ear to ear. :) We haven’t called in to Dave Ramsey’s show yet – we’d like to take a trip down to Nashville instead. I’ll let you know what we end up doing!

And I’m SO SO excited about an idea that Dave’s peeps have been helping me out with. I hope to announce it in the next couple of weeks.

Next up this month, I took an unused spot in our loft and turned it into functional (and cute!) storage wall:

At the February Before and After Party, I showed you how I took a $5 Goodwill pitcher and transformed it with spray paint:

Can you believe there were 499 posts linked up? Wowza! How cool is that?

Since we’ve become debt free, we are now researching our first “cash” furniture purchase in a long, long time. I’m so excited about a new sofa, I can barely stand it:

There was a great response to that post – I’m pulling all the info you shared together and will do a recap post soon. Lots of great info!

I worked with the folks at My Design Guide to provide my readers an affordable online consultation resource:

I’m not able to do these anymore, so I was thrilled that they were able to help me and my readers out!

My friend Beki shared the love with a fantastic giveaway over at The Rusted Chain:

And then one thing led to another when I took down the drapes in our living room and the transformation started:

When the ice storm of the century hit (that’s what I’m calling it anyway), and we couldn’t leave the house for days, I passed some time by decluttering a linen closet:

You won’t believe how much STUFF was in there. (Many of you asked about the light I used, and a very helpful reader put a link in the comments!)

Next, I showed you a total project FAIL – my beautiful painted pitcher didn’t hold up well, in more ways than one:

Boo. I found a pretty and affordable replacement though. :)

At the Organize It shindig, I showed you how I’ve been using Ziploc bags to organize games and puzzles:

LOVE those things. I used more of them in the basement today! (Check out the nearly 300 links at that party too.)

And finally, this week I shared how I use photos as art throughout our house:

Of course, I’m so thankful to all of my wonderful advertisers…over there to the left. :)

Whew! What a month! Thanks so much for coming along for the ride -- can’t wait for a great March!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Well hello there! First of all, I need to announce the winner of the Stella and Dot giveaway (I have been bad at this lately!) – the (randomly drawn) lucky winner is Kelsy from We Weren’t Crazy! Congrats Kelsy! Please email me and I’ll get you in touch with Jennifer.

Okie dokie, onto the review of August and the fun stuff that went on around TDC!

At the beginning of the month, I showed you the series of desks that have graced our office, including a DIY desk gone wrong, wrong, wrong. :)

The heavens opened up when I found this farmhouse table through a friend, and it was only $15!:

It was exactly what I was looking for! It was a mess though – more on that later. :)

At the August Before and After Party, I shared how I turned an 80’s clock from Goodwill into a purdy little cloche:

Not bad for four bucks baby!

I shared my debt story and how this guy has inspired us to change our lives:

That was a VERY exciting day – Dave Ramsey’s peeps linked to my post on their Twitter and Facebook pages!! It was a THRILL and an honor. :)

We have since started Financial Peace University and are more motivated than ever to get rid of our debt! As of today I OWN my car outright – we paid it off!! And tomorrow we are paying another credit card. We are so close but yet still so far away…but we will get there and live like no one else!!

I was thrilled to announce my partnership with True Value hardware stores:

I am in great company in the blog squad!! Check out the post for a list of other DIY blogs involved.

I had two fabulous giveaways this month, and the first was from Wuslu.com:

You have to check out the deals every day over at Wuslu! Such a fun idea.

I finally (FINALLY!) finished the staircase project that I started months ago. I used mdf to add some detail to the staircase wall and love it!:

I finally found a good before picture, by the way, from my Houzz interview a year ago:

Lurve, lurve, LURVE. Sigh.

I showed you my transition from white faux wood blinds to bamboo shades throughout our house:

It’s taken a few years, but I’m pretty much done getting the bamboo up! There are pros and cons to the roman shades, but I love them!

I am seriously obsessed with the fall season, and this year was the first I really, truly enjoyed summer:

It was the first summer I was a 100 percent stay at home momma, and I have a feeling that had a lot to do with why I fell in love with it this year. ;)

Thanks to True Value, I was able to change out some knobs on a couple pieces of furniture, and I showed you the difference they made:

I just love those glass knobs – so much better than the black knobs that came with the buffet!

Towards the end of the month I shared our warm and cozy family room:

I decorated it with the colors of fall and it works OH so well. :)

I swooned, you swooned, we all swooned for the Stella and Dot giveaway:

Congrats again to Kelsy for winning!

It took some help, but I finally got my farmhouse table turned into a desk:

It was covered with lead paint, so I left the paint removal to the professionals. I have to tell you – I LOVE THIS DESK. It is so huge and the absolute perfect height. You can tell I’m already right at home:

;) You can see a sneak peek of the parson’s chair cover I grabbed for $15 at Cost Plus World Market! Love the color – but I’m going to have to make some adjustments to it.

Many of you asked the color on the walls – it’s called Fired Brick from Sherwin Williams. It is a lovely color – but I’m hoping to get the new paint up next week! :)

I am feeling the itch for fall decor, so we all drooled over the latest Pottery Barn catalog:

And I held an impromptu fall linky party – check out over 100 inspirational links to get you in the mood for fall decorating!

Finally, we lost my dear father-in-law last week, and I celebrated his life and legacy with you all:

And again, I can’t thank you enough for your comments and prayers. I miss him so very much.

Yet again, I have to thank my wonderful advertisers for August! You can click their buttons to get to their sites…

ALL items over at Cute as Pie Office Supplies are less than $35 – and they are adorable!:

Every one of the beautiful pieces at Amy’s site are made using fine materials such as sterling silver, gold-filled, gemstones, freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystals:

If you are interested in a photography class that teaches you the basics of beginner photography, how to better use your camera and its settings, etc., then Angie’s class is for you!:

If you need quick, easy dinner recipes and family meals, check out Quick and Easy Dinners for a ton of ideas!:

Dimples and Dandelions is a family owned company that sells the most adorable and unique products available for both baby and child!:

Bomobob’s shop is full of fine carnival, bird, flower, nature and travel photography -- all shot with vintage film, digital, and Polaroid cameras. And ALL unique and original!:

PhotoJewelryMaking.com is the world's largest photo jewelry supplies super store, offering a large selection of photo jewelry making items such as bracelet, brooch, pendant and ring blanks. (And more!):

Need help decorating a room in your house? The designers at My Design Guide will help with everything from choosing the perfect paint colors to picking furniture, lighting and accessories: