An upgrade so easy it's probably not worth a post...

I love my Expedit bookcase in my living room, it's the right size/style/scale but it looks like every other Expedit bookcase out there (image that)...I felt like it needed a little something, something...Enter a $2 trip to True Value, a little super glue, and some pretty brass hardware:

and you get this:

I love the campaign style furniture, and while this is far from it, I think it adds a lot to the box store piece. I love that it really makes all of the gold accessories (including my newly painted bee vase and my newly moved elephant planter) on the bookcase stand out...

And for the stylist in me, a complete before and after:

Before:

After:

Yes, I realize, it's not a huge difference, in fact in this picture you can barely see the difference, but between the new hardware and new styling I definitely think its an improvement. And there you go, an upgrade so easy it's probably not worth a post.

So I went to starbucks...

I realized late last night that I have a large group of readers from the East Coast (who knew), that are possibly being affected by Hurricane Sandy. Please know, I am praying and sending lots of love your way. Please be safe and stay warm!

The other morning I ran into Target only to stop at Starbucks..yeah, right. You see, Target is my kryptonite when it comes to home decor. Literally I will go in for dog food and pita bread, and somehow leave having spent $150 on pillows...and sometimes I don't even remember going in. Because of this, since we started our new budget I've been avoiding it, with the exception of our monthly shopping trip (this is where we buy dog food, toilet paper, and some of our groceries). Anyways, I went in only to get a coffee but then remembered that I hadn't even gotten to see the new Nate Berkus line yet...oh the horror...I found his line, yet there was maybe 4 things left on an end-cap, and nothing that I was absolutely head over heels for (except for maybe these, but I've seen them EVERYWHERE in the blog world)...sad face. So from there I wondered to the clearance aisle...uh oh...In the end, I'm quite proud, I left only with a gilded vase and one other item (it's a gift for a reader so I can't share it yet) and only spent $12. Anyways back to my pretty gilded vase, it's this one:

On a sidenote, doesn't it remind you of a bee?

The best part: it was $5.00 on sale....the worst part, the top of the vase was an off white/cream color that had no place in my home. I considered putting it back, but come on folks it was $5 and look at the beautiful gold bottom...yum..Enter my favorite tool...spray paint and you get this:

And to answer a question I get a lot, yes sometimes I feel bad about painting something I just bought brand new. In this case, however, I don't. It was only $5.00, there was about 20 of them on the shelf so it is not  unique in any way, and I didn't take away from the part of the vase I loved (the gilded bottom). And now I have a vase I love, that will fit in my home for only $5 (I already had the spray paint).

So there you have it, a not super exciting upgrade, but what are you going to do...How about you guys? Any great clearance finds lately? Have you guys seen the new Nate Berkus collection yet? Swoon. I loved what I saw, I just wish there was way more of it.
Stay tuned tomorrow for another bookcase update! That's right people, 4 posts this week...booyah...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween all!
and a few fun costumes for your viewing pleasure...

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Pinterest Challengin' it up.....

If you read Young House Love , (which in my world should read: "If you breathe") you've heard of the Pinterest Challenge....or ....

A challenge created by Sherri and Katie, to help all of us get out of our pinning ruts. Basically everyone will create one Pinterest inspired project and post it today! While I recently posted a list of stuff I wanted to try from Pinterest, and still plan to try these at some point, I had some serious time constraints this weekend so I had to resort to a smaller, but still fun project. Also, the smart bloggers posted about this challenge last Tuesday to let you guys know it was coming (AKA to help any other bloggers get involved) but as I've mentioned before I'm a failure as a blogger (in fact here's a list of why I suck) so I did not....also I was behind on my google reader and was not aware of it until later in the week...#WINNING

For more fun "Pinterest Challenge" projects check out these blogs:
Our Fifth House
The Ugly Duckling House
Bower Power Blog
and of course Young House Love...
and I'm sure there is a ton more out there!
Onto the fun stuff...or at least fun for me stuff:

Here's a not so big secret...I have a black thumb. I tend to kill plants, like all of them. I recently heard about "air plants," a plant that requires no soil or water...aka a plant that could actually survive in my house. So I bought one from the local nursery. Now the task was to find a planter for it, and then I saw these (they are for sale on Etsy, but originally found on Pinterest so it's solid):

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I was immediately in love. They weren't terribly expensive, starting at only $25 with shipping, but I knew I could do better (besides the challenge is to make something not buy something)...in fact how does $4 sound? Here's what went down...

Sorry about the terrible phone picture...it was late...and my toe was broken...and I was super tired...and possibly a little buzzed...

A hobby lobby store plastic toy animal (actually got a few more the next day!), dollar store spray paint I already owned (never use dollar store spray paint BTW), frog tape, and some gold craft paint...oh, and the hubby's drill (I'm sure you could use a knife for this too, it's plastic people). That's right. I just spray painted the toy, and then dipped her little feet (she's white and gold so of course she's a female...or Liberace) into some metallic craft paint I also already owned for a little glitz. Drilled a small hole in the back...and now a small elephant fashion show...ya know, like you do...
Warning: bad phone pics ahead...Must. Get. New. Camera. Now..

I love her little gold feet, tail, and tusks...

A little hint: if you're as weird as I am and find the need for an elephant shaped planter in your life and decide to try this yourself, try to use good spray paint, I just used what was in my large spray paint collection and this was the only one white I had left, but the plastic didn't absorb the spray paint well and it took like 5 coats...which is annoying when it's 11 at night and 30 degrees outside...and like I said before, you're a little buzzed. Shouldn't have been a problem with non dollar store spray paint though.

And now Ellie (yes I'm nothing if I'm not creative) resides on my office shelf which needed some glitz...oh yes, that hits the spot:

How about you guys? Any super cheap/simple/weird projects around the casa lately? Anyone else have a hard time explaining to your mom and sister on a shopping trip, that you MUST find a plastic elephant? Anyone else participating in the Pinterest Challenge? Leave me a comment so I can check it out!

I'm also Linkin' this up over at homemade ginger for her Ginger jamboree party! Check out all the other fabulous projects here!
And finally, linking up at 52 mantels for her Thursdays are your days link up party! Check out the other fun projects/recipes here!