Bedroom Remodel

My sweet DH and I have been busy over the past couple of weeks.

It all started when I told DH that I was bored with the way the house is decorated and would really like to scrap everything and start over. I know most people would probably cringe at that idea but since most of my decor comes from garage sales and thrift stores I'll basically be coming out even by selling it in my own sale. I think as the years go by that my taste for home decor is starting to change and the things I used to like just don't suit my taste anymore.

So we decided to get ready to hold a huge garage sale the second weekend of April. So for two weeks I've been decluttering and piling stuff up to get ready. This pile of items has actually tripled since I took this photo and has actually taken over the living room.



We've been working on remodeling our home a little at a time since we got married 10 years ago. So far we've completed a bathroom remodel and have been slowly working on some of the other rooms. So while sorting through the master bedroom yesterday my sweet DH decided that since he had a few days off we should go ahead and remodel the master bedroom. Who would have knew the surprises we had in store. Since we moved in there has always been this ugly duck paneling on the back wall along with an air conditioner actually stuck into the wall instead of a window. We've always wanted to jerk the air conditioner out and get rid of the paneling so yesterday we got started. As you can see our bedroom looks like a tornado ripped through it and made a big mess. Even the poor nightstands became a catch-all. First thing we did was to trash the old waterbed headboard and start ripping down paneling.



What we found behind the paneling would make anybody cringe with fear.



We started out trying to use bleach to get it all out but ultimately decided to rip it all out and put all new drywall up.



Much better :)

Today we start the painting and decorating and I can't wait to share the final results. Actually if you look closely you can actually see a sneak peak of the color we're using painted on the right side of the drywall.

In all this craziness and chaos we did find time to stop at one garage sale though. As you may remember from earlier posts DH has a cousin who buys storage lockers that haven't been paid for and then resells the contents. If you watch Storage Wars on A&E then you know exactly what I'm talking about. She has her sales once a month and we usually go check them out. So when we heard she was having one last week we couldn't resist. The pickings were slim this time but I did manage to find a nice wallet for $1.



Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Has It Really?

Has it really been that long since I posted? Life has been kind of crazy lately but is starting to get back to normal. Another fire hit close to home again this time setting the woods and field behind our house on fire. This was two days after the last fire I blogged about. Thankfully our house has finally aired out and doesn't smell like smoke anymore.



I managed to snap a photo of a couple of the fire trucks. All of the others were back behind the trees fighting the flames.



Thankfully, a few days later we got some much needed rain to put out all the fires in the area.





There has only been one trip made to Goodwill since I last posted and unfortunately, it wasn't by me. My sweet hubby stopped by there on an outing with his parents and thought to bring me a few little surprise gifts.



So, how did he do?

Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Goodwill and Forest Fires

Linking up for these two parties this week.



Pink Saturday



Thrifting hasn't gone quite as well as I would have wanted this week. I've been looking forward to a big storage sale that DH's cousin is hosting for a few weeks now. Unfortunately, I found out she's going to be hosting it in a small town about an hour away from our home. That's a little too far for me to travel for just one sale so I've decided to pass on it.

I did, however, make my first trip to Goodwill for the year. Along with three skirts, one of them being a Levi's denim skirt, I came home with these four beauties.



I didn't really look them over too good though, just put them in the cart and brought them home. However, when I got home and unwrapped them and took the $1.99 price tags off I noticed that they said on the bottom "Made Exclusively for Dollar Tree stores." Ugh, Goodwill did it to me again. I was a little frustrated that I had paid $1 more than what they originally cost brand new but since they're pretty I'll still enjoy them. I especially love the ones in the blue and purple dresses.

I don't know about anyone else but this is the second time I've had this happen to me. Once while at a flea market I bought two plates for $2 a piece to use in a wall hanging. I thought I had gotten a really good bargain, that is until I visited the Everything is $1 store and saw a huge stack of my plates selling for $1 a piece. Disappointment reigned that weekend.



On another note yesterday afternoon I got in my car and left to go get my kids from school. Upon getting down the driveway I noticed a huge mass of black smoke rising in the air from across the road. Since we live in the country we're pretty much surrounded by woods so I knew it probably wasn't someone's house. Apparently the fire in the woods got out of control fast. Before I made it down the road a little piece I was met by fire trucks coming from every direction. By the time I got the kids and tried to get back home all the highways were closed. We did manage to make it to our house and sat on the porch most of the afternoon watching fire trucks and cop cars flying up and down the highway. I wish I had had my camera with me to take a picture of the big mass of black smoke. I'm sure you could see it for miles. Unfortunately, last night all the smoke came down to ground level and we seriously thought we were going to have to leave our house and find somewhere to stay for the night. There was smoke so thick outside and it was coming in the house. So today I plan on trying to air the house out if the smoke lifts. This is what it looked like outside my house this morning - still smokey but not quite as thick as it was last night.

Until next time...

ThriftyAnnabella

Pink Saturday 2/25

Pink Saturday

I wanted to share a picture from my sweet daughter's recent birthday party for Pink Saturday. She's such a girly girl like her mom and her absolute favorite color is no surprise - Pink. Recently she has decided that her new favorite cartoon character is Hello Kitty so that was the theme for her birthday party.



Until next time. . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Pink Saturday 2/19

Pink Saturday

This is first Saturday I've joined How Sweet the Sound's Pink Saturday party in a few months. I am so excited about rejoining the party now that I have the time to start posting to my blog again.

So this Saturday I've decided to share with you four of my favorite pink items from around the house.

1) I purchased a set of these plates at a garage sale last spring and out of the four I think this pink one has to be my favorite.



2) I absolutely love the little pink flowers on this cross that hangs in my dining room.



3) My newest favorite drink. Not only are these things delicious but 0 calories.



4) I actually purchased two of these Betty Boop magnets off the internet a few years ago but this one is my favorite out of the two. Love the pink background.



Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Dining Room Redesign

I've been meaning to share this for a while now. I'm sitting here feeling horrible and the rest of the household is down with the crud, so I figure what better time to catch up on my posts. We still haven't been to Goodwill or any garage sales lately because of the weather. Who would have guessed snow and ice in Louisiana two weeks in a row.



This was the only picture I took of the ice storm because I couldn't work up the courage to actually go outside in 20 degree temps to take anymore. Needless to say I'm not a cold weather person.

While cooped up indoors though I did do a little redecorating in the dining room. Last year I had come across a whole lot of crosses at a garage sale and had created a cross wall in my dining room. This is the picture I had shared with everyone at the time.



As much as I loved my cross collection I decided that the room was in order for a little Spring redecorating. So I took two of my window pane mirrors, added a couple of swags that I found for $1.75 on clearance, and placed a couple of carefully selected crosses in the middle. Here are the results.



Sorry for the close up shot. I did not think anyone would want to see my poor dining room right now. It along with the rest of the house is showing signs of "When momma, daddy and everyone else is sick nothing gets done" syndrome. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me when I get back on my feet.

Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

I haven't Disappeared

Hi everyone. Just wanted to update everyone to let you know I'm still here. It's that time of year that I focus on getting my coupons updated for the new year. Plus, this is also the time of year when I don't thrift much due to DH's job slowing down in the winter. There have been a few garage sales in our area but I'm a big chicken when it comes to getting out in the cold to garage sale - I just can't bring myself to do it. I'm really looking forward to the start of Spring and warmer weather and also the start of Ms. Rhoda's 2011 Thrifting Party to start back up.

Here's to the start of a new year - Happy 2011 from my family to yours.

Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Christmas Tour of My Home

So rumor has it there is going to be a Christmas 2010 Tour of Homes hosted by The Nester. Also joining the tour at Kelly's Korner.

So I decided to give you a Christmas tour of our Home Sweet Home.



Hello there, I'm Santa Claus, a new addition to the household. ThriftyAnnabella picked me up this past Spring on a Dollar General Clearance aisle. You'll have to excuse my price tag showing. My owner forgot to clip it off in all her busy-ness. Come on in and let me show you around a bit.





Here I am dressed in my red suit, posing alongside my wife. We are standing in the curio cabinet giving it a little Christmas cheer.



Sitting beside us are some of our little Elf friends. The owner of the house loves picking my friends up any time she sees one at a garage sale and we're so glad she gives them a new home.





If you look around you'll also see some of our Angel friends in various places. The newest Angel to join to household is the one dressed in burlap.



The dining room hutch is also adorned in it's Christmas finest. Sitting in front of the homeowners holiday plates is the start of her Christmas village collection and we can't wait to see how it grows. You'll have to excuse the crooked picture, my owner is still learning how to take straight ones. :D



Of course, there are lots of little fun goodies for the kids lying around. The homeowner picked these fun snowglobes up at clearance sales a few years back and the kids love to see them blowing snow.



Last, but not least, is the Christmas tree, all adorned and sitting in front of the dining room window for all to enjoy. This was taken just after she finished decorating it so she had not had a chance to move the boxes yet.

Well, I sure hope you enjoyed my tour of Annabella's place. I'm looking forward to the start of Garage Sale season and all the clearance sales to see what new friends and decor will be joining me for next year.

Until next time. . .

Santa for ThriftyAnnabella

Another Birthday Party

December is not only the month we celebrate Jesus' birthday but also my baby girl, Clair's birthday. Happy Birthday Clair!!!




Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Attention all Couponers

I was in line at Dollar General the other day and happened to be glancing at the cover of First for Women and was surprised to see it said $102.30 worth of coupons at the top. So I picked one up and was pleasantly surprised at the selection of coupons inside.




Breyer's YoCrunch Parfait $1/1 - expires 2/28/2011
Kernel Seasons $1/1 - expires 12/31/2011
Jimmy Dean Fully Cooked Product .75/1 - expires 4/30/2011
McCormick Spice, Herb, etc .75/1 - expires 1/10/2011
Welch's Fruit Snacks .50/1 - expires 1/18/2011
Crystal Light Candy .75/2 - expires 2/28/2011
Oregon Chai Product $1/1 - expires 6/01/2011
Snikiddy Fries $1/1 - expires 3/31/2011
Any Vicks Product $1/1 - expires 3/31/2011
Crest Rinse $1/1 - expires 3/31/2011
Rohto hydra $1/1 - expires 2/28/2011
Bed Buddy Hot and Cold Pack - $2.75/1 - expires 4/30/2011
Perdue Whole Grain Frozen Chicken Nuggets, Tenders, or Strips $1.00/1 - expires 3/31/2011
Amy’s Bowls .75/1 - expires 6/30/2011
Wholly Guacamole Salsa or Queso $2.00/1 - expires 3/31/2011
Green and Blacks Organic Chocolate $1.00/1 - expires 4/30/2011
Veet hair removal $3/1 - expires 3/31/2011
You Curl and You Style products $5/1 - expires 12/31/2010
Footpetals $5 off all orders over $25
K-Y Brand Intense $5/1 - expires 2/28/2011
Turkey Hill Egg Nog Ice Cream $1/1 - 4/30/2011
Turkey Hill Egg Nog .75/1 - expires 4/30/2011
Natrol Product $2/1 - expires 2/28/2011
Johnsonville products .55/1 - expires 1/15/2011
Dr. Kracker Products .75/1
Smart and Delicious 100 Calorie Products $1/2 - expires 12/30/2011
Pedia-Lax Fiber Gummies $1/1 - expires 3/31/2011
Rayovac Batteries $1/1 - expires 1/31/2011
Pur Flavor Options System $4/1 - expires 3/31/2011
Duck brand packaging tape $1/1 - expires 1/31/2011
Kiss Nail or Toenail kit $1/1 - expires 2/28/2011
$12 off 60 or more Organize It Order
$5 off next Overstock.com
$25 off First Order Nutrisystem
$10 off $50 purchase Wendell August
Midnight or Midnight PM $1/1 - expires 5/31/2011

Until next time. . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Christmas Decor

Here in Louisiana we have some of the craziest weather during the Fall months. One days is freezing cold and then the next it's in the 80's. Due to all the changes in the weather we know these as the sick months. Unfortunately, sickness did not skip our house this year. This past week the little guy had Bronchitis, I was down with a bad case of the flu and DH and DD are coughing up a storm.

We did manage, however, to get the tree and curio cabinet decorated before Mr. Sickness came to visit.






During one of my "I'm tired of looking at clutter and it all needs to go to Goodwill" sessions a few years ago I lost the cord to my digital camera. I've since replaced the camera but never got rid of the old one because I had some pictures on there I didn't want to loose. My sweet DH was digging through a box of old cords the other day and actually found a cord that would work with my old camera so I could transfer my pictures to my computer.

I always thought this was the cutest picture. You can guess we had just finished watch the movie Signs and my kids were in desperate need to protect their thoughts LOL. You'll have to excuse my dirty kitchen please - I tried to camoflauge it :)

Birthdays and Holidays

Ahh, the Holidays. One of the busiest time of the year for most people, myself included. Last weekend we had a big birthday party for my little guy who turned 7. He loves dinosaurs so we had a dinosaur themed party. It turned out great.






Today has me busy taking down all the fall decor. DH and I decided to go ahead and decorate for Christmas early since it takes so long to put it all up. So I've got the Christmas music going in the background and hopefully will have lots of pics to share soon.

Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Fall Decor

Ahh, Fall is here and procrastination has reared it's ugly head. I've been meaning to share my Fall decor with everyone since the first of October. However, every time I start to do it something else comes up and it gets put off again. I actually can't believe I only have two whole posts for October. I've been procrastinating big time :)

Today I was going to share with you some of my finds from Dollar General's 90% off rack yesterday. However, as soon as I went to take the pictures my camera decided that it's batteries were dead. Glad I found this out before my little guys birthday party Saturday, but, since I don't have any batteries in the house it will have to wait until I go shopping tomorrow.

So, instead I'm going to share my long post-poned Fall decor photos.

Here's my scarecrow couple standing by the door greeting people. That is along with Miss. Sugar. She's always there to great passers-by. This may be the last year for my scarecrow couple though because the cats are having too much fun with them.




Here's my Goodwill candy dish. It's sitting next to me on the couch and is now full of Nerds for a TV viewing snack. :)



My hutch is all adorned for Fall with all my various pumpkins and scarecrows purchased last year at the end of Fall clearance sales.



Lastly, here's my dining table all adorned for Fall. A good friend of mine gave me this candle holder a couple years ago and it makes the perfect Fall accessory.



I haven't got everything photographed though. Also I have a candy dish sitting on the counter full of Mallow-Creme Pumpkins (my favorite). Then there is the scarecrow wreath that I purchased at an earlier garage sale hanging on the door. Funny thing about that is that I'm not used to having a wreath on the door and every time I peek out the peephole I get a good scare - that is until I realize what's there.

Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella

Garage Sales Oh MY!

Earlier this week DH and I had discussed whether we wanted to go to garage sales this week. However, the closer it got to weekend the more tired I got and decided I really didn't want to hear the alarm clock going off at 6 a.m. so we decided to sleep in. After getting up around 9:00 we decided to head into town to pay a bill. We never made it to town though before we had to go back home to unload the car. There were garage sales everywhere.

As I pulled into the first one the lady hosting the garage sale came up to me and said everything is $1 unless marked otherwise. Something I always like to hear. She had a leather top end table with a hinged lid on top for $10. I thought about it long and hard but finally decided I didn't have anywhere to put it. I did end up purchasing a hat and a couple things for DH. My single purchase for myself at this sale was this double heart jar filled with oil for $1.



The next garage sale was hosted in a small porch with barely any room to walk. I was getting really aggravated trying to get around people to look at items and finally decided to give up. The homeowners prices were a little high anyway so I figured I wasn't missing much. The kids were with us and they were the only ones that ended up finding anything. DS got a stuffed Bullwinkle for .50 and DD found a Disney Princess clock bath set for $4. I was tempted not to purchase it though because it was in a box full of Christmas gift sets with a sign to say 1/2 off original price. DH and I both figure that someone purchased all that stuff when WalMart had it 75% and was trying to make a little money off of it. DD also got 2 dresses at this one.

The next two sales were being hosted together. It was already after 10:00 and I did not figure that anything good would be left but decided to stop and look anyway. I was so glad I did. Here's a preview of my purchases.



I actually had this exact same washbasin and stand when I was married to my first husband. He took it when we were getting divorced and I've always missed my stand. So imagine my surprise when I saw this yesterday. I told DH I wonder if this is the same one I had before because I found out later my ex sold everything he got out of our old house. For $20 it came home with me - maybe even again :)



For $2 I fell in love with this vase. I actually thought it was an antique until I got home and noticed the Made in China sticker on the bottom. Oh well, it's still beautiful.



My last garage sale purchase of the day was this Burberry purse for $1.

When we did finally make it to town we made a stop by Goodwill to drop off a few things and while in there I found this beauty for $1.99



Until next time . . .

ThriftyAnnabella