Refried Furniture - - Coffee Table

I re-did my new coffee table this weekend! I purchased it at Encore Resales in Pelham. I love that store! They have a lot of already re-done furniture which I would buy all of it if I could. They have some of the most beautiful pieces I have seen. They also have a thrift market where there is cheapy furniture just waiting to be re-done! That is where I found my diamond-in-the-rough of a coffee table. I have a picture of how it looked originally but it's on another camera and I just can't figure out how to get it on the computer. I will give you a quick description of it; it was a decent warm wood color with a glossy finish however there were some minor scratches and little flecks of blue paint here and there. I then went to Home Depot and purchased Behr paint in Black Suede and Hampton Green. I love Behr paint! I used Sherwin Williams last year for a project and it just does not compare. Behr is so smooth and thick and it is fairly easy to manipulate. I got the colors in a flat matte finish. I also got a small roller and a brush. I sanded the table lightly all over and then painted a coat of the black suede (which is an absolutely gorgeous color; I would paint a whole room in this if I could). I let that coat dry for about and hour or two and then I painted a second coat. I then let the whole table dry overnight. My original plan was to paint the whole thing black then green then distress it all but when AW saw the table in black he begged me to leave it like that but I already had the green paint and I was really excited about trying out my plan so I told him that if the green looked bad I would just paint it over with the black and be done with it. Saturday was a really busy day so I did not get to work on it at all but Sunday morning I painted the table-top green but decided, in the spirit of marital compromise =), to leave the legs black. I let the table dry for a few hours and then I used a small craft paint brush to dry brush black streaks all over the top. I let the table dry overnight again and then Monday morning I sanded the top. Now, for this sanding I had to use a lot of muscle because I had done two coats of the green paint when I should have done only one because of the thickness. I distressed it and I really like the way it turned out. I am really glad that I left the bottom black. It might have been too much if the whole table had been distressed green. Here are some pictures of the process. Let me know what you think (be honest but don't judge my messy apt.)! I am almost done with the entertainment center. I am hoping to have it done no later than Saturday but we will see how that goes! Just be on the lookout for it...

The cost for a new coffee table was:

$18 - table

$20 - paint (I bought a gallon of each because I am using it for the E.C. also but I really only needed a 1/2 gal. total for both projects, so I overspent here)

$2 - sand paper

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$40 GRAND TOTAL

Refried Furniture--Salvaged Seats

So, I am undertaking a couple of furniture re-do projects and I will be blogging about the results. The first one is a very small project of re-upholstering my dining room chairs. AW & I are so fortunate in the fact that we did not have to purchase any furniture except a TV stand when we got married. AW's parents gave us a dining room table and chairs however the set is older. The fabric on the chairs was stained and outdated. Also, the set is small however the pattern on the chairs was large. It was too large and was overpowering making the table set seem even smaller. I, with the help of AW's muscles =), recovered the chairs with a smaller, more delicate & fun pattern. It was too easy plus all of the fabric at Hobby Lobby was on sale this week! We purchased a strong stapler from Home Depot plus some staples and went to work. We (& when I say "we" I mean AW) simply unscrewed the seats, placed the seat cushions upside down on the fabric and pulled it tight around the seat and AW stapled right over the existing fabric then just screwed the seats back on. I purchased 3 yards of fabric although I could have done it all with only 2 yards. We are talking about how to update the look of the table & chairs by possibly staining them. What do you think we should do? Take a look at the pictures and leave suggestions on what you think would look best! We are totally open.

All in all for new seats the cost was:

$13 - Fabric

$9 - Stapler

$3 - Staples

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$25 GRAND TOTAL!

Be on the lookout for more posts on an entertainment center and coffee table that I am currently working on... 

 

Budget Bride: v. 1.3

February already?! I better get to blogging!

TIP #3 -- 

DIY (to a point)

WHY: Savings! Savings! Savings! The more money you save on the wedding the more money you have for the honeymoon! I am all about DIY projects BUT keep in mind that if you have TOO much DIY going on it is not worth the stress! I repeat, NOT WORTH IT! Sometimes it IS just better to pay for a service rather than have a headache. Know your personal strengths and weaknesses and how much you will or won't be able to personally take on.

There were 4 major areas that we did ourselves (me & my mom): Flowers, Programs, Headpiece and Invitations. I will discuss Flowers first. Ladies, if you've been looking for a florist you know that flowers are a pretty penny. They are beautiful and completely necessary for your big day however it is not necessary to spend a fortune. I did not do all of the flowers for my wedding, I only did the bridesmaid's bouquets. This was fun however I kept putting it off which was not wise on my part but in the end I'm glad I did it and it saved a lot of $moolah$. I got fake flowers from Hobby Lobby. They had the best selection and their flowers are very life-like. To make bridesmaid's bouquets I purchased fake yellow roses and a fake, green blossom, wire cutters, ribbon to wrap and pearly pins. I also bought a little basket for the flower girl and wrapped the same ribbon around the handle and put fake petals in her basket. In all I spent a little under $100 for flower girl and 6 bridesmaids. You just can't do that at a florist (unless family's in the biz). Also, a little side note here, I had a hard time finding a florist I liked. Mom & I met with a few and I just did not like the work that I saw and I did not like them. Thanks to our caterer & friend who told us about a florist out in Odenville who we went to meet with and I really liked her and I loved her work. I realize that this is a little bit of a drive but it was totally worth it! She knew exactly what I wanted and the arrangements for the church and my bouquet were absolutely perfect! I could not have been happier! Do not just settle for a florist, make sure you find who you like. Also, make sure they have RECENT photos of their work. If all of their photos are outdated it could be a tell-tale sign...

I am definitely for fake flowers to a point. They are great because you can re-use them for other occasions. My cousin got married in May 2007 and they used some fake flowers that were gorgeous that they let us use as well. What a blessing!

CAUTION: If doing flowers yourself it is best to use fake flowers so that you can have them done in advance because you will not want to do them at any point during your actual wedding weekend. Be careful when buying fake flowers! You do NOT want them to LOOK fake and especially not plastic-y. This is a tragedy that is not worth the saving of any amount of money! If you do not have an eye for this or do not have someone who can help it would be better for you to just pay a florist!

*Next DIY project was programs. This is another thing that I am super glad we did and caused no stress! I bought white and 3 different shades of blue cardstock paper and found a really neat bird stamp. Thankfully my dad is "tech-savvy" and found the same bird image online so he just put it in the layout on the computer and we just printed them from his office. Now, I did not include music (because we did not have any special music in our ceremony) or anything like that on our programs, it was basically just the wedding party listed. They were very simple yet perfect for our wedding but anyone can do these and make them look however you want! Big money saver here!

CAUTION: When doing programs yourself make sure you include all of your wedding party. We printed all of our programs and Mom suddenly realized we forgot to put the flower girl's name on there, sorry Mal!

*Thirdly, a fun DIY project for me was creating my headpiece! I knew from the beginning that I did not want to wear a veil so this was a great alternative! I found a sparkly, and by sparkly I don't mean glittery I mean crystal-y, headband and also bought a broach that was hand-crafted from some lady in the Galleria. I got some jewelry wire and attached the broach to the headband and viola! instant headpiece! I loved it! I was inspired to do this because when I was trying on my wedding dress they gave me a similar headpiece to try on that was $350 because it was made out of swarovsky crystals. It was gorgeous but too much money to spend on something I was just going to wear once. I knew I could do this myself. I also wore it to my bridal tea and it now sits on our dresser by a wedding photo and is beautiful!

*The last DIY project was invitations. This one was a doozy, to say the least. This is also another area where we saved a ton of $! I got the invitations at Michael's and they were on clearance so I spent about $40 for 200 invitations. They came complete with envelopes, RSVP cards and return envelopes. Now, the easy part was printing them at Dad's office. They looked great! The doozy part was addressing all of those envelopes! I will admit, Mom did most, if not all of that, but sealing the envelopes, putting on the stamps and addressing them was extremely time consuming! I wish we would have just paid someone to address them for us but in the end we did save!

*Another small, small task we did ourselves, that I just remembered, was the bubbles. Mom bought boxes of little bubbles and we put yellow and blue ribbon around them. Too easy!

**There were other tasks that Mom & I did not do but that were lovingly done by my aunts and friends! My aunt Nancy rolled and wrapped the silverware with adorable blue & yellow ribbon, the caterer (Tammy) put together a gorgeous flower arrangement for the food table, and my aunts, Nancy & Vickie, along with friend, Tammy, decorated the reception. They did the tables, lighting and all of the other special touches that went in to making it the most beautiful and wonderful day ever. Also, my sweet dad & brothers set up the tables, chairs, etc... It was all that I had dreamed of! I could never thank anyone enough!

Moral of the story: DIY but not too much. You don't want your wedding to look "home-made" or "crafty" and you certainly don't want to add any more stress to your life BUT DIY as much as possible to save! save! save!

Here are lots of pics for you to see the end products:

--L

Book Review: Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

This book might have been one of the worst books I have ever read. I had to force myself to finish it, never a good thing. To give a quick synopsis it is about a teenage girl, Lee Fiora, who attends a wealthy boarding school in New England but she is from a middle class family in the midwest and feels out of place. It was her decision to go, she even had to convince her parents to let her, but she constantly wonders why she wanted all of this so badly. She is the protagonist however she is extremely self-absorbed and pities herself constantly making it difficult to be "for" her. In my opinion I would like for the protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) to be clearly defined. I want to love to hate the enemy and love to love the good guy. I found myself thinking Lee was stupid and I did not care what she got herself into. I thought all of the negative things that happened to her were well-deserved, which sounds terrible, but seriously this character is annoying!

On top of disliking the main character to the upmost the book was vulgar at times; inappropriate and gross. The author obviously has very different moral and political views than I do which also made me constantly roll my eyes.

I could go on forever about the things I hated but I will make one final point. Lee's family is completely horrid. Yes, she has a stable nuclear family where her parents are still together and her dad has a decent job however her parents have no concept of how to have a functional relationship with their daughter. Ok, let's be real, teenage girls are difficult, I know, I was one but in the same breath her dad is disgusting and does not even begin to try to listen to her. Her mother is totally awkward and is not bold and upfront with Lee. She lets Lee walk all over her emotionally. Lee also has two younger brothers who think she is cool in a distant way because she is not there. Even when she does come home she practically ignores them. They are an awful, disgusting, weak family that does not truly care about each other.

I would recommend to never read this book as it is too long and too obnoxious to waste your time on.

The End.

--L

Budget Bride: v.1.2

Tip #2 --

Complete your registry ASAP!

WHY: Gifts! Gifts! Gifts! We got engaged in November of 2008 and we registered about 3 weeks later. Not only was it super fun but for Christmas all of our gifts came off of our registry! Also, my birthday was 2 months before the wedding & my birthday gifts came from our registry. We then had all of our showers & teas where we received more gifts. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family who overwhelmed us with not only their time but also gifts to help us start our family and make a home for ourselves. Since the major holidays have passed there are still minor ones between now & wedding season! Valentine's Day would be a fun one to start with! You & your honey can exchange gifts that are off your registry only. This is what AW & I did for Christmas. There is also Easter & the Easter bunny can always fill your basket up with hangers, door hooks, measuring spoons or a blender!

(*Sidenote: NEWLYWEDS NEED HANGERS! -- Everyone kept asking "What is something you really need?" & I replied, "Hangers!" but alas only one person got us hangers ((Thanks, Steph!)). This is not to say we were not appreciative of every single thing we got but really, newlyweds need things like trashcans and hangers! Practical gifts are the BEST wedding gifts!*)

 Another wonderful aspect about registries is that most places will keep your registry in their system for a while. We registered at BB&B only and they keep your registry in for 2 years! This is great because this Christmas Santa brought me some more of my fabulous Calphalon cookware off my registry; I now have more pots & pans than I do stove eyes, WOOHOO!!!

As I stated we only registered at one store which I personally loved because BB&B has a ton of stuff in all different price ranges plus your registry is online so anyone can view it by going to their website & searching for your name. We had relatives in TN that just went online and our gifts were sent to our home! Super cool! We also did this for some friends of ours who were out of state. Some people would argue that there are not BB&B's in every location but I believe that the online store is the remedy to that. It worked for us also because I didn't have to keep up with matching items for one room from two different stores. My personal opinion is to register at one large, well-known location but I know that this is not the majority's opinion. Just some food for thought...

CAUTION: Do NOT register at stores that are going out of business for the obvious reasons. Also, most places will tell you this, but do not register for items that are on sale or are clearance as they will probably sell quickly and will not be re-stocked by the company. That would be a bummer!

At the end of the day, registering is so much fun! We had an absolutely wonderful experience at BB&B & they have a few hubby gadgets to keep the men happy too. We got most of the items on our registry and we got all of the things we really needed which was such a blessing. So, GO REGISTER!!!

--L