Too Cute & Free

I had off from the day job on Monday and had an “in the right place at the right time” moment.  Coming home from a quick trip to the supermarket had me passing by the house of a friend of my daughter.  They had a yard sale on the weekend because their house is up for sale. At the curb on Monday morning was this.

A small table and four mini-sized Windsor chairs!  After finding out from my daughter that yes she would be interested in it for the granddaughter, we headed back there and loaded it up.  Everything is intact and there are just a couple of loose spots on the chairs.  A little wood glue will fix that right up. 

Here are the other two chairs.  Some sanding, a little primer and a coat of Heirloom White, and we’ve got a little table and chairs set for tea parties!

I love being in the right place at the right time.  I also love free!  I have to say that this is the best thrifty find this year.

Linking up with Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous.

Laptop Bag

This is about the time of year when I seriously start looking for Christmas presents.  Sometimes I start buying even earlier because I will find something that is just the perfect gift.  A gift that can be perfect all around is this monogrammed laptop bag.

It seems that everyone has a laptop nowadays and some people have to bring theirs around with them whether to work or school.  This bag is a stylish and protected way to do that.  The monogram adds such a nice touch as well. 

The inside has plenty of room and I like that the zippers come down far enough on either side so that you are not fighting to get the laptop in or out of the bag.

One side has an area for pens and pencils.

While the other side has a zippered pocket and card slots.

This bag is very sturdy and the handles make it easy to carry around.  The Simply Bags website also has many styles and colors to choose from.

Accessorizing ~ My New Service

Accessorizing our homes can be the bane of our existence for some.  These finishing touches to a room can get so many in a tizzy or worked up that they just don’t do it.  This leaves rooms feeling like something is missing or that they are unfinished.

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I try to offer people more variety in the services I offer, letting them know that I will work with them hourly and not just for a major project.  This can be a great option if you are just looking for some help in accessorizing a room or rooms and it won’t break the bank. 

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I conduct an Adult Education class at our local high school twice a year {Spring and Fall}.   I’d love to do a class on accessorizing, but they put me in an area that involves a lot of stairs and it would be difficult for me to bring in some accessories and set up examples. Keeping that in mind, I have a new service I’m adding to my menu ~ accessory parties!

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Accessory parties take place at someone’s home.   They get a group of friends/family together, get the fee together from the whole group, and pick someone’s home to have it in.   I come in and work with the accessories that are in the home.  If you don’t have accessories, you can either pool together accessories that the group owns or an additional option would be for me to shop for some accessories and bring them in.

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I am currently working with a client on several rooms.  Custom bookcases were made for the formal living room.  I will be shopping this week for accessories for these bookshelves and am really looking forward to decorating them. 

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Please know that not every space, surface or wall needs to have something on it.  Sometimes a visual break is needed.

If you would like more information, please contact me through my website.

I apologize for not having any of the sources for these pictures.  I have had them saved for so long and it was prior to my adding a source name to the save file.

Creative Home Expressions is located on Long Island, New York, and offers interior decorating, redesign, home staging, color consultations and more.  Please visit our website for a list of our services and fees.

Make Your Own Easy Halloween Decor

I have another quickie project you can do for some Halloween decor.  I just bought some frames at Target that were on clearance.  These plain and ugly purple-y ones.  The good thing is they are wood and my intention is to spray paint them at some point.  I got a couple of 5x7’s, a 4x6 and a few 3 1/2x5’s. 

At the moment, they will work for this purpose.  I went to my Pictures folder and online to see what images for Halloween I had saved.  The Graphics Fairy is a good site to look through and she does have a “Halloween” section.  I also Googled “vintage Halloween images” and that is where I got just about all of these from.

Love this little girl one!  It looks like an ME design; it didn’t say so, but it could be.   I printed the image on my photo paper and cut it out.  It was just shy of the size to fit in the 5x7 frame, so I grabbed a scrap piece of my favorite harlequin wrapping paper and used that as a background.

I actually like her in the purple frame!  This girl’s tutu reminds me of . . .

Right, because every grandmother dresses her granddaughter up in a Halloween outfit once the Mommy leaves!  The tutu was on clearance at Baby Gap ~ I couldn’t resist!

I also already had a variety set of postcards that I got from Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist.  Coincidentally, the perfect fit for the natural wood 4x6 frame.  I chose this witch silhouette to frame and how much easier can Halloween decor get than that!

I might pop the postcard out and just do a spray of black paint on this frame, though.  The natural-ness is not really doing anything for me.    Through my Google search, I also found these antique images that I printed out in a 3 1/2x5 size for the white frames.

Again, just simply cutting them out and putting them in the frames.  A nice small size for tucking into little areas or placing on accent tables. I also found this raven that was kind of an odd size and I still have to find something for him.

Above the raven it says, “Quothe The Raven, “Nevermore”.”   Love that!  How perfect for Halloween, too! 

Here they are all together.

These quickie posts are working well for me so far while I am having a busy October.  I hope to be posting more frequently by the end of the month, but meanwhile, I hope you enjoy some of these “quickies”.

A Quickie

Just a quick post to show you another idea for those dollar store hurricanes.  A quick change for Halloween using these gel clings.  I got mine at Target for $1.00.  I took all the smaller pieces which were bats and pumpkins in black and used them on one hurricane.

On the other, I used one of the larger clings, the jack-o-lantern.  The clings feel gross when you handle them, but they stick to the glass good.  I did put the clings on the outside of the hurricane. 

I’m showing mine with candles {which I need to pick up for these}, but you could also use the pumpkin or skeleton string lights that I’ve seen at Target.  You could back the hurricane up to a counter to deal with any cord/plug or find lights that work on battery. 

And there’s your quickie for this week!