Our house! 

Since we have landed in Tamworth, my pirate soul has been awakened.  The town is a pickers paradise!  Nearly every time I walk into a thrift shop, I hear the telltale "thunk" of a shovel striking something solid amongst sand and know I have found yet another treasure to lug home (much to my hubby's chagrin). I am a shopaholic at heart and will pretty much find any way I can to feed the beast within, even on the most shoestring of budgets. St. Vinnie's and Salvation Army might as well have their own monogram as far as I am concerned; the value of the pieces I have found at these places mean more to me than sporting an original brown and gold LV.  And please don't get me started on Garage sales.  I forego my Saturday sleep in to troll other peoples yards, squealing with delight as I again strike gold in the form of sheepskins, chairs, artwork, and children's toys.  They might as well have thrown diamonds at my feet.

I am also an artist at heart, and crave a way to express my creativity.  This usually takes the form of home decorating.  Thus I am ready to share with you a few projects I have finished lately, as well as finally post some pics of the house! Sorry for the poor quality of most of the photos--I just do not have the time or patience to "set a scene" and thus some are quite shadowed and dark. Anywho...

come in!

Here is the entry after-- we made faux barn out of the existing ones by
purchasing cheap pine and giving everything a coat of white (this pic
was taken before the final coat)

Do you remember the entry before???

entry/living room.  

                                         Looking from the living room into the dining room

side board in dining room

I was given this awesome leather
,hat FREE by the lady at the thrift store

I cut it in strips then drilled them in as cupboard,
door and drawer pulls. Love how this turned out!

An old milk crate ice box that my fellow pirate and sister in law had in her garage was turned into a little bar area.  It sits on a  wine rack borrowed from my mother and father in law.

 I recovered these dining chairs with vinyl fabric I found on clearance to give the room a pop of color. I probably shoulda taken Farrer's chair off the table to make this more professional but hey, I know you won't judge and I'm pretty sure HGTV is not reading this!

Inspired by the farming town I now live in, I have a new respect for growing your own food, including animals.  I found these printable butchery charts of a cow, pig, and lamb.  After printing them in color, I mounted them with spray glue onto poster board I bought at Spotlight (like Michaels or Hobby Lobby on crack).  I then put a bit of ribbon around the image to frame it, and hung them on the wall using clothes pins.  Our walls are literally brick so it is nearly impossible to drill into them.  Command hangers and clothes pins are my new BFF.

I found this enormous round mirror at a garage sale for $10 and the rope at another for $2 (can't you hear angels singing???).  I originally tried to put the rope onto the mirror with hot glue but went to liquid nails instead as the glue wasn't doing the job.  Love how it turned out but obviously need to buy some Windex! geez!

Brought our beloved family photos over here and finally got them mounted and up on the wall!  Tamworth is a palleters paradise with pallets in every shape, size, and color just begging to be transformed.  I picked up one that had a blueish hue and some paint splatters and got to work pulling boards off.  I cut them with a table saw and joined them together in the back with a plate of metal and screws.  The photos, I mounted with spray glue and upholstery tacks in each corner.

 Hope this gives you a little peek into my world while inspiring you do do some shoestring design of your own!  More fun ideas to come--I have a few projects awaiting the right materials which I will hopefully come across in the next few weeks.

miss you love you
tons.

XOXO
Kelly