It Makes Me Giddy

Okay, I already know that you're going to laugh at this one. Last Friday hubby and I went out on our date. We had to run an errand to his business. Because of my inquisitive mind and my always burning desire to find treasures, within minutes we found ourselves trolling dumpsters in the area. Oh there were some goodies to be found. Yep, I truly get giddy when I discover a good dumpster find!
The night actually got even better! We ran to the home improvement store to pick up some wood for a project. We walked by the cull bin and found all the wood we needed, and more, and it was marked down to $2.01 a piece. We ended up with a truck full of supplies for just over thirty dollars! It wasn't the type of wood I initially had in mind but who can pass up a bargain like that?!?

Oh what fun we had! Look at what we came home with.A truck full of all sorts of wood.

Yes, those are shutters under there---two small and one tall one (not pictured).

The top to an air condition unit.

I think that it will make a great wall hanging in one of my son's rooms (the label will be peeled off and replaced with a monogram).

I'm sure this is not everyone's idea of a
great date night,
but it was a highlight for us!

Suggestions, Inspiration and Motivation

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions and comments of empathy yesterday. You are all so sweet and wonderful! I appreciate you! You are the reason that I continue to blog. I am constantly humbled by the fact that you take the time to visit me. Thank you for your kindness! Hopefully we'll have the situation resolved soon. If you are interested in protecting your blogs, go to yesterday's comments and read the important info that "Parkwood Cottage" and "The Swords" shared.
Well, on to other things. This week I've been busying myself with things that aren't all that fun to post about---laundry, cleaning, weeding, sorting through my inventory/storage room and sending things to the thrift store. I think I even broke a personal record by not even spray painting a single item this week. Shocking, I know. I do have a few projects in the works though. But in the meantime, I didn't want to leave you for the weekend without something fun. So I pulled photos of my mantle and shelf decorations---just in case you're planning a mantle or shelf make-over and need a little inspiration &/or motivation.

Moss balls in milk glass vasesBotanicals, topiaries, and a cut-glass windowBirdhouse, books, flowers and finials
Mirrors, mercury glass, nests, candles and
apothecary jars filled with flowers and ferns Old ceiling tin, ferns, and botanical prints And since our weather is supposed to drop
down to the 70's, I thought I'd tease you
with a little Fall decor.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Joy @ Joys of Home

THEFT WARNING

Rhoda from Southern Hospitality emailed me to tell me that another "blog" has been using my posts. They are posting each post in it's entirety. I am not the only blogger that is having their posts hi-jacked.
At first I wanted to believe that it may be someone's inspiration blog. But every one of my posts have been posted there which leads me to believe that it's not just for inspiration. I have left several comments on this "blog" asking them to contact me but I have not heard a word. Needless to say, I feel frustrated and violated. I notified one of the other bloggers whose work I recognize. We are trying to stop this blatant attempt at stealing our work. It is simply not ethical! We are both posting warnings. Interestingly enough, her warning post has even been stolen and put on this "blog."
We are working to correct whatever it is that is going on, but in the meantime, as my fellow blogger said we "want to warn fellow bloggers to make sure that you follow up on blogs that are linking to you, and where your traffic is coming from. And if you happen upon a post that looks suspiciously familiar, please let that blogger know. We need to watch out for one another! We pour our hearts into our blogs, and for heavens sake, we need to give credit where credit is due."

In an effort to stop this blog theft, I'm signing this post and linking to my blog.
JOY at
Joys of Home

Change Is Constant

I love my living room couch. It's long and deep and comfy. A perfect couch for napping on. It originally came with a lot of pillows that looked like this: Because it's such a deep couch the pillows actually stay in place and don't end up on the floor. Because it's such a pretty shade of chocolate brown almost any color looks great with it. Perhaps that's why I enjoy changing out the pillows so often. It's a small change that can transform the feel of the entire room. Pillows can be very pricey, that's why I'm constantly on the look out at thrift stores and on clearance racks. I also use pillow covers to change my existing pillows. I've purchased covers at the thrift store and the dollar store.
Look here for a great tutorial on how to make pillow covers.When decorating with pillows I like to combine similar colors or tones and I find that I really like it when I can mix in a lot of pattern and texture. Do you like to change out your pillows too?

The Perfect Day

In almost a year and a half of blogging I have shared several DIY projects, lots of thrift store goodies, and numerous photos of the decor in my home. So that might lead you to believe that a perfect day for me would be when I've made something wonderful, or purchased an awesome thrift store find, or have my home or yard decorated to perfection.

But that's not the case.

An example of my idea of a perfect day happened last weekend. Son #2 got a wild idea to jump on a motorcycle and ride it in our backyard. Within seconds son #3 was on another motorcycle and both were circling the yard making a large figure eight track while #4 son ran around shooting them both with a nerf gun. Of course, I grabbed the movie camera to document the fun. No, I wasn't concerned that their antics would ruin my beautiful yard. As my hubby has said for years, "We're raising sons, not grass."
So you see, although I post a lot of pretty things on this blog, those really aren't the things that matter most to me. I make my home and yard pretty for one purpose only, so that my family will have beautiful places to make wonderful lifetime memories.

Thrifty Family Room Finds

I picked up a couple of goodies at the thrift store that look great in my family room. The first is this clock that I paid one whole dollar for. I placed it in a thrifted tray on the door sofa table. Now hubby knows the time and where to find the remote.
I also found this wool rug for ten dollars. It's in great shape and the colors and bold pattern are perfect in the family room. And yes, I put a rug, on top of a rug, on top of my painted floor. I'm sure that some people would cringe, but hey, it's my home and I can choose to not listen to "some people."

To see other blogger's great finds,
go to Southern Hospitality

Change Is Good

Last year I bought this darling birdhouse---at a real store, not the thrift store.
Yes, I occasionally do that.

It looked wonderful on my mantle decorated like this:When the holidays came, I put it into my "inventory room" (hubby's term for our messy storage room).
I recently pulled it out of storage and once again placed it on my mantle. It's the same birdhouse, I didn't alter it a bit, but I did alter how I decorated around it.Do you change the way you decorate or does everything stay the same? If you're a "stay the same" decorator, why not pick one little area of your home to change up this weekend. I'm not telling you to go out and buy a bunch of things. No, not at all. Everything on my mantle was pulled from what I already had.

Come on, try it!

Take things from one room and put them in another. Pull together a whole new vignette using your same old stuff in a new way.

It's fun! It's challenging! It's rewarding!

Change is good
for you and your home!