I have always loved real topiaries, but have never had one. Recently I was at a nursery and found this beauty. It was a little wild looking, but exactly what I was looking for. The woman there said not to cut it, but to push the wild strays back into the center. She also said to keep it moist or the leaves would start falling off fast!
I had it on my kitchen island and loved it, but then so did the cat... (ugh) After finding it tipped over a couple of times, I knew I had to find a better place for it.
We are having our wood floors refinished and needed to move EVERYTHING out of the living room, kitchen, entry and hall. What a job! One good part about moving everything is that I found a great place for the topiary. It should be safe from being knocked over and I'm not as grossed out by the cat climbing up on this counter....
My son is in college and renting a house for the first time. We are visiting soon and he asked for a dresser. He said he didn't need anything big. I know that spending a lot of money on a dresser in a college guy's house might be foolish...
So I went out garage saling yesterday and found this little dresser (maybe bedside table?) at a sale. It's solid wood and sturdy and the price was right---$5. I figured that if he didn't want it, we could always use it somewhere.
I sanded it down.
I put a coat of primer on it.
I used Semi-Gloss Black paint by Rust-Oleum applied with a foam roller. It went on very smoothly.
I decided to only paint the outside. I promise, my son will not care one bit!
I added some knobs that I already had. I think it was $5 well spent. And the best part--I texted him the pictures and he said it looked perfect! :)
Now on to the giveaway...
The people from Eco Natural Soap are giving away several items to one lucky winner.
Their products are amazing! I have been using their facial soap for a couple of weeks and my complexion is already looking better.
All of their products are chemical free. They have everything--soaps, makeup, body balms and lip gloss.
The winner will receive their choice of the following:
Two Soaps
One Body Balm
One Lip Balm
How can you win?
It's EASY!
1. Be a follower of my blog.
2. Go to Eco Natural Soap and find your favorite item. Come back here and leave a comment telling me one item you would choose if you won.
I will choose a winner on Monday, October 1st via Random Number Generator.
The garage sales were abundant today! It was great to see after last weekend's holiday and rain basically made them non-existent.
I was excited to find this Milkshake Maker.
Since our downstairs kitchen is all for fun, this will be a perfect addition.
What a nice surprise in the mail yesterday. My winnings from Carol at The Polka Dot Closet!
She had a giveaway from Eco Natural Soap. I won and was able to choose several items. I chose the Acne Relief Soap, as it works on Rosasea too. I tried it last night and loved how my face felt. I am excited to try the Facial Hydration Soap, the makeup and the Acne Relief Balm. The Key Lime Pie Lip Balm is fabulous too! Thank you to Carol and Eco Natural Soap!
Last weekend when I was out garage-saling, I found this copper tub. I paid $10 for it. To say I was excited is a little bit of an understatement. :)
My husband started to clean it up. Now, I'm torn here. I LOVED the patina, but it was really dirty and I did want to use it in the house... So I'm sure some of you will think we are completely crazy, but we cleaned it up.
I used Bar Keepers Friend and a blue scrubby. In the cracks and dents I used a toothbrush with Bar Keepers Friend sprinkled on it.
After it was all clean, I used a microfiber cloth and put Brasso on it.
Now I have a place in my laundry room for dirty towels. I used to have an Ikea laundry basket, and like this 100% better!!
I did not get to the lid yet. It is made out of steel, so will now look quite different than the tub.
I may move it to the family room and put blankets in it. Right now I'm loving it here.
A few weeks ago I was in Pottery Barn and found a jute table runner. I had been looking for one and was very happy to find it on sale. I brought it home and it was way too big for my table. I love the texture of jute, burlap, etc and kept looking for one, but didn't want to pay lots and lots.... Last night I saw this post by Kristen @ Ella Claire Inspired and was so excited to make a runner myself.
I went to JoAnn's today and bought 4 yards of burlap. I followed Kristen's directions and it turned out great!
I started out by washing it with Tide and some bleach to get rid of the smell. I had to do a second load with a little more Tide and two rinses. It still smelled a little, but wasn't horrible. I took it outside and draped it over some chairs for about an hour. Before I brought it back in the house, I really tried to shake it out. There were burlap fibers flying everywhere! :)
I then did a rough measurement of it, pulled a string from it and cut carefully along that line. I cut it down the middle with the same technique. Because it was so long, the string broke a couple of times. I put on my reading glasses (haha!) and used a pin to find the string and started carefully pulling it again. Once I had it out, I again carefully cut lengthwise. I made it about 20" wide by 90" long for my 80" table.
I ironed it with my eurosteam. I tried to use a normal iron set on Silk, as Kristen did, but wasn't getting anywhere. It came out nice and smooth this way.
I set it on the table and did a final measurement. I cut it so it'd hang a few inches over the edge of the table. After that, I carefully pulled about 8 strings off, one at a time, to make the fringe. This part was really easy.
And that was it!!
I paid $10 for the burlap and can make two runners. $5 for a runner is perfect in my book! It sure beats paying $50 for the one at Pottery Barn. Thank you Kristen!
I was in Michael's today and found this bird/candle holder for 90% off.
I added some topiaries that I made and now have a simply decorated table for fall. Now if I can just keep the cat out of there.... :)
Thanks for your visit!
Pam
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